The San Francisco call., 1898-01-08
ALL ABOUT
 FISHES AND STREAMS.

The continued spell of dry weather has had the effect of vastly improving the fishing for large steelheads in Russian River, while on the other hano the sence of rain has ruined the sport which local anglers had expected to enjoy this month in the tide waters Of Taper NH Creek.
 As stated in The Call of Wednesday, the Greek and Italian fishermen Who seine for small fishes in Tomales Bay with nets of small meshes have been catching large numbers of steelheads Ill the channel of Paper Mill Creek ana within a few hundred yards of a place on the creek which is known as the White House. ,
 The attention of the Fish Commission CTS has been called more than once to this fact blt LID to the present writing 1t cannot be said that they nave HS the least notice of the requests 9i ae tle anglers and the residents or Polnl 1teyeo' who are desirous that they lnVestisaIe tsfrSts and learn if the fishermen are ASuIAS with nets of lawful size. 1o+
 Mr Rochfort of Point Reyes, Tn ie1- ter to the sporting editor of The Call, stated that MT. Babcock, chleI or the @ fish patrol, recently informed one ot tho tbo visiting anglers to Point Reyes that llle 1 Females Bay fishermen were uSlnS HSI9 of lawful size, and that there was Hoon- fCLl7 ing in the law to prevent th9Iu ttodtI ,odt catching steelheadS in the pay. put I diis lers who had seen the fishermen hauI III between thirty and forty fishes last sun day at Inverness state posltlyeiy that 1,co[t d 12-inch trout could not forge us way through the meshes. If this pc the cdSe the Fish Commissioners should certahIy dispatch deputy on rdIase tGer of of the ex- pert opinion of the chief ot the nsh pa trol. e.ti,,e, stream; in fact it has not an equal OH
 Judging from the numbers of fishes that folra frnT stream the anglers of this city and also or Marin County, it is really astonishing tnaC stream at the end of the angling season. Butas it is stocked in way by the F1sn Commission about once m fye ;e eySieoa11lasd during the summer months by ViSltlrg anglers must, in a measure, be attr1outeo to the 'too liberar' dumping or Try into the waters by the gentlemen who have | been ''neglecting" the mountain streams so as to give local anglers or nt{le @ mIneS 711nieS they can remember the Fish Commission CTS of the State of California
 | Anglers who whip to Paper Mill, So- noma, ai Alameda, Calaveras and other 1 streams which are within easy reach or this city in the spring and summer months of the year, do not, as a general | thing look altogether to the baskets they | make The outing in spring when the country is blanketed in ropes or s[eelffi rec, 1 from the trees and hillsides over spark ling waters and is caught on the fly, so K, l of the angle and also of Nature In us i widest state: it is this which makes glad the heart of the true sportsman ana | which adds to the pleasures that accrue at the end of a days tramp when baskets l are compared
 l The army of anglers is increasing with l each season. and as a consequence, the | Fish Commissioners should pay more at | tention to the stocking of the coast l and Sonoma Creeks, which are incessant- | ly whipped by anglers during spring and summer, should be liberally stocked, but | unfortunately. these streams are not as l favored as some of the far distant noun | tain lakes and rivers that are visited by | a comparative few of the anglers of this
 The following letter from a resident of l Duncan's Mills to The Call speaks for Duncans Mills, Cal, Jan. 6, 1898.
 To, the Editor of The Call-zDear Sir: %opa Uf annaTy aT tG ened sFf vii | Be Scarce" In regard to the seizure of | a net Sunday night and the hasty retreat one or of of the Sif fishermen % concerned m and that ! we were fishing strictly within the law i. e., drifting a full 712-inch net, free to secured; that instead of the fish patrol men laying in wait for me until a late | hour they simply Sneaked on us, and we called them down and invited them to
 examine our net, which they did, and
 told us we were within the law but had better take our net up and go with them to the hotel and see MT. Babcock, which
 we did, leaving the net in our boat, and ! during our absence one of the patrolmen 1 stole our net.
 MT. Vogelsang and MT. Babcock were | in bed, and knew nothing of the occur | renee until notified at 10 D. m., which was ! not a very late hour. Furthermore the | patrolmen who made the seizure CD had previously informed us that we could fish according to law in the manner we were doing.
 Now, if MT. Babcock would turn his | attention to the unlawful running and l killing of deer-an instance of which oc- l cured here Sunday under the Commits | sioners' very noses,'' a fawn doe run by ! two hounds, in sight of the hotel and | almost in the very streets of the town 1 he would fill his office much better in the estimation of the people of this vicinity 1 than by putting in ten hours a day | angling and prosecuting lawful fishermen. 1 What more harm can lawful net do which | catches only six fish in one night than a bevy of anglers who catch sixtv-five
 steelheads in one day, as was the case
 here yesterday?
 The big fish feed on the little ones. and
 the rich men feed on the poor. When
 MT Babcock and his cheap John friends 1 want salmon roe for bait they donit l question where 1t came from and 20 1 nome forgetting to pay for it; but when
 they eaten stxty-five fish a day they don't need the poor mans halt
 Hoping you will find room for +hts
 article in your valuable paper, I remain.
 yours respectfully.
 w. E. MUNSEIL.
 One of the Gllegal 2 fishermen.