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The best surface casting bite of striped bass in Raritan Bay I've ever seen occurred Wednesday afternoon while fishing with Chuck Many of Annndale on his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands after an 11 a.m. departure and a stop for gas before getting out just in time for the outgoing tide. The bay water temperature had dropped from 60.7 to 59.2 degrees overnight. A charter skipper told us he'd been out all morning and had only caught one bass, but the birds gathered up as soon as the current started moving hard. Normally during the fall there are shots of surface action where boaters run to get a few casts in before generally small schoolies and only a rare keeper bass are put down by other boats. Yet, even party boats running through them Wednesday didn't seem to bother these fish which were on a feeding mission. There was no mass feeding on the surface, but rather lots of splashes by bass chasing single baits. Though we ran out into a gusty northeast wind, it unexpectedly dropped down and left us with very fishable conditions.  Only a couple of small stripers were caught among all the 24-to-28-inchers and legal bass we cast Tsunami 5-inch Shads to as they swirled under the birds. Linesiders of 28 to 30 inches seemed to be most common, and there were several bigger bass up to Many's 37-incher. After just a few hours of constant action we left them biting with the release count up to 51. The previous day had been pretty good also as Dave Donahue of Readington and Bryan Pieros joined us in catching 40 bass. Many found an area of birds and some breaking bass that we had all to ourselves before we joined the fleet in a very rough Sandy Hook Channel-- where Tsunami Deep Shads produced plenty of hits in the depths. We were prepared with more Deep Shads on Wednesday to do the same thing, but I only jigged a few bass as it was more fun to cast to the surfacing fish that hit hard on my light Tsunami 8-foot, 8-inch two-piece Elite Airwave surfcasting rod with a Canyon SALC 5000 reel. The only problem was that there were no lip-hooked fish as the ravenous bass were completely inhaling the shads. Many was lip-lifting the bass in the water for release, and had to put his hand completely in the mouth of most bass in order to back the hook out. The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands was into those bass also, and Capt. Rob Semkewyc said his fares caught 98% keepers, with many released. A 20-pounder topped the catch. Capt Ron Santee had a similar report on his Fishermen from Atlantic Highlands, but with a 43-inch, 32-pound bass for the pool. The Fishermen is chartered Saturday. There are some much bigger stripers in the ocean earlier in the week. The Golden Eagle from Belmar found some breaking bass off the North Jersey Shore that wouldn't hit well, but they boated some keepers up to a 39-pound pool winner. Miss Belmar Princess reported a 40-pound striper that day. We finally got away from those strong northeast winds, but the gale force clearing northwester forecast for Friday will keep many boats in port until Saturday. That wind should settle the ocean and improve the generally poor surfcasting. I took advantage of the early light east wind Thursday morning to cast a Tsunami Sand Eel at Manasquan, and was happy to hook something -- even it was only an 18-inch striper. John Mazzeo of South Plainfield covered from Sandy Hook to Sea Bright to the Rumson Bridge that morning without finding anything For daily updates visit my blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing.. Tom Fote received the Conservation Champion Award at the recent American Sportfishing Association meeting. Fote is the legisislative chairman for the JCAA, and the Governor's Appointee to the ASMFC.  A wounded Army veteran from Vietnam, Fote has been devoting almost all of his time without compensation for decades to protecting fisheries and the rights of recreational fishermen. The ASA also presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Bill Shedd, president of AFTCO. Shedd has been at the forefront of national conservation battles for decades, and has encouraged conservation of billfish and tunas by sponsoring yearly awards to the top tagging skippers and anglers. I well remember making the first swordfish tagging trip with a satellite tag on the Sea World collecting boat out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico many years ago. AFTCO has a reputation for quality in all of their products, and I wear their shorts like a uniform half the year. However, I've got to talk to Bill about a tear in the fabric of my khaki shorts after only about 40 years of hard use! The JCAA holds their Sportsperson of the Year Dinner on Sunday from 4-8 p.m. at Crystal Point Yacht Club in Point Pleasant. The $75 tickets can be obtained by calling Dan Miller at 609 641-7821. Tom Sicliano is being honored this year for his involvement in fisheries conservation or over 25 years. He's served as president of the JCAA, and attended many NJ Fisheries Council meetings over the years. Bob Matthews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina reports dock fishermen are catching winter flounder up to 18 inches on worms and clams. Marty Westerfield of Wall has had his two-fish limit every day. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, reports flounder fishing has started at both ends of Point Pleasant Canal -- though blackfishing is still the big attraction there -- and the pros are catching some stripers at night on jigs and live eels. At Brielle, the Paramount is running a special Veteran's Day trip on Saturday to 30-to-40-mile wrecks. Reservations are required (732 528-2117) for that 4:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. sailing. The Jamaica has another canyon tuna trip set for Nov. 14 at 7 a.m. -- and is also taking reservations (732 528-5014) for the first giant sea bass trips to far offshore wrecks Saturday with a few spots left for a 1 a.m boarding plus Nov. 17 and 18 at 11:30 p.m. The Jamaica II has had boat limits of sea bass on almost every trip except in last Saturday's windy weather. Lots of big porgies are added to the bags, and flounder hit some days. Roger Bonsante of Paterson added a 25-pound cod. Jim Hutchinson Sr. reports "Raging northeast winds and high waves have made fishing difficult recently for the boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association. There is hope this nasty weather will bring about some positive changes to stimulate some striped bass action. Captain Fran Verdi of the "Francesca Marie" has experienced several good years in a row putting his anglers on striped bass. He notes the current water temperatures are still in the 60's, which is really too warm for consistent bass action. The current weather has him hopeful those water temperatures will drop and the fish will head south. "I have heard of a big mass of fish to the north of, us, we just have to be patient," notes Captain Fran. Despite some very thick fog one day recently, he jumped in his boat and headed for the inlet. The normally quick trip took exceptionally long thanks to the fog, but he preserved and finally made the ocean where he headed north. Captain Fran dropped a green bunker spoon over the stern and spent some time trolling off Seaside. His patience was finally rewarded and he was able to hook and boat a fat 34-pound bass. Now it is a matter of waiting for the current weather to break, and more fish to arrive. When they do arrive there will be no time to waste."

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