I thought the river fishing for big blues might be over, but after doing nothing the last two mornings in the Bradley Beach surf, I tried upriver in Manasquan River late in the afternoon and saw a few choppers taken in brief flurries despite a howling west wind. At Seaside Park, the bite of big blues in the surf that made Sunday's Governor's Surf Fishing Tournament such a success continues.

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. 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.

The annual Governor's Surf Tournament will be contested Sunday at Island Beach State Park as anglers hope for a continuation of fine surfcasting for large bluefish in that area. Capt. Joe Massa said his crew fished through lots of bluefish in the West Bank area last Saturday to catch six bass while chunking and live-lining bunkers in the West bank area from My III Sons out of Morgan Marina.

Capt. Vinny Vetere, of Katfish Charters in Great Kills, trolled Monday in the ocean from Monmouth Beach to Deal to catch eight large stripers up to 37 pounds on TGT Rattle Spoons. It wasn't on-fire as conditions weren't great with the weather and water clarity not what it should be, but we did see some nice bass caught along the North Cape May Beach.

Striped bass have been few and far between for northern party boats in both the ocean and Raritan Bay, so skippers really appreciate the current abundance of big bluefish. Blues from 10 to 16 pounds were blasting poppers and swimmers in Barnegat Bay for anglers fishing with Capt. Dave De Gennaro on his Hi-Flier from Barnegat.