This week's opening of the tautog season for a six-fish limit at the same 15-inch minimum may take some pressure off the striped bass and bluefish which are in the middle of their fall migratory run off the Shore. Capt. Stan Zagleski got off to a fine start Wednesday on his Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands as there some limits while everyone went home with at least a few fish. Thursday was a repeat of that action, but with more bigger tog in the mix. Joe Steffanelli of Maplewood won the pool with a 7-pounder. Although they're strictly fishing with crabs now, there were two legal-sized, but out-of-season fluke released Thursday while a few sea bass were added to the catch. Striper fishing has been up-and-down. Capt. Rob Semkewicz of the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands had a good catch in Raritan Bay on Wednesday, when big blues also appeared in good numbers. Thursday was much slower, but his anglers still managed 21 keeper bass plus a few slorts and shorts -- and 18 blues. A 24-pound bass edged out a 23-pounder for the pool. The Sea Hunter will sail a special 6:30 to 11:30 trip on Thanksgiving. Chuck Many of Annandale did a lot of running on Thursday with his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands, but got into a shot of stripers under a few birds in the mouth of Hudson River early. The last of those schoolies on Tsunami shads was a shock to me as it doubled the one-handed spinning rod next to the boat, and was estimated at 22 pounds before being released. We ended up marking bass in the river, but they wouldn't bite before a few hit on the ebb -- including a 30-pounder on a live bunker that was  fought by Nellie Greer of Bethlehem, Pa. We ended up releasing nine stripers for the day, while Greer had the only variety with a large skate and a smooth dogfish.  Sea bass are moving offshore, and party boats are doing very well with them on longer trips. At Brielle, the Jamaica II has had many limits of large sea bass and some of porgies along with some winter flounder on all of their extended trips. Capt. Howard Bogan got started on his far offshore wreck trips with the Big Jamaica last weekend. An 11-pound cod and a 6-pound sea bass were the features on Saturday, while Cai Chen of Harrison  had a 7-pound sea bass on Sunday -- and Luis Bomilla from Paterson boated a 7-pound cod. Those trips are being run by reservation at 11 P.M. every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. The Golden Eagle from Belmar got a couple of shots at jumbo blues on Thursday, and ended up with a pick of those fish on Run-Off Hammer jigs. There was a huge fleet of boats fishing in solid bunkers off Asbury Park last Sunday, but the most excitement was provided by whales. I saw one come up alongside a small boat, and heard of a boat being damaged by an encounter with a whale. These are very unusual situations, but boaters must be alert when fishing in large bunker schools. Trollers have also been doing very well with stripers and big blues. Stephen Moran boated a 55.15-pound bass on a #4 Tony Maja bunker spoon in green that was trolled from Russian Roulette off Deal. Some party boats will be sailing shorter trips on Thanksgiving. Check my daily blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing for more information.