There's something about catching a new species that can turn even the most seasoned angler into a giddy 12 year old that just hooked their first pan fish. That was me this past Saturday. Captain Ken Jones asked me to come out this past Saturday to chase these bunker schools that have had some 30-50lb bass on them along with bruiser blues, and thresher sharks in the mix. We found the bunker early and chased a few schools but there was nothing harassing them. Captain Ken made the call to take a run offshore and see if we could find some hard tails or mahi. After alittle searching we found the blue water and water temps in the mid 70's. We set up a nice spread and were on the troll for about 10-15 minutes and we had our first mahi on. The action stayed pretty steady while we trolled a very nice ledge. As always it was another memorable day on "sweetpea". Enjoy the photos.

This little guy started it off

I love the colors these fish turn during the fight

The bigger one of the day

Fiesty

 

Fathers Day

Capt Ken Jones of Kenjo Flies asked me to fish on fathers day with him and his dad on sweatpea. We hit our usual spots and there wasnt much going on so we went south looking for warmer water and some possible tuna action. As we headed west back towards NJ we found the motherload of bunker schools. Schools so big it looked like a never ending river of bunker. With the occasional blowup on the bunker we chased these fish for miles. When bait is that plentiful it can definately be tough getting fish to eat your offering. It was only fitting that Kens father hooked the new record fish for the boat. The bass bottomed out the 30lb boga. After a few pictures she was put back in the water and swam away nice and strong. Putting these breeding size fish back to see another day is more important than ever with the amount of pressure put on these fish. It was another great down out on the water and an honor to share the memories are boating that large bass with ken and his dad. Enjoy the pics!

Ken and his dad with a nice 40lber

Ken with the slob

stripes

Nervous water

bunker getting pushed to the surface

bunka

Not much to post lately. Ive been hitting the breezy point jetty the last couple of weeks and caught a few small fish but not much going on. Fished during the thunderstorm this past saturday and saw a nice group of diving birds in the same spot i always seem them near the shipping channel. Ill be out this weekend with Capt Ken so hopefully i will have a update with lots of pictures and video!! On another note, i recieved my first native fish for my aquarium today. I now have 2 grass pickerel!! Upon dumping them in the tank one grabbed the first minnow it saw which was over half the size of the pickerel. I think these things will fun to observe. Check them out...

Meet Mr Pickles

Hiding out

My setup....Cant wait to have the space for a bigger tank!!

Finally an update

I was lucky enough to get asked by my good friend Captain Ken Jones of Kenjo Flies to fish with him this past weekend as both of us haven't spent our normal time on the water the last couple of weeks. Kens boat "Sweetpea" is in the water and geared up for the spring migration. Saturday we decided to stay in the confines of Jamaica bay to find these bass everyone has been talking about. I think the winter doldrums have people alittle antsy. A good 10 hours or so on the water produced a handful of fish on top water between the 2 of us. We scouted many of Kens honey holes throughout the bay but didn't read too many fish nor bait on the sonar. With the nicer weather on Sunday we decided to head outside and look for fish out front. We found some birds working early in the morning and Ken fooled one nice bass on a top water plug but that was all we had to show for our efforts. THEN WE MOVED! A 20 minute run from our initial area was all we needed to have a steady pick of bass in the mid 20lb range for most of the day. Football field size schools of bunker in every direction with bass and blues trailing them. We had bluefish up to 15lbs. Most fish were on live lined bunker but Capt Ken managed to pull up a really fat 29in bass on a kenjo fly he produced and i managed some cocktail blues on a pencil popper. A truly memorable outing that went from zero to a hundred with a 20 minute run. Special thanks to Captain Ken Jones for finding the fish.

Capt Ken Jones with a nice bass

For reference that bunker is about 12in long

Humpback whale feeding around the schools of bunker, bass and blues!!

Striper Chasing Capt Ken's Bunker on the surface

Me with a nice bass

nice linesider

One of many fish

Im not dead

Ive been way to busy lately with work and personal life so the blog got ignored. Havent had much success yet but the fish are on the doorstep. Look for updates soon!!

Hump Day update

With some warm weather (possibly 70F!!) coming in the next few days, i think some more exploring and scouting is in order this weekend. I have a few reports of bunker already being seen in jamaica bay. We are literally within acouple of weeks of seeing some bass. Some friends have let me know that the striper action north of the GW Bridge isnt too bad with bass up to 30 inches being reported. With some help of some south winds action should start up soon. Doing alittle research lastnight i noticed that the 50 degree water seems to be about 40-50 nautical miles south of new york harbor. I would say once we see those warmer water currents hit our area the bass will be right there in the mix. Keep your fingers crossed!

Early march in the backbays

Went exploring some back bay spots yesterday back near jfk airport. Had a curious seal come in to investigate the nice new plugs we were testing. Enjoy the pics.

A seal taking a look around

Hi

I think he really wants to eat my lure

Seals on the fly

flycasting sillouette

Capt Ken's nice new Hatch Flyreel and Kenjo Prototype fly

Another sun sets

Tailslappin dolphins

Ive been playing around with some video i shot last year and came across some footage of dolphins chasing bait. I pulled this still from one of the shots cause i thought it made a decent photo. Enjoy.

Excellent short film

I first saw this back in the fall and was really inspired by the excellent camera work and post production. It won the 2010 Drake Video awards so you know its good. Enjoy. FYI....dont forget about the Queens College fishing flea market this weekend and the Asbury Park flea market on sunday. See ya there!!

Some new plugs from the Berkeley show

Hopefully you've read the post below this to see my review on the Berkeley flea market. Here are some pictures of the lures i grabbed at the show. I was really happy to get a RM/Johnny Collab swimmer. There was alot of really nice stuff there and it was hard to make decisions but here is what i ended up with.

Left Column: RM/Johnny Collab, Jigman Danny, Greenpoint swimmer.  Right Column are all RV Lures

RM Smith/Johnny Collab up close

In your face