Jamaica Bay Stripers, Blues, and False Albacore
I was a dry-fly-only trout fisherman until I caught my first saltwater fish—a false albacore—from the Breezy Point jetty, and yes, it smoked. The fish spooled my trout reel, taking all my fly line, backing, and my cynicism with it. This life-altering experience happened only 12 miles from Manhattan, within view of Coney Island and the Verrazanno Bridge. That was the day that I fell in love with the saltwater fly fishing in and around Jamaica Bay, New York.
From the looming power plants, retired garbage dumps, and John F. Kennedy International Airport at the back of the bay to the entrance at Rockaway Inlet between Breezy Point and Coney Island, Jamaica Bay encompasses more than 11,000 acres. Part of the Gateway National Recreation Area (administered by the National Park Service), it holds dozens of islands, creeks, sod banks, mud flats, and deep channels, as well as the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, one of the biggest bird sanctuaries on the East Coast. This important estuary is incredible bait-rearing habitat.
The nearby Hudson River rears the second largest population of striped bass in the world, and Jamaica Bay is like an early breakfast and late supper in the stripers’ season of migratory feeding. Starting in mid-April, stripers enter the bay to feed on robust populations of grass shrimp and adult menhaden. The fish are drawn to the warmer bay water and find large bait concentrations in shallow water in the early part of the season. Many 20-pound stripers are caught on flies this time of year and this past May I helped release 25 fish over 20 pounds. This time of year I most often use white-and-olive bunker flies like Dave Skok’s Mushmouth or Dino Torino’s Marabou Minnow on size 4/0 to 6/0 Tiemco 600SP hooks. An oversized 5/0 yellow-and-white Half-and-Half with 1/10-inch lead eyes has also been a standard for me for years.
I learned from local guide Capt. John McMurray not to bother imitating small grass shrimp but to instead cast a medium-sized popper along the bay’s sod-bank shorelines on higher tides. Stripers cruising these shorelines are often feeding on grass shrimp but rarely miss the opportunity to crush larger wounded prey when it is available.
As the water warms in late May, sand eels appear and so do bluefish and weakfish. Dixon’s Corsair Rainbait, (tied longer, and in lighter shades of white and olive than the original version) is my favorite sand eel pattern for Jamaica Bay. A sparse white-and-olive Clouser with a little flash also works.
When the bay is calm and the sun is shining in May and June, you can sight-fish the shallow flats and shorelines of Jamaica Bay for large bass feeding on sand eels, crabs, and shrimp. There is nothing like trying to quickly cast a fly to a cruising bass in two feet of Bahamas-clear water. I have fished some great flats for stripers but have never seen consistently bigger fish than those in Jamaica Bay in June.
For sight-fishing this time of year, I recommend 8- to 10-weight rods and intermediate lines such as the Scientific Anglers Striped Bass line or the Rio AquaLux. I prefer over-lining the rod by one line weight to help load the rod quicker and make rapid casts over short distances to moving targets. These lines sink to the stripers’ feeding level more quickly and cut through the wind better than floating lines. Heavier sinking-tip lines are more difficult to pick up and recast quickly.
There are also bluefish on the flats in the spring, and in shallow, clear water, they can be as picky as stripers. Use 10- or 15-pound TyGer Leader Wire or 60-pound nylon monofilament bite tippets to fool these fish and keep them from biting off your fly. Big bunker imitations or poppers cast near flopping schools of menhaden can also take 10- to 16-pound bluefish. Some blues stay around the whole summer, and in November you’ll find migrating bluefish working schools of bait under diving birds in and around Rockaway Inlet.
Weakfish have made a strong comeback in Jamaica Bay and although they are not prolific, the ones I have caught in recent years weigh around 10 pounds, with some even bigger. For years I was cynical of the idea that weakfish prefer pink flies, but this theory has been reconfirmed too many times to ignore. Pink-and-white or pink-and-olive Clousers or Jiggies are good bets. Use 300- to 450-grain sinking-tip lines with 9- and 10-weight rods to creep your flies along the bottom. You’ll find weakfish in the warmest small bays and creeks toward the back of the bay within sight of JFK airport. These same areas are also great for stripers at this time of year and I have often caught bass directly under low-flying planes approaching and leaving the airport. Things have changed since September 11, 2001, though, and some of the areas immediately adjacent to the runways are now marked by buoys and are off-limits to boat traffic.
Summer Rockets
There are usually a few weeks of summer doldrums immediately after the stripers move north in July. But starting in mid-July we catch bonito and Spanish mackerel, and in August and early September you can find false albacore and skipjack tuna at Rockaway Inlet. You can also find these tuna rockets in nearby New York Harbor from the Statue of Liberty to the Brooklyn Bridge. Although it didn’t last very long, Capt. Bryan Goulart reported school-sized bluefin tuna off the beach at Coney Island while guiding clients this past August.
The most common baits this time of year are spearing or bay anchovies 1 to 3 inches long. One of the best local patterns is the Albie Ho created by local angler Richard Reagan. The Albie Ho is easy to tie, easy to cast, breathes well in the water, and is durable enough to catch numerous fish. Dixon’s Corsair Rainbait, small poppers, and Joe Blados’s Crease Fly are also worth trying when albacore and their relatives are blitzing the surface.
When fish aren’t showing, throw the same flies on sinking-tip lines around rip lines and near structure. Sometimes blind fishing is more productive than chasing busting fish from place to place.
Bait and Birds
Fall fishing in Jamaica Bay usually starts a little later than in areas like Montauk, New York. Bait such as bay anchovies, alewives, peanut bunker, finger mullet, and herring forage in the bays surrounding New York Bight and move toward the ocean during the fall. Large stripers migrating from north to south linger in the area to feast on the abundant bait. Fall striper fishing begins in earnest in early October, with the most consistent fishing in November when most people already have their boats stored for the winter. By early December it’s common to have dozens of large schools of stripers or bluefish all to yourself. The days are short and the fish often feed from sunrise to sunset. The main tactic this time of year is chasing the birds, as they follow the action closely. If you don’t see diving birds in Rockaway Inlet, scan the horizon with a pair of binoculars to find the birds and the fish. The best time to fish is the period halfway between the full and new moons, when the currents are weaker and the fish don’t have to fight the strongest tides of autumn.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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