Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association Fishing Report
by Jim Hutchinson Sr.

Last weekend’s northeast storm pretty much put a stop to Memorial Day fishing efforts for the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. The ocean was completely unfishable for a few days while the bay waters were rough, and the bottom churned up.

Some of the captains managed to make some fishing trips once conditions settled down and found the fish were still around.

The “Star Fish” with Captain Carl Sheppard and mates Jon and Max had a local family out for a day of active bottom fishing. According to Max the crew caught many fish, filling the boat with good times and smiles. 

Captain Gary Dugan of the “Irish Jig” made a quick scouting trip with his wife Tracy. Tracy saved the day boating a nice fluke for a fresh fish dinner.

Captain Brett Taylor of Reel Reaction Sportfishing managed a couple of trips while fighting some strong winds. Mike Pikulin and family worked hard in bay waters to put some 35 fluke over the rail and boxed 4 for the table to 22.5-inches. Paul Kaufman and crew working a variety of bay areas on their 4-hour charter with Captain Brett. The guys did a great job boxing 6 keepers while releasing many more. Finally, Bob Dodds and “Boston Bob” fished some new areas. Not only did they boat 30 fluke, they also caught their limit of 9 fish. 

With some calmer ocean waters in the forecast, the black sea bass action will be picking up, and there are reports of some big stripers still being trolled up in the ocean on spoons.

Additional information on the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at  www.BHCFA.org.

We are running Open Boat or Charter this Sat-Sun-Mon June 5-6-7, 6AM to Noon. $175 person, 4 people max, all fish are shared.The marine forecast looks good for each of these days in the morning and then it blows up in the afternoon, when we’re already back. 

The target? We have some options. If the ocean is calm, we could try the reef for sea bass. That’s not our expertise, but we’ve been doing pretty good there lately. We could drift for fluke in the bay, that’s been pretty good on either moving tide. I would say we could cast the jetty, but I prefer the incoming tide for that, and with the weekend boat traffic as another factor, I’m not optimistic about how that may go. If I’m wrong and we catch it with light traffic and birds working, we always have those rods rigged and ready. Lastly, we are trolling some small blues on the west side of the bay with light rods and swimming plugs.
We are also sailing Open Boat, Wed, June 9, 11AM to 5PM $175 person, room for two more people, only 3 anglers on this one. 

Dave DeGennaro

Hi Flier Sportfishing

732.330.5674

hiflier.com