609-494-5739 BHCFA Weekly Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.
The striped bass action for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has been hit or miss lately, the black sea bass action has been nothing short of outstanding. Both inshore artificial reefs and some wreck sites have been producing “drop and reel” fishing.
Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” reports that there is a good number of keeper sea bass available for drift fishermen. Captain Carl was out with Wade and two friends of his friends, and they managed to catch over 50 fish in about two hours. He has been using the North Cut to travel through the inlet and has found sufficient water to navigate with comfort.
Captain Gary Dugan fished Great Bay last Friday and had several summer flounder to 17.5-inches and one keeper at 19-inches. Saturday was more of the same as he had several fluke again to 17.5-inches along with 3 keepers in the cooler. On Sunday Captain Gary changed direction and went wreck fishing, He reported non-stop drop and reel action with sea bass and big blackfish that had to be returned. His party brought home a cooler of sea bass for the table. Captain Gary feels the fishing is starting to hear up.
Captain Fran Verdi made two trips last weekend on the “Francesca Marie”. On Friday he and his wife did a half-day trip and for a nice mix of sea bass and blackfish on a wreck in 60-feet of water. On Sunday Captain Fran had his whole family join him for their first sea bass trip to wrecks in 70-90 feet of water. His son got the first keeper and the boat’s namesake, Francesca Marie, decided to show why the boat was named after her landing the most keepers. They had a mix of sea bass, blackfish and ling. On the trip in, Francesca turned to her dad and said “sea bass and wreck fishing blows away fluke fishing.” Next up for the Verdi family is a tuna trip.
BHCFA Captains Ray Lopez of the “Miss Liane” and Jimmy Zavacky of the “Reel Determined” donated their time and boats last Saturday to take out groups of wounded veterans. They were participating in the Project Healing Waters in Waretown sponsored by the Holiday Beach Club.
Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.BHCFA.net.
Here’s an awesome offshore fishing report from the crew on the Canyon Runner…
What a way to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day! 7 BIG-EYES FOR 6 HEROES!!! In what only can be described as possible the best day of fishing we’ve ever had all the stars aligned as we took out 6 American Heroes who fought in 5 separate wars – and as it happens – on the Anniversary of D-Day!
This trip was graciously donated by Chris Durnan who unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) smashed up his hand just a couple days before the trip and could not go. Well one post on Facebook to our 38,000 fans and one email to 20,000 subscribers and we had no less than 105 veterans try to get on this trip. The first 6 to reach out got the spots – and we rewarded with a big-eye for each and one for the money! That’s right in just 8 hours of trolling they caught 7 big-eyes – not to mention 17 bluefin up to 135 pounds!
The Crew was Made up the Following Heroes: Art Snyder – USAF pilot – Korean War, Walter Klauser – Navy – Vietnam War, Bill Reynolds – USCG 22 years, Lawrence Harris – USMC then Army – Operation Desert Storm, Dan Smoot – ARMY – Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Jim Young – USMC – Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)
They stormed into the canyons on not the nicest of weather days with Capt. Phil Dulanie on the helm and Capt. Ryan Britt working the pit – with the chance of a lifetime and fishing that is as good as we’ve ever seen it – we waited until the last minute to go to make sure we made the right call – and man did we. Arriving at first light it was immediate action on Canyon Runner Mini-Mamba Bars, Canyon Runner Squid Spreader bars – 6″ – and Joe Shutes with ballyhoo. Most of the action was overboard in deeper water and they never went more than a few minutes without a bite. The big-eyes came as a single early – then the big bluefin of 58″ – then the wolf pack of eye-balls of going 5 for 5. Arms were shot by 3pm and they decided to call it a day then as they big fish box on the 60′ Ritchie was topped off!
We’ve done tons of these trips – took over 200 veterans fishing for free – have another free trip coming up on July 4th – but by far this is the best one yet and perhaps one of the best fishing days we’ve ever had!
LOOKS LIKE THE ONLY DATE LEFT UNTIL LATE JULY IS JUNE 18-19 ON THE 48 VIKING – CALL ASAP. WHOLE BOAT OR OPEN BOAT – WHICH EVER FILLS UP FIRST
You Better Call ASAP if interested: 732-272-4445
