As we get older, visits to various doctors become more frequent. It’s a simple fact of life really. And the past week was no exception for me.

Adding it up takes a bit of time. All told, I visited my cardiologist four times, which included two trips to the hospital for bloodwork and observations and tests on my heart and main arteries, including undergoing a nuclear stress test, echocardiogram, and a scan to see if my carotid arteries were clogged in my neck. A stop to my primary physician was also on the agenda, and I also paid a visit my ever-smiling dentist for a chance to sit in his chair. 

All in all, everything turned out fine and I was given a clean bill of health and full clearance to continue to play ice hockey and tennis to my heart’s content, even though I have six plastic and metal stents lining several arteries in my ticker. 

I don’t feel old, or at least I’m in denial as I advance in years. Being in my mid-50s, I do finally realize that there are a few things I should probably not do. 

Lifting 15 heavy lobster traps from deep water in 95-degree heat? Not a wise idea. Waxing and painting the bottom of my boat? Not anymore. Let the guys at my marina handle that chore. Repeatedly hauling by hand six iron scallop dredges in early winter in search of dinner? Find someone to help lift them up. Playing three straight hours of tennis while battling chronic tendinitis (as I did last Thursday)? Not my brightest moment. In short, I need to utilize basic common sense more. I’m not 21 anymore.  

It’s the same when it comes to fishing. Gone are the days of pushing my body to go out on the water when it’s blowing 25 knots out of the northwest. I don’t need a fish that bad. Plus, the wear and tear on the body fishing in those conditions is just not fun. I need to appreciate that I have the luxury of time and the flexibility to plan my trips according to the weather conditions.  

And now that I’m finally done with all of my various doctors’ appointments, it’s reassuring to know that my body, especially my heart, is ready to have more fun, no matter the sport being pursued.

No doubt about it, heart rates have climbed significantly for the many surfcasters lining the ocean beaches to take advantage of the ample run of striped bass now underway.

“The striped bass bite has really turned on,” said Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor. “Fish up to 30 pounds are feasting on large sand eels, so fish a skinny lure like a diamond jig or similar lure. The fish are spread out along all the beaches and are biting best in the morning and evening, as well as at night.” Morse was also enthused about the false albacore bite that continues in Gardiner’s Bay and on the east side of Gardiner’s Island. “The fish are still thick.” A member of the tuna family, the feisty false albacore provides heart-stopping action on light tackle.  

Morse also received some very positive early season blackfish reports. “The fishing has been really good in and around Plum Island with fish up to 19 inches making up the bulk of the catch.” Morse confirmed a catch of nine keeper-size blackfish landed by an angler fishing from a kayak near Sag Harbor. “He was using a blackfish jig and whaled on them,” he added. “He released them all to fight another day too. Nice job.” Note that anglers are allowed to retain four blackfish over 16 inches per day. If you are fishing in Long Island Sound, the limit is three fish. 

“Striped bass are just about everywhere along the ocean beaches, and some big ones up to almost 50 pounds have been landed,” exclaimed Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett. “And they are not just in one area. They are pretty much spread out from Bridgehampton all the way east to near Montauk.  There is also a lot of shad mixed in, too.” 

Bennett confirmed that the false albacore action remains strong on the bay side, as the fish continue to feed heavily on the large number of baitfish exiting the local waters. “The past three weeks have been excellent for albies,” he said. “It should continue for a few more weeks.” Bennett added that sea bass and porgy fishing are still strong off Montauk. “This is such a great time of the year for fishing,” he said. “Between the fishing and the hunting, it’s a perfect combination with the cool weather.”

Bennett also announced that the Amagansett Sportfishing Association will run a fall fishing tournament for the largest striped bass landed, as well as entry into a raffle. The winner will receive a 10-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stick rod and matching reel. The entry fee is $20 and all proceeds will go to underprivileged youth in the Dominican Republic, as Bennett continues his quest to collect used baseball equipment and school supplies. More details can be had by stopping by his shop. 

Over at Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton, the owner, Sebastian Gorgone, also acknowledged the excellent striped bass action taking place close to shore. “Seems like we have the start of a good fall run of bass,” said Gorgone. “Lots of nice-sized fish being taken, so get out there while it’s hot.” Gorgone added that the fishing for false albacore remains strong, and that blackfish action should continue to strengthen with the cooling waters. “It was a good start to the season, but it will only get better.”

Out in the rips off the Montauk Lighthouse, the fares aboard the open boat Lazybones have enjoyed excellent action on striped bass and a multitude of other species. “The action has been non-stop,” said Kathy Vegessi, the seasoned, shoreside support arm of the boat for nearly four decades. “There has been a good amount of bass, but we’ve also landed bluefish, false albacore, bonito, sea bass, and porgies. It’s been a great time.”    

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.

Fall rolls on. It appears to be more like past autumns in the new millennium, except the fall of 2017, when the leaves stayed on the trees until December and forsythia, which normally blooms only in the spring, bloomed in the last half of November.

It has been a so-so year for wildflowers. Milkweeds were one of the few of our common wild herbs that bloomed well but went to seed exceedingly fast. If it weren’t for these sappy plants, how would monarch butterflies fare locally? Not well at all. They did better than last year, and last year was better than the year before.

