It appears there are now plenty of big bluefish in the ocean and Raritan Bay, though the northern surf remains a tough pick. After Vinny D'Anton and I each caught a big blue and lost another yesterday at Bradley Beach, I couldn't raise a thing to a popper there this morning. That wasn't a problem today for party boats, as all seemed to do well. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported a slow start and stayed late in the strong and cool northwest wind in order to satisfy all aboard with 6-to-17-pounders that hit Run-Off Crocs and Hammered jigs. The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant also reported a hot day of jigging blues. Bob Mathews, at Fisherman's Den in Belmar Marina, reported trolling is producing bass in ocean waters, and anglers working bunker schools are starting to catch big migrating stripers on snagged bunkers. The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands loaded up with big blues when the tide was running, but there were no bass today. Dave Lilly of Hazlet reported hot bunker spoon trolling in Raritan Bay on Saturday as he could hardly get the spoons out to the proper distance -- and color didn't seem to matter. Allen Riley of South Plainfield had a report from Ben Kwong of that town who had good action with blues to 10 pounds and some bass to 15 pounds in Shrewsbury River on 1.5-to-2-ounce Spro jigs in chartreuse and white with a red tail At Seaside Park, Grumpy's Tackle reported there are still lots of blues in Barnegat Bay as well as in the surf. They had a couple of big bass from boats weighed in Saturday. Zach Paone trolled a 47-inch, 48-pounder on a spoon, while Kyle Fratesi used the snag-and-drop technique to boat a 42-inch, 27.3-pounder. Betty & Nick's reported a 30-pound striper caught from the local surf this morning. Matt Slobodjian, at Jim's Tackle in Cape May, reported "Striper fishing continues to be pretty good along the North Cape May beaches and rock piles. Saturday we weighed in several fish up to 38 lbs. from these beaches, mostly on bunker. The fish are starting to move north along the beachfront, more fish are being caught at The Point, and we are starting to get some good reports from the Wildwood and North Wildwood beaches. Most of the fish we are seeing were caught on fresh bunker.Bass fishing from the boats is pretty good as well. A lot of the fish are being caught less than a 1/4 mile off of the beach all along the Delaware Bay from the Ferry jetty north to Reed's Beach. Dave Spiewak from Sicklerville and his two sons Benny and Carmen caught three bass in the 20-lb. class Saturday tucked in tight to the beach off North Cape May. Harold Byron of Warminster, Pa. caught a 34- pounder aboard his buddy Jon Burns' boat Friday in the 20-Foot Slough.Black drum have started to bite on our side of the bay. Zach Robson and Dave Duckenfield, both local boys, fished Friday night in Tussy's Slough and landed 5 drum to 50 lbs. Arty Mansfield fished closer to the beach just inside the 20-Foot Slough and boated 2 drum to 40 lbs.Chris Daggett of Cape May caught a nice weakfish on one of the Point jetties on a bucktail. He estimated the fish to be around 4 lbs. and released it. They should start showing up a little better when the water warms up. " Better dress warmly if you're going out early in the morning as air temperatures may be down to record lows for the date -- along with strong winds.