Following is Friday's column as submitted: SL1-3-14RISTORI FOR FRIDAYHUGE BLUEFISH WERE A 2013 HIGHLIGHTby Al RistoriPart Two of the 2013 fishing year review;As noted last Friday in Part One of the 2013 review from my fishing log, my first surf striper attempt of the season produced a 28-incher on May 6. The first surf fluke attempt was also successful at Sea Girt when I released an 18-incher on July 6. Yet the stripers didn't cooperate for me again until  the fall, and surf fluking was disappointing all summer. The best catches I made while casting Gulp 4-inch Swimming Mullet were of different species -- an unusually large cownose ray of about 50 pounds on July 14, and a 24-inch weakfish that hit in the wash on July 24 -- both at Bay Head. Even more unusual were the aggressive skates I encounted Aug. 5 at Sea Girt. The first hit a Tsunami 6-inch Swim Eel, and four others took the Gulp -- hitting and fighting like game fish. I'd never experienced anything like that from the normally lethargic skates, but anglers at Bay Head told me they'd experienced something similar the previous week when skates were even chasing bait up on the beach. There were also surprising summer catches while fishing with Capt. Joe Massa on his My Three Sons from Morgan Marina.  On Aug. 25 we were chased off the Coney Island flats by large cownose rays, but ended up with a decent pick of fluke plus releases of sea bass during a closed season at Scotland where my 4-ounce jig tipped with a Gulp Grub was also hit by a 19-inch blackfish. Then, on Sept. 9, we were seeking weakfish in Raritan Bay when I switched from sandworms to a red Gulp Jerk Shad on a light jig head that was hit by a sheepshead -- a semi-tropical species which is a great rarity north of Barnegat Inlet, and virtually unheard of in Raritan Bay.  It was also large for the species, pulling the scale to 7 pounds before the colorful sheepshead was released.   Chuck Many, of Annandale, is a striper fanatic who won't give up on his favorite species even when others write them off in the summer. He made several trips with his Tyman from Highlands at that time, and was never shut out. We had 15 releases of bass up to 22 pounds with live bunkers on July 9, and Nellie Greer from Bethlehem, Pa. joined us on July 15 for 14 releases to 20 pounds. On July 30 Greer cast-net bunkers again as we released nine bass up to a 26-pounder. The peanut bunkers Greer netted on Sept. 25 produced only school stripers on Tyman, but some great variety. I put an ALS tag in a 24-inch fluke off Breezy Point on the day after the N.J. fluke season closed, and then did the same to a 29 5/8-inch doormat off Coney Island that weighed 12 pounds on Many's IGFA-certified scale -- my first doormat in decades since catching my 15 1/2-pound personal record when I kept a Mako 25 at Montauk. Weakfish up to 7 pounds were then released in the Hudson River.      Though I was shocked by a jumbo 33 1/2-inch bluefish while casting the 6-inch Tsunami Eel around dawn on July 22 at Sea Girt, only a few other small blues were encountered throughout a very poor year for that sprecies in the surf.  Even worse were the little tunny, which never showed up. As poor as surf bluefishing was, and despite the very late start to ocean fishing for the choppers, 2013 turned out to be a memorable one in early fall for huge blues at such areas as the Mud Buoy due to the volume of 20-pounders boated.  Legitimate 20-pound blues had rarely been documented in recent years, but suddenly party boats were reporting multiples. To put this into perspective, The Fisherman magazine has been running an annual tournament from N.C. to Me.  for 14 years and only had a 20-pound blue in three of those years. Yet, all 15 places in 2013 were filled by blues over 20 pounds -- topped by the 25-pounder weighed at The Tackle Box in Hazlet by Austin Walinchus. I thought I'd missed out on catching my first 20-pound blue until fishing with Pete Connell of Avon aboard his boat out of Belmar on Oct. 31. Ater releasing a few 18-to-19-pounders at the Rattlesnake, we stopped off Long Branch on the way back where I jigged one on a Run-Off Gold Hammer jig that made the 20-pound mark on the scale. After the release, I dropped the jig down again and hooked what I assumed was an even bigger blue that turned out to be a 49 1/2-inch striper that bottomed out the 50-pound scale before being released. Fall surfcasting for stripers started out slowly before I finally released my first legal bass since spring -- a 31-incher on Nov. 8 at Point Pleasant on the 6-inch Tsunami Eel. There was also lots of action that morning with the largest hickory shad (up to 18 inches) I've seen on teasers tied by Joe Melillo at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant. The 2013 review will conclude next Friday. For daily fishing reports visit my blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing. The Garden State Outdoor Sports Show will run from Jan. 9-12 at the N.J. Convention Center, in Raritan Center, Edison. I'll be doing a seminar on striper fishing there next Saturday. The $15 tickets can be purchased for just $10 online at www.gsoss.com.     The snowstorm is likely to change everything for fishermen, but we managed to catch school stripers in the surf throughout last January. There were still bass in the surf through last week, and Joe Blaze of Brielle even caught a fluke on a fly at Avon.  I never had a hit at Point Pleasant and Sea Girt on New Years Day morning, and Jerry Lasko did the same morning and evening at Bay Head and Belmar -- though he met fly rod pro Bill Massey of Wall at Belmar where he'd caught a 28-inch bass that morning.  The sea bass season was closed on Jan. 1, but the Jamaica from Brielle will be sailing to the far offshore wrecks for jumbo porgies on Saturdays at 1 a.m. through January and February before concluding the trips on mid-range wrecks for cod, pollock and ling. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.  The Jamaica II found some cod on offshore wrecks during their last trip, and will be sailing for them this winter on Saturdays at 1 a.m.  Mackerel have proved elusive so far, with only a few jigged along with herring last weekend, but Capt. Jimmy Elliott says he'll be back at it with the Golden Eagle from Belmar this weekend before deciding whether to resume daily trips.  Capt. Stan Zagleski finished his season with Elaine B. at Highlands on New Years Eve when he did nothing on one drop, but had a pick on another of blackfish up to 6 pounds. On Dec. 28, Bob Rydziewski of Newark not only won the pool with an 8-pound tog, but also had the boat's first legal cod of the season. Bob Matthews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina, reported a showing of school stripers in the Monmouth County surf, though success varies greatly from day to day.  Blackfishing is good some days. Bob Hawley of Levittown, Pa. boated a 14 3/4-pounder on his Laura Ann, while his brother Dan limited to 8 pounds.