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Captain's Focus

The selection of species available to local anglers expands in the next few days as the summer flounder season opens Saturday, and runs through Sept. 25 with the same regulations as last year - five fluke at a minimum of 18 inches. The sea bass season opens its first phase on Monday, and runs to June 19 with a limit of 10 at a minimum of 12 1/2 inches. Bluefish have been more abundant than ever at this time of year when Shore party boats often struggle while Raritan Bay anglers have to fight them off in order to get through to a striper. There's been no problem for party boats seeking big blues this week either in the ocean or in Raritan Bay. Choppers also remain abundant in Barnegat Bay and the southern surf, though surf action further north has been limited to an occasional flurry so far. Shore fishing in Manasquan River has also become spotty. Striped bass fishing has been inconsistent to the north, and schools of bunkers to the south haven't been attracting stripers consistently -- but trollers off Island Beach State Park have been hooking some very large bass on Tony Maja bunker spoons. Tony Arcabascio, creator of that spoon, has been so busy filling orders that he never got out with his Maja from Bayville until Thursday morning. Then it took only an hour to put his son Anthony into a 45-pound linesider while John Warchol of Bayville boated a 42-pounder. Two others up to 36 pounds were released before an early ride home.  Arcabascio says there are schools of bunkers closer to shore, but the bass under them seem to turn off for snag-and-drop anglers after the sun comes up. The big fish are out in 60-foot depths awaiting trollers with the patience to work for them even though they don't mark any bait or fish. Bob Matthews weighed in the largest striper of the season this week as Capt. Erick Kerber put Nick Alfonse of Hamilton into a 52-pounder that hit a live bunker fished from On A Mission close to shore off Ocean County. Matthews is excited about Saturday's fluke opener as Shark River has been loaded with fluke for weeks. Capt. Chris Di Stefano of Wall told me that a skindiver friend recently saw them virtually piled on top of each other on the bottom.  Vinny D'Anton of Shark River Hills caught a 20-inch fluke on a Tsunami Halographic Eel while casting into the Sea Girt surf Thursday morning, and I released one of about keeper size while casting a Jerry Lasko Lasher swimming plug for blues from shore in Manasquan River this week. Bluefish are so abundant in Raritan Bay that Tank Matrazia's party from Lyndhurst wasn't able to fish through them for a single striper on Tuesday with Capt. Rick Woerner on Carnivore from Sewaren. Even Pete La Boy, who had caught all three stripers during the previous week's trip couldn't get through the blues -- but when Woerner moved up the Hudson River, La Boy boated the only two bass up to about 18 pounds. Gene Graman of Middletown brought over 200 years of fishing experience to the Hudson on Thursday aboard his Contender 30, That's It II from Sandy Hook Bay Marina in Highlands.  He celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this month, and Joe Greco (formerly of Edison) was up from Fort Myers, Fl. to add his 82 years to the mix. For the first time in memory, I was the junior angler in the mix because I'm short of 80 until June 1. Graman anchored on the slack, and I got lucky with a 20-pound bass that hit a bunker chunk at that time. Its belly indicated it hadn't spawned as yet and was released. The action picked up a bit as the ebb started. Greco released two bass, including a 26-pounder that had a big belly which indicated it too still hadn't made the run upriver to spawn. I added a 35 3/4-inch release, and Graman missed two hits before the spurt of action died. Graman had a hunch about a spot in Raritan Bay that he wanted to try before heading in. The hits came immediately, but they were all big choppers that ate up our circle hooks. At Atlantic Highlands, Capt. Rob Semkewyc has been keeping his anglers on Sea Hunter so busy catching jumbo blues on both bait and jigs that he's going to stick with them and hope for a few stripers rather than switching to fluke for the opener. Capt. Stan Zagleski has had enough of the blues, and will once again start his fluke season on Elaine B. II from Bahrs in Highlands with early departures at 6 a.m. this weekend. The summer schedule of 7:30 departures begins Monday. All of the Shore party boats had the same reports of great bluefish jigging this week. Capt. Jim O'Grady of the Cock Robin from Point Pleasant said the only thing missing was bird action over the readings -- but then  othe birds were on them Wednesday. The Jamaica from Brielle has been into that bluefish jigging, and will also be running limited magic hours livelining trips on May 20 and 21. Call 732 528-5014 for details. The Tackle Box in Hazlet reported a great catch made by a kayak angler. Drew Rocio of Hazlet was trolling an X-Rap off Monmouth Beach when he caught a 31 1/2-pound striper.  Sunday's Governor's Surf Fishing Tournament in Island Beach State Park was a huge success as about 600 participants entered 245 big bluefish and three stripers. Dakota Hahn of Toms River ran away with the Governor's Cup Award for the longest entry with a 43.5-inch striper. There were two other stripers that normally would have won easily. Rich Borgman of Atco measured a 38 3/4-incher, and Zoltan Eayed from Trenton caught a 31 1/2-incher. The blues in every division were very impressive. Even in the child's division, there was a 36-inch  boy's winner by Caden Michalski of Edison, while the girl's leader was Jacklyn Janiec from Bloomingdale at 32 1 /2 inches. The teen boy's winner was a 38-incher by Aiden Elmore of Little Egg Harbor, and Savanna Rodriguez from Reading, Pa. took female honors at 36 inches. Justin Barbier of Woodland Park took the male adult prize with a 39 1/2-inch jumbo, and the female winner at 37 inches was Kaitlyn Bach of Toms River on time over Donna McConnell from Somerset -- who was barely ahead of Alyssa Di Marco from Delran at 36 5/8 inches. 

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