790 
FOREST AND STREAM 
equipment necessary for the tournament bait- 
caster places that sport within the reach of many 
to whom other sports of similar value might 
be unavailable. A complete outfit of the very 
highest grade is obtainable for seventy-five dol¬ 
lars, made up as follows—rod, twenty-five dol¬ 
lars; reel, fifty dollars. Remember, however, 
that this represents the maximum of specializa¬ 
tion. For practice work and for the smaller tour¬ 
naments where competition is not so keen,the out¬ 
fit may cost but one-fifth of that sum. In fact, 
more than one tournament has been won with a 
three dollar rod and a six dollar reel. But com¬ 
pare even the higher priced outfit with that neces¬ 
sary for the trap-shooter; the latter’s gun alone 
will represent an expenditure far greater than 
that for the complete outfit of the caster. And 
in addition, he has the continued expense of club 
membership, shells, clay pigeons, trapping charges 
and other- incidentals which are bound to swell 
the expense account. 
Tournament casting, too, if conducted under 
the rules of the National Association of Scien¬ 
tific Angling Clubs, is one of -the cleanest of 
sports. The rules against professionals are very 
strict and competition for money prizes or for 
those consisting of tackle or any goods what¬ 
ever, is absolutely forbidden. Compare with 
this the common practice of trap-shooting, where 
amateurs and professionals compete together, 
with restrictions, for money prizes, and where 
practically every gun maker and powder manu¬ 
facturer has his paid professional on the field 
to “boost” his goods by the high scores made. 
Because, then, tournament bait-casting requires 
great skill; because it is available to the 
greatest number and is almost unrestricted either 
by season or by location; because it is a clean 
and inexpensive sport, and because it indirectly 
tends to the preservation of our game fishes, it 
should by all means be encouraged. To this end 
a brief summary of the equipment necessary and 
of the methods commonly followed may not be 
out of place. 
The latitude in equipment is great; as has been 
said, the rod and reel used in ordinary casting 
may be employed—the experienced caster, how¬ 
ever, recognizes the advantage given by special 
tournament tackle, and governs himself accord¬ 
ingly. The rod, by general concensus should be 
a single-piece one of split bamboo, in length be¬ 
tween 5 feet and 5 feet and 6 ins., mounted with 
agate guides and top, and in weight not over five 
ounces. The reel should, by preference, be one 
of the special tournament type with large bar¬ 
rel and jewelled bearings. Failing this, a stan¬ 
dard reel may be used, the barrel being either 
fitted with an arbor of cork or wood, or else 
wound closely with a number of coils of heavy 
line. The advantages of this are that by the in¬ 
creased diameter the outgoing line is given a 
greater leverage to turn the spool, more line may 
be cast with fewer revolutions of the spool, and 
the comparatively slow change in line level 
makes spooling easy. The line is a special one 
made only for tournament use. It is very light, 
soft and smooth, and to prevent the breaking of 
this thin line under the thrash of the rod when 
starting a cast, ten or twelve feet of heavier 
line is usually spliced to it to take up this strain. 
Under the prevalent tournament rules, no limit 
is placed either upon rod or line, the reel, how¬ 
ever, must have no device whatever either to re¬ 
tard the spool nor to aid in spooling the line. 
This, of course, rules out all the “anti-backlash” 
reels, as well as the self-spoolers. 
Four tournament events are recognized in bait¬ 
easting by the N.A.S.C.: distance, one-half ounce 
and one-quarter ounce; accuracy, one-half ounce 
and one-quarter ounce. The distance events are 
to be cast on a lawn or over water, the “court” 
being defined by two lines drawn from the start¬ 
ing point at such an angle with each other that 
at a distance of one hundred feet from the cast¬ 
ing point they shall be thirty feet apart. Five 
casts are allowed to each contestant, the aver¬ 
age length of the five constituting his score. Casts 
passing outside of the bounding lines to be 
scored zero. In accuracy casting, the target con¬ 
sists of six concentric rings placed twelve inches 
apart, the inner ring being thirty inches in dia¬ 
meter. In one-half ounce events three casts are 
made at this target at each of the distances 60 
feet, 70, 80, 90 and 100. In one-quarter ounce 
accuracy contests, the target is the same but the 
distances are respectively 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80 
feet. Casts within the center ring are scored per¬ 
fect; for each foot or fraction of a foot away 
from this ring, a demerit of one shall be made. 
The total demerits divided by the number of 
casts is the demerit per cent., and 100 less the de¬ 
merit per cent, constitutes the casting percentage. 
