"We didn't start bluefishing until July, since I prefer to run afternoon into evening trips for them and the evening fishing gets better as we get into summer," Santee said. "We kicked the season off with flounder and stripers in April and we ran every day for four months solid. The weather was very cooperative. Once we started bluefish trips, we fell into what had already shaped up to be a great year for them."

Captain Santee's clientele like his bluefish trip scheduling, which let's them enjoy the afternoon sunshine, watch a beautiful sunset over the beach and get in a little nighttime action before they pack up and head back to the dock -- with time to spare to hit the sack and get up for work in the morning.

"Leaving the dock at 3 p.m., almost any day we could stop right inside Sandy Hook Bay and jig the smaller, cocktail blues," he advised, "but most of the anglers I carry enjoy fishing for larger fish and that means we pass up the bay and make the short run to the Mud Buoy. There we would set up the chum slick and drift back baits for them. The fishing action was consistent, almost like clockwork. My log shows we caught pretty much all the fish my patrons could want on 95 percent of the trips during the year and that's a far cry from years past."

The Mud Buoy held nice fish for Santee and the other Highlands boats. Most of the blues went from 5 to 8 pounds, with some teen-sized fish thrown in for sport. "The anglers we carry today are not like the ones my dad and granddad took out," Santee said. "They are on board to have a good time, catch some fish and bring a few home to eat. They could care less about filling a burlap bag full. Back in the old days, guys would get off the boats with 50 big bluefish and try and sell them when they got back to the cities. A good deal of them ended up in the trash, the flesh ruined by not icing them down. I'm pleased to say that mentality is long gone.

"Some of my patrons really like to eat a few or even the 15-fish limit . . . they bring coolers and bleed and ice them on the spot, so they have some very nice fillets when they get home. Bluefish, especially the 5- to 6-pounders, are good eating if you care for them immediately."

The captain did mention that while they always seemed to get a few teen-sized fish on most trips they didn't see as many really big ones until the fall and by then the crowds for the bluefish trips were starting to diminish and the requests to switch back to stripers had him changing over. While bass fishing in the fall, his patrons did catch some very big bluefish jigging or on eels and clams meant for linesiders.

BELMAR BLUES
Captain Al Shinn runs the well-known 120-foot Miss Belmar Princess (732-681-0030) out of the Belmar Municipal Marina; he comes from a long line of party boat captains. When we talked about the bluefishing last year, he didn't waste any time singing its praises.

"It was one of the best seasons we've had for them in many years," he said. "It was like the old days when the fish showed up early and hung around until the last hurrah late in the fall. In recent years, we usually had to run south of Shark River Inlet, our home, to get fish, especially in the summer months. The run could take us all the way to Barnegat Ridge and ever farther. Not last year. The fish were all over the traditional spots just north of our inlet. Spots that were made famous for their bluefishing decades ago."