Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-06
photo by W. F. Roberts Company,

photo by W. F.
1.-THE fellow who failed to get a string
Of rockflsh this week missed his mark
was W. F. Bowie's comment. pointing to
| a string of eight fish that S. ]. Held and
Charlie Fletcher caught near Chain
bridge Wednesday morning.
The fish weighed ninety-one pounds.
"And they were about as much as we
| wanted to carry, one of the two sue
cessful anglers remarked.
Charlie Fletcher did the boating and
part of the fishing. while Held spent all
his time with rod and line In an effort
to land some Of the horses
Catching a fifteen-pound rockfish with
| a light rod and line commented Held,
lis surely fine sport. Small rockfish are
game enough for ordinary sport, but
when it comes to catching the big ones
the sport is exciting, and it is not an
unusual thing for it to take from fifteen
to twenty minutes to land such a fish,"
The anglers were on the river before
o'clock in the morning. equipped with
strong lines and a good supply of bait
and it was shortly after 3 o'clock when
the first of the eight fish was caught.
Fletcher got strike and soon realized
that he had a big fish. He called to
Held to get the gaff, but before the latter
could use the hook he also got a strike
and was unable to assist his companion.
And both of us landed the fish that
took our bait Held stated.
The anglers did not get fish after
Ia o'clock. They made their catch in
about fifteen feet of water, they stated
and are more than satisfied that their
catch is the best one of the season. The
! largest fish weighed seventeen and three
| quarter pounds.
NO more small-mouth bass fishing
| for me until after July L. said John
W. Hurley, when he returned from
Decoration day outing in the vicinity
| of Harpers Ferry and Weverton.
II got a dozen bass" he said. "but
| l felt very much dissatisfied with the
| trip when it was made plain that the
fish had not spawned, and it just shows
that somebody is wrong about the
| spawning season.
THE season opens after the fish are
thought to have spawned added the
sportsman, but in view of the condi-
| ton of the fish that / caught it seems
that the spawning season was not
properly timed.
Mad toms are the only bait for small
| mouth bass at this season. according
to the veteran sportsman, but he
thinks the law governing the protec-
| ton of fish in the Potomac should
open July l. the same it is in some
of the counties of Virginia along the
| Shenandoah.
! Il found that the fish were not in
| the deep water the angler said. but
were about the rocks, where they were
apparently safe from harm while
spawning. and when they took the
| tecting their spawn than to get the
mad toms for food
William E. Dulin, Hurley's companion
on the trip. landed ten fish. None of
| 10 q noh hyy
weighed more than two pounds.
William Reynolds was on the river
early Thursday morning in quest of
some Of the horses that anglers SO
| frequently discuss, but seldom catch.
1T was not a case Of talking with
| Reynolds said one of group of fish
ermen who witnessed the catch of d
rockfish that weighed twenty-three
pounds the largest fish of the season.
1T was case of making record"
| he added, but nobody is surprised a
what he catches. for he has been on
the river all his life, and knows every
spot where fish are supposed to feed"
| VIII Reynolds was not the only angler
who was on the river near Chain bridge
that morning. He went to the vicinity
Of the bridge in his launch, and it was
not later than o'clock in the morning
when he dropped anchor and cast his
| bait for q horse"
| Several weary hours passed. with only
| a Mississippi catfish as evidence that
! there llSll IN the river, Dut the pa
tient waiting was finally rewarded with
the twenty three-pounder.
| The fish put up pretty fight said
Will Reynolds. land l was some minutes
landing it. and the size of the fish and
the fight it made more than rewarded me
for the long wait.
Smelt was the bait the big fish took.
| Tuesday was lucky day for fishermen
who were on the Potomac river trying
their luck for rockfish. Joe Fletcher led
| the party with the largest and greatest
number of fish. He was out earlier than
the others, and probably had the best
supply of bait, as we'll as being posted
be found. r.
When Joe Fletcher~iert the river, long
before noon. he had nine fish. five of
| them averaging about ten pounds each
pounds. In the afternoon he visited
friends in the city and distributed his fish
among them
On his way along Connecticut avenue
in a street car Fletcher saw Hugh A.
Kane. also an enthusiastic fisherman. and
tossed him one OF the big fish. and when
the latter reached home and said he
had caught the fish his family did not
believe him.
Il caught it the same as a ball player
catches base ball." was his explana-
ton.
Roddy Henderson caught four fish Tues
day morning. the largest weighing ten
and the smallest five pounds. Edward
o. Craig also made catch. and Charlie
| Plummer did not have to leave the river
empty-handed. Many of the fish were
| caught near Boiling rock
Little Miss Oracle Frazier. 1925 D street
southeast. after much pleading, was per-
mitted to accompany her father and
uncle on an outing to Chesapeake Beach
| Decoration day. Ordinarily sportsmen
have an idea that children are in the
| way of fishermen.
They make SO much noise that they
scare away the fish, many anglers are
heard to say.
/ But Oracle Frazier, proved that she was
not of the annoying and troublesome
class. Father and uncle proved them