420 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept, ii, 1909. 
United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania. 
The United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, a 
new State organization, will hold its first an¬ 
nual meeting, or camp, as it is called, at 
Collegeville, Pa., Sept. 14 and 15. Columbia, 
on the Susquehanna River, had been originally 
named as the place of meeting, and through its 
secretary, the club house grounds and boats of 
the Excelsior Rod and Gun Club, a member of 
the State Sportsmen’s Association, was offered 
for the use of the organization. Unfortunately 
there is a large element on and around 
Columbia who have little respect for the fish 
laws, and many have had to pay the penalty 
within the last three or four years at the hands 
of the State fish wardens and the State police. 
This element heard with indignation of the 
proposed meeting of the United Sportsmen 
and the offer of the Excelsior Rod and Gun 
Club. Threats, it is said, were made to burn 
the club house, and to destroy the property of 
the society, and it is claimed owners of boats 
were warned or advised not to hire them to 
the visitors. 
Under the circumstances the board of direc¬ 
tors reconsidered its action in deciding on 
Columbia, and chose Collegeville. The place 
was selected by a very narrow margin over 
New Hope, on the Delaware. Collegeville won 
on account of its accessibility, the fine ac¬ 
commodations which were offered and the 
large number of clubs within easy reach, in¬ 
cluding one in the place itself. 
The annual meeting of the State fish wardens 
will be held at Collegeville on Monday, Sept. 
13, and an attractive feature for the visiting 
members of the United Sportsmen will be a 
mock trial on Tuesday. The judges at the trial 
will be Fish Commissioner W. E. Meehan; 
counsel for the State, District Warden W. E. 
Shoemaker, of Laceyville, and counsel for the 
defense, Chief Warden J. W. Criswell, Harris¬ 
burg. The charge will probably be a violation 
of the fish basket law. 
The business meeting of the United Sports¬ 
men will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday 
evenings. Tuesday and Wednesday daylight, 
will be given over to contests for a number of 
prizes offered. Among the events are a club 
prize of a silver cup for the heaviest string of 
small-mouth bass; an individual prize of a rod 
and reel for the heaviest string of large- or 
small-mouth bass caught by one person; a rod 
for the longest bait-cast, offered by Mr. W. E. 
Meehan; a rod for the heaviest string of sun- 
fish, offered by Mr. W. L. Wunder, of Reading. 
Prizes will also be offered for fly-casting, both 
for distance and accuracy, and for the heaviest 
specimens of certain fishes. 
Among important matters to come before 
the business meetings will be further steps to 
bring the United Sportsmen, the State Sports¬ 
men’s Association and the Pennsylvania Fish 
Protective Association into even closer rela¬ 
tions, so that at the next Legislative session 
there will be a solid body of sportsmen in 
favor of the best fish, game and forestry laws. 
Another will be to endorse the action of the 
State Sportsmen’s Association at its meeting 
in Reading last May, to give greater assistance 
to the Forestry Department of the State. In 
this connection a proposition will be made that 
the United Sportsmen pledge themselves to as¬ 
sist in the passage of a bill requiring at least two 
hundred feet on each side of streams flowing 
through uncultivated lands, to be planted with 
trees, to be furnished by the Department of 
Forestry. 
Only a year and a half old, the United 
Sportsmen have enrolled twenty-eight clubs, in¬ 
cluding a number of long established county 
fish and game protective associations, and over 
3,000 members. It is a very popular organiza¬ 
tion and new clubs or camps, as the local 
bodies are termed, are being formed in all parts 
of the State, and fish protective societies al¬ 
ready established are taking preliminary steps 
to be enrolled. 
Very friendly relations exist between the 
United Sportsmen and the State Sportsmen’s 
Association, the former paying the most at¬ 
tention to the fishing interests of the State, 
while the latter is devoted mainly to game 
and trapshooting. As an example of the 
brotherhood between the two, the board of 
directors of the United Sportsmen at its last 
meeting recommended that at its annual meet¬ 
ing in September the State Sportsmen’s Asso¬ 
ciation be elected to honorary membership, 
with the privileges accorded a club in active 
membership. While no hint of any such pur¬ 
pose was uttered, it is significant that at the 
last annual meeting of the State Sportsmen’s 
Association, an amendment was made to its 
constitution which would make similar action 
possible at some future meeting. 
There Were Seven. 
