There are other options available, too. When the bait isn't on the surface, you can always break out a pair of medium-weight trolling outfits and troll bunker spoons or swimming plugs. I'll often fish the area with braided or wire line, sending the big lures into the depths, where they'll draw strikes from bigger fish. Work the edges of Raritan Bay West or East Reach, Chapel Hill, Sandy Hook or Swash channels. Constantly monitor your fish finder until you find both bait and the bigger marks denoting stripers and blues in the depths.

Spots like Flynns Knoll and Romer Shoal are good places to try chumming, especially when big blues are known to be in the area. You may anchor, but you may also experience good results while drifting and chumming with ground bunker, and baiting with a chunk of butterfish.

If you trailer your own boat, there's a great launch ramp in Atlantic Highlands, which is minutes from the action. There's also a fine fleet of party boats that sail from Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor, with most sailing on both daytime and evening schedules.

SHREWSBURY ROCKS
On a nautical chart, the Shrewsbury Rocks don't look like a very impressive spot. Extending outward from shore, the Rocks range from 18 to 24 feet for the most part, surrounded by water that is 35 to 50 feet deep. The seaward end of the rock formation has a black "1SR" marker. As the name implies, the Rocks are a mass of jumbled rocks, jutting up from the bottom where they regularly create havoc for anglers, especially those who fish too long a line or who aren't paying attention to what their line is doing.

The rocks attract a huge quantity of forage, which seek sanctuary among the many crevices created by these rocks. There's a huge population of bergalls, properly called cunner, that inhabit the rocky crevices, along with blackfish, porgies and black seabass. Bluefish often move into the area because they know an easy meal is usually readily available. It's risky for anglers to anchor, so most boatmen who fish this choice ground will just drift over it, using chum of ground bunker and chunks of butterfish bait to bring in the blues.

A fun technique is to just drift across the rocks, casting a leadhead jig tipped with pork rind. You'll score with both bass and blues using this technique. Often there's little surface activity, but as you drift along, you'll read both bait and fish in abundance. When the fish are on top, they're usually accompanied by gull activity, at which time tossing a popping plug provides exciting action.

Trolling can be especially effective with wire line. But you've got to be extremely careful, because if you stream too much line astern, you're going to get hung up on the rocky peaks that extend up from the bottom. I've found it especially effective to troll with 100 feet of 30-pound-test Monel or stainless steel wire, while using a parachute jig and pork rind that is constantly jigged as I troll along.

SANDY HOOK
The Sandy Hook peninsula extends northward toward lower New York Harbor and is a buffer separating Raritan and Sandy Hook bays from the ocean. This long spit of land is witness to a fall migration of stripers, blues and forage beyond comprehension. It's accessible to the public as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Almost the entire beach has access for fishermen. These beaches are jammed with bathers throughout the summer months, but with the arrival of Labor Day, the surfcasters take over. Surf-fishermen will often enjoy superb action right through until the bitter cold results in cold hands, but even then the migrating stripers are still cooperative.