In 1980, I suggested to the then-editor of The Pointer, the late John McManus, that someone should write a fishing column. His reply to me was, "So write one." I've had fun doing that for over thirty years, always trying to find something interesting to relate to people who are bitten by the fishing bug, but it's been an increasingly difficult time to find material to write about because of so many things which have happened that resulted in fewer and fewer people pursuing recreational fishing.

I apologize for falling into the trap of kvetching about all the rules and regulations which have increasingly thwarted this sport, because belly-aching about things never changed anything. In a recent conversation with the present editor, Noreen Schramm, I wondered if this column should even be carried as a regular feature. After all, how many people have you seen, especially kids, who are heading to the water, bright eyed and bushy tailed, with all kinds of fishing gear in hand? The recent imposition of a licensing fee may have been the final nail in the coffin when it comes to salt water fishing as we've known it here in Breezy Point.

Tomorrow, the diehard locals who call themselves The Breezy Point Boaters and Anglers Association will buck the odds and try to catch some keeper fluke, along with some other creatures from the deep blue sea. With the water temperatures running in the eighty-degree range there's a good chance that someone may snag an exotic tropical fish that has wandered up north with the warm current that is hugging our shores. I will report the results in next week's column.