The charter captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are excited about entering what may be the most productive fishing period of the year. As the coolness of the spring evolves into the summer, a variety of fish are being caught.
The striped bass season continues strong with bigger fish appearing in the ocean, and smaller fish in the bay waters. While most of the fish in the bay are undersized, there are enough keepers around to make things interesting. In addition to the stripers, a good number of drumfish are around along with bluefish of varying sizes. A surprise this spring has been the appearance of good numbers of weakfish.
Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing had client Aaron Edelman and crew out this past weekend for some of that bay fishing action. They found an isolated school of weakfish very early and the anglers kept 5 weaks to 6 pounds while releasing 35 others. Towards the end of the trip, they hit an off-channel area to put 2 keeper striped bass in the boat while releasing 6 others. The crew added a few small blues in the mix.
But what has most anglers excited are the openings of two popular fishing seasons. The black sea bass season opened last Saturday to rave reviews. This Saturday, May 22, the long-awaited summer flounder season begins. The BHCFA captains will be targeting both species.
Captain Gary Dugan of Irish Jig Sportfishing had three parties out over the weekend on successful trips. The first trip was a three-man party who limited out o drop and reel action, especially on their first wreck stop. The next trip has a few less keepers but had non-stop action with a nice ling, some keeper sea bass, and a huge blackfish which was released. The final trip on Sunday was five anglers who put some big fish in the box along with a lot of catch and release blackfish.