# 55733: Subject: Fort Tilden, New York

Submitted by John Cooper (ip 207.237.57.209)

• Fished on 8/6/2006

• Report received: 10/8/2006

Water Temperature: Cool
Water Clarity: Clear
Seas: a little chop no surf to speak of
Weather: Bright sunny day about 85
Fishing_for: Fluke
Boat: Shore Fishing
captain: .

Report:
I went fluking with my wife at Fort Tilden’s Fisherman’s Beach Sunday August 6th. The tide was coming in. 1:00 in the afternoon The day was bright, with a nice 10-15 mph on shore breeze. The water is still cool for August.

Fort Tilden is part of the Gateway National Recreational Area The access for fishermen is outstanding. It is like going to a club in the Hamptons. You must have a parking pass. Or you can walk in, it is a long way from the Q-22 bus. Bicycles are O.K. too.

The United States Government has set aside the most beautiful beach in New York City for YOU to fish off. The areas you can go are gorgeous. I am just scratching the surface of the great fishing spots you can go to in Gateway.

Get the pass at The Fort Tilden Visitor’s Center. After you leave the visitor’s center go west on Rockaway Point Blvd. to Beach 193rd street, make a left and go towards the Beach Club.

Turn before the guard house for the club parking lot make a left into federal property. You will see the conservationist and other federal signs. Don’t mess up the habitat.

There is a turn off that goes to the old artillery gun positions, seeing them is like being in a science fiction film. Go to the end of the road there is a parking lot. At the parking lot there are bathrooms, there is no running water but they are not bad, considering. Trash cans are available if you have soda cans or coffee cups to get rid of, that’s nice too. There is not a lot of trash around this place. People are considerate around here.

We parked and went to the beach on the paved road. You can take a cart on the road. Then we took one of the walkways to the beach. The beach is not wide and little jetties stick out into the waves. This separates the different spots on the beach. We came to the beach and to enjoy the sun and catch some fluke. During the week the area is empty, but today there are people clustered at the end of each walkway across the dunes. We went down the road to the 2nd walkway there was plenty of room to set up chairs and fish.

The water is nice, you can splash around but it is not for swimming. There is a steep slope to the beach and considerable rip in the tide. The slope is good for fishing. You can cast out 10 yards and be in 20 feet of water by my estimation. We fished with frozen spearing and squid strips. Also frozen sand eels. 3 oz. pyramid sinkers were plenty to hold bottom.

The other fishermen tell me live bait is better. (I know that!) We only got one Sea Skate between us after a couple of hours trying. Then we went to get fried seafood on dry land. It was a good day fishin’ but not too much catchin’

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