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April 17, 1980 - All on a Spring Day's SailApril 17, 1980 All on a Spring Day's Sail Make hay while the sun shines is the old A philosophy concerning good days, such as ▪ we've had in April. One minute it's raining — the next it's glorious sunshine. So it was when Saturday rolled around. I had to take my boat to Southold sometime in the next two weeks, but it involved getting the boat out of its winter wrappings, gassing it up and a hundred other little minor details that make the first trip out somewhat of a chore. Actually I had no intention of going to Southold on that first shakedown, but as • the day developed and one item after IP another checked out okay 1 soon found invself ready to go and called up a friend of thine to go along for the ride, and in no time at all we were off. It all happened rather unexpectedly. As we went out of the mouth of the creek I noticed how the sand had worked its way out from the beach into the channel. It was deep enough, but I'm sure the inexperienc- ed boater will find himself aground if he takes the same route he did last year. $ Much of the bottom has changed. How the forces of nature shifted things about during the winter. Maintenance dredging is needed in most of our creeks each spring, but like so many things today, funds are limited and serv- ices like dredging cost money. This, added to the problem of where to put the sand that you dredge out, is a major complica- tion. If it's put in the wrong spot it almost inevitably returns to the channel. Dredg- ing carries with it many unsolved pro- .; blems and many unknown solutions. Bay Apparently Empty Once in the bay we had smooth sailing. The bay seemed to be completely empty. We were the sole boat. A month or two from now the picture will be drastically changed as the bay becomes alive with all sorts of boating activities, but that season is still far off. How I.he water sparkled and how clear it was! We sometimes forget how fortunate we are to have such clear, pristine waters. w You don't have to go too far to the west to notice the change. As we rounded Nassau Poinl., leaving lovely Robins Island to the west, we worked our way through an anchored fleet X6132 &gall Mina _ aft q0M, ffiQRaq of fishing boats. The flounders were running. Most of the boats had a familiar color of the local fishing station in New Suffolk, while the others were a variety of pleasure boats of every shape and size. Every once in a while we'd see a pole bend and an excited fisherman reel in his' eh. Fish would be on the table tonight for those lucky men. The big red buoy that marks the hidden sand bar off Nassau Point leaned with the strong incoming tide. Those trusty sentin- els are like street markers are to the driver on land, and to know their meaning is a must for all boaters. Its red color told us the side where the water ran deep. We now headed for the black buoy off ,Jessups to the east. Oldsquaw ducks were still in the hay but by now their plumage had changed and they looked much darker than in their gaudy black and white winter attire. Paired off now, they soon will be following the others who are already staking out nesting sites in the far, far north. Richmond's Creek and Bayview were slowly left behind until we were almost off Cedar Beach, where a larger flotilla of assorted open fishing boats greeted us, like the one we'd seen off Nassau Point. Most of the boats came from the fishing stations. What a day for the fisherman! Probably many from the west end, anxious to get a hreat.h of fresh air and a chance to catch a fish. To them a long planned outing and one that will rank high on their over -the- year experiences. Yet too many of. us would take these days for granted. As we headed north to the buoy off Paradise Point we found most of the fishing boats concentrated over the oyster beds at Cedar Beach. Today they are l'Ou Looking For A Job Page 15 a FLOUNDERS YEARS AGO- -This old photograph from our family album shows how the average flounder size has changed through the years. We no longer see doormats of this size in an average catch. marked by buoys, but years ago when I was a kid there were long cedar poles with flags on them bobbing in the water to mark l i:eir limits. All the way up, into New Suffolk these oyster beds flourished. It's good to see them corning back as a viable iurf:ra ry. I t m remember my Dad saying that over the oyster 'r'ds is where you always got the big onrs, and in the old family album !here are photographs of those days when flounders were really big. Snowshoes or doormats is what they used to call them. The picture show:l here shows a catch taken off New Suffolk. They were so big that if one were to be caught today is could well he the record for the year. By the way, I used an old galvanized wash tub to carry them in. A bucket or pail was much loo small. Youngs Boatyard lay to the east and. it was in this general area we were heading. I looked in vain for a football -like object on the water, for just last week a harbor seal was reported off here. We searched and searched but saw none. Each year strag- glers show up in our bays and i nice to think that a touch of the sea comes in this close to greet us. Shelter Island had much activity at the church camp on the point. I thought to mysoli h.,. lucky They were -- clean sparkbta, vaater -- warm sunshine -- sprin ;ai II,• 1 ihw I;unw what the lesson was Iiii usl fIi.iu!. Mere the young people muss ht:vc to ita n ss!nc good from that day's out Mg Our bn.a w.::; slovd, hut then it had Inc adv,antak, ib<a csc- catttd absorb the gocrincss of the had. As a matter of fact it seemed that it was over all leo soon, but it haci stinwleted me en a'gh so that I seemed to walk on a higli the rest of the day. Everything seemed easy from then on. 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