Although there continues to be a variety of fish available in the Long Beach area, the main focus right now for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is fluke.
The fluke have begun their annual summer migration from the bay waters to the ocean, and the catches on the inshore reefs reflect that movement. In addition to the presence of the fluke, some nice catches of black sea bass are occurring in the same waters.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Starfish” and mate Max had a local group of friends out for a day of fishing. The crew drifted many local wrecks and caught nearly 60 fish including 2 keeper fluke up to 19.5-inches and 8 keeper sea bass up to 16-inches. Over the course of several days Captain Carl reports some trips have produced more than others, but all are offering constant action on both fluke and sea bass.
Captain Gary Dugan has made some trips on the “Irish Jig” to the reefs and guided his dad on three nice fluke for the dinner table. Another party ended up with some decent sized fish with one a very fat 24-incher weighing almost 6-pounds.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction” Sportfishing reports red hot fluke action and notices the fish are “definitely starting to move.” He had Bill Pryor, his daughter Haley, and family friend Robert Doheny on a 4-hour bay trip. The crew as able to put 7 keeper fluke in the cooler while releasing over 35. Many of the throwbacks were a fraction of an inch too short. Another half day trip saw Keith Murphy boating over 30 fish with 5 keepers.
The canyon and mid-range tuna action continues to shine with greater numbers of mahi-mahi starting to show up in addition to more king mackerel than usual.