The Fish of Many Lifetimes

We hear the term “fish of a lifetime” thrown around quite a bit. And for many anglers, catching a 50-pound striped bass, or a 10-pound fluke or weakfish, or a 100-pound tuna is indeed a fish of a lifetime for them.

But there are fish of a lifetime, and then there are the fish of many lifetimes — fish of a size so exceedingly rare as to be the kind of fish that is maybe only caught once in the span of a generation, by anybody.

A Hampton Bays man and his friends landed a fish like that recently.

When the dolphinfish — that’s the official name the International Game Fish Association uses, but we all just call them mahi-mahi, like the Hawaiians and restaurants do — that Rick Nydegger caught on August 29 was hung on the scale at Oakland’s, the digits soared all the way to 51 pounds. The dock crew said it was the biggest that had been weighed there maybe ever — which is saying a lot for the home base of offshore fishing in Shinnecock.

The New York State record for a mahi-mahi is officially 56 pounds, but that fish was caught in the Canyon, a hundred miles offshore in waters that wandered off the Gulf Stream. Nydegger’s fish was caught barely over the horizon from the shores of the South Fork.

It was also a major day-saver.

Nydegger and friends had gone out in search of tuna aboard Shay Lohr’s boat, Deep Six. After hours of trolling, moving, trolling some more, their fish boxes were still barren.

They had thrown in the towel, reeled in their trolling gear and were headed for home to drown their frustrations when Mother Nature threw them a bone.

The ocean off Long Island this summer has been littered with debris. Heavy rainfall in July in New England had sent thousands of fallen trees and logs flushing down Connecticut’s rivers. Tidal currents carried them out of Long Island Sound, through Block Island Sound and into the ocean. North winds pushed many of them far offshore, and then south winds pushed them back inshore.

Mahi are famous denizens of floating debris in the ocean. Logs, branches, crates, even a simple bucket can attract small fish to its shelter, and thusly mahi, which lurk on the fringes waiting for a small fish to make a mistake.

As they cruised inshore toward Shinnecock Inlet, the Deep Six came across one of the great finds of all time: a giant tree, the full trunk and long branches sticking up into the air. To think that the tree had not been noticed by another boat and attacked is just one of those anomalies of luck. Thank the stars.

The crew — Nydegger, Lohr, Greg Sikorsky, Joe Caputo and Frank Knoll — scrambled to rig up for catching mahi on spinning rods, for tossing lures to the log.

They were instantly rewarded with relatively big mahi — 10 to 15 pounds — crashing their artificials. They also started catching many of the small jacks that were congregated around the log, and Nydegger had the idea to put a hook in the back of one of the jacks and toss it back in to see if there was something bigger lurking below that might fancy a meal on a hobbled fish.

His ingenuity was rewarded with a thump, a flash of green and a screaming runoff before, 50 yards away, the giant mahi exploded through the surface of the ocean in a whirling dervish leap.

A tense battle, the gaff sunk, the crew celebrated and headed for the dock, their disappointing day suddenly one they would remember — for a lifetime.

Fishing around Shinnecock has been very interesting the last couple of weeks. The fluke bite seems to have finally gotten organized both in the bay and out in the ocean, with lots of big fish being caught, so take the opportunity to get in a day aboard the Shinnecock Star (631-728-4563) or Hampton Lady (631-521-3366) party boats, or with one of the local charter operations, like Peace of Mind (516-848-8578) or Someday Came (631-603-9910), and put some fluke in the freezer before the season ends later this month.

There also has been some amazing tuna fishing happening for the big game fleet: giant bluefin tuna upward of 400 pounds are being caught just a few miles outside the inlet, where commercial draggers are working on the schools of squid. A rare occasion to say the least.

Catch ’em up. See you out there.

Megan’s Minnows Dance Party 
Fundraiser at Meschutt Beach

Megan’s Minnows will hold a fundraiser dance party at Tiki Joe’s at Meschutt Beach in Hampton Bays this Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. Dancing, food, drinks and raffles prizes will go to raise money for the take-a-kid-fishing program set up in memory of beloved local angler Megan Pfautz.

Tickets are $55 and can be purchased at Eventbrite.com; search for “Megan’s Minnows.”

Youth Waterfowl Day

New York State has announced that this year’s youth waterfowl program dates will be October 21 for instruction and November 4 for hunting.

The program is open to young hunters between the ages of 12 and 16 who have completed the hunter’s safety course. All participants must attend the instructional day on October 21 at the Peconic River Sportsman’s Club, where they will receive lessons in hunting ethics and regulations, waterfowl identification, gun safety, decoy rigging, boat safety, and will shoot trap for target practice.

Hunting on November 4 will take place at Hubbard County Park in Hampton Bays or Southaven County Park in Yaphank.

Call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at 631-444-0255 for further information about the youth waterfowling program or to sign up for a hunter’s education course.