While surfcasters prepare for Sunday's Governor's Surf Fishing Tournament at Island Beach State Park, it was another good day for northern boaters seeking hot jigging action with bluefish. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported pretty good jigging with Run-Off Crocs and Hammered jigs for blues from 5 to 17 pounds. Gold models were favored. At Atlantic Highlands, the Fishermen started out looking for spawned-out Hudson River stripers that should be dropping out of the river to start feeding again, but Capt. Ron Santee's spots weren't ready as yet. It was then no problem to catch lots of big blues at anchor on the incoming tide though a "nice" striper took the pool. The Sea Hunter also reported plenty of large blues. Gene Graman of Middletown was looking for a big striper by trolling bunker spoons at Shrewsbury Rocks from his That's It II out of Sandy Hook Bay Marina in Highlands. He nailed an 18-pounder quickly, but that was it except for a half-dozen medium-sized bluefish. He said there were no bunkers on the surface, but he did mark them. Graman celebrated his 80th birthday this week by chunking a two-man limit of four bass at Ambrose Channel before releasing a 30-pounder from his Contender on it's maiden voyage for the season. He noted that the party boat fleet was stacked up Saturday on Flynn's Knoll. Mark Roy of Warren trolled Mo-Jo's from his Release Me out of Raritan Marina to limit with large stripers from the Hudson River. Capt. Vinny Vetere, of Katfish Charters at Great Kills, almost had his first 50-pounder of the season in the river on Friday, but the gaff ripped open the belly of a fish that weighed "only" 48 pounds at the dock. That doesn't happen when a large net is used. Vetere once again praised the new Capt. Slaughter chumming pot which allowed him to disperse chunks on the bottom in a roaring current. Chuck Many of Annandale found out that the 57-inch striper released in Delaware Bay this week by his friend Tim Tanghare gained its freedom because the angler had already boated two of 47 and 51 pounds. I forgot to note in last night's blog that Scott Leadbeater of Haddon Heights, like many other boaters, found only blues in Raritan Bay during his first trip of the season with his center console out of Atlantic Highlands. Manasquan River had a cinder worm hatch early this morning. Every cast I made upriver from shore with a 2-ounce pencil popper snagged the tiny worms on the large single hook at the rear. I've never seen such a daytime abundance of cinder worms, but there were only a few small swirls. A move to Bradley Beach to join Vinnie D'Anton of Shark River Hills in surfcasting for stripers didn't produce any linesiders, though D'Anton beached a bluefish of about 7 pounds with  a Zoom plastic on a light jig head, and got cut off by another before I lost one that hit a Tsunami Shad. A switch to a Tactical Anglers Bomb Jr. popper resulted in a blast from a 33 1/2-inch chopper which was my first of the season from the surf after having caught many in the Manasquan River and Point Pleasant Canal. Unfortunately, that was it for our short effort. There were more good surf bluefish reports from the Seaside Park tackle shops. Grumpy's weighed a 36.5-inch, 15.8-pound blue caught by Peri Ermidas on bunker -- which is just what anglers will be looking for in Sunday's contest.