Paul Haertel of the JCAA sent the following release about Saturday’s statewide JCAA Fluke Tournament in which it appears most entrants will be hard-pressed to avoid winning valuable prizes.

“Please consider joining our 26th annual fluke tournament. We only had 53 entrants as of 6/3 and we are giving out thousands of dollars worth of prizes. Enter our doormat fluke category for just $25 and if you catch the largest fluke over 12 lbs. you will win 50 K cash. There is also a $1200 cash prize for the largest fluke caught in each of our 7 regions. The cash prizes are guaranteed regardless of the number of entrants. There are 1st to 7th prizes for each region so just about everyone may win a prize.

To top it off there will be a Grand Prize Raffle for a 14′ G3 boat, 20 HP Yamaha engine and a Yacht Club Trailer. All entrants who come to the awards ceremony will be eligible for the drawing. The awards ceremony will be at Resorts Casino in AC with registration beginning at around 5 PM on 6/17/22. We will have plenty of door prizes, a 50/50 and all those who come will receive $25 in match play or $10 in slot play. We need to fill up the room so bring all you family and friends and make a night of it!

For complete details or to enter online or to print out a mail in or fax in application go to http://www.jcaa.org The fax number is 732-506-6975. Applications will also be taken via phone at 732-506-6565. If there is no answer please leave a message and we will call you.”

To top it off there will be a Grand Prize Raffle for a 14′ G3 boat, 20 HP Yamaha engine and a Yacht Club Trailer. All entrants who come to the awards ceremony will be eligible for the drawing. The awards ceremony will be at Resorts Casino in AC with registration beginning at around 5 PM on 6/17/22. We will have plenty of door prizes, a 50/50 and all those who come will receive $25 in match play or $10 in slot play. We need to fill up the room so bring all you family and friends and make a night of it!

For complete details or to enter online or to print out a mail in or fax in application go to www.jcaa.org The fax number is 732-506-6975. Applications will also be taken via phone at 732-506-6565. If there is no answer please leave a message and we will call you back.”

Vinny D’Anton fished sand fleas in the Monmouth County surf and hooked into a striper considerably larger than expected. After a good battle on light surf tackle he released a 34-incher. A couple of small bass were added, but nothing else hit there this morning.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another beautiful day at sea along with lots of sea bass and some ling.

The forecast is for south winds at 10-15 knots before increasing to 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon.

Fisherman’s Headquarters in Long Beach Island reported a surfcasters day of a lifetime yesterday for Jim Crane who not only released a 51-inch striped bass (probably weighing in the upper forties) — and then added a large black drum plus two bluefish. Crane said the bass took him one beach south and then four beaches north. No details yet on bait used.

Vinny D’Anton has been trying to catch stripers on sand fleas from Monmouth County beaches without getting a hit until this morning when he and Frank Manzi caught mostly 26-to-30-inchers on the mole crabs.

Boat fishing for stripers continued at a high pace from plenty of keepers in Raritan Bay to trophy bass in the ocean such as the one below on Tyman from Highlands,

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands ended up with another good catch of sea bass plus a few ling while a cod that hit a jig took the pool.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a slow start to sea bass fishing this morning in a strong current, but the bite improved along with better conditions as some ling and whiting were also boated. The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported Friday’s sea bass fishing produced an early boat limit on jigs.

Northeast winds at just 5 knots are predicted for Monday before shifting to south in the afternoon.

Capt. Mark DeBlasio reports his second offshore trip was another great success.

The Whitesell party boated 18 yellowfin tuna, a bluefin tuna, a mako and the first three dolphin reported to the north during the June 2-3 trip. The area fished wasn’t specified, but I suspect it’s far to the east,

The weather was perfect for that trip, and it continues as the forecast is for northeast winds at 5-10 knots before going south in the afternoon.

No official results have been issued for Friday’s Manhattan Cup, but Capt. Brian Rice of Jersey Devil Sportfishing noted on Facebook that his winning streak with Jim Hutchinson’s party continued as they had the winning wounded warrior and also the largest striper om bait.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported another super day of sea bass fishing as most fares limited.

