Rockaway Fishing Season Starts

Since the early season stripers action in Little Neck Bay had died down, I started going to Rockaway.

I caught only one school bass at the bulkhead of Rockaway Point in the evening of May 15.

Just after that catch, a fly fisherman passed by and asked me any luck. Then he told me he caught 3 stripers and 2 blue fishes, and showed me his fly.
It was a thin fly with few material which was different from my bulky fly.
He seemed to believe this fly was the reason he got those fishes.









We cannot see exactly what happens under the water. But I think fish is not so picky most of the time. When I cannot catch any fish, I simply believe that there is no fish within my casting range at that time.
No fish, No catch !

Little Neck Bay 2010 (Ⅲ)

This weekend in Little Neck Bay was great. I fished on Friday evening, Saturday morning and evening.

Friday evening was a fishing extravaganza. No fishermen were there when I started fishing at 6 o'clock. I caught a bass with either the first cast or second. More than 10 basses were caught one after the other, size range from 10 inches to 15 inches. The 10-inch one was the smallest bass I have ever caught.
I think these small basses like to group in a very tight circle and they swim and hunt together. So when I casted in an accurate direction and range, I could catch them one by one.

It might be the reason that last weekend the lure fishermen and I couldn't catch any fish but the fly fisherman in the boat and the bait fishermen could catch the fish.

I got a fat 16-inch bass on Saturday morning.

On Saturday evening the place where I always fish was crowded with at least 10 lure fishermen. There was no room for a spey rodder as he needs some space for safety. So I went farther to the back of the bay to fish. Anyway no one seemed to catch any fish.
That was a big contrast from the Friday evening. Even though the conditions: time, tide and weather, are similar to the day before, fish didn't come.

Little Neck Bay 2010 (Ⅱ)

I fished in the Little Neck Bay last Saturday and Sunday. The high tide came at around 1:45 pm and 2:30 pm respectively, so I started fishing after lunch both days.

Saturday was cloudy. I caught a small bass around 4 o'clock.

Sunday was cloudy too, but once in a while the sun came out.

On this breezy day, the water was rough. The wave stirred up the mud in the bay bottom and the water became cloudy.

I saw only bait fishermen caught small basses. We, the fly and lure fishermen caught nothing.

I thought maybe the cloudy water limited a fish's sight, so it had to rely on smell.

However, a fly fisherman on a boat caught a few basses and was not far away from where I stood.

Then I cannot come up with an explanation why I and other lure fishermen could not catch any fish. The reason cannot be cloudy water or distance.

The only explanation I have maybe there are still some hidden factors that I have not yet known.

Little Neck Bay 2010

The striper action has started in Little Neck Bay as early as the third week of March. I fished in the bay on March 26, my first outing, and saw a lure fisherman who was fishing next to me caught a keeper. Since then I have fished there five times already and caught a tiny one only. The new season begins with hope and frustration as usual.

My goals of this season are to achieve the overhead casting from my left side and the shooting spey casting more effectively.

Diving Bunker

Rockaway Point is one of the best places for fishing stripped bass and blue fish around the city.

I saw some fishermen catch large fish at the tip of the jetty in Rockaway Point, so I tied a fly especially for fishing there.

The Diving Bunker is a large fly for large fish and weighted heavily, so it will sink quickly and deeply.

Unfortunately I didn't have any chance to fish at the tip of the jetty this season.

I went to Rockaway Point several times, but most of the times the wave was too high to go to the tip.







When the condition was good, the tip was crowded with fishermen.

I, a two-handed fly rodder, need some space for casting, so I had to give up fishing there and just fishing in the mid-section of the jetty.

This Diving Bunker has never caught any fish, but I dream it will catch a big fish one day.

I think when you believe in a fly and use it often, it will catch fish eventually. This is one of the point of views about fly fishing, isn't it?

These are the materials for making Diving Bunker.

The hooks are Timco 600sp size 8/0. They are large hooks to be wound with a lot of lead wire.















Tie the yak hair the same way as Puglisi fly.















Apply Softex to the head part to make the foundation for the eyes.


















Trim the body hair.

Wind a 10-inch length of .035 lead wire to the bend of the hook, then apply super glue on it.

Place the eyes and apply the epoxy over them.

Apply a thin coat of clear silicone to the body of hair around the hook to prevent it from tangling the hook.

Realistic Silver Side Minnow

My saltwater fishing season is about to end.

I want to go to Sandy Hook as my last fishing trip,

but I have got a backache since the Fire Island Inlet fishing.

So maybe that is it.

What we, fly fishermen, can do in off season is to tie flies for the next season.

I'd like to talk about some of my previous season's flies which caught fishes or for whatever reason I like them.

The first one is "Realistic Silver Side Minnow".

Silver side is the most common bait fish in the northeastern coast.

I made many variations of "E.Z body" head ones,

then I thought why not using "E.Z body" for the entire body to make a realistic imitation.

(By the way, the same kind exists in the market. People thought about the same thing hundreds years ago.)









I know a realistic fly for the human eyes may not be for the fish eyes.
But at least I caught a fluke with this fly.













These are the materials.


















Make the fish body frame with a plastic sheet. I cut it from a clear plastic salad container.














Color the frame with marker and paste a piece of aluminum foil on both sides of the belly.














Tie the "E.Z body" on a hook and slide the frame into it.

Tie the marabou tail and paste the flashabou on both sides of the body.

Place the eyes and apply epoxy to the head.

