Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-26

TIME number of anglers venturing
forth these cold days in quest of
the bass in fresh water or the
4 striped bass and rockflsh in salt
water are fast dwindling and In
a short time only a handful will con-
tinue with the sport. The Potomac,
running true to form, is again muddy,
which puts a stop to angling for small
mouth bass in the upper river. In the
lower Potomac, that is, the creeks and
coves where the large-mouth bass make
their homes, some good bass have been
landed recently. But the majority OF
anglers have quit for this year and so
only meager reports reach us.
A sad state of affairs was reported to
us last week and the worst CT 1t Is Moth
ing can be done to correct same. A
friend of this column reported that big
mouth bass were being taken In nets
in large numbers from Piscataway
Greek on the Maryland side OF the river.
The men operating are said to work al
nights and at times have made hauis
numbering in the hundreds. We called
the attention of the Maryland commits,
sion to this condition. but were informed
they could do nothing about it, as the
State had no law prohibiting the TAX
ing of bass in this manner. We asked
that a man be sent down there to see
If any understood bass were being taken
and this the Maryland authorities
promised to do. Their report will be
published as soon as received.
The United States Bureau of Fisheries
has been doing good work in Montgom-
cry County during the last week or two
in taking the bass, crappie and Dream
from the waters of the old G. 81 o.
Canal and planting them in the Po-
ports that 763 adult fish were taken
from the canal and restored to the river
along with 526 yearlings ,(fish about one
year old and 227 f1ngerlings. This
work was begun at Glen Echo and ex-
tended to Haunted House, located above
Eight-mile Level. This is good work
on the part of the Bureau of Fisheries,
but while one body works overtime to
conserve fish another body works equally
hard in destroying them for commercial
gain.
The condition above described in the
Potomac River is an easy one to handle
and would be quickly solved by any
other State than Maryland. The Mary
land Legislature is responsible for the
whole situation in refusing to pass a
bill presented at its last session to pro-
hibit the sale of black bass in the State
The Congress of the United States passed
such a law for the District of Columbia,
and the Virginia Legislature previously
had passed such a law. The fly in the
ointment is Maryland. It has jurisdic-
ton over the Potomac to the Virginia
shore. but fails to pass any legislation
for the protection of the large-moutli
bass, one Of our garneSt fish. This
should be remedied at the earlise pos
sible moment 1t is true that the last
Legislature passed bill for closed
season on bass in the Potomac dur
ing the months of April, May, June and
July, but 1t is in the remaining open
months, especially those during the cold
weather when the bass congregate for
the Winter months, that the real dam
age is done.
It is pointed out very clearly by Will
liam G. Adams, director of the division
of fisheries and game of Massachusetts,,
that fishing and hunting can no longer
be regarded as cheap sport, according
to a bulletin of the American Game
Protective Association. Free fishing and
hunting can no longer be enjoyed In
America in the sense that it can be
had for nothing. It is only within re-
cent years that the gunner and angler
has paid anything for his sport in the
way of license fees.
Adams says: "a large percentage Of
us still persist in nursing the hope that
some miracle will occur to restore the
abundance of the past. Too many of us
insist on harboring the fallacy of the
God given right of free fishing and
hunting. Some still nurse the chimera
Of a so-called American system of free