The striped bass action for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been hit or miss lately, but the black sea bass action has been nothing short of outstanding. Both inshore artificial reefs and some wreck sites have been producing "drop and reel" fishing.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the "Star Fish" reports that there is a good number of keeper sea bass available for drift fishermen. Captain Carl was out with Wade and two of his friends, and they managed to catch over 50 fish in about two hours. He has been using the North Cut to travel through the inlet and has found sufficient water to navigate with comfort.
Captain Gary Dugan fished Great Bay last Friday and had several summer flounder to 17.5-inches and one keeper at 19-inches. Saturday was more of the same as he had several fluke again to 17.5-inches along with 3 keepers in the cooler. On Sunday Captain Gary changed direction and went wreck fishing, He reported non-stop drop and reel action with sea bass and big blackfish that had to be returned. His party brought home a cooler of sea bass for the table. Captain Gary feels the fishing is starting to heat up.
Captain Fran Verdi made two trips last weekend on the "Francesca Marie". On Friday he and his wife did a half-day trip and for a nice mix of sea bass and blackfish on a wreck in 60-feet of water. On Sunday Captain Fran had his whole family join him for their first sea bass trip to wrecks in 70-90 feet of water. His son got the first keeper and the boat's namesake, Francesca Marie, decided to show why the boat was named after her landing the most keepers. They had a mix of sea bass, blackfish and ling. On the trip in, Francesca turned to her dad and said "sea bass and wreck fishing blows away fluke fishing." Next up for the Verdi family is a tuna trip.
BHCFA Captains Ray Lopez of the "Miss Liane" and Jimmy Zavacky of the "Reel Determined" donated their time and boats last Saturday to take out groups of wounded veterans. They were participating in the Project Healing Waters in Waretown sponsored by the Holiday Beach Club.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
