July i, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
19 
3. All linen lines for salt water trolling in the 
tropics should be dark colored, never white or 
natural color. 
4. The cable laid linen line is, and must al¬ 
ways be, rather unsuitable for trolling, on ac¬ 
count of its tendency to untwist and kink. A 
braided linen line, if of the best quality and made 
with the greatest care, might give much better 
service. Whether a braided line can be made 
of the same strength as a cable laid line with¬ 
out much, if any, increase of size 1 have no 
means of knowing and should like to be in¬ 
formed. If it can be, I am ready and anxious 
to buy a lot of them. 
Next year I shall again avoid the Northern 
winter by going back to the tropics, to where 
fishing can be found, and do not want to waste 
the coming winter as the last one was wasted, 
so I appeal to my fellow sportsmen and to all 
dealers in and makers of angling goods who have 
learned that a pleased customer is the best ad¬ 
vertisement, to help me to find trustworthy tack'e 
and to aid their fishing friends, known and un¬ 
known, to avoid such an infuriating experience 
as that I have just passed through. 
A. St. J. Newberry. 
Odd Fish Actions. 
Durango, Colo., June 20. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In the angling columns of your last 
number I notice an account of a hooked fish 
being followed by its mate, the presumption being 
that only mates take an interest in the peculiar 
actions of their partners. 
About thirty years ago, while fishing in a small 
arm of Plum Lake, Wisconsin, I hooked an 
eight-pound mascalonge in water that permitted 
every movement to be seen. Almost immediately 
four or five of his kind and size rushed from 
an adjoining deep hole and circled about him in 
a very excited—and what I thought to be—belli¬ 
gerent manner. They would charge fiercely to 
within two or three feet, then circle rapidly and 
charge again. It was a most interesting and 
exciting performance and was continued until I 
had drawn the captive near the boat. Although 
they did not touch him, they were evidently 
anxious to tear him in pieces and only awaited 
a slight subsidence of his struggles. 
I shall not try to analyze the spirit or motive 
that prompts these exciting antics, but it would 
be interesting to know whether they are induced 
by the barbarous instinct of the strong to prey 
upon the weak, distress at seeing a companion 
in an apparently crazed condition or just a stren¬ 
uous curiosity to attend a free and unique show. 
In the above described case it would seem to 
have been a combination of amazement and bar¬ 
baric instinct, as but little fishing had been done 
at Plum Lake thirty years ago, and the spectators 
were being treated to a new and astonishing 
acrobatic performance. C. A. Cooper. 
[In tidal rivers in summer it is not unusual 
to see small fish floundering on the surface as 
if injured. In this condition they can be picked 
up in the hands, while if touched they merely 
wriggle along with the current, making feeble 
but fruitless efforts to sound. That they were 
not dying seemed certain, as close observation 
for an hour or more showed that they either con¬ 
tinued to move feebly about or recovered suf¬ 
ficiently to sound and escape surface enemies. 
Such fish, for lack of a better term, were said 
to be sick, which seemed to be as good an excuse 
as any other for lack of exact knowledge. Fre¬ 
quently other fish gathered near the unfortunate 
one and swam about it a few inches beneath the 
surface. Evidently curiosity impelled their ac¬ 
tions, for we saw no attempts to attack, or to 
eat Boating dead fish of the same species. 
In the case of trout we have seen other trout 
follow one that had been hooked, but observed 
no attempt on their part to attack the captive one. 
—Editor. ] 
Long Leaders. 
