You never know what might hit when fishing soft baits for blackfish in Point Pleasant Canal. Using the leftover sandworms from Friday's trip with Chuck Many on his Ty Man, I was only picking small fish when something started tearing line off my light spinning tackle Saturday afternoon. That turned out to be a 26 1/2-inch striper.  This afternoon I couldn't get a bite on the now dead worms when another mystery fish started taking drag. I got a much bigger surprise when it turned out to be a red drum! That was the first time I've heard of a redfish in the canal. It was 22 inches, well above the 18-inch minimum, but was released after a few cell phone shots. Tommy Cox braved the early Saturday morning rains in Shark River to get into a hot bite of blues from shore. Most of the blues were big, and they wiped him out of jigs -- but not until a dozen were released. Cox had company this morning as Frank Manzi and I joined in the casting that produced a few blues each from about 3 to 7  pounds before the bite shut down on a sunny morning. At Belmar, the Golden Eagle reported somewhat slower action, but still a good catch of large sea bass plus some ling, fluke and blues. The Big Mohawk had good fluking with some limits -- and a 12.4-pound doormat. They'll be leaving at 6 a.m. Monday to get in some good drifts before the rain predicted for about 11. Capt. Ron Santee had a Friday charter on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands that had lots of action at anchor with fluke, sea bass, porgies and triggerfish. The drift was good Saturday for fluke, sea bass and triggers. Sunday's open trip produced good fluking up to a 6.9-pounder.