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.

This is not a kit install but a custom anchor trolley.   I wanted it to be unique.

Things you will need

• 2 Pulleys Stainless Steel
• 1/8″ bungee – Color of choice
• at least 30 feet of reflective 5/32″ poly rope
• 2 Deck Loops
• 4 Nuts bolts and rubber washers.
• 2″ Nylon Ring

(Below Not Photoed)

• Galvanized Hog Rings
• Heat Shrink Tubing

Tools

• Drill
• Torch or Bic Lighter
• Pocket Knife
• Philips screw Driver
• 3/8″ Socket
• 1/4″ Drive Socket Wrench
• Pliers

What is an Anchor Trolley and why is it needed?

Access the bow or stern is basically impossible unless you were to get off the kayak and swim there. Simply using a block and loop conveyor system aka Anchor Trolley. An anchor trolley is basically a clothing line that is used to shift the point of your anchoring from cockpit to both bow and stern. An anchor trolley can be installed on either side of the kayak or both. Its all about how you the angler would prefer to use the system.

Now to install your anchor trolley. First you will cut (2) 8″ lengths of the 1/8″ bungee. Use the Torch or Bic lighter to fuse the Nylon sheath around the rubber bungee chords. This will ensure the bungee will not fall apart.

Now you will insert each bungee into the eye of the block and tie both ends together with a knot.

Once this is done its time to locate the Pad Eyes or the attachment location to the kayak. Approx 12″ from tip of bow and stern. Drill the upper hole first and thread the bolt in to hold the pad eye in place. Angle the pad eye away from the bow on a 45 degree angle but make sure it is flat to the boat. Drill the second hole and thread in. Using the washer with the rubber on the inside make sure that faces the inside of the hull. Snug the nut down tight enough where its not going to move. Repeat the same for the stern. Once the pad eyes are installed connect the blocks to each one.

Using the poly reflective rope and run it through the bow block first bottom to top and back to the stern block top to bottom. With the tag end of the rope slide on a piece of heat shrink tubing then loop it through the Nylon ring leaving about 3″ excess crimp two Hog Rings as close to the nylon ring as possible around the tag end and the main line of the poly rope making the loop permanent around the nylon ring. Cut the tag end of the rope back 1/2″ before the Hog Ring. You will now slide the heat shrink tubing over the tag end and the hog rings. Using a heat gun shrink the tubing but take caution not to burn the poly rope nylon ring or heat shrink.

now pull rope from spool end to the nylon ring and add 12″ and cut. Burn end of the rope and run the new tag end through the ring. Snug up the trolley and using 5 half hitches tie the line. Using half hitches will make the trolley adjustable in the future as the rope gets wet it may stretch. Simply un-tie and re-tie snug again.

You have now successfully installed an anchor trolley on your Jackson Cuda 14!

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Another J-Bay Kayak Classic in the history books! As always a different story to go with the event. Weather good and bad. Broken gear and decent fishing!

As my previous post stated, the weather wasn’t predicted to be fish able Thurs night into early Saturday morning as a slow moving but very strong storm system was predicted to pass through the area. Thought about staying home Thursday night and leaving very early Friday morning to beat the traffic. I was unsure of what the weather would be like so the decision was made as soon as 5:30 came and work was done a day early for the week. Finished my packing and left the house a little after 8:00 PM to arrive at Floyd Bennett Field by 9:00. It was too windy for night fishing so a few brews and a little catch up and sleep for the morning.

Friday:

Around 7am it was still very windy. We hung out for the morning and awaited the captains meeting at 11 AM. After the rules were explained it was decided the tournament is to be postponed until 5AM Saturday morning. The video shows the morning before the captains meeting.

A group of us went fishing anyway. It was quite windy at least 10-15 with 20-25 mph gusts. Mill Basin was the only place sheltered from the direction of the wind. It seemed like a good spot for fishing. The area was loaded with bunker. Using 1 oz a weighted treble hook snag the bunker. Then reel it in and hook it up on a live line setup.

A live line setup consists of a Heavy rod be it a jigging rod or just good 7 foot 4-8oz rod. I use a custom 7′ heavy rod with a Abu Garcia 7000 C3 reel spooled with 65lb Power Pro spectra Braid  Terminal tackle consists of a 9/0-10/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook with 50-60 lb mono or fluoro carbon leader a barrel swivel. For weight you can use a nylon slide on the main line with 12-16″ leader extension for a bank sinker or use an inline egg sinker with a bead at the swivel side.

For snagging bunker for bait. I use a Medium Heavy spinning rod with a Quantum Boca 40PT series reel. Also a 60lb fluorocarbon leader is tied on uni to uni. You may use a wire leader after that before the weighted treble hook. Just in case a bluefish inhales the bait you just snagged. Added protection against blues biting through your fluoro leader.

Fishing for me was uneventful after fishing the area being blown around for 3 hours. A few of us made the decision to get off the water. What a great decision it was. Not even 20 mins later the wind was intensified to easily sustained at 30 mph. Back at camp/tournament headquarters portable toilets were being blown over. Tents and shelters were knocked down and tables and chairs from the event tent were thrown over.

The weather ended the day and eventually cleared up around 11:30 PM after down pouring for about 2 hours.

Saturday:

Up at 4:00 am and getting ready for 5 AM tournament start. Trucked the BIg Rig Down to the launch. After Broke my cart I then broke my pliers. Realized i did not have enough rod leashes with tme so i ended up making 2 more. On the water about 3/4 mile from the launch first hook up trolling a Spro BBZ1 Thought it was a Striper at first turned out to be a 32″ bluefish. Thats a nice fish. Measured him for the tournament and released him alive. Caught 4 more around the same size one  20 inches. No bass. Was looking for schools of bunker but dud not see any. The amount of freshwater probably pushed the bait down.

Went back to the launch to get my net for fluke fishing. fluke fished for about 30 min wind against tide. Couldn’t even buy a hit.

After coming back to the launch a second time I noticed 2 police cutters and a helicopter. Looked like they were searching for something. Turned out they were just training. It was pretty cool watching them maneuver and pickup the divers.

After that i went back out for picking up winds against the tide. It got rough out there so i headed in.

A few hours later gave it another shot for Fluke this time paddling the Cuda 14. It was still rough out there and wind against the tide. Gave it about an hour and gave up with no Fluke being caught.

Sunday:

Sunday was a hard day to find fish. I was looking for fluke most of the day. Was able to hook up a few decent sized bluefish. Fluke were not easily found again. Off the water around 12 pm and loaded up just in time for the awards and lunch. Jackson Kayak donated a Big Rig for raffle which was really cool!  There were four other boats for the raffle too. The winners received a nice plaque with the chart of j-bay and the 4 targeted fish painted on it.

To the right were the results of the tournament. Brian Pickard was in our group and won 3rd place Grand Slam! Grand slam is 3 largest combined fish consisting of a Striped Bass plus Fluke Bluefish or Weakfish.

If you have never fished Jamaica Bay its a great place to fish. It is very kayak friendly and holds many migratory fish. I look forward to seeing everyone there next year!!