The Washington times., 1924-07-12


brethren when larger and gamier
This encouraging news from Sc
Potomac as she runs today is an
as well as those piscators who
river aside from boiling mud is
long it will be before the water
ponds entirely upon weather cond
Last Monday, for it was then
that the faithful stream was be.
ginning to show signs of clearing,
Congressman Manlove of Missouri
and his son, Herman Medic and
the writer fished the grounds
around buoy Number Three, oppo-
site the Steel plant.
Arriving early upon the sceEe
Of one of the best rockfish feeding
fields in this vicinity, it was not
long before we were busily en-.
gagged in trying to keep the small
rock from stripping our hooks.
Try as we may it was impossible
to keep these roguish little fellows
from stealing the toothsome blood
worms that were intended for the
larger brothers Of pan size.
% Our time was limited, for we
were due back in town by lime,
otherwise it is my belief that we
would have made a respectful show
ing among the fighters. Only two
keepable fish were taken and they
were boated on the incoming tide
that was only half hour spent
when we were compelled to move
homeward.
Congressman ManlOve and his
son on the day previous fished
from the rocks at Great Falls
and landed an even dozen Mis-
sissippi catfish. The lawmaker
says, "My favOrite lure for en-
ticing the horny cats is nOne
other than green shrimp"
Herring bay was the scene of
some large catches of hardheads
over last Sunday. The biggest
string Of the day went to the boat
occupied by Jack Merrill and his
friend Kennon. The two anglers
landed over half hundred fish.
Don Hurley, Gene Herd and
''Doc" McKeever were further on
down the bay, in the vicinity of
Governors run. The trio boated
10 hardheads. Some of the fish
F. D. Simonds and Ray Fairbanks
changed their program and instead
of going to the near side of the
bay, visited Claiborne. Under the
captaincy of o. L. Gray, whose
address is Box 144, Claiborne Sup
ply Co., they boated one of thu
largest catches of hardheads taken
from the Eastrn Shore section
chic eaSOO
The regular monthly meeting
of the Potomac Anglers AssOcia-
ton will be held at their new
headquarters, Room 800 Burchell
building, next Wednesday evening.
The attention of this column has
been called to the alarming con-
dition along the beaches of Chesa-
peake bay.
According to anglers, visiting the
nearby resorts, dead fish by the
hundreds of thousands are scat
tered along the shores. so thick
are the fish," they say, that in
some sections, Maryland farmers,
living in the vicinity of the bay,
have been carting them away by
the ton, to use on their lands for
Fertilizer
Maryland authorities, during the
past week or so, made inveStiga-
lions to ascertain this rapid death
rate among the finny tribes. Their
report shows that the fish came
to their death. in the majority of
cases, from oil poisoning. Several
minor reasons were also given, one
being q fungus growth on the fish,
caused by some unseen parasite.
The Bureau of Fisheries, l am
told, have their experts now at
work on this case. 1t would not
be at all surprising to hear, as
q result, from this Federal in
VestigatiOn, that polluted water
was the cause of all trouble.
During the commencement ex.
ercises, held last month at the
Naval Academy, several battle
ships lay at anchor in the harbor.
1t was during their stay that the
waters in the neighborhood of An
napolis were almost entirely COW
cred with oil. Whether this has
any bearing on the case Is left to
be seen.
In the report Of the conservation
department, of the State of Mary
land, for the year 1923, we read
the following:
This department is not provided
with a biologist or chemist, and
we have been confronted with some
very complicated cases during the
past year in connection with pol
tuition which called for immediate
investigation. Our engineer has
carried on this work as far as
practicable, but the final results
had to be passed on by the State
board Of health before we could
take action.
We find that the pollution with
which this department has to
deal may be divided into two
classes. One is from manufac-
turing and similar wastes which
cover a limited zone and may be
effectively curtailed under the
authority given by Chapter Ia of
the acts of 1917. The second,
which refers to bilge oil and oil
sIudge pumped into Maryland
waters by Oil-burning ships pass
ing up and down the bay, is more
serious and seems to be entirely
beyond the control of any in
dividual State.
Engineer Earles interesting re-
port for last year reads: The waters