Prior to going out on any event/tournament its a good idea to check the weather forecast prior to packing. This allows you to pack what you will important for the weather instead of packing everything. This time of year it is typically cold nights and cool days so preparing to dress in layers is the best way to go. It appears that this weekend is not going to be very cold but will be a bit windy. Therefor dressing for the wind will be important.

So now that know the type of gear and clothing I will need to bring the next step will be creating a list so forgetting to pack key items is a good idea. Being only 2 nights and a full day and a half of fishing its easy to pack light. All of my fishing tackle and rods are already packed due to previous fishing trips so that cuts out about half of things needed. It is fall so i will need to pack warmer clothing and my semi dry gear. Rule of thumb is water + Air temperature must reach a minimum of 120 degrees or falling into the water could be deadly without the protective dry gear.

I am also looking forward to using my Torqeedo as this is a special place with a 4-5 knot tide at fall new moon. Its going to be ripping and windy. challenge accepted! I will be targeting Striped Bass Blue Fish Speckled Trout and Tautog.

The Jamboree is held in Cape May NJ which is a two hour drive from my home. It is ground zero for some of the best Tautog fishing on the East Coast.

A nice drive south on the Garden State Parkway through the Pine Barens. Looking forward to meeting up with a lot of familiar faces and meeting new anglers! Im also looking forward to doing a little celebrating as today is my birthday!!

Hope to see you all there at the captains meeting tonight!

If not I will be on campsite 729.
For more information see http://jckf-forum.forumotion.net/

Another great annual event is over. What a great time! A total of 98 were registered anglers. Arrived on Friday afternoon after picking up a Big Tuna Demo from Jersey Paddler. I ended up going straight to TKFS to see who was fishing and how they were making out also to possibly fish. It seems as i arrived there and said hello to everyone at the store they guys were coming in. The typical crew of Capt. Jim Gary Brian and Chris. They were all togging at the bridge there. They amazingly all limited out within 2 hours. As they came in the winds were blowing a steady 20 with gusts to 30. So I decided to join the crew for fresh fried tog.
Tautog is incredibly tasty fish. One of my favorites in fact. Hung out with the guys for a little while them met up for the captains meeting. Collected my captains bag. A lot of cool swag again this year! These guys know how to put together a bag o swag! Had the opening toast then got ready to go fishing for the 9 PM start.

Wawa Turkey Dinner Bowls are back!!!!! Grabbed me one of those for dinner! Arrived at the drop in location and ate my dinner. By the time i was all loaded and dry geared up the 5 guys i was going fishing with ere nowhere to be found and I was unable to get radio contact for some reason. There was no game plan I was aware of so i trolled out the inlet with no hits. Finally got a text and paddled to the location of the other guys.  They were already into the bass. I guess it was pretty much too late by the time i arrived i saw some of the guys boat small bass but i had none all night. Decided to bail at 2:00 am.

The plan was to sleep for 2 hours if possible then return to the same fishing spot for sunrise. Eh yeah that didn’t happen. After awaking around 6:30 and getting to the drop in around 7:30 it was togging day!. Cape May has an incredible togging fishery. Togging from a kayak is ideal as typically you are going to be fishing around structure such as bridges rock piles wrecks and jetty’s.

Picked me up 2 dozen green crabs from the bait shop. Each crab = 2 baits. Using meat shears you will simply cut the crab in half front to back and also cut the claws and legs off.  My rig was a high low tog rig with the sinker at the top. You can also use a single hook rig which most use in the area. Tog are tough fish to catch because as you hook them they swim quickly into the structure below. Snagging your rig up and fraying the leader. You have to hook the fish and begin reeling asap to keep the fish out of the structure. I pretty much stuck with baiting with 1 hook as 2 dozen green crabs can be all used up within a couple of hours. The fishing was great. Easily landed well over 15 fish. None over the legal limit to keep though.

Before the day was over I decided to join the guys along the rock wall out the inlet. The wind was fierce blowing at a steady 20 gusting id say to 30 mph.

Tried to fish the area but with the incoming tide ripping and that stiff wind it was just close to impossible. Snagged my rig up cut it and left to go back to the campground and setup the HOW video on the projector for the dinner.

The dinner was excellent as it has been in the past. I wish we played the video before the awards and after dinner so everyone would have been able to hear the audio.

We ran off the raffle and that was the night. The wind continued to blow all night. Next morning packed up and that’s another jamboree in the books.

Looking forward to it again this year. The Kayak Fishing Store doods do a great job putting this event together. This will be my 3rd in attendance but the 4th annual. Always a good time. Planning on fishing nights mostly on this one for a change. Never had much luck as I rarely fish this area due to the distance away from my home base. It has become an annual thing along with the Jamboree.

What is a Jamboree? The word means a gathering. It is used in boyscouts for theyr national and world get together’s. For us its just a bunch for Kayak Anglers getting together hanging out camping eating fishing and having fun!

I am planning on arriving by noon time as i have to stop by Jersey Paddler to pick up a demo Jackson Big Tuna for a couple of veterans with service dogs to test out. The NE Florida HOW Chapter loves the Jackson Big Tuna for this reason. Being a Jackson Fishing Team member I hope the Big Tuna works for our veterans.

Anyway hope to see you all there and even meet new people as that always happens. Stop by the RV’s at the Camp Ground. Should be there. If not see you out on the water.