May 27, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
417 
mmm! 
British vs. American Casters. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of April i last Mr. E. Lipkau contrib- 
uted a short but timely and interesting note on ringed 
flies, setting forth their lasting qualities and general 
superiority over the mounted or snelled flies commonly 
used by American anglers. I fully indorse what he says. 
I have all my large flies tied that way now and find them 
more lasting. I have a considerable number on hand 
that are as safe as the day they came from the skillful 
hands of old John Benn some seasons ago. One or two 
of my western friends in discussing the relative merits 
of the two methods, have advanced the argument that 
leaders are quite as subject to^ decay as the snells of 
mounted flies, and while that is true in main, they have, 
I think, overlooked the effect of the steel shank or snell. 
Other and less skilled fly casters have objected to the 
use of ringed flies as being less convenient, but their ob- 
jection comes from a lack of familiarity with the knots 
used in fastening the unlooped end of leader to the eye 
or ring of flies. In most cases this objection has been 
removed by showing them the simple knots most com- 
monly used by the English and American experts. 
I take it that the American dealers aim to supply what 
their customers demand and consequently they carry 
their flies mounted as there is so little demand for the 
other style. True it is, that very few of even the largest 
dealers in tackle in the United States carry any ringed 
flies. In Canada, where most local anglers are familiar 
with "eyed flies" and the stocks are principally obtained 
from England you will usually find even the smaller shops 
to be well supplied, even to the gnats and midgets. The 
angler who needs or wishes to economize in his tackle 
will find the ringed flies of advantage. I have not found 
that the ring or eye of fly or the knot used in fastening 
the leader offers more resistance tO' the water or other- 
wise detracts from their use. If the fly be well and prop- 
erly secured to the leader or temporary snells it offers 
no more resistance to the water than those that are 
mounted at the time the fly is laid on. 
While I fully agree with Mr. Lipkau in what he says 
of the economy and safety of ringed flies,- he makes one 
statement in his note which, I think, is open to question 
and which I should like to see discussed in your columns. 
He says, "We are much behind the English fly caster in 
the art of fly casting." Now are we? I cannot write 
of the English fly caster at home, for I have not fished in 
Great Britain. My experience in fishing with "our Brit- 
ish cousins" has been confined to- waters in eastern and 
western Canada and in California and Oregon. On waters 
there it has been my very good fortune to fish with a good 
many English and Scotch fishermen, most of whom were 
"royal good chaps" and keen sportsmen who were "doing 
the States and Canada for fish and game," or who resid- 
ed in Canada, and I have not found that any of them 
excelled and that but one or two equalled many of my 
eastern and western friends in the art of fly casting. In 
the first place, their rods do not compare, with our best. 
They are heavier and though much longer do not handle 
the line nearly as well. A few of the most expert English 
fly casters I have met have used Leonard rods, but even 
these did not have the command of their cast that our 
best anglers have. When it comes to distance casting 
with the back cast unobstructed they get out a good line 
and place their flies well. Where the back cast is limited 
by trees or rocks or where a cast must be made to place 
the flies well under overhanging trees or brush, the Eng- 
lish casters have not shown up well in comparison with 
many Americans with whom I have fished. 
The average English fisherman you meet on American 
waters uses a very large fly, mostly of the English salmon 
style. They are too heavy to be placed lightly on the 
water, they are essentially flies for sinking and cannot be 
delicately dropped and floated on the surface. In fishing 
heavy waters like the McCloud in California, the Rogue 
in Oregon and the Thompson and Kootney in British 
Columbia, and Nipigon in Ontario, where sunken flies 
are often resorted to, the American casters use much 
smaller flies than the Englishmen I have met on these 
waters. In my experience the former have been more 
successful, probably because of their superior casting and 
because by the use of smaller flies they were enabled 
to cover all the more quiet stretches with their cast and 
yet sink them in swift water. I should like to hear from 
others of your readers on this subject, and it would be 
interesting to learn from Mr. Lipkau why he thinks "we 
are much behind the English fly caster in the art of fly 
casting." 
