Beach Haven Charter Fishing Report Update Sept 13, 2018

by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Recent storms accompanied by high winds and large waves have kept the boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association at the dock. These conditions along with the landfall of Hurricane Florence to the south have the captains thinking of their own storm contingency plans.

Captain Dave Kreines of the “Byte Me” says he keeps an eye on the weather and plays it by ear. He adds extra lines and plans to pull his boat out of the water on a trailer if the storm looks bad. If it just looks like a lot of rain he inspects his bilge pumps to be sure they are ready to go with batteries fully charged. .He plans to be back at the fluke grounds when things calm down.

Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” feels it is necessary to provide enough scope on the dock lines so that the boat can raise with the water level, and not be held down by the lines.” In Hurricane Sandy there was a rise of about seven feet. The second issue is to assure that the moorings or pilings or dock cleats to which you are securing your vessel are up to the strain, if in doubt, move her to another location that will be secure. If you are thinking of hauling, most insurance companies will pay 50% of the cost of hauling for a named storm hitting your area. Place split rubber hose over the line where it might chafe the boat. Expect to lose power for a while, so take out anything from your fridge or freezer that will go bad when the power goes off. Be sure your bilge pumps are working and the battery fully charged.”

Captain Carl says after the storm it will be time to go fishing. Fluke season will be followed by black sea bass and then by stripers. He was catching lots of short fluke, with a ratio of 20 shorts to 1 keeper, and many sea bass out on the inshore reefs before the storms started.

Captain Lindsay Fuller had run two Mid-Range Tuna trips on the “June Bug.” right before the storm to the 30 Fathom Knuckle finding no tuna but did catch some mahi to30-pounds. Captain Lindsay has made deposits on foul weather availabilty to get hauled at Jersey Cape Yachts in case of a real hurricane threat.

Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at www.bhcfa.net