66 o 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 27, 1906. 
plentiful, the larger portion of them being under 
twenty pounds in weight, which can easily be 
brought in, although there are many which weigh 
from a hundred pounds up, and when one of 
these is struck it is better to let him go, after 
securing all the line possible. 
“Two of the largest sharks known in any 
waters are occasionally seen off the bay—the 
whale shark and the basking, weighing tons. The 
former is seen rarely, but the latter often. 
Neither of these is known as a man-eater. 
“It is necessary from the Monterey pier to 
row off two or three mile's to reach the salmon, 
and sometimes further, and the sea is not always 
smooth, oftentimes too rough for those inclined 
to sea-sickness, and the mornings are generally 
foggy, but clear up before noon, when the pre¬ 
vailing west wind comes up, which enables one 
to sail back to the pier. 
“It is necessary ordinarily to sink the baited 
hook from thirty to forty feet below the surface, 
and sometimes lower. This requires a sinker of 
' four or five ounces in weight to keep down the 
hook, when rowing the boat at a speed of about 
a mile and a half an hour. I found the sinker 
an inconvenience in the free playing of the fish, 
and devised a method to free it.by fastening it 
to a short piece of extra line, which I attached 
to my main one, by a peculiar bow-knot, thirty 
or forty feet from the hook, so that I could 
detach it by a hard pull, as I reeled in after the 
strike; as the salmon when first hooked at a 
depth almost invariably remains below for a 
while, without commencing its wild runs away, 
which occur when thoroughly alarmed at being 
brought up near the surface. The first action 
is generally of violent head-shaking to detach the 
irritating hook, and by this head-shaking, com¬ 
municated along the line and rod to the fisher¬ 
man, he is aware of a salmon being on, rather 
than another fish, and as he immediately and 
steadily reels up, the bow line attachment of the 
sinker is brought alongside of the boat, and 
quickly removed by one of the boatmen. But not 
always does this method succeed, as the sal¬ 
mon may be off before it can be accomplished 
and the sinker in such case may remain, clogging 
the free runs, until the last one. 
“I devised a much better method later on for 
throwing off the sinker. My steel hooks of three- 
quarters of an inch spread at the bow, and long 
shanked, I had soldered on to a stout brass wire 
of- four inches in length, and this connected by 
two more pieces of similar wire and length, by 
stout brass swivels. My four-ounce leaden 
sinkers, round and tapering at each end, and 
having a hole through lengthwise, I strung over 
on a not everstrong cotton string, and caught up 
the lower end of one of the brass links below, 
connecting it with the one above by the cotton 
string- carrying the sinker. The string was 
strong enough to carry easily the pull of the 
trolling bait, but would break and drop off the 
■sinker by the strike of the salmon and leave my 
line free. The loss of the sinker would, of 
course, occur, but was of slight importance and 
value. 
“As the hooked salmon approaches the light 
at the surface, and has been unable to throw off 
the hook, his alarm is much increased, and he 
starts, out with great rapidity in some direction 
opposite from the boat, and with an impetuosity 
impossible to speedily check. It may be two or 
three hundred feet, or more, before the hard- 
pressed reel pad on the line and the strain of 
the rod almost surely incline the head of the fish 
to one side or the other, which being once ac¬ 
complished practically settles the successful take; 
for the salmon, once being turned from a straight 
course, must thereafter yield to the boat in a 
circling route, from which he can hardly escape, 
carrying in addition to the rod and reel strain 
that of dragging the line across the waters. 
“Should a large salmon—say of twenty-five 
pounds weisrht or more—go directly away from 
the boat without being diverted, it would most 
likely run out all the line and part it, as oc¬ 
curred in two instances during my experience. 
