190 
east. Only four members showed for the long-distance 
fly as company for the San Francisco crack^ — ^Messrs. 
Belasco, Bellows, Peet and Smith, Mr. Bellows winning. 
In the distance and accuracy fljr-casting, Mr. A. C. 
Smith had his eye on the buoys, and did some grand cast- 
ing, going out with the phenomenal score of 96, the best 
made on the grounds. The same gentleman went out also 
for the delicacy and accuracy medal, and in this event was 
crowded by no one but Mr, Newkirk, both men going out 
with 95^ — a very fine performance. 
In bait-casting a very pretty performance was seen, with 
four men not very far apart. Here again Mr. Smith 
evidenced the avarice of his soul, for he set so hot a pace 
that no one could head him, and won also this medal, with 
a good bit to spare. Mr, Smith's casting in this event was 
Avell nigh perfect at times, and his average turned out 
965^. Strange to say, he was not the favorite, and 
M^on more by steady plugging away than by brilliance 
Mr. Newkirk led for a long time, and was cutting in 
close to the buoj-^s at all distances as tkey were called, doing 
the best work witnessed for many months. Newkirk had 
the contest won, hot as was the gait he had to go, but at a 
critical time made a fatal tangle, such as so often comes 
into this precarious art, and landed his frog some 60ft. 
or so from the buoy. He would have made a record- 
breaking score but for this fact, and some sympathy was 
expressed for him. 
It was evidently Mr. Smith's day for casting. To show 
the skill which is attained by some of these members of 
the casting club, I may state a little incident which oc- 
curred. The judges' boat was anchored .during the bait- 
casting some 60ft. or more from the platform, and while 
some were casting at the point of the platform, Mr. Smith 
and others amused themselves by practicing casting bait 
out toward the boat. Seeing the frog coming in close 
to U.S, I held out my hat and called to Mr. Smith to cast at 
?t. TTe several times, and three times out of four I 
caught the frog in the hat, not moving the hat very 
much to do so. . Once the hat was perfectly still, and he 
cyst the frog plump into it, one of the best shots I ever 
saw with a bait rod. 
All the bait-casting at the Chicago Fly-Casting Club is 
overhead strictly, the Chicago men having evolved this 
style and perfected it. The rods are short and stififish, the 
reels and lines the best that can be bought, and the aver- 
age skill of the members very high with these tools. One 
sees some splendid fly-rods, many heavy ones for the long 
work, and some lighter for delicate work, though the 
tendency is to rather heavy, serviceable tools, with a 
lot of backbone. 
Following are the scores of the day: 
Long Distance Accuracy 
Distance and Accuracy, and Delicacy, 
Per Cent. 
90 1-3 
852-3 
95 
85 2-3 
85 1-3 
Per Cent. 
Bait 
Casting, 
Per Cent. 
96 
84 14-15 
93 i-iS 
90 
80 2-15 
89 1-6 
94 11-15 
92 2-3 
95 1-2 
93 
95 1-2 
92 4-IS 
96 1-3 
79 
Fly. Feet. 
I. D. Belasco. . . 93 
I. H. Bellows. . . 121 
L. I. Blackman 
C. F. Brown 
H. Greenwood 
E. Letterman 
H. A. Newkirk. ... 
F. N. Peet iii 
G. W. Salter 
A. C. Smith. .. . 108 
W. Wolfarth 
*W. Mansfield. . 125 
* Guest. 
Holders of Medals. — Long-distance fly, Bellows; 'dis- 
tance and accuracy. Smith; accuracy and delicacy, Smith 
and Newkirk tied; bait-casting, Smith. 
Movements of Western Anglers. 
Chicago, 111,, Aug. 19. — Mayor Carter H. Harrison 
and his oldtime angling companion, Graham H. Harris, 
of the Board of Education, are this week absent from the 
city, fishing in Canada, Our Mayor is not only an ardent 
but a very skillful fly-fisherman, and is none of the pseudo 
sort of sportsmen. 
At the close of the exercises of the Chicago Fly- 
Casting Club to-day Mr. W. D. Mansfield, the guest o' 
the club, champion long-distance fly-caster of Amer- 
ica, and no doubt of the world, went bass fishing with 
President Itha H, Bellows, of the club, and Mr. F. N. 
Peet. Thej' went to Twin Lakes, Wis., and one hopes 
they may have success, though it is doubtful this very 
warm weather, unless it may chance that the bass are 
feeding on the ephemerae at dusk. The city is full of 
sand flies just now. 
