Friday
08-20-2009, 01:07 PM
My log for Aug 14-18 in Long Island, NY:
While staying for 5 days at Richard and Jessica’s house in Long Island, Richard and I made 4 trips including night fishing. We were blessed because the Long Island (LI) Sound was calm when we were kayak-fishing.
We caught many fish. We caught bluefish, sea robins, and fluke on both surface and deep-diving plastic crank-baits. We, especially I, decided to jig a lot so we could master the jigging technique. Because the water was clearer than that of Chesapeake Bay, I could see the lures 10 feet under the surface. I could see how badly I jigged. I learned this time that I tended to use heavier jig heads. During the first few jigging, I could see my jig heads went straight down when I used a 2 oz jig head in 12-15’ of calm water. My lures never looked real. I changed a couple of things this time. I attached a 1.5’ mono line to the main braided line. I attached the mono line to the jig head directly. I did not use a swivel to connect the line and the jig heads as usual. We were in 12-15’ of water. I tried a ¼ oz jig head with a 5 inch Bass Assassin with pointy tail. I maintained the tension while jigging. In the clear water, I could see the lure moved nicely as seen on TV fishing shows.
I jigged with skinny or thin lures with white belly. The reason was that during the first trip a skinny 3.5”-4” minnow jumped on to my kayak. There was a school of this baitfish chased by bluefish that time. This shiny minnow was the only fish jumped on to my kayak ever. So we decided to use lures looked like the minnow that landed on my kayak.
We started catch fish by jigging. Actually I caught a lot of fish by jigging. I caught scup, sea robin, bluefish, and fluke.
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/BlueDawn.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/BlueRichard.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Fluke.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Scup.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/SeaRobin.JPG
Richard caught a 29” striper on a 3/8 oz head trimmed with a 4” shad (black back and white belly). The 29” striper was a very rare keeper in the area.
Richard and his first keeper Striper:
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Striper.JPG
Right after I took pictures of the striper and Richard, because the LI Sound was so calm I could see a back of a large striper about 150 yards away from us. “Big Striper” I yelled. I paddled the Prowler 15 to the place very fast but did not make any splashes. I cast out a 3/8 oz jig head with 5” white belly and purple back Bass Assassin with pointy tail. I jerked the lure few times and slowly retrieved the lure while anticipating a big strike hopefully any time. Then, wham! The striper took my lure. The striper jumped a 2-3’ above the surface like a tarpon. The striper wasn’t a striper. It was a very large bluefish. I had the bluefish for 5-6 minutes. I tried to grab the bluefish by using a Boga-Grip. I failed few times and finally the bluefish got loose. It was the largest bluefish I ever seen. It was 30-33 inch long.
Even though I could not land the big bluefish, I was pretty happy that finally I could catch many fish by jigging.
Somehow, what other fishermen said made senses when I caught fish, the proper lure and the proper presentation. Though, I still have to find the fish first.
Joe
While staying for 5 days at Richard and Jessica’s house in Long Island, Richard and I made 4 trips including night fishing. We were blessed because the Long Island (LI) Sound was calm when we were kayak-fishing.
We caught many fish. We caught bluefish, sea robins, and fluke on both surface and deep-diving plastic crank-baits. We, especially I, decided to jig a lot so we could master the jigging technique. Because the water was clearer than that of Chesapeake Bay, I could see the lures 10 feet under the surface. I could see how badly I jigged. I learned this time that I tended to use heavier jig heads. During the first few jigging, I could see my jig heads went straight down when I used a 2 oz jig head in 12-15’ of calm water. My lures never looked real. I changed a couple of things this time. I attached a 1.5’ mono line to the main braided line. I attached the mono line to the jig head directly. I did not use a swivel to connect the line and the jig heads as usual. We were in 12-15’ of water. I tried a ¼ oz jig head with a 5 inch Bass Assassin with pointy tail. I maintained the tension while jigging. In the clear water, I could see the lure moved nicely as seen on TV fishing shows.
I jigged with skinny or thin lures with white belly. The reason was that during the first trip a skinny 3.5”-4” minnow jumped on to my kayak. There was a school of this baitfish chased by bluefish that time. This shiny minnow was the only fish jumped on to my kayak ever. So we decided to use lures looked like the minnow that landed on my kayak.
We started catch fish by jigging. Actually I caught a lot of fish by jigging. I caught scup, sea robin, bluefish, and fluke.
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/BlueDawn.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/BlueRichard.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Fluke.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Scup.JPG
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/SeaRobin.JPG
Richard caught a 29” striper on a 3/8 oz head trimmed with a 4” shad (black back and white belly). The 29” striper was a very rare keeper in the area.
Richard and his first keeper Striper:
http://comeonfish.com/LI2009Aug/Striper.JPG
Right after I took pictures of the striper and Richard, because the LI Sound was so calm I could see a back of a large striper about 150 yards away from us. “Big Striper” I yelled. I paddled the Prowler 15 to the place very fast but did not make any splashes. I cast out a 3/8 oz jig head with 5” white belly and purple back Bass Assassin with pointy tail. I jerked the lure few times and slowly retrieved the lure while anticipating a big strike hopefully any time. Then, wham! The striper took my lure. The striper jumped a 2-3’ above the surface like a tarpon. The striper wasn’t a striper. It was a very large bluefish. I had the bluefish for 5-6 minutes. I tried to grab the bluefish by using a Boga-Grip. I failed few times and finally the bluefish got loose. It was the largest bluefish I ever seen. It was 30-33 inch long.
Even though I could not land the big bluefish, I was pretty happy that finally I could catch many fish by jigging.
Somehow, what other fishermen said made senses when I caught fish, the proper lure and the proper presentation. Though, I still have to find the fish first.
Joe