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The Beach N Boat Tournament 2014 awards, handed out Tuesday evening during a dinner party at the River Rock Restaurant in Brick, were led by a 57.13-pound striped bass caught by Eloy Otero in a most unusual fashion -- from the bulkhead of Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City shortly before the Nov. 30 conclusion of the contest. That winner was weighed at One Stop Bait & Tackle. Capt. Mike Young reported there were over 8,000 anglers signed up, and that they weighed 265 fish at 60 weigh stations. Creekside Bait & Tackle in Waretown had the most entries with 52, followed by Lacy Marine at 33, and Bobbie's Boats in Barnegat Light with 22. Though there were no "50s" caught during the 2013 initial Beach N Boat, this year there were five. Fred Heydorn Jr. had two entries from Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina -- the second place 55-pounder and fifth place 50-pound bass. Tommy Tomensky took third with a 53.1-pounder weighed at Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park. Adam Consigliaro weighed his fourth place 50.54-pounder at Lacey Marine, and Warren DeShay just missed the magic mark there with a 49.88-pounder for sixth,Terry Eidson dominated the fluke division with a 12.4-pound doormat weighed at Joey's Bait Shop for first plus an 11-pounder for third; the sixth place 10.25-pounder; and a 10-pound fluke for eighth. The other winners were Bob Hoff with an 84.6-pound black drum; Tony Guadagnino for a 1.62-pound kingfish; Frank Jones with a 17.7-pound bluefish that nipped a 17.5-pounder by Chris Hernandez; Bob Pianetti with a 12.31-pound tautog plus the second place 11.01-pounder; and  Dean Paolella for an 8-pound sea bass along with his sixth place 16.75-pound blue. Suzanne Smith not only won the weakfish category with an 8.16-pound entry, but added seventh in black drum at 66.41 pounds. Paul Haertel took the most prizes with seventh in fluke for his first doormat of 10.9 pounds; seventh in sea bass at 4.14 pounds; the 4, 8 and 9 spots in tautog at 9.11, 7.4 and 6.89 pounds; and sixth in weakfish with a 5.86-pounder.    For a complete list of winners visit Wednesday's entry on my daily blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing. For information about the 2015 Beach N Boat Tournament visit www,BeachNBoat.com. Though inshore prospects are unknown after the northeaster, there shouldn't be any change on the far offshore wrecks being fished by the Jamaica from Brielle before the sea bass season closes after Dec. 31. Limits of jumbo sea bass plus big porgies and some cod, pollock and bluefish are being taken from those wrecks with regularity. The water temperature out there was still 56 degrees last Saturday when Mark Bogdanoff of Roseland had a sea bass limit up to 7 pounds plus 15 porgies and two bluefish. The Jamaica will be sailing by reservation most nights at 10 p.m. to fish the next day until the season closes. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. With most striped bass party boats having left that fishery, it may be up to the Gambler from Point Pleasant to determine if any schools are still present after the storm. Capt. Bobby Bogan will seek stripers at least through this weekend before switching to bottom fishing. The bluefin tuna that had been missing from inshore waters showed up last weekend. Capt. Russ Binns had a shot at 30-to-50-pounders at the Tolten wreck with his Mar-Lin from Toms River, but they wouldn't hit anything. There were also no blackfish on the wrecks he fished near Barnegat Inlet or at Axel Carlsen Reef as all were covered up with spiny dogfish that hit anything dropped to bottom instantly -- even including jigs. Tom Morford Jr., of Baker's Marina on the Bay in Highlands, found larger unresponsive bluefins in the Mud Hole. There should still be some school stripers left for surfcasters, as Betty & Nick's in Seaside Park reported the water temperature dropped only one degree to 45. Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach told me he caught schoolies on metal and teasers at Island Beach State Park last weekend when I saw him Wednesday during the Folsom wholesale fishing tackle show at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. I'll have info about the new tackle seen there plus Christmas gift suggestions   in next Friday's column plus the blog. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant said none of his regulars have been fishing since the storm, but Mickey Sweeney of Howell checked Mantoloking and saw the recently installed steel wall exposed after the northeaster took the sand back out to sea,   

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