Kayak trips & fishing reports 2009

[RocksandReds]

Great report Rich!! I'm getting the itch even more.

[DarkSkies]

*Ill write the report later, more detail.

Jbay today, 9am - 4pm. Wanted to avoid the boat traffic where everyone was fishing the usual hyped up area. Set out at a different launch, met up with another kayaker about 1 1/2 miles from the launch (lucky for me! )

He knew that water, and we fished it together for awhile until he had to leave. He got 2 bass, 6 bluefish using chartreuse shads.

I got one bass 27", and one bluefish, on a pink fin-s.

There was either a grass shrimp hatch or there were small spearing/baitfish in the flats areas. There were also pods of bunker moving through periodically. One pod, in the thousands, was alike a wall of moving water. They moved too fast and I couldn't keep up. So we focused our attention on the sporadically working birds and the small bait.

After he left, I pulled onto a sedgebank to take a leak. I picked that one because it had current moving past it. Before pushing off again, I decided to work the water with an Ace baits medic super spook. From the 2nd cast on, I was into fish for the next 3 hours of the outgoing until slack tide.

Total for that pit stop, one bass around 26", 35-40 bluefish landed 7-13lbs, and at least twice that many strikes that didn't result in hookups. I had a blast fighting those angry fat bluefish, really enjoyed myself!















around 12#, bleeding all over, had to kill this one

[DarkSkies]

5/9 pics


sedges, as the tide went out, I had to wade out farther and farther to get into fish. You can see the kayak actual distance at the top right of the pic, orange blur. By the time of slack tide, I was prob another 100' out further than this.


Here you can see the kayak sitting up on the sedges, this pic was taken at 5x magnified.



deeeeeeeeep mud!

[DarkSkies]

5/9 more pics


This is me doin a little quality control of the Ace Baits Medic super spook! Doesn't look bad after an afternoon of 35-40 bluefish 7-13#. I had a blast! Took some video, but may not put it up because there was so much profanity in it. I have to learn how to behave better when the camera is runnin.





Most other plugs would have wood gouged out after catching so many fish! Phil Griffith from Ace baits uses a special hardened epoxy for his plugs. They fish like wood, but hold up like strong plastic. I was very happy with the results.



one of the larger bluefish, around 12#

[WURK2FISH]

Can't see 'da pics

[storminsteve]

So you go out in your kayak, to catch fish from the shore? Interesting. Nice report and pics, Dark, they just keep whetting my appetite to get one.

[dogfish]

So you go out in your kayak, to catch fish from the shore? Interesting.

What he said, are you a kayaker or a shore fisherman?

[wish4fish]

dudes great pics and reports, gotta get a kayak soon.

[DarkSkies]

I started out on the night before, hoping for a break in the weather. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, and I fished from a shore spot for 2 hours, nothing.

Slept in the van, up at Sat for the adventure. I was surveying the water before I set up, and at 6am a patrol car from Queens PD rolled up. They wanted to know what I was doin there.

So I asked them: do you fish?
PD: no not really, Wait! one of them does, he says not in Jamaica bay, though. Asks me why a guy from Jersey comes all the way to Queens to fish?
Me: Well, the fishin here is incredible, they have been gettin bass in the 30's and 40's.
PD: OK, but you should be advised this isn't the greatest area.
Me: What do you mean by that?
PD: Well there is a high shooting and crime rate in this neighborhood, but the people who do the shooting do to bed in the daytime, so you should be ok here, for the daytime.
Me: Thank you very much, officer!

So I took their advice and moved a mile away to a better neighborhood. The only thing about the new launch spot is that there is a weird recluse guy who lives at the end of the road with his Russian mail order bride and a new baby.

I didn't know anyone else but him lived there until I was there the 2nd time, he keeps a tight leash on her. When I first went there I saw him at 3am on the water's edge, smoking a cig, I thought he lived in the woods there, but he's just a little eccentric, that's all.


fishin rocks at night



ufos?






AM launch

[DarkSkies]

Fished the whole day Sat 6a-6pm. It was a beautiful morning, all remains from the storms of the last 2 days seemed to be gone, other than some debris on the water.

Set up and launched, targeting a spot I wanted to try on the flood tide. I let the tide carry me, and it wasn't bad. On the way I trolled a white tube n worm, and then a jointed bunker x-rap, not a touch as I paddled past the channels.

Set up on the sedge banks. I know it may seem weird taking a yak to fish from shore, but I feel more comfortable fishing from the land, and feel I have better control if the fish are there. They were not at the first spot, which I chose because it had current passing by it.

first stop

[DarkSkies]

Sunset pics

[DarkSkies]

Paddled to the 2nd spot, where there were some flats, and adjacent channels that I could fish on the now ebbing water. I noticed the water was very cold, a lot colder than it was 3 weeks ago, and thought that bait might be needed to coax a bite out of the fish.

Didn't want to set up with bait just yet, the tide was stilll high and I wanted to plug. I noticed hundreds of spearing hiding in the deep cut of a sedge, so I took an underwater video of them. It was cool watching them, and they seemed to be curious of me also. I also found a weathered quarter on those sedges. Even though a place looks desolate, you never know who's been there before.

