It’s hard for me to believe, but I’ve now been fishing for over 60 years. When I add it all up, that’s a lot of time on the water in the never-ending search for fish, as well as lobsters, clams, oysters, and scallops.
My first ventures with a hook and line were fishing from our rickety community dock in North Haven and on my father’s Dyer, a 20-foot inboard/outboard. He bought the new boat for $3,000 at the New York Boat Show at the long-gone New York Coliseum in 1965.
It was a fine boat of the kind still built in Warren, R.I., but there was one rather significant problem right off the bat, and it had to do with my mother. My father incurred her wrath as he neglected to inform her of his impulsive transaction at the boat show. Not exactly a wise move. What was he thinking?
Eventually the tension convention in our household subsided. For a few summers, in between engine breakdowns, we enjoyed fishing together on the boat before my father suddenly passed away when I was only 7 years old. My mother sold the boat a few months later.
Still, despite the loss of my father and the boat, I never wavered in my enthusiasm for fishing. It continued to grow in my youth, when I even skipped my high school and college graduation ceremonies to go fishing. “Mail me my diploma” was my thinking. I was hooked on the sport.
I also became afflicted with “fishing insomnia” — a usually incurable inability to sleep before a much-anticipated fishing trip. This malady was especially acute when I had a trip for codfish scheduled, usually on one of the Montauk party boats.
Lying in that infernal bed was torturous. I would constantly toss and turn, adjust my pillows, and squirm just to get in the right position, in the hope I would get at least an hour or two of shut-eye. Yet, the anticipation of going fishing was just too much to handle.
Seemingly every few minutes I’d anxiously peer at the eerie orange glow of my ancient Westclox alarm clock. Did I set the correct wake-up time? Would the clock malfunction? What if we lose electricity?
Other fishing-related concerns would also run through my mind: Would the codfish, winds, and tide cooperate? Did I pack enough hooks and sinkers? Did I have enough food for the 12-hour fishing trip? So sleepless were those nights before fishing that I can’t recall every needing the alarm clock to wake me up.
Sadly, codfish are no longer a possibility due to overfishing. It’s anyone’s guess when or if those restrictions will ever be lifted. The days of catching cod at the bell buoy a few hundred feet outside the Montauk Harbor inlet and other nearby locales are long gone, but the memories are permanent.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve chilled out a bit. My fishing trips have become less frequent and my days of hauling heavy iron scallop dredges are probably over. Still, I do get excited in advance of any trip I do on the water. And as a precaution, I now trust the alarm on my iPhone to wake me up if I happen to fall asleep.
The blazing heat this week has cooked up the local fishing scene. “Summer is officially here and the fishing has been fine,” said Sebastian Gorgone at Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton. He noted that business has been brisk in advance of the holiday weekend, with bluefish, striped bass, porgies, and some fluke generating fireworks among anglers.
Gorgone added that he just received a large shipment of clam rakes from R.A. Ribb Company. In the clamming community, Ribb rakes, which are handmade on Cape Cod, are widely considered to be the Rolls-Royce of rakes. “I’ve got them all for the recreational and commercial clammer out there,” he smiled on Sunday.
I will do some window shopping shortly.
The action offshore for bluefin, bigeye, and especially yellowfin tuna is quickly heating up, just in time for the Montauk Canyon Challenge which runs from Friday, July 10, through July 18. Last year over 80 boats were entered, with prize money that approached $1 million. More information on the tournament can be had at montaukcanyonchallenge.com.
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Fishing tips, observations, and photographs can be sent to [email protected].