Outdoors

Blowfish are one of the tastiest local fish in our warming waters as we jump from spring to summer. They are one of the cheapest fish at the markets, too.

I was supposed to take my boat to check my lobster traps. It had been about 10 days. I also planned to do some diamond jigging for striped bass in Plum Gut. None of it happened.

The striped bass showed up en masse for their annual residency off Montauk on May 1. It was a true sign that spring had sprung for those who wet a line for the highly prized linesiders.

The dawn chorus of birdsong is different depending on your habitat, your location, and the time of year. Songbird migration will peak by mid-May. As songbirds migrate overhead during the night, they blanket the sleeping country with sound, calling to each other to keep their flocks together and tight. When they land, they sing us awake.

It’s been sad to watch the demise of our local inshore lobster fishery. I’ve seen a clear downward spiral that’s been especially acute in the past five years.

The recent closure of the only tackle shop in downtown Montauk was a blow for fishermen, but all is not lost for those who wet a hook and line in Montauk. The Montauk Anglers Club, right near the Montauk inlet on East Lake Drive, is looking to fill the void left by the departure of Paulie’s by adding more tackle, bait, lures, gear, and services to its already well-stocked marine and tackle store. 

The question was whether I should stay in port on April 9 or put out my lobster traps for the season. Sounds simple, yes? But it wasn’t. Hear me out.

Hundreds of anglers were saddened to learn last week that Paulie’s Tackle Shop, operating in downtown Montauk for over 20 years, had closed its doors forever.

Odds are, you’re not going to see an American bittern, despite its large size. Frankly, the American bittern doesn’t want to be seen; it chose invisibility as its superpower. Still, this is the best time of year to try; make the experience at least as much about the journey as the destination.

When the ball drops marking the beginning of the new year, for some, a silent gun goes off and an invisible race begins. They’re the bird listers, and their goal is to find as many different species of birds as they can over the next year.

Coyote sightings on the North Fork this autumn and a month ago in Bridgehampton are not surprising to those who study this wide-ranging mammal. Coyotes have never bred in Suffolk County, but with one-off sightings increasing in frequency, the question isn’t if they will breed here but when.

When darkness closed out the Audubon Montauk Christmas Bird Count and the species were tallied, participants agreed that the good weather might have played a role in the total: 134 were found, the highest in a decade.

Low spawning levels have spurred the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to put forth a comprehensive management plan to rebuild the stocks of striped bass.

Out on the water for a last chance to catch some blackfish, The Star’s fishing columnist enjoyed some good camaraderie, and if the fish were to cooperate, so much the better.

After breeding on the northern lakes, loons arrive on the East End in the autumn and increase in numbers through the winter as their breeding territories freeze. They can survive our winter water because they’re so well insulated.

The plight of our beloved scallop is a sad one. For five straight years, we have witnessed a summer die-off. Baymen never have it easy.

With the season for blackfish and sea bass concluding in a few weeks, our columnist headed toward Block Island on a trip organized by Bill Bennett of Sag Harbor. They enjoyed consistent action all morning.

“I honestly don’t think I missed a fish, as they were taking the bait with such abandon,” Joel Fisher said of the waters off Big Gull Island. “All were in the 14-to-17-inch range. It was a great way to end the season.”

The plan was to head out on a 90-minute ride to Block Island for blackfish, sea bass, and codfish. When boats were able to get out in recent days, the action was good, especially for blackfish.

Last November I landed one bushel of scallops on opening day in and around Shelter Island Sound. The next day, however, I struggled to land barely a quarter bushel. East Hampton Town waters will open to scalloping in two weeks.

Blackfishing has been tough of late, “but bass, blues, and false albacore are still running well in Plum Gut,” Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle said, and anglers have experienced blitz-like fishing for striped bass around the Montauk Lighthouse.

November is the month when a dedicated group of citizen scientists begin to count birds as part of Project FeederWatch, a Cornell Lab of Ornithology program now in its 37th year. It’s simple. Go to feederwatch.org, pay $18, learn how to report your birds, get some swag that will help you make proper identifications, and you’re on the team.

“Local spots like the Sag Harbor bridge, Nichols Point, and the black spindle rock pile outside the breakwater have been producing of late,” Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle said from behind the counter of his new establishment in Southampton.

There is something creepy about cormorants. From most distances, they look black, with long thick necks, tails, and wings. In flight, they appear like black crosses. Against a cormorant, fish have no hope; the tip of their orange bill is hook-shaped, a perfect tool to capture over 250 species of fish. Soon those single black crosses will join to form sky-wide, shape-shifting patterns as they migrate away.

Before the water turns to ice here on the East End, the local fishing scene seems to be holding up just fine. Bass, bluefish, tuna, sea bass, porgies, and blackfish are hungry and on the feed.

The closing of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor is most unfortunate. Small mom-and-pop, one-man businesses like Ken Morse’s establishment continue to be squeezed out because of high rents. It’s a troublesome trend that has become too frequent here.

It was a bad year to be a piping plover in East Hampton. In fact, the worst since at least 2008. While 32 pairs of plovers made East Hampton Town beaches their summer homes, only seven of those pairs were successful in fledging 15 young. Plovers in Southampton Town had a more successful summer.

“Yeah, the weather gods have not been cooperating of late,” Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said of the slow fishing. “The winds were relentless, but it appears things are finally going to calm down.”

Just as Tropical Storm Ophelia ushered out summer, Ken Morse, the man behind Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor, is moving out — to Southampton.

UPDATE: Those wishing to put their rakes to the test for the East Hampton Town Trustees’ Largest Clam Contest will have to wait a bit longer to dig for the winners in Lake Montauk, Napeague Harbor, Accabonac Harbor, Hog Creek, and Three Mile Harbor, as heavy rains have closed many areas to shellfishing and forced a second rescheduling of the annual event.