Night Tides reveals the untold story of one of Long Island's most controversial, eccentric and incredibly successful striped bass fishermen. It shadows The Greek in riveting detail throughout his range of surf, boat and bridge fishing on Long Island's South Shore, dramatically revealing the magnificence of a fish and the beauty of its endangered environment.
Mike Cinquemani's fishing career really got started in his very first year of teaching, when he decided that he desperately needed some form of escape from the daily frustrations that he suffered at the hands of his junior high school English students in NYC. The tranquility of the near-by surf of Long Beach, Long Island provided the setting for his diversion as he pursued the art of striped bass fishing on an almost daily basis. Problem was -- Mike never caught any fish! Enter a wisecracking young teenager who loved to goad our future author on his total lack of success as a surfcaster -- and the rest of the story became history -- or, became at least, "Night Tides: The Striper Fishing Legend of Billy the Greek."
Mike eventually figured out the secret of success in the educational system, rising from his school's teacher of the year -- to deputy community superintendent of a 28,000 student school district. All the while Mike maintained a relationship with the striped bass fishing fanatic who was to become the central character in the true story of one of the northeast's most successful striped bass fishermen.
"I never wanted to write just another 'how-to' book on striped bass fishing --there were already plenty of those. In 'Night Tides,' I did my best to reveal the workings of the mind behind obsessive behavior -- in this case, the mindset and method of an extraordinary fisherman. I wanted "Night Tides" to reflect the actual stories of a genuine, old-school, dyed-in-the-wool fisherman, and what it takes to get to his level of accomplishment -- in that way the lessons of "Night Tides" never get old. Along the way the reader can glimpse the stuff that legendary fish -- and legendary fishermen -- are made of.
