Sparky & Ralph with a Spring Bass
Posted in General, Trips on April 16th, 2000
After an unsuccessful but informative prospecting trip three weekends prior, I went out with Thorne on Ralph’s Hydrasport for some morning fishing in Jamaica Bay. Ralph reported catching fish the previous weekend, and I was eager to show Thorne what the Bay had to offer. We met at the ramp just past 7. Ralph was already on board, chomping at the bit to get a move on. As soon as we left the ramp, Ralph spotted birds working along a marshy island. Within minutes, Thorne was tied up to a 26-inch bass. Gulls and two types of terns swarmed over nervous pods of bait. Ralph was surprised to see as much surface activity as we did.
As the morning wore on, the birds began to scatter and move off; we hit the runway and scared up a couple more fish using the finder. There was still occasional surface activity, but the fishing tailed off by 9:30. John McMurray came our way after Ralph phoned in the tip, and John reported boating a 28” fish and spotting two porpoises by the Marine Park bridge. We went on to scout further inside the Bay, but had trouble finding more takers until Ralph spotted some birds hunting along a rock-lined shore. We drifted past a small pipe outflow in a couple feet of water. Three white herons hunted along its mouth and Thorne laid a cast down in the mouth. He was rewarded immediately as a nice 28” fish inhaled the fly and peeled off line as he headed for deeper water. We hooked and caught a few more around the pipe before the action tapered off.
Out of the water by 12:15 with roughly a dozen fish amongst us – the largest a 30” - quite a morning in JBay!