The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-12
{HE LURE OF THE ShAD
 IN THE CONNECTICUT
Feared By Fishermen That Famous , Fish will This Year Be Scarcer
 Than Ever.
OLD-TIME SEEMING PLACEiS.
(E. W. B. in the Hartford Times.)

(E. W. B. in the Hartford Times.)
 Hadlyme, April 12.-How many Fishermen will embark in the shad- catching industry along the Connect1- cut river during the season or 1SII: It is generally admitted that the per oentage will be greatly decreaseo as compared with the number five years ago, but will not the falling off be even conspicuous over the number thus engaged last year? The writer has talked with several old hshermen and they are of the opinion that the reaches will contain fewer nets than ever before since the advent of the dragnet or gillnet. Certainly, the in <fusry has approached an alarming condition. WHl it ever revert to Its old-time prosperity? Unless radical and far-reaching changes are made, and made soon, fishermen are prone to believe that each year will see a continued waning in the number of chad, so that in the not far distant fu- ture the Connecticut river shad m du.try will have but a meager fol- lowing This is not the sentiment of professional calamity howlers,i i but of long-headed business tisher- men. The increasing pollution of the river occasioned by the sewage from the various cities and villages along the banks is given as the chief cause of the trouble, and present indica- rdons show no disposition to alleviate the menace.
 Shad Now an Aristocrat.
 The fame of the Connecticut river shad is far reaching. It is one of the aristocrats of the fish world. ana each succeeding year race5 1t higher in the scale of that aristocracy. The price of the succulents attests this fact Time was when this condition was the reverse. To be seen eating a Shad incurred the humihating danger of a DlnDRlan. writer has been told of several inStan- ces where a person of distinction was seen about to enter a domicile, whose members were indulging in 'shad.' Immediately a sleight-of-hand exhi- bition was presented, as a result of which the shad did the vanishing act. How distinctly the law of evolution has worked in this particular! The rejected has become the chosen.
 Fascination of Fishing.
 There's a fascination in shad fish ing that's mighty hard to resist AL most any old fisherman will tell you this How often has the writer heard a fisherman remark:
 NO, guess I won't fish this season. I've got too much other work to tend to-" or some similar remark.
 Such a remark was made honestly, but the ''call of the deep was too persuasive and it's victim was allured as willing prey. It's sometimes pret- ty hard to describe the various qual- ities that enter into the making of the general scheme of fascination. As ap- piled to shad fishing, as in ali fish, ing, it is probable that the game of chance" involved is one of the most inviting factors. When the fisher men "set off, fer a drift it is in the spirit of hope, for few fishermen are DessimistS-that is, at the outset of { their labors. Besides the expecta- rion of a big catch the general en- vironment of the industry is one that appeals, hard and disagreeable though the work Oftentimes is. But when weather conditions are fair there's spirit other than that of ! grinding labor that exists among the fish catchers and there's also a spirit of general good will that fills : the atmosphere. A sort of crude fra terntty is established among them So long as the unwritten rules are obeyed serenity exists; a violation causes friction and it is likely to be pretty difficult to smooth
 When Nature Is Beautiful
 To ''set off," that is, to put a net overheard, in the glow of a golden