After a full week of strong, gusty northeast winds accompanied by extremely high tides, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel as far as the weather.
Now it is up to the fish to cooperate. Both summer flounder and black sea bass seasons are now closed. The attention of most anglers in the Long Beach Island area is now getting focused on the arrival of striped bass and big bluefish.
Right now the water temperatures are a bit warm for the onslaught of the stripers with most areas measuring around 62-degrees. The weather forecast for the next several days is calling for evening temperatures in the 40's which should drop the water temperature into more favorable ranges. By the middle of next week, the nighttime lows are expected to be in the 30's.
Captain John Koegler of the boat "Pop's Pride" mentioned that on some of his trips prior to the northeaster he had seen quite a few large sand eels in the stomachs of the fish he was catching. This should be good news for anglers who like to jig for stripers on the inshore lumps.
There are several striped bass tournaments coming up in the near future in the southern Ocean County area, and some of the BHCFA captains will be participating in most of them.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be obtained at www.fishbeachhaven.com