On Saturday Theresa and I got an invite to head out to meet our friends for an overnight camp on Short Beach in Smithtown, Long Island. I'm not too well in the know about Long Island but I do know it's long, there's a lot of traffic, and it takes hours, sometimes it feels like days to get out there. I've trailered my boat out to Montauk so I know the pain of trying to get to "The End" in traffic.
Short Beach looks like it's about halfway from Manhattan to Montauk. I might be incorrect with that but that works for me. I've never fished the Long Island Sound but I can say after this weekend I at least made some casts into it's waters. It took just under four hours to get there mid-Saturday and the weather
was beautiful. A light wind kept the bugs away and "camp" was all set up by the time we got out there. Their town has this beach camping event once a summer so luckily the weather was perfect for a good night. Neil and Kathy and their family and friends did a great job with the food and drinks that kept us
busy, and full, from late afternoon till we left Sunday around noon.
During a break in the hang I grabbed my basket and rod, and goofy river shoes that I got down in Hilton Head, and headed towards a boulder field on the dropping tide. I saw some birds way out
working over bait that was getting harassed. It could have been blues or bass. I couldn't help but think I was Martha's Vineyard, like Menemsha, because it was a right turn from the parking lot. It looked like a
super fishy place because due west just a bit the Nissequogue River empties into the Sound. On a dropping tide, a 7 foot tide, the bait must run out of the river and into that boulder field, where I know bass must lie in wait. It looks like a perfect topwater spot, either big plugs, or fly-rod poppers that will just get annihilated by big bass.
This morning the water was calm and quiet. There was no need to fish. Instead Kathy, Theresa and I took a ride around Smithtown and it's many villages and hamlets in the search for coffee. When we got
back Kathy put together a nice camp breakfast after a delivery of fresh bagels from her daughter and son-in-law. Theresa has known these two lovebirds since the early 1970's when they were growing up in Baldwin which is about 45 minutes from the beach we were on. They have a real hoot when they are together. It's kind of a like a full circle of life. Fond memories and a ton of laughs reliving their childhoods. I mostly sit and take it all in, but really enjoy watching Theresa light up when she's around them.
On the way home on the BQE I spotted a smoke condition in the distance just before noon and by the time we got to Williamsburg, Brooklyn a raging five-alarm fire was at it's peak. It was a row of stores, or as we call them in the business of fire, a taxpayer. You never know what you're going to find when you go out and enjoy and explore life. For the FDNY it's just another day at the office.
