Got the first break from the bad weather and went out Friday for Fluke and tried casting a surface plug for Bass hoping I'd get some bass in the back bays. Even with a forecast of 10-15 from the North it seemed way more breezy than that and I stayed as close to the mainland as possible and fished near Merrick Point /Across from Levy Preserve( East side of the Point) because every Spring I see a bunch of boats fishing there. Scooted over from Wantagh Park where I launched. Trailering from Home/Setting everything up by myself is at least a 2 hour ordeal for me and got out there about 9AM near the end of outgoing tide. There were 5 or 6 boats fishing there, so it must be the spot. Didn't see anybody catching anything, it was at the start of incoming or at the tail end of outgoing, hard to figure with the crazy howling wind, and as long as I stayed close to the housing development along the shore I got nice straight drifts. Nothing.Drifted over the flats with a bucktail , nothing. Should have waited for a nice long outgoing drift, I went out anyway just to get out there. Maybe next time I'll use a shiny Whiting Rig and bait it up with 4 squid strips or spearing and see if that does the trick early in the season . I'd like to fish Reynolds Channel down by the High School in Long Beach, but it's such a long haul from Wantagh Park. I wish the Town Of Hempstead in Lido Beach would upgrade the ramp there so boats up to 25 feet can launch. The limit is 21 feet. Crazy I have to launch miles away from where I wanna fish.
Caught nothing and saw nothing caught in the mini fleet of boats. So I motored over to the 3rd Wantagh/Green Island area and went East under the bridge over to the Marsh on the other side . I looked on Google Earth for a little channel emptying into the main channel near the bridge and found a likely spot to fish . Looked like a good spot and being near the 3rd Wantagh pier area I knew it was a very good spot to catch bass and blues. It was incoming and the wind was blowing from the NW , It was very difficult trying to keep the boat off the sandbar all the time and fish at the same time. Maybe Monday or Tuesday I'll try when it's outgoing. That's the best tide when fishing back bays. I never went back bay bass fishing in my life casting plugs. It's something I wanna do more often in the future. I loved how that plug danced across the surface and can't wait for my first hit.
It was my first time out this year and the motor worked fine. Put a new prop on, installed a new fuel filter , new lower oil . Had the boat all ready to go and it worked fine the whole day.
I wanted to go out to Peconic Bay for opening day Porgy on May 1st. So glad I didn't . Latest reports say the Party Boats are fishing the Plum Island /Gardiners Island area for the large Porgies. Maybe a week or two before I go out there. When I go East by myself I'm staying in the Bay.
Caught nothing and saw nothing caught in the mini fleet of boats. So I motored over to the 3rd Wantagh/Green Island area and went East under the bridge over to the Marsh on the other side . I looked on Google Earth for a little channel emptying into the main channel near the bridge and found a likely spot to fish . Looked like a good spot and being near the 3rd Wantagh pier area I knew it was a very good spot to catch bass and blues. It was incoming and the wind was blowing from the NW , It was very difficult trying to keep the boat off the sandbar all the time and fish at the same time. Maybe Monday or Tuesday I'll try when it's outgoing. That's the best tide when fishing back bays. I never went back bay bass fishing in my life casting plugs. It's something I wanna do more often in the future. I loved how that plug danced across the surface and can't wait for my first hit.
It was my first time out this year and the motor worked fine. Put a new prop on, installed a new fuel filter , new lower oil . Had the boat all ready to go and it worked fine the whole day.
I wanted to go out to Peconic Bay for opening day Porgy on May 1st. So glad I didn't . Latest reports say the Party Boats are fishing the Plum Island /Gardiners Island area for the large Porgies. Maybe a week or two before I go out there. When I go East by myself I'm staying in the Bay.
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