Fall is when monarchs have finished up for the season and have begun to migrate south, some 2,000 miles or more, all the way to their favorite overwintering spot in the conifers not too far from Mexico City. Many of those conifers have been cut down in this century and so there is less space for the monarchs than in the last century. Nevertheless, despite having drastically reduced numbers in this century, they are hanging on and may even be increasing in numbers slightly with each new year.

Most of the monarchs that breed here, as well as the ones that fly south across Long Island Sound, continue their journey steering west along the beaches and dunes that make up the our Atlantic Coast. Their numbers increase as they pile up in the Rockaways and Staten Island before heading south. A week ago, Lois Markle, who lives in Hither Woods in Montauk, walked down to the shore and watched as one monarch after another passed by from east to west as they began to traverse the Napeague isthmus. They were all migrating.

Our adult monarchs normally live only a few months after emerging from their cocoons. However, this last batch of the year lives much longer; they have to make it down the coast and ultimately into Mexico where they settle down for the winter clinging to the branches of pines and other conifers. The glycoside poisons from milkweeds and dogbanes that they accumulated as larvae protect them from most would-be predators. However, they also need nutrition.

If they didn’t drink nectar on flowers along the way, they would run out of steam and never make it. So they need late-flowering plants to feed on, and these are mostly flowers of the sunflower family, particularly asters and goldenrods, particularly the seaside goldenrods, Solidago sempervirens. As their scientific name implies, they seem to be the most faithful with respect to flowering each year, and they are the last to flower. Thus, they provide sustenance all the way to the end of October.

If you took a walk along the Atlantic Coast from Montauk Point to Brooklyn at this time, you would see thousands upon thousands of seaside goldenrods in bloom and luckily so. The other goldenrods, including a few species that bloom in July, such as the early goldenrods, Solidago juncea, in my yards, didn’t get much rain and performed poorly this summer. The asters have performed even worse.

Thank God, however, the seaside goldenrods have bloomed marvelously, if a little late, and the monarchs migrating along our shores will have plenty to eat. During daylight hours, if you go to the ocean beaches on either side of the Shinnecock Canal, you will see monarchs flying along and stopping to drink nectar now and then. If you go farther west, say to the Fire Island National Seashore, you will see even more monarchs. Travel to New Jersey and you may see clouds of monarchs, especially at the state’s southernmost terminus, Cape May, where you just might find that there are too many to count. Get the picture?

Now for the question of the day: Which came first, the seaside goldenrod or the monarchs? Let me know if you find out.

Larry Penny can be reached via email at [email protected].

On Friday morning I had to make a trip to Riverhead and the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new driver’s license. Not only was it set to expire shortly, but the picture of me on the front was at least 25 years old. Looking at the card, I saw I had no wrinkles on my face and that I actually had a pretty full head of hair that extended just below my ears. I was not exactly a hippie, mind you, but I did look young. Needless to say, the photograph does not resemble the me of today.

I was not looking forward to this trip at all. Does anyone wake up with a smile and an extra bounce in his step knowing that he will likely spend a few hours at the D.M.V.? I didn’t think so.

Nearing the dreaded facility, which is housed in a small, nondescript shopping strip on Old Country Road, I drove past Edward’s Sporting Goods, a store that has been in business under the same family since 1954 selling a wide assortment of wares, including fishing tackle, outerwear, guns and ammunition for hunters, as well as just about any kind of sports and athletic gear. A distressing sign was taped to the front glass door of the well-worn building announcing that a sale was underway as the shop was closing its doors for good. 

While I was not a frequent customer of the establishment, I admired that it had the stamina to remain in business for over half a century, a great accomplishment by any standard. I was saddened to see another mom-and-pop store close. No doubt, big box stores and the internet have had a huge influence on how we shop today. Stores of the Edward’s ilk are increasingly rare.

The upcoming closure also reminded me of all the boat liveries and bait and tackle shops that have also shut down and faded away from the shorefront. It has been sad to see. Only about 30 years ago, there were nearly 20 such businesses in and around Moriches Bay. Today, only two remain.

Closer to the East End, it’s a similar story. Gone are the likes of Altenkirch’s Tackle Shop, which was a fixture for decades along the Shinnecock Canal. Sag Harbor for years had two liveries — Bayview and Remkus — that offered skiffs for rent. Others were located in Southampton, Northwest Harbor, Shelter Island, Three Mile Harbor, and Noyac Bay. The North Fork, too, had over a dozen such businesses catering to fishermen and their families at its high point, including the Port of Egypt fishing station in Southold, which offered more than 50 boats for let. 

The long-gone Promised Land fishing station on Napeague was the legendary launch pad for those who pursued large winter flounder (recalled fondly as snowshoes due to their large size) in nearby Tobaccolot and Gardiner’s Bay. Some weekend days saw well over 100 boats plying those locales. Catches were beyond plentiful. But that’s all in the past.

“My best friend’s parents owned the Promised Land station and it was a great place to hang out as a kid,” recalled Harvey Bennett, the longtime owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett, one of the few tackle and bait stores that remain. “There were all kinds of fish around back in those days, but the flounder fishing was epic. We thought it would never end. But I doubt anyone has even tried for snowshoe flounder in well over 15 years.”

The fishery, like the businesses that were built around it, is long gone.

For the most part, I disagree with the old proverb that the more things change the more they stay the same. Stores like Edward’s are a dying breed and are not likely to be replaced. Things do change. And not always for the better.

Unfortunately, I also suspect that the long lines at the D.M.V. will never get shorter.