Hanover Court House, Va., Sept. 1. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: Several years ago when 
fishing for tarpon in favorite Southwestern 
Florida waters in the regulation manner, and 
after the regular wait for results, I had a de¬ 
cidedly promising strike, yelled “Tarpon” and 
the other two boats raised anchor and reeled 
up. I paid out about fifty feet of line in addi¬ 
tion to the coils that were on the wide middle 
seat of the skiff. Meanwhile my boatman had 
taken up his anchor and sat at attention, oars 
in hand. I struck; no rise, but plenty doing 
under water and considerable excitement above 
it with me straddling the rod while standing on 
the rear seat, the big quadruple reel with 750 
feet of eighteen-strand cuttyhunk line, singing 
a song that would have been the sweetest music 
to the most critical ear. A calm day and a hot 
sun, so we perspired and labored for an hour 
and three-quarters before bringing our results 
to gaff, when we found that our catch consisted 
of seven sharks, the largest of which we esti¬ 
mated to weigh at least 150 pounds. 
How is this for a single catch on a single 
hook? Can you beat it? 
The sharks belong to the mammalia family 
and carry their young in pouches until born. 
This was a female and upon returning to the 
home wharf and opening her we found six 
young sharks that would weigh about a pound 
and a half each, and upon laying them out along¬ 
side of the motor we had the seven in evidence. 
I always find an interested listener when tell¬ 
ing this experience under proper surroundings 
and never fail to find a doubting Thomas in the 
party who finally smiles and says, “Boys, it’s 
on me.” Hark Smith. 
A Hatchery for Louisiana. 
New Orleans, La., Sept. 1 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The State Game Commission will 
establish at once three large hatcheries in dif¬ 
ferent parts of the State for raising fish. The 
largest will be located near Morgan City, on the 
Atchafalaya River, and will have a capacity of 
50,000,000 fish a year. It wi 1 be conducted 
largely under the direction of the United States 
Government, an expert coming here from Wash 
ington for that purpose. It is proposed to raise 
fish for the commercial markets in the north 
and also to distribute them among the farmers 
of Louisiana. Bass, buffalo, yellowfish, perch, 
brown catfish and various other kinds w : ll be 
raised at the hatcheries. It is proposed to en¬ 
courage farmers to build fish ponds and to get 
small fish from the three hatcheries. 
Attorney Amos L. Ponder, of the Game Com¬ 
mission, will arrange for a conference with the 
officials of Texas and Mississippi with a view 
of coming to some mutual understanding in 
reference to the better control of streams be¬ 
tween the States and especially to the control 
of all salt water touching the three States. It 
is proposed to regulate the fishing in salt waters 
with a view of reducing the great destruction 
of fish by professionals and seiners. It will re¬ 
quire special legislation on this subject before 
the commission can carry out its plans. The 
commission has decided not to recommend the 
abolition of the dollar license tax required ol 
all hunters in Louisiana. This subject wa: 
under consideration for some time before a de 
cision was announced. The State oyster com 
mission has adopted a resolution prohibiting the 
dredging of oysters on any reef or bed, excep 
in Gulf and very deep and open waters. The 
object of this rule is to protect the supply 0 
oysters in the Louisiana waters. The oyste 
season opened Sept. 1 and promises to be th> 
largest in many years, and more licenses haw 
been issued than last year up to the beginninj 
of the legal season. 
Fishermen from the several coast places ii 
Mississippi and Louisiana report only fair lucl 
landing the finny tribe. No big catches hav 
been recorded this summer and the fishing ha 
been' on the whole quite poor to the pleasur 
lovers and anglers generally. There appears t 
be a scarcity of fish. The big storms have ha 
much to do with the poor luck in the past fc\ 
weeks. F. G. G. 
Distributing Bass. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Sept. 1. — Editor Fore, 
and Stream: Thousands of young bass an 
other fish are being saved this month in tb 
sloughs along the Mississippi, according to S. I 
Fullerton, State superintendent of fisheries. R> 
cently a car containing about 20,000 bass fi 
was sent to distribute fish to the lakes on tl 
line between Minneapolis and Bemidji. Lat< 
this week another car will go to Pelican Rapid 
setting off cans of fish at every town along tl 
line. 
Pickerel and other fish are running in tl 
Minnehaha, and many fine strings have bee 
brought in. It was my luck to catch four picl 
erel with rod and line recently. As a rule th< 
are snared with copper wire. 
Robert Page Lincoln. 
