New to boating

Tpitch20

New Member
Jun 4, 2018
19
Bay Shore, NY
Boat Info
1997 Proline cutty fish 220 Garmin GPS
Engines
5.7 Mercruiser w Bravo I outdrive
My wife and I bought a 1997 Proline Cuttyfish 220 last September. We are looking to learn the Long Island waters places to go and hang out, fishing beaches etc. Docking in Bayshore. We have been launching at Captree and have been out about a dozen times. Still learning the boat but having fun. Any suggestions or anyone willing to show us the ropes?
 
Going in at captree makes you pretty central. Problem is that most of the marinas are town run so you're limited by your residency on weekends. Zach's Bay is always popular to drop anchor or raft up.

We're on the south shore too and frequent tobay. For overnights we like watch hill or sailors Haven. If you want a party crowd try flynn's on the weekend. Atlantique is also nice during the week and a short beach walk or water taxi to ocean Beach and of course you can slip at Ocean beach and go for dinner.

-Kevin
 
All great info from Kevin stated above.
Especially about Ocean Beach.
The town dock is easily accessible, just be sure to know your ropes!
The basin there is unprotected from the bay and the boat will bounce around when the larger wakes come rolling in.

Talisman/Barrett beach is a quiet spot just west of Davis Park. No docking, no ferry service.
You can drop off your guests and beach stuff at the dock, then you’ll have to drop anchor and walk/paddle board in a short distance.

Heavy wind out of the North, try Connetquot river.
 
Kevin gave you some great spots, and your boat is perfect for learning your way around. Big enough so you don’t get completely swamped by the big guys, yet small enough that you can go almost anywhere in the Bay with it.
Besides Zack’s Bay, there is Hemlock Cove. It would be closer to the ramp you use at Captree. Maybe 15 minutes West once you clear that PIA 5 mph zone.
It’s on the state boat channel between the Lindenhurst Cut and the Amityville Cut. Not as big as Zack’s Bay, but the water is cleaner (if you plan to jump in) because of the way it moves through there.
For a very casual dinner after a day at the beach, the Sea Gull in Babylon was one of our favorites, and a fairly short run back to the boat ramp at Captree. They have several slips that will accommodate you. We used to go there all the time with our old 300 Sundancer. Unfortunately, they only have one slip that accommodates my 410 so It’s kind of off our list.
Fishing? Follow the crowd, you’ll see guys fishing in the Bay all over the place.
Fluke is pretty easy to learn how to catch, so that’s a good place to start.
I’m in no way an expert but I do fish the Bay for fluke several times a season on a 22’ Boat, it’s fun and you save fuel staying inside, but rarely get keepers.
Lots of guys tell me they get keepers in the Bay, but that hasn’t been my experience.
I have much better luck catching a meal in the ocean on nice days, or drifting the inlets on incoming tides.
Find a friendly bait shop and pick their brains for spots and methods.
Crabbing from your Proline in shallow spots can be a lot of fun, it’s easy to learn how to catch and clean them, and it’s really cheap to get started. They make for a tasty sauce over a plate of linguini. My wife will pick the little critters apart for the tiny slivers of meat and she tells me how good it is, but I don’t have the patience for it.
 
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Going in at captree makes you pretty central. Problem is that most of the marinas are town run so you're limited by your residency on weekends. Zach's Bay is always popular to drop anchor or raft up.

We're on the south shore too and frequent tobay. For overnights we like watch hill or sailors Haven. If you want a party crowd try flynn's on the weekend. Atlantique is also nice during the week and a short beach walk or water taxi to ocean Beach and of course you can slip at Ocean beach and go for dinner.

-Kevin
Haven’t been to Atlantique in many years. What’s the policy and pricing for non residents these days?
 
Thanks for the information. Really looking forward to a great summer on the water. Wanna learn some good fishing spots to bring the kids and navigate out to the ocean.
 
Haven’t been to Atlantique in many years. What’s the policy and pricing for non residents these days?

Have not checked on it this year - but last year it was still A, B and C slips available to non-residents during the week. We last went two seasons ago as part of our club where we were treated nastily by the dockmaster and even thrown out during the week to make room for residents. This was on top of them almost doubling our rates - they should have thanked us for all the money we brought them that week.

