The hot temperatures of July are warming the ocean and bay waters in the Beach Haven area. As a result of this, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are finding some fishy visitors from the south on their lines.
Recently the crew of the “StarFish” trolled the Barnegat Ridge to see what they could turn up. They managed to boat four big king mackerel, keeping three for the dinner table. King mackerel are native to the south Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Captain John Lewis of the “Insatiable” reports he has been catching mostly black sea bass on inshore structure with some nice sized keepers. One trip was a surprise with no sea bass, but 26 fluke came across the rails up to 4-pounds. Captain John remarked that you never know what will happen on a day’s fishing.
Captain Brett Taylor of Real Reaction Sport Fishing has been running charters practically every day of the week, even twice a day at times. After several days of hard fishing, Captain Brett reported he took a much-needed day of rest on Sunday. Recently he had the Bob Reim charter out for a 4-hour bay trip. Despite some tough tide conditions and very warm water, he was able to find a couple of cooler spots which produced over 25 shorts and 5 solid keepers for the table. He also had Matt Bailey out on his second trip of the week. They hit the Atlantic to box 10 keeper black sea bass. In addition to the sea bass, they had good action on sea robins and short fluke while managing to keep two fluke to 24-inches.
The BHCFA Junior Mates classes are in full swing with a complement of youngsters learning the details of becoming a mate. Last week’s class dealt with “man overboard” drills and boating safety.