542 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 8, 1911. 
Fishermen Protest. 
New Orleans, La, March 31.—. Editor Forest 
and Stream: Petitions continue to come in to 
the State Game Commission, asking that the law 
passed by the last Legislature be not enforced 
making April and May a closed season for 
catching salt water fish. A big petition was re¬ 
ceived this week from fishermen in the parishes 
of Avoyelles, Concordia, Pointe Coupee and 
West Feliciana, who state that if the law is 
enforced they will suffer great hardships, and 
their families will be in dire distress. They as¬ 
sert that the law protects in April and May buf¬ 
falo and catfish; that the buffalo spawn during 
March, and the catfish in June. They claim 
nothing will be gained by protecting the two 
species of fish named. 
The petitioners declare that the Legislature 
passed this law without due consideration and 
without a proper hearing of those who are most 
concerned. The fishermen propose as a substi¬ 
tute for the present closed law an act which will 
make it a criminal offense for any railroad or 
public carrier to transport fish caught by those 
who have no regular license. They claim that 
such a law will protect the fish and conserve 
the natural food supply, and they will see that 
it is carried out. Fish dealers here are receiv¬ 
ing many petitions asking that the closed season 
be not enforced. They arc leading the crusade 
against the law. The fishermen say if the closed 
season is rigidiy carried out, many of them will 
suffer for want of food, and furthermore they 
had not had sufficient time to prepare themselves 
for other vocations since the passage of the law 
a few months ago. 
Fishing at the various places on the Gulf 
coast is steadily improving and some fairly good 
catches are reported. The unsettled weather and 
the cool spell of the past few days have served 
to. keep a number of fishermen away from Lake 
Catherine, the Rigolets, Chef Menteur, Lookout, 
Waveland and the Barataria section. Those who 
have gone over to the clubs state that shrimp are 
coming in well, and good bait can be procured, 
but the weather is not yet quite settled suffi¬ 
ciently for the best results and the waters are 
yet somewhat cold. Spanish mackerel, speckled 
and green trout and sheepshead have been 
landed. It is expected that fishing conditions 
will improve considerably within the next ten 
days, and after Easter a large number of busi¬ 
ness men will have more time to go to the clubs 
and enjoy the sport. 
President Miller, of the game commission, and 
Superintendent Tullian, of the hatcheries, have 
returned from an inspection tour at Morgan 
City, La, where they went to study buffalo and 
catfish for the purpose of ascertaining the time 
when these fish spawn. Mr. Miller and Mr. 
Tullian spent some time at the big canning fac¬ 
tories and also questioned a number of the pro¬ 
fessional fishermen, but they announce they have 
not reached a conclusion and will investigate 
further. It is the intention of these officials to 
study the subject thoroughly, and also to get 
the opinions of scientists who are now engaged 
in a study of the question. Many of the pro¬ 
fessional fishermen claim that neither the buf¬ 
falo nor the catfish spawn in April or May, the 
closed season. It is thought Mr. Miller will 
announce his conclusions within a short time - . 
F. G. G. 
Too Early. 
Springfield, Mass, April 3 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The fishing season for brook trout 
opened in Massachusetts April 1 this year, it 
having been changed from April 15 by the Legis¬ 
lature last year. Quite a number of enthusiastic 
sportsmen in the western part of the State tried 
their luck, but with very poor success. A few 
large fish were secured, but only a few, and in 
several instances none were taken. 
The swamps and woods are still covered with 
ice in many places, and nearly every sportsman 
that I have talked with agrees that the change 
to April 1 has been a bad one, and several of 
them say that they will use their influence to 
have the law put back as it was before— 
April 15. George H. Graham. 
Some News and a Little Gossip. 
The three-masted schooner building for Robert 
E. Todd at Staten Island is to be launched on 
April 13. The work on this yacht is well, ad¬ 
vanced and Mr. Todd expects to have Karima, 
as she is to be named, in commission early in 
June. 
William E. Iselin’s new schooner Enchantress 
is being finished at Lawleys. The motor is to be 
installed and then the yacht will come east to 
City Island, where the furnishings and interior 
fittings will be put in. This yacht will also be 
ready early, as Mr. Iselin is very fond of cruis¬ 
ing, and he wants to get his yacht in shape for 
racing as soon as possible. A.. Cary Smith 
& Ferris were the designers of this vessel, and 
Mr. Smith will personally have charge of the 
tuning up trials. This means much for Enchan¬ 
tress, as Mr. Smith by his long experience is 
invaluable on a new vessel. 
