There was no lack of bunkers along the Shore when Capt. Peter Clarke ran his 31-foot Ocean Master out of Total Marine in Neptune north from Shark River Inlet early this morning. Greg Hering of Wall, Marty Hering from Stratford, Andy Barkhorn of Bradley Beach and I were aboard as we got a break from the west wind that was supposed to blow up to 30 mph, but was actually light at dawn. Clarke picked the right bunker school for me as I quickly hooked up on a snag and drop with a fish that made a long run. That turned out to be a 46-inch striper. We caught four more in the next hour, but three were 32-to-34-inch bass that were relatively small to be inhaling adult bunkers -- and the other was 15 pounds or so. The west wind finally came up as predicted and seemed to shut off the bite.
Chuck Many of Annandale was fishing a bit north of us weth his tournament crew on Ty Man from Highlands. They didn't find anything big, but added bass that combined with Saturday's carch to finish fourth in the Hi-Mar Striper Tournament. I'll have results of that contest here on Monday.
Capt. Jie Bogan reported a good weekend of sea bass fishing on his Jamaica II from Brielle. There were more limits in today's windy weather. Ed Wayans won the pool with a10-pound cod.