Evening star., 1924-05-04

The water has not beer just what
it should be for good. fishing, and
this perhaps accounts for the scant
catches reported by some of the
anglers. Others have just happened
to hit IL right and have returned
not only with goodly numbers, but
some of them have been perch weigh
ing nearly a pound.
Another reason why q great many
fishermen have returned with only
about dozen OF 50 perch. and, OF
course, this is only the opinion Of
the writer. is that the perch have
comm enced to fall back downstream.
Undoubtedly the big run of herring
will drive out the perch. Naturally,
when the river is full of herring, fall
ing and jumping over each other in
their mad rush upstream. the perch.
being greatly outnumbered, will beat
a retreat
Close observers of the deniZens of
the deep say that the tides have
their effect on the fsh-that is, they
sort of ride up and down with the
tides. During the past week the
river at times in the vicinity of Chain
bridge has seemed to be alive with
herring. and the next day very few
were TO be seen. Now, IL the herring
are in the water. there will be no
doubt about their being seen, for
they are continually jumping out and
swimming close TO the surface.
Now that the perch, herring and
shad are in this vicinity, 1t will not
be long before the larger" and game
rockfish commence their run. In
fact, some have expressed the opinion
that they already are up the river
There is one s.gn that every angler
watches for the appearance of rock
fish, and that is the bloom of the
locust trees This sign is very old
one, but always has proved true.
When the locust trees are in bloom
the rockfish are in the river, and
when they are with US every angler
is ready to match his skill with
them. These fish range in weight
from one pound to as high
as twenty and twenty-five. and if one
Of the. larger ones is caught on hook
and line the. lucky angler must, in
deed, match his skill with the cum
ming and power of the fish in order
to land him. The rockfisb can be
caught on, bloodworms, crab, shrimp
and live bait, but the big fellows
seem to be very fond OF cut herring
and herring head and gills are sure
to attract them.
Esgene Davis and Louis Stone. two
well known local bass fishermen, tried
their luck angling, or rath,. snag-
glng, herring one day last week. They
were successful in snagging, but
their hooks, instead of. catching the
fish, insisted on fastening themselves
to the numerous rocks on the bottom
of the river near Chain bridge. They
had exhausted all of their hooks ex-
cept those on their lines and had de-
cided to quit for the day when Davis
In pulling in his line hooked a two
arid-one-half-po shad. Davis was
satisfied with his catch, and any an
gler should be satisfied to know that
a shad has actually been caught up
stream. They don't come up the
river one at a time. and where there
is one there must be a great many
more. 81 -
Tom Garrison of, Hyattsville, Md.
wen known catcher of violators of
the law, no matter what the crime
may be, from speeding automobilists &
to. murderers, does not confine his
activities to hunting criminals One
day last week he was in Marlboro on
business and decided to spend little
Will while catching fish by way of diver
HITS bridge, which spans the Pa
tuxent River just a short, distance
beyond the town on the Washington
annapolis boulevard. But Garrison,
VINO always is weaving net around
some one who violates the. law, re-
FUSED to angle with rod and reel,
SO he continued to use net, and
after dipping into the water first here
ana tnere ne succeeded in landing
thirty six shad and one rockfish
weighing seven pounds.
DIR. Edward C. Barstovv and Charles
Well, well known to local anglers
motored down to Chesapeake Beach
during the week and caught nice
bunch of hardheads, some of them
weighing two pounds each. Dr., Bar
stow said he caught all his fish from
the end of the pier. The strong
northwest winds had blown a great
deal of water from the bay and the
tide was low. Being regular visi-
tor to the beach, he. knows just where
to fish under certain conditions and
never returns empty handed. He also
says that the hardheads are up in
great numbers, and that a steady blow
from the sou theast for twenty-four
hours which brings with, 1t high tides
will also bring the .hardheads close in
shore. At this time he says the
angler can. fish from the boardwalk
at the 2merry-<o-round and get all
the fish he can carry home. They
come in close In about three feet of
water and take almost any kind of
bait.
Other reports from Chesapeake
Beach say that the first real catches