Jamaica Bay is an oasis in the heart of a truly urban environment. Located in New York, it is flanked to the north by the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn and also to an extent, Nassau County. It is a treasure for those who fish it regularly. As an experienced Captain and passionate fisherman in the Northeast for 40 years, I plan to share my knowledge, experiences and, foremost, my love of Northeast fishing and Jamaica Bay. My contributions will be as diverse as J-Bay (as it is sometimes locally known), ranging from; technical tutelage, seasonal trends, personal observations, and anecdotes from the wheel house. I hope you find them beneficial and perhaps even mildly amusing.
As peaceful and tranquil as this mirror of water may seem, any fisherman knows the drama beneath the unbroken surface is waiting to break the calm. J-Bay is no different.
Sometimes in those early pre dawn hours, you’ll see that heron, the lone sentinel silhouetted against the dawn.  It peers into the tidal marsh as I slip past and through the creeks. I often wonder how many times this ritual has taken place over time. This area was once populated by the Rockaway Indians and it seems to me they must have been quite at home among these stirrings as they fished and harvested along its banks. In the back of the bay, up towards Inwood and Woodmere where it begins, I often feel like these magic hours transcend time. The quiet is palpable. The gentle ripple of the water trickles as a stately Osprey hunches its powerful shoulders and falls off a branch, extending powerful wings to join me in going about our business of catching fish. Out of nowhere, their nests appear each year. As a boat builder, I can’t help but notice the architectural feat these piles of twigs and branches really are, weathering nor’easters, rain, sun and wind. And a better fisherman you may never find. He can snatch a finning bunker or herring faster than you can foul a line casting into a into a bluefish frenzy.
If it is not obvious by now, I feel there’s something special about this wonderful bay and its subtle but abundant riches.
 You might say that Jamaica Bay is defiantly prolific Topographical maps of Jamaica Bay reveal man made structure intertwined with God’s own sculpting. People in other fisheries may be surprised to know that amazingly these two forces have collided yet endured. It’s a true testament to the vitality and the tenacity of J-Bay that there are bridges, housing developments, oil terminals, marinas, golf courses, and, oh yes, an international airport coexisting along its shores. The bay not only survives, despite the environmental and economic pressures of man, it thrives. Its pulse inexorably beats on through every tide and each season and the fishery prospers.
The bay itself has several parts; the north side, south side, east and west. It’s a jigsaw puzzle of tiny islands, marshes, sandbars and structure. The south side is bordered by Inwood, Rosedale and, further east, Woodmere. As you proceed west you’ll find Rockaway, Bell Harbor, Roxburry, and eventually Breezy Point en route to the ocean and the Big Jetty at the inlet. Not everyone knows that the tide pulls harder on the south side which is likely because it is closer to the ocean and deeper. More often than not the first signs of bait; herring and bunker appear here also. These bait movements, or lack of them, generally dictate what type of run will appear, and when to expect the arrivals of the big three; Striped Bass, Bluefish, and Weakfish. Generally the water temperatures also tend to spike a bit earlier on the south side. Back toward Inwood and Woodmere the water at times is more brackish, evidenced by the herring way up in the creeks and marshes. Unlike most bays that tend to be flat and shallow, Jamaica Bay is quite diverse. It features water depths ranging from inches in the marshes along Woodhull Creek to sixty foot depths down toward Floyd Bennet and the areas around Beach Channel High School. The tidal flow, combined with water depth, structure, currents, lunar phases, and more have a direct impact on fishing. Knowing how each part of a body of water differs, even in a smaller geographical sense, as in Jamaica Bay, can have make a positive difference when combined with your general knowledge of environmental factors. In the upcoming months, I’ll pass along ways I have known that will help you produce more fish Jamaica Bay and in general.
As with most things, attention to detail is what distinguishes those who are successful on the water and those who are just frustrated. Hopefully, we can collectively learn something new every time we venture out and even share it from time to time.
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