Let me tell you of a tribute to the expertness of some 
of my western fly-casting friends and American fly cast- 
ers generally which was paid them by the most expert 
English fly caster and fisherman it has been my pleasure 
to know. 
Some seasons ago, in company with a party of Cali- 
fornia friends, I met at Pelican Bay, in southern Oregon, 
an Englishman who outwardly was of the Lawrence 
D'Orsay stamp and who mentally reflected all of the 
sterling qualities of that most gentlemanly and accom- 
plished actor. Not having to play a part written by 
Thomas he was less heavy than the Earl of Pawtucket, 
we laughed with and not at him, and found him an ex- 
cellent fly caster and fisherman. Though he was more 
or less reserved and very deliberate, he was "a royal good 
chap," direct and pleasant, and we all liked him from the 
first. The fishing in the placid waters of Pelican Bay is 
all done from a boat, and it is usually the custom for two 
fishermen to go out from the lodge in each boat, taking 
"turn and turn about" in casting and handling the boat. 
As our party was odd in number we were only too glad 
"to split a -boat with him." He proved a welcome sub- 
stitute for the average boatman one can get there. He 
did his "trick at the ash" well and proved easily that he 
was an accomplished fisherman, and he was reckoned one 
■ of our party thereafter. A few evenings gft^r our first 
meeting he was seated on the well screened porch of the 
very artistic and comfortable rustic cottage which our 
party occupied at the Lodge, when some one asked him 
how he, an Englishman, came to be using a Leonard rod, 
a Mills tapered line and an Edward vom Hofe reel. In 
reply he told us that some years ago, while the guest of 
an English friend, at the latter's salmon lodge in Scot- 
land, he met Mr. J, R. Moore, of New York, who was 
one of the same house party, Mr. Moore, he continued, 
Avas "the most remarkable fly fisherman he had ever 
knocked up against. His use of his cast and his method 
of playing and killing the fish he struck was a revelation 
to us all. None of us had ever seen so clever a caster. 
Mr. Moore was at that time using a- light single- 
handed split cane rod, while the balance were using 
double handed rods. He was the first fisherman I had 
ever seen kill a salmon with so light a single handed rod. 
I afterward accompanied Mr. Moore to Norway and 
'fished salmon' with him there. Mr. Moore very cleverly 
coached me and whatever skill I may have I owe to him. 
After fishing with him I changed my method. On Mr. 
Moore's return to New York he sent me one of the rods, 
lines and reels I am now using, and I have not since used 
any other makes." 
Mr. Moore had told him of the fishing in California, 
at Pelican Bay and the Williamson River in Oregon, and 
had asked him to "come out" and fish them with him. 
Much to his sorrow Mr. Moore died before he could get 
over, but his stories, especially those of the Williamson, 
had made so strong an impression that he came over to 
the States to fish there. As it was the good fortune of 
myself and one other of our party to have known Mr. 
Moore well, and to have fished many Pacific coast waters 
with him, this announcement that this Englishman had 
known him in the old country kept us all up to a late 
hour toasting the memory and relating recollections of 
that much traveled and . interesting fisherman. 
We afterward had the pleasure of showing our new 
friend some of Mr. Moore's favorite stretches of the fa- 
mous Williamson River. Now this Englishman repeated- 
ly declared that "Moore was and you chaps are much 
more clever with your rods than the men at home, and 
you do yourselves a deal better in tackle." 
Mr. Moore was my friend for many years, and he 
taught me many "kinks" that old Thad. Norris had 
taught him when a boy. Mr. Moore was by all odds the 
best fly fisherman it has ever been my good fortune to 
have met. He had fished almost all the waters of the 
world — and that as our English friend remarked, was 
"a big order" — yet he often said that the best English 
casters he had met did not compare favorably with the 
best of American anglers. Mr. Moore had better com- 
mand of his flies than any other man I have fished with. 
Probably he could not have gone on to a platform at a 
fly casting tournament and equalled Leonard, Mansfield 
or Golcher, but out on a stream he was a master. I have 
never fished with Mr. Leonard but I have fished with 
Messrs. Mansfield and Golcher and many other most 
skilled fly fishermen, and I think Moore placed his flies 
better than any. 
