By Guide Rick Buss:
The first big kayak fishing tournament of the year was held in Jamaica Bay but not the island in the Caribbean. This Jamaica Bay is in New York City, and this was the fourth year that I’ve participated in this contest run by Capt. Kayak. It won’t be my last.
Jamaica Bay is a huge body of water found partly in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, adjacent to JFK airport and complete with a view of the Manhattan skyline. It’s true urban fishing, to say the least. My friend and traveling companion, Bill Eicher, packed up the boats and all of our gear on Wednesday, planning on an early start Thursday morning with the contest being a three-day event, from Friday through Sunday. The ride down was uneventful, and we made it to Floyd Bennett Field, an old, unused seaplane and dirigible airport right on the Bay. There was already quite a crowd, setting up tents and rigging their kayaks. Tent stakes had to be secured by drilling holes in the tarmac or by using cement blocks for weight, as its always windy there.
A few of us decided to pre-fish on Thursday afternoon and launched in a cove called Mill Basin that was out-of-the- wind and full of bunker which we call these pogies. Out came the weighted trebles, and some bait was quickly snagged and live- lined only to be bitten in half by the biggest, most aggressive bluefish this author has ever seen. There were 30 to 38 inch blues everywhere, big, hard-fighting fish jumping and tailwalking right beside the yak. Believe me when I tell you, they don’t stop fighting even when they’re in the boat. The first few tested our fish-handling skills as some of us from up here haven’t had to deal with gorillas like these for a few years. Great fish, those yellow-eyed devils.
On Friday, fishing was cancelled due to high winds and small craft warnings. The wind was at gale force all day. Tents were staked down yet lying flat. Port-O-Potties were sliding across the pavement. It was insane. It’s always windy there, but this was something else.
Saturday and Sunday were fishable and enjoyable. The four species that we fished for were stripers, bluefish, fluke and weakfish. I’ve never caught a weakie, so I was throwing soft pink plastics to imitate squid or shrimp since the weakfish like them. Well, so do bluefish…heck, who doesn’t like shrimp or calamari? I must have a couple of pounds of pink “cigars” that were bit in half by blue monsters.
All in all, it was a great time with a bunch of fishing loonies – Latin Louie, Cook, Bluz, Linehaul, Slappy, Billy Bass, Captiva, The Riddler, Fishduck and Ashley, and some more of the usual suspects. Thanks to Don (Bluz) for charging all of our phones, batteries and cameras. See y’all next year!
Locally, the flounder bite is going strong, and schoolie stripers are showing up everywhere. Go get ’em. If you want to get out in a kayak or shorten your learning curve, contact us and we’ll help you get some fish in the boat.
Guide Rick Buss, (617) 719-2036, www.belleislekayakadventures.com. Kayak specialist and fishing guide Rick Buss fishes, dives, and snorkels off his kayak. He runs his guide service out of Belle Isle in Winthrop but can deliver kayaks to your location.