A mild winter and early spring often results in a good April bite of mostly short stripers on clams for Raritan Bay boaters, but this year the bass have been on herring and hitting lures. Grumpy's Tackle in Seaside Park is still hoping for the first bluefish report, but reports school stripers in the surf on clams and small lures -- plus many more in Barnegat Bay on bloodworms and small plugs.

After a tough day on Tuesday, striped bass turned on again today in the back of Raritan Bay. That lure seemed to be the key to attracting bites today -- and Berkman even used it to catch the first fluke of the season reported to me.