The Sandeel(DEDICATED TO CHARLES NOVEMBER)

This segment of this blog is dedicated to my late cousin, CHARLES NOVEMBER.


My acquaintance with the sandeel came from my cousin Charlie's advocation of using this baitfish to catch summer flounder(fluke). The fishing station in Seaford, Long Island which was my main base began to carry the item. Boy do those fluke like those sandeels. The only time that I ever saw sandeels swimming in the thousands was in Long Island Sound out of Stoney Brook Harbor which is part of the north shore of Long Island. Fluke were not the only flounder that would eat them. In fact, when I caught fish from various ports around Long Island, those that I kept to clean would be the ones that ended up for dissection of their stomachs to see what they were eating. I never found a sandeel in a fluke's stomach. Fluke on the south shore of Long Island liked to eat grass shrimp. While I did catch some fluke in Stoney Brook Harbor, we also had some great winter flounder fishing in that area particulaly in the sound. The winter flounder had a very small mouth but you would not no so with the dozens of sandeels that I would find in their stomachs. The winter flounder from Stoney Brook had the best tasting flesh due in fact to their voracious appetite for sandeels. A few years back, I read that fluke were being farm raised in the northeast to supply the japanese with sushi grade fish. I called and suggested to the owners to feed their home grown fish sandeels. Whether they did this or not, I do not know.