As the ocean water temperatures near 80-degrees, the fishing for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been heating up.
Captain Adam Nowalsky of the "Karen Ann II" out of Great Bay Marina reports water temperatures in the upper 70's and a mixed bag of fish as a result. He reports lots of action on sea bass, fluke, triggerfish, and small blues along with some stories of good sized mahi-mahi, cobia, and big brown sharks.
Recent trips on the "Karen Ann II" included the Caruth family of Royersford, Pa., who saw birthday boy Brandon celebrate his 11th with a triggerfish and bluefish. The Bujak family of Drexel Hill, Pa. had a fair catch of sea bass to 2-pounds along with a 20-inch fluke. Bill Bruner had a trip with sea bass to 3 pounds and a 22-inch fluke.
Captain Adam's other trips included the Salisbury House Group of Pottstown, Pa, the Holman Auto Group of Maple Shade, and the Sutphen family of Somerville who all found action on a mix of sea bass and fluke.
Captain Frank Camarda on the "Miss Beach Haven" reports decent fishing over the weekend despite problems getting a good drift going. On Saturday there were a lot of fluke caught with a keeper ratio of 10-1. The pool winner was "Pizza Pete" from Mystic Island with a 5.5-pound sea bass. Sunday was more of the same with Mike Emers the high hook with 5 keeper fluke, and William Post the pool winner with a 4.5-pound fluke.
Captain George Finck of "Sparetime Charters" had a nice combination of inshore and offshore fishing trips last week. One day he had the Laird family of Nebraska out for a good catch of fluke and sea bass. They also trolled up 20 bluefish. Another day he had his son Steve and grandson Eric out in the ocean for a nice catch of small fluke and sea bass. Both the flies and fish were biting.
Then on Friday he took Ken Lieb and friends out on a canyon trolling trip. They returned with four nice yellowfin tuna along with four 20-pound class mahi-mahi. On Sunday Captain George was back inshore with Milan and Elliott Indrisek for a good catch of sea bass and fluke. Young Elliot topped the day with a 22-inch fluke.
Captain Dave Wittenborn on the "Compass Rose" is raving over the fishing he has experienced the past few days. On Friday, he had Sarah Brown and her family out for a half day of bottom fishing. They experienced nearly non-stop action of fluke and sea bass topped by Sarah's 4-pound sea bass. On Saturday Captain Dave took some friends out for some offshore fishing near the Carteret Canyon. Within 7 minutes they had a mahi-mahi on and steady action throughout the day. They ended the day with 7 mahi-mahi, 2 skip jack, 1 yellow-fin tuna, 1 blue marlin, and 1 white marlin. .
On Sunday Captain Dave had another great trip to the reef with Peter Ruel and crew. They were greeted with near perfect conditions, and the fish cooperated. They filled the fish box with 13 keeper fluke to 4.5 lbs plus countless releases of fluke and sea bass.
Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com
