Dan's Papers - August 1, 2008

According to the lead story in the August 2008 issue of The Nature Conservancy magazine, horseshoe crabs are very important for our well-being. They are used in medical research because lysate, a compound in the crab's copper-based blood, clots when it comes in contact with harmful bacteria. Many countries, including the U.S., now require the biomedical industry to use lysate to test all objects or substances that could cause infection during medical procedures.

The horseshoe crabs on our beaches go back to prehistoric times. They have not changed in more than 100 million years and are usually seen crawling along the high-tide mark during mating season. For the past few years, this type of crab has decreased in numbers because fisherman use them as pot bait to catch eels and small fish out in the bays. This year, New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation cut down the horseshoe crab fisherman's catch from 500 to 200 crabs per day.

The biomedical industry feels the horseshoe crab has saved many lives by predetermining possible sources of infection. After extracting lysate from the crab's blood, the crabs are released back into the water. The American horseshoe crabs range from the Yucatan peninsula up to the east coast of Maine.

According to Stony Brook University researchers, mercury levels in our prized local striped bass, which spawn in the Hudson River, have declined over the past 30 years as efforts to clean up the Hudson are successful. In the 1970s and 1980s, eating fish from the Hudson was restricted because of high mercury content, but the campaign to clean the Hudson spurred on by Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Hudson Riverkeeper program has resulted once again in edible marine life. In fact, because of the past restrictions placed on the striped bass fishery, the fish now being caught have grown to the 50- to 70-pound range.

In local fishing news, Scott at East End Bait & Tackle, Hampton Bays, says fluke up to 25 inches are being caught with sand eels, squid and bucktails on either side of Shinnecock Bay's Ponquogue Bridge. There are also bluefish and porgies around the south Race of Robins Island in Peconic Bay. Offshore boats have been catching and releasing mako sharks in the 100- to 120-pound range, and there are blue sharks out there also.

Capt. Don Kaye took a group out to the ocean off Shinnecock inlet and, when the tide changed, the sea erupted with bluefish chasing bait. The anglers caught and released a dozen bluefish. When John Locke and I fished the incoming tide in Shinnecock Bay last week, we drifted for about two hours and hooked 25 fluke but none were keepers (minimum of 20.5 inches long). The skies darkened, the rain came, and we raced back to the dock.

Last Friday afternoon, on the north side of Montauk Point, there was a blitz of stripers and bluefish chasing bunker of up to two pounds. The feeding frenzy of fish went on until sunset when the striped bass disappeared and the blues took over. The party boats Miss Montauk and Marlin Princess brought in large fluke last weekend. Most of Montauk's charter fleet also reported good striper fishing last week until the ocean swells deepened from the stormy weather. Bruce Moslen, fishing on Done Deal out of Montauk, caught a 234-pound bigeye tuna.

Most of the local tackle shops and marinas have websites with daily fishing information including Ken Morse's Tight Lines Tackle, Sag Harbor (www.tightlinestackleinc.com) and East End Bait & Tackle (www.eastendbaitandtackle.com). Harvey Bennett's client Sam Lester III caught the striped bass pictured off Montauk Point last week.