The boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are experiencing a steady improvement in the local summer flounder action. The inshore wrecks and reefs are providing increased numbers of keeper almost daily.
Captain John Lewis reports that his new boat, "Insatiable," is performing well and was booked solid last week. He is seeing daily improvement in the inshore fluke fishing and was especially impressed with young Max Capatides boating a 23-inch beauty.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters" has also been finding some nice fluke. He had the Beth Catania family out on the reef fishing, and their day was topped with a 24-inch flattie.
Captain Ray Lopez had a group made up of Bob Hass, Miss Fran, and Bill out for a day of fluke fishing on the "Miss Liane.". Despite catching a wide variety of fish off Island Beach State Park, they were unable to land any keepers. Another day he had father and son Andrew and Maxwell Goldman out to several inshore canyons looking for tuna. Despite a beautiful day and plenty of signs of life, they were unable to hook up. Even the lobster pots seemed devoid of mahi-mahi. Maxwell did land a nice sized bluefish on one of the flat lines.
Captain Jimmy Zavacky had a banner day on the "Reel Determined recently with a total of 10 keepers. Another day his party caught 5 keepers with mackerel strips being the hot bait. On Sunday he had the Cocillano family who fished a half day trip and caught 4 keepers to 25-inches. At one point they landed three keepers within 5 minutes, all on Gulp.
The captains of the BHCFA participated in a memorial event last Sunday at the Little Egg Reef in honor of Captain John Koegler who passed away last winter. Flowers were placed on the water, and Captain John's family was impressed with the love and respect shown toward John. His name will live on as the Junior Mates annual fishing trip will now be known as the John Koegler Memorial Fishing Tournament.
