Pete Wenczel: Fisherman and Bayman Born in New York City, and raised in suburban New Jersey, Pete spent his childhood summers in Southold, where he first learned to swim, sail, fish, and clam. By the time he was a young man, he knew that he wanted to make his living off the water. As he […]
Ed Thomas: Commercial Fisherman and Bayman Ed Thomas was born in Baldwin, NY, and has been fishing for as long as he can remember. His started his first business at eight years old, digging soft shell clams and putting them in a basket on his bicycle, and selling them house to house down the street. […]
Chuck Tekula: Bayman and Fisherman Chuck Tekula is a commercial fisherman from Center Moriches. College educated at Empire State College in New York, Chuck frequently writes about the lives of commercial fishermen, the regulations, and policies that affect them, and what has led to the decline of Great South Bay. He was one of the […]
Tommy Stewart: Decoy Carver/Shorebirds Tommy was inspired working with wood as a young boy from his grandfather, Dave, and his father, Russell. Together they made silhouettes, whirligigs, and bird houses. As a young boy, Tommy spent many summers studying birds and fishing at his grandfather’s home on the water in southern New Jersey. Making their […]
Flo Sharkey: Clammer Flo Sharkey is a 2nd-generation baywoman who was an active member of the Brookhaven Baymen’s Association and past president. As a young girl Flo learned how to clam, scallop, crab and eel from her father. She works part-time on the bay from her waterfront dock and home in Patchogue. Flo and other […]
Joey Scavone: Fisherman Joey Scavone was born in Freeport and began fishing with his father, a devoted recreational fisherman. Like most recreational fishermen, his father awoke young Joey in the early morning hours to go fishing for striped bass and blue fish, which were abundant in the south shore bays near Jones Beach and Captree. “We’d […]
George Rigby, Jr. — Master Fisherman, Duck Hunter and Decoy Carver George Rigby was born in Bay Shore, Long Island, the descendant of several generations of baymen and duck hunters. His great grandfather and grandfather worked on the bay during the late 1800s and early 1900s in Canarsie near Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn either harvesting […]
Reed Riemer – Master Recreational Fisherman The son of an avid fisherman, Reed got his start fishing with his father at a young age. “He would come home and go on the jetties,” said Reed. “He was a surf fisherman at first, and then he started getting boats. Mostly he would take me on the […]
John Remsen, Sr.: Boat builder John Remsen of Freeport was one of the few men on Long Island who built garveys, a traditional flat bottom boat used by baymen and recreational fishermen in the shallow south shore waters of Nassau and Suffolk County. During his lifetime he built over 100 garveys. Like the generations before […]
John Remsen Jr.: Bait fisherman The Remsen family of Freeport goes back to the late 1800s, when Alanson Ellison began fishing on the south shore. A bayman, Alanson taught his grandchildren the skills of building traps, fishing, and maintaining the family bay house at Brandt Point, where he operated a bait station during the 1950s. […]
