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Originally posted by Shady
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Sorry for the novel, but I think it's worth the read…
I got in to Camp at about 12:30am Wednesday night/Thursday morning, following Metroman and Foursteps24 in. It’s a good thing I followed someone because I would have had no idea where to go. Driving in through the old airport in the fog with so much concrete everywhere was a surreal experience to say the least. After setting up the tent, having a few brews, and discussing game plans for the quickly approaching morning, we finally went to "sleep" at around 3:30 am.
The next morning seemed like it came about 10 minutes after I had layed down. I followed Grilled out into the fog and he told me what to look for to find the Bunkah. Before long, we found them and quickly snagged a couple with our Snag-hooks. With the Bunkah in tow, we made our way over to the area where Bass had been found the day before. Soon after, the Blues had destroyed my Bunkah and bit off my trailer hook as I only had 50lb mono for a leader. With one Bunkah, left I tied another make-shift rig on and began trolling my final bait. A few minutes later, I heard some splashing and a sucking noise and saw that a big fish was harassing the Bunkah, but had missed the hook. I reeled in the wounded bait and saw a huge swirl go by! The Bunkah was beat-up but not bit-off, so I figured that had to have been a Bass...
Without a proper Bunkah live-lining setup, or any spunky bait left, I tried trolling a couple of other things including a 5" Bunkah patterned Berkley paddle tail and a shallow diving Bunkah X-Rap. Finally, I found something that worked and didn’t get bit-off right away with the Berkley paddle tail. On the paddle-tail, I caught two Blues at 20" and 21", which at this point were the biggest I'd ever caught.
Mid-day, we headed in for lunch and Metroman, Foursteps24, Mightymouse and I went out to “grab a slice” and some Zeppoles (fried bites of doughy deliciousness). After getting back to camp, and getting some proper wire leader from Grilled, I set out again. This time, I launched with Jimbo and his son into some daunting wind and waves. We made our way along the channel trolling Tube and worm. It wasn’t long before I had my first fish on the T-N-W to the yak, a thick 27” Bluefish and a few more to follow after that.
A couple hours into my second time out on the JBay a big NYPD boat comes cruising up and they tell me it’s getting too foggy and I should head back in. Well I did head back in the general direction of the launch… I made my way into an inlet called Mill Basin, found some more Bunkah, and was heading back out toward where the Bass were said to be, when the line started to sing off of my Shimano Baitfeeder! I grabbed the rod and felt a big strong fish on the other end of the line that I knew right away wasn’t another Bluefish. After what seemed like forever, I finally got the fish to the surface and got my thumb planted firmly onto the big Striper’s lower jaw. The Striper turned out to be 36” and the biggest I’ve ever caught on my kayak! After this, I felt it just couldn’t get any better, so I headed in on Cloud 9.
Friday morning, the storms were expected to roll-in early and stay all day and tournament fishing was postponed. Gradually, we all peaked out of our tents to find strong winds, but no rain around 7 am. Chimo had launched early into the Mill Basin anticipating a small weather window in the morning and was tearing up the fish. Eventually, after checking the radar several times and noticing that the brunt of the storm seemed that it would miss the area until later, the rest of us launched into Mill Basin. Well, we were not disappointed to find the Mill Basin loaded with Bunkah being terrorized by Bluefish. I caught 5 Bluefish with the biggest being 32” and another one at 31” before the bite seemed to shut down. Finally, around 1:30, the rain started to move in and we got off the water.
Friday night was a wild ride through the eye of the storm with only my second night ever in a tent bringing pouring rain and 30mph winds. Somehow, my borrowed tent held up and the next morning was a totally different day with blue skies and calm winds.
Saturday morning, I again set out trolling the T-N-W in the deepest part of the channel. It wasn’t long before I had a big bend in my Trevala with a big fish on the other end of the line. After a few minute battle, I had a 33.5” Bluefish in the yak with me! My biggest Bluefish ever just kept getting bigger and bigger each time I went out! I trolled the T-N-W further down the channel without much action for the next hour, turned back and headed back toward the Mill Basin. Well, it seemed turning back was all I needed to do as going in the opposite direction yielded 3 more Blues in the upper 20s. As I crossed paths with Jimbo and his son, my Trevala got that familiar bend in it and I thought, “Welp, there’s another Bluefish!” But this time the fight was different with much stronger and steadier pulls. After a few minutes the fish surfaced and I was excited to see a big Striper holding to the end of the Tube. I got her into the yak, got some assistance with a picture from Jimbo and released the 35” Bass with a big tail slap and splash. Well, at this point, I was feeling pretty damn good with a 33.5” Blue and 35” Bass to check-in! But I continued to fish, to see if I could get some even better numbers. I went back to towing Bunkah and caught a few more Bluefish with another solid 33 incher coming aboard. Around 11:30, I was feeling tired but on Cloud 11 and decided to head in to try to check-in my fish. It turned out that they would not begin to check-in fish until 5, so I went back to camp, grabbed some lunch, and a nap.
