Fish On Bass season in full effect RON NUZZOLO The weather has finally cooled off with a good amount of rain and temperature change. The wait is on for anglers from Montauk Point to Barnegat Light who have had enough of the big chopper blues invading the surf and corralling the peanut bunkers into an all-you-can-eat buffet. Bass, bass, bass is the main focus. Striper action is slowly peeking its way into reports. What will the next few weeks bring? Keep your eyes out for birds along the shorelines and jetties for the invasion of trophy bass. With plenty of bait along the coast from Raritan Bay to Barnegat Light, we should expect a huge turn out. Bluefish fishing has remained solid, breaking lines and losing tackle on some big fish along the beaches from Sandy Hook Point south. Anglers are using poppers in hopes of making contact with bass instead of the relentless bluefish, which have been as fat as 15 pounds off the surf. Where there are monster blues, there should be monster bass right behind them. To get a pulse on when, where and how to catch trophy bass, log on to NJSaltwaterfisherman.com for the latest striped bass forecast. My buddy Skolmann from Bayonne got a call from Capt. Frank from Fins on Feathers charter from Leonardo State Marina on Friday afternoon asking if he was available. When it comes to fishing, this guy is always available. Jason and Skolmann were joined by Capt. Frank Saturday afternoon and collected half a bucket of fiddler crabs and another quarter bucket of Asian crabs. Just in case, they also netted several dozen peanut bunker and headed off. They first trolled Clark spoons for a while in hopes of repeating the action Capt. Frank had Saturday morning with over a dozen false albacore in the 10- to 12-pound class, but no luck this time. Moving out to some snags out between the channels, they had action with blackfish from the start. Fiddlers were the hot bait early before half a green crab became the bait of choice. First three blackfish over the rail were all easy keepers and went into the box. Took a while for Jason to catch his, but he eventually did, and we had our four-man limit to 6 pounds. In addition, Capt. Frank boxed one of the biggest inshore sea bass seen in a long time. Estimated to be easily between 5-6 pounds. Tide changed, and they went inshore and had a pick of "toy" tog and short sea bass with the occasional porgy in the mix. Once the tide turned, they went back to the original spot and again had good action with tog. Green crabs, fiddlers and clam strips were all catching tog. . Annual fall 40-hour Striped Bass Tournament The Hi-Mar Club conducts one of the premier striped bass tournaments in North Jersey. This year's 40-hour event will run from 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 19, to noon on Sunday, Oct. 21, at Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor. To find out more information about this event, call the tournament director, Bob Kamienski, at (732) 495-9210 or visit www.hi-mar.com.