Road Trip: Kayak Fishing Classic at Jamaica Bay part 2

Read part 1 Here  -Friday night Collin and I devised a plan to head back to the same area we caught them on the second day. Saturday the second day of the tournament is allows you to fish a full 14 hours from 5 am to 7 pm.  We started the morning like we began Friday by heading to snag bait in the Mill basin the bait was thick there every morning boiling on top which made it easy to find and snag. We fished around these bait pods for a while live lining 12 inch bunker as it seemed to be a popular spot for the powerboats. After a half an hour without even a bluefish we trolled away to get our baits a more isolated from the large schools and easier for the predators to notice. 

We crossed the channel and headed toward the pumpkin patch as we made it to the flat on the other side on the channel Collins rod went off after a quick run he reeled in half a bunker. We worked the area with 7 inch z man and even trolled around with a tube and worm but weren't able to draw any strikes. We continued on to fish the marshy islands while tide was falling hard we hit the shorelines ,current swept points ,and mouths of bayous.Where I suspected the grass shrimp and minnows would be getting pushed out with the tide. My hunch was confirmed when a striper followed my lure to the boat as I casted to a point that was creating a nice swatch of nervous water something I always target when I see it. I quickly casted a little further upstream and after three turns of the reel I set the hook on the 23 inch striper pictured below. I quickly snapped a picture for the tournament and released the fish to continue working the bank.

I was hoping for this striper to be 10 inches bigger.

We worked the marshy islands poking in and out of the cuts and points with little to show. I began throwing a top water but could only get marginal interest from little 12 inch bluefish. While I was throwing the topwater I did manage to spook what looked to be a 30 inch striper as I cast right on top of it. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful the bluefish were biting but were really good at avoiding our hooks. Until Collin hooked up with what were assuming was a huge blue as we were heading in for the day. We were headed back towards Floyd Bennett Field peddling around the north west corner of the ruffle bar when his rod doubled over and he could not budge it. Unfortunately the fish was able to bite through the 60 # test leader. After that heartbreak we headed in to regroup for Sunday the third and final day.