Around 2, I was ready to get back out on the water, and headed over to Mill Basin again. I towed some Bunkah, catching a few more upper 20s Bluefish and was back on the beach at about 6pm.
I went back over to the check-in and was finally able to check-in my fish. At this point, only 2 other fish had been checked-in to the Electronic division, a 36” Bass and a 33.5” Blue fish. So, after tournament day 1, I was in second and tied for third place in my division!
Grilled had a successful day and brought back a Striper to cook over the campfire. So, along with hot dogs, pork chops, and turkey bacon, we had roasted Striper. It was an awesome feast!
Sunday morning came quick and after spending some extra time trying to get myself syched up to get back out on the water, I finally was out there around 6:30am. I trolled the T-N-W for what seemed like an eternity with only one knock down. Finally, I gave up on that and went back to the Bunkah. Finally, after 3 hours of nothing, a low 20s Blue came all the way to the yak just holding on to the tail of the Bunkah, with no hooks in his mouth, and I had “caught” my first fish of the morning. A little while later, I ran into Redfish12 who pointed me in the direction of a pile of Bluefish just a few hundred yards away. I towed my Bunkah over and finally had my first legitimate fish of the day, a 26” Blue.
It was getting close to 12 (end of tournament fishing), so with little action for the morning, I decided to call it a day and get back in to start breaking everything down. I decided I would not look at the standings board until later.
Finally, it was 1pm and we made our way over for the awards lunch. To my surprise, I was still on the Board in the 2nd and tied for the 3rd spot in the Electronic Division!
This tournament was probably the best fishing that I’ve ever had in my kayak fishing career. I’d encourage anyone thinking about going next year, to definitely clear your schedule now, because it’s amazing fishing up there! Maybe next year we can cover the Board with Snaggedliners!
Thanks again, to the JBay veterans for providing great advice and tips!
I will add pictures later...
I got in to Camp at about 12:30am Wednesday night/Thursday morning, following Metroman and Foursteps24 in. It’s a good thing I followed someone because I would have had no idea where to go. Driving in through the old airport in the fog with so much concrete everywhere was a surreal experience to say the least. After setting up the tent, having a few brews, and discussing game plans for the quickly approaching morning, we finally went to "sleep" at around 3:30 am.
The next morning seemed like it came about 10 minutes after I had layed down. I followed Grilled out into the fog and he told me what to look for to find the Bunkah. Before long, we found them and quickly snagged a couple with our Snag-hooks. With the Bunkah in tow, we made our way over to the area where Bass had been found the day before. Soon after, the Blues had destroyed my Bunkah and bit off my trailer hook as I only had 50lb mono for a leader. With one Bunkah, left I tied another make-shift rig on and began trolling my final bait. A few minutes later, I heard some splashing and a sucking noise and saw that a big fish was harassing the Bunkah, but had missed the hook. I reeled in the wounded bait and saw a huge swirl go by! The Bunkah was beat-up but not bit-off, so I figured that had to have been a Bass...
Without a proper Bunkah live-lining setup, or any spunky bait left, I tried trolling a couple of other things including a 5" Bunkah patterned Berkley paddle tail and a shallow diving Bunkah X-Rap. Finally, I found something that worked and didn’t get bit-off right away with the Berkley paddle tail. On the paddle-tail, I caught two Blues at 20" and 21", which at this point were the biggest I'd ever caught.
Mid-day, we headed in for lunch and Metroman, Foursteps24, Mightymouse and I went out to “grab a slice” and some Zeppoles (fried bites of doughy deliciousness). After getting back to camp, and getting some proper wire leader from Grilled, I set out again. This time, I launched with Jimbo and his son into some daunting wind and waves. We made our way along the channel trolling Tube and worm. It wasn’t long before I had my first fish on the T-N-W to the yak, a thick 27” Bluefish and a few more to follow after that.
