It was a mixed bag of fishing at the Kayak Fishing Classic this year with inclement weather playing a big role in the fishing. For me, I fished all four days and caught some quality weakfish, blues, and stripers. The striper fishing gets tougher during the tournament every year, with the Pumpkin Patch yielding fewer and fewer bass with bunker fishermen and tubers scoring some quality fish near the airport and Mill Basin.
On the first day of pre-fishing (Thursday, May 16, 2014), I fished with Eric Harrison, Gary Ward, and Mike Bartkis looking for weakfish, blues, and stripers in the Pumpkin Patch using soft plastics. We launched at dawn and I fished until 10 am in heavy fog. The striper fishing in the Patch was slow, with only one striper being caught between the four of us. However, we scored very well on weakfish catching at least a half dozen between us. I also caught a 34" bluefish on a Hogy that put up an amazing fight on light tackle. The weakfish were also caught on Hogys.
The first day of the actual tournament (Friday, May 16) was cancelled due to a small craft advisory with winds out of the southeast at 30 knots. As such, the second day became another day of pre-fishing. With high winds out of the southeast, the only area that was fishable was Mill Basin. In addition to the wind, rain and fog also made the fishing challenging. Tactics were different on this trip and we fished with live bunker. I started out by snagging about 7 bunker and putting them into the live well. After this, I trolled the channel edges with this live bunker on leadcore line. Soon after, I had a nice runoff by a striper that left a mangled bunker. Later, my bunker was cut in half by a gator bluefish. After fishing for about 90 minutes, the rain and wind both started to increase and I was about to give up. While trolling towards the launch, my leadcore line started to get pulled off hard and I knew that a fish had taken the live bunker. So, I counted to ten and set the hook hard. After a great fight, I landed my first fish ever on a live bunker which turned out to be a 33" striper. After this, I went back to shore.
It rained hard that night and there were flashfloods everywhere. This was a bad omen for the fishing on Saturday. Jamaica Bay doesn't fish well after heavy rains. The runoff from the airport runways dilute the salinity of the water. Bunker don't like freshwater and this usually spreads them out more. The runoff and wind also made the water brown. The dirty water makes it more difficult for predators to find your presentation. This was certainly the case on Saturday, which was a very tough bite. I started out fishing with a few friends from NEKF (Eric, Mike Baker, and Eric Hromada) and we headed towards JFK airport. As Friday, the goal was to catch stripers on live bunker. So, we started looking for bunker schools to load up the live well. Although there was plenty of bunker to be found, they were more spread out moving fast in smaller pods than encountered the previous day. For this reason, we couldn't get as many as we needed. Again, my strategy was trolling the live bunker on leadcore, and I had very good action as long as I had livies. First, a bluefish cut one in half. Later on, I hooked into a very big fish but lost it soon after. This felt like a big striper to me. The bunker was chopped in half but completely taken. Tough break for me because Saturday turned out to be a tough bite. For the rest of the morning, I trolled a tube and caught 5 stripers to 27". I was disappointed with the lack of size, but had at least eliminated one species from the slam. I was pretty sure I could manage a 32"+ bluefish and at least a 28" weakfish over the remainder of the tournament. Eric Hromada caught a nice 31" bass which was the biggest of the day for any of us. After targeting stripers in the morning from the west, we headed back west to target weakfish in the Pumpkin Patch. However, the west wind had picked up hard and was double digits by the time we left at 11 am. This made for a long and strenuous trip back to the Pumpkin Patch. After arriving, we found it full of whitecaps, and it was a long journey to some of our weakfish holes. With brown water and a bad drift, we decided to head back to the Floyd Bennett area to look for some fluke in the lee of the wind. But, we got shut out with this as well.
For the last day of the tourney, I fished with Eric Hromada. Our plan was to fish the Pumpkin Patch out of Floyd Bennett. We knew that there were a good number of gator bluefish holding on the west side of the Pumpkin Patch and intended to begin the morning by targeting big bluefish. My weapon of choice was a Krocodile spoon. My strategy was to speed troll through the deeper channels in the patch. Eric caught a bluefish on his first cast. I started trolling and soon hooked into a 24" and a 27" a little later. Further along, I caught hooked into a nice fish and I knew I had what I was looking for. After a strong fight, I landed a fat 32.5" gator blue and Eric caught one about an inch smaller. We were satisfied with our blues, so we decided to focus the remainder of the morning on weakfish. While fishing for weaks, I caught a 16.5" fluke. So, I had my slam but a little bit small. By this time, it was 7:30 am and I had about 3.5 hours to find a weakfish. Although Eric caught a 21', I couldn't find them and was shut out for the first time in a while on weaks. I believe the brown water and runoff was a major factor for this.
My tournament slam was a 32.5" bluefish, a 27" striper, and a 16.5" fluke. This didn't put me in the money.
My pre-tournament slam was a 34" bluefish, a 33" striper, and a 28" weakfish. This would have put me in the money - story of my life with the Jamaica Bay Tournament.
