Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-10
e Notable Adluce in Public Esteem During the Last Fe,O Years
ROD AND STREAM
by PERRY MILLER

/ A PRIL and May are the months
| ~ set apart each year for the
II protection Of I bass s,,n du pBq.
ing these months the large
| and small mouth female bass lay
| their spawn in a specially prepared
nest. dug by the nose and fms OF the
women of the tribe. After deposltlne
| their spawn the females abandon their
nest. but the males quickly take pos
session and guard it until the eggs
are Matched and the young commence
to move about.
! Under the fishing laws any one
caught with a large or small mouth
| bass during these two months is liable
| to arrest. with a fine of 50 for each
bass in his possession, 1t was primer
pally for the protection of the bass
during their spawning season that
| Congress at the last session passed
the bin prohibiting the sale of bass
| in the District at any time of the
year. Net fishermen in past years
not only disregarded the law pertain.
| ing to the catching of these game
| sters, namely netting them, but ap.
| piled their trade during two months
| of spawning. AS each female bass
| laws between 1000 and 900 eggs. and
| from this number, conservatively
| 500 young fish are Matched, it can
| readily be seen just what the result
would have been had not Congress
passed such a bill.
The investigation dealing with the
life histories of the cod, pollock and
haddock, which began in April, 1928,
will be continued during 1927, the
Bureau of Fisheries announced last
/ L. .1,,,
ned for this year, embracing In addi-
ton to the shore grounds, several off
shore banks.
The following summary gives the
number of fish tagged and the num-
Der captured up to March 2S, 1927:
During 1923, 1913 cod We're tagged,
of which 2S1, or 81 per cent have
been recaptured as follows: 1856 during
1924, SO during 1925, 4'during 1926 and
| so far during 1927. During the year
1924 there were 5000 cod tagged, of
which are or 7.6 per cent have been
recaptured as follows: zoo during 1924,
232 during 1925 and 81 during 1926.
During 1925 there were 10, 420 tagged,
of which 941 or per cent have been
recaptured as follows: COS in 1925, 1886
in 1926 and so far this year. During
1926 there We're 1866 tagged. of which
D. VI 10 per CCul have DtSiI 1GGdl-
tured as follows: AZ during 1926 and 5
so far this year.
During the years 1925 there were
4,1f9 pollock tagged of which 70, or IL
per cent were recaptured. For the
same period S,156 haddock were tagged
and 127, or LIS per cent recaptured.
The percentage of recaptures depends
to a large extent on the locality of
tagging, whether near shore in a
region intensively fished or offshore
where the amount of commercial fish
ing per unit of area is relatively
smaller.
Notwithstanding the many times
this column has printed the Virginia
fishing laws pertaining to fishing in
the Potomac River. numerous in
quiries lately have shown that there
still are a large number of anglers un.
familiar with them.
First of all, the fee for a non-resi-
dent fishing in Virginia is now $3.50.
having been reduced from IS. How
ever, no license is required to fish in
that State in waters where the tide
GIBBS and flows. For example, no IL
cense is required to fish in Occoquan
Creek, which runs about three miles
inland. Why, because the rise and
fall of the tide takes place at and be-
You'd the village of Occoquan. The
same thing applies to Gunston Cove
and the many other creeks and coyes