This past weekend saw a long line of boats parade out of Montauk Harbor in pursuit of false albacore, which remain plentiful in many areas, including Block Island Sound, Gardiner’s Bay, and near Montauk Point. Boaters also took advantage of the excellent run of striped bass taking place in the various rips off the lighthouse.

“Fishing for albies has been excellent of late,” said Bennett. “And casters are also getting them good off the Montauk Harbor jetties.” Bennett added that striped bass showed up in large numbers in the ocean wash from East Hampton to Amagansett over the weekend, while blowfish remain plentiful in Three Mile Harbor. “Get the blowfish while you can,” he said. “They will be pushing out soon.”

Interested in fishing or hunting fowl with Bennett on his boat? The licensed guide and captain has resumed his fall charter business chasing either prey. “Now is the time to get on the water,” he said. “Some great hunting going on, too.” No doubt Bennett will have his arsenal of old-time Bonac stories and tales at the ready if the action slows down. 

Capt. Mark Ryckman of the party boat Montauk Star reports that the mixed-bag action for porgies, sea bass, and codfish has been solid near Block Island, following the closure of the fluke season on Sept. 30. “Fishing has been really good,” he said. “Lots of nice sea bass around if you can get away from the giant-sized porgies. And there are a few cod mixed in.” The all-day boat departs at 5 a.m. from the Star Island Yacht Club.

The day before the fluke season ended, Mike Rivera, fishing on the Montauk Star, reeled in a monster 15.5-pound, 34-inch fluke. “We believe it was the largest brought into the harbor and all of Long Island this 2018 fluke season,” Captain Ryckman wrote.

“Not many boat reports, but if you want to catch false albacore, they are all over the place,” said Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor. “And there has been some good action on stripers near Indian Wells in Amagansett.”

Morse added that anglers are getting ready for the start of the fall blackfish season. The fishery opens today in Long Island Sound, and commences on Monday in the remainder of New York.

“I sold a lot of green crabs this weekend, so people are getting ready for them,” Morse said of popular bait that is a favorite of the toothy fish. “The waters are very warm, so people should fish shallow water if they want to score.”

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.

There is a raging battle going on throughout Long Island’s two non-city counties, Nassau and Suffolk. It splits the inhabitants into two camps, environmentalists and pro-developers. 

One day’s reading of Newsday or watching News 12 highlights that battle. Two of the hottest spots of contention in Nassau are the Hub, that area surrounding the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, and the Garvies Point development project in Glen Cove. In Suffolk County, people are worked up about the Heartland Town Square project at the former Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, the Hub development in the area surrounding the Ronkonkoma train station, the Huntington Station redevelopment, the Hills, a luxury development in East Quogue, and many more. 

Most of these highly contested developments not only have hundreds of domiciles — condos, work-force units, and modest-income apartments — but extensive commercial areas, as well. The so-called second and third railroad lines out to Ronkonkoma are halfway through installation. They will feed central Suffolk the way the umbilical tube feeds the fetus until birth.

Some of you may remember the plan to build a super highway along the Ronkonkoma moraine between central Southampton Town and East Hampton Town out to the beginning of Napeague. In fact, there were two plans championed by the New York State governor at that time. Both were met with formidable opposition, Halt the Highway One and Halt the Highway Two. The land through which this multi-lane highway would travel has since been put into preservation or developed.

It’s bad enough now, but if you have driven in Nassau County or western Suffolk during the daytime recently you would get an idea of what it would be like if during the non-winter months on the South Fork you had two major thoroughfares connecting Montauk with Hampton Bays — two times as much traffic.

It is not just traffic increases that environmentalists here are concerned about, it’s the amount of potable water that is available, the already contaminated underground water that feeds the surface waters, the noise, the lights, the air befouled with ozone and carbon dioxide. New York State and the counties keep publishing plans to accommodate this increased development. In the case of the 1,000-plus unit Heartland development and commercial center, the septic waste and other water uses generated by such a development would generate some 450,000 gallons of wastewater each day. The developers say they plan to take care of that problem and connect Heartland to the Southwest Sewer District. In fact, the Suffolk County Legislature, the ultimate controller of septic flow, is slated to take up that very topic in the near future.

But don’t be blind to what’s happening on the South Fork, the groundwater supply for which is threatened with wide-scale contamination. Different consulting companies as well as town planners are too often quick to say we can minimize any would-be deleterious impacts of development by the use of new septic systems. Of course these will cut down the amount of nitrogenous wastes entering the groundwater, then the ponds and tidal creeks, but the groundwater is already contaminated with a bunch of chemicals that, taken together, are harmful.

On the South Fork, we don’t have the luxury of a third, deeper aquifer that central Suffolk has to draw from in the future. We only have two underground freshwater layers, the upper glacial and the magothy, below it.

And much of those two are already sullied, as we see now in the hamlet of Wainscott.

Recently, the Sand Land sand and gravel pit on Middle Line Highway just east of Millstone Road in Noyac has been heavily scrutinized by the Suffolk County Health Department, which found elevated levels of a number of chemical contaminants. That facility has been ordered to cease mining operations, but if it weren’t for the Noyac Civic Council, a group of unpaid concerned citizens, that facility would probably still be ablaze with activity.

