Beach Haven Fishing Still Strong

The summer may be starting to draw to a close, but the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are still fishing and catching in high gear. In the most unusual catch of the summer, Captain Tim Knorr of the charter boat "William Knorr" had the John Donegan party out for a night chumming trip at the Barnegat Ridge for bluefish. At some point during the night's fishing they hooked up with something that they knew was entirely too big to be a bluefish. When they finally got the fish to the boat and aboard, they discovered they had a 69-pound cobia. Very often cobia are caught very late in the summer around Little Egg Inlet but this is rare for the middle of the summer. Cobia are reputed to be one of the most delicious fish around. Captain Fran Verdi of the "Drop Off" reports big swells and high winds have made fishing a bit difficult on the local artificial reefs. On Friday he fished a reef and found some short fluke and one keeper sea bass. He says the sea bass are still spawning and are actually piled high on the bottom but have little interest in feeding right now. Captain Fran will keep targeting fluke until the end of the season on September 6 and then turn his attention to sea bass which should be done spawning. He adds the keeper ratio is better in the ocean than the bay. Of all the baits he uses, he prefers the tradition squid and minnow sandwich over everything else. Captain Carl Sheppard of the "Star Fish" reports the fishing was a bit slow due to the cooler water temperatures, but he was fortunate to find some fish. He located some keeper fluke in the Little Egg Inlet as well as some farther offshore. He has been using both Gulp and clam. On Sunday the McKay family from East Windsor had a solid day of fishing including some big black sea bass caught by eight year old Molly McKay. The "Hot Tuna" and its charter braved some strong east winds last Saturday mid-day to head offshore for a 24 hour canyon chunking trip. The party, organized by Mike Kellogg, found pleasant overnight chunking conditions but only caught one small mako. They did net over 100 squid attracted by the lights. The evening and morning trolling portions of the trip worked better as they produced 4 yellowfin tuna, a wahoo and bonito. Capt Bob Gerkens of the "Hot Tuna" was assisted on the charter by Captain Fran Verdi, who took a day off from his own charters to run the cockpit, with the assistance of Junior Mate Pat Zavacky. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).