The port of Beach Haven is settling into the summer mode of fishing, and the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are getting their fill of the action both inshore and offshore.
Captain Carl Sheppard on the "Star Fish" had an excellent week and weekend of fishing. Captain Carl found the bay waters to be slow, but offshore the sea was calm, and the fish hungry. He found a good number of large black bass on a few wrecks, and some nice keeper fluke between the wrecks. It was necessary to try a number of stops before finding good action. His anglers also had some fun with 5-foot brown sharks which were under the bunker pods.
Captain George Finck on the "Sparetime" had Nicole Kelly and family out for a day reef fishing. They returned to the dock with a nice catch of fluke and black sea bass and also released many shorts. On Sunday Captain George took his 17 year old grandson Joey out to the canyons for some tuna action. The bite was slow but Joey did manage to catch the only yellowfin of the day.
Captain Fran Verdi on the "Drop Off" spend last week picking away at sea bass on area reefs and wrecks. Friday's storms slowed the fishing on Saturday, but Captain Fran found some good fluke fishing on Sunday. He had a group from Pittsburgh out, and they mugged the fluke. The biggest fish of the day was a 27-incher caught on a Bucktailboys bucktail tipped with Gulp.
Captain Fran will now be fishing on his new boat, a 2011 May-Craft center console that is 27-feet long. The "Francesca Marie" is powered by twin 174 HP Evinrude E-Tec outboards. The new rig is fully equipped and will hold 6 anglers.
Captain Bob Gerkens on the "Hot Tuna" took top honors in the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club's annual tuna tournament. He had the largest individual tuna and the top weight total for 3 yellowfins, all in the 50-pound range. His crew consisted of Captain John Lewis, Pete Nork, and Matt Ruark.
Because of the a sloppy ocean recently, Captain Bob had the Mike Mayer family from Pottstown, Pa., spend their half day trip in the quieter bay waters on the "Hot Tuna." They anchored up and used a chum pot to bring in a good number of large sand sharks that produced some exciting catch and release fishing.
The head boat "Miss Beach Haven" with captains Frank Camarda and Brant Whittaker worked hard last Saturday with poor drift conditions to put a mixed bag of fluke and sea bass together. Mike was the pool winner with a 4-pound fluke.
The drift Sunday was a bit better and it made a big difference. A steady procession of fluke, sea bass, and skates were coming over the rails. Everyone took fish home with Leon taking top honors.
Captain Lindsay Fuller fished the Wilmington Canyon recently with the John Goodbred party from Lancaster, Pa. They left the dock at midnight and started fishing at 4:40 am. They boated the first yellowfin at 6:30 and managed to boat 5 yellowfin out of 9 that struck with the largest at 40-pounds. They also picked up a nice 15-pound mahi-mahi.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 877-524-2423.
