It must be must be mid-summer in Beach Haven as the offshore fishing action is starting to heat up for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.
Captain Bob Gerkens on the "Hot Tuna" successfully fished the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club's first offshore tournament on Saturday as a warm-up to the White Marlin Invitational. He started a little south of the Spencer Canyon and worked a little further south but still north of the Wilmington where his crew caught the two largest yellowfin tuna in the tournament. Both fish were over 40-pounds with Val Zak of Oceanside Bait and Tackle boating the largest. Her fish put her in the lead in the woman's division of the club for the season for yellowfin tuna.
Captain John Koegler went to the inshore tuna grounds on the "Starfish" looking for tuna. They picked up a fat 41-inch bluefin early in the day that fought extra hard and took 15-minuts to get to the boat. Unfortunately, that was the only fish to show up. Captain John said there was a good reading on the fish finder of both squid and eels.
Captain George Fink of "Sparetime Charters" made one trip offshore looking for tuna and sharks. He found no tuna but did catch and release some brown sharks and returned with some mahi-mahi. In trips closer to shore he has been finding some very good bottom action at the Garden State South Reef where the black sea bass were all nice sized with just a few shorts. He also caught fluke on the sides of the wrecks using live minnows with squid.
Captain Dave Wittenborn on the "Compass Rose" also has been finding some decent fluke and sea bass fishing at the Garden State South Reef. On Monday Paul Buchhoer had his three son-in-laws out. They managed 13 fluke with three making it into the fish box. Paul had the largest fluke, a 21-incher.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 877-524-2423.
