The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have seen their fluke catches improving as the ocean water temperatures rise.
The "Miss Beach Haven" with Captain Brant fished in some different spots last Friday and found 69-degree water, but poor drifting conditions. They managed to boat some keepers including several fish over 19 inches and one whopper. Catherine thought she was stuck on the bottom at first and ended up boating a 13-pound, 10-ounce doormat. She was using a rental rod which was almost bent over double. On Saturday the fluke fishing was pretty good, and the water temperature finally hit 73 degrees. There was a fair amount of keepers caught with an average catch of 2 to 4 keepers per angler. The pool winner was a 5.5 pounder.
Captain Adam Nowalsky of the "Karen Ann II" out of Great Bay Marina had Jim McTague of Virginia and family out with a mixed bag of sea bass, tog, and porgies. Another day Rich Salvatore and his son Sam caught 10-15 pound bluefish at the Barnegat Ridge until they had to take turns reeling in a single fish. Colin Walsh and his brother Michael from Ireland landed a handful of fish before being chased in by a squall featuring thunder, lightening, and 40 mph winds.
Captain Dave Wittenborn on the "Compass Ross" fished a charter with the Levy family of Atlanta. After a fog delay, they fished a rip in the bay and had steady action on short fluke. They then fly fished for short bluefish until the greenheads chased them into the ocean. Drifting there brought numerous short fluke and three keepers.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the "Star Fish had parties of 8 and 9 people over the weekend. Inshore and back bay fishing produced mostly throwbacks while on the reefs they had a pick of larger fluke and sea bass. Off shore they found tackle-busting bluefish over 12-pounds and some feisty bonito.
The "Compass Rose" fished in the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational. Captain Dave was pleased with how his new boat performed, and they managed to put some nice yellowfin tuna in the box from the Spencer Canyon.
Captain Bob Gerkens of the "Hot Tuna" also fished the Tournament and while empty handed on billfish, took third prize in the Calcutta for yellowfin tuna when Mark Jordan of Beach Haven boated a 90.9-pounder.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com