Vinny D’Anton has heard of some surf stripers on sand fleas though he hasn’t been able to get a hit on then so far at Spring Lake. Yet, Vinny continues to pick a few bass on the same lures he uses for sea trout in Sarasota.

Striped bass fishing has been so good for so long this spring that it’s hard to believe that ever bigger linesiders continue to be hooked. Indeed, the big problem for those wanting a striper for dinner is often finding one small enough to be legal.

Ironically, bunker schools have been scarce this year. However, if you can find those baits Capt. Joe Massa at Morgan Marina says you should have no problem catching keepers in the back of Raritan Bay.

The largest stripers seem to be falling to those trolling or using live baits off the Jersey Shore out to the three-mile limit. Since all of those fish have to go back, be sure to get the fork length and girth so you can release them without harm and use the formula (length x girth squared divided by 800) to get a personal record weight.

Sea bass continue to please most anglers, and fluke fishing remains best in warmer internal waters. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported good sea bass action when drifting conditions improved after a slow start. Some ling and a big monkfish (angler) were added.

The forecast is for calm waters with a northwest breeze at 5-10 knots before shifting to south in the afternoon.

I didn’t get a press release this year, and the Manhattan Cup is suddenly upon us. That very worthy event raises funds for disabled vets while also giving them a chance to enjoy a day of sportfishing for stripers and blues with captains who volunteer their boats for the contest. The weather looks good, and anyone wishing to participate can check for a spot on one of the boats sailing out of Liberty Landing in Jersey City can e-mail manhattencup.com. Some years they end up after the big breakfast with skippers short of anglers.

The forecast is for northeast winds at just 5-10 knots before switching to southwest in the afternoon. Patchy fog and showers are possible in the morning.

Capt. Vinny Vetere will be fishing the contest,but is open over the weekend with Katfish from Great Kills for charter or even individual reservations.

Capt. Ron Santee reported a return to comfortable drifting conditions for sea bass on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands. He said everyone went home with plenty of meat, and a fluke took the pool. That boat is chartered Saturday.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a similar report with most fares limiting on sea bass while adding some ling.

Betty and Nick’s Tackle in Seaside Park reported a repeat of afternoon surfcasting for big blues on bunker and topwater lures.

New Jersey has a free freshwater fishing day on Saturday. Anglers don’need a license or tout stamp, but all other regulations remain the same.

The IGFA continues its preview of their annual online auction which goes live at 8 a.m. Sunday.

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Jim Gates is a regular at Point Pleasant Canal and in the Bay Head surf, but had to troll for this big striper.

Justin Strehl fished a jig and crab on light tackle off the Jersey Shore last fall to boat a 22 1/2-pound tautog which has been accepted as a 20-pound line class world record by the IGFA

Justin was fishing on Capt. Frank Tenore’s Fins on Feathers when the huge tog hit. That catch broke a record which had stood for over 60 years.

The forecast for today looked good, but it turned out to be cool, windy and rough. That worked at well for surfcasters fishing the beach at Seaside Park when Betty and Nick’s reported a blitz of big bluefish on topwaters going on at 12:58.

Boaters took a beating getting out to the sea bass grounds, but still did well at anchor. The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands added ling to the large sea bass topped by a 2 1/2-pounder for Scott Scuderi.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar released blackfish up to 10 pounds. Fluke and ling also hit.

I haven’t been hearing anything about sportfishing for sharks at this prime time since makos have been protected. Yet a mako got stranded this morning at Point Pleasant on Long Island. That’s very unusual for a strictly oceanic shark species which looked to be unmarked, but must have been sickly.

Greg Prestosh had all the action with stripers from 26 to 43 pounds that he could handle during a solo trip.

Capt. Mark DeBlasio posted news on Facebook of a big breakthrough offshore today. I attempted to copy it for the blog, but ended up losing everything. Blue Runner had a bluefin that made giant size which was kept as their yearly trophy tuna. They also released bluefins up to 100 pounds and even broke through with the first yellowfin.

The ideal offshore weather continues tomorrow with southwest winds at 10 knots — and there’s nothing stronger predicted into the weekend!

