Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-06-02
uuIawefuI Practices.

GATOR of the Martinsburg Statesman
sir.--I wish, through the columns of
,Our paper to call attention to the way
gbicb bass are now beirg destroyed
- tho closed season under the law that
a.n,;ts the gigging. and looping of
lnokers and carp during any season.
Tsnent all of last week at the Izaak
wsIton club house on the water Of Big
wheeling creek, in Marshall county,
and every night while | was there
sow two or three gangs of men and
,ovs-four or five in a gang ostens-
INV digging for suckers and carp, and
rnnder5tood that gangs had been out
oce,v night of the week previous do
inv the same thing. If these and other
ooros along the creek only took and
destroyed suckers and corp it would be
ali right. but the fact Is that they are
of the same time killing out the bass
oil along the creek. The lights carried
nv these gangs so dazes the bass that
thew lie still and are gigged without
the slightest exertion. One morning |
found that three bass nesting right OPP
poslte the club house disappeared, a
gang of giggers having passed along
during the night. AS every fisherman
knows, the bass rarely leaves the nest
during the nesting period, except to re-
turn right away, and 1t is this habit
that renders them an easy prey to the
gangs that are apparently out for loop
ing or gigging only suckers, carp and
such other fish as the law allows TO be
caught at any period.
During the day time saw scores of
men and boys out looping, the water
being SO clear that they were able to
drive their vehicles in it and loop from
the wagon. asked some Of the gangs
what they were catching, and was told
that they had caught as many as nine
ty fish at time, which were divided
equally among them. OF course none
OF them admitted that they had caught
any bass, but there is no doubt that
the bass are rapidly disappearing from
Wheeling creek as the result OF giggipg
and looping. They have already been
so far destroyed that there will be prac-
ticaHy no bass fishing on Wheeling
creek this season, and unless q stop
be put to gigging and looping as it is
now carried on, bass will soon become
practically extinct species SO far as
Wheeling creek is concerned.
1t is also fact that some fishermen,
using the rod and line, take advantage
of the law that allows them to thus
fish for suckers and similar fish during
the closed season to catch bass.
am satisfied, as | believe all sports
men are who have paid attention to
the matter, that the only way to pro-
lect the bass aud other game fish dur
ing the closed season, is to rigidly pro
hibit any fishing of any kind at all
during such season. AS the law cow
is man has the right to fish for GER
tain Kinds of fish during the closed
season for game fish, and 80 long as he
has this right under the law it is next
to impossible to prevent him from
catching bass or other game fish dur
ing the forbidden season.
1t seems to me that it Is the duty of
all those who wish that game fish
shall continue to b. found III our local
streams to try to induce the legislature
at the earliest possible moment 10 make
such changes in the present game laws
as will put a stop to all kinds of fish
ing with rod and line, gigging and
looping during the closed season, and
for that reason | have called attention
TO the present condition of things
through the columns of your widely
read paper.
Il. NJ. DARRAH.
Cannon to Speak.