Bass season in full effect throughout the area
RON NUZZOLO Fish On
The weather has finally cooled off with a good amount of rain and temperature change. The wait is on anglers from Montauk Point to Barnegat Light who have had enough of the big chopper blues invading the surf and corralling the peanut bunkers into an all-you-can-eat buffet. Bass, bass, bass is the main focus. Striper action is slowly peeking its way into reports. What will the next few weeks bring? Keep your eyes out for birds along the shorelines and jetties for the invasion of trophy bass. With plenty of bait along the coast from Raritan Bay to Barnegat Light, we should expect a huge turn out.

Bluefish fishing has remained solid, breaking lines and losing tackle on some big fish along the beaches from Sandy Hook Point south. Anglers are using poppers in hopes of making contact with bass instead of the relentless bluefish, which have been as fat as 15 pounds off the surf. Where there are monster blues, there should be monster bass right behind them. To get a pulse on when, where and how to catch trophy bass, log onto NJSaltwaterfisherman.com for the latest striped bass forecast.

My buddy Skolmann from Bayonne got a call from Capt. Frank from Fins on Feathers charter from Leonardo State Marina on Friday afternoon asking if he was available. When it comes to fishing, this guy is always available. Jason and Skolmann were joined by Capt. Frank Saturday afternoon and collected half a bucket of fiddler crabs and another quarter bucket of Asian crabs. Just in case they also netted several dozen peanut bunker and headed off.

They first trolled Clark spoons for a while in hopes of repeating the action Capt. Frank had Saturday morning with over a dozen false albacore in the 10-12- pound class, but no luck this time.

Moving out to some snags out between the channels, they had action with blackfish from the start. Fiddlers were the hot bait early before half a green crab became the bait of choice. First three blackfish over the rail were all easy keepers and went in the box. Took a while for Jason to catch his but he eventually did and we had our fourman limit to 6 pounds. In addition, Capt. Frank boxed one of the biggest inshore sea bass seen in a long time. Estimated to be easily between 5-6 pounds. Tide changed and they went inshore and had a pick of "toy" tog and short sea bass with the occasional porgy in the mix. Once the tide turned, they went back to the original spot and again had good action with tog. Green crabs, fiddlers and clam strips were all catching tog.

Capt. Steve Purel, of Barnegat Light on Reel Fantasea charters, had regular Joe Franke with Sean Castle and Jan Lambert for an open boat trip. With a building east wind and a deteriorating sea condition, we hit the inlet early to slam the blues on a combination of poppers and plugs. They also enjoyed quality weakfish on plastics. In a local fishing tournament with his brother-inlaw Steve Amato and Jay Simmons, Capt. Steve had four short bass and loads of blues. Losing a keeper bass was lost when the hook pulled as the fish darted across the inlets jetty; they still managed to have fun enjoying the action and the weather. John Repko was on board with a slower day; the blues less than cooperative and with all the boat traffic any bass that may have been there were not responding, so off to a local wreck they went for some nonstop action that included sea bass, porgies, blackfish, snappers and grunts. Although the guys had some keepers, they were throwing them back faster than throwing them in the cooler.

Annual fall 40-hour Striped Bass Tournament

The Hi-Mar Club conducts one of the premier striped bass tournaments in North Jersey. This year's 40-hour event will run from 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19 to noon on Sunday, Oct. 21 at Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. To find out more information about this event, call the tournament director, Bob Kamienski, at (732) 495-9210 or visit www.himar. com.

All Hands on Deck! Saturday, Oct. 20, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Clean Ocean Action welcomes the participation of people of all ages at the sweeps. Volunteers interested in participating in the Beach Sweeps are instructed to bring gloves, dress for the weather (event is rain or shine) and wear sunscreen and closed, hard-soled shoes. Individuals, families and groups are welcome. Clean Ocean Action requests that groups of 15 or more preregister by calling (732) 872-0111, e-mailing education@cleanoceanaction. org or using the online signup form on the Beach Sweeps page of our Web site.

For Hot News and Hot Catches from the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) for the month of October, log on to IGFA.org for all world records and pending status.