The Long Island Fisherman, first published in 1966, stands as one of the longest-running angling periodicals in the region (now known as The Fisherman).
Readers may remember the excitement of checking their mailbox for the weekly black-and-white newsprint issues filled with fishing tips, lure recommendations, charter boat advertisements, new products, and trip reports––an indispensable resource for planning their weekend angling adventures.
The originally self-published periodical, first titled The Long Island Saltwater Fisherman, began in the basement of Rich Reina, who lived in Sag Harbor at the time and worked full-time at a printing plant. When he wasn’t working, he collected and wrote fishing reports, sold advertising space, and distributed the magazines locally.
The Long Island Fisherman magazine grew and gained popularity in the 1970s, eventually branching out regionally to cover New England and New Jersey.
The magazine offered a portrait of coastal life and maritime heritage on Long Island. It covered a variety of subjects relating to marine biology, species trends, regional fisheries, fishing spots, community events, government regulations, and fish size and populations, from anecdotal to scientific accounts.
The periodicals also included comics and artwork by local artist Fred Guardineer, classified ads, tide tables, and photographs of Long Island fishermen (men, women, and children) with their catch, indicating size and where they were caught.
Issues from the 1970s and 1980s reported the early public dialogue about conservation and regulation, including striped-bass moratoria, size and catch limits, federal marine management, and their impacts on the livelihood of local fishermen.
The Montauk Library houses a collection of 737 issues from 1971 to 1993. The personal collection was generously donated by local angler and long-time subscriber Ed Hocker. This year, thanks to partial funding from a Long Island Library Resources Council Digitization Grant, we digitized the collection and made it available online.
Did we lure you in enough?
Browse the collection online on the Internet Archive. Thanks to Optical Character Recognition technology, the issues are full-text searchable.
Try searching your favorite charter boat, captain, or local fishing spot and share links to your favorite issues in the comments below.
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