In East Hampton Town, the Wainscott sand and gravel pit a few hundred feet north of Georgica Pond on the north side of Montauk Highway used to have a pond in its center, at times as large as 10 acres or more. On the 2010 Suffolk County Tax Map for East Hampton, the page for the sandpit parcels shows an outline of that pond, which no longer exists. The Wainscott hamlet study to be aired this evening by the town’s consultant has suggested some ways to develop that formidable piece of property in the immediate watershed of Georgica Pond. It would seem to me that first the property has to be examined in detail just as the Noyac sandpit has been recently.

Since the New York State Departtment of Environmental Conservation has exclusive jurisdiction over such sand and gravel mines, it has to step up as well, as it did begrudgingly in the Noyac sandpit matter. In a recent conversation with Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., he agreed that towns have to have a bigger say in managing sandpits within their jurisdiction and said that there is a movement afoot in the Legislature to make that happen.

If the majority of Wainscott homeowners, having recently discovered fire-retardant pollutants in their well water and now hooking up to Suffolk County Water Authority water, had their say, it is my belief that they would almost unanimously opt for an open space preservation, nondevelopment solution.

Larry Penny can be reached via email at [email protected].

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear. After a week of rain and wind, the sight of the sun was a welcome relief. It was a glorious morning to take in the chill of the early fall season and do a local fishing trip. 

It had been too long since I last dropped a line into the water to catch some dinner. In fact, it was mid-August when I went on an offshore trip for codfish. Many dinners were secured and since appreciated.

The six weeks since my last fishing exploits had flown by.  

On Saturday, it was time to untie the dock lines and head westward for a 20-minute cruise to Jessup’s Neck to sling a four-ounce diamond jig for some bluefish. 

Bluefish get a bit of a bad rap. I don’t get it. Small blues, when promptly bled and iced down, make excellent table fare. Oily fleshed, they are also particularly well suited for smoking. Even large-size blues are just fine when prepared this way. One of my fishing partners is an expert when it comes to this, and I’m more than happy to provide him with some fillets for his smoker, no matter the size.

That morning, the only thing noticeable on the flat, calm surface of the water were the wakes from the two South Ferry boats crossing in opposite directions between North Haven and Shelter Island. The murky, brown water of summer had been replaced by water that was now gin-clear in Shelter Island Sound. It was nice to see.

Nearing buoy 17, at the northern tip of Jessup’s, I noticed a rip line. But the tide was still ebbing strongly out of Little Peconic Bay and the blues, for whatever reason, have only fed on the incoming tide this season. My timing was poor.

A small center console boat was nearby on the drift, but was focused on porgies. The two anglers were doing well on the large, silver-sided fish. 

“Good fishing,” one of them shouted over to me,” as he reeled in another fish. “We only got here 30 minutes ago and we have picked up a dozen.” Alas, I neglected to take along any clams or squid, so porgies were off the menu. It was blues or bust.

Not surprisingly, the screen of my fish finder did not pick up any recordings of my intended prey. Not a good sign. And after two hours of repeated drifts, I had only picked up two sea robins and a snagged porgy. Not willing to wait for the turn of the tide, I decided to call it a day, as did the anglers on the center console, who had dinner in hand. Still, it was a special morning to be finally out on the water.

I will make another trip next week for some blues. But I will make certain to read my tide chart more carefully before heading out. And I’ll take some bait, too.

As far as other fish are concerned, “The false albacore are everywhere,” remarked Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton. Gorgone said that the fast-swimming fish can be caught on flies or light tackle, with the ever-popular Deadly Dick tin being particularly successful.

“Snappers and porgies are also around,” he added. “And striped bass are being taken from the ocean beaches.”

Capt. Paul Dixon, a light-tackle guide of To the Point Charters, concurs with Gorgone on the excellent run of false albacore. “The albie action has been really good,” he said. However, the veteran captain warned that it’s best to fish during the weekdays to avoid the crowd of boats chasing the fish on Saturday and Sunday. 

Harvey Bennett of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett also noted the abundance of false albacore. “Gardiner’s Bay is full of them and there are plenty off of Montauk, too.” Bennett was also enthused by an uptick in the action for striped bass of late. “Bass were biting well a bit east of Gurney’s with a number of fish over 33 inches taken in recent days.” Bennett said the porgy fishing remains top-notch and that snappers remain in good supply at just about any dock or bulkhead.

In his continuing quest to secure new and used baseball equipment for underprivileged children in the Dominican Republic, Bennett has widened his search to include school and art supplies, as well as shoes and shirts. “There is truly a shortage of basic supplies down there,” he said. “The education system is not well funded and items that we take for granted here are desperately needed there.” Donations can be dropped off at his shop on Montauk Highway.

Out at Montauk, Paul Apostolides of Paulie’s Tackle Shop was also encouraged by the strong showing of false albacore. “The jetties at the entrance to Montauk Harbor has been a hot spot of late,” he said. As per striped bass, Apostolides said the action has been a bit picky, but he hopes for a strong fall run. “The waters are warm and there is plenty of bait around, so we shall see.” 

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.

It’s been almost two months since I last filled my boat up with diesel fuel. I hold about 85 gallons in each of two tanks below deck, and given the high price of fuel this year, I’ve consciously slowed down my cruising speed when heading out for a day of fishing or lobstering. The other day, I finally filled up with 131 gallons, and at $4.30 a gallon, my wallet is significantly lighter.

