When I checked Capt. Ron Santee’s web site to see when he will be starting striper fishing with his Fishermen from Atllantic Highlands, I found the following bad news:

“

While thinking of my Sister yesterday who passed three years ago to the day, I get the call that one of my best friends, Captain Bobby Sidorski had passed.

Bob owned and operated the Satellite after taking over the business from his Dad “Whitey”, originally from Highlands before moving to Atlantic Highlands in the early 80’s. He ran my Sandy Hook Lady & the Fishermen from the early 90’s into 2005. To say we had some of the best times of our lives together is an understatement! 

He was the bigger brother and always ended our phone calls with “Love ya like a Brother” right till the end. Bob lost his wife Donna to cancer several years ago and had to raise his two beautiful children Bobby Jr. & Samantha “Sam” all by himself….I think he did an awesome job as they both turned out to be awesome….he even was blessed to have a Grandchild if only for a short time, Bobby Jr. the 3rd.

My heart is broken once again, the only joy I feel this time of year anymore is the fact that all these folks who passed before me were such a good mark on my soul. I shed the tears because I have been blessed to have had them in my life.

Until we sail again Captain…….Love ya like a Brother.“

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Today’s east storm was a killer for fishing, but a shift to west winds should result in good conditions by Monday.

A small craft warning is up through Sunday afternoon. The forecast is for west winds at 20-25 knots before dropping to 15-20 in the afternoon. Actually, that could be fishable in backwaters and along N.J. beaches.

The Ocean Explorer from Belmar didn’t find ocean stripers yesterday as they did the day before, but an early chop smoothed out and they found better bottom fishing with some cod, ling and blackfish biting.

The outlook for Saturday is terrible with east winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30, 5-7-foot seas, and rain.

After Capt. Alan Shinn ran a crew trip Tuesday with Miss Belmar Princess that produced a striper limit in 15 minutes, he started running daily for them at 7:30 only to find that the bass weren’t where they had been. That’s not unusual in the spring as the bait and predators haven’t settled in as yet.

The Ocean Explorer had much better luck Wednesday after starting out on a cod trip. Heavy readings of bunkers led to sightings of stripers just under 38 inches which resulted in hot jigging. Unfortunately. they weren’t as lucky after switching to bottom fishing as only one keeper cod was caught along with short blackfish.

InIet Bait & Tackle in Point Pleasant Beach posted on Facebook that the Norma K III got into “over” stripers that day along with a couple of smaller keepers.

Though we’ve come to expect a March buildup of schoolies in Raritan Bay, those ocean reports are unusually early.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz caught his first large striper of the season while fishing yesterday with Dexter out of Highlands.

Betty & Nick’s Bait & Tackle Fishing Club noted that Nick Canta has been fishing for most of his 78 years and finally caught a striper – a 30-incher which he released.

A small craft warning is up through late tonight for southwest gusts up to 25 knots, but that switches to northwest 10-15 by morning — and further to 5-10 in the afternoon with possible showers. Unfortunately, Saturday is a much different situation with east winds at 20-25 plus gusts to 30 and showers.

Raritan Bay striper fishing looks like the best bet and offers some protection in the rivers.

Capt. Fred Gamboa surely won’t be running his 44-foot Andreas Toy out of Point Pleasant to Hudson Canyon with the Saturday forecast, but is glad he took advantage of yesterday’s weather to get in a day of tilefishing that produced 15 up to 20 pounds before chunking near a showing of dolphins resulted in a 70-pound bluefin tuna that hit a squid..

Butch Pawson proved that white perch are still biting in South Jersey rivers by catching a 2 1/2-pounder today — which is large for that panfish.

March is very early for N.J. tuna fishing, but Andreas Toy made a run out to Hudson Canyon today to catch tilefish — and also trying some chunking that produced the season’s first bluefin. I’m waiting for more info from Capt. Fred Gamboa.

It was no surprise that good striper reports came in today. Capt. Joe Massa fished the rivers across from Morgan Marina with his My Three Sons to castnet adult bunkers which were gobbled up by a half-dozen stripers in the 34-35-inch range. Six more were released from Flutter Spoons.

Capt. Frank Massaria found a full limit of bass up to an 18-punder with his Vitamin Sea from Keyport. He will be running open Sunday and Monday. Call 917 439-5448.

Capt. Alan Shinn ran a crew trip for stripers today with Miss Belmar Princess that produced a limit. As a rtesult he will begin begin sailing daily

Vinny D’Anton has been doing well wading for spotted sea trout in the Sarasota area where red tide hasn’t been a problem lately.

Thursday’s forecast is for southwest winds at 10-15 knots before increasing to15-20 in the afternoon plus showers.

The windy weather finally relented, and the Ocean Exporer from Belmar was able to search for cod with some success. The bottom was lively, and some ling were added. It looks like a go for tomorrow, as the forecast calls for just 5-10 knots southwest before going south 15-20- with gusts to 25 in the afternoon.

