New Britain herald., 1928-05-14

changed from II to 16 years. At either age limit, however, the ubiquitous small boy is fairly out of the reckoning, unless per- chance he horns his way to the ponds brink with d homemade hook and line while the park guards are not looking.
 The Stanley Quarter fishing bee, if the city dads sanction the mayors bold plan in making the park a haven for the tish-minded, will be more of an opportunity for the larger youths than for children. It so happens. however. that even six year-old youngsters want to fish and they amuse their elders by man. ufacturing what they regard as fish ing apparatus. Now if the mayor wants to be really popular with the children-the voters of tomorrow" he ought to do something about giving the tots more of an oppor- tunity to fish right away. Whats the use of letting the big boys get all the benefits of the fishing plan? Surely the smaller boys can not be expected to be satisfied with merely accompanying their older brothers, or their daddies, and looking on while the water fish make faces at the shore fish?
 Someone started a rumor the other day that if the smaller children were allowed to fish in the Stanley Quarted pond there would be any number of casualties due to the tots falling into the pond and drowning, It was claimed that the water in the pond is not very deep, but deep enough to engulf anyone not large and sensible enough to know how to get out once an accidental plunge is taken. We did not take much stock in this rumor. but imagine due cognizance of itss possibilities was taken when the age limit of those allowed to fish there was officially set.
 If large numbers of the growing generation in the city are to be made fish minded through the opportunity 10 acquire skill in a city park, they are likely to grow into disappointed individuals later. We hasten to ex- plain. Those who have acquired lik- ing for the sport of fishing know full we'll that the sport is getting more attenuated nearly every year. No longer is it possible to ''fish al- most anywhere and come home with a heavy string of victims; it is already necessary to go far afield to get any satisfaction. The fish population, it is apparent to any one having the strength to hold . line hours at a time, is getting less and less, while the general popula- ton of humans eager to catch fish is increasing constantly. The right to fish has been limited to certain parts of the year; there are nearly as many rules and regulations cov- cring the sport as there are fish. In the years to come, unless all signs are deceiving. there will be even fewer catchable fish, and fewer streams in which they can live that are not contaminated: indeed, everything will be fewer except the total Of fishermen. The boy who is stimulated into becoming fisher man today will help to swell the army of the disappointed fishermen six or ten years hence.
 The other day a great local fish crman told us of his big catch a week previously. Inquiry revealed the fact that he went all the way to eastern Connecticut-or Massachu- setts-to do his stuff. And we read that at this moment Herbert Hoover is on q fishing expedition; he got or g train at Washington. D. C., and rode all the way to Williamsport Pa, to catch some fish. But then perhaps the coming generation will get used to taking long trips in order to fish successfully Twenty-Five years hence it may not be uncom, mon for some of the boys who learned to fish in Stanley Quarter park 10 jump on a train and go al the way to the Canadian Rockies tc indulge themselves in the sport they learned to love through the actiyitie! of the Paonessa administration wa, back in 1928.