After just reporting the first bluefish showing up in their usual early season grounds in Barnegat Bay in last night's blog, the choppers were all the way up to Sandy Hook today. The Tackle Box in Hazlet reported they arrived the same time as last year. John Davis of Parlin brought a couple of the big fish back to the shop. Capt. Lou Grazioso didn't see any sign of blues in the back of Raritan Bay this morning, but there were plenty of stripers as long as a Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow deep diver could be trolled in depths from 12 to 18 feet. He briefly tried casting jigs to marks in those depths, and got some bumps that didn't hook up. It seems that the bass are really focused on herring right now. Ric Gross of Point Pleasant launched very early Sunday at Keyport, and trolled 20-pound stripers on white and green umbrellas until the fleet arrived and the bite died. The Golden Eagle from Belmar got into big ocean stripers (they said some were in the 35-to-40-pound class) Sunday morning not far from the inlet as some limits were caught. Yet, they were very discouraged this morning to find them absent from the same area. Further exploration didn't produce anything, but they'll be back out trying in the morning -- and the whole week looks good for fishing. Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park had their first bluefish weigh-in Sunday as Jeff Dixon brought in a 33.5-incher that weighed 13.3 pounds after hitting a popper. There was also a striper of 28.5 inches and 7.7 pounds that Tom Duckett hooked on clam. There were no blackfish reports at the time this was written.