Friday June 20 & Monday, June 23 After spending a lot of time searching for the elusive BIG BASS BITE over in New Jersey I got the message and settled down to fish my home waters!  The message is that while the size of the fish in our area are not as big as those over in Jersey, there are still very respectable fish to be caught in J-Bay and there has been a spectacular schoolie & medium bluefish bite out by the Breezy Point Jetty.  Friday I livelined way in the back of the bay for stripers with modest results, but today it was monster blues closer to the marina culminating in a 15# bluefish on light spinning tackle.  Also met a couple of young diehards, Taylor and Stefan, who also managed to get in on the livelining.  As I watched them having a great time I imagined Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn floating down the Mississipi on their adventure.  After the fog dissipated and the thunderstorms passed I headed back out to jetty for some nonstop action on poppers and tins. 

    You should know that big mama bass, some over 50#'s, are being caught in the Garden State on a regular basis.  It is likely this action will continue for a couple more weeks as it has for the past 4 years.  I am transferring the boat to New Jersey at the end of this week for July and August.  I will be in Key Largo for tarpon next Monday & Tuesday but when I return I am available every day through July 6th as well as the usual Fridays, Sundays  & Mondays after that. 

 

 

Sunday, June 15, was the traditional Schoenfarber & Co. Father's Day outing.  And once again it was a great day of fishing.  Livelining was slow but as Jay's luck would have it a topwater bite developed in the same area where we were looking for bunker!  For several hours Jay and Adam hooked up with countless blues and stripers up to 7 pounds, many poppers were sacrificed to the topwater fishing gods!  When that action ended  we went to back to livelining, it was pretty slow and most baits got mauled by bluefish but we did manage to hook a beautiful teen size striper.

Friday, June 13,  Eight year old Brett was out with his godfather, Peter.  Brett is an accomplished angler by anyone's standard, having caught bonefish, grouper and assorted other species.  He had a chance to sample some of our New York City bluefishing and was not disappointed.  This young man is as good a caster as most adults that I've seen and he hooked and fought these ferocious gamesters like a pro...all on his own.  We tried to do some livelining, but other than snagging a whole lot of bunker we didn't connect...but Brett managed to snag 5 bunker with no help from either Peter or myself!  That alone is an accomplishment!  I don't think we've seen the last of the little guy.

 

June 8, 2008

"ANOTHER AWESOME DAY!"

    Today I served as first mate aboard Dr. Ron's 28 GradyWhite, which I have nicknamed the "Sarah's Lament", and led Ron and his sons Isaac & Jack to a great catch of striped bass and big bluefish in the Breezy Point area.  Isaac was high hook for the day including the biggest bass and blue, and even the captain was able to get in on the action.  The fish were on baby sand eels and plain 007 and yellow tubed diamond jigs were the ticket.  We left them biting after several hours of non-stop action.

                 

       

June 6, 2008

"BACK IN THE GAME!"

    I will be the first to admit that my last few trips, while producing fish, have been a little, uh, lean.  Today changed all that as I was able to put it all together with Slowbad (aka: Dr. Steve Slobotski) & Infamous (aka:Danny Harari).  First it was outside in the fog for a bunch of bass from 25" to 29" on light tackle.  Slowbad was deposited back at the dock at 9:00 after which Infamous & I headed to the airport for a little live-lining.  The action there was "sick" with a constant bass bite for 2 more hours.  The smallest fish went 10 pounds and the biggest 23 pounds.  Oh yeah, and during all the lulls in the action we caught all the small bluefish you could ask for, OR NOT! 

   

   

June 1, 2008

Lots happening with 12 hour fishing days, holidays, birthdays and family functions haven't had time to write.  Fishing in Jamaica Bay and nearby ocean waters is going strong, mostly bluefish, but a new crop of stripers of size have shown up and are taking flies and artificials. 

I have been concentrating on the shallow water fishing early in the morning around the sedge islands in Jamaica Bay.  This has accounted for schoolie stripers and medium bluefish on each of the last three trips.  Friday's charter with Laurence and Curt was very productive on the flats for several nice bass and a few bigger bluefish all on the fly.  Sunday morning Roger and Steve worked the edges for some more schoolies and blues.  Steve hooked a bigger fish on a clouser but it slipped the hook before we could get a look.  Unfortunately Sunday I missed a great striper bite by the Breezy Point jetty, but the word is that a new crop bigger bass has moved in and they are taking flies and artificials.  There are bluefish almost anywhere you look in Jamaica Bay, and this has made for hours of solid fishing with crease flies, clouser minnow flies and light tackle poppers.  Sunday afternoon 8 year old Joseph Bijou was out with his dad Leon for some nonstop action with Joseph getting the hang of casting, retrieving and fighting one blue after the other.  Monday afternoon Dr. Ralph and I caught up the bluefish in shallow water, hoping for an evening striper bite that did not materialize.  The nice weather of the next few days along with a new moon should make for some great action.

                           

       

                                   

 

May 19, 2008

WINDY!

No rush to wake up this morning what with 49° temperature and wind gusts to 25 knots...but despite it all my trusty first mate, Dr. Ralph, and I got in a short trip close to the marina.  And we did find fish.  After 2 hookups and one landing of a 28" striper on a popper by the Dr.,  it was unanimously decided that we had nothing more to prove and headed for a nice meal in a warm restaurant!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 18, 2008

TOUGH, BUT STILL GOOD!

