The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are finishing up their bottom fishing trips and looking forward to some serious striped bass action.
Captain John Koegler on the "Pop's Pride" has been finding sea bass and some large blackfish on the local reef-sites. He landed a keeper striper last week while chumming clams in the bay. He reports he has a couple of open dates in November for bass fishing.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the "Arlene Ann" has been spending time in the Sandy Hook area and reports things are turning in a big way up there. Despite the recent poor weather, he has been catching stripers and big bluefish. Trolling with wire line and shad umbrella rigs off the bridge has provided steady action out front with bass and blues. When the blues destroy the shad rigs, he switches over to umbrella rigs and has landed triple headers of bass and blues on several occasions.
The scallop boats have been working the areas along the NY side of the bay and the bass are stacked up behind them in large numbers. As the deck hands shuck the scallops on the boat, they discard the remains over the side. This acts like a moving chum slick, and the bass go into a feeding frenzy as they follow the boat. Trolling and live lining do not work but clams dropped down to the bottom are deadly. At times the scallop boats will trade scallop discards for beer.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com