Nick Honachefsky reported catching some school stripers and blues in the Brick surf recently while casting a black Bomber. He was also getting some light nips and slowed up his retrieve to hook weakfish of 33 and 34 inches. Another big weakfish was lost. Those were the first large surf weakfish he has heard of north of Cape May in many years. I certainly haven’t received any such reports either.

Nick from Monmouth tried casting a soft plastic from a local beach on Saturday and was pleased to catch school stripers even though the action didn’t last long.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported almost a boat limit of sea bass today while releasing over 500 shorts. They also caught some blackfish, ling, fluke and large cunners.

Maeve Donnelly was aboard Shanakee out of Manasquan Inlet when Dr. Pat Donnelly put his holiday crew into a quick limit of sea bass.

Though the season has been open long enough for NJ sea bass to be somewhat overfished, sea bass reports continue to be glowing. Capt. Mark DeBlasio said his Water Proof enjoyed such a savage bite today that they had a boat limit by 7:15.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had lots of limits as clams proved to be most effective.

The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had fine drifting conditions during a beautiful day which produced sea bass up to a 4-pound pool winner.

The fine weather continues with southwest winds at 5 knots before increasing to south at 10-15 plus gusts to 20 in the afternoon.

Those anglers seeking personal record striped bass have a very good chance of doing so in NY/NJ Bight any day before the Hudson River stock finishes spawning and the same fish become a lot lighter.

The reason we are seeing so many big stripers now is because all of them must be released. That means there is no possibility of a record. Even a potential record kept alive in a fish well won’t be accepted by the IGFA as only those legal to be kept can be entered.

Chuck Many uses a 60-pound scale that he gets tested by the IGFA to weigh his released stripers, on Tyman (see 53-pounder below) that’s only for his own records as the IGFA requires fish to be weighed on land if submitted for record status.

For your own purposes, the formula is accepted by most anglers as a valid estimate. Use a tape to take the length to the fork of the tail (not tail tip)) and the girth at the widest spot. You can’t determine much about a striper’s weight without the girth. Then multiply the girth squared by the length and divide by 800.

Sea bass reports remain positive. The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands had steady action today along with a 5-pound tautog that had to go back plus a 23-inch pool-winning cod.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar had a beautiful day offshore with close to a boat limit of sea bass. They also had both spotted hake and red hake (king).

Tomorrow looks great, with southwest winds at 5 knots before going south in the afternoon.

Hot fishing and decent weather should make for a pleasant and productive Memorial Day weekend.

It wasn’t many years ago that we used to look forward to an ocean blitz of big stripers moving up from Chesapeake Bay, but there’s already been such great striper action that it’s hard to imagine it getting much better.

The forecast for Sunday is for an ideal north at 5-10 knots before shifting to south in the afternoon.

As noted yesterday, trolling off the beaches has been excellent for those seeking big bass that have to be released. Raritan Bay is a better bet for keepers. Bob Correll flew up from Florida to fish on the bay with Capt. Joe Massa on My Three Sons from Morgan Marina. Bunkers were tough to cast net, but the bite was on shortly after — and didn’t stop as Bob and Karl Drewing had steady action with the mediums while also releasing a 30-pounder.

Stripers seem to be active in the surf. Vinny D’Anton couldn’t get any hits in Spring Lake yesterday on sand fleas, but once again picked a bass on a Mirro-O-lure. Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park reports stripers hitting clams during the day, but lure action in the surf has been at night. Small blues are starting to hit bait in daylight.

The sea bass bite also seems to be holding up for boaters. The Jamaica from Brielle and Golden Eagle from Belmar reported doing well today with many limits. The Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands noted that it was a bit bumpy heading out before settling down to an all-day bite.

Capt. Chris De Stefano said Neversink River fluking has been the best in memory even though it’s hard to come up with the smaller slot fluke now allowed. He noted that giant tuna showing up inshore with one caught at Shrewsbury Rocks and another on Cholera Bank.

The IGFA has a preview of their annual online auction. The auction starts Sunday June 5 at 8 p.m.