Memorial Weekend has come and gone on Long Beach Island, with the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association experiencing no difficulty finding an abundance and variety of fish for their anglers. Once again big bluefish dominated the action.
The "Star Fish" with Captain Carl Sheppard fished multiple days over the weekend and found big blues both days. Sometimes they just looked for screaming bird play, and other days they scored trolling blind. These blues are real tackle busters with the smallest around 10-pounds and the largest checking in at 16.5-pounds. One day Captain Carl tried the back bay waters looking for fluke but managed to find only one 20-inch keeper along with two shorts. He is looking for some spectacular fishing when the black sea bass opens this week.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters" had Dane and Denise Hartmann along with Al Meyer in the ocean looking for some of those big yellow-eyed bluefish. They trolled up as many blues as they wanted to reel in. All of the action was trolling a variety of lures.
Captain Gary Dugan of Irish Jig Sportfishing" had a group out Saturday looking for a catch of fluke in Great Bay. The conditions of wind against the tide most of the day made establishing good drifts very difficult if not impossible. They managed a few shorts along with one 19-inch keeper. Captain Gary took his group to the inlet where they had a good time bailing monster bluefish that were feeding on peanut bunker. The blues were an exciting way to end the day.
It has been difficult to pinpoint exactly where the striped bass will be, but boats fishing in the ocean have been finding bass from Wreck Inlet to Seaside both by live lining snagged bunker and trolling bunker spoons. In addition, the opening of black sea bass season will spark wreck and reef fishing. The early bite for sea bass should be very strong.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net
