Last Friday's International Game Fishing Association Banquet in Spring Lake was another big success as N.J. IGFA rep Jeff Merrill reported a sell-out crowd of 170 raised $18,000 for the IGFA Junior Angler and Conservation programs. That brings the total in 19 years to $275,000, which is the organization's largest regional fundraiser. Congratulations to current reps Rich Keller, Gene Nigro, Dave Matagiese and Merrill for their efforts in putting together these successful events. Yet, there was a tinge of sadness involved as the rep who originally envisioned the N.J. banquet, Bill Feinberg, passed away on November 2, 2015. Merrill paid tribute to Feinberg, who was born on July 21, 1925, attended Bayonne H.S., Cornell University and Seton Hall Law School before joining the family firm of Feinberg, Dee & Feinberg. He served as a combat engineer in the WW II Rhineland Campaign, and returned to become a long time member of the Asbury Park Fishing Club and American Littoral Society. Feinberg served on the N.J. Governor's Marine Fisheries Advisory Council, and was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the original Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. I was also appointed to that Council, and we became comrades in upholding recreational fishing interests against the commercially-dominated National Marine Fisheries Service. There was never a finer gentleman or more dedicated conservationist than Bill Feinberg, and it just didn't seem the same at the banquet without him and his lovely wife Joan who was also working alongside him at every past event. Striped bass fishing has broken open in Raritan Bay and along the northern coast. The bite has quickly moved from lots of shorts and some smaller keepers to a complete mixture that's included a 40-pound release by Johnny Bucktails on his Sea Hunter out of Keyport in Raritan Bay. Capt. Joe Massa got into some fine redfishing on the flats near Venice, La. last Saturday, but the north wind had dropped off when he flew into Newark Sunday morning – so he called me to make a late afternoon trip in the bay on his My III Sons out of Morgan. Though a boater returning had done well in the morning at that end of the bay, we had tough jigging and even stretch plug trolling in scattered marks. When we came upon some solid bottom marks that didn't respond, Massa decided to make a last minute attempt with live bunkers even though he'd tried them several times since the bunkers arrived without success. A couple of cast net attempts yielded only four bunkers, but the sun was getting lower – so we ran them out to the mid-bay marks. There was immediately no doubt that the bass were now turned on to line bunkers, as we quickly released three 35-inchers and missed others with those four baits before heading in. Jigging and trolling have also produced lots of striper releases for Capt. Vinny Vetere of Katfish Charters at Great Kills on a pre-New York opining trip, and for Capt. Hans Kaspersetz on his Sheri Berri from Baker's Marina on the Bay in Highlands. The Big Mohawk from Belmar topped off fine blackfishing on Saturday by jigging 15 large ocean stripers. The Golden Eagle from that port jigged Sunday for shorts and a couple of keepers to 20 pounds. The Prowler 5 from Atlantic Highlands had three keepers and 25 shorts jigging. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar had some limits blackfishing on Thursday Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park reported some small blues showing in Barnegat Bay, along with school bass. Very few anglers have been working the surf.