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/

Fishing Journal for 2014_08-30

Rolled out of bed to an unseasonable chill. Fifty four degrees Fahrenheit actually. For a moment I thought it was October and was getting up to go striper fishing. Typically if it falls below 65 degrees time of year that is cool. So 54 is border line chilly. The cool temps didn’t stop me though. Ready for some Big Rig Fluke Fishing was out the door 10 min to 5 am and off to the bait and tackle shop.  The familiar early morning peaceful drive. Arriving and picking out a box of squid and a pack of spearing the man working the counter gave me good tip that big Croakers were being boated by the ammo pier.  I have been in search of the these excellent tasting fish for the past few weeks and with this report I decided to Change our venue to 3 miles south.

The full length of beaches in the area of Belford and Port Monmouth were undergoing beach replenishment as apart of the plans to protect the bay towns from another storm such as Superstorm Sandy.  The project started in late June so at this point I wasn’t sure there was any beach access. The hint of huge Croakers made me chance it.  I called Sean the Redneck and let him know of the change of plans asking if he was cool with it. Upon arrival at the bayshore waterfront park it looked closed. Took a drive south to the other lot. It was open!!

Prior to unloading I took out the cannon camera to get some awesome sunrise photos. On any given day I tend to skip the photography just to get out fishing but this day was special. It was one of the clearest views I had seen since the early spring and the water was like glass. So I snapped a few pictures and it was now time to go fishing.

It was Big Rig day no matter what after I decided to leave the Cuda at home. Rigged up and headed for the beach. Thank goodness for the mullet miller cart as the beach after the replenishment was easily now a 125 yard walk. They did build a gravel Stone path that was about half the distance of the beach which actually was a big help. Down to the shore line and paddling out to the second line of buoys then finally fishing.

It wasn’t long first fish on. Short Fluke. Couple more hits and I decided to move to deeper waters. Out to 18 foot depth. Dropped down catching more fluke from 12″ up to 15″. The fish are regulated by the state and must be 18″ min to  keep. Loving flounder for dinner catching lots of small fish can be quite frustrating but is still a lot of fun.

I stuck with the same rig all day which was a white 1.5oz Spro bucktail with a dropper loop and a white teaser tipped with green 4″ gulp swimming mullets and added a spearing and strip of squid per hook. Another rod was ready for Croaker fishing with 1/0 Gammi Bait Holder hooks for clam. I did fish the rod for about 20 mins catching a 15″ fluke on it. I also landed a 27″ dogfish on the buck tail. That was the fun fight of the day.

At times it was slow fishing I was able to play with some new toys such as my new RAM Mounts Tele-Mount. It attaches to any broom handle or telescoping pole. In this case I was using a boat hook that extends to 7 and a half feet in length. Its really cool to have new camera angles with the GoPro! Also had my new stereo system in full effect! Purchased an ECORox waterproof bluetooth speaker to pair with my new Samsung Galaxy S5. I can now listen to pandora or tunes downloaded to the phone to conserve on data usage. Will be doing reviews in the future on both of these items!

So around 12:30 it begun to get cloudy and a 10-15 kt wind rolled in. It churned up the bay with 1-2 foot waves which was the end to the picture perfect day.  Just before the clouds rolled in I was able to snap a really nice photo of the NYC skyline with my little Olympus Stylus Tough camera. It came out excellent.

Kayak fishing has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is paddling against strong winds. This also creates an advantage as kayak anglers are not limited to one port. We can find areas to fish that are sheltered from strong winds. This is precisely what we did on July 7th. Wind was predicted to be 5 – 10 out of the south west.

Our planned rendezvous was under beach replenishment construction still and did not allow us access to the water. The panned area was land within the west vicinity which would have blocked it if it was to be a windy day later on. The decision to drop in on the other side of the bay at tip of Sandy Hook yealded to 10-15 kt winds from the West/Southwest. The plan was to move back across the bay and find an alternate drop in that shielded us. While driving south along the water I noticed the water wasn’t as rough. The wind was blocked from the hills of Atlantic Highlands. It was there that we dropped in. Here the wind was manageable but the braided line still sang to me all day long.

The Map below shows the main area that I tend to fish. The bay is shaped like a large funnel. Any type of east wind makes it a real rough day. West is best!  Highlighted are the most manageable spots to fish at certain directions of strong wind.. Typically it becomes windy no matter what in the afternoon.

The day went pretty well a bunch of short Fluke in the morning. Sean Gavin whom I fished with scored 1 keeper. It was just nice to get out and explore a new area.