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A friend and I headed out on a calm and chilly night for a last ditch effort to locate some lingering bass working herring schools in the back of Jamaica Bay. We found the herring and caught a few on herring jigs. As we watched the sonar we saw what appeared to be fish holding under the school of herring. We rigged up and ran head. We began to drift back and within 10 minutes we both were hooked up with a fish I lost mine and my friend released a 24 inch fish.
Two more drifts and then I connected with what felt like a large Bass. I fought it for around 10 to 12 minutes till I saw him break water and realized it was not a bass but a large Bluefish. I was in shock that this late in the year a Bluefish would still be in the bay back area. We boated him and ran ahead for another drift. We made three more drifts with no hook ups, then on our last drift of the night I hit the bass that weighed a little over 18 lbs. My buddy caught two more bass and kept one that weighed 23 lbs, after that drift it was getting late and we had our limit so we headed in. Sincerely, Larry Seaman 3rd
Jamaica Bay is a large body of water and salt marsh area covering 26 miles on the south shore of Long Island. John F. Kennedy Airport borders the bay on it's eastern end, and the bay it's self separates the peninsula of the Rockaways from the main part of Long Island. The western end of the bay is open to the Atlantic Ocean at the Rockaway Inlet.
Jamaica Bay ranges in depth from 3 to 12 feet, but has been dredged for navigation and can be up to 50 feet deep in spots, but on average depth is less than 10 feet deep. Due to the shallow nature of the bay it warms very quickly in the spring and is a magnet to all species of fish and birds alike. Some of the fish you may encounter on a trip to the bay include Fluke, Stripers, Weakfish, Bluefish, Bonito, Spanish Mackerel, Tautog, Seabass, False Albacore and Skipjack Tuna.
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