Light tackle sport with Raritan Bay stripers

The west wind was stronger than predicted, and there weren’t as many birds as yesterday at the mouth of Raritan Bay when I joined Mark Roy on his Release Me from Raritan Marina this morning, but we soon spotted good marks that allowed us to pick away with school stripers. That action died after awhile, but we stuck around long enough to find more bass further back in the bay during the afternoon.

The release count was up to  48 by the time we returned, though that included only one 28-incher that I measured . However, there were lots of slots, including several 25-26 inchers. All were on Tsunami and Storm shads. See photo below with a double ready for release.

A small craft advisory is up for tomorrow, with 20-25 knot northwest winds plus gusts to 30 by the afternoon. Most boats are canceling for Friday, so be sure to check before coming down.

Capt. Vinny Vetere didn’t have anyone to join him for “monster” striper fishing yesterday, so he went out himself on Katfish from Great Kills to try out new colors on his TGT bunker spoons. The monster he was looking for turned out to be only ounces short of 60 pounds!

The Golden Eagle from Belmar once again found lots of uncooperative stripers on the surface, but did catch some along with large bonito. They won’t be sailing until Saturday — nor will the Big Mohawk from Belmar.

Bud Mc Arthur was fishing with friends ot of Manasquan Inlet this morning and tried snagging the abundant bunkers there, However, spiny dogfish ate them as fast as they snagged that prime striper bait. Trolling ended up producing a 35-pounder.

Vinny D’Anton got word of a surf striper blitz yesterday morning at Sandy Hook, but found nothing there today.f

The Big Jamaica from Brielle  is taking reservations (732 528-5104) for an offshore wreck trip for jumbo sea bass on Saturday. The Paramount will take the Saturday night bluefish trip at 7:30 p.m.