But the severe strain which can be exerted from 
the reel and rod is almost sure to divert the 
fish from its apparent fixed purpose of getting 
away as far as possible from the boat on the 
route it first determines upon. A sufficient pres¬ 
sure can be put upon the thumb pad of the reel 
to part the line, or tear out the hook if not firmly 
placed. A danger also exists from the overrun¬ 
ning of the line if the drag is not judiciously 
applied; also- from the line’s sinking in the bal¬ 
ance of line on • the reel when too much pres¬ 
sure is applied, particularly when the line has 
not been firmly and evenly reeled in before, from 
which cause an entanglement takes place and the 
salmon is almost surely lost. - ’ 
Anglers’ Club of New York. 
A series of club competitions for trophies given 
by members is now being held by the Anglers’ 
Club of New York. The first of these was held 
Oct. 18 on the Pool in Central Park, and the 
others will be held as follows: Oct. 25 and 
Nov. i,-on the Pool; Oct. 27 and Nov. 3, on 
Prospect Park lake. The hour is 2:30 P. M. in 
each case, but members who arrive later will be 
permitted to cast for the trophies, provided only 
there are three members present, no score made 
in the presence of less than two other members 
being recognized. 
The first prize for this series is a sterling 
silver loving cup presented by Secretary Frazer, 
and the second a cup given by Dr. R. J. Held. 
To win one of these a member must take part in 
three of the six regular contests, choosing time 
and place. Each contestant when ready to cast 
for record will be allowed two preliminary casts, 
after which he will make five consecutive record 
casts for distance with bait-casting rod, free- 
running reel and standard half-ounce weight, 
casting overhead with one hand only. The 
longest cast of the five will constitute his score 
for the day, and the average of these three scores 
will count for first and second prizes. Every 
one of the five casts must be scored, except that 
in case of the breaking of his line and the loss 
of a weight he may be allowed another cast. 
Backlashes count as casts. 
Dr. Held has given another cup which may be 
won as follows : Each one of the record casts 
will be scored, and the average of the fifteen will 
count for this cup. 
The afternoon of Oct'. 18 was dark and muggy, 
fine rain falling at intervals, .while the wind came 
in squalls from the northeast. On the Pool, in 
Central Park, while a few members of the 
Anglers’ Club of New York were competing for 
prizes, the wind seemed to come from every di¬ 
rection. it being deflected by the trees. _ Mr. 
John Enright, the famous Irish salmon fly-caster, 
with Louis Darling, judged the club event, and 
H. J. Frost was the referee. Milton H. Smith 
was .high man for distance in the contest for the 
silver trophy, while G. M. L. LaBranche was 
second, and he also had the best average, which 
co runts for third prize in the series. The little 
lak* is shaded by large treeS(< and it was im¬ 
possible for Mr. Smith to see where his weight 
fell in a cast, while the other casters finished 
when it was so dark they could not see the lines 
on their reels, and had to go by guess, the result 
being unsatisfactory. The scores, in feet: 
Casts: 1st. 2d. 3d. 4th. 5th. Average. 
Milton 'H. Smith.120 1G5 132 35 154 121 1-5 
G. M. L. LaBranche.162 160 158 160 120 152 
R. T. Held.161 136 138 110 132 135 2-5 
P-erry D. Frazer.107 139 138 121 48 110 2-5 
Mr. Enright practiced earlier in the afternoon 
with a greenheart fly-rod which several of the 
members tried and admired. It is joJA. feet long 
and weighs 8 or 9 ounces. This rod is in three 
joints, fitted with brass ferrules and wood dowels 
instead of the Castleconnell splicing generally 
used by the Enrights. Snake guides are used 
and the hand grasp is of suberit. 
When the Anglers’ Club of New York held its 
first tournament on Harlem Mere, in Central 
Park, the last event on the second day, Oct. 13, 
was finished at dusk, and there was no time to 
distribute the prizes, even if there had been a 
place where they could have been kept. It was 
decided, therefore, to call members, contestants 
and judges together for this purpose later on, and 
invitations were issued for a dinner to be held 
the night of Oct. 22. All hands, therefore, as¬ 
sembled at the headquarters of the club in West 
Forty-fourth street at the appointed time, to find 
the banquet hall tastefully decorated with flowers 
and the head of the table glistening with silver 
trophies. There were twenty of these, and about 
$500 worth of merchandise prizes, consisting 
mostly of rods, reels, flies, artificial baits, etc. 
