The Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association is Looking for Junior Mates!

The Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association has announced it will once again be sponsoring its Junior Mates Program this summer in Beach Haven, NJ. Interested teenagers are welcome.

The BHCFA is a group of fishing captains from the Beach Haven area who have banded together to further the sport of recreational fishing while also assisting in a variety of local worthwhile causes. The Junior Mates Program is a series of classes designed to teach youngsters many of the techniques and ideas related to fishing while also preparing them to serve as mates on fishing boats.

Most of the classes are on Thursday evenings at the New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven and feature mostly hands-on learning. Classes will begin on Thursday, June 28, with a last class on Thursday, August 16 followed the next day with a Junior Mate fishing tournament.

The classes begin at 7pm and include a variety of topics including knot tying, bait preparation, fish cleaning, first aid, and other subjects. One of the highlights will be a two-night session where the teenagers will take the New Jersey Boater Safety Class and earn their official boat operator’s license.

Class signup is for teenagers who are 13 years of age and over by August 1 of this year. Most of the students remain in the program for several years as normally it takes three seasons of training to become achieve Charter Boat Mate Certification.

There is a cost of $25 to register for the program along with a cost for the US Coast Guard approved drug testing program including the “pre-employment” test.

Complete information can be obtained at www.BHCFA.net, or by calling either Captain John Lewis at 609-670-5980 or Captain Jimmy Zavacky at 609-915-2498.