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!

Fishing Journal April 18, 2015

First time I fished from sun rise to sunset. Although there was a short lunch break involved. It was a phenomenal day of fishing. The water was like glass again this morning. This is not at all common for Raritan Bay. Not complaining at all these days are the most beautiful!  It was the day of a new moon. The tides on these days are significantly different. Higher at high tide and lower at low tide. As a kayak anglers we should take more note of this as it can be hard to land on back bay beaches during extremely low tides. A 6′ foot tide difference can mean a long walk back when the foot of water on the flat is gone. Shoving off the beach not a boat in sight. High tide was to be within 2 hours. The first thing i noticed was the water temp at 53 degrees was perfect for active bass.

Started out drifting clam in around 9 feet of water where the Lowrance was marking fish. Not a hit for a good 20 minutes. Figured the fish weren’t feeding on clam at the moment.  Decided to switch to slow trolling a tube and worm. About an half hour later Captain Jim and his cousin Ryan spotted me from the deck of Ryan’s Boston Whaler they were on. At this point was starting to catch Stripers on the Kayak Carl’s Tube n Worm. Short bass but in the 20 – 24 inch range. IT was one after another for a good 45 minutes.

Weaving in between the anchored boats of a growing fleet. Wen i left the beach there was Right after slack tide the fishing turned on. It was one after another. I had now landed a total of 9 bass trolling. The fish now had seemed to disappear.Trolled for another 2 good hours only to find a few more fish.

Captain Jim and Ryan had gone over to another spot to see if they could find any fish. They were gone for about 30 min when again started to mark fish.

My reels locked in free spool clicker on. Trolling the Carls Tube N Worm on one rod and a Daiwa SP minnow on the other. This time drag starts to run out on the stick bait. I go to grab the rod an nothing.  Minutes later the tube n worm goes off. Drag screaming out. I set the hook. The fight is on! This fish is big prob 20 lb+ class. About 5 minutes into the fight the fish runs under the stern om my kayak and before I knew it the hook pulled. Lost a nice one.

Still trolling Capt Jim and Ryan are back casting storm shads. Casting and reeling. I had some storms but darker color and couldn’t find a bite on them. They hooked me up with one and it was on after that. Landed small fish but was till fun. In all had 20 fish plus or minus up to 27 1/2″. Lost count.

It was going on 2:00 PM and the new moon tide was falling fast. I decided to call it for that time and get some lunch.

Paddling back in the water became thin on the long beach. Now mostly mud the flat had become land and my truck had become far. Thanks to the Mullet Miller cart for saving me on this one. Still out of breath after wheeling across the mud and the sand in the lot.

Went to lunch at McDonughs Pub in Keyport NJ. Have to give them a plug since the food is always good there! While there met a few fellow kayak anglers! Nick told me they were catching keeper size fish off of Cliffwood Beach. Decided to go there and give it a shot. After contacting Justin Vail that there was fish in the area. The time seemed to fly by. I set off shore and trolled around a bit. No hits Justin joined me and we were blown south. The wind was blowing 10 – 15 easy. As the time went on still no fish but the wind started to let up as the sun begun to set. The next thing I hear is Justin yelling fish on!!  Its great seeing a guy catch his first striped bass on a kayak! I’m glad he was able to manage that since he came down and gave it a shot.

Now heading in its 7:00 PM. Im so worn out from a great fishing day we actually land on the beach a block down and I don’t even realize it until hitting the sand path back to the road.  Only excuse i have is i had never dropped in at Cliffwood before and I was not keeping track of my GPS.