I had a great time fishing with some fishing buddies that I only see a couple of times per year. Congrats to Elias Vaisberg who took first place for the second year in a row. George White also took first place in the fly division with a beautiful 36" striper.
On the first day of pre-fishing (Thursday, May 16, 2014), I fished with Eric Harrison, Gary Ward, and Mike Bartkis looking for weakfish, blues, and stripers in the Pumpkin Patch using soft plastics. We launched at dawn and I fished until 10 am in heavy fog. The striper fishing in the Patch was slow, with only one striper being caught between the four of us. However, we scored very well on weakfish catching at least a half dozen between us. I also caught a 34" bluefish on a Hogy that put up an amazing fight on light tackle. The weakfish were also caught on Hogys.
The first day of the actual tournament (Friday, May 16) was cancelled due to a small craft advisory with winds out of the southeast at 30 knots. As such, the second day became another day of pre-fishing. With high winds out of the southeast, the only area that was fishable was Mill Basin. In addition to the wind, rain and fog also made the fishing challenging. Tactics were different on this trip and we fished with live bunker. I started out by snagging about 7 bunker and putting them into the live well. After this, I trolled the channel edges with this live bunker on leadcore line. Soon after, I had a nice runoff by a striper that left a mangled bunker. Later, my bunker was cut in half by a gator bluefish. After fishing for about 90 minutes, the rain and wind both started to increase and I was about to give up. While trolling towards the launch, my leadcore line started to get pulled off hard and I knew that a fish had taken the live bunker. So, I counted to ten and set the hook hard. After a great fight, I landed my first fish ever on a live bunker which turned out to be a 33" striper. After this, I went back to shore.
It rained hard that night and there were flashfloods everywhere. This was a bad omen for the fishing on Saturday. Jamaica Bay doesn't fish well after heavy rains. The runoff from the airport runways dilute the salinity of the water. Bunker don't like freshwater and this usually spreads them out more. The runoff and wind also made the water brown. The dirty water makes it more difficult for predators to find your presentation. This was certainly the case on Saturday, which was a very tough bite. I started out fishing with a few friends from NEKF (Eric, Mike Baker, and Eric Hromada) and we headed towards JFK airport. As Friday, the goal was to catch stripers on live bunker. So, we started looking for bunker schools to load up the live well. Although there was plenty of bunker to be found, they were more spread out moving fast in smaller pods than encountered the previous day. For this reason, we couldn't get as many as we needed. Again, my strategy was trolling the live bunker on leadcore, and I had very good action as long as I had livies. First, a bluefish cut one in half. Later on, I hooked into a very big fish but lost it soon after. This felt like a big striper to me. The bunker was chopped in half but completely taken. Tough break for me because Saturday turned out to be a tough bite. For the rest of the morning, I trolled a tube and caught 5 stripers to 27". I was disappointed with the lack of size, but had at least eliminated one species from the slam. I was pretty sure I could manage a 32"+ bluefish and at least a 28" weakfish over the remainder of the tournament. Eric Hromada caught a nice 31" bass which was the biggest of the day for any of us. After targeting stripers in the morning from the west, we headed back west to target weakfish in the Pumpkin Patch. However, the west wind had picked up hard and was double digits by the time we left at 11 am. This made for a long and strenuous trip back to the Pumpkin Patch. After arriving, we found it full of whitecaps, and it was a long journey to some of our weakfish holes. With brown water and a bad drift, we decided to head back to the Floyd Bennett area to look for some fluke in the lee of the wind. But, we got shut out with this as well.
For the last day of the tourney, I fished with Eric Hromada. Our plan was to fish the Pumpkin Patch out of Floyd Bennett. We knew that there were a good number of gator bluefish holding on the west side of the Pumpkin Patch and intended to begin the morning by targeting big bluefish. My weapon of choice was a Krocodile spoon. My strategy was to speed troll through the deeper channels in the patch. Eric caught a bluefish on his first cast. I started trolling and soon hooked into a 24" and a 27" a little later. Further along, I caught hooked into a nice fish and I knew I had what I was looking for. After a strong fight, I landed a fat 32.5" gator blue and Eric caught one about an inch smaller. We were satisfied with our blues, so we decided to focus the remainder of the morning on weakfish. While fishing for weaks, I caught a 16.5" fluke. So, I had my slam but a little bit small. By this time, it was 7:30 am and I had about 3.5 hours to find a weakfish. Although Eric caught a 21', I couldn't find them and was shut out for the first time in a while on weaks. I believe the brown water and runoff was a major factor for this.
My tournament slam was a 32.5" bluefish, a 27" striper, and a 16.5" fluke. This didn't put me in the money.
My pre-tournament slam was a 34" bluefish, a 33" striper, and a 28" weakfish. This would have put me in the money - story of my life with the Jamaica Bay Tournament.
I had a great time fishing with some fishing buddies that I only see a couple of times per year. Congrats to Elias Vaisberg who took first place for the second year in a row. George White also took first place in the fly division with a beautiful 36" striper.
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