These rules are taken from the hand-book of the 
N.A.S.C., which also notes other penalties and 
modifications. 
Two methods of casting are generally employ¬ 
ed in tournament work. The first, known as the 
wrist cast, is the common overhead cast of the 
fisherman. In this the rod is drawn back straight 
over the shoulder until it is a little more than 
parallel with the ground; it is brought sharply 
forward by a movement of the forearm; the cast 
being finished by a quick snap of the wrist which 
leaves the rod pointing almost at the target—this 
method is used almost exclusively in accuracy 
casting. In distance work the so-called body- 
cast is favored; in this the weight is balanced 
on the right foot, often with the left foot in the 
air—the rod is dropped over the shoulder 
until its tip almost touches the ground and is 
brought forward with a full sweep of the arm, 
the weight of the body being shifted to the left 
foot at the same time. With this cast dis¬ 
tances up to two hundred and forty-five feet have 
been made with the one-half ounce weight! 
While it is impossible, within the space of a 
short article, either to adequately present a plea 
for tournament casting as a sport or to more than 
touch upon the methods and equipment used, 
actual experience in the game will soon supply 
any deficiencies in the present argument, while 
the many articles that have been printed on the 
subject will serve to supply any needed data on 
outfit or method. Certainly tournament casting 
is a sport fully equal to trap-shooting, even if 
simply taken as a test of skill, while with equal 
certainty it gives to the angler a pastime fully 
the equivalent of trap-shooting in all points, and 
more adapted to his own peculiar needs and de¬ 
sires. On this score alone it is well worth tak¬ 
ing up. 
FINE STRING OF BLACK BASS. 
Relative to the enforcement of the fishing laws 
in Virginia, please note the following clipping 
from Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va. 
[Special to The Times-Dispatch.] 
Lynchburg, Va.—H. J. Staples, a resident 
of Daniels’ Hill, this morning caught the 
prettiest string of black bass known to have been 
taken from the James River this season. In the 
bunch were ten fine specimens, the aggregate 
weight of which was n/z pounds. Staples used 
minnows for bait, and during the two and half 
hours he was fishing he had twenty-two bites, 
securing ten fish and missing four which he 
started. 
We respectfully call all Virginia sportsmen’s 
attention to Code of Virginia Section 2108—sub¬ 
section 2, which provides for a close season on 
all bass from March 15th to June 15th. We 
earnestly trust that this violation of law was due 
to ignorance on the part of the angler. We earn¬ 
estly call for help and co-operation from every 
sportsman in Virginia and ask them to set an ex¬ 
ample by strictly observing the fish and game 
laws—stop and think! Every bass caught now 
means the destruction of 10,000 eggs. Does this 
not appeal to you. 
W. P. PATTERSON, Prest, 
Virginia Game and Game Fish Protective Ass'n. 
NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN. 
The completion this year of the new Trans¬ 
continental Railway throws open to sportsmen an 
entirely new field, including many virgin waters. 
East of Quebec some of these lie between the 
St. Lawrence and the international boundary, 
many of them in the forest belt adjacent to the 
northern border of Maine. West of Quebec, near 
which city the road is to cross the St. Lawrence 
on the bridge now in course of construction, the 
railway takes a general northwesterly course 
through a more northerly country than that tra¬ 
versed by any other railway in this province, and 
crosses its western limit into the neighboring- 
province of Ontario, near Lake Abi'tibi. For a 
considerable distance the line traverses the head¬ 
waters of the many tributaries of the St. Maurice 
and of their lesser feeders,—all of them well- 
stocked trout waters. Farther west i ! t strikes the 
streams flowing northward into James’ Bay and 
runs close to many of the lakes which feed them. 
These waters contain less brook trout than those 
of the S't. Maurice system, but are exceedingly 
well stocked with pike-perch or pickerel, white- 
fish and lake trout. 
It is probable that some of the new northern 
fishing waters may be leased to non-resident an¬ 
glers, but it is understood to be the policy of the 
Government to leave the majority of them open 
to local sportsmen, and to all visiting anglers fur¬ 
nished with the non-resident fishing license. 
RESULTS FROM MIGRATORY BIRD LAW. 
Col. M. R. Nyman told the Minnesota Game 
and Fish Protective league at its dinner recenilv 
that he had observed large flocks of wild ducks 
on dozens of Superior region lakes a few days 
before while at the same time last year he saw 
not a duck on the same lakes. The league au¬ 
thorized him to convey the good news to the 
department of agriculture. 
