Fishing Journal 2015_07-11:

The Sunshine Foundation Fluke Tournament 2015 came upon me with no real warning. I had my dates off although my calendar displayed the correct date. Along with other big changes going on at the moment in time it was easy to mess up the dates.

The plan was to stay at my friend and fellow kayak anglers camper which is located 20 min from the tournament spot. Leaving Friday afternoon after 5 hours of work. The decision to take all back roads to Egg Harbor proved to be a good idea and also was nice to take roads through areas in NJ I have never been. Most people think New Jersey is an entire state of industrial companies and polluted but there is a higher percentage of Jersey that is farmland and old colonial style towns.

Going straight to the captains meeting since being unable to get there until 6:30 Eric Chamberlain and his son Brandon were there. I went in and registered and received a T-Shirt and a captains bag. Then it was back to Ricky’s camp. Eric made dinner in a dutch oven consisting of beef potatoes carrots and broccoli calling it cave man food. It was decent. Someday I will own a dutch oven.

The alarm went off at 4 am. Ricky had coffee going and he made us all an awesome breakfast with scrambled eggs bacon and potatoes!. Great way to start a day of fishing hard! Then we were off. We drove down a pretty much single lane road through all of the marsh and over wooden bridges. I had never seen anything like it in NJ.

At the drop in we just backed our vehicles to the water and dropped the kayaks right there. After launching i decided to try a little jigging right at the ramp. First cast fish on! It was a short fluke coming in at 15″.  Fishing wasn’t really that great. It was pretty windy all day.  By the end of the day Ricky had 6 shorts and i had the same of 6 short fluke landed. Nothing close to a keeper.

On the way back I caught a few blue claws of really nice size just hanging on my jig! We fished 7 hours and the outgoing tide and part of the incoming.

Around 2:00 PM we headed in. Drove back to camp and hung out for a little while before heading over to the awards BBQ. The food was decent. It included Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Burgers, Dogs, Corn, and watermelon. They were selling a nice beer glass for 5.00 which included free refills of coors lite. The awards were handed out and no kayakers all 13 of us entered drum roll. No Fish! The tricky tray prizes were insane!

After the awards dinner we went back to the camp and I hung out with Ricky and his wife Becky. Ricky and I took a walk around camp. Showing me around  some really nice spots. The sunset photo is from a point on the Mullica River. Chips Folley Campground is a really beautiful place. Its one of those hard to find Gems of New Jersey. 

Ricky and I had planned on going fishing again in the morning but he was pretty spent. He had a guide service on Friday and now had fished all day Saturday in the tournament.

I feel this tournament was well put together. I was surprised there was only 13 kayakers registered in the tourneys 4th annual. Its fun to fish new areas and especially with good friends!

While planning my next fishing day I have a few techniques for research. My first rule is to try to stay out of the weather. With weather forecasts of strong storms in the late morning to early afternoon and a stiff S-SW wind my plan was to stay close to shore and the launch with in an area the land blocked the wind. This day was to be the calm before the storms.

Arriving around 6 am in Keyport I dropped the big rig down from its truck top dry dock and loaded gear for targeting multiple species. This time of the spring there are 4 different fish typically targeted.  This means bringing more rods than typical but also need to carry a landing net. Fluke or Summer Flounder tend to spit the hook more than most fish because the way they naturally swim. Netting these fish is the safest way of landing them.

Once out on the water making the decision to fish back in the creek. Marking fish I set up for jigging whatever it was that I was marking. It looked like large bluefish with bass under them. Some fish were breaking the surface and I tried a popper for a few casts using my new Bull Bay Rod and Abu Revo Inshore. Around the 20th cast and adjusting the reel casting got backlash in the reel. It was not so bad at first but kept getting worse and worse. An hour later and about 150 yards of brand new 20 lb power pro cut and stripped it was time to go fishing again. I should have just put the rod down this was the first time  ever cutting braid on a reel due to a backlash and it was a bad decision. Never again will that happen.

The tide by now had dropped a foot or two. Paddling out more to the open bay. Using a 1/4 oz bucktail with a white teaser and 3″ white gulp on both my first drift was successful with a 21″ fluke! IT was a great fight and an excellent first fish of the season!

I kept making the same drift but the bite was slow and so was the tide. I managed loosing a fish at the boat that was borderline and missing a few hits. I decided to call it a day when the NW winds came in and the tide was at dead low. A successful day bringing home dinner. I regret not fishing the area I typically fish this time of hear due to the forecast. The storms however did settle in around 7 PM and they were pretty heavy duty. Lasting for 4 days and over 2.5 inches of rain.

Every year is different at the Jamaica Bay Classic while other things never change.

The 13th Annual Jamaica Bay Classic now in the books as another great one. With 308 total registered it is one of the largest kayak specific fishing tournaments on the east coast.

Thursday:

The drive to J-Bay for me is usually a nice one. Sometimes I catch traffic due to an accident. Leaving in the late morning is the best time for after morning rush hour and before lunch time. Driving to Brooklyn and Queens has its positives though. I get to drive over two large bridges one being a the Outer Bridge which is a truss bridge that connects New Jersey with Staten Island crossing the Arthur Kill. The second being the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which is a suspension bridge that connects Staten Island with Brooklyn crossing the New York Harbor.

