Posted on May 8, 2019 Get your Dream Boat bluefish entries in before the spring run is over The Fisherman magazine’s Dream Boat 2019 Fishing Challenge started on May 1, and continues to Nov. 30. Subscribers to that weekly  can compete for many prizes up to a Steiger Craft 23 Miami boat with an Evinrude E-Tec 250 hp outboard that’s completely rigged. The eligible species are bluefish, weakfish, fluke, sea bass, scup, sea bass, blackfish, dolphin and even sea robins. Merchandise awards for the largest of each species make it worthwhile to get on the board, and now is the time to do it in the case of bluefish. The minimum weight is 15 pounds, and blues that size were unheard of last year after the erly spring run until a few showed up in the fall. You may not have a better chance to take the lead than right now. See the latest Fisherman for details. After getting into the best popper fishing for big fish that I’ve ever had in Point Pleasant Canal yesterday morning, there wasn’t a bluefish to be had there this morning. It wasn’t surprising that the big blues didn’t show, but there weren;t even the small blues which had been providing some daily action. Yesterday’s bite wasn’t really a blitz as there were no birds diving or bait being pushed out of the water.  The big blues were just there, and we never would have known it if poppers and swimmers weren’t used. The only report from Raritan Bay as of 5:45 was from Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter at Atlantic Highlands. After two days of struggling with fussy stripers that were almost impossible to hook, Rob said it was better today. The pool winner was 23 pounds. Miss Belmar Princess reported getting into a couple of good shots of big blues.in the morning.  If the Manasquan Inlet blues don’t show tomorrow, they’ll head north to seek stripers. The forecast for Thursday is east winds at 10-15 knots with gusts to 20. There was a general lack of shore action in the Point Pleasant area today as big blues seemed to take the day off. An angler at the inlet said there was a showing at 5:30 a.m. At Seaside Park, Grumpy’s Tackle reported a weigh-in of a 30-inch, 10.85-pound striper on cut bunker in the IBSP surf by Tom Teall. Some blues are also being weighed. Betty & Nick;s reported small blues are hitting bait in the surf, though the big ones are in the bay. Capt. Jim Freda of Shore Catch Charters at Manasquan sent this shot of a bass that Mitch Wolcheck caught on a Tsunami bunker-colored shad in Raritan Bay.