Word comes from Harry Hascall and Rev, Lippin- 
cott, of this cit}', who have been absent for some days 
on the Pere Marquette, Michigan south peninsula, that 
Mr. Hascall has taken two rainbows of 4lbs. each, and 
several over 3lbs. He is represented as superlatively 
happy, and has expressed the intention of staying there 
the rest of the season. 
Messrs. Geo. Lanz,. of Lanz, Owen & Co,, and his 
friend, Mr. Cowles, of this city, started yesterday for 
Cable, Wis,, whence they go into the woods twenty miles 
for bass and trout fishing, and later for grouse, shooting. 
They will not return till late in the fall. This is re- 
ported to m.e by Dr. C. H. Brown, of this city, to be a fine 
fishing country.. 
Mr. A. Hirth, manager of the retail tackle department 
of A. G. Spalding & Bros., of this city, with his friend 
Mr. A. W. Roth, also of this city, left to-day to spend 
Sunday at Delavan Lake, or at least they showed tickets 
for that place. Pop Hirth will now be enabled to add to 
that large fund of angling reminiscences with which 
he is wont to beguile the innocent. I can recommend to 
these gentlemen the wall-eyed pike of Lake Delavan. 
and they can purchese them of very excellent size and 
quality of Carrie, the negro cook at the hotel. We had 
a canoe meet there once, so I know what I am talking 
about. 
Dr. C. H. Wright, of this city, who last winter had a 
verj' interesting trip to the Isthmus of Tehauntepec, is 
contemplating a trip this fall into some Northwestern 
country after big garne and general sport. He was 
figuring on the Canadian Northwest, but will probably 
compromise on Upner Minnesota, where he can get fish- 
ing also. Dr. Wright tells me that the flight of water fowl 
does not go as far south as the Isthmus, but r^^che.s ^1^^ 
oitv of Old Mexico ip great abundarice. 
Mr. J. Page Laughlin, of Pittsburg, Pa., outfitted this 
week at this city, and passed west for a fishing trip in the 
region of the National Park, going in at Livingston, 
Mont. 
Mr. Harry W. Thayer, of Chicago, left this week for 
a muscallunge trip to the Mason lake chain, Fifield, Wis., 
over the Wisconsin Central Line. The Fifield region is 
reported as very good this season, and the 'lunge are 
due. 
Mr. Geo. W. Kiesel, of Dubuque, la., outfitted here 
this week for Wells P. O., via Cora, Wyo., going, I 
believe, to Mr. Wm. Wells, the guide of that district. Mr. 
Wells will show him sport with the big game, for this 
Wind River Range is reputed to be one of the very best 
game countries which we have left. 
Mr. R. F. Wilson, of Chicago, left this week for 
Plum Lake, Wis., where he will spend some time trying 
for some of the big 'lunge which have been coming from 
that vicinity this season, 
Messrs. C. W. Bray and W. N, Grain, of this city, are 
just back from Mt, Kineo and Moosehead Lake, Maine. 
These gentlemen say that they had fine sport and saw 
seme splendid fish. Mr, Grain starts this week for Kabe- 
kona Camp, in Minnesota, where he Will have a try at 
the fall fishing for muskelunge, 
Mr. W. A. Sharp, of this city, is one of the Western 
anglers lucky enough to take a very large bass this 
season. On July 30 he caught, in Lauderdale Lake, 
Wis., a bigrmouth bass weighing slbs. 15^^02. This 
fi.sh has been mounted, and looked nearly as big as a year- 
ling shote. 
The Lauderdale Lakes, reached via Elkhorn, on the 
Milwaukee road, have this season been rather well 
patronized by Chicago fishers, and the angling has been 
noticeably good. 
From Star Lake, Wis,, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul spur which runs up from Minocqua, there come 
reports of a few muscallonge laken within the last week or 
two. Mr. F. F. Gaylord caught in Ballard Lake two 
muscallonge weighing 15 and lolbs, respectively. He 
was fishing with a No. 10 Skinner spoon when he had 
another strike, which he played for a time. The fish 
finally broke the spoon and got away, and Mr. Gaylord 
says it must have been a monster, Mr, C. H, Blair caught 
in Star Lake a 'lunge weighing ii^^lbs. Star Lake is con- 
nected with Plum Lake, and the two are good 'lunge 
waters. Miss Minnie Smith caught in Lake Laura, near 
Star Lake, fourteen black bass, including one which 
weighetl 5|41bs. In the same lake Mr. W. F. Schneele 
caught fifty-six bass, the heaviest 4j^lbs. In Razorback 
Lake Mr. Anson to'ok thirty-two bass, weighing up to 
4lbs. 
