Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-19

- fishing is improving as the
temperature of the waters, an
Bluefsh or Taylors. stri
to give the bay fishermen all the sp
for small and big mouth bass has n
muddy condition of the Shenandoah
This column begs to direct the at
tention Of it's readers to the purse
meters In Chesapeake Bay and to ash
all to urge the governor of Maryland
or any member of the State Legisla
ture they may know to put stor
to this evil.
The one fly in the ointment Of the
fishermen who cast their lines into
the bay seems to be the purse net
ters. The writer visited Herring Bay
last Wednesday and had his first ex.
perience with these fish murderers
even getting the boat he was on
caught within the large circle of the
net. along with three other boats.
The story, briefly. is that big
schooner made her appearance. APP
parently coming from the direction of
Annapolis and dropping anchor Off
the mouth of Herring Bay. Yarda
and yards Of seine were loaded in two
fast motor boats, ready to dart forth
at given signal from the man sta
toned at the masthead with a spy
glass watching for the fish to break.
The outlook on the schooner and
the captain Of our boat saw school
of fish break at the same time and
the purse METERS boat and our own
made a dash for the sighted fish. Our
boat, from which we had been troll
ing for several hours and landing
plenty Of blueflsh, rock and trout.
reached the fish first and commenced
to circle around. only to find that we
had been entirely surrounded by the
purse nets. We had no way to es-
cape except to make a dash and take
the chance of cutting their net or
perhaps getting the top line of the
net tangled in our propeller. Fortu-
nately, we escaped, but not without
cutting or doing some damage to
their nets which the captain Of our
boat said he sincerely hoped and
prayed" was big one.
Simply Scattered the Fish.
The only reward we got for our
efforts was to scatter the fish and
allow big majority Of them to es-
cape from these fish hounds. 1t is
reported that these purse METERS are
far more active this year than ever
before. some of them, showing an
utter disregard for the law, hauling
their nets in forbidden territory de.
spite the presence of trolling boats.
The boatmen of Herring Bay tell
OF one purse METER who was caught
inside the line prescribed by law with
a catch Of one and a half tons of
rock and bluefish and was allowed to
go scott free with only a warning.
when the law says that any one SO
caught shall be fined 81 900 and his
boats confiscated and sold.
Something must be done to end this
shameful practice. Residents of the
District OF. Columbia and Maryland go
to the bay and hire boats to troll
from. thereby providing a means of
earning extra money for the natives
of these Maryland fishing grounds.
which in. turn enables them to help
pay their different kinds Of taxes. etc.
The result. II these purse METERS are
not stopped in their wholesale murder
Of fish, will be that. first, the game
fish in the hay will be annihilated.
and IL there is no fishing In the bay
the natives will be deprived Of this
extra money.
There Is n remedy for this kind Of
thing, and that remedy lies with the
State Legislature, backed up by the
governor Of the State. Come on.
Maryland. do your part and put a
stop to this practice!
Fenton a Wise Angler.
The writer was with big" Bill
Fenton as mentor and guide when he
paid a visit to Herring Bay last We'd
nesday and returned with 2s blue fish.
6 rock and 4 trout. Big Bill has
been fishing at Herring Bay for the
last 20 years, and. although. as he
says, he occasionally visits other fish
ing grounds to please the boys. when
he really wants to catch fish, it's
Herring Bay for him. And we
caught fish this time, all landed
trolling with Drone bats, Nos. 0
and /.
Bill. just to show that he was fam
iliar with the ground, landed the first
fish, a nice tailor, and little later
the writer landed a. nice trout, and
from that time on until we quit there
was plenty of excitement for both of
us. With Capt. Harry Manifold, who
can see a school of Ash break farther
than any man l ever knew. as our
pilot, it was not long at any time
that we were not where the fish were
breaking.
Answering an inquiry from DIR. r.
W. Hall OF st. Elizabeth's Hospital.
who wants to know what effect the
wind has on the fishing in Chesapeake
Ray when 1t blows from different
points on the compass. the humble
opinion of this column is that it
makes little difference from which di-
rection the wind Is blowing. The
moderate wind from the north, east.
west or south that does not make
the water choppy does not Interfere
with fishing. Only when the wind
gets so strong that the waves run
high do the fish seek water at depths
ranging anywhere from 40 to 20 feet.
Ths generally accepted theory that
a northeaster kills fishing is true, but
it is only on account of the roughness
of the water. Last Wednesday the
writer fished when the wind was
blowing directly from the northeast
a nd got plenty OF fish. but it was not
strong enough to cause the water to
become ehoppy.
Fish Massacre DeplOred
Returning from record bresking
fly.casting expedition in Glacier Ma
tional Park. William F. Ham. presi-
dent of the Washington Railway and
Electric Co. and c. Melvin, Sharpe,
another executive of that company.
have filed complaint with Uncle Sans