The weather is right, and school stripers are biting. The rivers are the best bet so far , and they also provide some protection for anglers when the wind is up.

That shouldn’t be a problem tomorrow with west winds at 10 knots before going southwest and gusting up to 20 in the afternoon.

There are lots of places to hide in South Jersey’s backwaters when wind is a problem, Absecon Bay Sportsman Center reported that Jynn and Jimmy Gifford brought in two stripers over 30 inches caught on St. Patrick’s Day while fishing with bloodworms.

Connor Henchey used a shad to catch this striper while fishing with Capt. Joe Massa out of Morgan Marina on Friday.

Capt. Hans Kaspersetz got off to a good start with Dexter on stripers out of Highlands on Sunday.

The Gambler from Point Pleasant will start their Lazy Man Tautog trips in April as they sail from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Even with windy and cold conditions, Raritan Bay stripers are active enough to indicate a big bite is coming — which could be tomorrow in the fine weather predicted.

A small craft advisory comes down tonight, and by morning it will be west at a mere 10 knots before going southwest in the afternoon.

Capt. Joe Massa sent the photo of his snag hook filled with peanut bunkers that aren’t supposed to be present at this time of year.

Capt. Joe Massa had two unusual reports from Friday’s fishing aboard his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina. A couple of fat legal stripers were kept after being caught on shads upriver at the back of Raritan Bay — and it turned out that they had adult bunkers in their stomachs. It wasn’t surprising that bunkers were there already, but stripers usually don’t feed on them this early. Massa then spotted what appeared to be a bunker school and cast a snag hook to get a bait, but was shocked to see the treble filled with peanut bunkers. Bunkers arrive in the bay full of roe before going back to the ocean to spawn, That results in large quantities of peanuts by late summer, but how could there be peanuts now when spawning hasn’t even started? Peanuts migrate south in the fall, but perhaps they’ve adapted to overwintering in the warmer rivers.

A small craft warning is up through Sunday afternoon as west winds gust over 30 knots after midnight. The morning forecast calls for west winds at 20-25 knots plus gusts to 30.

The Saltwater Expo finishes up Sunday at the NJ. Expo Center in Edison.

The 30th Asbury Park Fishing Club Show in on today from 9-2 at the Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel, 1401 Ocean Ave.. Admittance is $5. It’s a great show for custom lure collectors as almost all regional wood lure artists will be there. Skip Smith’s Skippy plugs will be at the Crazy Dogs display, It was in 1997 that Skip earned his way into the Asbury Park Club by catching a most unusual March ocean jetty striper of 25 3/4 pounds.

Chuck Many reports from Hilton Head, S.C. as follows:

Had calm seas on Thursday, so Bobby and I decided to run out to the inshore reefs and see what we could find. Had a great Black Drum bite on one reef and a bunch of grouper on another (mainly small, but a couple beauties). When we weren’t catching them, other reef critters (sea bass, bluefish, squirrel fish, jacks) made it non stop action. Great day!

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104Greg Prestosh, Alex Katyan and 102 others

Twenty-pound blackfish were virtually unheard of when I was a kid, but they continue to come of areas fished by boats out of Indian River Inlet in Maryland. Veteran angler Dennis Muhlenforth scored the latest with a 20+pound, 31-incher on the Fish Bound from Ocean City.

That tog was released, and was also the 16th of at least 20 pounds caught on Fish Bound over the years.

Capt. Fred Gamboa is busy at the Saltwater Expo which continues through Sunday at the N.J. Expo Center in Edison. but his Andreas Toy is in the water at Perth Amboy and already finding school stripers in the back of Raritan Bay.

The Saturday forecast is for west winds at 10-15 knots plus gusts to 20.

I haven;t been getting ay winter flounder reports, but Tom O’Conner called with his results after a few hours at Belmar this morning when he caught four on sandworms including 13-and14-inch keepers. .

Saltwater Fishing Expo opens tomorrow

The only sportsmans show devoted to saltwater fishing opens tomorrow at the NJ Expo Center in Edison and runs through the weekend. Friday is the ideal time to take in that show as the crowds will be lighter and you’re more likely to be able to interact with the pros at over 200 exhibits. There are also many seminars by pros such as Crazy Alberto Knie. For a complete list of seminars, visit saltwatersportshows.cm. Adult admission is $15, though kids 6-11 pay only $3 — and those under 5 are admitted at no charge.

The show opens from noon to 8 Friday. Saturday hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — and it wraps up Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Rahway Fishing Flea Market is set for Saturday at St. Thomas Church Hall at 1400 St. Georges Ave. Admittance is $5, except for kids 12 and under who don’t pay.

The Saltwater Underground TV segment on surf stripers will air on Sportsman Channel at 10:30 a.m. Friday and at 9 a.m. Sunday.

The gale warnings are down, and morning winds will be south at just 10-15 knots before going west at an ocean calming 15-20 knots in the afternoon.