The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-08-14
FISHING OFF LONG ISLAND.
ONE DAYo EXCELLENT SPORT ON
THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.
The Wholesale Dcstruction Of Formerly Good
Resorts for Fishermen -Oid-time Blue
Fishing In sbinnccock Bav-Tho Seine
Fishers 60 be Fought by the sportsmen.


Fishers 60 be Fought by the sportsmen.
A short time ago the surf in front OF
ouogue, L. l., was discovered to be full Of blue
nsh In all directions seward as far as ewes
could 70 lch, their gsteuing backs and sides
were seen darting from the water, Ike broad
arrows OF silver They were drowning school
OF menhaden, and In their eager pursuit dished
up into the shoa water ON the sinds so far that
often the larger ones were stranded by recedlns
waves and would FOUNDER about helplessly untii
the next wave 6oated them back into their ma
tiyo element An enthusiastic old fisherman es-
Inmates tho number OF bluensh In that school
at" about seven millions" but some allowance
must be IN ade for him. Years OF practice have
rendered him reckless In his nsh stories. FISH
srmen prepared their seines, sprang into their
boats rowcd through the surf, and were speed
ly engaged In capturing the fish. the boarders
at the hotels ran down to the boz ch and caught
biuefsh to their hearts content, by simply
Throwing out squids from the shore, sixty or
eighty feet into the surf, and drawing them back
TO land. Every line so hauled In had nsh at tho
md OF II. And they were good Ash, too, nons
Of them being less than six pounds In weight,
md some as high as ten.
The different sizes OF the nsh cause the Asher
men to believe that they were In three
Schools, as bluensh habitually maintain great
uniformity In their classiac alton. Very sell
dom will there be found difference of two
pounds In the weight OF the members OF n
school. Among those caught at Quogue on this
memorable occasion, the school OF seven To
pisht pounds seemed to be the most numerous,
and was the 1rst to come. very busy scene
was presented all along the beach while the
sport continued Grave, elderly men entered
INTO the excitement with the ardor OF boys.
Women distinguished themselves py the ger
grace with which they sluns their sguids about,
and caught every time upon their hooks either
pional fishermen worked with might and man.
we're gone e Over three tons Of beautiful blue
Dish had been caught but all the xii ana per.
beveraDce OF the little army OF nshers could not
yet another pound. As an Old negro barber In
Greenport says: DE WAYS 90 hsh am mighty
mysterious. No man kin know when dey's
comm: an still less wnen and VIVA dey's a
gwine.
sHISSEcoCK DAY.
Years ago there used to be superb blue1shlng
ell the time In ShiGnecock bav, which extends
from Quogue up to SOUTHAMPTON. his bay
ls twelve miles long, In places ns much ~ three
miles wide. and will average fully two miles IN
width. The menhlden used to run In here by
hundreds OF thousands In the early spring, and
the buensh would come to feed upon them, so
that almost any time one could be pretty sure
now the inlet is closed. as 1t has oeen three sum
mers preceding, and this sport is all destroyed:
There are about fifteen men at the village Of
SOUTHAMPTON fishermen, who oostinately per
sist, year after year, In An endenvor TO contro-
vert well-established law OF nature. which Is.
that the inleis Of bays, to be permanent, must
be their west ends. These men ignore this W,
because an Inlet AT the east tnd OF ShlnneCOck
bay would he most convenient for them, and
seem incapable of learning by four years OF ex-
perience that they cannot successfully defy ma
ture.
Last winter a force Of $50 men set to work
when the water In the hay was much higher than
that IN the ocean outside, to dig through the
sand dunes at Quogue and reestablish the inlet
which once existed there and was unimpeded
by drifting sands during term Of twenty seven
years. But scarcely had they begun when the
preposterous fifteen at southampton heard OF 1t
anu set to work to forestaIl their operati pms.
