After a lot of "hit and miss" fishing, the stripers are starting to become a bit more predictable. The wind was strong out of the west all morning, but we picked up five on the troll. Mojo's, umbrella rigs and bunker spoons all produced.

With the warmer water, the fluke in the Manasquan are turning on the bite. Last night we had a double digit evening with two keepers and one just a quarter of an inch short. The bite was solid from 6 - 8 PM on the incoming tide.

The weather was misty and slightly chilly, but the bay went from dead quiet to hot action shortly before sunset. The blues started feeding and were hitting medium sizes shallow divers at the canal entrance. White and silver were equally effective.

We dealt with choppy seas, but found lots of black sea bass on the wrecks. Also pulled up a tog which was promptly released. Would have been easier fishing if the swells were smaller, but overall, a successful opening day.

There was a nice ling bite in the evening at the rock mountain on the eastern side of the Axel Carlson. After the fluke bite went cold a few miles north, we moved to the Axel to see wat we could find. Aside from the ling, we also hooked into a cownose ray that nearly stripped the line off the reel. Capped the evening off with a gorgeous sunset over the coast as we headed back to the inlet.

The remnants of the hurricane left a question mark as to what we could expect for the fluke bite. We took a run up to Shrewsbury Rocks and weren't disappointed. Three keeper fluke and three keeper sea bass... Plus multiple keeper size releases. The day was topped off with a 24" doormat.