With Memorial Day in the rear-view mirror, the summer season is now truly here. Please allow me to expand a bit.
Last Thursday morning, the drive to play in my daily game of tennis at the East Hampton Indoor Tennis club across the street from the airport was uneventful. The traffic on the Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter Memorial Bridge that spans the narrow waterway separating Sag Harbor and North Haven was quiet and rather benign. It took me less than a minute to cross the bridge on that crisp sunny day.
Twenty-four hours later, it was a completely different story as the line of cars wanting to gain entrance to Sag Harbor over the bridge stretched for about a mile on Route 114. It was game over. My commute to tennis, which usually takes a little over 15 minutes, took nearly 35. I was late for my match. We are talking about eight miles from point to point.
Personally, it felt like getting whacked in the forehead by a two-by-four. The dramatic increase in the population overnight was staggering. As a 63-year-old resident of North Haven, I think I’m a pretty good witness to the changes that have occurred out here. Some people now refer to Sag Harbor as “Sad” Harbor. And that’s unfortunate.
I remember in my youth of the 1960s the numerous vacant storefronts on Main Street. Many were boarded and shuttered up. Bars were open in the morning. Very few tourists ventured here. It was a totally different world.
Yes, nothing stays the same. I’m grateful that we still embrace our local hardware store and Schiavoni’s Market, a fixture that has been in the same family since 1932. Romany Kramoris has run her gallery for a bit over half a century. We also still have the Wharf Shop that Nada Barry and her daughter Gwen Waddington have so lovingly run for over 50 years, as well as the Sag Harbor Variety Store. It’s still known locally as “the five-and-dime.” Very few items can be bought for 5 or 10 cents these days, but it’s nice that people refer to it that way.
On the flip side, Sag does not have a Starbucks. There is no Whole Foods and fewer fancy retailers, a surprising blessing considering how things have changed in other towns over the past few decades.
Yes, the traffic is a pain right now, but things could be much worse.
On the fishing scene, the winds of late have been blustery and have limited where anglers could go, but for most of those who were able to get out, the fishing was solid.
Out at Montauk, fishing for striped bass remains supreme. “On Sunday morning, it was an absolutely awesome trip for Osmar Olivera and his family,” Capt. Hugh Chancey of Chancey Charters reported of his first trip of the season. “They diamond-jigged up a boat limit of bass and released many overs into the mid-30-pound range.”
Chancey, who just installed a new engine in his 28-foot boat, was all smiles. “It was damn good to be back out!”
Capt. Merritt White of Gunkholin Charters, a light-tackle guide, concurred on the excellent bass bite. “The season started out a bit slow, but things are on fire now.”
Like calamari and all things squid? Then Montauk is the place to be. Some nights are better than others, but the Montauk Star, Viking Star, and Ebb Tide II are running open boat trips. Their websites have the latest sailing schedules.
“The weather has been a real challenge,” said Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Southampton and Sag Harbor. “It’s been windy and cold.” Morse did say that fishing for striped bass has been consistent from the Peconics all the way to Montauk, and that bluefish, too, are running strong.
“Fluke fishing has been very inconsistent,” he said. “But more and more blowfish are showing up, especially at Long Beach in Noyac Bay. That’s a great sign.”
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Fishing tips, observations, and photographs can be sent to [email protected].