Report for Long Island Sound

On Thursday morning we sailed with Rich Hauptner of Westchester NY and three business colleagues. They tallied eight striped bass, a few blues, and about three dozen porgies. They kept 19 large scup for the table. On Saturday morning the weather looked very threatening, but we didn’t want to disappoint New Canaanite, Henk Hartong IV, who was celebrating his 10th birthday along with four buddies and his dad, Henk III. We left the dock at 12:30pm, and although the Sound was a bit choppy, the youngsters had a wonderful afternoon, bringing in eight bass including a 30” keeper—serendipitously caught by the birthday celebrant himself--and everyone aboard enjoyed non-stop action with large porgies. As he was leaving the boat, young Hartong announced: “This was the best birthday I ever had!” (A great endorsement, even from a boy just turned 10.) We cancelled Sunday’s trip after watching dire weather forecasts that called for lightning storms and gale-force winds.