A couple hours into my second time out on the JBay a big NYPD boat comes cruising up and they tell me it’s getting too foggy and I should head back in. Well I did head back in the general direction of the launch… I made my way into an inlet called Mill Basin, found some more Bunkah, and was heading back out toward where the Bass were said to be, when the line started to sing off of my Shimano Baitfeeder! I grabbed the rod and felt a big strong fish on the other end of the line that I knew right away wasn’t another Bluefish. After what seemed like forever, I finally got the fish to the surface and got my thumb planted firmly onto the big Striper’s lower jaw. The Striper turned out to be 36” and the biggest I’ve ever caught on my kayak! After this, I felt it just couldn’t get any better, so I headed in on Cloud 9.
Friday morning, the storms were expected to roll-in early and stay all day and tournament fishing was postponed. Gradually, we all peaked out of our tents to find strong winds, but no rain around 7 am. Chimo had launched early into the Mill Basin anticipating a small weather window in the morning and was tearing up the fish. Eventually, after checking the radar several times and noticing that the brunt of the storm seemed that it would miss the area until later, the rest of us launched into Mill Basin. Well, we were not disappointed to find the Mill Basin loaded with Bunkah being terrorized by Bluefish. I caught 5 Bluefish with the biggest being 32” and another one at 31” before the bite seemed to shut down. Finally, around 1:30, the rain started to move in and we got off the water.
Friday night was a wild ride through the eye of the storm with only my second night ever in a tent bringing pouring rain and 30mph winds. Somehow, my borrowed tent held up and the next morning was a totally different day with blue skies and calm winds.
Saturday morning, I again set out trolling the T-N-W in the deepest part of the channel. It wasn’t long before I had a big bend in my Trevala with a big fish on the other end of the line. After a few minute battle, I had a 33.5” Bluefish in the yak with me! My biggest Bluefish ever just kept getting bigger and bigger each time I went out! I trolled the T-N-W further down the channel without much action for the next hour, turned back and headed back toward the Mill Basin. Well, it seemed turning back was all I needed to do as going in the opposite direction yielded 3 more Blues in the upper 20s. As I crossed paths with Jimbo and his son, my Trevala got that familiar bend in it and I thought, “Welp, there’s another Bluefish!” But this time the fight was different with much stronger and steadier pulls. After a few minutes the fish surfaced and I was excited to see a big Striper holding to the end of the Tube. I got her into the yak, got some assistance with a picture from Jimbo and released the 35” Bass with a big tail slap and splash. Well, at this point, I was feeling pretty damn good with a 33.5” Blue and 35” Bass to check-in! But I continued to fish, to see if I could get some even better numbers. I went back to towing Bunkah and caught a few more Bluefish with another solid 33 incher coming aboard. Around 11:30, I was feeling tired but on Cloud 11 and decided to head in to try to check-in my fish. It turned out that they would not begin to check-in fish until 5, so I went back to camp, grabbed some lunch, and a nap.
Around 2, I was ready to get back out on the water, and headed over to Mill Basin again. I towed some Bunkah, catching a few more upper 20s Bluefish and was back on the beach at about 6pm.
I went back over to the check-in and was finally able to check-in my fish. At this point, only 2 other fish had been checked-in to the Electronic division, a 36” Bass and a 33.5” Blue fish. So, after tournament day 1, I was in second and tied for third place in my division!
Grilled had a successful day and brought back a Striper to cook over the campfire. So, along with hot dogs, pork chops, and turkey bacon, we had roasted Striper. It was an awesome feast!
Sunday morning came quick and after spending some extra time trying to get myself syched up to get back out on the water, I finally was out there around 6:30am. I trolled the T-N-W for what seemed like an eternity with only one knock down. Finally, I gave up on that and went back to the Bunkah. Finally, after 3 hours of nothing, a low 20s Blue came all the way to the yak just holding on to the tail of the Bunkah, with no hooks in his mouth, and I had “caught” my first fish of the morning. A little while later, I ran into Redfish12 who pointed me in the direction of a pile of Bluefish just a few hundred yards away. I towed my Bunkah over and finally had my first legitimate fish of the day, a 26” Blue.
It was getting close to 12 (end of tournament fishing), so with little action for the morning, I decided to call it a day and get back in to start breaking everything down. I decided I would not look at the standings board until later.
Finally, it was 1pm and we made our way over for the awards lunch. To my surprise, I was still on the Board in the 2nd and tied for the 3rd spot in the Electronic Division!
This tournament was probably the best fishing that I’ve ever had in my kayak fishing career. I’d encourage anyone thinking about going next year, to definitely clear your schedule now, because it’s amazing fishing up there! Maybe next year we can cover the Board with Snaggedliners!
Thanks again, to the JBay veterans for providing great advice and tips!
I will add pictures later...
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