The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1906-07-27
strongest of arguments in favor of

strongest of arguments in favor OF
their protection.
The ten-inch law is for the prOtec-
tion Of the young bass that are Matched
at the hatchery and cared for until
ready to plant; also the young hatched
in the lake. Since bass 60 into a state
of Information at the approach of
freezing weather and remain partially
dormant until the following spring,
taking no food whatever during this
period, 1T will be seen that their growth
Is necessarily somewhat slow and con-
reach maturity. We have found that
taken as the average time required for
the fish to develop sufficiently to be-
come spawners. We have found that
bass under 10 inches will not spawn.
In fact, but few of the lO-inch fish
really sufficiently matured to repro
duce. An experiment. with nine young
bass from II to 13 inches long at the
hatchery, this la st spring, proved that
only small portion of fish Of these
sizes are, reliable as spawners. Only
two nests were made which resulted
the l0-inch law is hardly sufficient for
the protection of the young bass until
they would be of value as spawners.
They should be allowed to spawn at
least once before being taken, that the
annual supply OF young fish may be
maintained in the lake. That the
young bass are now plentiful in the
lake Is evident from the numbers that
are caught daily. Catches of 30 Of
these small bass have been made in
single mornings fishing, and from 10
to Is is common catch. While writ
ing this article q fisherman has report
anchoring. The lake has been so in
dustriously fished that few large fish
are left and fishermen have fallen into
the habit of saving everything caught,
no matter how small, and the fate Of
the young bass Is most evident were
they not protected. The sole purpose
Of the 10.inch law Is to protect them
until at least a few have arrived at
maturity. II all would agree not to
take bass until of two pounds weight,
it would not be long before the lake
would be full of good-sized bass and
every one taken would have left thou
sands of young behind, and the fishing
would steadily improve and instead of
each fisherman getting his number per
day of fish just over the 10-inch limit,
all would be two pounds or over in
weight.
Referring to the discussion that has
appeared in the late number of this
paper, we quote the following from
Mr. Strong's contribution: 1.-THE trou-
BILE is with the law, which was drawn
up and put through the Legislature by
an attorney employed by the Lake
01,1h in1u ic
unjust law but is doing as l believe
just what it was intended to do, to
drive the poor man, either farmer or
city man, from the lake, unless he is
the owner of cottage, automobile or
member of the club" Can it be pos
sib]e that any "right-minded man"
can take such view of the situation?
To protect the adult fish only through
their spawning periods and the small
fish until they reach maturity, that
they may multiply land fill the lake
50 that all who fish during
good catches is the sole purpose of the
laws which are now in force. We fail
entirely to see how these laws can be
unjust and we're designed to "drive
the poor man, either farmer or city.
man, from the lake." We quote from
Mr. Hosford's article the following:
This law was made for special pur-
pose and it is doing more to make
Waramaug dead sea than any other
one thing. Fifteen or twenty years
ago you could see hundreds of people
with teens hitched around the lake
get dinner in one week than can be
seen in whole season. I used to
transport as many as 700 to 800 passen-
gers to and from New Preston Station
In month and to-day at the station
can be seen more teams and drivers
than there are passengers.
1t Is true that Is or 20 years ago
people did flock to the lake and that
the limited number of hotels at that
fullest capacity. But why were all
these people coming and what was
their object? They were after bass
and they got them. Yes, plenty of
these and four Founders and quite fire.
Quently splendid specimens of i've or
six pounds weight. The lake was full
of bass and all usually secured fine
catches. Why does not this class of
people come to the lake now and why
has Lake Waramaug become resort
for WON en- and children? The origin
al stock Of bass is gone. 1t is practi-
cally extinct and the sporting men are
/
in which they can pursue their favor
lite pasttime, good bass fishing. Give
the thousands of small bass now in
the lake protection until they reach
maturity-and this is for what the ten
inch law was intended-then sports
men would again flock to the lake and
our esteemed friend would no doubt
| find it profitable to put on an extra
team or two to convey these people to
and from the lake. Some years before
the hatchery was built the sportsmen
had ceased to come to the lake. 1t no
longer had its former attraction for
| them.
Regarding the hatchery,it was built
as an experiment with the view, If
successful, of restocking the lake.
This we have accomplished, disposing
of only sufficient number of the fish
to pay the actual running expenses
planting the greater part Of the prod
uct in the lake. When this enterprise
was-started there was no thought Of
rmaking it paying investment, and