Just as predicted last week, the stormy weekend weather resulted in the first real invasion of migratory striped bass from the east. That was obvious on Wednesday as the sky over Raritan Bay was full of birds dipping over small bait and some breaking bass. Boat traffic developed quickly, and Capt. Erwin Heinrich's party on Scales N Tales from Twin Lights Marina in Highlands got off to a late start when the bass were easily spooked. Heinrich soon decided to leave the traffic and smaller fish to the west in order to take his chances with finding bigger bass that we could cast lures to -- and a call from Fisher Price IV put us on readings near the mouth of the bay. Jerry Gomber had rigged a selection of the latest spinning and conventional Tsunami outfits for use by the crew of Jim Hutchinson Jr. and John De Bona of The Fisherman magazine, Tom Lynch of Angry Fish Gallery in Point Pleasant Beach and I. We were fishing 5-inch Tsunami Shads, and I immediately hooked up with a strong fish that got off tight away -- though another hit my pearl shad further up. I thought it was a smaller bass at first, but then it started tearing braid off the Tsunami Shield5000 spinning reel matched to a Maxel Oceanmax Gold 3050 rod. There was a lot of line stretched out off the bow as I fought that fish, but we were away from other boats and I took my time with it.  When Heinrich eventually lifted that  40 1/2-inch bass, the largest I've ever caught casting a jig in Raritan Bay,  I noticed that it was barely attached by only the tip of the hook in its mouth. Other bass over 30 inches were also being fought as we continued to pick away in that area. It wasn't wild fishing, but everyone caught at least one large bass before we headed in on the half day trip. A few bass were kept, and when Heinrich cleaned them I was expecting to see lots of peanut bunkers. Yet, they had absolutely nothing in them! I can only speculate that they had just arrived in the bait-rich bay. Stripers in the 40-pound class were trolled from Heinrich's 31-foot Contender in the ocean Saturday before the weather turned. He can be reached at 908 477-7537. Chuck Many of Annandale had a great day of striper fishing Wednesday with his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands as he and Alex Katyan got into schoolies on shads off Great Kills at dawn before going up to the Hudson and East rivers for non-stop action with bigger bass up to a 32-pounder -- ending up with over 100 releases during a long day. At Atlantic Highlands, the Sea Hunter had both slot and larger bass Wednesday in the bay, but Capt. Rob Semkewyc said Thursday was a different story as the bass weren't spread all over the bay. Linesiders from 16 to 32 inches were concentrated in one area on the N.Y. side where N.J. bonus bass are illegal. Private anglers also must be aware that only one bass of at least 28 inches is allowed in N.Y. -- even if the bonus bass was caught on the N.J. side. The Fishermen is switching over to stripers Saturday. Maren Toleno of Mantoloking released seven school stripers in her local surf Wednesday morning on a sand eel fly that she tied herself. At Belmar, the Golden Eagle had "all you want" fishing for jumbo bluefish on Wednesday and Thursday that was described as the best of the season. Run-Off Hammer jigs did the job.The Ocean Explorer did very well with sea bass on Wednesday along with some porgies. Bob Matthews weighed in two exceptional bottom fish at Fisherman's Den. Beatriz Ortiz had a 4 5/8-pound sea bass on Rock Bottom, and Laird Smith boated a 15 1/2-pound blackfish on XTC.