I woke up this morning with nothing but sadness in my heart. Yesterday we lost close a very close friend and a hell of a surfcaster. A fixture in the Montauk surf for last few decades ,Mark Levy never was and never will be your prototypical Montauk Regular.
He was as stubborn as a mule, he had a stamina of a twenty year old and a piercing stare that would make you want to go fish twenty yards away from him. But to us who knew him, he was the most loyal friend, a fishing partner and man who loved life. He liked fishing on the sandy beaches of Nassau County but he LOVED Montauk until his last breath. There was no place on earth where he was more at piece, more in his element then when he planted his feet on a slimy rocks on the Montauk North Side.
I still have a vision in my head of a hard nor’easters under the Bluffs, with a driving rain that pierced your soul. A huge menacing waves that were ready to swallow you whole if you took a step too close to the water. And there was Mark, standing on his rock, always the same one, wiping his glasses away in a downpour so he can make another cast. Like the world did not exist around him, as if he was all alone, he paid no attention to hundreds of casters to his side. Just cast, reel, wipe glasses, lean , cast , hook up, and on and on… Oh , how he loved those storms on the north side of the Light, how he loved tossing Super Strike Poppers in the middle of the night and catching fish while everyone else just scratched their heads.
May the Montauk Light be an internal beacon that guides him in afterlife. I am certain that Mark is already sharpening his hooks in Heaven, waiting for another tide to flush all the stripers from their Heavenly hiding spot.
He was a long serving member of High Hill Striper Club who was actively involved in the club and was one of the most ardent proponents of conservation and catch and release. I am not sure if I have ever seen him keep a fish of any kind and I knew and fished with him for almost two decades. He was not the type to tell others what to do with their fish but you’d see what he was thinking on his face. He wore a heart on his sleeve, there was no gray area , it was either black or white. Or in case of his beloved Super Strike darters, yellow.
Man sure could fish that darter, but to me, I will always remember that it was him who uncovered the magic of the Little Neck Poppers at night, and not willingly either. You had to earn his respect. I will be eternally grateful that I did.
To all his friends, family and fishing buddies, sincerest condolences on your loss from all of us at the Surfcaster’s Journal.
World has lost a hell of a surfcaster yesterday..they just don’t make them like Mark anymore..
Rest in peace buddy …and catch em up in heaven.
