Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY

[NYCitySue7@aol.com]

Had some time to kill so walked over to Sheepshead Bay, about 3PM. Turned high tide, still nothing. Water was dead, nothing even nibbling. Sun started setting, now was about
7PM. Had my line pulled in. All of a sudden, in the blink of an eye the entire surface of the water had these 20 to 30 pound fish literally jumping out of the water as they swam past. There must have been 150-200 of them. Flung my line back in, right in the middle of them. Took about 5 seconds, and my rod was bending. I never felt such a rush! Totally amazing. My line was about 60 feet out when it hit. I never felt such weight before, since I always fish from land, never fished from a boat, so I never hit the big ones. This was like I was dreaming. He fought and I played him, finally got him near to where I was and started pulling him up, and soon as I saw the top of his head, he broke off and was gone but I'll never, ever forget that feeling. It was the best!!!! Still don't know what it was exactly, or why all of a sudden the waters were blanketed with 200 large fish jumping as they swam from open water into the bay. Any ideas out there????
Tight lines to you all
Susan

[giantfan]

They could have been striped bass but most likely they were bluefish. When you broke off... was it just above the hook? Or was it knot failure? If it was bitten off (which I would imagine) then again... my call would be bluefish.

I think your guessing of the weight may be a little on the high side as they do look bigger when in the water.

[Avenger]

Bluefish would be my guess too. Estimate probably is a little high, but eyeballing a fish's weight takes a lot of experience. Plus, blues are some of the fightin'est fish around, which always makes them seem bigger than they are.

See if you can get some short wire leaders from your tackle shop. Something 6 to 8 in long should prevent bite-offs.

[giantfan]

Bluefish would be my guess too. Estimate probably is a little high, but eyeballing a fish's weight takes a lot of experience. Plus, blues are some of the fightin'est fish around, which always makes them seem bigger than they are.

See if you can get some short wire leaders from your tackle shop. Something 6 to 8 in long should prevent bite-offs.

Good point Avenger. Sue, give this stuff a shot. It ties like mono and is bite proof from the toothy critters. The bass don't seem to mind it most of the time either.

http://www.sportfishermen.com/shop/s...-sku43208.html



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[NYCitySue7@aol.com]

Thank you both for the reply. I have used the wire leaders and usually do. This fish did not bite off the line or hook. As I was pulling it up after fighting it for the 60 ft. it took to bring it near where I was, as soon as it started to come up halfway, it was fighting wildly and next thing I knew, it was gone, and I pulled up my line with hook in place.
Love that you guys always write back and help me out.
Thanks and tight lines to you both.
Susan

[Avenger]

You're fishing from a pier, right? It may be time to invest in a landing net. Hoisting heavier fish up by the hook doesn't usually work so well.

[NYCitySue7@aol.com]

Yes, I fish either from piers or from the edge of the bay at Sheepshead Bay. Great idea about the net. Will do!!!!!!
Tight lines to you
Susan