The chilly weather has pushed a front of striped bass down to the Long Beach Island area, and the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have been on hand to take advantage of it.
There are many large schools of bunker around, and these are the first places to look for the bass. Casting snag hooks into the schools results in fresh live bait to use for the bass. If this method does not produce action, then the captains will rig up some bunker spoons and cover a larger area looking for the bass. There are reports of some bass feeding on sand eels just to the north, and these should be providing some intense jigging action.
Captain Gary Dugan of "Irish Jig Sportfishing" had a three man charter recently and everyone caught fish. The largest fish was caught by Jerry which weighed in at 30-pounds and measured a fine 42-inches. Captain Gary found snagging and dropping to be the key method.
Captain Fran Verdi on the "Francesca Marie" reports his fishing has been "on fire" the past two weeks. One charter limited out over the weekend in addition to using a bonus tag. All of the fish were caught on live bait. Another day on the weekend he reports fishing hard for two bass and two bluefish. Since it was a weekend day, he was forced to share the waters with "hundreds of boats."
This striped bass action should continue well into December.
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.org
