BLACKFISH

STRIPED BASS

his brother were 10 to 12 years old, they built a small rowboat from scrap lumber their father had in the garage. They had great fun with it the first day it was finished, mooring it at Rum Point, Sea Cliff, only to find it missing the next morning, never to be seen again.

In the mid 60’s, along with friends Stret chartered Frank Mundus three times for shark fishing and found Montauk to be a wonderful place to fish. he also enjoyed scuba diving, but found it hard to dive from the beach because of the murky water. So, he purchased his first boat, a 19’ Slickcraft I/O. It was used mostly after work to look for lobster and blackfish at Davidson’s breakwater, Glen Cove. One day when visiting a local tackle dealer, he was told about the mackerel in Hempstead Harbor. The dealer fitted them out with rods and mackerel rigs and the location of the mackeral. Between himself, wife and two kids that first evening they caught 44 mackerel and was hooked on fishing. From that day on he fished every morning before work, learning as he went along from other fisherman and lobstermen from Glen Cove Creek.

After a couple of years, improving in his new hobby, he upgraded to a 25’ Lures inboard, repowering it with a Lehman 6 cylinder diesel.

One night when having dinner with some other couples, they got talking about sharking with Frank Mundus. That evening four of them decided we were going to give shark fishing a try. That summer they changed the spools on his 4/0 Penn Senators from wire line to Dacron. They had the greatest time you can imagine, running out to Montauk, fishing along the way and sharking off Montauk Point. Not knowing where to go, they got a chart from Montauk Marine Basin which marked where to catch the different species of fish. With the aid of a compass and a flasher depth finder, that some times worked, they got out to where the sharks lived. They were ecstatic when they started catching them. Each year after that first adventure he set aside a week to bring the boat to Montauk for sharking, learning from Frank Mundus’ book and from their mistakes.

The "Freeport Boys" that worked on the Starsteam with Capt. Richie Kessinger would come to fish with him and in return he would deadhead for them. About this time he was advised, because of the amount of fishing he was doing, as well, as the liability problem, that it would be good to have a Coast Guard license.

The winter of 1979 Stret and his brother Scott built a 30’ Sisu in the funeral home garage that was finished off and launched Memorial Day 1980. In 1982 fishing Hempstead harbor was dead, the "Freeport boys" talked him into bringing the boat to Montauk to commercial fish blues at Cartwrite. In time they ventured into the other fisheries, cod, blacks, tuna and striped bass. The boat has been in Montauk since that summer. The "Freeport Boys" not always being available, he started taking charters from time to time, when work at Glen Head permitted.

In 1995 they sold the Sisu to purchase the 34’ Wilbur that he had until August 2003 when they took delivery of the new custom 42’ Wilbur/Westmac. In 1998 Joe McBride encouraged him to join the Montauk Boatmen and Captains Association, and soon after became its Secretary and in 2006 was elected president. Stret has since retired from funeral directing and has been able to fish full time since.