Regardless I called last year and heard the rolled back some of the pricing and changed some management but we never got out there. Spent more time west of the Robert Moses Causeway. I still like Atlantique and may try it again this year. My dock neighbors were just out at Watch Hill and said that while it was open there was still a lot of work going on - but at least its another option this year and looking forward to going again.

-Kevin
 
Thanks for the information. Really looking forward to a great summer on the water. Wanna learn some good fishing spots to bring the kids and navigate out to the ocean.

Captree is a great place to launch and you should have no problem with the inlet once you learn it. Follow out some bigger boats and mark the trails. Pick yours days for the ocean and it should be fun - last year reported good fishing and a lot of whale sightings.

-Kevin
 
Kevin gave you some great spots, and your boat is perfect for learning your way around. Big enough so you don’t get completely swamped by the big guys, yet small enough that you can go almost anywhere in the Bay with it.
Besides Zack’s Bay, there is Hemlock Cove. It would be closer to the ramp you use at Captree. Maybe 15 minutes West once you clear that PIA 5 mph zone.
It’s on the state boat channel between the Lindenhurst Cut and the Amityville Cut. Not as big as Zack’s Bay, but the water is cleaner (if you plan to jump in) because of the way it moves through there.
For a very casual dinner after a day at the beach, the Sea Gull in Babylon was one of our favorites, and a fairly short run back to the boat ramp at Captree. They have several slips that will accommodate you. We used to go there all the time with our old 300 Sundancer. Unfortunately, they only have one slip that accommodates my 410 so It’s kind of off our list.
Fishing? Follow the crowd, you’ll see guys fishing in the Bay all over the place.
Fluke is pretty easy to learn how to catch, so that’s a good place to start.
I’m in no way an expert but I do fish the Bay for fluke several times a season on a 22’ Boat, it’s fun and you save fuel staying inside, but rarely get keepers.
Lots of guys tell me they get keepers in the Bay, but that hasn’t been my experience.
I have much better luck catching a meal in the ocean on nice days, or drifting the inlets on incoming tides.
Find a friendly bait shop and pick their brains for spots and methods.
Crabbing from your Proline in shallow spots can be a lot of fun, it’s easy to learn how to catch and clean them, and it’s really cheap to get started. They make for a tasty sauce over a plate of linguini. My wife will pick the little critters apart for the tiny slivers of meat and she tells me how good it is, but I don’t have the patience for it.
Great information. Very much appreciated.
 
Welcome to CSR, and boating! I'm a north shore guy so I can't help much with south shore stuff. About all I know is things down there can get skinny real fast, the bottom shifts a lot, and and it's a good idea to stay in the marked channels.
 
Welcome to CSR, and boating! I'm a north shore guy so I can't help much with south shore stuff. About all I know is things down there can get skinny real fast, the bottom shifts a lot, and and it's a good idea to stay in the marked channels.
Yes I have gotten stuck a few times.
 
I got stuck 2 days ago. I hate it but it feels sooo good afterwards
 
I got stuck 2 days ago. I hate it but it feels sooo good afterwards
Yeah we did also on Friday. I knew we were in somewhat shallow water and saw a larger boat a little left of us so I turned a little towards them and got stuck only to find out THEY were stuck. Smh.
 
Almost Anyone who has boated on the Great South Bay has run aground at some point

Watch Hill Fire Island is a jewel. It’s part of the FI National seashore. Very nice & reasonable Marina that you can take a “day slip” without electric for a low priced you don’t need it. The beaches there are terrific. We miss that place now that we boat in Peconic Bay.

If you go it’s best to go before mid July when the mosquitoes are in full force. Because it is a salt marsh and a nature preserve they do not spray and the mosquitoes get pretty bad.
 
Mosquitos at Watch Hill are killer.
Agree, everyone runs aground sooner or later here in “ the sand box”.
Last time for me was about 4 years ago with my old 300 Sundancer. Ran aground by Gilgo at a spot I had been through hundreds of times.
Just today, I was southbound in the Amityville Cut and noticed the buoys at the north end weren’t perfectly in line with the others anymore. I think they moved them since Memorial Day.
That cut is very unforgiving. Stray outside the buoys in low tide and it’s ankle deep. The north end in low tide always makes my depthfinder sing. My a$$hole puckers all the time going through there.
Update: Went through there at 9:30 this morning. Had all of 2 feet under me at the north end while on plane.
 
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