The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-09
GET AFTER THE SEINERS
NEW FISH LAW MADE TO PROTECT
HOOK-AND-LINE sPORTSMEN.
Twin Girls Born at Jeffersonville Re.
semble Siamese Twins-Cass
County POpulists Meet.

Special TO the Indianapolis Journal
EVANSVILLE. Ind, July s-The COM
plants about the violations of the fish
law since the CLOSED" season have been
noticed by friends of the law in this sec
ton and are not altogether Endorsed. Mr..
r. B. Gilman, who was here this week,
gives an explanation and suggests way to
put stop to wholesale cutting of the rivers
and interference with hook-and-line fisher
men. He says:
II noticed an article few days ago from
Anderson complaining about the inadequacy
of the present fish law and attacking the
present fish commissioner. The things COM
planned of were that seiners would seine
all around hook-and-line fishermen; would
double their Seines; catch wagon loads or
fish, etc. If those men do that l don't
blame my Anderson friend Tor kicking, but
if instead of wasting time through the
newspapers he would institute a few pros
ecutions he would find the result marvellous.
The present law fully covers all the points
he raises. 1t is unlawful TO use seine
more than one hundred feet long, TO use
a seine within three hundred feet OF where
any other persons are selnlng, or witnin
fishing with a hook and line, provided that
the hook-and-line man is on the ground
first
Madison county has climbed out on ia
vorte treetop and is catching the wary bass
from the watery depths below, and some
where he is the thing to do Is to prosecute
them. All he has to do is to go to the
prosecuting attorney and he will do the
rest.
Il don't agree with the Anderson man
that the law permitting SEEMING is bad
one. If the seiners use seines of the dimen-
sions required by law and at the time and
in the way permitted by law they will not
damage the supply of game fish and will
ties, all of which are destructive to all
game fish, besides being very wearing 10
the average fishermans PATIENCE when he
SEEMING law permits. the farmers, who
haven't time to spend days or weeks camp
ff fresh FISH Occasionally Men viii take adj
vantage of the liberality of the present law
to violate it. OF course they will, but the
great remedy for all that is to prosecute.
A few vigorous prosecutions will work Won
ders
country has been more completely at the
| mercy of pot fishermen than the fine fish
ing waters around here. Dynamiters, net
| tiers and seiners piled their vocation at will
man was lucky if he could prove to his
doubling friends after a days fishing that
he had two or three bites Last year.
| appointed for this district, and he seemed
| to have well-defned ideas of what he was
| appointed for. He went after them with a
and prosecuted them all over the country
until they just quit 1t. To-day there is less
violation of the fish law and far better fish,
| ing in the Pocket than there has been for
many years, simply because we enforce the
| fish law. If men violate the law we don't
| take turn about 'cusSing' the fish law and
roasting the commissioner through the
press, but we simply take our pen in hand
and we drop his deputy a few lines and
! then the next day we read that John
Brown was arrested yesterday evening by
| the deputy fish commissioner for having
seines of unlawful size in his possession
| pleaded guilty before Squire Smith and was
| fined S25, and his seines were burned That
friend is the solution Of the fish hog Ques-
| ton. Try it,