FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 3, 1906. 
yco 
terest in the club, as the more people entering 
into the competition the greater would become 
the sale of goods adapted to the purpose. 
It seems to me that from my reasons it can 
be plainly seen that the club under its present 
rules promotes the competition of sporting- 
goods dealers and discourages competition be¬ 
tween amateur anglers. 
Let Article XIII, Section 1 be so amended as 
to cut the dealers out of competitions, as well 
as an active voice in the government of the club 
and have an organization for anglers only, 
which, I believe, is the purpose of the club. 
Then there will be an inducement for myself 
and many others to affiliate ouselves with the 
organization. P. J. N. 
Anglers’ Club Contests. 
The second one in the series of contests for. 
the Anglers’ Club trophies was held on the 
Pool in Central Park, Oct. 25, and a number 
of anglers were present to witness the trials of 
skill. It had been arranged to hold three con¬ 
tests on the Pool, on Oct. 18 and 25, and Nov. 
1, and three on the lake in Prospect Park, 
Brooklyn, on Oct. 20 and 27 and Nov. 3. On 
the 20th rain fell steadily all day and there was 
no contest on that date. 
The Pool, being in the midst of a forest 
growth, is a rather difficult place to cast when 
the sky is cloudy, but since the recent heavy 
rains the leaves have begun to fall, the shadows 
are not so deep and the background is growing 
lighter. Those who like to watch 'the compe¬ 
titions have a better opportunity, too. 
Dr. Held’s reel overran on his first cast Oct. 
25, but he did better work in his third cast, and 
wound up with 175. feet, making a new club 
record, as it was two feet better than Mr. 
Lawrence’s 173 feet, made in the recent tourna¬ 
ment. Mr. Stepath knocked this record out 
on his fourth trial, with 176 feet, which raised 
the club record one foot, giving the doctor 
scant time to enjoy the honor. The latter’s 
average for.the two contests was 138 4-10 but 
Mr. Stepath's average for the day was 158 1-5. 
giving him a splendid chance to win both the 
distance and the average prizes, for he is cast¬ 
ing in good form and has high scores to start 
with. 
W. B. Young and Louis Darling judged the 
event, and Wallace Graham was referee. The 
results follow: 
Charles Stepath.. 
..171 
169 
100 
176 
175 
age. 
158 1-5 
Milton 11. Smith. 
..143 
122 
130 
149 
163 
141 2-5 
R. J. Held. 
.. 35 
149 
170 
164 
175 
138 3-5 
Perry D. Frazer.. 
. .140 
115 
142 
155 
129 
136 1-5 
G.M.L. LaBranche. 151 
154 
45 
116 
116 
116 2-5 
Saturday afternoon, Oct. 27, a number of the 
members went to Prospect Park for practice on 
the lake, and as there was a very strong wind 
blowing, casting straight out into the lake from 
the platform was productive of long casts, but 
as no boat was at hand, the measuring line for 
the contest had to be stretched alongshore and 
the men cast into the wind with the sun in their 
faces, with the result that low scores- were the 
rule. Perry D. Frazer was first to cast, and he 
finished with 151 feet and an average of 138 4-5, 
with G. M. L. La Branche second with 147 feet. 
The scores follow: 
Five 
Casts. 
Aver- 
r , 
A 
age. 
Perry D. Frazer_ liTVz 
151 
126 150 
120 
138 4-5 
G.M.L. LaBranche..119 
147 
98 106 
122 
118 2-5 
R. B. Lawrence_136 
80 
12Sy 2 115 
122 
116 1-5 
John L. Kirk withdrew. Thomas B. Mills 
and Edward B. Rice were the judges, with C. 
G. Levison as referee. 
The standing of those who have competed 
for the club trophies, the longest cast made by 
each competitor each day to count for first two 
prizes, follow: 
Perry P. Frazer. 
G. M. L. LaBranche 
R. J. Held. 
M. H. Smith. 
Charles Stepath . 
R. B. La'/rence. 
Oct. 18. 