My Nova Scotia-built craft is bulky and heavy, and is powered by a 370-horsepower Yanmar engine. It’s no high-powered speedboat. It’s a commercial craft — practical, not fancy — designed to tackle deep ocean swells and lug lobster traps. It has a head, but I have not used it in years. 

In the past, I would normally cruise at about 15 knots. But I’ve noticed I burn much less fuel when I throttle down to 13 knots. A two-knot difference does not sound like much, but my rudimentary math skills have shown that I’m burning about 15 percent less fuel. Given that it now probably takes about five minutes more to reach my favorite fishing ground, I think it’s a pretty good trade-off.

My cousin Paul out in Indianapolis has a totally different viewpoint on this matter. He is a speed demon and a genius with engines. He also wants to come for a visit to make my boat faster. Much faster. 

Let me explain.

You see, my cousin was involved with professional Indy car racing for over four decades, starting as a mechanic before forming his own team and racecars under his initials, PDM Racing. 

He lives only a few miles from the famed Indianapolis Speedway where the Indy 500 race is held every Memorial Day weekend. Paul has worked directly with famous drivers of the likes of Tom Sneva, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Rahal, Tony Bettenhausen, Sam Hornish, and many other giants of the sport. He even held his wedding reception in the Pennzoil suite at the Indy Speedway. We’re talking hard core here.

No doubt about it, Paul lives and breathes the lure and appeal of a highly engineered machine that travels over 230 miles an hour on an oval course. He is the original rocket man.

I’m not sure about his plans for my boat though. Sure, I’d love to go at a higher speed. But at what cost? And just how fast are we talking here?

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have no aptitude for anything mechanical or technical. None. On my best day, I may be lucky enough to change a busted windshield wiper on my car. It’s really embarrassing, but I freely acknowledge my shortcomings. For obvious reasons, some of my best friends are mechanics.

My cousin plans to visit in a couple of weeks. In a few email exchanges, he was serious and convinced that he could get my boat to Indy-car speed. I’m a bit concerned.

“Your boat goes too slow,” he recently wrote, without ever having stepped foot on it. “We can get it to go so much faster. Don’t forget, speed is your friend.” Speed is your friend? Try explaining that to a stern-faced New York State trooper the next time you get pulled over.

I have a hard time seeing a Saturn V rocket booster secured to the top of my main cabin, but I’ll listen to what he may suggest. Perhaps he’ll bring along Mario Andretti, who, by the way, did a fair amount of racing at the old track in Bridgehampton, where my cousin hung out a lot. Frankly, buying a new boat could be the easy answer in my view. But I doubt he’d go for that.

In the meantime, I will continue to chug along at lawn tractor speed. I’m afraid my days of speed are behind me. I long ago lost the hair that I might feel the wind blow through. And I’m not certain I’m ready to install seatbelts and wear goggles and a helmet when I go on my boat.

However, I really look forward to my cousin’s visit, and I do hope he follows the speed limit when he drives out here.

Speaking of fast, the explosive-swimming false albacore have finally arrived in large schools off Montauk and other locales to the delight, and relief, of many anglers.

“They showed up in big numbers late last week and the action has been great,” said Capt. David Blinken of North Flats Guiding out of East Hampton. “It should continue for a while as there is a lot of bait around.”

The old salt Harvey Bennett, owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett, agrees. “The fall run is on,” he exclaimed. “False albacore are just about everywhere you look and there are lots of striped bass in the 24-to-26-inch range showing up in the ocean wash with a few bluefish. Some keeper bass are around and the action should get even better. And don’t forget that porgies are still thick and big in the bays, and blowfish and snappers can still be had, too.”

Bennett, who is also an avid Indy racecar fan, is in agreement with my cousin that fast is better than slow when you own a boat. “Listen to your cousin,” Bennett said. “He knows what he’s talking about.” 

“Albies, albies, and albies,” repeated Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle Shop in East Hampton, about the schools of the fish that showed up in local waters and around Montauk Point. “They’ve come on thick and it’s great to see.” Gorgone was equally enthused about striped bass on the sandy ocean beaches. “A decent number of keepers are being landed.” 

For those fluke fanatics out there, Sunday will be your last lick to retain the tasty flatfish, as the recreational season comes to an end.

“We haven’t had the best of conditions in September, but there were some nice big fish taken,” said Kathy Vegessi, the shoreside support mate of the open boat Lazybones out of Montauk. As proof, Vegessi showed her expertise last week when she landed an eight-pound fish. The apple did not fall far from the tree as her daughter, Rebecca, reeled in a similar size flattie on the same trip. Fluke will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the Vegessi women have stowed their rods away until next year following the upcoming closure.

On Monday, the Bones will commence its twice-daily trips diamond jigging for stripers and blues at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. The Bruno-hulled boat does a steady 12 knots when under power. My kind of speed.

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.

The autumnal equinox has come and gone, just like that! Prepare for early evenings and late mornings. The birds were hip to equinoxes before the modern humans. Their intellects don’t obfuscate their primary objective. They are already on their way south. The winter birds — white-throated sparrows, juncos, and the like — may be here in a few days. I have yet to see one. Some flocks of Canada geese from the north have already left us, and the sea ducks, loons, and grebes have yet to show up. At least they haven’t yet come to my neighborhood at the edge of Noyac Bay.

