FISHING REPORT Sand tiger sharks make Sound appearance

With the hubbub surrounding the almost 82-pound striper caught last week off Westbrook (now in IFGA world record wait-and-see mode) dying down, now comes news that a sand tiger shark was caught off Milford (details Sunday in the Post).

Sand tigers and brown or sandbar sharks are not uncommon in Long Island Sound in the summer. Both species have sharp teeth but are not known to be aggressive. Spiny and smooth dogfish sharks are also common. While dogfish have tiny teeth, they are the nice guys of the shark world. If they had legs they would sit up and beg.

And while we are on the subject of misplaced creatures that sometimes show up in the Sound when the water gets warm, a large school of dolphin were spotted feeding off Rocky Point Beach in Long Island last week.

SALTWATER

Striped bass: The large bass are still in deep water, but there are lots of schoolies around at dusk and dawn. For larger bass, a trip to Niantic or Stonington is probably a good idea. The Race, the reefs off Watch Hill, Ram Island Reef in Fishers Island Sound, and humps south of Wilderness Point off Fishers Island have yielded good-sized fish. The problem is getting a bait or jig past the bluefish.

Bluefish: Huge amounts of small bait are keeping the tailor blues very plentiful at the mouth of the Housatonic and at most beaches at dusk and first light. Oddly, these blues are not very interested in hitting surface poppers. They seem to prefer small stick baits like Rappala's Max series and soft plastics in brown and albino tones.

Snapper blues: A great run of snappers makes for some great fishing for kids and adults. Bond's Dock in Stratford, the Town Dock in Milford and the beach at Saint Mary's, and the outlet of Ash Creek in Bridgeport have tons of snappers with resident parking stickers not required to get at them.

Porgies: The porgy bite has hit high gear. Sunken Island, Penfield Reef, and the waters off Seaside Park are loaded. Stick the neck of a steamer clam on the hook weighted with a 2- or 4-ounce sinker and you are in the porgie zone.

Fluke: This season's amazing run of mostly undersized fluke has abated slightly, but there are still lots of them out there to be caught, either from the beaches or from boats. All it takes is a small jig with a squid strip trailing off it.

Blackfish: Just 2 1/2 weeks until the close of blackfish season until October. Anglers dropping green and Japanese crabs off the ferry dock in Bridgeport Harbor were pulling up some keepers last week.

New playground planned for downtown Rocky Point park

The installation of a new playground at Veterans Park in Rocky Point is one step closer to becoming a reality now that the state and county have reached a permitting agreement, Brookhaven Town officials announced this week.

Second District Councilwoman Jane Bonner said the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which owns the park, issued a permit required by Suffolk County on Friday. The permit was needed because the Brookhaven Business Community Alliance, a local business group that maintains the park located behind Tilda’s Bake Shop on Route 25A, applied for a $63,000 county-issued downtown revitalization grant to pay for the playground.

Ms. Bonner told Northshoresun.com on Monday that she was happy to act as the liaison between the two municipalities in order to assist in “cutting through the red tape.”

“There are so many family-friendly things to do in downtown Rocky Point and the playground will be another initiative to continue revitalizing our downtown,” Ms. Bonner said, adding that a plan to build a playground at the park has been nearly two years in the making.

A previous playground at the park, which opened in 2000, had fallen into disrepair and was removed in 2005.

Construction of the playground could begin as early as late summer, town officials said.

jennifer@northshoresun.

Rocky Point Park

Rocky Point Park

Rocky Point Park, coloring book

Tales of Rocky Point Park

Report of the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners ...