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May 16, 2002 - An ode to the weakfishThe Suffolk Times • May 16, 2002 to the weakfish I imeslHewew pno[o uy nervy mliku One night as we were spearing eels (called firelighting) 1 spotted a huge fish, took a calculated thrust with the spear and pulled up this 11 3 /4-pound weakfish. The year was 1952. ILACS HAVE BEEN BLOOMING for the past couple of weeks and that always brings to my mind that it's time to go down to the creek and go weakfishing. The two go hand in hand. I've mentioned this before, but I'll say it again because I think it is kind of important as a record. When I was a kid I used to go down to the mouth of the creek and watch my dad and others with their tarred lines with a heavy sinker and chunk of squid on the hook. They'd whirl the line around and let it go out into the creek. Then stand there with the line in one hand until they got a strike. I nen nano -over- hand they would bring in a thrash- ing, silvery —I think that's where the name "tide runners" came from. I don't think there was a fish under five pounds. The closest I ever came to landing a big fish on a line was May 2, 1975, when Barbara and I went out trolling just as the sun was setting and we caught four weakfish, one going eight pounds. At one time weakfish were abun- dant from the Chesapeake Bay all the way to Maine, but they have dropped off dramatically in the last 20 vears. We still get a smattering of them in the bay but nothing like the old days. Some blame it on the pound nets that are in the bay catching the fish that come into our estuary to spawn. Others say it's because the eel grass is no longer here, for it was in the eel grass the shrimp and small fish would be and that's what the weakfish fed on. In the heyday of weakfishing, there was a tremendous party boat busi- ness. From Jamesport to New Suffolk, from Southold to Greenport, party boats would take their anxious fishermen out to Rose's Grove, which is 0000site Bavview on the bav side, and there they'd anchor and chum for weakfish. The chum they'd use were the shrimp we see in our creeks. Some call them grass shrimp, others sand shrimp. They were gathered by moving along the edge of the creek banks with a short two - handled net. As you walked along the bank, you would poke the edge and the shrimp would move out so you could pick them up in your net. I can remember a rugged lady from New Suffolk, I think her name was Mary, Who used to have a system where she t would pull a shrimp cart, which is a floating enclo- sure, behind her as she worked the creek banks. She sold the shrimp by the quart. Ldon't know what it cost because I never used it. When the party boats got out in the bay and anchored, it looked like an invasion of some sort. Each boat would let the shrimp out gradu- , ally to lure the fish to the boats. Then, with a sand or blood worm on the hook, the anx- ious fishermen would let their lines out where they would be immediately grabbed up by a fish. I think the weakfish is one of the most beautiful of all fish. I can remember once catching one off the end of Nassau Point and holding it ul to take a picture of it in the late -after noon sun. It sparkled silvery with its pinks and blues and greens, all mot- tled into the most handsome - looking fish you could imagine. Weakfish have a big mouth and a rather tender one. That's what gives hem their name, and if you horse your fish in too much the hook will rip out and you will lose your prize. Because of the fish's weak mouth, fishermen carry a landing net so they won't lose their fish as they lift it into the boat. Years ago when Barbara and I wer in Florida I caught speckled sea trout that looked almost identical to our weakfish. I think they tasted just as good, too. Speaking of taste, one of the best ways to cook weakfish is to bake it. Barbara usually stuffs it and puts strips of bacon over the top, then brings it to the table in all its glory. I Have a fishing encyclopedia in which I looked up weakfish and found that the most heavy concentra- tions are in Chesapeake Bay, New Jersey and New York, with special on Peconic Bay as sandy, shallow waters. After catching — a weakfish and it's lying on the bottom of your boat, you can hear it make a drumming sound. The males are the only ones that give off this sound. I'm told the record weakfish was one that was. caught in Mullica River in New Jersey. It weighed 17 1/2 pounds. Others will say that they go as high as 30 pounds, but those were never documented. The food that these silvery beauties prey on is a wide variety of worms, shrimp, squid, sand eels, crabs, small fish such as shiners, killifish and other fish, like young menhaden. Fishermen have many ways of catching the weakfish. You can fish on the top with a float. I remember my grandfa- ther telling me that was the way he caught them. For that kind of fishing, they used worms or shrimp. Then, of course, there's bottom fish- ing, which we used to do in the chan- nel. You'd- have a hook about six inch- es up from the sinker and another one about three feet up, both baited with squid, cut in long strips. I think the most fish we ever caught using the bottom - fishing technique were right in the channel. Those days there were no boats coming in or out so you could anchor there; not so today. We'd fish there most of the night. Harry White and I spent many a wonderful evening anchored in the mouth of that creek weakfishing. Looking back, it was probably the best fishing I ever had. A leaky boat, secondhand fishing tackle, smelly squid for bait and the stars above daz- zling the whole world about us. What more could one ask for? ne of the greatest places to catch FOCUS hem. They can be caught in the surf n the ocean or in inlets or channels ON or even in our creeks, which leads m NATURE to another reminder of 50 years ago, b Paul Y when I went eeling at night and Stoutenburgh aught an 113/4 -pound weakfish on an eel spear. We'd occasionally get smaller ones, six- or eight- pounders, again with an eel spear. Weakfish are schooling fish, mean- ing they travel together and prefer Weakfish have a big mouth and a rather tender one. That's what gives hem their name, and if you horse your fish in too much the hook will rip out and you will lose your prize. Because of the fish's weak mouth, fishermen carry a landing net so they won't lose their fish as they lift it into the boat. Years ago when Barbara and I wer in Florida I caught speckled sea trout that looked almost identical to our weakfish. I think they tasted just as good, too. Speaking of taste, one of the best ways to cook weakfish is to bake it. Barbara usually stuffs it and puts strips of bacon over the top, then brings it to the table in all its glory. I Have a fishing encyclopedia in which I looked up weakfish and found that the most heavy concentra- tions are in Chesapeake Bay, New Jersey and New York, with special on Peconic Bay as sandy, shallow waters. After catching — a weakfish and it's lying on the bottom of your boat, you can hear it make a drumming sound. The males are the only ones that give off this sound. I'm told the record weakfish was one that was. caught in Mullica River in New Jersey. It weighed 17 1/2 pounds. Others will say that they go as high as 30 pounds, but those were never documented. The food that these silvery beauties prey on is a wide variety of worms, shrimp, squid, sand eels, crabs, small fish such as shiners, killifish and other fish, like young menhaden. Fishermen have many ways of catching the weakfish. You can fish on the top with a float. I remember my grandfa- ther telling me that was the way he caught them. For that kind of fishing, they used worms or shrimp. Then, of course, there's bottom fish- ing, which we used to do in the chan- nel. You'd- have a hook about six inch- es up from the sinker and another one about three feet up, both baited with squid, cut in long strips. I think the most fish we ever caught using the bottom - fishing technique were right in the channel. Those days there were no boats coming in or out so you could anchor there; not so today. We'd fish there most of the night. Harry White and I spent many a wonderful evening anchored in the mouth of that creek weakfishing. Looking back, it was probably the best fishing I ever had. A leaky boat, secondhand fishing tackle, smelly squid for bait and the stars above daz- zling the whole world about us. What more could one ask for?