September 16, 1999 - Snapping up those snappers6A 4 The Suffolk Times - 'September 16, 1999
Snapping up those snappers
A few weeks ago I reported a fish kill at Jockey
Creek in Southold and speculated that the cause
was the lack of oxygen in the water. This week a
concerned telephone call came from a lady who was
snapper fishing in Aquebogue at the head of
Meeting House Creek, just
north of the marina there. She FOG V s
told of thousands of baby
bunkers (menhaden) that ON
were floating dead in the NATURE
water. Wanting to document b Paul
her story, Barbara and I drove Y
to the spot and, sure enough, Stoutenburgh
there they were, thousands of
little silvery bunkers floating dead in the water. In
some places where the wind had moved them, they
were packed solidly, making a mass of silver.
We pulled into the very nice mini park right on
the creek. Donations from Riverhead Townscape
made possible the great job of changing what was
once a messy, unused area into a pleasant small
boardwalk park surrounded by landscaped plants
and bushes. It's a place one can pull up to in your
car and view down the creek or stop and fish for
snappers as some were doing when we arrived. It
could act as a model for other towns to make vistas
and fishing spots more available for their citizenry.
Once again the question of why the fish kill
occurred there and once again we can only specu-
late without the aid of a more scientific inquiry. At
the head of any creek there's bound to be much less
flushing action. Without this flushing action,
microorganisms build up and multiply. Add this to
road runoff from the neighboring area with its nutri-
ent -laden waste and you have the stage set for a typ-
ical algae bloom. This, with the multitude of other
hidden factors, robs the water of its life - giving oxy-
gen. To all this add the thousands of milling baby
bunkers, all requiring oxygen, and you have another
fish kill.
It's snapper season
On a different note I hope many of you have
taken advantage of the beautiful supply of snappers
that are in our creeks and bays at this time of the
year. When we were kids this was an exciting time to
be alive. First there was always the catching of the
shiners, or silversides, for bait. These two- to three -
inch and up greenish bait fish were easy to catch
with a hand seine. Of course, the bigger the net in
length the easier it was to fill your bucket with the
silvery bait. If you were real lucky, one haul would
be sufficient. Then, we were always told by our par-
ents that you had to spread the net out to let it dry.
In those early days there was no such thing as a syn-
thetic and without the drying, nets would rot.
Another thing that's changed through the years
are the fishing poles. Nearly everyone in those days
had a long bamboo pole with its red and white bob-
ber and a long steel - shanked snapper hook at the
end. Today as I watch the modern -day snapper fish-
ermen, they all seem to have shiny new spinning
reels and rods. Some don't even use shiners for bait
1,
.4
Ji
�b
and those who do usually buy their bait frozen from
a tackle shop. Artificial lures of one kind or another
seem to be the most popular attractor.
It wasn't until recently that I was introduced into
the new gourmet delight of eating shiners. Why we
never thought of it before, I don't know. Barbara's
sister married an Italian and he told how in the local
markets in Brooklyn shiners were always available
in season and encouraged us to try them. In the
beginning I cleaned every little rascal, rolled them in
flour and deep fried
them. They came out
looking like delicious
French fries but tasted
better. As time went on I
got brave and cut out the
cleaning bit and ate "the
whole thing "; that is I
did, not Barbara. I still
had to clean hers.
One last bit about
snappers. A good friend
who fishes right off his
dock caught a nice mess
of snappers and knowing
I smoke fish brought
them to see how they'd
smoke. I soaked them in
a witch's brew of salt,
spices and brown sugar
overnight and proceeded
to smoke them the next
day. I had lots of cherry
wood from my recently
fallen tree and it makes
excellent wood for
smoking. They came out
the most delightful gold-
en -brown color one
could imagine and
cooked perfectly. More
people should try the art
of smoking. Any smoker
will do, from the homemade 52- gallon drum, to the
store - bought one, to my latest stainless -steel conver-
sion which will last a lifetime. For those who have no
cherry wood available, I have lots and will be glad to
share it with any of you.
I've had three calls from people who are concerned
about their young osprey that is still on the nest.
"What's going on ?"
Let me assure all those who have this concern, it
happens every year. I can remember when we sum-
mered on the bay there was an osprey platform in
the marsh behind us and we watched anxiously each
year to see when "our young osprey" would leave.
Sometimes it would be in late August, other times it
would be in September before the young would be
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
There are many people who are concerned that "their young osprey" has not
left the nest by this time of the year. Some young are reluctant to leave the
security of the nest and It takes the parent longer to lure them away and en-
courage them to fish on their own.
Osprey victim of tornado
On another subject that indirectly has to do with
fish I received a call from a lady on Nassau Point
about her osprey nest that came down in the torna-
do a few weeks ago. As you remember that hellish
twister moved in from Mattituck, devastated New
Suffolk and passed on to Nassau Point, where it
uprooted trees and made itself known in many other
devious ways, one of which was the blown -down
osprey platform. That in itself wouldn't have been so
bad, bu± in its fall it killed the young osprey that had
not as yet fledged. Many young ospreys have
already left the security of their nests and are on
their own but, like children, not all behave the same.
T ICK SPRAYING
Disease, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis Prevention
324 -9700 - 287 -9700
ORGANIC Free Estimates
SOLUTIONS www.tickcontrol.com
EAST END TICK CONTROL
AND PRODU� The Sensible Solution Inc.
WILDLIFE RESOURCES
WILD 6IRb SUPPLIES & MORE COMING SOON m
PRE -GRAND OPENING SPECIAL - THISTLE.82 11b.
m
Cox La. 6 Oregon Rd., Cutchogue 7342096 Hours are Sat. 6 Sun. 10 - 4 M
:_
wooed away from the nest and be on its own. I'm
sure somewhere there's the occasional record where
nature fails and the parent abandons the young after
they have tried every trick in the book to get it to fly
and fish on its own. Should this happen, it's nature's
way of not passing on a faulty gene. Only the
strongest survive and even they must have the cor-
rect genetic makeup to see them through. In the fall
months many birders go on "hawk watches" here on
Long Island; on those days they observe and count
every species of hawk that migrate along our outer
beaches. It's here during the months of September
and October we see ospreys traveling westward on
their way south and believe it or not, a few will be
seen as late as November. So, remember, those of
you who are concerned about "your young ospreys"
that haven't left their nests as yet — be patient.
Hopefully its time will come and the temptation of
food will lure it away from the security of its nest
and then it will be on its own.
411 -8485
We're still open 7 Days from 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Fri. and Sat. till 7 p.m.)
Foot of Monsell Place - Greenport
SENIOR CITIZENS 10% OFF TUESDAYS