The guest of honor, Mr. John Enright, of 
Castleconnell, Ireland, sat with Mr. E. H. Meyers 
at the right hand of the president', Mr. Robert 
B. Lawrence, and vice-president Milton H. Smith 
sat on the president’s left with Mr. Thomas D. 
Whi'stler. Among the others present were 
Messrs. C. A. Heller, M. E. and E. B. Townie, 
T. P. Berens, V. R. Grimwood, Louis S. Darling, 
Charles A. Bryan, Arthur F. Gotthold, R. J. 
Held, Llarold G. Henderson, G. M. L. LaBranche, 
Henry B. Leckler, C. G. Levison, Gonzalo Poey, 
Edward B. Rice, Charles Stepath, Edward E. 
Todd, William B. Young, W. L. Brower, Perry 
D. Frazer, and several guests whose names have 
been mislaid by the writer. Letters of regret 
from a number of other members and guests were 
received. 
Mr. Lawrence presented the prizes with ap¬ 
propriate remarks, beginning with the first prize 
in the salmon fly-casting event. According to 
the rules Mr. Enright, who won the event, was 
disqualified because his rod was 4 1 inches over 
18ft., and Reuben Leonard was ei itled to the 
silver trophy, and E. J. Mills the second prize; 
but both gentlemen refused to take advantage of 
the rule, and Mr. Enright took the trophy for 
the longest c'ast, with Mr. Leonard second. Then 
all of the other prizes were distributed by Mr. 
Lawrence, and Mr. LaBranche was called up and 
presented Mr. Enright with a large silver loving 
cup in the name of the club, as a token of its 
esteem and in commemoration of his record- 
hreaking score of 152 feet with a salmon fly-rod. 
Mr. Enright was given three hearty cheers, and 
in his remarks promised that he would attend the 
next tournament to be held by the club. He 
sailed for home Oct. 24, taking with him several 
little silk Irish and United States flags with 
which the tables were decorated, as mementoes, 
he said, of the pleasant reception accorded him 
by the American anglers. 
Mr. Enright’s Salmon Rod. 
Although it was .stated in the report of the 
Anglers’ Club tournament, in Forest and Stream 
last week, that the weight of the 20ft. rod with 
which Mr. Enright made a new salmon fly-cast¬ 
ing record was unknown, we have had a number 
of requests for its weight. Mr. Enright was 
again asked and replied that he had never weighed 
the rod. When requested to estimate its weight, 
using his judgment alone, he said he thought it 
was about 62 ounces. This is above the estimate 
made bv the writer, who thought 3f4 pounds 
about right, but Mr. Enright’s judgment is no 
doubt the better one. 
Unlike American rods, which are almost in¬ 
variably fitted with metal buttcaps, Mr. Enright's 
salmon rods are fitted with wooden buttons, and 
in lifting the heavy line from the water he 
braces the butt against his body, the button pre¬ 
venting it from slipping and giving a broader 
surface than is possible with a narrow metal butt- 
cap. For the same purpose English rodmakers 
use soft rubber buttons on salmon and other 
heavy fly-rods. 
In another respect this salmon rod differs 
widely from our rods, and it is in this respect 
a type of the British rod. An American, accus¬ 
tomed to a trout fly-rod having a cork grasp ijis 
inches in diameter, would probably increase the 
size of the grasp to i.H inches for a heavy sal¬ 
mon rod, and more if his hand were larger than 
the average. Mr. Enright’s rod, however, is no 
larger at the part grasped by his hands than it 
is three feet from the butt, it being of uniform 
size to a point just below the reel-bands, and 
tapers down rapidly to the button. The average 
diameter of the grasp is not much more than one 
inch, and there is no cork or winding. The reel- 
seat is countersunk in the rod, and the metal reel 
is held in place by two brass bands. 