The use of nine-foot lengths of silkworm gut 
in dry-fly fishing for trout severely handicaps 
the angler, unless he'happens to have the wind 
at his back, says the Illustrated Sporting and 
Dramatic News. How seldom this pleasant con¬ 
dition of things prevail we all know to our sor¬ 
row. Even with an upstream wind, if it is at 
ail strong, nine feet of gut is not conducive to 
light and accurate casting. Such casts are a 
survival of the old wet-fly method of fishing, 
when half a dozen flies were dangled down 
stream, and the trout were left to hook them¬ 
selves on. Much of the modern outcry about 
gut-shy trout in our Southern streams arises 
from heavy casting, which the use of so much 
gut entails. You must throw a long line, and 
cut it down on the water in order to get your 
fly extended, and thus prevent any slack. With 
half the length of gut, far greater accuracy of 
casting can be secured, and the fly can be al¬ 
lowed to fall naturally upon the water by gravi¬ 
tation instead of being bashed down like a 
thresher’s flail. Be it remembered that the writer 
of this note never uses a gut cast longer than 
four feet six inches, and when very wicked 
down stream winds prevail, there is another re¬ 
duction of a foot. And yet these short casts 
have—during the past twenty years—secured for 
the man who uses them more than his share of 
chalk stream trout. 
The Anglers’ 
Casting 
Club of Chicago. 
Chicago, Ill., 
June 18 . 
—Editor 
Forest and 
Stream: These 
scores were made 
to-day: 
f -^-ounce-s 
—Re-entries—, 
Accy. 
.... 97.8 
Distance. Accy. Distance. 
T. Nordholm . 
97.7 
C. Nordholm . 
.... 98.5 
lio 
G. Chatt . 
.... 98.6 
65 
98.S 49 
F. Wernecke . 
.... 97.1 
95.7 
G. Slocum . 
.... 96.2 
H. Hokamp . 
.... 98.2 
97.4 
F. S. Campbell. 
.... 97.0 
97.8 
W. S. Maloney. 
.... 95.5 
F. Gaenzel . 
.... 97.0 
E. S. Grey . 
.... 91.4 
C. E. Lingenfelter. 
.... 98.3 
159.5 
F. Kleinfeldt . 
.... 96.7 
105 
Attention is called to C. E. Lingenfelter’s 
score of 159.5 feet average in the quarter-ounce 
distance event, as this is a record. L. N. Place, 
of the Anglers’ Casting Club, held the record 
last year with an average of 154.4 feet. 
E. M. Town, Sec’y. 
Illinois Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ill., June 19.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: On account of the inclement weather 
conditions, the events scheduled to be held on 
June 17 were postponed indefinitely. On the fol¬ 
lowing day the conditions were more favorable 
for casting. Following are the scores made in 
the order as cast. Weather clear, wind north, 
approximately ten miles velocity: 
Ouarter-ounce accuracy bait: 
L. R. Huntley. 9G.9 A. F. Swisher. 98.0 
R. C. Nicholson. 98.0 *R. C. Nicholson_ 98.0 
D. Kernaghan . 97.7 
Quarter-ounce distance bait: 
D. Kernaghan .103 L. R. Huntley. 68% 
R. C. Nicholson 79 *R. C. Nicholson... 73% 
A. F. Swisher. 129% 
*Re-entry. 
Attention is called to the next club event sched¬ 
uled for July 8, half-ounce accuracy bait, accuracy 
fly, light tackle distance fly and distance fly. 
Members may take their re-entries of the post¬ 
poned events on any regular contest day of the 
same events. L. V. Tournier, Sec’y. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
San Francisco, Cal., June 18.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The following scores were made 
at Stow Lake yesterday and to-day under favor¬ 
able conditions: 
SATURDAY. 
Event No. 1, distance, feet: 
E. A. Mocker . 96 J. B. Kenniff. 122 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per cent.: 
E. A. Mocker. 98.8 C. G. Young. 98.40 
Geo. C. Edwards_ 97.36 F. A. Webster. 98 
J. B. Kenniff. 99.20 
Event No. 3, delicacy, per cent.: 
E. A. 
Mocker. 
Accuracy. 
Delicacy. 
Net. 
. 96.44 
98.40 
97.42 
Geo. 
( . Edwards. 
. 9S.40 
99 
98.50 
I. B. 
Kenniff. 
. 98.24 
99.40 
99.2 
C. G. 
Young. 
