The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-03-31
THE MUSICAL CLICK OF THE RUNNING
REEL.
AND TIE SWISH or TIE BEND
ING RODS.
A POND VALUED AT FORTY THOUSAND
DOLLARS.
Richard X. fox's Manifesto-suiIivan In
Trim and Says lie VIII Win-Base-
Ball News-HartIett. the Crack
English Fighter.
Especial Correspondence OF the Times

NOltu 10 gOOu sport, ana hundreds oil
New Workers will leave Gotham Sunday
night and move on toward the shady
brooks where the gamy trout hides, and
it will be great day of April fool for
both the fishers and the trout.
For two weeks past there has been lit
tie else heard but the musical click Of
tile running reel and the swish of the
bending rods. Everybody who follows
LEAK Walton has been preparing for the
great day, and the chances are that there
will be a great many fish taken from the
waters OF this State within the next two
or three weeks, if the weather continues
as clear and warm as it is now. TODAY
the sun shines bright; nota cloud specks
the sky, and the sports are happy as
frogs in a marsh hens nest. Sunday
night shall pack my grip, roll up my
rod and become one of the wanderers on
Long Island for two days.
There are in the neighborhood of two
hundred trout treams on The island, and
twice "a many ponds and preserves The
streams are full 10 OyerilOwing this year
with the largest and best fish in the
world, and from the present outlook It
seems "a though there will be rod for
every trout that spreads its fins on Mon
day and makes the dash for The gaudily
colored fly. But there is one consola-
ton and that is that the ajority Of fish
ermen who will 90 out on Monday are
amateurs of the greenest type, and will
fall victims to the custom OF April fool
ing. There are about two hundred good
fishermen who know how TO get the
trout from the water, ana these will be
divided up between Long Island and the
Catskills, where there are quite as many
trout as there are in The running brooks
of Long Island,
The promiscuous fly-throwing in
dulged in by boys and young men who
don't know what Keeling is, in the true
sense of the word, but who manage to
take a great many fish from the water by
fair means and foul, have seriously de-
pleted the stock, and but for the work of
+ the Fish Commission the pleasure of fly
fishing would be thing of the past in
very little while During the past year
over 100000 fry have been sent TO the
streams and ponds on Long Island by
The Commission. OF these, the Brooklyn
Gun Club, in whose ranks are great
many good and honest fishermen, has
received l0,S0O for their preserves, and
they will enjoy the best kind OF good
trout fishing from next Monday until the
lst of next September, when the curtain
will fall on the best sport that was ever
invented.
Just how the trout are protected is
shown by the fact that all the clubs-and
all the streams and ponds, with the ex
ception Of Shutdown river, are owned
BY clubs-restrict the sport. No fisher
man Is allowed to take more than seven
trout from any water, and all fish must
be half pound in weight when caught;
If of less weight, and not pricked by The
hook so badly that they bleed, they must
be returned 10 the water
During the week visited some Of the
famous ponds near this city in company
with one of the best known and finest
ily fishers In the country. One OF the
most notable trout breeders and fishers
on the island is William H. Furman, OF
Shutdown. He has been In the business
/ for forty years, and was one or the nrst
10 90 into the trout breeding business In
this country He has made the work the
study of his life, and he knows every
/ thing about trout that Is or can be
4 learned by human being. For years
his ponds were at Maspeth, only mile
from Williamsburg, but he had to move
them because Of the poachers who
dragged the ponds with nets at nights, and
almost ruined the . places, and stocked
the market with fish that were so small that
3 they could not we'll be cleaned. While
/ Mr.. Furman's ponds were in good con-
ditiOn, they were the resort Of the New
/ York business men who took lessons
/ from the old man in throwing The fly.
/ Furman is bitterly opposed to the trout
law as it is now. and claims that the law
which prohibits owners of brook trout
from marketing them between Noyem-
her and March, inclusive, is wrong, for
/ the reason that in January the trout are
in better condition than they are in
April This is because the proper food
is more easily obtained then.
From Furman's we went east along
the south shore until Fosters meadows
were reached. This was once the para
disc of trout fishers. Here were the
best grounds on the island, the Beaver
pond, One-mile pond, Iudy's brook, and
Baisley's pond, all of which are now
useless. because the city of Brooklyn
bought them some time ago for water
supply. John BrOkaw's hatchery and
pond are situated here, and are consid-
cred among the best waters on the island.
/ Looking into the clear water Of the
hatchery, front from few ounces in
weight up TO three Founders could east
/ " be seen. The most fshed stream is
/ the MassspeQua pond al South oyster
L. IL .t 70 ~ r.fx
and this year is full of the prettiest kind
of fish.
This brook has history. 1t is owned
by the Jones family, who have had
possession of it since 1874. Gen.
eral Floyd Jones, an ancestor
of the present owner, was
/ famous sportsman in his day, and was
considered the best fisherman in the
world by a great many of his intimates
Certainly he was the most famous and
best known fisherman in this part OF the
world, aud we'll he upheld his reputation.
For years and years he took fish from
the Long Island waters, and not until
/ 1898 did he begin to keep a record Of his
catches. lie was the father of the pres.
ent owner, and the records show that
one fine morning init was June %,
/ lS23-he took three dozen fine trout
from Stump pond. On March "a 1924,
/ Captain Livingstone. John Kortwright
and General Jones killed eighty hand
some fish. In Stump pond where the
General made most of HE famous
catches, Daniel Webster used to delight
to fish, and many a time he went out
with General Jones, the records say
The first record of fly fishing appears
under the date of July 30, 1858. and says
that Edward Floyd Jones killed with q
I Ay twenty-four fine trout near the reeds
in T. Floyd Jones creek"
The Lorillard's have pond at Islip,
which is valued at $4,000 Lake Ronk,
on komh, is famous spot, too.
and is filled with brown trout, black bass
aud wall-eyed trout. Further on at
Comack, is the famous historical stump
pond spoken of in the Jones Journal and
whose waters were divided by Webster
on many soft summer morning. At
every place we visited active preparations