Trim the marabou tail to complete the fly.

This is a natural one.

Fire Island Inlet

Last Sunday was the first time my wife and I fished in the Fire Island Inlet at Robert Moses State Park.

In the early morning, we went to Rockaway bay side fishing first, and then we drove to Fire Island. We drove through two islands (Long Beach and Jones Beach) and crossed three bridges to get there.

We enjoyed driving through those narrow barrier islands which form the Atlantic side of Long Island.

Robert Moses State Park looks primitive.

We fished in a nicely caved cove in the early afternoon, then we walked down farther to fish at the end corner of the rock built bulkhead which protects the western tip of Fire Island.

Though there was a strong rip, several people were fishing there. It must be a good spot.

We fished till sun down.

Whole day we didn't catch any fish.

I guess last Sunday was not our day.

Night Fishing in Jamaica Bay

I fished in the bay side of Rockaway last Sunday night.

Before going to the bay side, I checked out the ocean side. The wave on the ocean side was a little too high for night fishing.

I got to the bay side parking lot around 9 o'clock. It was empty.

The east wind blew steadily. When I faced the bay, the wind came from my right hand side.

I waded about 20- foot from the shoreline and casted in the direction between parallel to the shoreline and less than 45 degrees of the shoreline. It was easier to cast this way because I got the tail wind position and the fish was coming close to the shore at night.

I used a 25-foot short shooting head line which was easy to handle in the dark. I pulled out 15- yard of the running line which was also easy to handle and a good enough length to reach the fish at night.

I casted and felt quite a bit of shock. The rod tip nodded and this indicated the line stretching out very well by the tail wind. Because I could not see the line in the dark, these feeling and guessing were the alternatives of the sight.

The crescent moon was shining west of the sky. While fishing, I was always facing the moon.

When the moon was almost down to the horizon, I left the water.

I caught a school size bass with a saddle feather eel fly.

(Night eel flies)

Rockaway - Morning and Evening

In the last few days the gusty wind had blown very strongly. The coastal water in the ocean was very rough.

Finally the weather became nice last Sunday, so I went to Rockaway early morning. I walked along the bay side beach to Rockaway point, stopped and fished at good spots along the way.

I caught a few school size stripers.

Fishing on the jetty was impossible today because the huge wave kept washing up the jetty.

Because of the high tide both in the morning and evening, I planned to fish also in the afternoon till sunset again after lunch.

I went back to the parking lot after morning fishing, and wanted to drive somewhere for lunch.

The parking lot was overflown with cars. Cars were even waiting in line for parking spaces.

The reason for such a crowd was that those people who usually drive to the ocean side beach with their beach driving permits, could not drive to the beach because the big wave was surging in. They came to fish on the bay side instead.

(Night flies)
I figured that once I gave up my parking spot, it would be difficult to find another one after lunch, so I came to fish after dusk.

Like in the morning, I walked along the bay side beach, almost to the jetty, stopped and fished along the way. It was a quiet evening.

Fishing in the dark stirred me up to an isolated feeling.

My Tackle Assemble

Last weekend I fished in Rockaway. On the early Saturday morning, I caught a small striped bass on the bay side.

So on the early Sunday morning, I went to Rockaway Point hoping for a bigger fish. I got there around 6 o'clock. Several spinning fishermen, lining up side by side on the beach, had already started casting their lures. I joined the line and started casting the fly with my two-handed fly rod.

Because of the tail wind, I could cast the fly quite far away. The casting distance did not look so bad as compared with spinning fishermen. After fishing there for an hour or so, no one caught any fish. So I moved on to the jetty and fished in the deeper water, but I did not catch any fish either. I had to hold out hope for next time as usual.

Because now is the climax of the striper season, I would like to talk about my tackle assemble which I have built up with trials and errors since I started using the two-handed fly rods.

RODS AND SHOOTING HEADS

I used Cabela 10 weight 15-foot rod with Rio scagit shooting head last season. Before this season started, in the early spring, I built a Sage TCR 10 weight 15-foot rod. I thought this one would be better than the Cabela one for long distance casting, but the Cabela one turns out to be better because its rod tip section is stiffer.

I still wanted a more powerful rod than the Cabela one. So I bought a 12 weight 16-foot rod and three shooting heads especially for this rod ( type Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, all 740 grain and 39 foot) from Japan. It has become my main rod.

STRIPPING BASKET AND RUNNING LINE

The tangling of the running line used to be a big problem. I modified a dishpan to become a stripping basket with heavy duty cable ties as spikes inside. It works very well, more than I expect. The running line tangling problem has almost gone with this new basket. With the new basket, I am able to use Rio Slick Shooter running line now. This line has a narrow diameter which can cause line tangling easily, but narrow diameter and slickness are essintial for long distance casting. The original length of this line is 115-foot long. I extended this line to 170-foot by connecting it with the other half of a Slick Shooter line with blood knot.

TIPPET AND LEADER

I use the poly reader for better turn and 20lbs fluorocarbon tippet for strength. For blue fish, I use the Rio wire tippet because it is softer and less kink than other blands.

REEL AND BACKING LINE
My reel for two-handed rods is Pflueger Trion for #12 line. This one has good line capacity and light weight in this class. I set 300 yards of 30 lbs test gel spun backing on the reel.

These are my tackle assemble for surf fly fishing right now. I think I have a better one this season than last season.

Still the biggest problem is: Not many fish have been caught yet!