Up front, I need to be perfectly honest. I'm ashamed to admit that I've done very little fishing this season. As such, many have admonished me for my lack of effort. And most are correct in their thoughts and observations.
Yet, while I freely come forth that I've barely wetted a hook and line, I'd like for folks to hear me out for a minute or two on why this has happened. I have a reason.
To start, my Rock Water, my 30-foot lobster boat that was custom-built in Arichat, Nova Scotia, nearly 25 years ago, experienced numerous breakdowns and problems last year. The list of problems is just too long for this column. Reading "War and Peace" by Tolstoy would be quicker than retelling what has happened over the past 18 months with yours truly. The repairs, concerns, and headaches were monstrous. It really wore me down.
So I've been extremely reluctant to take Rock Water out on the water since she was relaunched in early June. I'm just gun-shy. I worry about what's going to break down next. Paranoia can sometimes be overwhelming, as can writing checks for the copious repairs I've had to deal with.
"I can understand how you feel, but you need to run and check her out," my friend Al Daniels said last week when I visited him and his wife, Sue, in Greenport, when I took my motorcycle out for an extended ride. "You just can't remain at the dock. It's not good."
"Don't do a long trip to start but do some shorter ones to feel her out," he said. Daniels is no doubt correct in his advice, but I still have my fears and concerns. I'm having a very hard time ignoring them.
As background, Daniels is a dear friend and among the 13th generation of Bonackers here, most of whom have made a living fishing. They know boats, fishing, and local waters.
In season, Daniels can usually be found at the break of sunrise on the bay, catching anything from porgies to blowfish, weakfish, and striped bass. The man has fish in his blood. He also wrote an outdoors column for The Sag Harbor Express for nearly 40 years. Want to hear or read anything about all things fish? Daniels is your man. Few are finer.
That said, I just renewed my yearly membership to Sea Tow, the marine towing service for boaters in need of assistance. The service came in handy last spring in one of my numerous breakdowns. It was not the first time, either. Better to be safe than sorry, I say.
As for the local fishing scene, bluefin tuna continue to run strong off Montauk. Charter boats are regularly catching their two-fish limits. In a positive sign, yellowfin tuna have appeared in recent days.
Fluke are also biting well of late. Many anglers are catching their three-fish limits, along with black sea bass in the deeper waters south and east of Montauk. Some keepers, along with many shorts, can be found not far from the Lighthouse, too.
"It's hard to believe it's already August," Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Southampton and Sag Harbor remarked. "Plus, Labor Day falls on September 1 this year. This is a shorter summer for sure."
Morse said porgies remain plentiful in the Peconics, while small bluefish can be had casting diamond jigs on the incoming tide at Jessup's Neck.
"In addition, weakfish are still roaming around, especially in Noyac Bay," he said. "Plus, blue-claw crabs are scurrying around in the back bays and coves."