Striper Season Opens

Striped bass season opened on Friday, and I know of at least one family that had locally caught striped bass for dinner over the weekend — and it wasn’t mine.

Despite it having been a fairly cold spring, as is now usual, it seems the stripers have spread north and east fairly quickly. There aren’t lots of fish around, but there are enough to be worth hunting, with the reasonable expectation of finding a fish or two, both on the ocean and in the creeks.

I haven’t noticed any of the NoFo heavies anchored up near Jessups yet, but it’s likely that there are some porgies and maybe a few weakfish in the Peconics by now. Porgy season is open year-round now, so you don’t have to wait if the weather is nice and you have some freshly caught squid.

Speaking of which, I heard there’s been a decent run of the loligos in East Hampton water already, though I haven’t had a chance to go on the night prowl myself yet.

Fluke season opens on May 4 this year. Draggers have been scraping some nice flatties off the bay bottoms already, so be ready when the curtain rises.

Some local boys also picked away at the nearshore structure this week and caught some cod and spring blackfish, so that’s an option if your boat is wet and you are looking to give the motors a spring shakedown.

I have heard grumblings from the rumor mill to the west that some blackfishermen saw signs of tuna, and I passed a vehicle on the road Friday that was bristling with 50W trolling setups, which could be one of three possibilities: a hopeless optimist, someone more in the know than I, or simply moving rods from their winter storage to wheelhouse racks.

There’s a lot of consternation among surf fishermen and North Sea locals about the closure of North Sea Beach — but also plenty of “I told you so” to go around.

Many of the regulars at the beach knew that it was only a matter of time before the wealthy private owner of the beach, who has the legal right to restrict access, would end the practice. There have been problems for years at Cow Neck point, with littering and burning of pallets and fence posts and anything else burnable. The beach is about as remote and unmonitored an area as you can get on the South Fork and was a haven for people looking to avoid being seen doing things they otherwise may have been told not to do.

The issues with parking and exceptionally bad littering after the beach was discovered by fishermen from New York City and other areas far from Southampton — often coming with entire families in tow, and intentions to stay through the overnight hours — appear to have been the last straw.

It doesn’t sound like anyone is lining up to take the matter to court and claim adverse possession or make some other argument. And the reaction is not entirely unreasonable. The owner, who is a well-known environmental conservationist, has only blocked vehicles, not public access.

Yes, it’s a long walk, and it will mean a lot fewer people finding it convenient to swing down to Cow Neck to see if the weaks, blues or stripers are pushing through. But I’m sure that the overnight hours will still see their fair share of casters, and, hopefully, a crowd more likely to treat the place with care.

Certainly the town’s environmental staff are correct when they say that removing the vehicles from that point will have a transformative effect on the natural conditions there. It will be interesting to see the evolution there over the next several years as sand and beach grass repopulate the point. Maybe some day with a little planning and management, some access will be restored.

In the meantime, take a hike. Catch ’em up. See you down there.