Let us hear what others have to say of Mr. Lipkau's 
statement that "We are much behind the English fly cast- 
ers in the art of fly casting." Amigo. 
San Francisco, Cal., May 12. 
Suspended Animation in Fishes. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As an old sportsman in many lands, I take great in- 
terest in two articles in your issue of May 13. That on 
salmon by Mr. Edward A. Samuels, and that on the Alas- 
kan blackfish, by my old fellow sportsman and friend, 
Mr. E. T. D. Chambers. 
There are two points in the former, first, with refer- 
ence to the hooked jaw of the salmon male fish. Mr. 
Samuels is right in considering that this is used for a 
weapon for fighting. Many instances have occurred of 
salmon being picked up with their s^es all scored by 
these beaks, the wounds having been inflicted by an an- 
tagonist at spawning time. With reference to Mr. Sam- 
uels' objection, that the fleshy tip is soft and velvety, I 
have frequently noticed that male fish caught in English 
or Scotch rivers at "the back end," that is, in September 
and October, have had the "gib" hard and horny through- 
out at that season. Mr. Samuels is no doubt aware that 
this hook-like appendage frequently drops off, or is worn 
off by the fish rubbing on stones ; but it grows again by 
the mating time. Second, with reference to salmon feed- 
ing in fresh water, the weight of evidence is now in favor 
of their doing so occasionally, but not frequently. 
Only one instance, other than that of a fish taking a 
trout fly made to resemble a natural insect, has come un- 
der my own notice. I was once with a brother and a 
Scotch "gillie'' named Wragge watching some salmon in 
a clear pool in a stream, when we saw one which had 
a small, eel in its mouth. It took a long time in swallow- 
ing this appetizing morsel, but the eel gradually disap- 
peared. 
An instance was also recorded, about a year ago, of a 
salmon which was caught with rod and line, inside which 
was a recently swallowed roach. This was, if I remember 
correctly, on the River Avon, in the south of England, 
and the roach 4^ inches in length. 
Mr. Chambers' remarks concerning the extraordinary 
vitality of the frozen blackfish are certainly most remark- 
able. One feels inclined to be sorry for those dogs, whom 
he mentions as only being made aware of this latent ani- 
mation by feeling the little creatures kicking about inside 
them, with the result that they lost their meal ! I have, 
however, myself frequently witnessed cases of this sus- 
pended animation in fish, although in a hot climate, like 
India, not a cold one like Alaska. When at Jubbulpore, 
in the central province of India, I, in seiveral successive 
seasons, watched the natives catching enormous quanti= 
ties of fish in baskets, in a shallow pond formed merely 
of rain water; the bed of which would be dry and as hard 
as iron a fortnight later, while in the great succeeding 
heats the whole surface of what had been the pond was 
full of cracks and fissures in what had formerly been 
mud. 
Upon another occasion, just at the commencement of 
the cold weather, I was snipe shooting near the Grand 
Trunk road connecting Delhi with Meerut, over several 
rushy and reedy "j 'heels," also in the process of drying 
up. The shallow water, where there was any left, was 
full of small fish, while near the edges of the j 'heels, 
where it had already almost dried, were the hoof-prints 
of many buffaloes. In some of these remained a little 
water, in others liquid mud, but in each of those hoof- 
prints were one or two of the little fishes, sometimes half 
or three-quarters buried in the mud; apparently they 
were burrowing. Upon the last occasion that I visited 
those j'heels all the water had gone. There were no 
snipe to shoot and not a fish to be seen, for everything 
was dry and hard as iron. Yet in the following year's 
rains, as in the case of the pond at Jubbulpore, those 
j'heels would again be full of fishes, returned from the 
mud, I could give you a far more remarkable instance 
of suspended animation in fish life, one which had lasted 
not for one year only but for untold centuries, but fear 
that I have already trespassed too much upon your valu- 
able space. Andrew Haggard, Lieut-Col. 