. 98.40 
99 
98.50 
F. A. 
Webster . 
. 99.4 
99.40 
99.22 
Event No. 4, lure casting, percent.: 
E. A. Mocker. 97.4 C. G. Young. 98 
Geo. C. Edwards_97 F. A. Webster. 93.9 
J. B. Kenniff.98.5 
Event No. 5, lure casting, average, feet: 
E. A. Mocker . 72 J. B. Kenniff. 135 
Geo. C. Edwards.130 C. G. Young. 128 
Event No. 1, 
SUNDAY, 
distance, feet: 
T. B. Kenniff. 
.... 120 
P. M. 
Nippert. 
... 88 
E. A. Mocker. 
... 93 
H. B. 
Sperry. 
... 90 
A. Sperry . 
... 92 
C. H. 
Kewell. 
... 94 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per 
cent.: 
F. B. Bell. 
. 99.8 
C. A. 
Kierulff. 
. 99.20 
T. B. Kenniff. 
,. 99.28 
H. B. 
Sperry. 
. 98.8 
C. G. Young. 
.. 99.24 
Tames 
Watt . 
.. 97.28 
E. A. Mocker. 
. 98.32 
F. If. 
Reed. 
.. 98.12 
W. T,. Gerstle. 
. 97.36 
C. H. 
Kewell. 
.. 98.40 
A. Sperrv . 
,. 95.36 
F. J. 
Cooper. 
.. 98.28 
P. M. Nippert. 
.. 95.36 
Event No. 3, delicacy, per 
cent.: 
Accuracy. Delicacy. 
Net. 
E V. Bell. 
93.56 
95.20 
94.38 
1. B. Kenniff. 
98.56 
100 
99.28 
C. G. Young. 
98.56 
99.40 
99.18 
E. A. Mocker. 
97.40 
98.40 
98.10 
Austin Sperry .... 
97.32 
98.40 
98.6 
Paul M. Nippert.. 
96.44 
93.20 
95.2 
C. A. Kierulff. 
98.24 
99.40 
99.2 
H. B. Sperry. 
98.4 
98 
98.2 
lames Watt . 
95.4 
97.50 
96.27 
F. H. Reed. 
98.44 
99.40 
99.12 
C. H. Kewell. 
97.32 
99 
98.11 
F. J. Cooper. 
98.8 
98.20 
98.14 
Event No. 5, lure casting, 
F. V. Bell. 88.4 
B. Kenniff. 97.8 
G. Young. 95.5 
T. 
C. 
E. A. Mocker. 94.4 
W. 
A. 
P. 
L. Gerstle . 87.8 
Sperry . 96 
M. Nippert. 85.1 
Event No. 4. lure casting 
average, feet: 
C. A. Kierulff. 85.5 
H. B. Sperry. 95.1 
James Watt . 97.3 
F. H. Reed. 92.7 
C. H. Kewell. 94.7 
F .J. Cooper. 93.7 
T. 
B. 
Kenniff.... 
... 187.8 
W. 
L. 
Gerstle.... 
.... 67.4 
A. 
Sperrv . 
... 121.6 
P. 
M. 
Nippert.... 
... 101 
H. 
B 
Sperry. 
... 117 
percent.: 
James Watt 
88 
C. H. Kewell. 159.4 
F. J. Cooper., 127.6 
J. Ehrich, NewYork. 210 
E. O. Ritter, Clerk. 
Elgin Anglers’ Club. 
Elgin, Ill., June 18.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The scores of the Elgin Anglers’ Club contest 
of June 18 are as follows: 
Distance & Accuracy 
%-ounce. %-ounce. 
Hawthorne 
95.4 
Elliott . 
. 97 
97.3 
Huff . 
. 98.8 
95.7 
Gronberg 
97.6 
Newton .... 
. 92.8 
94 
Erinton .... 
. 93.2 
87.2 
*Guest. 
- 
R. W. Hawthorne, 
Sec’y. 