Oct. 25. 
Oct. 27. 
...139 
155 
151 
...162 
154 
147 
...161 
175 
...165 
163 
176 
iai 
For the best average: 
G. M. L. LaBranche .128 14-15 
P. D. Frazer .128 8-15 
R. J. Held.138 4-10 
M. IP. Smith .131 3-10 
Charles Stepath .158 1-5 
For the benefit of those who wish to attend 
these contests but do not know the location 
of the Pool, it should be said that this little 
lake lies along the left-hand side of the walk 
entering the park at West 100th street. The 
casting platform is about 100 yards from the 
gate. In the Subway take the Broadway ex¬ 
press trains to 103d street, or the Sixth or 
Ninth avenue elevated trains to the 104th street 
station. Eighth avenue surface cars pass the 
gate. 
To reach the Brooklyn platform, take the 
Smith street surface car on track 6, at Brooklyn 
Bridge, leaving it at the Grand Circle. Enter 
the park and walk north to the lake. 
In Pennsylvania Waters. 
Anglers fairly reveled in their favorite sport 
during the month of October in Pennsylvania. 
In nearly every portion of the state the waters 
were in good condition and fish of all kinds 
seemed eager to be caught. Bass, wall-eyed 
pike and pickerel fishing was much better even 
than in September. In addition the sinuous eel 
began his annual journey to the sea, and tons 
were caught by hook and line and in fish bas¬ 
kets in the Susquehanna river to satisfy the eel 
hunger of the human dwellers along the Susque¬ 
hanna valley. Daily and weekly newspapers in 
that territory declare that the run of eels this 
year in the Susquehanna river greatly exceeds 
previous autumns. From 1,500 to 2.000 pounds 
have been taken from a single basket in one 
night, and boys and men have frequently been 
seen at the close of a day’s outing carrying 
home from thirty to fifty of these snake-like fish. 
It is curious and sad, but true, that the much 
execrated carp is beginning to rise in favor 
among a certain class of rod fishermen. They 
have learned how to catch them with rod, hook 
and line, and it is a joy to them to carry home 
at night from one to half a dozen carp, weigh¬ 
ing anywhere from 3 to 25 pounds. If the 
newspapers are to be believed, it is not un¬ 
common for a rod fishermen to catch a fish of 
this species of huge proportions. During the 
month the daily newspapers of the state have 
reported the catching of nearly 200 carp, weigh¬ 
ing from 10 to 30 pounds, by means of rod, hook 
and line. 
The cat-fisherman is also happy. The Dela¬ 
ware as far north as Trenton and the Susque¬ 
hanna up to the western and eastern branches 
and the Juniata river yield phenomenal sport 
in this particular. Fall fishing on the Brandy¬ 
wine has also been exceedingly good, and 
Berks, Bucks and Lebanon county fishermen 
have been reveling in sunfishing on the same 
stream, and are finding equally good sport on 
the Tulpehockon, a tributary of the Schuylkill, 
and the Perkiomen, a tributary of the same 
stream, and the Neshaminy, which flows into the 
Delaware a short distance above the Phila¬ 
delphia county line. The sunfish holds a very 
high place in the hearts of the fishermen of the 
counties just named, and this love for the 
“punkin seed” is responsible for a growing 
change of sentiment in that section against the 
abolition of what is known as the Sunday fish¬ 
ing law. As a rule anglers in what is known as 
the “Pennsylvania Dutch” region believe in fish¬ 
ing on Sunday, and when they found that the 
Department of Fisheries was making many 
arrests in their section for Sunday fishing, they 
became enraged and more than 400 signed a 
petition, asking their members in the Legis¬ 
lature to vote to repeal the Sunday fishing law 
at the forthcoming session. Then the Commis¬ 
sioner of Fisheries announced what it was that 
impelled him to enforce the Sunday law so sud¬ 
denly and unexpectedly. It appears that his 
wardens reported many people catching sunfish 
about 2 and 3 inches long, and feeding them to 
ducks and cats. As there was no law restricting 
the size of sunfish which might be caught, and 
as most of the work was done on the first day 
of the week, the Commissioner took advantage 
of the Sunday law to punish these people. The 
news astonished and horrified the sun-fishermen, 
and hundreds of those who had been foremost in 
condemning the enforcement of the Sunday law 
became loud in praise of its enforcement under 
such circumstances. 
