Connetquot River State Park Preserve — Attraction in Town of Islip

First time fishing here in 10 of 20+ years fly fishing. I am very saddened to see the downward decline and general decay of this parks former glory. If you are young and seeing the park in its current itteration; perhaps, you will have not a clue of what I'm writing about. The park is cool and new to you and a great place to enjoy. Im so happy for you! I fished here a lot when Gill Bergen was the lead person of charge. At that time, the park was world renown for the fly fishing. One cold and foggy, rainy, early spring morning, wading and casting drys, I literally bumped into a man, wading in fog. An english speaking man who flew here from Russia to fish-- from Russia! He complemented me on the beauty of my roll cast and we talked of flies and line weights as the thick fog burned off in the cold March morning sun. We fished together for the rest of the morning, combining our sites. Many fish were caught and stories shared over a thermos of hot coffee- a great memory.

TODAY, The fishing platforms are the same platforms of a decade ago but the workers who collect the 25 dollar fishing fee-- a 25 percent increase, have themselves a nice new cushy office in the sportsmens clubhouse. Passing through the front gate, I was given an order of appearance ticket for check in; but, it was not honored at the clubhouse/ check in spot, within the clubhouse. Waiting in the parking lot for roll call here is a long gone and missed past time of Connetquot fly fishing. Fisherman would talk of trips, gear up, smoke cigars and drink coffee while waiting for the gatehouse to open. In regards to checking today, you wait in your car, in front of the entrance gate, in a line backing up, precariously to sunrise highyway- You get a number and instructions to go park again at the new office in the clubhouse--an extra step for nothing and lost comradery in the parking lot. I spent many evenings at the clubhouse with the Art Flick chapter of Trout Unlimited. The park now has a wader washing station at rainbow bridge which is nothing more than a Lowes storage container that is a quarter full with dank and dirty looking water. A dirty brush, attached to mason line, sits beside it. I saw no fresh water or hose or instructions. I would venture to say that this idiotic step actually promotes intrusion of unwanted microorganisms. The walk to my site (#24) was filled with the unsettling imagery of a decade ago-never addressed. There are rotted corpses of cut up trees and waist high stumps that could have been cleaned up in a weekend by a volunteer crew. Ten years later and it is still the same. I did streambank restoration here as an Oakdale, NY, Idle Hour Flyfishers member when I was a young man-- Im 57 . I know the club is still around but i guess they just fish there now?. The club has not had an internet presense in over 15 years.

In all my past years trips here, and there were many, I never was accosted by a park ranger who made his way out to my site; specifically, to inspect my adherance to fishing my site and using barbless hooks. Although unsettling, I applaud the action and enjoyed the conversation. He takes his job seriously and our interaction was one of the few positive aspects of my visit.

A new "improvement" is allowing wading north of the hatchery. This "improvement" is evidenced by large amounts of invasive looking water grass in the water--north of the hatchery. Im very dissapointed. The ride to the hatchery on the trail road is now punctuated with open cuts to trails that were never so obvious a decade ago. The vegation along the road has seemeingly receeded from the road margins. In summary, it is a crying shame to see the brutal mismanagement of this island gem. I miss the horses that were kept to the right, on the way in. I miss the the grouse that would block the road, I miss the off putting humor of Gill. Truly saddening. October, 2024 Thomas Maslar,...

I go on a nature walk every single week and this has been my favorite one yet. This is a huge property with a lot of places to wander. The trails are clearly marked. They offer a map near parking so that you know what you are doing. The bathrooms are open. The trails are wide and clean. There are plenty of benches along the way. There are no garbage cans so whatever you take in you have to take out. There is a Fish Hatchery. $0.25 buys you a little bit of food so bring some quarters. We got about a dollar fifty worth of food and it was enough to keep a bunch of kids happy feeding fish for a couple of minutes. When you throw the food in the water the fish really jump and it's exciting to see. There are bridges and winding pads over the water. You can see the fish swimming free past moss-covered logs. There is a Cabbage Patch to walk through and Fields upon fields of beautiful flowers. Lots of Wildlife scurrying about. There are historic buildings on the grounds. Presently in April of 2021 they are closed to the public but there is a small inside area near the restroom with display cases that showcase artifacts up to 4000 years old. There are plenty of cool sites to see like an old well and water turbine with educational information included at the site. There is a big beautiful lake with swans and ducks and geese. This is a great place to go on a field trip or for homeschooling children or just a nice family outing or a couple going for a walk. Lovely facility. Lots of goose poop but nothing you can really do about that. The parking is free on weekdays up until Labor Day and then it will be $8 on weekdays and weekends seasonally. Overall a very great day was spent here. It is beautiful and...

Unlike other parks on long island, this park makes no sense, if you like to spend all day in the park and stay in it until sunset then this park is definitely not for you, it closes 4 pm and you can not stay in the park any longer, you must leave, they are to cheap to let anyone to stay in the park after hours, some other parks, like caumset state park allows you to stay after hours and you dont have to rush to leave because official hours are over. So you need to come early to fully benefit and make your parking fee worth. Even the parking is only $8 it does not make any sense to pay even $8 if you come lets say 2 pm because 2 hours is not enough and they do not give you discount , i come 3 pm and they guy at the entrance did not say anything it will not be enough time to reach the river, and most people come to that park just to see river and enjoy views of it, i paid the full price and did not even had enough time to reach the river before the park was closed and apart from it there are not much entertainment or sight seeing, it is boring enough, no cafeterias, no water fountains , not too many benches to seat to relax if you tire, no areas for children to play, and no fitness areas, no nothing , just forest and patches, again to reach a river it takes about a mile, the jones beach state park is much better park in terms of entertainment and sport activities, this was my first and the last trip to that park, there is nothing to do it is just patches and trails for a fee of $8 the could do better then that, the parking fee is not worth. never again will come and i advice you to...