9 ANGLER^ OFFICIAL STATE NOVEMBER, 1937 PUBLICATION * AN G LE R* Vol. 6—No. 11 nt= =*W PUBLISHED MONTHLY COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA by the BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS PENNSYLVANIA BOARD OF FISH ^_ COMMISSIONERS §§§ * * * CHARLES A. FRENCH Ten cents a copy — 50 cents a year Commissioner of Fisheries MEMBERS OF BOARD 111 CHARLES A. FRENCH, Chairman Ellwood City ALEX P. SWEIGART, Editor MILTON L. PEEK South Office Bid K.> Harrisburg, Pa. HARRY E. WEBER Philipsburg SAMUEL J. TRUSCOTT Dalton FRANK J. PENTRACK Johnstown NOTE Subscriptions to the PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER EDGAR W. NICHOLSON should be addressed to the Editor. Submit fee either Philadelphia by check or money order payable to the Common­ KENNETH A. REID wealth of Pennsylvania. Stamps not acceptable. Connellsville Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. FRED McKEAN New Kensington H. R. STACKHOUSE Secretary to Board PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contribu­ tions and photos of catches from its readers. Proper credit will be given to contributors. All contributions returned if accompanied by first C. R. BULLER class postage. Chief Fish Culturist, Bellefonte n^— —qm IMPORTANT—The Editor should be notified immediately of change in subscriber's address Please give both old and new addresses Permission to reprint will be granted provided proper credit notice is given A 0<^ m \ Vol. 6 No. 11 ^ANGLER/ NOVEMBER, 1937 EDITORIAL MORE GAME FISH NEED MORE FOOD OUR Fish Commission, through its hatcheries, has Here, then, is a condition which must be remedied Ythis year attained a new high in production of small- if we are to enjoy the kind of fishing we hope to mouthed and largemouthed bass. We have been able, achieve under the present program of your Fish Com­ since virtual completion of the new bass farm on Spring mission. Through its program of balanced stocking, the Creek in Centre county, to distribute to suitable Board has endeavored to hold up the food supply in waters one of the finest crops of young bass of both most waters. We have planted minnows, panfishes and species ever developed at the hatcheries operated food fishes, the young of the latter species also fur­ through your License Money. Other species of warm nishing some much needed food for game fishes. It is water game fishes, the wall-eyed pike in particular, necessary also for our fishermen to face the facts and have been stocked heavily. If stocking with game fish do what they can to preserve, to as great a degree as alone could solve the problem of better fishing on our possible, the forage now available in our warmer warmer waters, there would be small cause for concern waters. We simply must recognize the damage now be­ as to the future of their sport by our great army of ing wrought on our bass streams by raking wantonly fishermen. Certainly this year's production record of over riffles for helgramites, and by indiscriminate voracious species of fish life leaves little to be desired scooping of minnows and destruction of thousands too from that angle. And yet, we can stock bass and wall­ small for average live bait fishing purposes. eyed pike far more intensively than has been ever It is also essential that our live bait fishermen take known in the history of fish conservation in Pennsyl­ only enough minnows, stone catfish, crawfish or hel­ vania, natural reproduction by fish already in lakes and gramites to serve for a day's fishing. One dozen streams can increase vastly the supply of young game lively minnows or other bait are far more effective for fish present in our waters—but—poor fishing must still a day's sport than three times that number weakened be inevitable unless we take into consideration the vital through crowding in a bait bucket. necessity of a good supply of natural forage for car­ Conservation of food for game fish is just as impor­ nivorous species. In other words, the crux of better tant as conservation of the game species themselves. fishing for bass and wall-eyed pike rests with the food These two factors are linked inseparably. Show me supply available for these species. the farmer who would turn loose a herd of cattle to graze in a plowed field and expect them to live; yet There is little reason to doubt the disastrous effect not dissimilar forage conditions for game fish exist in of the 1936 flood on the food supply in many of our some waters today. larger and most popular bass waters. While the vital More food for game fish must mean better fishing. growth of vegetation is once more reestablishing itself Let's do our part to improve food conditions in our in some sections of these waters, the loss of food and bass waters. Every effort by the individual fisherman cover which occurred when raging torrents of water must bring good dividends in better sport. scoured the beds of our streams will require years of mending. The condition of many bass taken by our C. A. FRENCH fishermen during the present season has told a mute Commissioner of Fisheries story concerning this crippled food supply. 