The largest body of water wholly within 
Pennsylvania is Conneaut lake, in Crawford 
county. The state has been stocking this lake 
heavily for several years, and as a consequence 
the fishing there this year has been very good. 
Many maskinonge, black bass and wall-eyed 
pike were caught there during October. 
Quite a number of maskinonge were taken 
from the Allegheny river during the month, Qne 
weighing 10 pounds was caught at Hunter’s 
Station by Lee Ferguson on the first. A Phila¬ 
delphia school boy aged 12 caught a SJJj-pound 
black bass from the Neshaminy creek on the 
same day. The upper Delaware river afforded 
splendid bass fishing throughout the month. 
Oscar Detweiler caught one near Shawnee, 
weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces. The Delaware 
has not been the only stream from which huge 
baSs have been taken. D. H. Zeigler, of 
Perkiomenville, caught a 5-pound bass in the 
Perkiomen on Oct. 4. Four fishermen from 
Dunmore caught 100 pounds, or twenty-six bass, 
from Goose pond near the Paupack. The largest 
fish weighed 5[4 pounds. Daniel Gunmore, of 
Oil City, caught a 4l4-pound bass on Oct. 1 
from the Venango river. The Venango river 
by the way, is one of the best stocked bass 
streams in Pennsylvania. Three years ago a 
pond at the Corry Fish Hatchery, in Erie 
county, broke during a big storm and allowed 
several hundred thousand little bass to escape 
into the Venango river near what is known as 
French creek. As a consequence the stream is 
simply filled with bass from one end to the 
other. 
The reports from the Youghiogheny are con- . 
dieting, but from the mass of contradictions it 
would appear that in those portions where the 
stream is badly polluted the fishing is no good, 
while in that part which is free from such ma¬ 
terial the bass fishing has been fine. The Sus¬ 
quehanna river below Harrisburg seems to have 
partially redeemed itself in October. While the 
upper Susquehanna has been affording fine fishing, 
below Harrisburg was said to be only fair and 
even poor; but reports from newspapers and 
fishermen are to the effect that all through 
October the fishing from Columbia southwardly, 
for both blass bass and wall-eyed pike, has been 
first-class—to use the words of the Columbia 
Spy, “it was never better.” 
The Department of Fisheries has gone into 
raising fish for the preservation of public health. 
On Oct. 20 it began shipping sunfish for plant¬ 
ing in ponds in which the malarial mosquitoes 
thrive. The fish were reared at the request of 
the Department of Health and shipped on the 
requisition of its commissioner. Many thou¬ 
sand young sunfish were planted in Luzerne, 
Lackawanna, Schuykill, Carbon, Bucks, Mont¬ 
gomery and Chester counties. 
The Department of Fisheries has just won a 
signal triumph in the Superior Court, although 
on the face of it judgment was given against 
the department. Violations of the fish laws are 
prosecuted under what is known as summary 
proceedings—that is to say, the alderman or 
magistrate tries and determines a case, as would 
a court of record, and an appeal to county 
court could only be taken on cause shown or a 
certiorari. Some people who were dissatisfied 
and desired to hamper the work of the Depart¬ 
ment of Fisheries in fish protection, induced the 
Legislature to enact a measure to change from 
summary proceedings to misdemeanor. The 
Commissioner of Fisheries, like the tar baby, 
“kept on saying nothing,” until the first appeal 
was taken under the new act, when he sprung 
a surprise on the opposers of the fish laws by 
taking the ground that the act was unconstitu¬ 
tional, in that- it attempted to amend the con- 
situation by legislative enactment. The depart¬ 
ment was supported in this contention by seven 
or eight county courts in quick succession, 
