Despite some nasty weather recently, the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been finding fish on a number of different fronts.
Capt. Adam Nowalsky the “Karen Ann II” reports that he will be sticking with the wreck and reef fishing for the black sea bass as long as the bite continues to hold up. He has also been catching some good sized tog with the sea bass, and there have been a few fluke caught on the ocean now, as well. His weekly highlights include the Ben Brown family of Hamilton who boxed 40 sea bass to 2.5 pounds along with a 7-pound blackfish released by Jessica.
The Pang Family of Stroudsburg, Pa., had a thunderstorm shortened trip of non-stop sea bass catching with the girls out catching the guys by a wide margin. The Sutphen Charter of Somerville had a great day landing in excess of 600 sea bass with nearly 60 in the box.
The big fish of the week was boated by Jack Buckafusco, Somerville, a personal best 12-pound, 15-ounce blackfish that was released.
Captain Dave Wittenborn on the “Arlene Ann” picked off a nice 24-pound striped bass in Little Egg Inlet on live bunker. He found plenty of bunker pods in the ocean in 40-feet of water but no bass under them.
Captain Lindsay Fuller on the “June Bug” hosted Scott and Rich on Sunday for a half-day inshore trip. A northeast wind of about 10 knots keeping his drift at about 3/4 of a knot. Since a half-day trip does not permit much travel time, he focused on the Little Egg Reef, trying a dozen or so pieces. Half had good concentrations of sea bass on the fish finder, but only one keeper could be found among all the throwbacks.
Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” fished a party of 2 on Friday with a total of 49 black sea bass and two sea robins, the first of the year, in two hours. They had 12 keepers, all blue-head males over 2.5-pounds.
That night Captains John and Tom tried a night wreck fishing trip on the “Star Fish.” This trip the sea bass that filled the cooler filled the cooler were feeding on squid.
On Saturday the “Star fish” tried shark fishing at the 140-foot hole. They caught a 200-pound blue shark along with several smaller blues. They had a big mako estimated at 300-400 pounds on which pulled the hook after a lengthy battle.
Sunday found Captain Carl back wreck fishing in 60-feet of water. The Hopkins family was hot with the black bass, porgies which were released, and sea robins despite the NE wind.
Captain Frank Camarda on the “Miss Beach Haven” found good sea bass fishing on Saturday with a lot of fish caught. After sifting through the shorts they put together a catch of sea bass and some ling with quite a few blackfish that were released.
On Sunday Captain Frank tried fishing for fluke and caught fish pretty much every drift. The high hook was Tom Hook from Manahawkin with 4 fluke over 19 inches with the biggest being 8-pounds, the pool winner.
Captain Fran Verdi on the “Drop Off” made trips all week despite the weather even times in the fog when he needed his radar to find his way. One day t he Chris Nelson party ended the day with 9 keepers in the 13-18 inch range. Another trip with a group from the Village Harbor Fishing Club also resulted in 9 keepers but many more than that which were released.
On Saturday Captain Fran fished the JCAA fluke competition with Team Chum Bucket. The anglers fished all over the bay but could only get one keeper at 18.5 inches. Shorts were the word of the day.
On Sunday he had the “Cousins” out today with the Joe Tool Party. They looked for stripers but found none. They turned to sea bass and after several stops ended up with 9 keepers for the day.
Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at their website www.fishbeachhaven.com