The Market's Insane

275 Riverside Avenue sold for $4.6 million in 2/20 and, after some renovation, sold again today for $5.825, $575,000 over its asking price of $5.250.

I’m very much reminded of the great bluefish invasion of Long Island Sound in the mid-80s. For a couple of years you couldn’t avoid the damn things. Windsurfing became a thrill-sport, because schools of hundreds of these sharp-toothed monsters would boil up to the surface chasing bunker out of the water and over your board, inches from your bare toes. We removed the barbs from our hooks so we could shake the things off after bringing them to the boat: bluefish don’t freeze, and no one needs three dozen of them in the trunk of his car.

By 1990, it was all over. There are still fish around, but instead of 22-pounders being ho-hum catches, a fish of 16-pounds is rare, and the days of skimming around the Sound, spotting huge schools and reeling in dozens are gone, at least for now.

Bonne chance pêche.