Fluke Take to the Air

By Russell Drumm

Late Tuesday afternoon, a beach walker striding along the shore of Gardiner's Bay at Barnes Landing witnessed a strange phenomenon. Fluke were leaping out of the water after fleeing silver-colored spearing.

Perhaps it was not so strange, after all.

Bill Taylor, East Hampton's waterways management supervisor, said that his annual trawl survey of bays and harbors has produced a surprising number of large fluke (summer flounder) and black-back flounder. The survey is conducted with an otter trawl towed by a small boat.

By all accounts the bays have come alive. Harvey Bennett is the owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett and has been known to exaggerate a bit. On Tuesday he reported "10 thousand billion tons of bluefish" schooling within casting distance of Sammy's Beach. The blues were in the four-to-six-pound range. He said that Charles Bloom of East Hampton had a ball catching the bluefish on a fly rod.

Perhaps revealing some of his real colors, Mr. Bennett added, "I love it. The blues were just big enough to break tackle," which, of course, he is in the business of selling. Small bass are reported to be very catchable off Barnes Landing, too.

Mr. Bennett said he also suspected that an ocean run of shad was ongoing. As evidence he said he had observed an osprey on its roost eating "a pearl-white-and-silver fish about a foot long with a forked tail" near the Multi-Aquaculture company at Promised Land. He theorized that the bird had returned from a hunting expedition to the ocean. Striped bass love shad.

Vinnie Sobral of Freddie's Tackle shop in Montauk reported consistent catches by surfcasters "on all town beaches. Striped bass, bluefish, and weakfish." A 41-inch weakfish was said to have been caught near the Shelter Island Ferry slip on North Haven.

The Yanks won the Yanks vs. Brits shark tournament that was held at the Montauk Yacht Club over the weekend. It was apparently the first-ever contest between top anglers from here and Great Britain.

According to Steve Sloan, the U.S. team captain, the catch-and-release contest came right down to the wire. The difference was two fish, he said. Points were awarded - 250 for a blue shark caught on 50-pound test line, 350 for makos, 450 for threshers. An extra 100 points were given to those catching the same species on 30-pound test. Anglers were given 100 points for hooking a shark, even if it was lost in the fight.

On one day of the tournament, anglers were permitted to catch inshore species.

The Montauk Marine Basin's annual shark tournament got under way this morning and will run through Saturday. Boats will return in the late afternoon each day.