The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are enjoying the good weather at the New Jersey shore and are finding some steady action in various locations.
Captain Tim Knorr had the James Herbster party on an 8-hour tuna trolling trip recently on his boat the "William Knorr." They boated a 65-pound bluefin tuna south of the Chicken Canyon. One of the anglers in the party hooked another bluefin as big around as a beer keg that grabbed a lure just 20-feet from the stern. Unfortunately, the fish managed to slip the hook and was lost. The hot lures on this day were all small with dark colors. Captain Tim says this is a good time for an inshore trolling trip.
Captain John Koegler of the boat "Pop's Pride" out of Beach Haven fished Little Egg Inlet and the bay waters just inside the inlet last weekend and found some huge numbers of fluke. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the fish were throwbacks. Captain John said that the massing of the fish there indicates they are on the verge of leaving the bay for the summer. He had a party of three adults and three youngsters aboard, and the constant action made for a very enjoyable day on the water. The anglers kept the mate and Captain John busy netting and releasing fish. The party did manage to put one 23-inch fish in the cooler to take home. The fluke was estimated to be almost 2-inches thick.
Captain John Lewis had the Bednar party on the "Insatiable" on out recently fluke fishing in the inlet. Although they only managed one keeper, they boated. 30 shorts for steady action. Captain John fished the "Big Dog" in the Beach Haven Marlin Tournament. While they did not put any fish on the board, they did find a good weed line Saturday near the end of fishing. They kept fishing and picked off a dozen mahi-mahi-all, of which were caught by 13 year old Hunter Burrows and 12 year old Jonathan Kelly. These two junior mates were dropping naked Ballyhoo back on circle hooks.
Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.org.