Thar She Blows

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads

The wind is passing by.

                                           Christina Rossetti

The trees were not alone in bowing their heads on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Gusts reached over 60 miles per hour on Sunday morning causing the sloop Commocean to break her mooring and wash up on South Lake Beach in Montauk.

This place is no stranger to wind, of course, but it was the sustained strength of the weekend’s assault that made it different kettle of fish. Speaking of which, how does the wind affect the schools of striped bass, bluefish, and false albacore that feed mid-water and on the surface this time of year?

Richard Jones, captain of the Montauk dragger Pontos, was getting a cup of coffee at Goldberg’s deli on Tuesday morning, remarking on the wind and how it had pulled a cleat from the Pontos causing one end to stray from the dock. No damage done. He said it took a few days for schools to return to the areas they normally inhabit, as though the wind stirred a big pot whose ingredients are finding their places slowly as the wind subsides.

I miss the days when I could call the bayman Stewart Lester, a walking fisherman’s almanac. He would have been able to tell me what a three-day, northwesterly blow in early November forecasted both fish-wise and otherwise.

Surfcasters braved the blow, but it was slow going for the most part, perhaps because of the murky condition of the water itself. But striped bass were caught, and where they were caught (the south-facing beaches of Napeague and west through Georgica Beach in East Hampton) fit with Paul Apostolides’s observation that strong winds cause schools of bait and the predators that feed on them to hug a lee shore.

Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett reported bass up to 32 inches being caught at Georgica. Word has it that East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell has been doing well from his boat at the Ruins on the north end of Gardiner’s Island.

Because of the wind, the standings in the Montauk SurfMasters tournament for striped bass have remained the same with the exception of Lynne Torrento, who knocked Mary Ellen Kane into second place with a 23.38-pound bass caught on Oct. 28. Kane’s 13.04-pounder rests in second place and Joan Naso Federman’s 8.62-pound striper remains on the board in third. Bob Howard’s 39-pounder has a hold on first place in the wader division, and Jason Pecararo’s 50.30-pound cow keeps him at the top of the heap in the tournament’s wetsuit division.

Bennett said he suspected the best of the bass-fishing season was yet to come, given the amount of prey around, including porgies and even squid, and because of the approaching full moon, known for good reason as the Frost Moon. Indians knew it as the “beaver moon,” when beaver traps were set to secure warm pelts for the winter months.

Bennett said the wind had driven scores of sea ducks into the bay. He reminded hunters that he had an ample supply of ammo, and advised drivers to “Watch out for deer. It’s the rutting season.”

Bay scallop season opened in state waters on Monday and runs through March 31. The season opens in town waters on this coming Monday, and will also run through March 31.