The distance To be cut through and tho depth
OF necessary cutting at the lat er place Is much
less than at the former. so the southamptonites
succeeded In starting. a few hours before tn cir
neighbors, thin stream Of water from the bay
TO the ocean. This slender stream, but a rivuet
In size at first, grew momentarilv and sweiled
until 1t became a mighty torrent. sweeping for
itself a broad ana deep channel to the sea.
washing away great sand dunes and tearing
up the beach in it's path. until the excess Of
water In the pay had poured out and
sea. The Titanic force thus e1pcnied
TO utilize to make the inlet where nature pre-
scribed but now all their work went for nausht,
and southampton enJoyed her short lived tri-
umph. The southe st winds OF spring and early
summer gradually out surely narrowed and shall
lowed the Inlet 10y driving into II a steady sue
cession 81 sand laden waves, until finally in the
month OF june, at hieh tide; men walked dry
The inlet was closed teyonr 'ope OF reopcning
until again the winter shall enable the
accumulation o: such a he water as VIII do
the work already descrioec. his brief history
OF the present season Is likewise that Of four
years past. II seems that the men Of south amp
ton learn nothing Ia the school OF experience
which is said to be dear but necessary for some
folks.
RECOURSE TO LAW.
Next winter the residents Of Quogus pro pose
TO try the virtues Of legal injunction to re-
repetition OF their folly. Meanwhile the water,
OF the bay are stagnant. Elsa are dying there in
great numbers. Thousands more will die before
the summer Is over, ana those that survive this
season " u nearly all perish ~ tue winter Tue
sniIe, feeding In the black ooze and slime along
the shore OF this dead water, are t,inte 10y It
aud by many sportsmen are reJec ed Us unit 10
be eaten. All the revenue hitherto drawn from
This bay, when the inlet was at the west end,
amounting to IT IN tJOJO TO 10000 per annum,
has been cut on. Before that there were ship
ped regularly from this bay IN season from fix
10 seven hundred bushels Of clans. reputed the
best along tue coast and comm indiDl the high
pst price In ms market, aud not less than 1ftern
hundred bushels Of mussels for fertillzlns pur-
poses daily Now none of either are taken.
Scarcely any hsn Oi value are caught, aud there
Ne not even enough OF the menna len to make
ienng for them profitable. Sun another great
injury has been tue shutting out from here Of
The good n-h WIN used to seek this bay as
breeding pla e.. Bluegsh formerly bred here In
pountless numbers. MIR. H. J.. Wells says tnat
no has, when sening for GELS In ShiuuerJck bay,
eaught ia his IN -meshed seine enough young
buehsh Of fingers length, had tney been pcr-
mtted 10 come TO maturity, t. have packed
tolid with h-h all the space of the bay. some
men making st ,tement like that might b. ex-
pected ~ come down a ish or two, but Wells Is
bot one Of that Kind. A he says he sticks to,
and Is Willing to prove"
From one reason or another the fishing all
ground Long Island has undenilbly deterlo-
falling OH 10 the Increase Of menhsden i.n.
cries which consume the favorts food Of tho
game Dishes 10 such an extent that they are
urivr To other feeding grounds. . hers de-
bcrlDe the decoration to the MYRIAD Of pound Z"
hets, which line the shore at almost every place
whefe they eau 10 vet, from Hockaway 70 Mon.
faux. these ingenious ContTivanc-s gather In
everything, good, bad and indneren,. that
pwlns and ventures near the shore, excepting
The sturgeon and the porpOise. But the UIuetsh,
the CHG wit, or weak lsh, the bonitO. the sea
bass, sheepshead, Spanish mackeTol. ana other
nne hshes fan prey 10 the men who supply the
New York market.
OLD FISHING PLACES.
About Montauk Point used to be a favorite
place for spOrtsmen. Near In shO e at this seas IN
Ind little later, blue lsh were formerly abund-
INT, while out on Shagwam reef great mum bers
81 sea-Dass, anu occasionally some fine Sleeps
lead, were caught Lust week, three gentle
pen went out from MOntauk for bluensh. aud
nter three days Of eDdeavOr returned without "A
Ungle nsh. Another party OF fifteen N IN went
,ut IRON sag HarbOr to Snagwam reef after sea-
pass. They were gone all day and caught lust
kno bass-total weight Of catch, nalf "a pound
Estimating the DAYS time OF those fifteen men
worth $50 the hire Of tho yacht At SIS solid
ana ulid attachments at $40, would make sea-
pass on the basis Uf that days sport about
DlO per pound, which is more than most folks