Striped bass eeling has turned on in the Sandy Hook area. Yesterday on the afternoon trip, we had abaord the Patrick Harley charter. The crew was Patrick, his younger brother Dave, Anthony, and Mike. The first drift produced no bass on the eels so we moved to another spot. We ended up landing a very nice catch of keeper stripers all between 33" and 38". Young Dave had the hot hand. He never fished for or caught a striped bass before. He started off with a 33" fish, his first. Then he landed the pool winner on the trip with a 38" fish that weighed 21 lbs. By the end of the trip he was also high hook with 3 bass landed including the pool winner. Not bad for the first time striper fishing. Congratulations Dave!! No bluefish and no short bass were caught. You usually will not catch short bass on the eels, only keepers. Water temp. was still warm at 63.1 degrees. It should definately be dropping after this storm. There are hugh bluefish at the Shrewsbury Rocks and the Mud Bouy if you want to chum and wear out your arms. Soooooooooo the fall run of bass has definately started.