Following My Father’s Lead
The love of fishing is a gift that’s passed down from parent to child like a family heirloom. With Father’s Day around the corner, let’s honor dads that have placed a rod and reel in the hands of their sons and daughters and given them the opportunity to develop a lifetime passion for the sport.
I can’t remember when I first held a fishing rod in my hand, but it was likely before I walked. My dad loved fishing. Evidently, so did his father. While recently picking through a bunch of family photos from the ’50s, I found one of my grandfather Jack fishing from a jetty in Brooklyn or Queens. The smile on his face is ear to ear. I’m a third-generation fisherman. While perhaps unimpressive against a Bonacker timeline, I’m proud to carry on the family tradition.
I’ve tried to get my son and daughter interested in fishing, but they continue to resist. Unfortunately, they have more excuses than I have fishing days. Sometimes I can coax them into joining me on the boat or at the beach by horse-trading a special dessert or an extra hour on the computer. Last year Twinkies did the trick. While plainly they have no real affection for the sport, hopefully they will develop one in the near future. Grandpa Jack’s two-piece wood rod with a Penn reel stands in my basement, ready for them to grasp.
Fishing has given me wonderful times and lasting memories with my dad. We fished for flounder from a bay beach in Wantagh on the south shore of Nassau County and for trout in the Massapequa Reservoir, where he fly-fished in waders and I cast a Mepps lure or a hand-dug nightcrawler from the shore. I don’t remember catching many fish, but in my family fishing and enjoying the outdoors has always been more important than catching.
In the early ’60s my family had a 17-foot wooden lapstrake Cruiser’s Inc. runabout with a blue 40-horsepower Evinrude motor. We fished on the boat every weekend during the season, leaving early and returning late. I remember like it was yesterday how we fought a big fish for an hour in a churning Jones Inlet with the sun going down, anticipating a big striper but eventually landing a nice 30-pound tree limb. Dad and I looked at each other with a muddle of horror and amusement. With fishing, as in life, expect the unexpected.
Happy 65th Father’s Day to my dad. Happy Father’s Day to all!
Last week the United States House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill that would open a small swath of federal waters between Montauk Point and Block Island to striped bass fishing. Some have long argued that eliminating the waters from federal jurisdiction will help the East End recreational fishing industry, while others contend that opening the waters to fishing will harm the striped bass fishery long term. The bill still must be approved by the Senate and signed into law by the president.
Got pork rind? Not for long. Harvey Bennett at the Tackle Shop in Amagansett has confirmed that after 93 years, the pork-rind bait manufacturer Uncle Josh is closing its doors. Evidently, pigs are now brought to slaughter at 6 months old, rather than 2 to 3 years, which means the skin and fatback are thinner and no longer ideal for producing baits. The Tackle Shop has some remaining inventory on its shelves, but you might have to dig deeper into your wallet to claim a jar of the beauties.
Bennett also reported bass at Sammy’s Beach in East Hampton and Montauk’s Hither Hills as well as nice fluke action at Cartwright Shoal at the southern tip of Gardiner’s Island.
Wind. Wind. Wind. Except for small windows of relative calm here and there, high winds have kept boats in their slips and reports to a minimum. Tom McDonald and friends caught a couple of keeper striped bass at the Race, but had to drift the rips 90 minutes to collect their prizes. Mike Manzare found a school of bunker in the bay and landed a couple of 38-pound stripers that were lurking below, reported Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor. A couple of larger fish were hooked and lost.
Paul Apostolides at Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk reported that big bluefish continue to dominate the shore action at the Point, though he did weigh a 33-pound bass taken from the north side. Bass have been taken on trolled tubes and umbrella rigs at the usual spots off Montauk, and a jet-skier reported several bass blitzes in the area, he added.
Porgies continue to bite like mad dogs. A monster 4.2-pound fish was muscled up from Montauk waters by a Viking Fleet fare.
Our fishing columnist can be found on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.com. Photos of prize catches can be emailed to David Kuperschmid at fishreport@ ehstar.com.