Saturday was by far the best day of the 2016 fluke season as Raritan Bay turned on to what Capt. Scotty Hilliard of Prowler 5 from Atlantic Highlands called the best fluking in years. With a good crowd aboard, he figured there had to be over 150 keepers that averaged 20 to 21 inches, but ranged up to an 8-pounder by Patrick Lassen of Cranford. The hot action was on the outgoing tide, and Hilliard said he'll be sailing tomorrow even though some rain and south winds are in Sunday's forecast. That fishing was too good not to go. Capt. Stan Zagleski had a similar report from his Elaine B. II out of Bahrs in Highlands. His first drift lasted a remarkable three hours. Some limits were taken, and most fares had at least two to three fluke, as natural baits outfished Spros and Gulp. Dave Brink and Glen Gormley tied for the pool with 8 5/16-pound fluke to edge out Tom Hollywood Jr. of Staten Island with a 7 7/8-pounder.  Capt. Rob Semkewyc had good bluefish jigging early and late on his Sea Hunter from Atlantic Highlands The hot Friday ocean striper bite wasn't repeated Saturday, though the fortunate few did catch big bass. That wasn't the case for Bob Correll of Bay Head and I on his Boston Whaler. We ran into loads of bunker from right outside Manasquan Inlet north to Spring Lake, but there was no sign of anything under them. We did see two large bass caught off Asbury Park by anglers making long drifts where bunkers were harder to come by. Capt. Chris Di Stefano of Wall joined the Tramp Piper crew out of Brielle Yacht Club as they also fished from Spring Lake to Asbury Park and only had two shots on live bunkers that didn't hook up. They did add a few sea bass off bottom. Di Stefano got word from Frank Criscola's Crisdel from Brielle Yacht Club that they got skunked for the first time in memory. The Golden Eagle from Belmar reported seeing 200 boats out there, but still managed a few stripers to 42 pounds  -- and then some 5-to-10-pound blues. Capt. Bud Mc Arthur also had no luck with stripers from his Splinter out of Brick, and sea bass fishing wasn't much better while fluke weren't encountered. It was a completely different story on Friday, and many big bass were not only caught on bunkers, but also surfaced to hit poppers and swimmers. Jerry Lasko of Point Pleasant took his small boat out at 2 p.m. and boated a bass over 40 pounds while releasing another in the thirties on a popper. Dr. George Gabuzda from Wall trolled a 42 1/2-pound striper this week from his All Hands out of Hoffman's in Brielle. That was a personal record for him, and bested the boat record I had set at 38 pounds a couple of years ago. The Ocean Explorer from Belmar reported good variety bottom fishing on Friday, with up to limits of sea bass plus some ling, winter flounder, keeper fluke, and a cod. Vinnie D'Anton of Shark River Hills said surfcasting at Bradley Beach was slow as he only released a small fluke, though one angler hooked a couple of short stripers. While fishing there in shorts the previous morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find the water was warm after having  been practically frozen in place at Bay Head last week. It must have been at least 10 degrees warmer. Joe Melillo, at Castaways Tackle in Point Pleasant, reports fluke are starting to get active in Manasquan River, and crabbing is now worth the effort. Tom Brown of Spring Lake weighed a bunker-caught 24 1/4-pound striper taken from a northern river this week to take the lead in the Spring Lake Live Liners club derby. Bob Longo of Brick plugged a 13 7/8-pound striper from a local beach this week.