By Al Ristori

June 04, 2010, 1:52PM

Following is the balance of Friday's column that didn't make print:

Clammers were also enjoying hot bass action. Capt. Pete Wagner of Hyper Striper at Twin Lights has had consistent limit catches, and some Atlantic Highlands party boats are doing so well with bass on clams that they still haven’t switched to fluke. Capt. Ron Santee of the Fishermen reported a 23-pound striper on a clam during Wednesday’s first drift as the bite continued on-and-off until the hard ebb tide in the afternoon.  That boat is chartered this afternoon, and every Saturday morning in June. Capt. Scotty Hilliard is also clamming on the Prowler during this best spring run in years. Sam Grbie of Westfield won Wednesday’s daytime pool with a 24-pound bass, and the 3:30 p.m. trip limited out in time for an early return.

Intensive bunker netting by bait boat purse seiners seems to have made those forage fish scarcer and bass fishing a picky proposition along the Shore. The Memorial Day weekend blitz of the last two years wasn’t repeated, but Nick Honachefsky of Normandy Beach was fortunate Wednesday when he fished with Mickey Malchiondo on Archangel. Bunkers were hard to snag in the morning, and they didn’t do anything until 2 p.m. In the next hour the fishing exploded as nine bass from 25 to 44 pounds were caught – with only the smallest retained. The fog made fishing difficult yesterday morning.

Capt. Howard Bogan Jr. had an unusual catch during Monday’s trip with his Jamaica from Brielle. There were no bass on bunkers, and clamming to the north was no good before he spotted schools of black drum from 55 pounds up on the surface.  One school had at least 100 drum in it. Most anglers didn’t have adequate tackle, but Brian Roddy of Brick boated a 67-pounder. A few bass up to 25 pounds were under them. A late striper bite bailed out Sunday’s trip, when James Dempsey of Trenton boated a 35-pounder.  Saturday night bluefishing 22 miles to the southeast was a pick all night and the best so far. Jamie Moore of Newark won the pool with a 16-pounder.  After only jigging a few small blues Wednesday, Bogan moved north to jig where some bass to 20 pounds and 6-to-8-pound blues were located.  Some drum with a few bass under them were spotted on the way back south. Jim Shabrach of Boyertown, Pa. boated both a 23-pound pool-winning bass and a 70-pound drum.

Fluking didn’t get off to a great start, but there have been some hopeful signs. Capt. Bobby Bogan of the Gambler from Point Pleasant had a good Wednesday afternoon trip that included a limit up to 3 ½ pounds by Kevin Pavone of Toms River, who also had about a half-dozen sea bass from the rough bottom in 65 feet. Dennis Wargo had four fluke up to 4 pounds plus six sea bass.

Capt. Joe Bogan of Jamaica II from Brielle had a poor start to fluking Saturday in deep water, but did better closer inshore on Sunday when Amy Liu of East Brunswick took the seasonal pool lead with a near-doormat 9-pound, 10-ounce fluke.  Wednesday’s fishing was the best so far, three miles off in 60 feet. Ed Nolan of Manasquan  had a limit to 4 pounds; Jin Kim of Paterson limited to 5 pounds; and James Chang from East Brunswick limited to 3 ½ pounds. A 3-ounce Spro bucktail tipped with spearing, along with squid strips rigged on a teaser above it was the best combination. Yesterday morning was also good as Sung Huang from Edison had a limit to 8 and 5 pounds by 10 a.m. 

Capt. Stan Zagleski of Elaine B. at Highlands has had plenty of action with short fluke while catching some keepers. Ed Stefanski of Maplewood boated a 5.8-pounder, and John Houghtaling from Franklin Lakes bagged four to 5.3 pounds.

Capt. Ed Bunting of the Sea Horse from Atlantic Highlands counted 25 to 30 keeper fluke Saturday, but 45 to 50 on Sunday as afternoon trips were most productive. Danny Comerford had a 5 ½-pounder Sunday.

Phillip Sciortino reported a most unusual weekend catch from The Tackle Box in Hazlet as Shane Burke of Holmdel said he caught two 31-pound stripers on the same popper at North Beach. It’s not too unusual to hook two blues on the same plug, but this is the first time I’ve heard of two big bass being caught in that manner.

Sheila Miranda of Hoboken boated two 4-pound fluke in Sandy Hook Bay on the new Slimers 4-inch split-tail bait.