Posted on April 29, 2019 Raritan Bay stripers bit better on Sunday Due to all the weekend boat traffic, striped bass fishing in Raritan Bay is almost always a better bet on Mondays. Yet, the opposite was the case for party boats this time. Capt. Rob Semkewyc of the Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands said large bass were slamming shad lures Sunday, and his fares had bass up to 30 and 33.5 pounds. Yet, wasn’t like yesterday at all as the bass couldn’t be located until a late bite after the change of tide bailed him out with some keepers and a bunch of shorts. The Fishermen from that port had a similar Sunday catch as a 26-pounder took the pool and there were many releases. Jigs worked bext in the deeper water that day. Jim Louro ran his Vicky Lynn back from Manasquan to the bay on Sunday along with Jerry Malanga, Brian Woodfield and Alex Fatenko. They marked bass and did well jigging from 6:45 to 7 until they lost the current. Trolling didn’t produce, but some birds came up later and they scored with surfacing bass before fighting a rough sea home. The weather turned out better than predicted today, as Allen Riley and John Mazzeo from South Plainfield found when they tried the Sandy Hook surf. The northeast wind was light and the surf flat, but there were no hits on fresh bunker or sand fleas. The forecast for the last day of blackfishing is southwest at 5-10 knots switching to west in the afternoon, There nay be some rain and fog in the morning. Joe Melillo reports from Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant that there are school stripers in the canal along with the first cocktail blues. He’s heard of some 5-pound blues in the river.