GO 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 8, 1911. 
Little Talks About Fly-Fishing. 
Ulster County, N. Y., June 24. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: “Oh, why should the spirit of 
mortal be proud?” Why do we persist in mak¬ 
ing the same old mistakes when we really do 
know better? For instance, take fine gut leaders 
or casting lines that have been used a little and 
then put away for a year or two. 
They seem to be quite good and are strong 
enough when dry. It is a bother to soak well 
and test before using, so on they go and away 
they go. 
Not being fit or of much account physically 
at the present writing, my peregrinations have 
been strictly limited in extent. It wili be under¬ 
stood, therefore, that I was highly gratified by 
the discovery of a short stretch of water that 
was entirely to my mind and suited to a slow, 
not to say, poky method of fishing. I took one 
good trout, hooked another, which proved to be 
one of those lazy beggars that stand on their tails 
and gape at you, or slowly sail about, no dash, 
no go at all. Of course, this fish got away; they 
usually do. 
By this time the leader was thoroughly soaked 
and I had arrived at the cream of the water. 
The first cast placed the fly just right after I 
had spotted a quiet rise at a natural, and a large 
trout accepted the artificial insect with equal 
confidence. A gentle strike and away sailed the 
fish with the fly and four feet of gut as memen¬ 
toes of a silly looking angler. Never mind, I 
had another choice two-year-old casting line on 
my hat, fly tied on and all the rest of it. Do 
it again? I did; two times, twice more. Two 
pet flies presented to the trout for nose rings, 
purely decorative purposes. At last I awoke and 
gently destroyed those used leaders, throwing 
the short remnants into the stream. The trout 
can play with these short pieces or use them 
instead of worms. 
The day was not done, darkness had not fallen; 
in fact, the sun was still shining with great in¬ 
dustry and ability, but a kindly mountain bobbed 
up and interposed its bulk between that too 
ardent luminary and a long still flat through 
which the water was just moving. Here and 
there trout were rising at some exceedingly 
minute insects and I carefully marked these 
down. I had put up a brand new casting line 
after thoroughly soaking in the wet box—it had 
been there all the time—and in something less 
than an hour I had extracted five very hand¬ 
some trout. 
The sport was over and suddenly five large 
broken blisters on two feet began to shout. The 
waders and heavy brogans weighed several hun¬ 
dred pounds. I found that I was fatigued, 
weary or tired, that it was about supper time 
and that it was necessary to walk home. 
Why should it be necessary to walk home? 
Nobody else does that. They all have automo¬ 
biles. Many a time I have longed to lie down 
by the trail and die peacefully rather than walk 
another mile. An old friend and myself once 
held each other up for an hour or more after 
we arrived at something like a road. We 
adopted the form of an inverted letter A- Shoul¬ 
der to shoulder we wabbled gracefully on. To 
be sure he produced a tiny vinaigrette, a miser¬ 
able caricature of a thing, supposed to be a 
flask, and said to contain ardent spirits, but it 
held something less than a sixteenth of a drink. 
However, we reached home, which was the ob¬ 
ject we had in mind, and by the second day 
after were quite ready to do it again. Tight 
lines on big trout or what you will. 
Theodore Gordon. 
Black Bass and the Thames. 
Regarding the introduction into British waters 
of our black bass, A. R. Matthews recently said, 
in the Angler’s News: 
“On Jan. 25 I referred to a rumor in angling 
circles that 1911 might possibly see some Ameri¬ 
can black bass disporting themselves in the 
Thames, and these fish were the subject of dis¬ 
cussion the following week at the meeting of the 
Thames Angling Preservation Society. With 
reference to this topic anglers are, like O iver 
I wist, asking for more, for the report we pub¬ 
lished recently left off just when it had become 
interesting. Thames anglers would very much 
like to know what the committee thought of 
Micropterus salmoidcs as, coupled with its good 
name for giving sport to fly and bottom fishers, 
is the allegation made at the great International 
Fisheries Exhibition of 1883 that it is a pisci¬ 
vorous fish. Recent inquiries have, I believe, 
shown that the statement is without foundation, 
and that its presence would not be likely to 
prejudice the welfare of the native Thames fish. 
Still, give a fish a bad name, etc., and it is hard 
to remove the stigma, so that in the circum¬ 
stances the I hames Angling Preservation Society 
might very well issue some statement as to its 
action with regard to the American black bass, 
while any information on the subject would also 
be greatly appreciated from anglers and fish and 
game wardens who know the fish in its native 
lakes and river. 
