The Fishing Season: An Auspicious Start
Soft, transparent, marble-sized squid eggs were brought ashore on Sunday by waves generated from the latest of the recent series of low-pressure fronts.
The jellies with the embryo centers were left on the wrack line as the tide dropped. Once ashore, light filled them so they could be seen a few fathoms apart all along the beach, jeweled proof of rich life offshore.
Not far off, a swarm of diving birds rained down on the baitfish chased to the surface by feeding bluefish and the striped bass that forage below them for scraps.
The fishing season is off to a truly auspicious start despite the un-June-like weather. And, speaking of starts, the new Lazy Bones had her maiden voyage yesterday. The original, a popular Montauk party boat, now sits at the end of Salivar's Dock. "It was sad taking the stuff off the old boat. I gave it a kiss goodbye," said Kathy Vegessi, who, with her husband, Michael, has pioneered a laid-back, half-day, near-shore approach to fishing.
Phenomenal Fluking
The new Bones went for fluke (summer flounder) on her first trip and found them. The fluke action is "phenomenal," in the words of "Al" from Altenkirch's Precision Outfitters of Hampton Bays. Al said he went only by his first name "so they can't blame me for not catching fish and bomb my house."
If the fluke chatter around East End docks is any indication, Al needn't worry about his house. There seem to be enough fluke around for even inexperienced anglers to catch.
Kathy Vegessi reports the fluke around Montauk are not large, but they are plentiful. "The pool [winners] are down around three or four pounds." She said most were smaller, but of keeper size, that is, 14.5 inches long or longer.
The number of small fluke could also mean a rosier future for commercial fluke fishermen now under very strict limits. The species is managed under Federal mandate by seasonal quotas.
This week, draggers were allowed to take 200 pounds of fluke per trip. Next week the trip quota will go to 70 pounds.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation recently announced the size of the striped bass harvest last year. Commercial fishermen harvested about 490,000 pounds of their 520,000-pound quota.
Recreational fishermen harvested 6.5 million pounds in 1996, 5,935,000 worth of legal-size fish and an estimated 606,000 pounds of fish that did not survive the contest. According to state figures, the 1996 recreational catch is the highest ever recorded, more fish than the largest combined commercial-recreational catch in the history of the state.
Regal-Legals
Three years ago, the legal minimum size for striped bass was 36 inches. That was changed to 28 inches, but fishermen acknowledge fish 36 inches long and longer by calling them "regal-legals." A good number of regals are being caught, according to charter captains. The season for striped bass market fishermen will not start until July.
Harvey Bennett, whose Tackle Shop has moved from its former Skimhampton to 3 Fort Pond Boulevard in Springs, reports bluefish are being caught from the beach all along the north side of Napeague. Bass and weakfish are found at Jessup's Neck, Buoy 16, with a mix of weakfish and fluke off Greenlawns, the name given the west side of Shelter Island.