I arrived Thursday afternoon. The crew had already set up camp the day before and was just finishing up pre-fishing from the morning. Reports were as I had thought they would be with a lot of bluefish and a few bass. I decided due to the 15-20 mph winds to hang out and pre-fish the morning and then get back for the start of the tournament which was to kick off at 12 noon on Friday.  I used the remaining time to hang out with people i haven’t seen in a while unload  and prepare for fishing in the morning and enjoy the time. This year I agreed to the anti tub and worm guys i fish with and did not dip a single tube in the water this year.  Completely strategic fishing.  Jigging worked real well but only on blues I was hoping for a firs j-bay bass on a jig.

Friday:

4:30 AM came fast. Typically the first night is hard to sleep but not this time. Was able to get the longer bunk. Being 6’1″ tall this was awesome this time! The coffee was brewed and we all were ready for a day of fishing! The sun was rising over the horizon it was to be a warm day!. Launching around 6:00 am fishing seemed to be slow early. I saw a few small striped bass picked up and around this time quit trolling to begin jigging. Using a 1-3/4 oz Kalins jig and a translucent pink Zman 6″ curly tail grub. It seemed pink was again the color this year.  About 30 mins later felt a fish hit. Lifted the rod and set the hook! It was on! Landing a 28-1/2″  20# lb bluefish. Of course it is the Pre-Fish so the fish did not count in the tournament. I snapped a photo anyway for kayak wars and returned the fish back to the water.

It was now 11:00 AM and was time to head back for the captains meeting. A few of us decided to eat lunch and go back out around 1:00 PM.

Fishing seemed to be the same. I managed another bluefish at 27.5″ for the tournament on the same Jig. 5:00PM came around which closed out the first half day of the tournament. I entered my fish in and was in first place of the electric division.

Saturday:

The other guys made the decision to fish cross bay by JFK Airport for the morning. I agreed as I had done well here in the past. Plus its just fun to fish with your friends. A short drive in the AM after the tournament officially opened for the day.  The morning begun warm but stayed cloudy. Showers were in the forecast.

Launching from the beach of the cross bay causeway around 6 am I heard Mike already had landed a 43″ bass. I decided to start trolling. And trolled for a good hour and a half out to the radar pier. Finding schools of bunker and not a hit trolling I rigged up for live lining. Quite a few casts I was able to snag a few bunker. Hooking one up for live lining while drifting and jigging with another rod.  I just couldn’t seem to find the fish. Not marking anything on the fish finder making the decision to troll back to the train bridge where there was fish earlier. On the troll back it begun to rain and did so pouring at time over an hour and a half of time. Now cold wet and no fish and ready to pack it in. I chucked the bunker around the bridge and nothing. This was the first time skunked fishing this area.

It was now 11:45 AM and packing up to head back to the main tournament launch for lunch and to listen to the NY Rangers playoff game. After the game was over Rangers winning! I went back out fishing. It was going to be a short  after noon of fishing. I ran the Torqeedo wide open out to the spot where my friends were still fishing. Other anglers watched me speed by at 5.5 MPH! Finding my friends they were on a pod of bluefish.

It was dead calm waters so taking the advantage of the Big Rig I was able to stand and sight fish. First cast of a white 6″ bomber fish on! Another big blue! About 5 minutes of the fish taking drag reeling it back up and taking grad the hook pulled about 10 feet from the yak. Still an epic fight! The birds were now working on some bait nearby that the blues were pushing up. I perused them in the standing paddling position. A few more hookups and losing fish at the kayak. Remember to sharpen the hooks nest time out! At this time hunger has set in and captain Jim’s ribs were on the menu!

Prior to crashing out i set up my fluke rod for buck tail jigging. A thunder storm came through and everyone crashed out. I wasn’t tired yet and saw the glimmer of a camp fire inthe distance. I walked over there and met Dennis Dottie and Gabb hanging out! Good times as the fire and the company was very inviting and meeting new people was great! A few drinks and time to crash to get up early and do it allover again.

Sunday:

Arising after the sun rose stepping outside its really foggy. I took my time figuring id wait for it to burn off. It was dangerous out there with all of the power boats cruising around and 300 kayak anglers drifting in the fog. Safety is always a #1 concern.

I launched around 8:30 still foggy but manageable. About a half hour later the fog has all dissipated and i was in search of fluke. It was the last half day of the tournament. My bluefish had been run off the board by 3 30″ bluefish. I needed a nice fluke to pick up third. Three hours went by and I managed nothing Brian had a 23″ fluke. Time was up. Only thing left to do was pack up have lunch and hopefully win a raffle!

Mike won the Grand Slam with his 43″ bass. I unfortunately did not snap a photo of the leader board winners this year.

Jackson Kayak and Orion Coolers donated a nice 45 quart cooler to the raffle! The winner of it seemed excited to win it! I typically don’t win anything in the raffle but this year as different and won a nice St Croix Inshore Mojo Spinning rod!

It is great to be able to represent Jackson Kayak and get away for a weekend of fishing! Everyone looks forward to the J-Bay Classic every year! As I always say if you haven’t fished this tournament definitely do! Its a great place to fish this time of year! You wont regret it!