One word of advice for you.......TENNIS
In the Raritan Bay in the early spring your best bet is bait. Clams or Sandworms. I like to drift the Sandworms, with clams I usually anchor, but if the drift isn't too fast you can drift them as well.
Remember, the water is cold and the fish are lazy so shallow and slow are great rules of thumb. Best spots are going to be the mud flats from Keyport and west fairly close to the beach.
One thing you need to watch, especially in the shallows is for any sort of debris that has settled on to the bottom from Sandy... I would imagine given all the damage in places like Keyport, Keansburg and Cliffwood beach there is bound to be some stuff in the water so I would take it slow and be very cautious.
Make sure you lay some GPS tracks on your way out and if you don't hit anything, follow them back in.
