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J-Bay 8-9 Jun 2013

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  • J-Bay 8-9 Jun 2013

    J-Bay 8-9 Jun 2013, Sat/Sun

    Left early Friday morning for Jamaica Bay. I was on the road six hours, and it rained all day and evening. Heavy overcast.......and such depressing weather. I didn't fish till the next day.

    Saturday was totally different......a nice day. Mostly sunny, light breeze, about 70 and calm water. What a sigh of relief on the wx. Met Grilled, Bigfluke, MetroMan, stupidjet and Pinch on the water early morning. We fished all over the place. We must have caught 60-80 short flukes. I think Grilled caught two keepers. Bigfluke caught one keeper and a keeper weakie. Statistical it's a no-so-good ratio on flukes.

    I fished Sunday too, an even nicer day. Caught about a dozen short flukes, two sea robins and a crab. Not sure what kind of crab it was, but it sure liked plastic. I also had a big pull near the Ruffle Bar, but it came off after a five second fight. Maybe striper?

    The highlight on Sunday was late afternoon when I finally spotted bunka. (I remembered Grilled telling me to "...follow the bunka..."). I quickly attached my treble rig and sprinted a hundred yards to the area. After several come-offs, I landed a good size bunka (those things are feisty fighters). Tried for another, but had more come-offs. Decided to fish with one bunka. (This was first time I ever snagged/fished bunka).

    I didn't quite remember how to rig the only bunka I snagged. I ran a 8/0 circle through the lower jaw and up through the forehead. I then went to deeper water and live-lined the bait. After about ten minutes, I pulled it up and saw Mr. Bunka was completely gone. Not sure if it just came off or a cunning blue or striper stole the bait.......it probably came off.....lol...

    Ok, no more bunka, so I went back to jigging a bucktail for a little while before heading back to shore. Halfway to the ramp, I spot more bunka. Out came my treble rig, and after about 10 minutes and several come-offs, I land another fish. Tried to snag more, but no-go. I then hooked the bunka up. Couldn't decide how to hook it up (because the first one came off).......I must have hooked/unhooked (see pic) it three times..........I guess that's why it was kind of dead when I finally fished it......lol....... I dropped and "live-lined" the questionably dead fish for about half an hour. Dead fish, and no action.

    No bites on the dead bunka so I decided to call it quits. I headed in, and surprisingly saw lots of bunka all over the place. It was after 5 pm. I was on the water over 11 hours and tired, so I didn't even try for another snag. Anyway, that was the highlight of my nice kayak fishing day.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by tufnik; 06-10-2013, 10:29 AM.
    2015 Hobie Outback (yellow)
    2011 Hobie Outback (yellow)
    2009 OK Prowler Trident 13 Angler (orange)

  • #2
    Maybe cutting up the bunker and fishing the chunk may of helped?

    Comment


    • #3
      Thats stinks 60-80 shorts with very few keepers but at least its better than a skunk. Oh and has anyone ever tried using sea robin strips?

      I think thats a spider crab by the way.
      Ocean Kayak Trident 13: Sand

      Comment


      • #4
        ArATHER THAN STARTING A SEPARATE THREAD...

        I hit the road on Saturday morning at 4am. I gave GrilledSardine a call, and he was already on the NJ Turnpike nearing NYC. I raced up the road, catching up to the tail end of the cloud cover from Tropical Storm Andrea

        pic18007.jpg

        I'm pretty sure I broke my own personal record for a drive to NYC. I pulled into the Bennet Field before 7:30am. I was on the water by 8. Already fishing were Tufnik, Grilled, Stupidjet, Pinch, and BigFluke. MKF meet & greet lol. I apparently missed a pretty good early morning bite. The gang fished the incoming tide and caught quite a bit of fluke, with a couple of keepers. Two at 19, one at 21. The majority of them were small.

        I got set up and began drifting for fluke as well. It was slow for me. As the tide went slack, then switched to outgoing, we trolled out toward the bridge. We kinda dispersed, and I set up on an area near the bridge where I began to get some action...

        IMG_4937.jpg

        SAMwich!!!

        Too bad the minimum keeper size is 19" though! I caught a few more...

        IMG_4938.jpgIMG_4939.jpgIMG_4941.jpgIMG_4944.jpgIMG_4945.jpg

        Short fluke was the story of my day. I trolled my live target lure, along with a tube & worm. No takers.

        As the tide came back in, we all headed back to where we started that morning. The fluke were there, but I only managed two shorts. Pinch had the hot hand of course...seemingly hooked up every time I looked over. That dude can fish lol.

        Around 3 or 4, we got off the water. I took Grilled and StupidJet to the nearest White Castle...

        IMG_4947.jpg

        YUMMMMMM!!


        Later that evening, I launched again at a different location by myself. I found a school of bunker being attacked by something....probably blues. I threw everything I had. Into the pod...on the outskirts of the pod....I trolled through the pod...I trolled around the pod. I had two hookups that came unbuttoned. It was the most frustrating thing EVER. Water was calm as heck, I was the only one in the are, but couldn't hook a fish. I NEEDED a snag hook to catch a bunker to live line. Around 10pm I threw in the towel. I loaded up and drove back home. I got home at 2am.

        IMG_4942.jpgIMG_4943.jpg

        It was a fun trip, despite the lack of keepers. I am from Brooklyn, so it always feels like a homecoming of sort when I get back up that way. I hope to get back up there again...
        <insert witty comment here>

        Comment


        • #5
          i only caught 3 short flounder on saturday. i constantly kept getting hooked up, but i couldnt for the life of me get them to the yak without them getting off!

          on sunday i landed a 31" rockfish. the pesky blues would hit every part of the bunker but where the hook was, so frustrating!

          while i was reeling in a snagged bunkaaaa, a 36"+ bass definitely was chasing down my bunker right next to the kayak! i dropped my rod tip down to help the bass out, but the bunker totally juked out the bass right in front of my eyes, pretty wild!

          jbaybass.JPG
          sigpic

          Comment


          • #6
            Hokie,
            The guys usually use the whole fish, but maybe cut bait also works well too. With all the bunka out there, I think that's why they use the whole thing.

