The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are reporting decent catches of fluke as the season quickly nears its end.
On Wednesday the 20-knot northeast wind made drifting tough for Captain Frank Camarda and the "Miss Beach Haven." Despite using 10-ounce sinkers, they had several keeper fluke, a dozen keeper sea bass and a lot of shorts. Thursday there was no wind all day and they wound up with a nice catch of sea bass and a couple of fluke. Friday they had perfect conditions and they boated a couple of sea bass and 12 keeper fluke and a fair amount of shorts. A lot of small sea bass have moved in to the bay to keep the kids busy.
Capt. Adam Nowalsky of the "Karen Ann II" sailing from Great Bay Marina reports fluke fishing is the story right now with the ocean fluke in full swing. Dave Young and crew had a nice catch of fluke to near 6 pounds. Scott Hendrickson was down for a bachelor party in Atlantic City for groom-to-be Ryan. They caught fluke, with Ryan leading the way in landings in both quantity and quality with fish to 19". Sheriff Frank Provenzano and party did well as Wayne decked a 29", 9 lb. 8 oz. flattie with Ron catching his 8 fish limit. John Skarbek and his group from Philadelphia brought plenty of fluke came over the rail, but only 2 made the legal size limit. They did have a nice catch of 2 pound bluefish in the box.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters" had Todd McCauley and family to the Garden State South Reef for a nice catch of many short fluke with two keepers up to 6-pounds. They also took home 8 sea bass up to 4-pounds. The Stanley Plewa party caught 20 fluke and kept 3 along with 15 sea bass.
Captain Carl Sheppard on the "Star Fish" had a great week both trolling and bottom fishing. Despite a lack of birds, he has been finding blues and Spanish mackerel, and his parties are catching their share. A bachelor party fishing trip on Saturday brought some large fluke in 70-feet of water. The keeper ratio was a very high 50%.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.fishbeachhaven.com