A lawsuit by Shelter Island, Southampton and East Hampton towns has delayed the license here for two weeks. But some form of marine fishing license is inevitable, according to federal guidelines.

Calls for repealing the license law have invoked the traditional rights of residents to fish local waters.

While the license debate was brewing this summer, Marion Dickerson stopped by the Reporter with a copy of a February  19, 1972 article written by her husband, George. She thought readers might like another look at it. The Reporter couldn't agree more. Here's a look back at Island fishing as it once was.

BY GEORGE DICKERSON

Years ago, when I was growing up on this Island, that was a cry that echoed all over the area whenever the “squeteague” had returned in the spring. Everyone stopped what they were doing and headed for the beaches and inlets.

Many of us used a 10- to 12-foot homemade bamboo casting rod. We could throw a small sinker and a piece of squid a country mile with such a rig. The old-timers used to say that when the lilacs were in bloom, the weaks would be in, and it was always a very close estimate.

During the years before WWII, weakfish provided one of the favorite pastimes from spring until fall. The Shelter Island waters and Peconic Bay were a fisherman's paradise.

Some of the best casting beaches were Louis', Bootlegger's Alley, Rocky Point, White Hill, Hay Beach Point, South Ferry and at the mouth of Coecles Harbor. Squid was one of the favorite baits when casting.

Just before sundown, fishermen would take a stand along Louis' Beach, rig their rods and wait until the sun just started to drop over the horizon. Any conversation was done in a soft whisper. Mostly, it was just sitting alone quietly with your own thoughts and watching the colors in the sky. When the last rays started to fade away, the fishing would begin. Whenever your neighbor down the beach caught a nice fish, he would hold a light on it for all to see. But, there would be no shouts of joy. Noise would sometimes spook the fish.

Rejoicing and back-slapping would have to wait until everyone met back at Louis Behringer's beer parlor, where the best draft beer in the country was served in large, cold pitchers. The fish stories generally grew in proportion to the number of empty beer glasses in front of the storyteller.

During the late summer and early fall, some really great tide runners could be caught by trolling off White Hill, Hay Beach Point and South Ferry. These fish would run as high as 10 pounds.

Mr. Conklin operated a dock just to the north of First Bridge in Dering Harbor, where he rented out catboats and one-lungers. A one-lunger was a dory type of boat, powered by a single-cylinder gasoline engine. It was started by cranking on a large flywheel. It throttled down to a slow speed which made it an ideal boat when trolling for tide runners.

All of us could catch some fairly nice fish in those wonderful years, but a few of the more avid fishermen that come to my mind at present are Bill Sanwald, Frank P. Chiaramonte, Elmer Edwards, Bob Griffing, my dad and uncles and the Clarks and the Tuthills.  

... Too soon this happy way of life came to an end with the start of WWII. Almost all of the boys on Shelter Island went into service. Just before I had to report for pilot training in the Air Force, my dad said, “Let's go fishing, one more time.” We went to Rocky Point and had a wonderful time. We caught a fish as large as 7 pounds. I'm sure that same scene was taking place all around the community at that time. I did not realize at the time it would be the last weakfish I was to catch for a period of 28 years.

There are many theories as to why the weakfish disappeared. None have been proven completely correct. Some think it was a combination of all the following theories:

During the war, farming was heavy in this area and some people believe the spray and poisons used ran off into the bays and inlets where the weakfish breed.

The demand for food became very great during the war and commercial seining became a large business. Seines became so large that horses and motorized equipment were used to haul them. They caught thousands of fish in one haul.

None of this can really be condemned for the need for fish as a valuable food source far exceeded the importance of weakfish as a sport.

Some believe another factor playing a large part in the depletion of the weaks was overfishing done by the individual and the charter boats.

On any given day before the war a person could go up to the Heights golf course and see hundreds of boats in Peconic Bay. On some days, the boats were so thick that it looked like a person could walk across the bay simply by stepping from boat to boat.

Add your comments below:

Your name:

Your email:

Subject:


Comments:



Enter text seen above: