October 08, 1998 - Caution: student fly fishermanSA • The Suffolk Times • October 8, 1998
Cauti*one, student fly f
I've done a lot of fishing in my day but
never have I ever dared to try fly fishing.
After all, I always thought that was a
freshwater sport, one done in rapid
streams and sparkling clear water. One
that teemed with
trout just waiting
for the angler. A FOCUS
far cry from our ON
saltwater creeks
and bays. Then I NATURE
began to notice by Paul
more and more fly Stoutenburgh
fishermen plying
their skill along
our local shores, especially when the
bluefish were running. I even saw them
in their specially equipped boats out at
Montauk casting for stripers in the shal-
low water of Napeague Bay. There they
reminded me of bone fishing in Florida,
where fly fishing has really taken hold.
Someday I'd have to give it a try.
Then I happened to run into Bill
Golder, who's an avid fly fisherman, and
before I could turn around he had a fly
rod in my hand showing me how to use
it. He even left it with me to "play with."
Later he'd introduce me to the real
thing — trout fishing — right here on
Long Island.
We were up before sunrise and head-
ing west on the expressway. After we left
that already busy speedway, I soon
became lost in the maze of cars, traffic
lights, turns to the left and turns to the
right, up this street, down another until
finally we were on a narrow side road
that ended at a tall chain -link fence. Bill
had brought me to his favorite trout -fish-
ing stream right here on Long Island.
One minute we were surrounded by
cars and trucks with their accompanying
rows of stores and houses. The next
moment we were in a deep forested area
with huge oaks, hickory, tupelo, maples
and others towering above us. Some
were over three feet in diameter. How
could this have escaped the ravages of
blacktop, cement, buildings and the
chaos just past that chain -link fence?
We checked in and paid our fee and
were assigned our fishing spot on the
river. All about us was a freshwater
ecosystem with its lush ponds and pools
here and there. A few hundred feet into
this dream world the noise and bustle of
the busy streets disappeared and we
i r.ORM9,0. i ��._ V%
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
One would not think that fishing for trout on Long Island would be possible, but through the Long Island Park System
there are fast - flowing trout streams available for the public to wet a fly and hope for trout.
were alone. Others had paid and gone in
before us but there was neither sight nor
sound of them.
Now for some fishing
Then we heard the music of running
water; our trout stream lay just around
the bend ahead of us. Bill had rigged our
poles ahead of time. Mine had a white
and black tuft of feathers on it with what
I thought a very small hook. "Let it drift
along that bank," I was told, and so I let
out the line not knowing what to expect.
It was hard to keep my mind on fishing
as the magic of this place so over-
whelmed me. The huge trees canopied
the area and the stream edge was filled
with a maze of sweet pepperbush, high -
bush blueberry, touch -me -knot, poison
ivy, button -bush, black alder and a host
of other plants that enjoy their wet
surroundings.
Then it happened. I had a strike! I'm
afraid I'd been daydreaming and react-
ed so late I lost my fish. No matter,
there'd be more, I was told. "Let it drift
down by that stump." Sure enough, this
1500 G a *_.X Lr V V rV D /H V r1
75 years ago
Oct. 5, 1923
Crows to meet at Peconic: Members of the Crows are
hereby invited to meet Philip Horton, D. Gilbert Case and
Theodore Horton at the Crows' Nest on Peconic Bay as
soon as possible after 8 a.m. Oct. 12, 1923. Each Crow will
bring his largest appetite and his "best kaw -kaw."
The Crow membership list is closed, therefore no new
members can be admitted, as the Crows' Nest accommo-
dations are limited. Crows must flock at Klipp's Store not
later than 8:15 a.m. Oct. 12.
By order of the president and owner of Crow Fish
House.
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tedly the world's best bicycle and better now than ever.
Mulford, corner South and First streets, Greenport.
50 years ago
Oct. 8, 1948
Interesting bits of Greenport news: James Davis in his
fish traps in Peconic Bay recently caught a number of
southern fish which are rarely found in northern waters.
The catch of southern fish included two tuna fish and a
time when the fish rose to my fly, I
hooked it. How my light pole doubled
up. Back and forth the fish went. Once it
broke water and I thought I'd surely lost
it. "Keep that pole up!" I was actually
trout fishing and was working my prize
closer and closer to the waiting net. I
was all thumbs and was glad Bill was
there to help with the landing. I had
caught my first rainbow
trout. How beautifully its
glistening colors shone
through the mesh of the
landing net. "He's a keep-
er," Bill said as he
dropped my prize into his
long holding net.
We fished till noon,
both adding to the mesh
bag tied to Bill's belt. I mention this
because later we'd have a visitor in the
form of a big eel whose keen sense of
smell led it right up to our cache of fish.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Here was
Mrs. Eel nipping at our fresh- caught fish
right alongside of us. Its presence there
in the crystal -clear trout stream seemed
oddly out of place. I've always associated
eels with our creeks and bays, yet I
remember reading that usually the
female eels go up freshwater streams
and rivers when very young, sometimes
wiggling their way over wet moss and
ground to get to their parental ponds
and lakes, where they stay and grow for
years. Come to think of it, I remember
seeing those two- and
three- inch -long black eels
working their way up the
side of the wet moss -cov-
ered dam at the head of
the Peconic River years
barracuda. Mr. Davis also caught a large number of king
mackerel averaging from 10 to 15 pounds.
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Men's Shop, 220 Main St., Greenport.
25 years ago
Oct. 4, 1973
Work, not play: Southold Town Supervisor Albert
Martocchia told the Greenport- Shelter Island Rotary
Club at its Thursday meeting last week that he favors the
Greenport site of eight acres offered by the village for a
new Town Hall for purposes of economy. He is personal-
ly opposed, he added, to buying extra acreage for town
recreation on any site for a new Town Hall. He added
that there is a divergence of opinion on the board, with
some members tending to favor 22 acres in Southold as a
site.
The Village of Greenport has offered eight acres of land
on Moore's Lane for $1 on a 99 -year lease. Twenty -two
acres is available at a price of $80,000 in Southold, and
Justice Martin Suter has offered, free, five acres in
Mattituck.
ago.
Once these eels have
matured they swim back
down the same stream or
river and head for their spawning waters
in the Sargasso Sea. The eels of this river
will someday return to Long Island
Sound and from there they'll make the
long journey to the Sargasso Sea. It's a
mystery how they get there. From the
time they leave our waters, no sign of
them has ever been seen. Yet their eggs
and young have been found floating
amongst the seaweed of the Sargasso
Sea. These delicate, transparent, ribbon-
like larvae, about two inches long, have
no means of propulsion at first. They are
at the mercy of the ocean currents. Once
eels mate and spawn, it is thought they
die much like squid and certain salmon.
It isn't until months later, when the
currents bring these helpless larvae rib-
bons closer to shore, that they change
and develop into moving baby eels. It is
then that these "glass" eels head for
their parental home waters. We're told
that the majority of young females head
for the freshwater ponds and lakes and
slow- moving rivers, where they'll
mature and grow through the years. The
young males will stay in the bays, creeks
and estuaries, where they mature.
So the eel whose keen sense of smell
brought it to our fish bag was one of the
many females living in fresh water,
growing larger every year until someday
she will get the urge to spawn and return
to the sea. What wonders are about us.
After a hearty lunch our wives had
prepared, we went back to fishing. My
boots had leaked and made it almost
impossible to walk they were so filled