July 12, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
39 
down stream with him slowly till you find very 
quiet water. Then proceed to kill him. If he 
pulls, give out line or you will tear his mouth, 
and away Mr. Trout will go. If he yields or 
breaks water, take in line and you must be quick 
on the break, as this is the most critical moment 
in the fight. The rainbow has the miraculous 
way of tossing his head when he breaks water 
and shaking the hook therefrom. Always make 
sure that your fish is drowned before netting 
him. When he becomes a dead weight, reel in 
line until only that equalling the rod in length 
remains out. Lift carefully, letting the fish rest 
on the top of the water to relieve the strain. 
Then draw gently toward the net, watching con¬ 
tinually for a new break for deep water. When 
netted and unhooked, kill your fish, as he then 
stiffens and keeps better. Always have plenty 
of moist grass or fern in the creel, but never 
wash your fish until ready for the frying-pan. 
Washing softens and tends to spoil the trout. 
The month of June brings forth the first 
army of invading flies. Make it your duty to 
find what fly is on the water and find its imita¬ 
tion in your book. If it is a light fly, put it 
on your leader as lead, and rest assured of a 
good catch. Almost every fly-caster has the con¬ 
firmed belief that in order to catch a trout he 
must draw his flies up stream in fits and starts. 
Please refrain from that. Let the current have 
its only natural way with them. Let them wash 
here and there as if they were drifting about 
with the stream. Choose the dark day for a 
good “fly day’’ when the stream is low and 
clear. The rainbow rises continually on a dark 
and threatening day or in the evening of a 
bright day. On these days the trout are all 
near the surface feeding on floating bait, so by 
quiet wading and careful casting a good catch 
is the result. 
The Powers of Game Protectors. 
BY JOHN T. M’CORMICK, DIVISION CHIEF OF METRO¬ 
POLITAN AND LONG ISLAND DIVISION OF NEW 
YORK STATE CONSERVATION COMMISSION. 
The initial step in game protection in this 
country was enacted in 1623 by the Plymouth 
Colony at Plymouth, Mass., when a law was 
enacted protecting fish and game during the 
breeding season. 
May 20, 1844, a number of sportsmen met 
at the home of William Sern, at Forsyth and 
Broome streets, in the city of New York, and 
organized the New York Sportsmen’s Associa¬ 
tion. This body took upon itself the enforce¬ 
ment of such fish and game laws as then existed, 
there being no game protectors at that time. 
In 1880 the Legislature of this State con¬ 
ferred on the Governor the power of appointing 
game protectors. The number must have been 
small, because in 1882 the law was amended, in¬ 
creasing the number to sixteen. 
In 1899, the law was again amended and 
the power to arrest and the right to search was 
given without warrant, except in the counties 
of New York and Kings. This exception was 
repealed in 1903. 
Under the present conservation law, in ad¬ 
dition to these powers, it is made part of the 
duty of protectors to kill any dog or bitch found 
in the Adirondack Park or in a deer forest, or 
pursuing deer; to destroy any net, trap or snare 
set or used for the snaring of birds. 
Fly-Casting and the Result 
By ROBERT PAGE LINCOLN 
E VERY succeeding year is witnessing more 
and more of our people coming into the 
ranks of the trout fishing fraternity, fol¬ 
lowing in the footsteps of the immortal Walton. 
Go where you will around about the time that 
the season is on the verge of blossoming into 
the eventful flower of realization, you will find 
ample evidence of the fact that the art is be¬ 
coming universal, if it has not been universal 
hitherto. 
All through the Atlantic States about this 
time of the year the fly-fishing enthusiasts are 
O 
* 39 
' -1 
HOME PRACTICE IS ESSENTIAL. 
getting out their rods, sorting their flies and ar¬ 
ranging for the trip they have so long been 
dreaming about during the winter season. Those 
famous streams of the East we have heard only 
too much about. Take New York State, for in¬ 
stance, and the well-known and famous Adiron¬ 
dack region. Pick up an outdoor magazine and 
you will surely find it represented between its 
covers in text or in inimitable photos, for we 
have some artists with us in the outdoor writing 
craft who turn out excellent material, some of 
which touches the mark of perfection. 
Some day the needle of my compass will 
point eastward, even though it should be north, 
and I hope to fish over those wonderful grounds. 
May the streams in that section of the country 
never fail to yield their crop of trout; may the 
attention of the Government be directed care¬ 
fully and attentively to restocking those waters 
in a continuance of the faithful level they have 
set, and may we hear from all of those who 
wade the eternal streams or courses in that 
favored land some bit of print to let us know 
the reputation is kept up—some beautiful picture 
to which we may turn when time permits and 
love is uppermost in our hearts. Many the 
stream will be whipped. Throughout the East, 
as I have said, from the hinterland of Canada 
through Vermont, then westward into Colorado, 
Montana and the furthest west, the State in 
which I am now abiding, California—the land of 
perpetual sunshine, balmy winds and all that a 
person can find name for under the term of 
magnificence. Nor shall we forget that famous 
trout State, Wisconsin. 
Our own Warren Smith is doing his level 
best to write up the charms of fly-fishing or 
trouting there, and one has but to look through 
his writings to know that he is a figure to con¬ 
jure with in the outdoor world. North, east, 
south and west, then, the trout fisher is busy, 
and many a catch will be made. In the fast¬ 
nesses of the mountains, in the canons, in the 
small meandering meadow brooklets—these are 
all yielding their little crop by means of bait or 
the fly. 
Trout fishing and fly-casting in general is 
being well enough written up. There is no doubt 
in the world but that the beginner will find 
enough to lead him away from the thorny path. 
I think we have a school for beginners that is 
unexcelled. The whole subject has been treated 
by the brilliant lights of the outdoor field, and 
to turn to them means to prepare the way. The 
rod, the reel, the line, the leader, the flies and 
the many other things—these have all been care¬ 
fully given attention to, and there is always 
found a meed of information regarding the 
habits and habitat of the trout, where he might 
be found, what will take best, what hours will 
be most prolific of fish, etc. It is very easy for 
a beginner to start out. How different where 
man must learn for himself through experience! 
Yet it matters very little how much you may 
read; there is a greater education awaiting you. 
If you go out on a stream with assorted flies 
of standard make and expect to get everything 
in the line of fish, you may be treated with 
neglect, for there are many pointers that will 
only come to you through long and rigid prac¬ 
tice and experience. Trout will take those flies 
which conform most perfectly with the natural, 
which is something that needs not much ex¬ 
plaining. Therefore, if you fish a stream, you 
must know what flies are falling to the water, 
and the artificial ones that you use must be 
something like them. It is all very well on wild 
streams to use most any kind of a fly; in fact, 
I may say on such streams the trout are far 
more inclined to take a fly of gaudy coloration 
than one of a subdued hue. The reason is very 
evident for not having been educated into the 
ways of man, these trout are attracted most 
