Seas forecast on windfinder at 1.6 feet and 4 seconds and 2 feet at NOAA. That was pretty accurate. Not smooth enough to go fast in our boat, really, but a decent day to be out.
Stayed closer in because we only had a short day available. Rutgers sea temperature info showed higher water temperatures south of St. Helena sound than to the north, so we headed south. Fished mostly between 40 and 50 feet of water, with water temps earlier in the day at 63 rising to close to 65.
Started with trolling Clark spoons using #1 and #2 planer at right around 5 knots speed per GPS. Found some bluefish and one Spanish - first of the season - at Hunting Island.
Switched to casting Hopkins spoons and could have filled the boat with bluefish. Thankfully, had checked limits and knew the limit on bluefish was reduced to only 3. Could not seem to find any more Spanish or bonito casting at Hunting Island, so moved to Fripp Island reef.
Same drill at Fripp Island reef but only caught Spanish, zero bluefish. At Fripp, only used #1 planer because of shallower water. Did one LDR on an Atlantic bonito when hand lining in the leader from the planer - operator error. No fish of size but headed home with a few fish dinners. Quite a few went back in the water.
Fish were not everywhere but on just a few pieces of structure. Probably wasted too much time and fuel searching at first before concentrating on the locations holding fish.
Did not catch any little tunny or see any bird activity at all, unlike a few weeks ago.
Unrelated to fishing, saw an ocean sunfish.
Picture is not great but a strange, big fish. I have seen them before but not often and not that shallow.