Bay water hits 69 degrees as weakfish crash the Marine Parkway drift

The bay hit 69 degrees this week, and that magic number flipped a switch. After weeks of chasing scattered bass around the flats, the real action shifted to the Marine Parkway Bridge area where keeper fluke are finally showing in numbers — and they brought friends.

I've been working the drift from the bridge pilings out to the channel edge, and the mix of species has been the best I've seen all season. Keeper fluke to 25 inches are hitting white Gulp Swimming Mullets on 3/4-ounce bucktails, but here's the kicker — weakfish are back in the rotation. I'm talking keeper weakies, not the usual runts. The 19-inchers are taking the same rig on the drift, and I had one push 5 pounds that fought like it remembered what these waters used to be like.

The technique is classic drift fishing, but timing matters. I'm hitting the bridge area on the first three hours of incoming tide when the current is moving but not ripping. Too much water and the bucktails get swept away from the structure. Too little and the fish won't commit. That sweet spot when you can feel the jig tick bottom every few seconds — that's when they eat.

Bass are still around, but they're staging for the summer move. The bigger fish — 32 to 36 inches — are holding tight to the deeper channel edges, and they're getting picky. Live eels fished on the bottom during the flood tide are still producing, but the window is narrowing. These fish know summer's coming, and they're not wasting energy on marginal presentations.

The bunker situation is interesting. There's still bait in the bay, but it's thinning out and getting pushed around by the warming water. I'm seeing schools concentrated near the Cross Bay Bridge area on the outgoing, but they're not the thick clouds we had in May. The bass that are still feeding are keying on these scattered pods, so if you're trolling, work the edges where the bait shows on the finder.

Sea robins are everywhere — and I mean everywhere. Some of these things are pushing 2 pounds, which tells me the bottom is loaded with crabs and worms. That's good news for the fluke fishing, but it means you're going to sort through a lot of robins to find the flatfish. Fresh clam strips on a high-low rig will cut through the robin madness better than artificials.

Water clarity has been decent despite the warming trend. That 69-degree reading is about 4 degrees warmer than the ocean side of Rockaway Inlet, and that gradient is creating a thermal barrier that's holding bait and fish in the bay longer than usual. But it won't last. Once we hit consistent 70-plus readings, the bass exodus accelerates.

The weekend warriors have been hitting Breezy Point for cocktail blues and the occasional bass, but the real action is in the bay proper. Canarsie Pier has been producing fluke on the incoming tide, especially early morning before the boat traffic picks up. Standard bucktail and teaser rigs are working, but don't overlook a simple high-low with fresh bait.

Looking ahead, this full moon cycle should push some bigger tides through the inlet, and that usually means a flush of fresh bait and maybe some late-season bass activity. I'm watching for the first real push of summer porgies, which should show up once the water stabilizes in the low 70s. The weakfish bite could be a preview of better things — these fish have been scarce for years, so any sign of a comeback is worth paying attention to.

Fish the tides, watch the water temperature, and don't get locked into one species. This transition period between spring and summer is when Jamaica Bay shows its diversity, but you have to be ready to adapt when the fish tell you what they want.