Mr. Jailian H. Youche, who recently went up to the 
Brule River, Wisconsin, for a fishing trip, writes me 
under date of Aug. 17: 
"T promised to write you about the fishing on the 
Brule. The first ten days we were here the fishing was 
fine, the trout averaging about a quarter of a pound, and 
about thirty to forty per day to each rod. The flies which 
are most successful are the dark Montreal, royal-coach- 
man, brown-hackle and black gnat. The trout have not 
risen well for the last few days, either on account of the 
high water or on account of the coming of the spawn- 
ing season. The fishing is from a boat altogether. We 
caught several rainbows over 2lbs. The brook trout do 
not run as large here as the rainbow. We met Col. Fred 
Mather here last week. He has charge of Mr. H. C. 
Pierce's fish hatchery. We leave here next week for 
Manitowish, Wis." 
Mr. Joseph Irwin, of Little Rock, Ark., earlier men- 
tioned as fishing on the White, north of Glenwood, Colo., 
has returned and writes me the following letter: 
"I took some fine baskets of trout the last few days I 
was there, and I was loth to give it up. We failed to get 
up in the cafion of South Fork, where the big ones lie, 
but we caught two nice baskets the last day, all over loin. 
and some very fine ones." 
E. Hough. 
480 Caxton Building, Chicago, 111. 
Three Hours with a Lake Trout. 
The Manse, Saranac Lake, N. Y., Aug. 22. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: It occurs to me that a recent experi- 
ence may be of interest to your readers. _ 
On the morning of Aug. i I wa.s fishing at a buoy in 
Long Pond, a few miles from here. My rig was a split 
bamboo fly-rod, 8oz. in weight, a waterproof silk fly-line, 
wire leader and No. i .sproat hook, with single snell. My 
bait was a live minnow. At a few minutes before 11 I 
hooked a fi.sh. The guide let loose from the buoy and we 
drifted away. In about an hour the fish came to the 
surface near enough to the boat for us to see him, but not 
near enough to gaff. We then saw that it was a lake 
trout. He went down again, keeping about loft. under 
water, occasionally making a rush, though never taking 
more than 15 or 20ft. of line. He did his best to get us 
into the lilypads and the shallow water, where there were 
plenty of sunken logs, At 2 o'clock, though I had kept 
all the strain I thought the rod would bear upon him all 
the time, I made up my mind to risk something, fearing 
the wearing away of the snell. In ten or fifteen minutes 
the added strain brought him up, in spite of a series of 
rushes, and at 2:10 the guide gaffed him, still 
swimming strongly. It proved to be a female, weigh- 
ing just sK'bs., hooked way down the throat much as 
the pestiferous bull pout usually hooks himself. It was not 
a buoy-fed fish, so must have come in to take my live bait. 
The guide knew of no equal run for a lake trout of the 
same size, and I have found no one who does. Three 
hours and over for a fish not regarded as particularly 
gamy is certainly a record-breaking '■"n. 
I * . * ii,t _ William Tatlock. 
Vermont Bass. 
Post Mills, Vt., Aug. 28. — I wish to report the luck of 
the past week fishing in Fairlie Lake. R. A. Williams, of 
Boston, five black bass that weighed I4lbs. 50Z. T. 
Sliney, of Boston, two bass, 4lbs. each, P. E. Lynch, of 
Boston, four black bass, two pickerel, 3^ and_ 4lbs. each, 
!P^ss fishing hg,? t|eeo ejitra good on the lake this season. 
A- Williams^ 
Fishing Up and Down the Potomac. 
Ca&in John's Bridge. 
The water supply of Washington is taken from the 
Potomac at Great Falls, fourteen miles above the city 
through a conduit carrying 75,000,000 gallons. Nearly 
midway it crosses the ravine of a run, formerly called 
Captain John's Run, but afterward Cabin John's, about 
winch mythical personage has grown up a generally ac- 
cepted romance of hermit life, mysterious disappearance 
and subsequent ghostly visitations. It was firmly believed 
at this spot as the Scotch believed of the Clootie Hole of 
which they said: "When the devil comes to Ross-shire, 
wherever he may spend the day, it is here he bides the 
night." Over this an aqueduct was carried, supported by 
a single stone arch, remarkable as the greatest now in 
existence. It is above looft. high over the creek bed, and 
has a span of 220ft. A prominent stone carries the names 
of olhcials who occupied high places at the di^ie of the 
building of the bridge. Ask any chance visitor of these 
and he will probably have forgotten everv one. But 
one of these names has been erased since, and any visitor 
will tell you that. It is part of the original cussedness 
with which we are endowed. 
