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Captain's Focus

Striped bass anglers generally had a hard time last weekend, but there have been some signs of hope since then. Fishing was so poor last Saturday off Island Beach State Park that the skippers I talked to not only didn't catch anything, but also never saw a rod bent in a large fleet along the Shore. Yet, there was some hot action for boaters on Tuesday when bunker schools returned. Party boats had a hard time as jigs weren't working well, but livelining bunkers was productive. Bob Correll of Bay Head fished out of Crystal Point Marina in Point Pleasant with Mike Heaney of Allendale on his 32-foot Sea Vee, Four Reel, as Joe Holl and Joe Farrell from Ramsey participated in catching 11 stripers averaging about 18 pounds and ranging up to a 41-incher. All were released except for two that swallowed the live bunkers as they worked schools from Bay Head to Seaside. That fishing didn't hold up, though Nick Kolodiy of Brick reported that boaters were into bunkers being blown up off Bay Head Thursday morning while surfcasters waited in vain for them to move within casting range. More fortunate surf anglers walked into a blitz that morning at Manaquan as bass drove bunkers right to the beach. Vinnie D'Anton of Shark River Hills got there in time to score with a Gibbs pencil popper, and saw 30-pounders laying on the beach.Capt. Rob Semkowyc has been jigging a mix of short  and keeper bass plus large blues on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands, though every day is completely different as he's fished from Raritan Bay to as far east as Debs Inlet. Semkowyc  thought bigger bass were moving in Monday when some were caught off the Highlands Bridge, where Paul Alesi of Point Pleasant boated a 29-pounder -- but it was back to mostly shorts the next day.The huge 2011 Chesapeake Bay year class should be providing a lot of small bass along the coast, but I never saw any until Tuesday while fishing with Chuck Many of Annandale on his Ty Man from Gateway Marina in Highlands. We saw scattered swirls in Sandy Hook Bay on the way out, and picked away on bass that were mostly in the 20-to-25-inch class though Many hooked a 32-incher before we headed into the ocean only to find similar small bass there. Of the day's 14 releases, only two were larger bass. There has been a lot of bunker in the back of Raritan Bay, and some large stripers are being caught among them. Yet, that wasn't the case today for the party headed by Bob Finan of Fair Haven on Sheri Berri from Baker's Marina on the Bay in Highlands with Capt. Hans Kaspersetz. The bunker schools may have reacted to rapidly cooling waters as they stayed deep. Bunker spoon trolling had been effective, but I didn't see any bass being caught -  and we only had three hits. Two of them got off quickly before Paul Eggermann of Milltown boated a 35 1/2-inch striper. Kaspersetz just returned from fishing the Presidential Tournament in Guatemala where they had supurb sailfishing. Check my daily blog at nj.com/shore/blogs/fishing for more information. Though I still haven't heard of any tuna jumping inshore, as they normally do at this time, yellowfins and albacore are still biting in the canyons. The Jamaica from Brielle caught over 60 tuna last Sunday.  The  yellowfins ranged from 20  to 40 pounds, and the albacore were bigger at 40 to 60 pounds. Angelo Ruvio of North Haledon bagged a limit of yellowfins plus two longfins, and Frank Hoefort from Somerset had two yellowfins along with three longfins.Capt. Howard Bogan has added another canyon trip leaving at 8 p.m. Sunday. Call 732 528-5014 for reservations. Bogan added a 4 p.m. striper departure on the Jamaica this  week, and Wednesday's trip was successful -- as was the Thursday morning sailing. Warren Diego of Paterson limited and won a pool with a 25-pounder.

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