by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish
Wow, what a week. What an absolutely crazy, bizarre week. Truth be told, this entire summer has been a lot of crazy. Wind turbine blades, beach closures, seals snapping fishing rods, astounding traffic congestion, supermarket refrigeration failures, supermarket deli meat recalls, supermarket payment system snafus, supermarket prices, gas prices…yeah, a wonderful conflagration burning up the Nantucket summer. Could it be that we’ve almost survived (oh, I hate myself a little for what’s about to happen here) One Crazy Summer?
The first official One Crazy Summer was August of 1985, when Nantucket took its inaugural run at jumping the shark (this is a Fonzie / Happy Days television show reference for you youngsters: look it up). A movie was actually going to be filmed here on our sweet little island. Could it be true? The island was abuzz, I tell ya!
We’d had some close calls in the past. Part-time Nantucket resident Nat Benchley’s hilarious book The Off-Islanders, a cold-war farce that involved a Russian submarine getting fetched up on a south shore sandbar, was the basis for the 1966 movie, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming! I recall hearing much speculation as to which island resident was the inspiration for each thinlyveiled fictional character. A highlight of Mr. Benchley’s book was a significant face-off between the native islanders and the shipwrecked Russians, which took place at the town dump. If my memory serves, someone got beaned pretty good in the head by a thrown bottle and everyone calmed down. Regardless, the movie was ultimately filmed in Mendocino, CA and not on Nantucket. Womp, womp, womp… The movie’s most memorable quote was when the Russian sailors were driving through town, yelling through a loudspeaker, “Emehrgancy! Everybody to get from street!” I used this line more than once while on patrol.
A second Hollywood near-miss for Nantucket involved yet another Benchley. Peter Benchley’s book Jaws became an iconic hit movie in the summer of 1975. Set on mythical Amity Island, it was fairly apparent to allin- the-know types that this was a Nantucket book all the way. Imagine the shock and soul-crushing pain when director Steven Spielberg goofed up and got on a steamship to Martha’s Vineyard. Oh, the humanity!
But not to worry, folks: all was about to be rectified. Hollywood was prepared to make its amends to the fine people of Nantucket by filming a cinematic masterpiece right here! And what a stupendous film this was. Featuring characters named Hoops McCann, George Calamari, his son Squid Calamari, the Stork brothers, Egg and Clay and the unforgettable Ack Ack Raymond (get it?), director Savage Steve Holland (really?) had Nantucket in his hand as filming began. Bobcat Goldthwait, John Cusack, and a pre-crazy incarnation of Demi Moore were awarded celebrity status. Siri, please set the timer for 15 minutes…
Oh yeah, this movie is bad. The fact that this script got the green light is testament to how significant the cocaine situation was in mid-80s America. I would have to include One Crazy Summer with other movie gems like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and the entire Sharknado series in the pantheon of truly terrible movies. Woof!
So back to the crazy summer of 2024… In the fishing world, this is the year that the bluefish were replaced by the previously rare bonito. Remember those halcyon days when your arms were worn out from hauling bluefish after bluefish out of the surf? Yeah, buddy, that didn’t happen in 2024. It was all bonito, I tell ya!
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that this is a bad thing. Bonito are an absolute blast to catch. They hit hard, sometimes escaping the fish hook part of the lure as they whack at the bait with their beak-like mouths. And wow, do they fight when hooked! Bonito are crazy fast, a distant member of the tuna family (hey now!). Once hooked, the bones (a term of endearment) will take off, screaming drag from fishing reels in a manner generally reserved for false albacore. Oh, yeah, speaking of false albacore, let’s hear it for beach fisher Dante Bruschi who landed our first beach albie of 2024!
So there you are, casting away when a bonito slams your lure (generally a metal lure, an epoxy minnow or an Island X Hellfire, either the 120 or 180 size). The fish goes on the afore-mentioned run and then…nothing. Your line goes slack. This is where your guide Stevie Tuna is yelling at you, “Reel, reel, reel as fast as you can!” The bones will swim right towards you, something that bluefish or striped bass rarely do. It’s imperative that you catch up quickly to avoid giving the fish the chance to shake the hook. Bonito are a brilliant Kelly green color when in the water, an absolutely stunning fish. They slash parallel to the beach, sometimes requiring the angler to give chase in order to keep the line taut.
“I just can’t believe how strong that little fish was!” This is the most common quote I hear from a fisher who had just landed their first bonito. I got to hear this four times when the Bordes family fished with me on a recent afternoon trip. It was a fairly easy session for me as Cormac and his three sons, Peter, Will, and Johnny were very proficient at casting. That allowed me to goof off and talk with Audrey, the awesome mom to the three boys. Audrey and her crew had a deal of sorts. The guys got their fishing time this afternoon. In return, they would not whine while Audrey searched out some things she wanted to see the next day. Audrey asked me about several Nantucket locations described in Elin Hilderbrand books, as well as where I suspected that she might meet the famous Miss Peaches. I did my best to point her in the right direction, but was mighty glad when her guys started hauling bonito onto the beach. Each of the guys caught at least one fish. I was once again reminded how fortunate I am to get to meet such wonderful families.
Just how good has the bonito bite been lately? My niece, Meri Lepore, called me and asked if there was a chance that her husband Matt Peele might finally be able to catch a fish off of the beach in order to “…apply for his Islander Card.” Yikes. This was a tall order. I pondered it for a moment and told her that yes, there was a slight chance, provided that Matt would fish on the outside edge of Great Point and toss something shiny.
Beth and I figured that we better get out there to help. And it was a good thing that we did. Matt was tossing an amber-colored Hellfire. Shiny, Matt—I said shiny! I gave him a shiny metal lure and Ka-boom! He was hooked up! Matt did a great job fighting the mighty bonito, and very soon he was posing with his first ever beach-caught fish, much like a blind squirrel posing with an acorn it stumbled upon. And as if to shut up his loudmouth know-it-all uncle, Matt soon caught his second one. Job well done, Matt!
Remy Stressenger, another hard-charging beach fisher (thanks to Tammy King’s fantastic work getting ladies out there casting!), got a thorough induction into the world of bonito catching. She landed six this morning on the south shore. Her husband, Garth, caught five. “Immediately I knew it wasn’t a blue. Catching my first bonito felt like a fun game of tug of war! Hearing the line ‘zing’ as it ran made me smile. Then I gently eased him onto the beach to see those beautiful stripes!”
And finally, here’s this from Gray Malitsky, my former evil arch-nemesis: “The bonito took over the role of the MIA bluefish, launching clear out of the water to smash lures on the surface. Between my mom and me, we beached 45 bonito in 12 hours of fishing, numbers only made possible by the shocking lack of seals.” Gray starts his freshman year at Colby College this week. Go get ‘em, nemesis!
It’s all bonito all the time out there on the beaches, folks. Please believe me when I tell you that this fish that was once so infrequently caught that the winner of the Inshore Classic fishing tournament was often determined by which lucky angler happened to land this unicorn. And now it’s replacing the ubiquitous bluefish as the primary target of beach anglers.
This has been one crazy summer indeed!
Steve “Tuna” Tornovish is a Nantucket native who has spent his life fishing from the beaches of his beloved island. He loves to introduce clients to the joy of fishing with his Nantucket Island Fishing Adventures: stevetuna.com
