Latest fishing news from the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association from Jim Hutchinson Sr.
Fall is now officially here, and that means several things to the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.
First, is that Thursday, September 25, is the final day of the summer flounder season in New Jersey. This season has been a decent one for these favorite targets of the BHCFA. Captain Steve Palmer does not plan to let this fluke season end without a special trip planned on the “Miss Beach Haven.”
Captain Steve has a Fluke Mania trip for the last day of fluke fishing. He will have prizes, food, drinks, and a good time for all. The trip can be booked online at www.missbeachhaven.com.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sport Fishing is back fishing with his new Yamaha outboard. He had Luke Warwick of Medford with his son Dillon on an afternoon fluke charter. They worked wrecks but could only muster 20 shorts and 1 keeper fluke. On the way in they worked the jetty and had action on bluefish to 25-inches on jigs.
Second, Wednesday, October 1, marks the reopening of the season for black sea bass. The limit will be 10 fish daily for the month of October, and then 15 daily for the rest of the year. All indications point to an abundance of these fish around the inshore structures.
Finally, the arrival of fall means cooler weather accompanied by a cooling of water temperatures. That means the fall arrival of striped bass. The captains of the BHCFA still have some openings on charters for bass, but they are filling up fast.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Benita J” reports he is almost out of open dates for offshore tuna fishing before he turns to stripers.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
Fall is now officially here, and that means several things to the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association.
First, is that Thursday, September 25, is the final day of the summer flounder season in New Jersey. This season has been a decent one for these favorite targets of the BHCFA. Captain Steve Palmer does not plan to let this fluke season end without a special trip planned on the “Miss Beach Haven.”
Captain Steve has a Fluke Mania trip for the last day of fluke fishing. He will have prizes, food, drinks, and a good time for all. The trip can be booked online at www.missbeachhaven.com.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sport Fishing is back fishing with his new Yamaha outboard. He had Luke Warwick of Medford with his son Dillon on an afternoon fluke charter. They worked wrecks but could only muster 20 shorts and 1 keeper fluke. On the way in they worked the jetty and had action on bluefish to 25-inches on jigs.
Second, Wednesday, October 1, marks the reopening of the season for black sea bass. The limit will be 10 fish daily for the month of October, and then 15 daily for the rest of the year. All indications point to an abundance of these fish around the inshore structures.
Finally, the arrival of fall means cooler weather accompanied by a cooling of water temperatures. That means the fall arrival of striped bass. The captains of the BHCFA still have some openings on charters for bass, but they are filling up fast.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Benita J” reports he is almost out of open dates for offshore tuna fishing before he turns to stripers.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
Although the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are thankful that Hurricane Erin passed out to sea, the size and ferocity of the storm did have a negative effect on the fishing last week.
Although the ocean waves made fishing a no-go for a few days, some captains did look for calm bay spots to wet some lines and catch an assortment of fish there. Captain Steve Palmer had the headboat “Miss Beach Haven” in bay waters keeping anglers busy.
Other captains took the opportunity to tune up their gear for the last weeks of the summer and the upcoming fall fishing action.
Captain Max Goldman of the “Starfish” reports he will be right back on the inshore hot areas catching an assortment of bottom fish including fluke, black sea bass, triggerfish, and others.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” tried a bay trip once the storm passed by. The 5-hour trip produced a mix of tautog, blowfish, sport, fluke, and a few dogfish. His anglers worked a variety of spots with different techniques. He said the water was silty from the storm but should clear up in a day or so.
Captain Dave Wittenborn had to cancel an offshore trip on the “Benita J,” but spent time on the Mike Sheppard Fishing Show out of Atlantic City sharing information on the recent white marlin tournament at the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club.
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
After several days of strong northeast winds and high seas, good fishing conditions have returned for the boats and captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association as August approaches its midpoint.
This is just in time for this week’s Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club’s annual White Marlin Invitational Tournament. This tournament is a major occasion for the town, and an event that the captains and junior mates of the BHCFA are involved in. Many of the association’s boats participate, and the junior mates are on call to volunteer their services to help where needed.
Prior to the northeaster, the ocean fluke bite was a strong one with the inshore artificial reefs producing action including many keepers mixed in with the throwbacks. Captain Max Goldman noted he even had anglers catching fluke doubleheaders.
Adding to the fluke there have been good numbers of black sea bass along with a sizeable population of triggerfish.
Captain John Lewis reports the weather dictated fishing the calm bay waters this past week on the “Insatiable.” His anglers boated a variety of fish including croakers, bluefish, black sea bass, sharks, sea robins, and fluke up to 20-inches. He predicts the upcoming weeks will produce the best fishing of the year right through Labor Day.
Captain Dave Wittenborn did some offshore fishing to tune up for the marlin tournament. He had to work to find some tuna, but the mahi-mahi were around in considerable numbers for the Cavise group. In addition to loads of big mahi, they did boat some tuna. Captain Dave remarked “These guys have enough mahi-mahi to feed the neighborhood fish tacos for a few days.”
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is available at www.BHCFA.org
It is hard to believe that August is almost here already. The captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are adjusting nicely to the changing water and fishing conditions to put good catches of fish together.
