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Captain's Focus

There should be lots of bluefish for boaters this weekend. That was the case both in the ocean and in Raritan Bay today. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported "all the blues you wanted"  from 6 to 15 pounds on jigs. Run-Off Crocs and hammered jigs were most effective. The Queen Mary from Point Pleasant had great bluefish jigging today, but the best news was the season's finest magic hours striper bite Thursday evening on both live and dead bunkers with a 36-pound pool winner. The Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands reported bluefish jigging as good as it gets that was enjoyed by only 13 customers. Many anglers assume there will be crowds over the holiday weekend, but that's not necessarily the case with so many family events scheduled. I've usually had the waters to myself when chartering on holiday weekends. Also at that port, the Fishermen had 5-to-14-pound blues on top. Jigs were all that was needed. Anglers trying to fish bunker in hopes of getting through to a bass just couldn't keep the blues off. However, last night's trip produced five stripers. Tom Fote, of Toms River, had a morning charter with Capt. Fletcher Chayes on Two Rivers Charters at Bahrs in Highlands. Capt. Fletcher Chayes went down the beach because some bass had been hooked there the previous morning, but that wasn't the case today. They returned to the bay to finish off with big blues. Capt. Bud McArthur ran his Splinter from Brick down to Island Beach State Park, and passed lots of bunkers with no fish under them. After live-baiting didn't work, he trolled bunker spoons close to the three-mile limit without a hit. He didn't see anyone else catch a fish despite the abundance of bait. Pete Connell of Avon experienced the same thing Thursday as he went south from Shark River Inlet into lots of bunkers. Joe Melillo had a few weigh-ins the last few days at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant. Mike Comune of Brick had an 18 1/4-pound striper in Manasquan River this morning. Bob Longo of Brick beached a 13 3/4-pound bass locally, and Roman Blyakivsky of Philadelphia hooked  14 1/4-pound bass in the river. Anthony Pellegrini of Point Pleasant brought in a boat-caught 29 3/4-pound striper. Melillo noted that some small blues are being caught on metal in the river. I saw one hooked in Point Pleasant Canal this morning that spit up globs of grass shrimp. Fluking has started very slowly in the canal, with some anglers blaming it on cold waters. If that's the problem, fishing should improve with the current very warm air temperatures warming bay and river waters. Capt. Stan Zagleski reported good Thursday fluking from his Elaine B. II out of Hahrs in Highlands. Gulp, Spros and natural baits all worked well in both the bay and ocean. Larry White of Riverdale topped the catch with two keepers up to 5 7/16 pounds.

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