Beach Haven is a bay-side base on southern Long Beach Island, and boats reach the Atlantic through Little Egg Inlet or the nearby Beach Haven Inlet. This page covers mahi-mahi fishing from the port. For inlet, ramp and harbor detail, start with the Beach Haven port page. Mahi are not documented from Beach Haven specifically. What follows separates what local reporting says from the regional pattern. For the wider coast, see the mahi-mahi fishing in the Atlantic Northeast and the Atlantic Northeast offshore fishing guide.
When mahi-mahi show up off Beach Haven
No month for mahi is tied to this port. Local charter reporting describes the Mud Hole bite as strongest in summer and fall and names mahi among the fish taken there, but it does not tie that season to mahi or to Beach Haven boats. Along the Northeast coast, mahi are a late-summer and early-fall fish. They follow warm Gulf Stream water and warm-core eddies onto the shelf, and they leave as that water retreats. The window is shorter and later than farther south.
Where boats run from Beach Haven
Garden State South Reef lies about 5.1 nautical miles off the beach and roughly 9.1 nautical miles from Little Egg Inlet. The Mud Hole has no distance or bearing from Beach Haven in the reporting. Charter material names Hudson Canyon, the state’s largest and most northern canyon, as a canyon ground, but no run distance is given. No bearing from the inlet is documented for any ground here, so confirm headings on a current chart and check conditions yourself.
Grounds and structure
The state’s artificial reefs are the closest named structure. Little Egg Reef has no depth or distance documented. Garden State South Reef is a small reef of about 0.06 square miles, and the reporting that names it lists fluke, sea bass, blackfish and porgies, not mahi.
The Mud Hole is a trench with depths of about 80 to 240 feet. Its wrecks are the Arundo, at 90 to 150 feet, the IP Goulandris, at 190 feet, and the Oil Wreck, at 100 to 170 feet. Monster Ledge lies at 25 to 40 fathoms. A Beach Haven operator also names the Triple Wrecks, the Fingers, Glory Hole and Lobster Claw as grounds that usually produce fish. None of these is documented as a mahi spot, so treat them as reef and wreck stops, and look for mahi on the warm water and floating cover between them.
How mahi-mahi are fished out of Beach Haven
No mahi method is documented for this port, so the general approach for the species applies. Troll a spread of ballyhoo and skirted lures along the edge of a warm-water break or weedline, and add feathers or a bird teaser. When a fish shows, stop and pitch cut or live bait to it. Keep one hooked fish in the water so the school stays with the boat. Where floating debris and pot buoys are scattered, run and gun from one to the next, giving each a short look.
Who fishes for mahi-mahi out of Beach Haven
The Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is an association of licensed captains whose listed species include mahi-mahi, along with tuna, white and blue marlin, wahoo and swordfish. The reporting gives no season or method for mahi on its boats.
No mahi or dolphin tournament is documented for Beach Haven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a mahi season out of Beach Haven?
No month is documented for this port. Along the Northeast coast, mahi arrive with warm water in late summer and leave in early fall, so the window follows the water rather than a set date.
How far offshore do Beach Haven boats find mahi?
No mahi distance is documented for this port. The closest named reef is about 5 nautical miles out and is reported for bottom fish.
Do the wrecks and reefs hold mahi?
The reporting names them for bottom fish and general fishing and documents no mahi on any of them. Mahi are more often found on floating cover and temperature edges.