A bit of a struggle today, with a lot of fish present but loathe to bite.  Steve K. was aboard and we started on the flats in the early hours, but only got one pass by a pretty big bluefish in 2 feet of water, but after an hour and a half of sustained effort with the fly rod we moved on.  Pods of fish were working under birds but moving very quickly in water 5 to 8 feet deep making it difficult to intercept them without spooking them.  Steve worked hard  to hook a couple of nice fish.  We found a lot of fish stacked in  deeper water and Steve picked up several healthy schoolie bass and several medium blues.  Towards the end of the day a very nice fish took the fly...literally, cutting it off with its sharp teeth. 

 

 

 

 

May 16, 2008

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY!

The heavy rains of last Friday and Monday definitely put a crimp in my psyche, though I did manage to get a few hours reprieve on Mother's Day and enjoyed a trip on Dr. Ron's new 28 Grady White, definitely a beautiful machine.  Ron, Danny H. and I snagged some bunker and got chopped, ripped off and even hooked up to some chopper blues near the airport, after we had enough of that frustration we went to play with the cocktail blues that have been hanging around in the bay.  Today Mike & Dennis saw the window of opportunity to get out between the raindrops...well almost; by the time we headed in it was a full fledged downpour, but that did not put a damper on the morning bite.  First it was stripers in skinny water on fly rod poppers...watching those fish hover and slash at the poppers really gets the blood flowing!  Amongst the many boils, follows and thrown poppers the guys managed to bring several decent stripers to hand.  When that action slowed we moved a short way to find blitzing blues and schoolie stripers for numerous hookups.  A look around the airport for some big boys was unfruitful but a couple more blitzing fish on the way back to the marina put a nice finish to the morning. 

 

       

 

May 6, 2008

THE BITE GOES ON!

        Tuesday, May 6:  A special trip for Don from London & Monte from California, good buddies who get together several times a year to fish at various locales around the globe, imagine Jamaica Bay is one of them...and with good reason.  Both anglers were fly fishing and Don started things off with a 15# striper under the bunker schools, then it was some fun with blitzing blues and small stripers and later still some better action with bigger blues and several decent schoolie stripers.  On the way home we stopped to pick up several more small blues and schoolies, ending the trip with a double header and we were back at the dock by 10:30!  Now that's a spectacular way to spend a morning!  The bay is loaded with fish, there are a few monster weakfish being caught everyday by a few lucky anglers...book a trip who knows, you could be the next lucky one!

     

 

        Sunday, May 4: Arik was aboard and  we started off with topwater bluefish, after landing several 3 to 4 pounders we went in search of some bigger fish.  It was a tough bite but we made the day with a 13 pound striper on a jig and 10# blue on live bunker (thanks to John M. for providing the bait). 

       

        Friday, May 2: Jay & Ted were out for a fantastic day on the water.  It started out a little slowly but when we finally got on the fish the bite was non-stop with blues to 12 pounds and stripers to 16 pounds.  And the color for the day was pink with pink sluggos, pink finSfish, pink whatever getting most of the bites. 

   

April 25, 2008

J-BAY ON FIRE!

    It's amazing how early it happened, but over the past week in addition to the loads of stripers we have been catching, bluefish of decent size and weakies have invaded Jamaica Bay.  Dr. Steve Slobotski was out April 25th with buddies Wasim & Tim for a great day of striper fishing with fish to 25 inches and a few bluefish.  Steve Rahmey's daughter Jeannie got in on the action from his boat with a nice 5 pound weakfish on a storm shad jig, WAY TO GO JEANNIE!  This season is off to a hot start and it can only get better, I have several May dates still open so contact me now if you want to get in on this hot action.

April 18, 2008
FIRST "KEEPAH"!
    Cut out of work early yesterday to take advantage of the fine weather.  Steve & Eddie came along and we picked up several sundown schoolies.  Today it was the "Tres Dentistos", Dr. Ralph, Dr. Steve and myself, putting the hurt to a bunch of bass...I guess we can't get enough of sticking sharp things into mouths!  Dr. Steve once again proved his skill with a fishing rod by being high hook for the day and putting the first "keepah" of 2008 aboard the "Live To Fish".  A lot more bass along with that from 12 to 24 inches.  Things are heating up quickly, there was even a rumor of a couple of weakfish taking a fly, since they both got off the consensus was that the guide was hallucinating (but he was probably not!), we'll see.

              
              

 

April 16, 2008

THEY'RE HERE!

    After many trials, and much tribulation the boat went into the water last Friday and after a shake down cruise and a few final tweaks all systems are good to go for the new season.  Got out for some scouting before work this morning and found the stripers in a couple of the usual early season spots and they were taking small jigs and flies.  As is usual for this time of year they are little guys, but there are already bunker in Jamaica Bay and that means that the big boys can't be far behind.  I will be sailing Friday but won't be out over the weekend due to the Passover holiday.  Will try to get out a report Friday p.m..   Also be sure to check this month's issue of the New Jersey Angler, I am on the cover and have several pieces in there including one on fly fishing for striped bass.

Things are gonna heat up fast so let me know if you wanna go!
 

FIRST BASS 2008!