The big news this past week for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association was the deployment of 16 concrete reef balls at the Little Egg Artificial Reef. This is the second major deployment engineered by the Association and its Junior Mates Program.
These reef balls will provide fish habitat to improve the fishability of the reef site. Captain John Lewis, president of the BHCFA, was quick to praise local community members and business owners for their financial support of the program.
Some of the reef balls placed this week were sponsored by Jingles Bait and Tackle, the Sea Shell Resort and Beach Club, and Johnson and Towers. Cost of sponsoring one of the balls is $500, and Lewis will gratefully accept any donations.
One of the reef balls was given in honor of local fishing enthusiast Dave Bohan who recently passed away.
Future plans call for more placements at the Little Egg Site, the Garden State South Reef, and perhaps other area sites.
In recent fishing action Captain Brett Taylor of ReeI Reaction Sport fishing had Alex Gal and his wife Sharon on a 4-hour light-tackle charter. They worked a few spots to boat “a ton of northern puffers” keeping 25 for the table. They switched gears and hit a few different manmade snags in the bay. They released over a dozen female blackfish to 14.5 inches and a few sea bass. The trip ended with a nice sunset as the couple celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary.