FISH AND FISHING. 
MINNOW CASTING. 
In August Recreation J. P. Jaeger, of 
Independence, la., asks some angler to tell 
him how to cast flies and small minnows. 
I shall endeavor to answer, but want to be 
understood as making no pretense to ex- 
pertness in this art. Neither do I claim 
that the tackle and methods I| use are the 
best for the purpose, though they have 
proven satisfactory to me. 
I use a 6 foot Bristol steel rod with single 
grip, cork handle, Kalamazoo finger-hook 
attachment, agate guides and agate tip of 
extra large size. My rod is finished in 
oxidized silver throughout. My reel is the 
quadruple multiplier, known as Shakes- 
peare’s Professional, with jeweled bearings, 
and holds 80 yards of No. 5 silk line. I 
use 60 yards of Shakespeare’s Standard silk 
line, S. S. No. 2, for I prefer to have plenty 
of room on the reel. I use bass flies tied 
on No. 1 Sproat hooks, ringed; these I at- 
tach to a No. o P. and S. ball bearing spin- 
ner fastened to the line with a metal coup- 
ling. 
Having assembled these I wind up my 
line until the bait is near the end of the rod, 
place my thumb on reel spool, and throw 
off both brake and click. When the rod is 
at the proper point in casting, I release the 
spool of my reel, but keep my thumb touch- 
ing and, when I so desire, stop my bait by 
a slight pressure on the spool. This thumb- 
ing is the difficult feature of bait casting 
and requires practice to perform it nicely. 
It must be done to prevent the line from 
over running and back lashing. In casting, 
the motive power is born of the spring of 
the rod. 
‘When baiting with minnows, I use No. 
1 Sproat hooks on double gut snells and 
hook the bait through upper lip, except 
when I use spinners or spoons. With them 
I use No. 10 Sproat hooks attached to the 
spinner or spoon, and tie my minnow to 
the hook by passing a small wire through 
mouth and gills. 
Bait casting is an art requiring consider- 
able practice, some patience and a rod sup- 
plied with guides that offer the least resis- 
tance to the line. 
To practice on shore casting attach to 
line any small weight, run a tape line 100 
feet or less over the ground and fasten at 
both ends. Stand at one end and cast down 
this line and note distance cast and accu- 
racy. Soon you will be able to place your 
bait where you desire. 
W. S. Hoke, Wadena, Ia. 
ME SHOULD READ RECREATION. 
The photograph which is reproduced en this 
page is the result of one day’s fishing in Indian 

river, Florida, by Mr. C. M. Hapgood, of Easton, 
Pa. The total weight of the catch was 105 pounds, 
the largest fish weighing 13 pounds, and 5 other 
fish weighing over 10 pounds each. These were 
all trout with one exception, a bass. Mr. Hap- 
ood fished 5 different days, 3 or 4 hours each 
day, and caught in all 192 trout, the total weight 
being 690 pounds.—Boot and Shoe Record. 
I wrote Mr. Hapgood, asking if this re- 
port was correct and he replied as follows: 
Your information is about correct. Feb- 
ruary 13th I caught, in Indian river, Flor- 
ide, 32 trout that weighed 95 pounds; larg- 
est one, 12 pounds; 14th, 36 trout and 4 
bass that weighed 105 pounds, largest one 
II pounds; 15th, 18 trout that weighed 77 
pounds; 17th, 12 trout that weighed 45 
-ounds; 19th, 25 trout.that weighed 104 
pounds, 5 of them 10 to 13 pounds each; 
2Ist, 11 trout that weighed 50 pounds; 22d,. 
24 trout that weighed 84 pounds; 23d, 30 
trout that weighed 130 pounds, 9 of these 
weighing 95 pounds; total catch 188; total 
weight 600 pounds. These weights are ex- 
actly those allowed my guide when he sold 
the fish. 
C. M. Hapgood, Easton, Pa. 
Here is another case of a man making 
a hog of himself simply because he does not 
know any better. Evidently the trouble 
with this man is that he does not know 
anything of the modern advancement in 
sportsmanship. He knows that up to 10 or 
15 years ago a man was justified in catch- 
ing all the fish or killing all the game pos- 
sible and then boasting of it. Hangood has 
innocently had himself photographed with 
23 big sea trout. No modern, up-to-date 
angler would have taken more than 5 or 6 
such fish in a day, but Hapgood does not 
know this. He simply followed the ex- 
ample of old-time fishermen, caught all he 
could and then had his picture taken with 
the fish. If he lives long enough to learn 
what gentlemen think of such work nowa- 
days he will be ashamed that he ever stood 
up in front of the camera with such an ar- 
ray of slaughter about him and that he 
ever confessed to having committed such 
an act of butchery. Hapgood’s number in 
the fish hog pen is 926.—EDITor, 

WHO CAN TELL THEIR NAMES? 
A good instance of the proper treatment 
of fish hogs came under my netice the 
other day. Six Chicago business men had 
been fishing at Bang’s lake, Wauconda, 
Lake county, Ill., and some farmers had 
caught them using a seine. The farmers 
ordered them to leave town and never be 
caught around there again; but to their 
breed the diversion was too tempting and 
worth the risk, so back they came, camp 
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