When Erostratus burned the Temple of Diana the au- 
thorities decreed his name should be lost, and it was for- 
bidden to be spoken. Nobody knows or cares who these 
powers may have been, but the name of Erostratus will 
probably last as long as that of the goddess herself. Thus 
fate makes monkeys of the brief authorities, and their 
decrees go oft by contraries. 
The run a short distance below the bridge is carried by 
a small culvert under the canal bed, and reaches the river 
hardly half a mile away. The drive to this point over the 
macadamized road under which the conduit runs is kept 
in excellent condition; it passes over the palisades of the 
Potomac with the river often in sight, and the scenery 
about the breaks and the Virginia Hills beyond is very 
attractive. The consequence is that it has become a pop- 
ular resort, and any summer evening sees here a double 
procession of carriages and wheels, while the two or 
three electric roads to the place are generously patronized. 
For the very reason of its popularity there is compara- 
tively Httle fishing done here, for your real fisherman loves 
a quiet life, undisturbed by any noises except of his own 
making, or any neighbors save of his own choosing. 
The run itself has been once or twice stocked by the 
Fish Commission. Trout were put in several years ago, 
and last year rumors were current of good catches of trout 
made a couple of miles above the bridge. This seemed 
plausible enough, since native brook trout are still found 
in the tributaries of the Difiicult, a few miles further up 
on the Virginia side, and they were formerly supposed 
to occur in Rock Creek, nearer Washington. At any 
rate, several anglers considered it worth investigation and 
tried this season to verify the report; but a tramp up 
and down the creek with fly and bait developed no better 
foundation for the trout story than the existence of the 
chub or fall-fish, which undisturbed had reached a fairly 
good size. They are gamy little fellows, nearly as lively 
and shy at a fly as the trout. These, with a few sunfish, 
seem to be all there is to be found in the creek, though 
this is far from conclusive, for a failure to catch a fish 
is not always proof positive that he is not at all there. 
At the mouth of the run there are of course bass to 
be found, and a few fishermen who know their hiding 
places will never pass without a try for those which 
come, as fish do, to all confluents, to feed. 
Leaving the run, the canal furnishes some fishing here 
as along its whole length; the grassy fringe on the bank 
opposite the towpath gives shelter for an occasional bass 
or pickerel, and at the foot of the wastes around the locks 
bass and sunfish are sometimes found playing in the make- 
believe waterfalls. 
Crappie of late years have been found in , increasing 
numbers, and the usual sliders, snappers and eels pester 
the still-fishermen here in this usually muddy ditch as in 
other nearly stagnant waters. 
The river at this point has some beautiful fishing water. 
One of the largest pools of the upper river is made here 
by the Feeder Dam above Little Falls, and gives elbow 
room plenty to bait fishermen. Above this the river is 
crowded with little islands and puds, which are planted 
so thickly as to suggest that Jason had been here, and 
instead of the fabled golden fleece had laid in the river 
bed a leopard skin to catch the shining sand. And well 
he rnight do this, for here, as well as Colchis, the green 
hillsides have a yellow streak, and there are several gold 
mines in operation in the Maryland Highlands along 
these banks. 
In this broken water, with charming scenery on every 
hand, the angler would be hard to please who could not 
find delight. From Dennys to Lang no poet of the 
little rivers had ever a finer inspiration, and one will 
write of this some day. If his verses have a rhythm half 
so sweet as the music of its waters, and a dress half so 
rich as nature has bestowed herself, in this wild glen, 
their laurels will be lost. Till then these charms will be 
monopolized by the fisherman who does not still-fish. 
There seems to be no fitting term for the man who casts 
his lure. Whether fly or spoon- or' bait, he is in reality 
a fish hunter, and his methods of advance and attack 
like those of the so-called still-hunter; the quiet of the 
still-fisherman is the absence of motion; the quiet of the 
still-hunter is the concealing from the quarry any evidence 
of an almost perpetual motion. 
Casting fisherman would nearly describe him, but the 
v;ord is rarely used save in connection with the particular 
lure he uses. 
Still-fishing covers all baits and tackle, but there is 
lacking any adequate word to embrace that other restless 
class, who wander up and down the waters of the earth 
seeking what they may impale. 
Through this whole stretch of water, of pools and 
breaks, the anadromous fishes pass on their way to Great 
Falls, which has hitherto held them up, and local anglers 
have little hope of the fishways there, though they may- 
be better than they promise. 
This year has not been a fair test, as there was no 
spring flood to carry the water around over the channel 
in which the ways are set. These fish have no difficulty 
in getting up the Little Fall? ml F^ficlQr P^ii^ §0 
