Recent strong winds and high seas have made the last week of the summer flounder season a downer for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. Although it is believed there are still fluke around, it is impossible to get any type of decent drift established. When the boats are able to get the anchor over on some structure, the black sea bass bite has been more than respectable with good numbers of big sea bass.
Captain Fran Verdi on the "Francesca Marie" reports he has only been able to catch some bluefish due to the weather conditions. He plans to focus on sea bass and perhaps bluefish until the striped bass make their appearance in the upcoming weeks.
Captain Lindsay Fuller on the "June Bug" took John and Jimmy Hancock out to the Lindenkohl Canyon for a tuna trip that combined a little night chunking along with some trolling. Captain Lindsay made use of a weather window that cooperated until a choppy trip home.
The chunking action produced one good hookup, but the fight abruptly ended when the line was cut, probably when in contact with the tail of another fish. That proved to be the only good bite for chunking although there was a great mass of squid around the "June Bug."
The trolling action once the sun came up was equally unproductive other than one small mahi-mahi which was no longer than the ballyhoo it bit on. The winds and increasing wave size made trolling difficult as well as the trip back into port. Captain Lindsay says he feels the offshore action still has some life with the amount of squid and other bait around and looks for decent action through October.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 877-524-2423.