With the blues lingering, bass, tuna are on the way
RON NUZZOLO Fish On
When all else fails, the bluefish will never let you down. Bluefish fishing has been steady this year, with the average blues between 6 and 10 pounds. It's that time of year to reflect back on what you do and what you need to do. Get the tackle box in order, put new line on those reels and get ready. Fall striped bass and tuna season is here. It's like the playoffs.

While this season was very fruitful, it has only just begun. Now is the time for the serious anglers to wrap up this year with some big fall bass action and offshore adventures. This is the time we all look forward to. Reserve the time and get your trophy.

The Raritan Bay is loaded on the Staten Island side with peanut bunkers, and thousands of snappers below keeping them balled up. Great Kills Harbor is so thick with peanuts and snappers that one angler said you could probably walk on them. Porgies are also showing up along the shore. Any patch of rocks, piers or pilings along the beach, you can find them using sandworms. For a small fish, they put up a great fight on light tackle.

Down South, Capt. Ed from NJSaltwaterfisherman. com reported last week that fluking has been shaky, to say the least. However, some anglers are beginning to pick up fluke in shallower water (40-50 feet) again off Spring Lake. Sea bass are showing up on the Sea Girt and Axel Carleson reefs.

Anglers are starting to tangle with false albacore and Spanish mackerel, both by beach and boat. Japanese feathers and small Clark spoons will raise these warmwater fish. Surf anglers have the best chance to catch them with small diamond jigs or Hopkins with a fast retrieve.

Big 8- to 12-pound alligator blues have once again invaded the suds. They can be taken with metals or mullet rigs with frozen/fresh mullet. By the way, there are good numbers of mullet being netted in the back bays and rivers in the area.

Tuna fishermen have been smiling about the amount of yellowfin/longfin/bluefin that have been in the Hudson and Toms canyons.

The back bays continue to produce snappers on lures and bait (spearing); weakfish on lures (pink Fin-S) and on bait (sandworms); and assorted other species on sandworms.

Capt. Steve Purul of Barnegat Light reported the same forecast from the back bay. Fishingwasa little inconsistent with the action. There seemed to be a rhythm that was hard to follow, with some trips doing very well and other trips not so much. Doug Muller with his wife, Gene, and their three boys were out to start the week with some action with weakfish, blues, and shad while grass shrimping. Regulars Jay Simmons and Joe Franke joined forces on an open boat adventure to score a nice mix of weakfish on plastics and grass shrimp. Later that same afternoon, Joe Holl with friend Dom were out for what the guys termed "Florida-like sea trout fishing," where they scored nice weakfish casting to visible weakfish swirling on schools of bait. They ended the night with nonstop action at the inlet on plastics with blues to 1-5 pounds. Philip Engel with father-in-law Paul and his two young boys were out for a threehour evening trip, and although the bites were nonstop and the hookup ratio was off, they still managed a nice mix of weakfish, blues and shad, keeping only the weakfish for dinner.

Please send all your reports to ron@signbrothers. com Fish On.

Did you know?

IGFA.org reports former NFLQB Boomer Esiason has announced the partnering of the Boomer Esiason Foundation (BEF) with the Redbone Celebrity Fishing Tournament Series event, the F.C.A. Montauk Slam in Montauk, Long Island, N.Y, Sept. 19-21. The annual two-day inshore tournament is expected to attract 80 anglers and celebrities, catch-and-release fishing for blues, stripers and football-shaped fish called false albacore (or albies), while at the same time helping to raise money for the BEF Scholarship Program for patients with cystic fibrosis. For more information on the Montauk Slam, please call the Redbone offices at (305) 664-2002. For more information on the Boomer Esiason Foundation, visit www.esiason.org, call Mike Hill at (212) 525-7777 or leave a message at 800- 317-5378.