# Jamaica Bay 2011 Kayak Fishing Tournament



## redfish12 (Aug 7, 2010)

Over the weekend I fished the Jamaica Bay Kayak Tournament in Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn, NY. The tournament benefits Casting for Recovery and if you want more information about the event the website is here - http://www.jbaykayaktournament.com/. I fished the tournament for the first time last year and it was an awesome experience. Some of the pictures I took last year are going to be in the summer edition of Kayak Angler Magazine of my friend James. He caught some much bigger fish this year, so maybe they'll feature him again! This year I wanted to bring more VA/MD guys from our area up to see what 350+ yaks look like camping in an old airfield and fishing a small bay area. I recruited 5 guys and 2 other guys that came last year returned with me. This event is a ton of fun and is really about getting together and having some fun while raising money for a great organization. 

The fishing was tough this year but we all managed some fish! I caught rock, blues, and a couple of fluke! I was hoping to catch a weakfish but I probably had a better shot at a unicorn or a coney island whitefish... which I did end up catching! Gross. 

I drove up with another guy Thursday morning and we left at 2 am to beat the traffic. We fished hard through Sunday and conditions were mostly favorable, overcast skies and little wind so that was great. Sunday morning was the worst with a small craft warning and patches of rain but we went out during a window of calmer weather and managed a couple of fish so that was a nice way to finish thing up! After packing up the wet tent and other gear we headed over for the raffle, some grub, and awards. The event is sponsored by tons of great manufaturers like Hobie, Aquaskins, Hogy, and numerous fishing/kayak shops. JFFoley won a nice basket of workout gear, my other friend in the pictures one several t-shirt bags, and my girlfriend won a KAYAK! It's a native ultimate 14.5 multisport that we had no way of bringing home, thankfully we made friends and a guy brought it to baltimore for me. Picked it up on Tuesday! I also receieved a recruiter award for bringing the most new faces to the tournament this year, so that was really cool! 

If you like to kayak fish the salt, this is the place to go. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger group of guys passionate about the sport and willing to share their tips and methods with you so openly while camping and having a great weekend together. I highly recomend it the event next year and I'll make sure to post the details when I have them, but mark you calendars now - second weekend of May 2012! 















































http://youtu.be/RF8BKdTAd4Y


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## cducer (May 7, 2010)

I used to fish Jamacia Bay alot when I lived up there.... can be some excellant fishing.... clear water sight casting on the flats.... brings back memories !!!!


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## surfnsam (Apr 28, 2008)

very nice Mike! nice blues and fluke! hows the hobie treating you? the best thing to do is glue a 1.5 oz flat sinker to the back bottom of the peddles it makes them hang striaght so you can lose the straps. sorry i missed that, maybe next year.


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## cducer (May 7, 2010)

and my girlfriend won a KAYAK! It's a native ultimate 14.5 


Oh yeah..... nice Yak....


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## redfish12 (Aug 7, 2010)

> surfnsam
> very nice Mike! nice blues and fluke! hows the hobie treating you? the best thing to do is glue a 1.5 oz flat sinker to the back bottom of the peddles it makes them hang striaght so you can lose the straps. sorry i missed that, maybe next year.


The straps made my toes fall asleep... so that would be good to ditch them. I also absoultely hated the seat. It was like sitting in a 5 gallon bucket of water. Maybe I'm too heavy for the revo? It was choppy and water would come over the side, if I opened the scuppers it wouldn't drain all the way and more would come in when I bobbed. Need to work on a solution for that. 

It was a good year for me, but most of the other guys there didn't catch much compared to other years it seemed like. I spent a lot more time on the water though, and my fish per hour rating would probably have been pretty low because most all came around tide changes and the rest of the time was spent searching. 



> cducer
> Oh yeah..... nice Yak....


It's a very interesting "kayak". It reminds me a lot of my old Old Town 1 man 13 foot canoe, but a much better seat. It has the slot for the drive, anyone have the propel? I'm thinking of getting a trolling motor for it and turn it into a crabbing boat which could be fun. Looks stable for standing but not bay worthy.


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## redfish12 (Aug 7, 2010)

Here's a shot of the fluke, I think it was about 21"


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