That location didn't work out, so I paddled to another one nearby, but the opposite side. When neither of these worked I decided to paddle to a different section of the bay. Before I did that, I fished bunker chunks in the channel. Early morning in this channel, there was some tern activity which indicated spearing and possibly bass underneath, but everytime it started up for more than a few seconds, a boat would come by and put the action down.

In all fairness, the boats probably didn't recognize this as fish feeding activity, as it was so subtle. Also, I'm used to heavy boat activity in the RB, Barnegat bay, nd the ocean, so the boat traffic here doesn't seem half as bad.

The last time I was there, there were a nice bunch of fish in exactly these conditions, so by now Im learning what to look for.








Quicksand

[DarkSkies]

On my way to the other area, the wind kicked up from the E, which made paddling difficult. I tried to do it on a diagonal movement, but eventually realized I need to be in better shape.

Some people asked me why I fish Jamaica bay when there are fish right in Jersey, they thought it was because I like to fish alone a lot. I did some thinkin about that. I also need to lose weight, and paddling is tremendous exercise. I must have paddled 4-5 miles that day, and it really kicked my azz.

By the time I reached the flats on the other side, I was losing steam. I had 2 bagels and a water for emergencies, nothing else for energy.

I saw a guy fly fishin in the middle of the bay, near a channel, and it seemed he was only in water up to his knees. It almost looked liie a miracle in my tired state, until I realize he was fishin on a sandbar, and had his kayak up on that bar. I explored a location about a mile away from that, which was non-productive.

I did get to learn about the flats areas, and some cuts and channels I wasn't aware of before, and how the current runs on the incoming and outgoing.

On the way back, I hit the spot that the guy was in. The tide was coming in, so I knew I would have about an hour before the sandbar disappeared. I beached the kayak and started casting a topwater ace medic spook, the same one that brought me such success 3 weeks ago.

Big sandbar at start of tide


tiny sandbar 1 hr later


I managed 3 small blues in the next 1/2 hour, and that was it as the tide started to fill in. They were spitting up spearing. I tried switching to a smaller yozuri with a spearing sized teaser when the bite died, but no takers. All the way to Jamaica Bay, and only 3 bluefish?

The answer to that is that I want to learn all the areas this year that I haven't been to before. I know there will be a learning curve, as I figure out which areas produce better on the incoming, which produce better on the outgoing. Lots of lonely, unproductive hours and not catching as I learn these places.

Meanwhile, I get excited by the challenge. Im keyed up when I make a trip like this. Something about unexplored places brings out the excitement and enthusiasm in me. It's hard to explain it to people who haven't been there, but I love that place, fish or no fish.

I ended up drifting through an overpass area with bunker chunks, and a weight to keep it near the bottom. No takers. The wind kicked up again, and made passage back to where I launched difficult.

I stayed on an opposite point for awhile and casted there. The wind was howling in my face, so I brought out osme of Brasilva's poppers for the first time so I could cast out into the channel. No fish on them or anything else, but I was happy with the distance I got out of them. They do cast well, and faaaaaaar.

Stay tuned to see if I can catch any fish on them.

I could see that the guys who fish that place in boats like to fish the channels, but most people weren't pulling anything but short fluke and sea robins for that day.

I could also see that they don't like to drift under bridges like we do in NJ. Different techniques for different areas, I guess?

[DarkSkies]

After I got all my gear loaded. I went back to the the area that the Queens PD says was "Bad". The whole neighborhood was partyin at 6:30 on a Sat night, BBQ grills goin, front doors open, beers flowin, and a multicultural collection of fishermen at the spot I had visited the night before where I ran into the crack addicts. No crack addicts this time, just a bunch of locals havin a good time.

The Guyanese and Trinadadian dudes remembered me because I helped a guy with a bad line tangle the night before. They had caught some fish on clams, a slow pick. When the water is cold, I think it's best to sit tight and throw some bait, if ya got the patience.








2 tone red and purple cadillac w/ stylin wheels, only in Queens!


Funny thing is, I asked them the same questuions about animal sacrifices I asked the dudes at the NCB. It didn't dawn on them what I was saying until I changed the word "sacrifices" to "offerings". Then they admitted they did that, but like the others, nervous about going into detail.

Another lesson about that area - if you play music at all, you MUST share it with your whole neighborhood by playing it at 9 or 10 volume. Otherwise you're not being "neighborly".

Ended the day with a beautiful sunset, and some good times with my new friends.

[lostatsea]

Dark, it sounds like you have quite an adventure. You put up a great post, with incredible detail. Can't wait to read more when you catch a cow.

[surfwalker]

Dark- very enjoyable post, with pics no less. Felt like I was right there. Thanks.

[CharlieTuna]

I also like these stories here, you guys do a great job of putting them up. As surfwalker said, makes you feel like you were there.

[WURK2FISH]

Thanksgiving AM......4:30....in the Fog and Mist. Fished Solo.....wife had to start Cookin'.....I followed Tradition and went Fishin'

35 In. caught on Glass minnow Imitation w/ 1/4 oz. Jighead under the Lights of the Parkway

[dogfish]

Thanksgiving AM......4:30....in the Fog and Mist. Fished Solo.....wife had to start Cookin'.....I followed Tradition and went Fishin'

35 In. caught on Glass minnow Imitation w/ 1/4 oz. Jighead under the Lights of the Parkway

Nice bass, wurk2fish!

[DarkSkies]

WTG man, nice solid fish! Hope you and the family had a great Thanksgiving!