The bottom bite for fluke is excellent right now. With the bay water temperatures nearing 80-degrees right now, the bulk of the fluke has been heading for the inlets to get into deeper water where the temperatures are more to their liking. This means concentrations of fish near the inlets along with an improving bite on the inshore structure almost daily.
In addition to the fluke on the nearby artificial reefs, good sized black sea bass are showing up along with a surprisingly good action on triggerfish.
Although it can be a hit or miss situation at times, the offshore bite on tuna has been mostly particularly good. This action has the BHCFA captains excited especially with the annual White Marlin Tournament coming up for the Beach Haven Marlin and Tuna Club.
Several of the captains annually participate in the event with many finishing in the money. The Junior Mates Program meets at the Club and participates in the Tournament lending a helping hand.
Captain Dave Wittenborn who will be fishing in that marlin tournament recently fished his boat “Benita J” in the VFW Fluke Tournament. Sophia Rose landed a 2.96-pound flattie which earned her third place in the women’s division.
Captain Max Goldman of the “Starfish” reports fluke fishing has been “on fire” in the bay and ocean. He has seen some “beautiful keepers hitting the deck.”
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” has had busy days with multiple fishing charters. He reports that windy weather has forced some of his groups in the bay where they must work to sort through the short fish for keepers. On his one trip to the ocean, he had Marty Burns and party out where they limited on sea bass along with 7 keeper fluke to 23-inches.
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
The current fishing action in the Long Beach Island area as shared by the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is centered on tuna in offshore waters and fluke action inshore. Plus, there is good action on black sea bass on the inshore wrecks.
Captain Bob Gerkens of the boat “Hot Tuna” reported fishing in the “Jimmy Johnson Fishing Tournament” in Atlantic City with the crew of the boat “MJs.” That crew took second place money with three big eye tuna weighing between 102 and 123 pounds.
Captain Bob indicated that catching big eye tuna during the daylight hours is always a challenge, since they are usually more likely to be feeding close to the surface in the time right before the sun is up and shortly after it sets. This is why “Hot Tuna’s” big eye charters are run overnight.
Yellowfin tuna, on the other hand, are being caught on the troll during the day on the shelves of the canyons rather than the deep water where big eyes are almost always found. When big eyes come close to the surface once or twice a day in daylight, it is usually as a school, and they will hit multiple lines within seconds of each other.
In the tournament in three days of fishing, all three bigeyes hit together and were boated within 25 minutes on Captain Bob’s trip.
On the fluke scene, Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” reports catching fish both inside the inlets and on trips to the nearby reefs. He terms it a “decent pick” with keeper fish coming back to the dock on every trip. He notes the fish are transitioning to deeper water with catches both inside in the deeper holes inshore and outside fishing structure. In addition to his fishing trips, Captain Gary has been busy taking folks on his tiki boat on sightseeing trips and to area restaurants on the water.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
After a week of sporadic thunderstorms and strong winds, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are looking forward to what appears to be a week of good weather for fishing.
Headlining the inshore fishing is a solid bite on fluke, or summer flounder as they are also known. With the bay waters steadily warming, the fluke seem to be making their annual migration back into the ocean. The fluke action will be spread out from the bays into the inlets, and ultimately on the inshore artificial reefs. A one fish per day daily bag limit of one black sea bass reopened that season on July 1 providing additional opportunities to take home a fish dinner.
Speaking of those reefs, Captain John Lewis of the BHCFA has announced that a barge is expected to be sunk on the Little Egg Reef as part of the reef replenishment organized by the Junior Mates Program of the BHCFA. These efforts have added a great deal of new structure on the area reefs and are providing enhanced inshore ocean fishing.
Captain John also noted that he has his new boat, the “Insatiable” ready and available for fishing. He has been busy the past few months making deliveries for other boat owners and can now get back to catching some fish.
After taking a 2-week break, Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing, had two recent trips. He had a family out on a 4-hour bay trip. They managed to get close to 50 fluke with two nice fish for dinner. On a second trip he had an ocean fluke charter. They had problems getting through all the black sea bass but did manage to boat 2 keeper fluke, their limit of sea bass, and a few ling.
The offshore tuna reports have been positive lately, and Captain Dave Wittenborn was confident on a recent tuna trip on the “Benita J” Captain Dave reports it was a tough day, but his angler stuck with it and boated a pair of nice yellowfin tuna. He added the whale watching was spectacular.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net
The Fourth of July weekend came to Beach Haven and It has been everything the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have hoped for.
There have been several days of hot weather which has driven the water temperature up to normal levels for this time of the year. The warmer water temperatures have stimulated much of the fluke population to leave the bay waters for the ocean. What that means right now is that these tasty fish can be caught now in both the bays and the ocean.
The offshore bite has exploded with tuna the primary target along with mahi, tilefish, and even billfish to be had.
All these fish cannot be caught by themselves. It takes know how and being in the right place at the right time. The captains of the BHCFA are experienced and thoroughly knowledgeable about the waters around Long Beach Island. This makes them perfect choices for a great day fishing on the water.
In addition to the fishing boats, several boats of the Association provide trips for pure fun and sightseeing. There are tiki boats, a paddle wheel craft, and even an authentic pirate ship. The BHCFA fleet can make every vacation even more enjoyable.
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
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