On the water |
There are few Long Island summer moments quite like watching a kid reel in their first fish.
But for parents who don’t fish regularly — or haven’t picked up a rod in years — getting them to that moment can feel a little intimidating.
The good news? You don’t have to be an experienced angler to give your child a pretty good shot at catching their first fish on the Great South Bay.
According to the crew aboard the Island Princess at Captree State Park, fluke are a great fish for kids and first-time anglers to learn on. The fishing takes place primarily in the calmer waters of the Great South Bay, and the technique itself is fairly simple once someone shows you what to do.
And that first lesson starts with the bottom of the bay.
Get the bait to the bottom
Fluke, also known as summer flounder, spend much of their time along the bay floor waiting for a meal to pass by. That means one of the most important things a new angler can learn is how to keep their bait down where the fish are.
Once the sinker reaches the bottom, reel up just enough to keep the line tight and the bait close to the bay floor. Then give the rod a slow, gentle lift every so often before letting it settle back down.
For kids, that’s an easy motion to learn — and much easier than constantly casting and reeling.
Fresh spearing and squid are a longtime favorite for fluke fishing on the Great South Bay. As the boat drifts, the bait moves naturally along the bottom through areas where fluke are feeding.
Learning what a bite feels like (the fun part)
This is where having someone nearby who knows what they’re doing can make all the difference.
A fluke bite isn’t always the dramatic yank on the fishing pole that kids may be expecting. Sometimes it feels more like a few taps, a little extra weight or simply something different happening at the end of the line.
On the Island Princess, the mates spend much of each trip moving around the boat helping anglers recognize those bites, checking bait, fixing tangles and showing first-timers what to do when they finally feel a fish on the other end.
For parents, one of the easiest tips is simply to tell the crew when you board that it’s your child’s first time fishing.
The Island Princess crew is known for being especially hands-on with beginners and kids. They’ll help bait the hook, get the line in the water, teach them how to work the rod and, when the moment comes, help them get that first fish over the rail.
Parents don’t need to know how to do any of it themselves.
Don’t make the first goal a ‘keeper’
There’s another tip that can make a kid’s first fishing trip a lot more fun: Let the first goal simply be catching a fish.
Not every fluke is going home for dinner.
Plenty of undersized fluke, often called “shorts”, are caught and released throughout a trip, and for a child holding a fishing pole when that first one bites, the size usually isn’t what they remember anyway.
Current New York regulations determine which fluke can be kept, and the Island Princess crew measures the catch and can clean legal keepers to take home.
But that first fish?
That one gets the picture either way.
A little preparation helps, too
The Island Princess provides the rods, bait and tackle, so families don’t need to buy or bring fishing equipment.
For kids, comfortable rubber-soled shoes or sneakers, sunscreen, a sweatshirt or light jacket and some snacks and drinks are usually the more important things to remember. Temperatures on the Great South Bay can feel noticeably cooler than they do back on land.
The Island Princess runs two daytime fluke trips from Captree State Park each day, from 7 to 11/11:30 a.m. and noon to 4/4:30 p.m., giving families a half-day option without committing young kids to an entire day on the water.
The family-owned boat has been sailing from Captree for more than 40 years, and its crew has introduced generations of Long Islanders to fishing.
For a child, one of those short four-hour trips just might end with a new fish story they’ll be telling for a very long time.
For schedules, tickets and current fishing reports, visit IslandPrincessCaptree.com.
The crew also posts recent catches and fishing updates on Facebook and Instagram @islandprincesscaptree.
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