We still see an osprey or two flying around. All of the young have fledged, and a few made practice nests, it seems, on utility poles before leaving. The cormorants at the end of the fish trap on Long Beach are still hanging out. They don’t seem to be feeding, but maybe there are so many fish in the water that they finish feeding early, then perch and socialize for the rest of the day while digesting their fill.

By all reports there have been a lot of fish in the bays this year. As in the last couple of years, bunkers are especially prevalent. So far, no big fish kills have taken place as they have in Long Island bays during the last several years. Cross your fingers. Terry Sullivan has been checking out the local waters several days a week as he does every year, year round. 

For the past three weeks he has been watching a mass of menhaden, also peanut bunkers, in Otter Pond in Sag Harbor. If you drive by, you are liable to spot two great egrets and a great blue heron standing straight up on the northern shore within inches of one another. And there is usually a cormorant or two. If you stop and look closely, you may witness what Terry has been observing these days: killer mallards. 

Who would imagine that the mostly herbivorous mallards would stoop to eating baby menhaden? But that seems to be the case in Otter Pond. Yes, there are sea ducks, scoters, eiders and the like, and loons, that regularly feed on small fish when available, but mallards? It just goes to show that in nature very little goes to waste. It’s not the birds and other vertebrates that are causing the Pacific Ocean’s “plastic gyre” that is said to be as big as the State of Texas. 

Fortunately, the bunkers swarming in Otter Pond have yet to draw down the oxygen to dangerous levels. 

This is also the season when the salamanders, toads, frogs, and other hibernating amphibians begin to hole up. The arboreal spring peepers that have been with us helping to keep the mosquito population in check since April will also be hibernating shortly. If you go into the wild areas with ponds that they frequent, you will often hear them uttering weak peeps. I wonder if they are signaling that it’s time to go under so that the other lollygagging peepers will take notice.

Those beautiful wood warblers that sparkle when they arrive in May from the South, have dropped their brightly colored feathers for duller ones. The males no longer have to impress the females and come to look more like them in the nonbreeding season. The only singing bird that I occasionally hear in my environs these days is the Carolina wren. For some unknown reason, the males of this species will from time to time utter their repetitious phrases even in the dead of winter.

Whether it is a fluke or attributable to global warming, this was the most difficult summer heat and humidity-wise that I have experienced in my 82 years. I am actually happy to see it go, and look forward to the blooming of the fall asters and goldenrods, the gaily colored leaves still clinging to the hardwood trees before they fall to the ground, and the flight of the monarchs as they flutter south.

Watch out for chiggers and ticks and drive carefully. The squirrels and chipmunks are busy crossing streets looking for acorns to stock their winter larders.

Larry Penny can be reached via email at [email protected].

It’s not a national holiday, but Tumbleweed Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, passed by us a few weeks ago. 

I’m sure many locals here celebrated. The crowds of summer are gone. Most significant is that the best time of the year in our towns and waterways is now upon us. The calm is readily apparent and much appreciated.

Foremost, to my mind, the simple chore of securing a parking spot is now easier when running into town to pick up the morning paper and the obligatory cup of hot coffee. While the internet is handy and quick, I still want to catch up on current events with a hard copy of the daily paper firmly in my grasp. Old habits die hard.

Newsprint is special. Every morning provides me with an opportunity to take in its unique and distinctive smell and appreciate the still-solidifying ink born from the large printing press upon which it was produced a few hours earlier. Black ink smudges my hands as I peruse the paper, habitually licking a finger to help turn each page for the latest news or score. This ritual is comforting in so many ways. A laptop offers none of this.

I’m old school and I don’t think that’s ever going to significantly change. Bob Dylan may have said that the times they are a-changing, but in so many ways, not for me. Sorry Bob.

The other day, on a warm, late summer afternoon, I strolled down to Long Beach on Noyac Bay to take in the elongated slant of the setting sun over the pristine surroundings of Jessup’s Neck, located about a mile to the west. Comprising nearly 200 acres, Jessup’s is a pristine nature preserve.

A gentle breath of the last gasp of a northwest wind touched my face. It felt refreshing and was therapeutic in so many ways. Looking skyward, it was a time to exhale and enjoy the peaceful surroundings around me.

The bay was still warm for swimming and I waded into the crystal-clear water beyond my knees as I have done for over 50 years. In a matter of seconds, several small blowfish, born probably less than two months ago, nibbled on my toes, as hermit crabs scurried about. It took me to my youth and the wonderful memories of similar times on that very same beach.

Farther out, groups of baby spearing sprayed about and broke the surface of the placid water, probably chased by marauding snappers, also known as bluefish. Schools of mullet and kingfish darted in and out from the shoreline behind me, while a solid pack of menhaden could be seen gently swimming to the east, leaving behind an oily slick in their wake. The waters were alive with the young of the year.

About 100 feet down the beach I noticed a young couple and their two children entering the water with a small minnow net. There were squeals of delight from the kids on their first pull of the 10-foot net. It was a bountiful catch and consisted of a number of recently hatched fish, including kingfish, sea robins, fluke, porgy, weakfish, and even a lizardfish, the first time I’ve ever seen one. Nursery school was in session.

Quickly throwing the catch back into the water, the kids did a few more pulls of the net before their parents signaled that dinner awaited them back at home. Grabbing their flip-flops after rolling up the net, they smiled and waved goodbye. The joy on their faces melted with the slowly setting sun.

Simple times for the simple days of late summer. It never gets old. And I’m glad it has not changed.

