by With a good forecast drawing lots of boaters, I suspected that striper fishing in Rartan Bay might have been tough today — but that wasn’t the case! At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen had his best action right away as Chris Zotti caught two legal bass and three shorts in the first hour before ending up with a total of seven legal bass and 14 shorts. Morris Duckett boated a 23-pound pool bass, and the first fluke of the season was released — a 4-pounder. Santee said clams worked best as they caught over 20 keeper bass plus lots of shorts.
Capt. Rob Semkewyc had a similar report from his Sea Hunter with a super start followed by a pick the rest of the day.
A Sea Hunter striper from last Saturday
At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported a beautiful ocean as they saw some stripers, but the fish wouldn’t hit.
The Ocean Explorer found lots of bottom life in the flat ocean, and a 7-pound blackfish that came up early ended up taking the pool. A few fares bagged two to three tog, and there were also some legal cod and a pollock.
The forecast for Sunday is NW 5-10 knots, switching to SW in the afternoon. Seas range from one foot early to two feet in the afternoon.
Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park reports lots of small bass in the surf on clams, paddletails, bucktails and small swimmers. One angler reported bunkers coming close enough to be snagged, but there were no takers for that live bait.
Sunday is the last day for pre-registration for the Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament on May 20 at Island Beach State Park. The adult fee of $20 is reduced to $15, and you won’t have to be at Pavillion 2 that morning in order to sign up at 5:30 a.m. for the 6:30-1 contest. Visit http://www.njfishandwildlife.com for forms and info.
Tank Matraxia of Lyndhurst and Emil Pavalac fished a couple of days last week at Cedar Key on the northern Gulf coast of Florida. Cousins Steve and Jimbo Keith put them into limits of spotted sea trout and redfish, including eight redfish that got ALS tags, but Tank lost a big tripletail after working hard to get a hit from those fish that hang around crab pot buoys and channel markers.
The Tackle Box in Hazlet sent along this shot of Matthew Loiselle of the Urban Jersey Fishing Team with a 44-inch striper from shore before its release
Tight Lines 
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