110 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. s, 1899. 
bridled to the stern of his boat. It was nearly dusk, but a 
great white object looking like a raft, apparently 25ft. 
long, showed up in the river, and circled around the other 
boat, whose occupants, calling out "Shark!" pulled up 
anchor and made for shore. 
The Senator sat unmoved as the great white beast 
approached his boat so close that it snapped at the captive 
tarpon and carried half of it away; and still he fished. 
Within a half-hour the shark returned and secured the 
remainder of the tarpon. The ambition of most men for 
thrills would have been abundantly satisfied with the 
first bite. 
But this was intended to call attention to another style 
of fishing, for small deer, as compared with these 
monsters. 
At the Baltimore tournament this spring the only sample 
of bait-casting shown was the upward swing, so well 
described by Dr. Henshall, but the manager of the con- 
tests insisted that the overhead cast was much more 
simple and effective; tliat it had been adopted by the 
Chicago anglers, and that a single boat aft'orded room 
for three men to fish, in this way, without serious inter- 
ference. It is well known that with the old style side- 
swing most men need the whole of a boat and then are 
cramped for room. 
The only bait fisherman from Washington present was 
Mr. Hunter, and he resolved if there was a better way he 
wanted it, and he started at once to attain the accomplish- 
ment; and he has it. 
It is very easy to do;- it is not easy to learn to do. 
To see a man, without apparent effort, a simple twist of 
the wrist, shoot out a yioz. frog, not a plummet, but 3in. 
of rubber, over looft., is as pretty an exhibition as a 
1,000ft. golf drive, or a home run hit to center field, and 
about as hard to learn. 
It is first a question of tackle. The rod should be 6ft. 
4in. to 6ft. lOin. in length, and weigh about 6Hoz. A 
sornething lighter, rod is more supple, and for the J^oz. 
weight only to be preferred as making the cast easier, 
but in actual practice Ibe more attractive baits weigh 
more, and in striking the bass at 125ft. or more, as some- 
times happens, the lighter rods have not sufficient back- 
bone to do the work effectively or to inspire the angler 
. with that supreme confidence in his tackle which is one 
of the pleasures too often neglected. 
Mr. H. has in the four months bought five, and his pet 
toy is a sK'Oz. bamboo, as dainty as a whalebone whip, but 
his every-day reliable is lancewood of about 70Z. 
The reel should be a quadruple nndtiplier, nominally 
for 40j'ds. ; this will hold something more of the thin H 
line used in casting. A champagne cork around the barrel 
brings the line within easy reach, and gives and takes 
more rapidly than without its use. 
A 60 or 8oyd. reel it is nearly impossible to cast 
With, since it is so high, the thtimb is too nearly upright 
to control the line, and when in addition to this the 
thumb is held backward and downward, as the rod is be- 
hind one for the cast, it is apt to beget a cramp that im- 
pairs Its usefulness. If less line is put on the larger reel 
to leave the line low, the pillars are in the way. Too long 
a barrel requires so much care to lay the line even in 
taking in, and evcrj^hing depends on this, both for a 
steady flight and to prevent backlashing, with all its 
disastrous results. A line may easily be sawed in two 
with an unlucky snarl at the beginning of a cast. An 
inch to an inch and a half in length is easiest to manage, 
and the momentum of a light reel infinitely easier to con- 
trol than a larger one. 
In the matter of line tliere are many to choose from, 
but few that are fit. Some are excellent for lawn prac- 
tice that swell so much on being wetted as to be scarce 
recognizable; others of so short fibered or poor a silk as to 
be flossy and develop frayed places that soon leave 
them useless. A tightly braided raw silk is the most 
satisfactory for the dry work on the lawn, and a parafined 
which may now be bought already prepared, the best for 
the stream. .,,1. 
With the tackle ready, select a looft. mark on the 
meadow ; there is no use to fool with shorter goals. With 
your practice frog, without hooks, drawn up within an 
mch or two of the end of the rod, address your frog, as 
you would say af golf, holding it directly in front with 
the tip of the rod enough above a level to bring the frog 
m line with the point aimed at. With a smart swing 
bring the rod straight back over the shoulder to about 
the same angle, then forward again sharply till it reaches 
the perpendicular, then release the frog or reel, and as the 
frog starts on its journey at an angle of about ,30 degrees, 
lower the tip of the rod, that the line may pav out straight 
from the reel; then manage your thumbing judiciously and 
your feat of a lOoft. cast is accomplished. Probably not 
the first time, and one should not be discouraged if it did 
not go quite so far the second. It is indeed astonishing 
to beginners how many first casts land within roft. of the 
caster. 
_ Our friend Mr. H. had a couple of joints of an old rod 
in his bedroom and discarded his Indian clubs and took to 
imaginary casts for his- morning exercise, and contends 
that as a muscle breeder there's nothing like it. One 
morning a particularly enthusiastic effort that would 
have reached the 200ft. buoy if everything had been in 
harmony with the force exerted, sent the second ioint fly- 
mg across the room, and it imbedded itself in 'the wall 
even as Saul's javelin. When the element of danger is 
introduced even nantomine becomes exciting. 