Supposing black bass are placed in the Thames 
it will not be the first time they have been intro¬ 
duced to English waters. If I remember cor¬ 
rectly, some were turned down at Oulton Broad, 
near Lowestoft, and in one or two other lakes, 
notably at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, but these 
are said to have been the small-mouthed species, 
whose home is in fast-flowing rocky rivers. For 
this reason the experiment came to nothing. The 
laige-momhed black bass—the fish discussed by 
the Thames Angling Preservation Society —on 
the other hand is stated to do exceedingly well 
in lakes and similar waters. Being slow running 
and deep in many places, the Thames would, it 
is thought by some, be an ideal home for the 
game American fish, and providing it can be con¬ 
clusively shown that it does not principally exist 
on smail fish, the sooner the better some are 
placed in that river. The black bass, a perch-like 
fish, certain.y looks as though a fat young trout 
or a dainty dace would not come amiss when 
he is hungry. It is acknowledged that he eats 
crayfish and minnows, but I learn that his teeth 
are unlike the pike’s, and are not formed to 
wound or cut, but are otherwise fashioned, and 
that he is by no means the ferocious fish which 
photographs make him appear. 
“With reference to the Oulton black bass I 
have some recollection of once seeing a pre¬ 
served specimen at the Wherry Hotel, but 
whether it was taken on the rod or how it was 
otherwise caught I am unable to state.” 
All the fish laivs of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
Record Dry-Fly Casting. 
In a communication dated at Sydney, N. S. W., 
May 27, C. H. Gorrick, honorary secretary of 
the New South Wales Anglers’ Casting Ciub, 
gives the particulars regarding the great dry- 
fly casting record made by the club’s president, 
Dr. H. L. Maitland, on May 27, and inclosed the 
following from one of the Sydney papers: 
A perfect afternoon for fly-casting was much 
appreciated by the members of the New South 
Wales Anglers’ Casting Club on Saturday after¬ 
noon, when a dry-fly distance casting competi¬ 
tion was enacted, under the most favorable 
weather conditions that have been experienced 
since the club was started over three years ago. 
As a rule there is a strong northeasterly wind 
to contend with, but on this occasion just a 
gentle southerly breeze, which was of assistance 
rather than otherwise to the competitors. 
1 he object of the dry-fly distance casting com¬ 
petition is to school competitors in attaining the 
skill necessary in dry-fly fishing for trout, when 
the fly must be dried and made to float in a 
natural manner over a feeding fish, and it is 
probably the most difficult event in the club's 
program. Competitors had to cast for five 
minutes, between two floating parallel lines 
placed twelve feet apart, making three false 
casts in the air, keeping the line alive without 
allowing it to touch the water, the fourth cast 
to score. It was a handicap event, the scratch 
men being Dr. H. L. Maitland, C. H. Gorrick 
and FT. K. Anderson; the other competitors were 
awarded points according to their last season’s 
performances. 
Dr. H. C. Moxham was first to board the punt, 
and during his turn the wind was perhaps stronger 
than at any other time through the afternoon, 
as it gradually dropped, and the latter part 
of the second round was enacted in an absolute 
calm. Dr. Moxham cast seventy-one feet and 
was followed by H. O. Chidgey with eighty-four 
feet. Id. K. Anderson was fourth, and raised 
the distance to 101 feet 5% inches. Last year 
Mr. Anderson established a world’s dry-fly dis¬ 
tance record of 102 feet. In the first round 
H. L. Maitland easily beat this, scoring 105 feet 
2 inches, also reaching about 118 feet in a “no 
cast, the fly having touched the water behind. 
F. L. J. Thompson’s cast of 91 feet 1 
inch was an excellent performance, and was the 
third longest cast of the day. In the second 
round very few of the competitors improved 
on their first score, the calm weather being ap¬ 
parently accountable for this. Dr. H. L. Mait¬ 
land was the exception. Fie cast in remarkable 
style, lifting an enormous length of line off the 
water, more than 90 feet at times, swinging it 
during the three false casts in a manner never 
before seen in any tournament in the world. He 
made one magnificent cast of 118 feet tf/ 2 inches, 
beating H. K. Anderson’s former world’s record 
by 16 feet 4F2 inches, and establishing a new 
record which will be found hard to beat. 
Dr. Maitland has had no practice this season and 
considers it a mistake to tax the muscles which 
this work brings into p’ay. Fie says that he and 
others made a mistake last year in practicing too 
much, and intends to do very little casting prac¬ 
tice this season. The result of the contest was: 
Dr. H. L. Maitland, scratch, cast 118 feet 4F2 
inches, 1; FI. O. Chidgey, received 25 feet, cast 
84 feet — iog feet, 2; F. L. J. Thompson, received 
