Meet The KFA-NY Board of Directors past and present

[CENTER]Here are some of the past and present members who have helped shape the club and help keep it so successful.


George White (georgeD)- President




I have resided in Sayville since the age of 13, living that close to the Great South Bay offered plenty of opportunities for fishing, clamming, and enjoying other water sports. I was fortunate to have a dad that loved fishing and was willing to spend time teaching fishing, proper boat handling and conservation. I am now retired after spending 40 years in law enforcement the last 33 years with the Suffolk County Police Department. When off from the police Dept. I clammed on the GSB and later ran a lobster boat out of Mattituck. These giving me a lot of knowledge of those waters. Around 2004 I read an article in a fishing magazine about guys in Jersey fishing out of kayaks, this intrigued me. So looking for a new way to gain access I thought this would be something to get involved in. I took my first trip of many to see Jon Shein at KFS, and purchased my first fishing kayak a Tarpon 120. I would buy my second from him a year later, my first Hobie, a Revolution. Around 2006 kayak fishing post were becoming more active on the Stripers-On-Line forum. Following up on these post, a group consisting of our charter members (acknowledged in a forum thread) and the first Board consisting of Stan Knipe, Ed Sinn, Bob Skoy, Anthony Weiss, Carl Schneider and myself worked to create a local kayak club. The work of the above charter members and the first board formed the KFA-NY. Although I occasionally fish from a boat or surf nothing compares to the thrill of fishing from a kayak. Whether fishing for Sails or porgies kayak fishing is the way to go!

Big Bill Glynn (MrFixIt) -Vice President

Here is Bill fishing the East End Spring 2019


Rick Grabowski (Rick67)- Director
46 years on the water. From Jamaica Bay to the Canyon, Islamorada, to Daytona, and all the lakes in between. Whether boat, canoe, kayak, or wading. Cane pole, bait caster, spinning, fly rod, or conventional. Hasn't been a lapse of any duration of time that I haven't been with rod in hand. Most of my growing up was in Fla. Have to believe my Dad was on a mission to introduce me to all he knew about fishing knowing he wasn't going to be around to watch me grow up. He left when I was fifteen for wherever we all end up eventually but instilled a passion that still reins today. The kayak originally was a way for me to make my time on the water more a challenge. However it turned into a extreme advantage and find myself pitying most that look at it as less.* This Club introduced me to camaraderie within the fishing community that I hadn't thought possible. I hope to be part of it for many years to come.

Mike Papile (papile) - Secretary I joined the KFA in 2015, and since then have become an avid kayak fisherman getting on the water several times a week. I work as a software developer and I am interested in just about everything. After learning so much from the club and actively participating, helping with the operations and governance was a way that I felt I could give back to such a great group of people. When I'm not kayak fishing I am skiing, brewing beer, fixing stuff or learning random information of varying degrees of usefulness. I am very interested in conservation and marine biology as well, and appreciate being in a group that considers conservation part of their charter.

Darren Mikula (Dragonfish) - Past Vice-President
Look how happy I am

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Rick Gambino (aka Flukebelly)- Treasurer

I am 61 years old with 2 children, Chris is a Computer Solutions Engineer for Google in Boston and Laura is a Data Scientist. I started kayak fishing after my son started kayaking with the Boy Scouts about 14 years ago. I joined the KFA-NY in 2009 and have not fished from my boat since. 8 years ago my wife bought me my Hobie as an anniversary gift (is she good or what).I kayak year round whenever there is open water and tend to fish the Mount Sinai Harbor area before work most mornings and the Moriches area on weekends. Since I've joined the club though I've been please to also fish with members from LNB to Shinnecock. Now if I can just catch something other than searobins. Tight lines all.

Bob Bernard (bjb)- Past Director


[B][SIZE=12px][FONT=arial]Although I've always enjoyed the outdoors, it was limited to hiking, camping and an occasional kayak trip. The subject of kayak fishing came up at work one day in a conversation with Tom (searobin). Even though I was not into fishing, he made it sound interesting. We went to a KFA meeting in Jan