As the water temperatures in the ocean off Beach Haven gradually warmed, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association began finding action on hungry fluke. The problem was rooting through all the sub-legal fish to find keepers to take home. On Thursday on the "Miss Beach Haven" Captain Frank Camarda said his morning trip was not bad considering there was little drift. The fluke were biting and a lot of shorts came over the rail with some nice keepers mixed in. The pool winner was Dave Agar from Beach Haven with a 4-pounder.
On Saturday the water temperature finally crept up to 66 degrees. Initial fishing in 55 feet of water found some keepers and some shorts. After moving around looking for some current to keep the boat moving, a little breeze came up, bringing a few more keepers over the rail. The pool winner was the Duke of Fluke himself, Ted Alves, with a 5-pound fish. Sunday's pool winner was Jules Majerski of Hamilton, NJ with a 3-pound flattie.
Captain Fran Verdi of the "Drop Off" is encouraged by the rise in water temperature. One trip resulted in 7 keeper sea bass, but no fluke. On Saturday he fished the Sunshine Foundation Tournament. Most of the fishing was in the back bay for fluke catching three keeper fluke and another 35 ranging from 12 to 17.5 inches.
On Friday Captain Verdi took the "Cousins" on his first tuna trip of the year with
mate Cody Meyer, Nick Rausch and Mark Sever. They left the dock at 4am and got to Lemke's Canyon by 7:30am and found a nice water break of about 5 degrees. Mark Sever caught a bluefin tuna, a 75-pounder, after a 45-minute struggle. The group also boated a 30-pounder along with some big bluefish.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters took first place in the 2008 Offshore Tournament of the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club. He and his crew had a catch of 7 yellowfin tuna ranging from 50-74 pounds. His 79.4-pounder was the first place winner.
Additional information on the BHCFA can be obtained at www.fishbeachhaven.com