122 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



Bass. 



(c) No one shall fiKh for, catch or kill in any of the waters of the 

 Province in one day by angling, or shall carry away a greater number 

 than eight small or large mouthed black bass. 



(d) No small or large mouthed black bass less than ten inches in 

 length shall be retained or kept out of the water, sold, offered or ex- 

 posed for sale or had in possession, but anyone who takes or catches such 

 fish of less than the minimum measurement named, Avhicli measurement 

 shall be from the point of the none to the centre of the tail, shall 

 immediately return such fish to the water from which it was taken, 

 alive and uninjured. 



The point at issue iK whether the angler must of necessity cease 

 angling when he shall have successfully landed eight fish of legal size, 

 or Avhether it is legal and within the spirit of the law for him to return 

 such uninjured fish of legal size as he chooses alive to the waters and 

 continue fishing so long as he desires, or until he has actuallj^ killed 

 eight fish. 



In nearly all good bass waters there are times and occasions when 

 the angler will be fortunate enough not only to find the fish striking 

 greedily at his bait, but also some particular spot in which the fish are 

 congregated thickly. In those waters in which the fish are the most 

 abundant this will occur the more frequently, and these localities are, as 

 a rule, the principal resorts of visiting anglers. To the majority of 

 sportsmen much of the pleasure of angling for black bass lies in the 

 struggle with the fish after it has been hooked. Frequently it will occur 

 that the bass cannot be induced to take the lure through long hours of 

 monotonous angling, so that when patience and persistence are re- 

 warded by the discovery of some spot in which the fish are both abun- 

 dant and eager to bite, the angler for the nonce is in an earthly para- 

 dise and naturally desirous of making the uttermost of his opportuni- 

 ties. On such occasions, however, it is plain that to those who wished 

 to abide by the spirit of the law the period of enjoyment would be most 

 brief if the law is to be interpreted in its apparently literal sense, 

 namely, that it is illegal to " fish for " more than eight fish of the legal 

 size, regardless of whether or not those landed in an uninjured condi- 

 tion have been returned to the waters. When it is considered that the 

 visiting angler, and, in many cases, also the resident of the Province, is 

 put to considerable expense to secure his sport, and, moreover, that the 

 non-resident is charged a fee of |2.00 for angling in provincial waters, 

 it is apparent that visitors and citizens alike will be apt to protest at 

 having their sport for the day curtailed, perhaps, to the short space of 

 one-half hour, more especially when they have not even killed their 

 limit of fish as allowed by law in order to avoid waste. This fact has 

 been well illustrated, indeed, by letters, from non-residents especially, 

 which have appeared in the public press, asking for an interpretation of 