2 PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER JUNIOR FISHERMEN By BOB RUNK row. There was a time when the Huckleberry Finn type, the farm or small town boy, with his hickory branch rod and cotton string line was the only youthful fisherman on the streams. In this age, however, the family automobile has opened the field to the city lad as well. Now urban and rural youth alike flocks to the Sport. During the past summer we conducted a series of hikes for Y. M. C. A. boys' clubs. On two of these hikes we touched points where the young­ sters could do some fishing. This was an­ nounced prior to the hikes and on both oc­ casions all the lads appeared equipped with tackle of every description. In our boys' camp we found the same prevailing enthu­ siasm. Counselors were continually being drafted as impromptu guides to conduct fishing groups during the free recreational periods. In one camp period a fishing club was organized for the purpose of studying the various species and methods for taking them by rod and line, the "laboratory" be­ ing Clark's Creek, which yielded sunfish, fallfish and pickerel. The results in this club and our city group have convinced us that the average boy will absorb all that one can give him concerning fish and meth­ ods of angling. That there is much to be done in this line PENNSYLVANIA fisherman, recent­ of education is clearly proved by the fact that in a group of twenty-five boys, aged they listened to articles describing the ly returned from a fishing excursion, drama of underwater life, stories of the waAs displaying a sizeable bass to a friend 9-13 years, several of them had fished for a number of years in company with their continuous struggle for existence that goes when two boys ran up to view the catch. on beneath the surface. The description of After a careful scrutiny of the prize with fathers, not one was able to identify from natural color pictures in the new booklet a bass guarding its nest and then eating exclamations of awe at the size of the fish the fry, the picture of a watersnake swal­ they summed up their approval as they "Common Fishes of Pennsylvania" any fish other than the bream or bluegill, the sucker lowing a bass whose girth was far greater strolled away by sighing wistfully, "Gee, I than his own, the description of young pick­ wish we could catch a carp that big!" and the catfish. Of the Fish Laws regulat­ ing size, day's catch, and season they were erel forming chains in their voracious at­ Those two lads are representative of the likewise blissfully ignorant. Openmouthed, tempt to swallow each other—these were thousands of boys who like to fish and do revelations to evoke expressions of wonder. fish on Pennsylvania's streams and ponds. Educators tell us that two of the most From the days when spring fever and its necessary prerequisites in teaching are in­ resulting epidemic of "playing hooky" terest and motivation. It should be a rela­ wreak havoc upon school attendance rec­ tively simple task then for the adult sports­ ords until the streams are covered with man to instruct his youthful counterpart in rafts of floating leaves and ice rims the the ways of sportsmanlike fishing. The in­ shores they are eagerly and constantly terest of the pupil needs little stimulation. questing for fish—all fish and any fish. It A few simple facts, either in picture or matters little to the average youthful angler story, about fishlife are sufficient to set him whether the fish he catches be bass or suck­ well on the road to learning. As to moti­ er, trout or carp, large or small, in season vation—well, show us the small boy who or out of season. It is his prized catch and would not like to catch a "big one." He is must be displayed on his stringer. Almost self motivated, and if you can slip in a any angler can tell of numerous occasions few hints that let him know that most good when his sporting nature has writhed in fishermen are good fish conservationists as torture at the sight of little Jimmie from well you will be sure to garner a few gold the family next door coming home with a stars behind your name on that celestial beaming face and a string of undersized record of all fishermen which old St.