Stanley and Dylan Purzyewski had a northern N.J. trolling thrill yesterday on their High Ambitions when they hooked the “big one” and sought it for half-hour before finding out thet they had hooked a12-foot sturgeon weighing hundreds of pounds.

Though a fully protected species that’s actually quite common in Raritan Bay and the Hudson River. I’ve often seen several jump during the day while fishing in the bay. They feed on very small forage and are invariably snagged. They were very abundant during the early days of our country, but the value of their eggs as caviar resulted in their being all but wiped out by commercial fishermen.

It was supposed to be calm this morning, but a cold southeast wind was blowing , and the ocean was choppy. As a result, the bunkers and large stripers that had been popping up off Ocean Couty were not showing today. Jerry Lasko still tried it at IBSP, but he and Maren Toleno only caught a couple of small blues blind casting poppers.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano made the right choice as he joined Jimmy Herrick on the Navesink River as the crew limited on fluke with few shorts to work through — which is just the opposite of what Chris has found in Shark River,

As noted in last night’s blog, Mark Roy had trolled mojos all day in Raritan Bay without a hit.. However he stuck with it after a tide change when the stripers came alive and the Release Me crew caught eight up to a 37 1/2-incher. The one striper Mark cleaned was spawned out.

The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant reported only a pick of sea bass in the southeast wind after having had consistent action.

Saturday looks better with southwest 5-10 knot winds and patchy fog before the usual afternoon showers and thunderstorms. The Golden Eagle from Belmar good sea bass fishing along with the best showing of ling in some time as some fares had up to 10.

The Canyon Runner from Point Pleasant reports great canyon tuna trolling if you’re willing to run far enough south.

Captains Deane Lambros and Mike Zajac ran over 100 miles south on Monday to find the right water, but the Brian Gottlieb party was into fast bluefin trolling at the 1000-fathom line as 30 were caught though they kept only three as four larger yellofins were added.

On Tuesday, Karl Hackkert and his two sons trolled eight bluefins (releasing all but 5) and a bigeye before moving into the shallower big bluefin grounds to troll a 57-inch 100-pounder on a “way back” balao.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc said the stripers won on his first trip for that species with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands. He’ll try again Friday, and urges anglers to bring a lighter spinner to snag bunkers plus a heavier outfit for fishing those big baits.

Mark Roy fished Raritan Bay all day and never found a striper at any of the spots he’s been trolling them with mojos from his Release Me out of Raritan Marina in Hazlet,

Bunkers have been moving into the beach at times to the south, but anglers have to be there with perfect timing to order to get popping plugs to them. Betty & Nick’s in Seaside Park reports a 31-pounder was beached this morning.

Jerry Lasko waited at IBSP all morning, but the bunkers and bass stayed out of range. He picked a small blue, and Maren Toleno released a 26-inch striper.

Light winds are expected in the morning as the marine forecast is for southwest at 5-10 knots before increasing 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots in the afternoon — along with showers or thunder storms.

The N. J. fluke season has been off to a slow start due to cold ocean waters, and fluke pro Dave Lilly also suspected that the recent dirty water in Raritan Bay might have something to do with it. Therefore, when he had the opportunity yesterday to run a fast 25-foot Parker, he shot over to the Rockaways.

As soon as he arrived there were birds over cocktail blues working on tiny bait. The water was crystal clear, 62 degrees, full of bait — and fluke baits were hit as fast as they got down.

At least 35 fluke were caught by Lilly and the crew, but since they were in N.Y. waters the 19-inch minimum there held them to four keepers. The fluke were spiting out tiny crabs , and there were lots of hits from sea robins, smooth dogfish and skates. Lilly said he probably caught more sea robins than in all of last year.

The Golden Eagle from Belmar got off to a slow start on sea bass this morning, but sea bass were stacked 10 feet high at the second drop. Best of all, most were large keepers. Some ling and a fluke were added.

Joe Blaze layed aside his fly rod yesterday while fishing from his small boat in Manasquan River in order to seek a keeper fluke for the table with a jig and Gulp on a spinning rod, He had plenty of action with shorts up to 17 1/2 inches before getting into small blues within the river.

Though there weren’t any big fish hooked this morning in Point Pleasant Canal, there were quite a few light bumps and chopped off paddletails from small blues. I released three blues in the 3-pound class on Z Mans, plus my first spring striper of 20 inches. Joe Melillo, former owner of Castaways Tackle, also broke the ice with a blue.

Jerry Lasko waited it out at Island Beach State Par, where some stripers hit poppers yesterday, but only caught one small blue and lost another while waiting for bunkers to be attacked. Just as they were getting close, he south wind came up and it went dead. That was nothing compared to the brief afternoon storm that roared through.

Capt. Chris Di Stefano trolled his small boat from Shark River up to the Rocks yesterday to get his granddaughter into a big striper, but the one hit quickly got off and left only a scale on the Tony Maja bunker spoon. A move to the Farms produced lots of big sea bass plus ling,

The Jamaica from Brielle has added a Sunday afternoon sea bass trip from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Capt. Dave De Gennero is fishing his Hi Flier from Barnegat inshore while awaiting a chance to get offshore. His son, Capt. Nick,put Griffin Chrostowski from Moorestown into his first striper with a 44-inch, 26-pounder in the inlet.