Captain John Lewis of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association, who runs the charter boat “Insatiable” out of Morrison’s Marina, is walking around with a smile on his face. Captain John says to all who hear him, “The ocean temperatures are finally dropping so the bass cannot be far behind.

 

There are reports of big bass to the north of Long Beach Island feeding on schools of bunker, and these bass should be off Beach Haven any day now. Between the cool weather dropping water temperatures, and northwest winds driving baitfish from the bay waters into the ocean, a perfect recipe seems to be forming for striped bass action.

 

There are currently good numbers of bass in the bay waters, but they seem to be mostly schoolie size fish. The bigger bass are in the ocean and will be caught in two primary ways. Many captains will look for schools of bunker and work their magic with the “snag and drop” technique whereby live bunker are snagged and used immediately as bass candy. The other method is trolling lures such as bunker spoons or Mojos to attract action. Either way, the fish will be in the 25-40 pound category right now.

 

In other BHCFA action, Captain Ray Lopez had the “Miss Liane” out recently looking for tuna and mahi. They left the boat at 3am and once they set up on the troll, they had two fish on immediately. Throughout the day the crew landed over 15 fish for an action packed day.