“Fishing for big kingfish and porgies remains hot in Three Mile Harbor,” said a jubilant Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton. “Great late-summer action. Just drop a chum pot over and you will catch your dinner real quick.” Gorgone noted that bunker schools were also thick in Gardiner’s Bay, with some bluefish chasing them. In addition, sea bass fishing remains strong east of Gardiner’s in deeper water.

“The waters are still very warm and there is a lot of bait around, so I think we’ll have good fishing for the next few months,” he said of the 72-degree water near the private island. 

Capt. Rob Aaronson of the charter boat Oh Brother! out of Montauk agrees with Gorgone. “The fall is shaping up to be great with tons of bait in the area to keep the fishing steady,” he said. The veteran skipper reports that striped bass and jumbo-size sea bass and porgie have made up the majority of his charters’ recent hauls. “Some fluke are mixed in, too,” he added. Note that the recreational fluke season comes to an end on Sept. 30.

Capt. David Blinken, a seasoned, light-tackle and fly-fishing guide of North Flats Guiding out of East Hampton, who is back on board his craft after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon back in late spring, has also been enthused by the recent activity.

“There is an amazing amount of bait, largely sand eels, off of Montauk and an incredible amount of whales are feasting on them,” he said on Monday. “Lots of striped bass are hanging around the whales, too.” Blinken warned that while witnessing whales on the feed is a special moment, boaters need to keep a safe distance from the large mammals.

“You don’t want to be on a boat in a school of feeding whales when one surfaces at 20 miles an hour,” he said while recalling a recent YouTube video of a New Jersey center console boat being capsized by a finback whale chasing prey. “Folks need to be much smarter and give whales a wide berth. It’s the law, too.”

Back on the fishing scene, Blinken said that bass and blues can be found in good numbers, but the full onslaught of false albacore has yet to develop. “There are a few albies scattered just about everywhere, but no real concentration of them yet,” he added. “That should change soon.”

That old salt Harvey Bennett, the longtime owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett, said that fishing is on the upswing in the quadrant of which he has served for nearly 40 years.

“Great fishing going on so many fronts,” he said with a straight face before showing a nod of concern and frustration over how his beloved Oakland Raiders lost to the Denver Broncos on a last-second field goal on Sunday afternoon.

“I love the Raiders, and that loss hurt,” he said in a soft voice. “I will need a few days to recuperate.”

Gathering himself, Bennett said that porgies and kingfish abound and that more false albacore have shown their faces in greater frequency after the recent ocean heave.

“Albie action has been on the upswing,” he said. “And there are tons of snappers around as well.”

Surfcasters took some time off from the effects of Hurricane Florence and its resulting heavy swells, before it made landfall on the Southeast coast last week. But those who ply the frothy ocean suds have their game face on in the calming seas as the Montauk Surf Fishing Classic takes place starting tomorrow. 

The event ends at noon on Sunday, and the popular tourney features cash and tackle prizes for the three largest striped bass, bluefish, and released striped bass. The entry fee is $15 and applications can be picked up at Paulie’s Tackle Shop, as well as at the New York State Parks headquarters in Montauk. 

You have to be in it to win it, as they say. That tried and true saying will never change either.

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.

September is not only back-to-school month, it is also the end-of-harvest month and fish-after-fish month. It is the time of the great migration: birds, fish, whales, and even butterflies and darning needles are winging it south. If you’re a sportfisherman, you are out for stripers as they round Montauk Point. If you make a living catching fish and shellfish, you are raking clams, setting gill nets and purse seines, and tending to your fish traps.

Pound nets, a particular type of fish trap, consisting of hardwood poles, a leader net strung perpendicular to the shore on those poles, with a pound trap at the very end, farthest from shore, have been used in these parts for hundreds of years now. Fish hit the leader net as they swim along and it leads to the pound. Once they swim in, they can’t swim out. It’s one way of making a living and providing fresh fish to the community. To be a successful pound net fisherman, you just have to faithfully tend to your traps on a daily basis and get your catch to market while it’s still fresh.

Fish traps come in a variety of forms, some made of rocks, some of vegetative stalks and branches, and some composed of nets and stakes. Some have been traced back to well before Christ by carbon-dating pieces of wood that were used in their construction. In this country, native peoples along most coasts and most rivers relied on fish traps for most of their protein. European settlers in East Hampton learned from the Shinnecocks, Montauketts, and Corchaugs, who made pound traps with stakes and meshes of vegetation stuck in the sands of tidal creeks and shallow bays.

Once a pound trap in a particular area is found to be productive, it might be installed at that very spot on an annual basis for more than 50 years running. On the North Fork many fish traps in the Peconics, especially those east of Greenport, were often erected and maintained by potato farmers. Indeed, the famous self-taught Long Island naturalist and archaeologist, Roy Latham, maintained one or more with his brother, a potato farmer, off Orient and East Marion.

On old United States Coast Survey maps covering the Peconic Estuary, one can see short “lines” running perpendicular to the shore out into the water for 100 or more feet. These lines represented pound traps. A few current-day traps are found in almost the same spots, say off Gerard Drive on Gardiner’s Bay, off the tip off Barcelona in Northwest Harbor, in Fort Pond Bay off Montauk, and in Gardiner’s Bay near the mouth of Fresh Pond in Amagansett.