Charles Hallock^s Initiation, 
The charming story of his initiation in the art of fly- 
fishing is told by Mr, Hallock in his "Fishing Tourist," 
a volume which is one of the classics of American 
angling literature. It is given here by courtesy of the 
publishers, Messrs. Harper & Bros.: 
It is now twenty-six years since I cast my first fly 
among the green hills of Hampshire county, Mass. I 
was a stripling then, tall and active, with my young blood 
bounding through every vein, and reveling in the full 
promise of a hardy manhood. My whole time was passed 
out of doors. I scorned a bed in the summer months. 
My home was a tree-embowered shanty apart from the 
farm-house, and crowning a knoll around whose base 
wound and tumbled a most delectable trout-brook. Here 
was the primary school where I learned the first rudi- 
ments of a sportsman's education. In time I came to 
know every woodchuck hole in the township, and almost 
every red squirrel and chipmunk by sight ; every log 
where an old cock-partridge drummed ; every crow's nest, 
and every hollow tree where a coon hid away. I heard 
Bob White whistle to his mate in June, and knew where 
to find his family when the young brood hatched out. 
I had pets of all kinds : tame squirrels, and crows, hawks, 
owls and coons. All the live stock on the farm were my 
friends. I rode the cows from pasture, drove a cosset 
four-in-hand, jumped the donkey off the bridge to the 
detriment of both our necks, and even trained a heifer 
so that I could fire my shotgun at rest between her bud- 
ding horns. I learned where to gather all the berries, 
roots, barks and "yarbs" that grew in the woods ; and so 
unconsciously became a naturalist and an earnest student 
of botany. As to fishing, it was my passion. There were 
great lakes that reposed in the solitude of the woods, at 
whose outlets the hum and buzz of busy sawmills were 
heard, and whose waters were filled with pickerel: and, 
most glorious of all, there were mountain streams, foam- 
ing, purling, eddying and rippling with a Hfe and a dash 
and a joyousness that made our lives merry, and filled 
our hearts to^ overflowing with pleasure. 
Fly-fishing was in its infancy then. It was an art 
scarcely known in America and but little practised in 
England, The progressive school of old Isaak and Kit 
North had but few graduates with honor. We boys, my 
cousin and I, had little conception of the curious devices 
of feathers and tinsel which we afterwards learned to 
use; and to the angling fraternity the artifices of Thorn- 
dyke, Stickler and Bethune were as mysterious as the 
occult sciences themselves. We used simply a wattle and 
a worm, and whipped the trout out by hundreds; for the 
streams fairly teemed with them. And it required some 
little skill to do it, too — much knowledge of the haunts 
of the speckled beauties, much caution in creeping up to 
the more exposed pools, where a passing shadow would 
have dashed our hopes in an instant ; and no little dexter- 
ity in dropping the bait quietly out of sight under the 
bank,_ where we knew a wary trout was lurking. What 
a thrill there was when the expected tug came! and when 
we had him hooked, we pulled him out vi et armis. No 
time for grace or parley. It was purely a test of strength 
between tackle and gills. We did not understand "play- 
ing a trout." And yet we were the best anglers in the 
village. No boys could hold a candle to us. We caught 
bigger fish and more of them. We knew every good 
place in the stream. There was the old log just at the 
edge of the woods, the big hole where we used to bathe, 
the bridge that crossed the road, the rocky ledge at the 
pond where there was a little mill, the crossing-log in 
the ten-acre pasture, the eddy at the lower falls, and so 
on from point to point, through devious windings and 
turnings, away down stream three miles or more to the 
grist-mill— the same which the old "Mountain Miller" 
used to "tend" in days gone by. 
Ah! those were halcyon days. No railroads disturbed 
the quiet seclusion of that mountain nook. The scream 
of the locornotive was not heard within twenty-four miles 
of it. Twice a week an old-fashioned coach dragged 
heavily up the hill into the hamlet and halted in front°of 
the house which was at once post-office, tavern, and mis- 
cellaneous store — an "omnium gatherum," as our friend 
Ives had it in our college days at Yale. One day it 
brought a passenger. A well-knit, wiry frame he had 
and features stolid mi denoting energy and kindred 
