Although this week has been a bit of a washout with high winds and torrential rain, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association were catching fish well before the bad weather.
On the inshore artificial reefs the main attractions are black sea bass and summer flounder. Captain Jimmy Zavacky had the Damiano group out on the “Reel Determined” on a day featuring sunny skies and calm seas. In addition to a large number of throwbacks, the group managed to take home fluke and sea bass fillets for some fish dinners.
Captain Carl Sheppard had a crew of 14 anglers out for an afternoon of fishing last Friday. The water temperature was a warm 72-degrees and the winds were less than 10 knots. About 70 fish were caught with 10 keeper sea bass and 2 fluke being large enough to take home.
Captain Dave Kreines had the Gray family out on the “Byte Me” for some bay and inlet fishing. The inlet produced only sea robins and a short fluke. Captain Dave headed back into the bay for one of his hot spots where a keeper fluke was boated immediately followed by a good number of other fish.
Captain Ray Lopez had the Kuzcko family from Forked River on a birthday trip for fluke and sea bass fishing in the bay and the ocean plus a 40-pound cow nose ray that took a fluke bait in the bay. The next day the McPolin group went on an inshore trolling trip and catching some skipjack and three dolphin including a 25-pound bull.
Captain John Lewis had a few good trips to the inshore reefs for fluke and sea bass. The Kaufman family had a blast landing several nice sized fluke and lots of sea robins but the highlight of the day a butterfly ray that was about 4 feet wide after a 15 minuet fight. The Whooley family from Phoenix had a good day with 4 keeper sea bass and 3 fluke in addition to a steady pick of shorts and sea robins. Captain John adds that he has made believers about eating sea robin fillets. He says they can be prepared many ways and are delicious.
Captain Bob Gerkens continued his successful trips offshore last week on the “Hot Tuna” with a trip to the 30-Fathom line on a 12-hour charter. The Robertson brothers boated two yellowfin tuna to 35-pounds along with a nice “gaffer” mahi. “Gaffer” refers to the fact a gaff was necessary to boat the fish due to its large size.
Additional information on the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
