Saturday we had aboard Jeff and his group of guys for a monster bluefish trip. We motored out to the Mud Buoy and it was non stop action. The water was a very clean green with a temperature of 66 degrees. The guys had the rods bent in half most of the time. We had some double headers and even a triple on at once. They would reel in one or two fish and then take a break as these fish were tackle busters. The smallest one I weighed went 12 lbs. and the largest was 15 lbs.!! These were big, fat, healthy fish. The cooler was full in no time and then the rest of the day it was catch and release. All smiles and sore arms on the way in !! A very funny thing happened as soon as we were anchored up and started fishing. A yellow and black bird landed on one angler’s head and sat there for over 20 minutes. I told him to keep reeling in the bluefish but don’t move you head. You could see the little bird huffing and puffing from being out of breath 10 miles offshore. He needed a rest and provided some great photos and laughs. Thursday I had out on the boat my niece and nephew, Nicole and Richie Reck for their first crabbing trip ever. We went up into the Naversink river using hand lines and chicken for bait. In about 3 hours, they landed 63 keeper crabs. They had great fun pulling up the crabs and trying to scalp them. We lost about another dozen in the process, but they sure had fun. We were even netting number 1 Jimmies swimming by the boat. This was my second crabbing trip of the season and it was great both times. It is surely a great season for crabs. Dates available to charter are: Sept. 14, 15, 16, 18, 20-23. Striper season is right around the corner!! You will see attached the bluefish catch and the bird on the angler’s head.

THANK YOU.

CAPT. RICH NEWALLIS JR.

‘JUST ONE MORE’ SPORTFISHING

www.just1morecharters.com

908-472-2684

Now that fluke season has ended, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have several options available before the onset of striped bass season. In addition to offshore trips to the canyons for tuna, mahi, and other big sport fish, they are managing to find some other good fishing. Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” found some good numbers of croakers in 70-feet of water off the red tower in Beach Haven. Mixed in with the croakers were some “spike” weakfish. When he moved out into 90-feet of water, his anglers found some keeper black sea bass along with some small fluke. He has also been picking up small bluefish and herring in the inlet on his way out and in from the ocean fishing. Captain Fran Verdi of the “Drop Off” says that he plans to concentrate his wreck fishing on sea bass. He notes the fish are coming off their spawning season and the bite has been showing a definite improvement over what it has been. He is continuing to run open boat trips in addition to his charters. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).

The boats of the Beach Haven Charter fishing Association have been sneaking out on successful fishing trips in between northeasters and tropical storms. Captain Carl Sheppard on the “Star Fish” reports he had some great trips. The spawning season for the black sea bass is just about over and he sees improvement in the catches of sea bass. He says there are occasional keeper fluke in the back bay, but the best action is in the ocean. Both the Little Egg and Garden State South Reefs provided im with some keeper fluke. He is also picking up a dozen bluefish each day around the inlet on his way out to the reefs. Captain Fran Verdi reports his parties are coming home with a mixed bag of fluke and sea bass. He has also gotten some good reports of croakers and small weakfish along the beach the last couple of days. He plans to target sea bass when the fluke season closes on September 6 and work on them until the stripers arrive. Captain Lindsay Fuller of the “June Bug” had a fluke trip for the Jeff Lawrence party recently. Although the keeper fluke did not cooperate, some nice keeper sea bass did. Captain Lindsay praised mate Pat Zazaky for his work in the cockpit and getting tangles straightened out. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).

The weekly report from the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association prior to the recent northeaster reveals that Captain Dave Wittenborn on the “Compass Rose” has seen an upturn in the fishing action when the winds shifted to the east which brought in some warmer waters. With the ocean temperatures now in the mid to upper 70’s, he is seeing some of the best ocean fluking of the summer. He has been getting some great catches of fluke and sea bass with fluke to 23-inches and tipping the scale over 5-pounds. He has also picked up some nice bluefish along the beach while trolling Clarke spoons. Captain George Finck of “Sparetime Charters” reports a canyon trolling trip with Kenny Lieb and his school friends where they returned with a nice catch of yellowfin tuna and mahi. He has also had some inshore reef fishing for decent catches of keeper fluke. Captain Fran Verdi had an “open boat” trip on Saturday despite some sloppy seas. Once the wind switched the waves calmed. Drifting with a combination of bucktails and live bait, they had steady action, mostly on shorts with many less than ½ inch short. In addition to the good action the group finished the day with 4 fluke and 6 black sea bass in the fish box. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).

The summer may be starting to draw to a close, but the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association are still fishing and catching in high gear. In the most unusual catch of the summer, Captain Tim Knorr of the charter boat “William Knorr” had the John Donegan party out for a night chumming trip at the Barnegat Ridge for bluefish. At some point during the night’s fishing they hooked up with something that they knew was entirely too big to be a bluefish. When they finally got the fish to the boat and aboard, they discovered they had a 69-pound cobia. Very often cobia are caught very late in the summer around Little Egg Inlet but this is rare for the middle of the summer. Cobia are reputed to be one of the most delicious fish around. Captain Fran Verdi of the “Drop Off” reports big swells and high winds have made fishing a bit difficult on the local artificial reefs. On Friday he fished a reef and found some short fluke and one keeper sea bass. He says the sea bass are still spawning and are actually piled high on the bottom but have little interest in feeding right now. Captain Fran will keep targeting fluke until the end of the season on September 6 and then turn his attention to sea bass which should be done spawning. He adds the keeper ratio is better in the ocean than the bay. Of all the baits he uses, he prefers the tradition squid and minnow sandwich over everything else. Captain Carl Sheppard of the “Star Fish” reports the fishing was a bit slow due to the cooler water temperatures, but he was fortunate to find some fish. He located some keeper fluke in the Little Egg Inlet as well as some farther offshore. He has been using both Gulp and clam. On Sunday the McKay family from East Windsor had a solid day of fishing including some big black sea bass caught by eight year old Molly McKay. The “Hot Tuna” and its charter braved some strong east winds last Saturday mid-day to head offshore for a 24 hour canyon chunking trip. The party, organized by Mike Kellogg, found pleasant overnight chunking conditions but only caught one small mako. They did net over 100 squid attracted by the lights. The evening and morning trolling portions of the trip worked better as they produced 4 yellowfin tuna, a wahoo and bonito. Capt Bob Gerkens of the “Hot Tuna” was assisted on the charter by Captain Fran Verdi, who took a day off from his own charters to run the cockpit, with the assistance of Junior Mate Pat Zavacky. Additional information on the association can be found at www.BHCFA.com or by calling 1-877-LBI-BHCFA (1-877-524-2423).