At Flerreshoffs, Elena is progressing fast. 
There have been some delays owing to the ill¬ 
ness of Capt. Nat. Herreshoff, but the yacht is 
now plated and has been cemented. Work is 
being pushed as fast as possible, so that she 
may be launched on April 24, which is the 70th 
birthday of John B. Herreshoff, the head of the 
firm. 
thinks will be the schooners Sunshine, of New 
York, Margaret, Seneca, Vencedor, Shiyessa I. 
and Acushla II. 
Yachtsmen interested have made the request 
that the race be given an early start, so the 
chances are that the date originally named, 
June 3, will be the final selection. The Boston 
Y. C. will have official charge of the start and 
will decide upon where the starting point will 
be. Chairman Permar is of the opinion that 
the most suitable starting point is between 
Thompson’s and Castle Island. There was 
some talk of starting the race off Rowe’s 
Wharf, but this would not be feasible for sev¬ 
eral reasons. First, it might interfere with 
shipping; secondly, there would be little room 
for maneuvering and the wind would be shut off 
from the yachts, or would come puffy from dif¬ 
ferent quarters owing to the dock buildings. 
The starting point that Mr. Permar suggests 
would give plenty of room in any wind that 
might be blowing and a fine chance to observe 
the start either from Castle Island or from the 
pier at Marine Park in South Boston. 
Hollis Burgess recently wrote to Mayor 
Fitzgerald, of Boston, suggesting that the city 
should offer a prize for the Bermuda race. He 
pointed out that the city of Philadelphia last 
year gave $1,000 for the Havana race. The City 
Council has voted a $500 appropriation pro¬ 
vided there are six starters. 
Harold S. Vanderbilt is the first to make a 
formal entry of his yacht, the schooner Vagrant, 
for the Bermuda race. Vagrant won this race 
last year. Bryan S. Permar, chairman of the 
regatta committee of the Boston Y. C., is sure 
there will be at least six starters, and these he 
boat Eel to Commodore E. Walter Clark, of 
the Philadelphia Corinthian Club, who owns' 
Queen, now Irolita. The sale was made through 
the Hollis Burgess Agency. Commodore Clark 
will use Eel for racing at Marblehead. 
The Lakewood Y. C., of Cleveland, whose 
members are building 18-footers for. inter-city 
racing, will this year be prominent in the 23- 
rater class of the Interlake Yachting Associa¬ 
tion. A. J. Prentice, secretary of the club, has 
purchased the 21-foot raceabout Psammiad. 
This boat has long been known on the Sound 
as a fast one. She was raced last season in the 
handicap class by L. H. Dyer. She was origi¬ 
nally the Persimmon and was built by Stearns 
& McKay at Marblehead from designs by J. R. 
Purdon. She raced one season in Massa¬ 
chusetts Bay and was then taken to the Sound 
by F. T. Bedford. She is 32 feet over all, 21 
feet on the waterline, 7 feet 6 inches beam and 
5 feet 4 inches draft. She spreads 550 square 
feet of canvas. The Psammiad is smaller than 
the lake class R boats, but she comes in well 
under the rule. Mr. Prentice purchased the 
boat to stimulate the sport on the lakes and he 
hopes that other lake yachtsmen will get boats 
for the class. 
James O. Heyworth, of Chicago, has bought 
from the Lewis R. Alberger estate the 70-foot 
yawl Polaris. She will be fitted out and taken 
to the Great Lakes for cruising and racing. 
Herbert M. Sears has sold the fast Sonder 
The regatta committee of the Rhode Island 
Y. C. elected by the board of directors at the 
last meeting is composed of E. L. Arnold, 
chairman; Charles H. Weeden, Capt. Lew 
Tillinghast, Bradbury Barnes and Frank Sweet. 
Mr. Arnold has long been a racing man, in 
fact he handled many of the famous. Crosby 
cats; at present he is owner and skipper of 
Isuelo, for two years champion of Class Q. 
