Road Trip: Kayak Fishing Classic at Jamaica Bay part 3

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 you can click to read them.

The Piranha like teeth of the Bluefish

 After Collins heartbreaking lost fish we spent Saturday night re rigging everything with wire and creating a plan of attack. After talking to a couple of locals about the where and how to target the fluke which season opened Sunday. After getting some key info our plan was set to make a final push to get on the leader board. At this point I had the striper which seemed to be the hardest fish to catch throughout the weekend which I still wanted to upgrade. I also needed to catch a sizable bluefish and a fluke to complete the slam.

 I woke up Sunday morning exhausted I actually contemplated not going out but I woke up Collin and we headed to the launch. As we launched the fog we noted that there was fog that wasn't there the previous morning but we could still see a considerable distance and didn't think twice about launching. We made it to our bait snagging spot and quickly picked up a few large bunker and headed to the spot that had produced a few bluefish bites the day before. As soon as we got into the area Collins rod went off it was a smaller blue because all it did was remove the tail. I continued drifting and then the fog got really thick so thick we could barely see each other 30 feet apart. I had to use my GPS to make sure we were headed in the right direction. During the fog we were able to land two blue fish mine was 23 inches while Collins which was close to the same size flopped out of his grasp before he could measure it. I then cast out another live jumbo bunker after two minutes of drifting I had a 29 inch bluefish in the boat I snapped the picture below.

29 inch bluefish

 After exhausting our live bait we began to throw artificial in the area I alternated between a 7inch Z-Man Jerk Shadz  and a 3 inch paddle tail to target fluke. We moved a bit further to a point where the current was pushing and grass shrimp were popping on the surface. I had a few hits and was able to land another 20 inch bluefish not by hooking it in the mouth but by hooking on to a tangle of braid that was tied onto a wire leader and large j hook that was buried deep. Finally I was having some luck landing the blue fish after a bunch of missed strikes,plastics chopped in half, and chewed leaders. After my lucky catch I was feeling pretty good the fog began to dissipate and I decided to head to the area where I caught the striper the day before. While relocating I trolled my small jig hoping to continue my lucky streak and land a fluke fluke. A few minutes into trolling I got a hit and began reeling in a fish  that felt different than anything I had caught this weekend. As I got it closer I could see a dark coloration and I yelled over to Collin that I had a flounder. As I got it in the net it turned out to be another equally odd fish a Sea Robin. They are very common in the bay but I was able to avoid them except for this one. We made it to the striper spot without any more interruptions
 We began to fish the points moving water , but we didn't have much luck. The only fish we saw in this area was a small striper that followed Collin lure to his boat.

After almost 2 hours with nothing time was getting short and our plan was to finish up fishing for fluke near the launch. we headed for the area that the guys told us about and began jigging tandem New penny gulp . The area we were fishing ranged from 20 to 30 feet right on the edge of a deep channel. we drifted with the current vertically jigging at first but I couldn't get a feel for the bottom and I kept bringing up clusters of crabs on my gulp. We switched sides of the channel and set up in about 20 feet. I also switched to a cast and retrieve jigging that I am more comfortable with. I cast up current and bounced my jigs off the bottom on my second or third cast I missed strike and I was on to something.I continued jigging and finally felt that familiar thump and  set the hook. I reeled in but there was no fight back I was expecting it to be a crab or some grass but when it breached the surface it was a 14 inch fluke the final fish I needed for the tournament slam.
 I ended up with a 65 inch slam consisting of a 23 inch striper, 29 inch bluefish and a 14 inch flounder. This was not enough to put me on the leader board but I was happy I was able to complete the slam my first time fishing at Jamaica Bay.

Collin ended up with a trophy.