On his return from office the back alley afforded room 
enough for practice, and he was not at all disconcerted 
at random excursions the errant frog was prone to make 
in the earlier days into the neighbors' back yards, or over 
sundry wires that still proclaim the lingering provincial- 
ism_ of the Capital City. Before the season opened, his 
holidays, and some that are not on the calendar, were 
spent at the Anglers' club house, where he has worn ? 
lOoft. track in the meadow, hard enough for a cycle 
path, as he walked back and forth reeling in, for he is 
careful enough to walk after his frog instead of dragging 
it home. It not only saves tackle, "but lays on the "line 
better, and that is the most important preparation for the 
next cast. All this sounds like hard work, but he has the 
satisfaction of a success that has inspired a dozen imita- 
tors. His cast is a graceful picture that a photograph 
cannot show, for it lacks that essential motion. 
Above Great Falls, just before the Potomac went 
twelve hooks, the bass is taken on the snap and the 
fisherman strikes as soon as the fish. 
There are many ways of preserving the minnows to 
avoid the bucket, that bugbear of bait fishermen. One of 
the best is formalin. This is one of the standard preserv- 
atives used at the Fish Commission for specimens. The 
ordinary commercial 40 per cent, solution is carried, and 
when needed, diluted with nine times its volume of 
water, giving a 4 per cent, solution. 
Experimenting with roach, one of the best of bass 
baits, seems to demonstrate that while a 4 per cent, solu- 
tion may be necessary for indefinite preservation, it is too 
strong, for the best results for bait. A 2 per, cent, solution 
leaves them brighter and the fluid cleaner. The ordinary 
mixture of alcohql, glycerin and water 'is' nearly as 
good. When fishing the bait should be taken from the 
jar and carried in dry bran; for weight of tackle and 
convenience the fly-fisherman has no longer much the 
advantage of the bait-caster. , ■ 
For ground i^overed, the bait excels, 'for it goes twice as 
far as the fly. The wind when head on is less embarrass- 
ing to the bait-caster, whose heavy missile flies in spite of 
it, though, of course, not so well. And here a caution: 
When casting with the wind, with the minnow nearly at 
the end of the cast, the thumb may be taken off the reel 
and the wind will carry out the minnow about as fast as 
the line pays off the reel, but in casting against the 
wind, at the end of the cast, the reel- must be sharply 
checked, because the wind holds up the minnoV and the 
reel is nearljr sure to overrun. ' ■} 
vor accuracy, to complete the comparison, the over- 
head cast leaves too little advantage to the fly to boast; 
with the side swing, distance was as easv. but there was a 
constant tendency for the minnow to go sailing off at a 
tangent; with this other system one is sure of a line shot 
even if it is short. 
Mr. Hunter reaches nearly 130ft. already, and easily 
averages above a hundred. 
It is the prettiest of all ways of taking fish — except 
with the fly. Henry Taujott. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
THE RELE.\Sli:. 
muddy, he took forty-nine bass, and is naturally delighted 
with that reward for his efforts. He used for casting the 
Mad Tom, a little dwarf catfish of about looz. weight. 
These were caught in Cabin John's Run, but .-re found in 
nearly all the small runs up the river. 
He hooked them through the lips and liked them better 
the longer they are used. He took seven with one bait, 
and insists that after they have been skinned by numerous 
strikes they get nearly white, and are then irresistible. 
But with the single hook through the lip, and rather a 
large bait, the bass must be given time to turn and gorge 
the minnow, else one loses too many strikes. 
The English in using dead bait make use of a .gang of 
two or three triangles that resembles an infernal machine. 
A spinning flight is now on trial that avoids these; it 
ought to do the work. 
In this the lip hook is lashed to the snell of the tail 
hook, and back of these, two small hooks for holding the 
minnow are fixed, the upper one reversed to curve the 
bait for spinning. With this as with the gangs of ten or 
Movements of "Westcfia Anglers. 
Chicago, III., July 29. — The past week has been one of 
great warmth, but for some reason or other the fish seem 
to have become more active than for the two weeks last 
preceding. A great many parties have been out on our 
Western waters and all reports go to confirm the earlier 
belief that this has been a phenomenal fishing year, at 
least so far as numbers of fishing parties are concerned. 
Of the Wisconsin waters I have had good reports this 
year from Plum and Star lakes, and also from the waters 
near Minocqua. The largest fish of which I have heard 
anywhere in the West this season is reported from Plum 
Lake, a , muscallunge taken last week by the fourteen- 
year-old daughter of Judge William C. Hook, of Leaven- 
worth, Kansas. This fish weighed 43lbs.. and the head ha-s' 
been sent to Cliicago for mounting. The largest fish of 
last year, 42i/2lbs., came from Kabekona Camp in Minne- 
sota, and I have heard no weights approaching these for 
several years. The young angler may feel very proud of 
her accomplishment. 
Mr. J. W. Embrell, of Chicago, left this week for Plrnn 
Lake, perhaps encouraged by the story of recent success 
there. 
Messrs. S. B. Bush and H. H. Hughes, of Louisville. 
Ky.. have been fishing near Minocqua, Wis., for the past 
week. They are_ credited with having taken sixty-two 
muscallunge within two days, the largest weighing 3ilbs, 
I have no verification of this report, but the record is a 
very good one if authentic. 
Messrs. W. P. Martin, R. P. Smith, E. R. West, Dr. 
Wightman. F, E. Burley, C. B. Woodward, all of Chicago, 
as Avell as George L. Hassett, of St. Louis ; R. R. Hootan, 
of Danville, 111. ; William Gehrke, William Davenport, J. 
THE ?ack: cast, 
