AND 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Teems, $4- a Ye^r. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1898. 
J VOL. Ll.-No. 2. 
I No. 846 Broadway, New York. 
PRIZES FOR AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHS, 
The sportsman tourist of to-day is an amateur photo- 
grapher, and the camera has a recognized place in the 
outfit of the field. The results of successful snap shots 
often constitute the most cherished mementoes of an out- 
ing. In recognition of the important place held by- 
amateur photography in its relation to sports of the field 
and prairie and mountain and' forest and stream, this 
journal in 1892 gave a series of prizes for meritorious 
work with the camera, and the result was an interesting 
collection of photographs, many of which were repro- 
duced as half-tone engravings in these columns. The 
series was exhibited in a special exhibition by the New 
York Camera Club, and was put on view in other cities, 
everywhere attracting deserved interest. 
We propose now to renew the offer of a series of 
cash prizes for such work, the prize list being more lib- 
eral than of those given before. The conditions are as 
follows: 
The prizes will be divided into three series: (1) for 
live wild game; (2) for game in parks; (3) for other sub- 
jects relating to shooting and fishing. 
(1) For live game photographs three prizes are of- 
fered, the first of $50, the second of $25, and the third of 
$10. 
(2) For live game in parks, for the best picture, a 
prize of $10. 
(3) For the best pictures relating to Forest and 
Stream's field — shooting and fishing, the camp, camp- 
ers and camp life, sportsman travel by land and water, 
incidents of field and stream — a first prize of $20, a sec- 
ond of $15, a third of $10, and for fourth place two prizes 
of $5 each. 
There is no restriction as to the time nor as to where 
the pictures have been made or may be made. 
Pictures will be received up to Dec. 31 this year. 
All work must be original; that is to say, it must not 
have been submitted to any other competition or have 
been published. 
There are no restrictions as to the make or style of 
camera, nor as to size of plate. 
A competitor need not be a subscriber to the Forest 
and Stream. 
All work must be that of amateurs. 
The photographs will be submitted to a committee, 
who, in making their award, will be instructed to take 
into consideration the technical, merits of the work as 
a photograph, its artistic qualities, and other things be- 
ing equal, the unique and difficult nature of the sub- 
ject. 
Photographs should be marked for identification with 
initials or a pseudonym only, and with each photograph 
should be given, answering to the initials, the name of 
sender, title of view, locality, date and names of camera, 
and plate or film. 
ADIRONDACK FLV CASTS. 
There is a decided difference of opinion among the 
anglers who visit the Adirondack region as to the kind 
of artificial flies which are the most effective for speckled 
trout fishing, and the topic is one of never failing in- 
terest. The successful fisherman who at the conclusion 
of a day's sport returns to his hotel, boarding house or 
camp and exhibits a big trout, is sure to be greeted with 
the query: "Where did you catch him?" and when this 
has been answered evasively or otherwise, some one 
will ask: "Did you use bait or a fly?" In case it was the 
latter, or if the angler is known to fish exclusively with 
flies — and to ask if he did is consequently superfluous 
— the interrogation is: "What fly did he take?" To meet 
expectations on such occasions one must be prepared to 
say that the fish rose to a red ibis, white miller or queen 
of the water, as the fact may have been, and furthermore 
to add that the other flies on the cast were so and so, 
naming them, of course. The chances are that a general 
discussion as to the relative merits of these and other 
flies will follow, perhaps not immediately, but as soon as 
there is a favorable opportunity, and an hour or very 
likely an entire evening will thus be whiled away most 
agreeably. Incidentally, entertaining stories will be told 
about other big trout that have been caught, and con- 
cerning uncommonly large catches of somewhat smaller 
ones. 
These conversations are characteristic of Adirondack 
life during the fishing season, and the theme being of 
common interest, they invariably prove enjoyable. 
Every fisherman who has visited that region will have 
pleasant memories of the evenings passed in this way, for 
when several long hours have been spent on a stream 
or lake in quest of trout the after-supper interchange of 
ideas among fellow anglers appears to round out the 
day's enjoyment as nothing else can. Nothing will 
break down the barriers and bring about a general 
conservation among strangers at a wilderness resort 
more surely and speedily than the introduction of this 
subject. Casualty ask the man nearest you what his 
favorite fly is, and in nine cases out of ten that will suffice 
to set the ball rolling. In a few minutes vou will be 
talking together as earnestly as though you had been 
acquainted for years, and everyone else within hearing, 
who knows anything about fly-fishing, will be eagerly 
listening and putting in a word whenever the opportu- 
nity is presented. If you don't believe it try the experi- 
ment. Should it fail it will be because the man you 
address is not an enthusiastic angler, or you are not well 
up on the subject yourself. Many warm and lasting 
friendships have resulted from an acquaintance begun in 
this informal manner. 
It is curious to note what a wide range of opinions 
there is even among expert fly-fishermen regarding the 
effectiveness of trout flies, and "when doctors disagree 
who shall decide?" Some rejoice that there are so many 
varieties to choose from, and believe that although there 
are upward of 200 kinds on the market there is yet room 
for valuable additions. Others go to the opposite ex- 
treme and laugh at the idea of a large assortment being 
essential or desirable, arguing that half a dozen or a 
dozen at the most are all that are required. It is 
doubtful, however, if the extremists either way are the 
most successful fishermen, for it has been pretty clearly 
demonstrated that there is a happy medium in the use 
of artificial flies as well as in many other things. 
