While my Rock Water remains docked on dry land for various repairs, I've tried to find other things to do. It's not always easy.
Sure, I still cut the lawn, cook dinner, grow vegetables and herbs, trim the bushes, water the plants, run errands, and play tennis almost every morning, and I'm attending to more frequent doctor's appointments.
Getting old ain't for sissies, my late neighbor Jimmy Buffett commented just before he passed away last year. He was so right. But my chores usually last only for a few hours or so. As such, I have quite a bit of time on my hands most days here at home.
That said, the other week I sweated out a few pounds doing some very laborious tasks. That day, I relocated the cages of my juvenile oysters to my next-door neighbor's dock here on the east side of North Haven, where the current runs swift.
Oysters grow fast and plump in strong tidal flow. They happily reside here in the warmer months, where the plankton is abundant and rich. I'm always amazed how quickly they flourish.
Backtracking for those not in the know, last August I received my yearly allotment of approximately 1,000 oyster spat from Kim Tetrault. Tetrault is a community aquaculture specialist at the Cornell Cooperative Extension facility and hatchery at the southernmost piece of Paradise Point in Southold. Beyond visiting the hatchery, it's also a great location to take in the vista alone.
Tetrault is the Oyster King. The man lives for all things oysters. His passion and knowledge are extensive and intense. And he is equally well versed in bay scallops and clams. With an ever-smiling face, boundless energy, humor, and verve, we are most fortunate to have him in the area.
That hot summer morning last August, Tetrault carefully gave me a cup of spat that he and others had raised a few months earlier. I doubt the white mesh bag he gave me weighed more than five ounces. Each tiny mollusk was no larger than a quarter the size of a dime.
When I put them into my holding cages back at home, I doubted they would even survive. I even kept the fine mesh bag he put them in so that they would not fall through the larger-gauge net at the dock. Many would probably would have filtered to the sandy bottom below. They were so small and fragile.
But by the time late November rolled around, that minuscule brood of spat had grown into a solid, two-gallon bucket before I relocated them for the winter to the more protected waters of Sag Harbor Cove, not far from where Rock Water is usually docked. I was astonished, and pleased.
The spat throve in the four months with nary a sign of any loss. As some say, happy oysters make for great oysters.
Today, the oysters I received less than nine months ago overflow a five-gallon bucket. I struggled mightily to bring them to the dock for their summer residency next door. Both of my arms hurt when I lugged the bucket on the beach to their new home. But I can't complain; that's a very good problem to have.
By the fall and well into next year, the oysters will be the perfect size for consumption. As well, the cooler-water months that stretch well past summer always produce the plumpest and sweetest oyster flesh. They become fat and sassy as the waters grow colder.
We can look forward to a heavy diet of oysters for quite a while here at our house.
On a side note, I found a copious amount of wild oysters this winter just walking the shoreline in the various coves and harbors out here. It's nice to see oysters thriving in our local waters.
Turning to all things fishy, the catch has been pretty good in many locales of late, so long as the winds remain on the tame side, which has not happened all that often.
Bass fishing at Montauk has been rather strong, but again, remains contingent on the weather. A few bluefish are mixing in, but the local porgy bite has gathered strength in recent days.
Manning the post at Mrs. Sam's Bait and Tackle in East Hampton on Sunday, Sebastian Gorgone, the gregarious longtime owner, was keeping his fingers crossed for lighter winds.
"Hey man, the wind has not been our friend of late," he said. "But looking at the forecast, this week and beyond looks much more promising. I think we are finally turning the calendar to summer."
Gorgone said that the striped bass bite in Three Mile Harbor has been solid, with plenty of keepers landed. He added that porgies have begun to bunch up in better quantities off Clearwater Beach and Gerard Drive in Springs.
A bit farther to the west, Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor and Southampton concurred with Gorgone on the lack of cooperation from Mother Nature. "The winds and chill have hindered many fishing efforts. That said, striped bass remain plentiful in the bays, as well as porgies. Weakfish, too, have been caught in great quantities, but many fall short of the 16-inch minimum limit."