The current striped bass fishery off Long Beach Island is as good as it has been for a number of years. Some of the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are fishing into December and have some outstanding catches to show for their efforts.
Captain Dave Wittenborn of the “Benita J” sums up the action on a recent trip saying, “I’ve had many good days in the 25-plus years I’ve been running striper charters but none better than today.” He termed the action for the Steward group was “nonstop insanity’ the whole trip. After limiting out in 35-minutes they played catch and release for 4-hours, releasing over 100 fish.
Captain Brett Taylor of “Reel Reaction Sportfishing” had a solid morning this past week which he said, “doesn’t get much better for striped bass.” he had Herman Diaz and nephew Zack aboard. They broke the inlet and found fish everywhere. After boxing their boat limit of 6 bass to 31-inches, they caught and released quite a few more and turned to blackfish. Despite a slow bite, they worked on a few pieces of structure, managing 6 keepers to take home.
Captain Gary Dugan on the “Irish Jig” reports a couple of “great days” recently. He complimented one angler, Brooke, for reeling in three keepers along with some big throwbacks. He had a crew of Philadelphia firemen on another trip where they “kicked butt.”
Captain Ray Lopez of the “Miss Liane” has been finding all the striped bass his anglers could want. In addition to keepers to take home for dinner, his anglers are getting tired from reeling in oversized linesiders.