As is typical of early fall fishing in the Beach Haven area, there is a multiple variety of species available to be caught. Recent fishing trips by captains and mates of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association reflected this.
Captain Jimmy Zavacky of the “Reel Determined” had a recent offshore fishing trip to the Wilmington Canyon. Onboard were Patrick Zavacky, Captain Ray Lopez, and Steve Palmer, owner of Jingles Bait and Tackle.
The trip out was smooth and they got into some mahi almost immediately as they trolled until dark. Once on station they began to troll for tuna and ended up with a nice number of mahi. At nightfall they began the drift and boated a nice swordfish right away, which was a keeper and went into the box. In the morning they began trolling once again around the lobster pots catching many mahi as they looked for big eye tuna. During the troll, Captain Ray landed a big wahoo.
Reflecting on the trip, Palmer noted that in all his years of fishing, his father in law had always asked him to bring him home some swordfish steaks. Prior to this fall, he could not fulfill the request. This trip with Captain Jimmy meant he finally had some swordfish to bring home.
Captain Carl Sheppard had 12 members of the Smith family from Maple Shade out on the “Star Fish” to celebrate a birthday. After hooking up over 20 blues in the Beach Haven Inlet and Holgate area, they headed out to do some fun “catch and release” bottom fishing. An hour and a quarter of fishing netted 40 black sea bass up 17-inches, one lost porgy, and a fluke. The party returned to dock in high spirits, planning for their next birthday trip.
Junior mate Max Goldman fished the73rd annual World Series Surf Tournament sponsored by the Long Beach Island Fishing Club. He was fishing as a member of Team Creekside Outfitters who took third place in the event. His team caught over 35 fish, mostly bluefish and fluke with nine-year-old Luke Celeste beaching a black tip shark. Congrats to Max who took first place youth angler overall, in addition to largest fish and most fish caught by a youth angler.
Additional information on the BHCFA can be found at www.BHCFA.org.