Concluding the 2013 review from my fishing log: Though there were sand eels along the Shore last fall, there was no extended red hot boat and surf blitz such as occurred two years ago at Island Beach State Park. Surfcasters did get a brief early November blitz at Sea Bright, and another shot to the south as a southwest storm subsided on Nov. 18. Surf pro John Green of Brick got into keeper bass on local beaches that day, and I joined him the next morning in a clearing northwest wind to release a 29½-incher at Seaside Park before Green moved to Lavallette. There wasn’t a sign of bait or fish where he parked his buggy, but Green’s spot selection was right on as I had my best blind surfcasting ever. The 6-inch Tsunami Swim Eel seemed to be just what the bass wanted as each hit created an explosion on the light, high-riding lure and seemed like an out-of-the-blue miracle. I ended up catching five legal bass from 31½ inches up to the last release of a 40½-incher. There was also a 27-inch short, and the hook pulled on another large bass. Other keepers were caught in Island Beach State Park that day, and there was a huge backup of cars trying to get through the gate the next morning — but a wind shift to the northeast reduced the catch to a pick and it was never the same after that. It wasn’t a good fall for trophy stripers, as only a few were trolled on bunker spoons off the park, and I didn’t hear of any at Shrewsbury Rocks — the traditional Thanksgiving hot spot for trolling a lunker. Though Grumpy’s Tackle in Seaside Park weighed quite a few stripers for surfcasters during the brief blitz, none were as long as that 40½-incher I released. A massive school of large stripers feeding on sand eels held in the Fire Island area for weeks, enticing a few N.J. boaters to make the long run as the fall fishery started slowly in NY/NJ Bight and along the Shore. Despite a slow westward movement, those bass only gradually filtered into our waters to provide a good early morning bite between the channels. Bob Finan of Fairhaven and his party got into them casting lures under diving birds at dawn on Oct. 31 with me and Capt. Hans Kaspersetz on Sheri Berri out of Baker’s Marina on the Bay in Highlands. Bass in the mid-teens especially favored the 7-inch Tsunami Swim Eel before boat traffic reduced the action to a trolling pick. That pattern continued each morning as anglers enjoyed great sport jigging and casting among swirling bass while those seeking meat could limit out quickly by trolling umbrella rigs on wire line. Party boats did best on the roughest days as the bite would last longer with few boats around.