            Metro,
            Where did you get those White Castles? I haven't had those delicious burgers in over 25 years. Next time I'm up there.......

            stupidjet,
            Yeah, it was frustrating with the blues. I was jigging 10" hogies and the blues took nice chomps off.....I switched back to smaller plastic. Nice striper, btw. Catch it on bunker? Tube/worm?

            Minh,
            I should have measured the crab. Maybe I could be on the Leaderboard.....lol......
            Last edited by tufnik; 06-10-2013, 11:37 AM.
            2015 Hobie Outback (yellow)
            2011 Hobie Outback (yellow)
            2009 OK Prowler Trident 13 Angler (orange)

            Comment


            • #7
              Saturday, I ended up with 3 keeper fluke, biggest at 20.5. I probably caught over 20 fluke on that day. Lots were in the 17-18inch range. On Sunday, Stupidjet and I fished the Cross Bay side of J-Bay. We found lots of bunker immediately. Only managed to get one blue at 23inches, couple of short short flounder and a 31inch bass by Stupidjet. The bunker were really delicate compared to the tournament a few weeks ago. As soon as I rigged them up for livelining they would go belly up. I also noticed that their slime kept comming totally off, not sure why but probably had something to do with them dying fairly easy. I probably snagged over 20bunker that morning, my arm was getting soar from throwing the snag hook. Again, the bluefish out smarted us. I had bunker hooked with 3 trebles and them bluefish would bite half the bunker and miraculously would miss all the trebles. lol Fun weekend, good fishing with the MKF crew.

              P1020178.jpgP1020196.jpg
              P1020197.jpg

              The aftermath....
              P1020198.jpg
              Hobie Revolution 13
              Hobie Fishing Team

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Grilled View Post
                Again, the bluefish out smarted us. I had bunker hooked with 3 trebles and them bluefish would bite half the bunker and miraculously would miss all the trebles. lol Fun weekend, good fishing with the MKF crew.
                ok, this makes me feel better.

                Originally posted by Tufnik
                white castles
                You go a few exits past the Jbay exit to exit 17. Its on Pennsylvania Avenue.
                <insert witty comment here>

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by tufnik View Post

                  stupidjet,
                  Yeah, it was frustrating with the blues. I was jigging 10" hogies and the blues took nice chomps off.....I switched back to smaller plastic. Nice striper, btw. Catch it on bunker? Tube/worm?

                  Minh,
                  I should have measured the crab. Maybe I could be on the Leaderboard.....lol......
                  slooooooowly drifting/trolling a half dead bunker

                  i caught a crab like that on saturday as well!



                  yeah, those bunker were crazy fragile! great pullage and the second they touched the water again, they would call it quits!

                  lol, grilled's kayak was an absolute murder scene!
                  sigpic

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by stupidjet View Post

                    lol, grilled's kayak was an absolute murder scene!
                    +1 ......as evidenced by his messy lap........lol........
                    2015 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                    2011 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                    2009 OK Prowler Trident 13 Angler (orange)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by MetroMan View Post
                      ok, this makes me feel better.



                      You go a few exits past the Jbay exit to exit 17. Its on Pennsylvania Avenue.
                      Found it. I think you mean exit 14. It's 900 Pennsylannia Ave......going to visit them on next J-Bay trip.
                      2015 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                      2011 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                      2009 OK Prowler Trident 13 Angler (orange)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Sounds like a fun trip. I missed going up there this year. Man, unemployment sux!

                        Originally posted by tufnik View Post
                        Not sure what kind of crab it was, but it sure liked plastic.
                        That there is the common spider crab. All the crab info you could ever want here: http://barnegatshellfish.org/crab01.htm

                        Regarding bunka, a trick we used during my surf fishing days in NY/NJ is to rig up a 24-36" leader, 3/4oz egg sinker and maybe 1/0 or 2/0 treble hook. Cast that into the school and after you snag one just leave it there. He'll be feisty a lot longer than snagging with a big weighted treble, reeling him in, unhooking, re-hooking and casting him back out. Not the best method if you want to C&R stripers or weakfish, though. Don't worry, bluefish will miss the hook!

                        For fluke, use bigger profile bucktails. Lots of hair. Skip the teaser too, to avoid shorts. Livelining the right size bunker on the bottom works. You won't catch as many but you'll likely find a better grade. A bunker filet will attract a nice one, too but you need a bunch of 'em as you'll be dealing with crabs and other bait stealers.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          WTG fellas!! I was wishing that I could have been out there as I got updated ever so nicely by MetroMan!!! LOL I love that place... it's so crazy that it's stuck right smack dab in the city! LOL

                          I agree with John about the big profile bucktails... that's what I had success on last year. I was shocked that they were taking it!! I need to get out for some flatties ASAP! LOL

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            White Castle was not so nice on my stomach afterwards.....lol I guess that's what I get for ordering 6 burgers, fish bites and large fries ehhhhhh
                            Hobie Revolution 13
                            Hobie Fishing Team

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                            • #15
                              That's what I remember eating years ago - about 5-6 burgers and fries.....not sure how much I can eat now.

                              Thanks for the tips, jff and MYTM. I usually use Spro bucktails. Is that hairy enough? What brands are the really hairy ones?
                              2015 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                              2011 Hobie Outback (yellow)
                              2009 OK Prowler Trident 13 Angler (orange)

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