Profusion Of Squid
A late spring run of squid exploded along the bay side last week and continues to fill commercial pound nets and the coolers of young squid jiggers.
Nighttime jiggers reported the dark surface of Fort Pond Bay turning white on Friday and Saturday as thousands of schooling squid moved in swirls and eddies under docks and along the shore.
In response to the squid blitz, Montauk's Viking Fleet of party boats is offering squid fishing trips tomorrow through Sunday, and for the next three weekends. The squid boat leaves the Viking Dock at 7 p.m. and returns at 2 a.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Viking headquarters on West Lake Drive in Montauk.
Best Run In Years
Trappers are enjoying the best squid run in years. One trap in Fort Pond Bay reportedly yielded more than 3,000 pounds after a one-day set. Those located at Devon have also benefited from the surprise run, which includes hefty squid of the 8 to 10-inch size. The price is correspondingly hefty, nearly $1 a pound for the fisherman.
In addition, traps located at Devon and farther west in Gardiner's Bay are said to be filling with butterfish, porgies (scup), and bunker, along with a fluke here and there.
Butters and scup are delicious for eating, of course. These days, the bunkers - known in government circles as an "industrial species" because they have been processed for oil and meal - are bought up for bait by lobster fishermen. Brad Loewen's Hedges Banks trap reportedly has been producing a good supply of bunkers.
Frozen For Bait
Stewart Lester of Springs, who has not yet got his lobster pots in because of bad weather, said there was a promising showing of "ground keepers" - those lobsters that stand their ground over the winter and enter pots before the run of migrating lobsters shows up. It's a rare lobster indeed that can resist a slightly ripe, oily bunker. That's why lobstermen are buying up the recent bunker run and freezing them for bait.
Speaking of which, the spring run of mackerel is passing offshore of Montauk. It's time for charter captains, who chase tuna later in the season, to run out to the mackerel schools and load up. After being caught, the fish are kept on ice water to preserve freshness. They are then linked with thin twine, head-to-tail, as though chasing one another. A hook is secreted in one mackerel in the "daisy chain."
Like bunker bait, the daisy chains, along with individual tuna "chunking" baits, are frozen for later use.
Striped Bass
While the commercial striped bass fishery will not get under way until July 1 at the earliest, the recreational fishery begins today. Surfcasters have been catching small schoolie stripers at Ditch Plain in Montauk, on the north side of Montauk Point, as well as at various places on the bayside.
Regulations have not changed for sportfishermen. They are allowed to keep one fish measuring 28 inches or longer per day unless they are fishing on a charter or party boat, in which case they may catch and keep two of that size per day.
The 590,000-pound commercial quota given to New York State by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission last year will remain the same in 1997. However, the allocation among fishermen will change.
Two Kinds Of Permits
The rod-and-reel and net categories of fishermen are to be abandoned. Instead, fishermen will either get a "partial-share" permit or a "full-share" permit.
To get a full-share allocation of the tags required for the sale of bass, a fisherman will need to have a commercial food fishing license and a commercial striped bass license and show that 50 percent of earned income was derived from fishing during any of the years 1994, '95, or '96. Otherwise, they may stay in the fishery, but participate on a reduced level.
The healthy number of baitfish and squid around bodes well for bass fishermen.