Fish traps not only provide fresh fish for people to consume, they are great perching and roosting spots for a variety of water birds including cormorants, ospreys, terns, and gulls that also rely on a diet of fish. Just a week ago I stopped on the bay side of Long Beach Road in Noyac to count the number of birds perched on the nets and poles of a pound net there, in a spot where one has been established for at least a decade. There were 33 cormorants, adults and young, three common terns, and a black-backed gull. Two osprey young of the year were atop the nest on the utility pole at the foot of the trap taking in the scene while an adult osprey (a parent?) glided back and forth overhead. An idyllic scene, almost pastoral!

They had either fed or were waiting to feed, and remained quiet and motionless while I counted and photographed them. In another couple of weeks they would be heading south.

That peaceful seascape with its assemblage of water birds reminded me of others in my past. I thought how wonderful it must be for those who work the nets to see what they collected and experience the pleasure of working on the water, instead of sitting in a stuffy office or standing behind the counter at a big box store. These fishermen know something intimately that very few of us nonfishermen know. They are as close to the watery realm in spirit and occupation as the very birds that quietly line their traps.

Larry Penny can be reached via email at [email protected].

Even though the calendar says it’s September, last Thursday morning dawned hot and incredibly humid. Like many days this summer, it was downright tropical. Despite a 10-knot breeze out of the southwest, beads of sweat had formed on the back of my neck as I started up the diesel engine on my boat. The early morning sun was strong. It definitely felt more like the end of July. 

While cooler weather was scheduled to start on Friday, stronger winds out of the northeast were predicted for the next several days. The forecast necessitated retrieving my lobster traps for the season. The older I get, the less excited I am about rough seas.

My gear had been in the water since March and lobster management area 6, the section where I set my traps in the northeastern end of Long Island Sound, was set to close on Saturday and would not reopen until Nov. 26. Given the windy forecast, it was time to call it a season, haul the traps to dry land, and undertake some much-needed repairs.

Steering northeast toward the traps in the strong late-summer sunshine, I had time to reflect on the season on the one-hour run. With the sun off my starboard side, Gardiner’s Bay had a slight chop on it in the following sea. Passing the Finest Kind, a dragger on the tow out of Three Mile Harbor, I noticed my water temperature gauge claimed it was 75 degrees in the middle of the bay. Very warm.

Taking a quick glance at my logbook, I also saw that the water temperature was a brisk 42 degrees when I first put my traps in almost six months earlier. Needless to say, I yearned to relive those chilly days as I took a swig of the warm Gatorade from my supply bag. 

Throttling back on the engine as I neared my first trap, I saw that my now-faded and seaweed-encrusted orange buoys were the only ones still in the water. Others, mostly recreational folks, had already pulled out their traps. Noncommercial lobster permit holders can fish up to five traps per person for a nominal yearly $10 fee to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Each license holder can retain six lobsters per day. Given the high price of the tasty crustaceans in the retail market, it’s not a bad deal.

The first six traps I pulled up were blanks, with the exception of a few spider crabs and a female lobster bearing eggs, which was immediately released. Live long and prosper, I say. 

A few more eggers came up in the next few traps, and finally a few keepers. Lobster dinner was once again secured. The very last trap pulled contained two beautiful hard-shelled lobsters, a fitting way to end the season. It was now time to head back to port into the stiffening breeze.

All in all, the season was a good one. Due to commitments of work and travel on land, it had been nine years since I had been on the water to set out my traps. It felt really great, and it was also nice to be back on a regular diet of lobster.

As for the fishing scene, both commercial and recreational skippers were keeping a wary eye on several tropical disturbances that were churning in the suddenly active Atlantic basin. Building long-period swells have been hitting the ocean beaches for several days and have thrown a wrench in plans to pursue blue water gamefish far offshore, and to chase some species closer to the beach.

“Everyone is talking about hurricanes right now,” said Harvey Bennett, the veteran owner of the Tackle Shop in Amagansett. “Hey, it’s prime time for them. It’s nothing new. It happens every September.”

The 68-year-old Bennett has witnessed more than his fair share of hurricanes in his life. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a big one come to the East End,” he said. “All I know is don’t underestimate Mother Nature. She can pack a real mean punch. She means business.”

As for fishing, Bennett remarked that fishing for porgies and sea bass has been solid and that a nice slug of striped bass showed up underneath the Montauk Lighthouse when the easterly winds came up. He added that snappers, blowfish, and kingfish are also thick in many locations.

“Depending on how close a hurricane comes to us, it’s bound to mix up the fishing scene for better or worse, depending on the fish.” 

“If you chum, they will come,” said Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton, referring to adding scent, usually ground up clams or bunker, to the water to entice the abundant kingfish to a baited hook. They are being captured near Sammy’s Beach and other spots on the bayside. “I did some scuba diving the other day and smashed a few slipper shells, and immediately a dozen or so kingfish rushed in to eat the scraps. Some blowfish also showed up too.”

Gorgone also confirmed the run of striped bass at the Point, but hoped that after the passage of the rough weather, false albacore will finally appear on the scene.

“Everyone is waiting on the albies,” he said.

“Action has pretty much remained the same, but who knows what the weather will do to the fishing if we get a close call with any of the storms out there,” said Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor. “Due to the high surf, action will be minimal for a few days. But there are plenty of weakfish, porgies, and kingfish in the bays.”

We welcome your fishing tips, observations, and photographs at [email protected]. You can find the “On the Water” column on Twitter at @ehstarfishing.