New York and Peconic River Fishing
By Captain Ray Kelly

Very few anglers know of the fantastic fishing in Riverhead, New York. The Peconic River is home to excellent fishing. Riverhead is undergoing

major changes. One of the largest shopping malls, The Tanger Outlet Mall, is located in Riverhead. Riverhead town has refurbished the waterfront area. The town marina has dockage for large and small boats with electric, water and cable. There are picnic tables. It is really a great place to fish from the dock especially for children.

In August, snappers start to bite and any child or adult can catch them right from the dock. Anglers may also catch a striped bass, weakfish or bluefish. I am also glad to report that the Town of Riverhead has an Annual Snapper on the Saturday after Labor Day. So mark it on your calender and come out and fish this tournament with us. It is an excellent way to get kids involved in fishing. Last year, the ages of anglers were from 3 years old to 90 years old. The 90 year old was my aunt, Anna Brennan.

I pick up my many of my charters right at the town dock. On many of the trips we stayed right in the Peconic River. You can see fish breaking water and at times, an angler can catch fish on just about every cast. When bluefish and snappers are feeding it is easy to catch them. I use a tandem rig and sometimes catch two at a time. The anglers want to stay in the river and catch these fish. There are plenty of short bass in the river. I especially like the area in and around the Route 105 Bridge. It seems the bass and bluefish like to hide around the bridge pilings and ambush the baitfish as they are being swept in orout with the tide. The stripers are averaging between 15-18 inches. These fish are fun to catch. Striped Bass must be 28 inches to keep and an angler can only catch one fish per day.

As most of you know we try and promote catch and release as well as tag and release. Tag and release is an excellent way to teach children about the importance of conservation. Tags can be obtained from the American Littoral Society in Highlands, NJ 17732. It is interesting to see where your tagged fish that you release is caught again. You can see where it migrated to and how large it grew after you tagged the fish. I was recently in the North Fork Grill in Mattituck and spoke with the owner, Phil who told me he recently caught a nice 37 " striped bass that had a Fish & Wildlife tag from Annapolis, Maryland.

Recently, I had the pleasure of fishing with my son, Chris in the Peconic River and we tagged a bluefish. It will be interesting to see where this fish ends up before being caught again. Chris is busy broadcasting various events on the internet throughout the world . Needless to say, I love it when we have time to go fishing together.

I also have to give my son, Chris, a plug here for creating and maintaining The Adventures In Fishing Website (http://www.adventure-fishing.com). Chris did a great job on our website. He hopes to add video clips in the near future. Check out the website for more fishing information, other fish stories and information about our weekly television show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING WITH CAPT. RAY KELLY.

The Peconic River is a great location to fish. It is not recognized as one of the best places to fish like Montauk, Shinnecock or Orient Point but it is definintely one of the great places. Another benefit about fishing the river is you can even get out when the weather just is not cooperating. Boats are protected in the River so even when there are rough seas in the bay and ocean, an angler get still go fishing.

I like to troll for the fish or cast to them. On my charter boat, Adventures, clients have their choice. They can even flyfish as we have two flyfishing rods on board as well. This year white bucktails and Rubber grubs made by LOVES LURES and The PETRI-FISH TACKLE COMPANY are working real well. I have even landed a small bass on the new Petri-Fish PW-3.

But the only way for you to catch these fish and experience some fantastic fishing is to get out there and give it a try. Like I said, you do not even need a boat to do it. I highly recommend going out with a charter captain the first time, especially if you are with a child. Children tend to get bored if you do not catch fish and most good captains will put you onto fish. We try and take a photograph of the child with their fish and send it to the child after the charter as a memory and keepsake.

Visit Capt. Ray at his website http://www.adventure-fishing.com or drop him a line at raykelly@optonline.net

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