This morning's trip on Tyman from Gateway Marina started out as usual for Chuck Many of Annandale as he headed out to jig stripers off Sandy Hook, but soon turned unique when Brad Knecht of Nazareth, Pa. cast a diamond jig and quickly hooked up with a big fish. Many noted the way it was fighting on relatively light spinning tackle, and knew it was snagged -- though the species was in question. It took some time, but Knecht surprised Nellie Greer of Bethlehem, Pa. and me when the fish turned out to be a sturgeon of about six feet that was snagged in a fin. That protected species, which rarely, if ever, actually hits any bait or lure, was quickly released after the hook was removed The rest of the trip was more conventional as we ended up jigging and releasing 59 stripers, one big blue, a sun dial, and three spiny dogfish. Most of today's bass were schoolies, and those we caught one after another early in the afternoon near Ambrose Channel were quite small. Everything is released on Tyman, but we could have limited with the larger bass we also caught on Tsunami 6-and-7-inch Swim Eels. Greer had the largest bass with a 37 1/2-incher. Many left the hot afternoon bite of small schoolies to try drifting live eels and large peanut bunkers in Ambrose Channel and the Hudson River for a big fish, but had no hits. Surf action has slowed the last couple of days, but Nick Kolodiy of Brick hooked up on only his third cast with metal to beach his first fall striper -- a 30-incher that had 40 fresh sand eels in its stomach. That was his only hit, and he didn't see anything else caught. John Bushell was a little discouraged at Betty & Nick's in Seaside Park after a couple of slow days. He said "There are no fish anywhere on our local beaches. The five days of good fishing for the fall may be it. It might be over." That seems too negative as there are lots of sand eels to hold the fish, and strong west winds over the weekend may revive the surf bite. Grumpy's Tackle on Seaside Park only had seven weigh-ins on the board today, ranging up a 37-inch, 16.8-pounder on an SP Minnow by Casey Seilur. Boaters also didn't do well to the south today. The Cock Robin from Point Pleasant got an early shot of bass, but little after that. The Golden Eagle from Belmar caught all but a couple of their legal bass by 8:30. There were good readings after that, but little action. The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands had another good early jigging bite between the channels, and ended up releasing lots of short bass to get some keepers plus a few blues. Trollers did well in northern areas. Dave Lilly of Hazlet and Al Tumolo joined Ric Martel on his Grady White from Angler Marine in Sea Bright as they trolled rigs near Sandy Hook Channel for over 50 bass up to18 pounds with only one bluefish. Herman Peters ran his Prime Reel Estate out of Morgan Marina to troll rigs between the channels for 73 bass, of which seven were keepers -- and no blues. Capt. Stan Zagleski reported good blackfishing today on his Elaine B from Bahrs in Highlands, with more keepers than shorts. He's already cancelled Sunday's trip due to the forecast of very string winds. Tom O'Connor of South Amboy couldn't duplicate his previous morning's catch of two large bass at his local beach this morning. Joe Melillo weighed surf stripers of 20 and 21 pounds this week for Bob Klements of Point Pleasant at Castaways Tackle in that town. There were also 12-pounders for Tom Rigs of Belmar and Tom Morro from Point Pleasant. John Long of Point Pleasant had a 14 1/4-pounder, and Tom Samsons from Brick beached an 11 1/2-pound bass. Melillo noted that blackfishing in Point Pleasant Canal has held up later than usual.