Posted on June 4, 2019 Still time to enter Friday’s Manhattan Cup The Manhattan Cup will be contested Friday at its new site in Liberty Landing Marina at Jersey City. Last minute entries are possible by calling Gary Caputi at 732 740-9982. The first year I fished that event (when it was in May) the weather was horrible, with a cold rain, hail, thunderstorms — and a tornado warning for Raritan  Bay to top it off. The weather the next year wasn’t much better, but it’s been a lot better since then —  looks perfect for Friday. Refer to the press releases from recent blogs for details about this event which primarily benefits disabled vets — including many who will be fishing for stripers and blues Friday. There was good news today from the Golden Eagle out of Belmar as they started out catching sea bass before jumbo blues up to about 15 pounds showed up again. Anglers were able to jig as many as they wanted only a half-hour from the inlet. Dave Lilly of Hazlet is probably the best fluke pro in N.J., with a string of tournament wins to prove it. Yet, he’s also found fluking to be terrible so far this year. He was all over today with no action until a rough bottom area off Sandy Hook produced the best ling bite he’s had in 30 years. The ling were big, and hit Gulp as well as squid on the drift. He left them biting to search for fluke again, and finally found a keeper plus a few shorts near West Bank. At Atlantic Highlands, both the Sea Hunter and the Fishermen reported slightly better fluking today with some shorts and a few keepers. The Fishermen started out bottom fishing on rough bottom to put meat in the bags with sea bass up to 3 pounds plus a few ling and a couple of winter flounder. Ray Soriente ran his outboard from Barnegat Bay to the north and found loads of bunkers from Shark River north. Working live bunkers didn’t produce, nor did hours of trolling.  Ray noted that fluking has been poor in Barnegat Bay so far. Jerry Lasko and Maren Toleno fished both the bay and surf sides of IBSP without a hit. Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park once again is getting reports of small sand tiger sharks hitting bunker baits intended for stripers and blues. Vinny D’Anton of Wall came up with his first bigger striper on sand fleas this morning with a 27 1/2-incher from his local surf after being shut out in Shark River. The Mimi VI from Point Pleasant will be sailing open for sea bass and ling at 7 a.m.  on Thursday. Call 732 370-8019 for reservations on the $75 trip.