The Washington herald., 1919-06-21

BY Dick Peed

The Potomac in the vicinity of
Washington these days offers little
encouragement to anglers. Heavy
rains up river sent down a flood OF
yellow water and not much can be,
expected to take or even find the
hook. except catfish, which are
plentiful and bite, freely. Both
rivers. however. are clearing up at
Harpers Ferry, and unless addi-
tional rainfall comes the water
should clear up early in the coming
week. Hard heads still are being
caught in limited numbers and the
same can be said of spots, while an
occasional catch of salt water trout
is announced. More trains are run
ming to Chesapeake Beach and If
you do not have an automobile this
place is your best opportunity.
william Kervin. Leo Snyder and
Edward Snyder motored to Benedict
last Monday and returned with a
fine string of fish.
Gus Vogt was at Leonardtown
last Monday and brought home sew
eraI fine trout caught on hook and
line there that morning.
E. G. Wheeler. a local fisherman.
caught a tuna weighing nearly 100
pounds off Avalon. Cal. short
time ago. The fish was taken with
light tackle used by the tuna club
at that place and is the worlds rec
ord for that particular kind of fish
ing.
1t may be news to many of the
Washington fishermen to hear that
there are speckied trout within Few
miles OF the District. DR.. ]. B. North
made a catch of genuine spotted
beauties in the head waters of Dif-
ficult Run near Hunters Station, one
day the early part Of the week.
Joe williams, Homer Hall and Elias
Wolfe motored to Solomons Island
last Sunday evening to try their luck.
They fished several hours Monday
morning and returned to Washington
later in the day with plenty Of spots
of large size and lot of big hard
heads to distribute among their
friends.
1t perhaps Is not known to local
fishermen that rock fish are known
under the law as striped bass and
that they must be ten inches long
to be legally taken, The law is vio-
lated hundreds of times day within
the District of Columbia.
Frank Caldwell is visiting relatives
at the junction of the Monocacy and
the Potomac and will endeavor to
land some small mouth bass II the
conditions are favorable for fishing.
The writer has received most
friendly letter from Talbot Denmead,
chief deputy game warden of Mary
land, concerning the laws governing
fresh water fishing in that State. The
letter in condensed form follows, and
will be useful to all. fishermen who
desire to enjoy angling and at the
same time obey the laws. He says:
Maryland is not blessed with a SIM
pie code of fish laws, but has a very
complicated system Of local statutes
and it is my aim to give you some
of the important ones.
First. we have a compact law, rat
ified by the respective legislatures OF
Virginia. West Virginia and Mary-
land. relating to the Potomac river.
This law provides closed season on
black bass. green bass, rock bass,
pickerel and wall-eyed pike from
April Is to June /, but does not in
clude the waters Of the Potomac ly-
ing within the limits of Montgomery
County. The state law covering all
those waters above where the tide
ebbs and flows and excepting the Ps'.
tomac, provides closed season from
April 1 to June Is, or fifteen Rays
longer at each end. This may be in
teresting. but rather confusing. The
situation Is complicated by another
set Of laws relating to the tributaries
of the Potomac river. All agree as
to the legal limid viz: eight inches.
Now for the gentleman who does