Some of the would-be fly-fishermen who have not yet 
acquired sufficient practical knowledge of the gentle 
art to entitle them to be classed as experts, and will not 
for some time to come, carry books full of flies, gaudily 
colored ones predominating, and are willing to have 
people believe that they are authority on the subject. 
Such a man, while relating his fishing experiences, de- 
lights in telling how many times he changed his flies on 
a trouting expedition before he succeeded in finding a 
cast that the speckled beauties favored. It was a diffi- 
cult matter to suit them, but the right kind were 
eventually hit upon, and a well-filled creel resulted. In 
a case of this kind the narrator is wont to dwell upon the 
good judgment he displayed in picking out the flies, and 
substituting those which successfully lured the trout, and 
his stories are apt to give the novice an exalted idea of 
the fastidiousness and perceptive powers of the fish 
which subsequent experience does not fully sustain. 
The angler who enters into details too minutely in giv- 
ing an account of the changes- in flies found necessary in 
a day's fishing should be ready, if occasion requires, to 
undergo a cross-examination, for there may be a skeptic 
within hearing, one who is disposed to ask questions. 
After the story has been told of how the first cast, con- 
sisting, for example, of a professor, coachman, brown 
hackle and great dun, was superseded by a blue profes- 
sor, Esmeralda, brown pennell hackle and hawthorne; 
these by a red-head, lady of the lake, Epting hackle and 
black ant, and so on until a successful combination was 
secured composed of an orange coachman, lake green, 
soldier palmer and black June, when all this informa- 
tion has been volunteered and the angler is dilating upon 
the merits of the last-mentioned flies, then the skeptic 
may come to the front with two or three apparently in- 
nocent inquiries. The inftial one is likely to be some- 
thing like this: "What time in the day did you begin 
fishing?" The next one may be: "How long had you 
been fishing before you made the first change of flies?'" 
And then this one: "About what time was it when your 
last combination was made up and the trout began to 
bite in earnest?" 
These queries, propounded in an inoffensive and in- 
terested manner calculated to convey the impression that 
the questioner recognizes the story teller as authority 
and is anxious to learn something, may, if promptly and 
truthfully answered, place the latter in an uncomfortable 
position. If the admission is made that it was later than 
10 A. M. when the flies were first wet, that the quartet 
headed by the coachman was abandoned after a brief 
trial, and if it was nearly 3 P. M. when the trout began 
to thump the inside of the basket, then the skeptic is in 
his element, and the hitherto unsuspecting angler will 
be asked a few more questions, something like these: 
"Is it not possible that the time of day had as much 
to do with the refusal of the trout to bite during the first 
few hours as the get-up of your flies did? Is it not like- 
ly that a cast made up of a royal coachman, grizzly 
king, red hackle and black gnat would have been just as • 
effective as your big four? Don't you think that after 3 
P. M. the trout would have risen just as freely to your 
first combination as they did to your last?" A man must 
possess uncommon nerve and presence of mind if he un- 
hesitatingly gives a negative reply to these questions, and 
yet if he does not do so and admits that any one of the 
three should be answered in the affirmative, what be- 
comes of his vaunted skill and good judgment? 
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the angler of long 
experience in the Adirondacks, even though he be- 
lieves in the policy of carrying all sorts of flies, will 
never allow himself to be trapped in this manner. If he 
has occasion to speak of changing his flies he does so 
in a matter-of-fact way, as if willing to give his hearers 
the credit of knowing that it must have been the only 
proper thing to do under the circumstances, and there- 
fore his statements have none of the red-rag appearance 
which is so annoying to the skeptic, and so sure to 
provoke an attack from the cynic. The experienced fly- 
fisherman is more familiar with the names of the different 
artificial flies than is the superficial amateur who has 
taken great pains to memorize them in order that he 
may appear to possess much knowledge, and, further 
than this, he knows what insect each one is designed to 
imitate. There is method in everything that he does 
and he will never be found at a loss to explain his motive 
for changing his flies, no matter how often it may have 
been done. He always has at least one unanswerable 
argument on his side, and this is that .the trout, when 
coming to the surface of the water for food, will be more 
apt to take a fly which looks like the natural ones upon 
which they are feeding than any other. Basing his 
actions on this known fact, he carefully observes what 
kind of fly or flies are on or near the water in which he 
proposes to fish; then, believing that the more nearly 
the manufactured fly resembles the real one the more 
likely it will be to deceive and allure the trout, which 
inspect it closely, he exercises the utmost care in select- 
ing from his stock the individuals which are to com- 
pose his cast. 
The other extremist, he who professes to believe that 
a very limited assortment of flies is sufficient to answer 
all requirements, does not hesitate to admit that the 
choice of a fly should be governed to some extent by the 
kind that the trout are rising to, but pins his faith 
more on its color or general appearance than on any 
finer points of resemblance. He cares little or nothing 
for the name, and knows the flies only as light and dark, 
or rather as black, white, brown, red, green, yellow and 
mottled. For his purposes any one of the four or five 
combinations of flies previously mentioned as being used 
in one day by the tyro would be just as good as another. 
He rarely uses more than three flies at a time, and fre- 
quently but two. He places a great deal of confidence in 
hackles and never fails to have one or more on his lead- 
er. His belief in the soundness of the well-known rule 
that dark flies should be used on light days and light 
flies on dark days is firmly founded, and to a consider- 
able degree he is controlled by it. In his opinion finical 
fishermen waste a great deal of valuable time making 
substitutions in their strings of flies. 
