OLD TIME FISHING ON THE
NORTH RIVER

We no longer go fishing, nor is the bathing so attractive
as it was when a pebbly stretch of beach along our shore
front was a constant invitation to plunge into the cooling
depths. Movies and motor cars seem to occupy the first
claim on our affections, despite the fact that John Reid,
a Yonkers man, introduced the game of golf in this
country, thereby giving a great stimulus to the love of
outdoor sports the country over.

During the administration of Governor Hughes, which
is not so far off as to be real history yet, a delegation of
river boatmen called upon him to protest against the vast
number of nets which the shad fishermen had spread all
along the shores opposite Yonkers, and which they claimed
interfered with navigation. In those days one could row
out to where the fishermen were hauling in their nets
and get all the most delicious roe shad he wanted for a
quarter.

That is only a few years ago, but already a shad seems
about as extinct as the dodo. It is morally certain that
shad have virtually disappeared from the sludge-infested
waters of the Hudson. While factories are more or less
unavoidable, the reckless and wanton pollution of the
waters of the Hudson is an insult to our intelligence as a
people. It is utterly unnecessary, and this wonderful
source of cheap and delicious food is still within our
reach had we but the sense to apply the remedy.

"Tom Cods" or Lafayettes were plentiful at the first
appearance of frost and all the shore front of our city

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