Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Classic

Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Classic

In early January of 2015 I made the Hobie Fishing Team for the first time. From day one, many of my east coast teammates were talking about attending the Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Classic in Brooklyn, New York. This intrigued me. I've never been a big tournament fishing kind of guy. I always seem to fish my best when I'm not under any pressure. But everyone I talked to said how much fun it was so I figured I'd give it a shot. So on May 14th I would be heading to New York. Its runs from May 14th -17th. On the 14th you can pre-fish and the tournament starts on the 15th.

The tournament is basically won by catching the biggest fish for the grand slam. Striped bass, bluefish, flounder/fluke and/or weakfish.

My plan from the start was to get the striper,blues and weakfish out of the way on Friday and Saturday and Sunday I would go after flounder/fluke.

Knowing I was going to fish the tournament I reached out to some of my Delaware Kayak Fishing bros to see if anyone wanted to join me but I had no takers. That's when one of Hobie's Top Guns,Tom Micheal, reached out to me and invited me to stay and fish with his crew. I was super stoked. I picked Tom's brain for weeks on what to bring, how we would be fishing, and where to find the fish. Tom is a top class guy and had no problem helping me out. Can't thank Tom enough for everything he did for me.

On May 13th, the day before the tournament I stopped for bait and packed my truck up with all my camping gear, kayak fishing gear and my kayak. I was ready to go. So I thought....

I left around 3:30 a.m. to head to Jamaica Bay. The campsite didn't open till 6am and the GPS said 2hrs and 10 minutes but I like giving myself extra time for potty breaks and not knowing how traffic was going to be in New York. Halfway up the Jersey turnpike I realized I forgot all my Gulp!! Oh well... Wasn't turning back now.

I arrived at Floyd Bennett Field around 6:10am. Met up with Tom and his crew and got my campsite set up. By 11:00 a.m. we were ready to pre-fish.

We headed out to a couple spots that Tom had luck in previous years and started trolling tube & worms. Within a half hour I was hooked up to a nice 28" striper! Watching my fish finder as I was reeling that fish in I noticed I was marking lots of fish! I quickly got a picture of the fish and released it. Had to get my line back in! Wasn't but 2 minutes into my next troll and BAM! Hooked up again! This time it was a nice fat 34" striper. I found the fish. Caught 5 nice striper in a hour of trolling in the same area. Then it died off. Trolled up a few smaller bluefish. And was about to head in, then my rod got slammed. Drag was peeling off...the way it was fighting it felt like the monster bluefish we were catching a few weeks back at Cape Henlopen in Delaware and I was right. 40" bluefish! I thought to myself, if I can do this tomorrow I'll be in the running come Sunday.

Friday came and all day long all I could find is bluefish! I must have caught 25 bluefish. Took a picture of my biggest, which was 31", and started to head in because the wind was picking up quick. Threw my t&w out to troll my way back in and after a minute or two I had a fish hooked up. Reeling it in I saw what I was looking for....Striper! 26 1/2" I'll take it! So I had 2 of the 3 fish for the slam. Got back to the ramp after fighting the wind and 3' chop! Thank God I had a Hobie. The guys paddling were having a really hard time getting back in. Went to turn my pics in and only the striper picture turned out! Lost my big bluefish picture. I was mad at myself for not checking the camera but nothing I could do about it now. Hope Saturday would be better.

Saturday was more of the same for me. Blues Blues and more Blues! Did manage to get a 30" blue for my slam. But most were 24-28". The striper were hard to find both Friday and Saturday. Which looking back that night, I was trying too hard. I got out of my normal no pressure fishing. Made it hard on myself.

Sunday came and I declared Sunday to be my fun day! I was sticking to my plan and fishing for flounder (fluke as everyone else up there called them)! But I had no Gulp! Tom Micheal came through again and hooked me up with some Gulp! and off I went. Foul hooked a nice 31" blue while drifting for flounder in deep water. Lost my bucktail to another blue! Found a nice hole on the GPS that looked promising so I headed there. Had enough of the blues. As I was heading to the GPS mark the fog started getting really really thick! So thick I couldn't see 10' in front of me. I could hear motors from boats, people talking etc. But couldn't see anything. Really scary feeling to say the least.

I made it to my GPS mark and dropped my rig! I instantly hooked up to a 16" flounder. Found them! Dropped again...bam! 18 3/4" flounder. My next drop I hooked into the biggest flounder I've ever seen and my leader snapped! Bluefish must have nicked my leader when I got into the blues earlier in the morning. Got 6 in all in one hour of drifting the same hole in the fog! Almost got hit by a boat so I headed back in. Gave me time to pack all my gear up before the award ceremony.

All packed and looking back at what I did wrong during the tournament... My biggest mistake was not checking my leader after hooking the bluefish Sunday. That big flounder would have won the tournament for me. That and getting out of my no pressure fishing. There's always next year. And next year its gonna be fun fishing everyday. No pressure. Can't wait! I'll be back and ready to make my mark! Looking forward to seeing all the new friends I made up there too!

The Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Classic is one of the best experiences that I've had since I started fishing from a kayak! If you ever get a chance, make your way up to the Jamaica Bay in mid May and give it a shot! You won't be disappointed!