Gary Quon braved cold and wendy wearher off the Highlands Bridge on Wednesday afternoon to catch school stripers under working birds on the Tady jigs he manufactures in California. We fished with Capt, Hans Kaspersetz on Sherri Berri from Baker's Marina on the Bay in Highlands during the shift from a northwest gale forecast to what was supposed to be a southwest gale. Though choppy, it was quite fishable not too far from the shore which cuts down west winds,  Capt. Rob Semkewyc had left that area earlier with his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands after getting into a lots of short bass that were quite fussy. Quon cast his 3.6-ounce AA flat-bottomed jig and hooked up regularly by letting it sink to bottom before starting a slow retrieve that produces a swimming action. I did better with the new scrambled egg finish by dropping it down and flowly reeling halfway up in the 30-to-60-foot depths.  There were some small splashes by bass that appeared to be feeding on rainfish (bay anchovies), and we also released a couple of large bluefish. Though there were no large splashes, I made a few casts with the 5-ounce Tactical Anglers Sea Pencil and was surprised to hook a bass just short of 28 inches. I tried that again before leaving as the sun was going down and was more surprised when a 34-inch striper blasted it.The bird play observed Wednesday was a good sign during what's been a poor migratory dun so far. The last two falls there have been bodies of large bass feeding on sand eels well to the east at Shinnecock and Fire Island while we waited for them to arrive locally. We had sand eels between the channels then, and Quon with his friends from Brooklyn jigged lots of bass in the teens and twenties when they sailed on Sheri Berri at dawn under a canopy of birds before trollers put the bass down. Hopefully that well happen again, but probably not if we don't get a run of sand eels. The southwest gale predicted for Thursday morning turned out to be the worst forecast of the year as it was calm at dawn -- when NOAA changed it to small craft warnings. Quon fished aboard the Golden Eagle fron Belmar before returning to California. That boat fished to the  south in calm seas , but the fishing was very similar except for many more bluefish. There were also lots of short bass, but no keepers. Quon was hooking up more than anyone, and handed off many fish to a group of teenagers from a school fishing club. Art Wilkens, Jr., of North Caldwell,  passed over the bar Tuesday ar 68. The former president of the Coastal Flyrodders was an avid fly fisherman. A service will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. in Paul Ippolito-Dancy Memorial, 9 Smull Ave., Caldwell from 3-7 p.m. The Division of Fish and Wildlife will be deploying 36,000 cubic yards of dredge rock on the Shark River Reef Site starting Monday. The blackfish season open to a six-fish bag limit this week and runs trough Dec. 31 at the same 15-inch minimum.  Capt. Stan Zagleski said he found some at every drop from his Elaine B. from Highlands on Sunday, but the action wasn't as good as before the opening. The high hook bagged five, and green crabs worked much better than white-leggers or Asian crabs. Offshore wreck jumbo sea bass fishing was very good over the weekend on the Jamaica from Brielle. There were also lots of big porgies plus some cod and pollock -- and even two triggerfish and a lobster. Tracey Forbes of Lakewood had a sea bass limit, 27 scup, five blues and a 17-pound cod. Walter Palczewski was a pool winner with an 18-pound cod. Those trips are being run on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays -- and there's also a canyon tuna trip at 8 p.m. Sunday. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations.