Aug. 26, 1911] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
341 
Not Imitations. 
Save in size, no human eye can distinguish 
one fresh Mayfly (insect) from another, and it 
is when fresh the trout like them best, and there¬ 
fore it is then the fly tyer should have one be¬ 
fore him as a model. Yet no two Mays are tied 
alike. There are yellow wings, mottled wings, 
black wings, bodies of different hues and no 
hues, hackles red and green and speckled, tinsel 
a glitter ;or none, and yet they all kill (or do 
not kill) alike. I kill trout daily with floating 
Mays, says Mona in the Shooting Times. Few 
of them have wings at all, and no two of them 
are the same, for apart from size I would not 
give a button for one pattern more than another, 
which shows that the dresser appeals not to the 
trout, but to the taste of the angler, and like a 
man of sense, is laughing up his sleeve the time. 
A trout is a fool, and is just as likely to go bald- 
headed for a red May or blue May as for any 
other, and just because of the novelty. And 
may the trout not have an ideal Mayfly in its 
mind—I have heard of an ideal beefsteak—and 
while grumpily enough picking up a common or 
garden one here and there as it comes along, 
let itself go with abandon at last when it sees 
a floating buzzer of singular points coming down 
—the very thing it has long been waiting for! 
Artificial flies are not imitations. There is 
no more profound fallacy than this — nothing 
more unworthy of a great art. They are origi¬ 
nals and ideals. Should certain insects resemble 
them, all the better (or the worse) for the in¬ 
sects, but the appeal they make is direct, not 
reminiscent. This imitation wheeze is long ago 
played out. I have seen in an Assam valley a 
certain fly, found nowhere else, on which the 
eye of trout never rested. I knew, were this 
creature but let loose in its myriads on our 
home waters, Mays and olives, sedges and spin¬ 
ners would all be abandoned, and the demented 
fish revel in the carnival of their lives. I knew 
this, saw it at a glance, and of course acted ac¬ 
cordingly like a wise man. I brought the fly 
home in my mind's eye, and now I kill every 
trout I see rising on the Shannon. Imitation ? 
Yes, certainly. Imitation of an ideal, if you 
will, but of that never actually seen by my vic¬ 
tims. And so with the May vagaries of the 
deft tyer. They kill because they appeal to the 
memories of dreams. How much longer are we 
to tolerate this dull Gradgrinding exclusion of 
the imaginative from our noble art? As for a 
trout taking the natural Mayfly and ignoring the 
floater, I never met with such a case. I have 
never failed to rise a Maying trout with floater 
except by my own fault—or another’s, who had 
previously hooked it. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., Aug. 21.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Newark Bait- and Fly-Caking 
Club will hold an open tournament at Fox Hill 
Lakes, Denville, N. J., Sept. 4. Labor Day. The 
following events are scheduled: Ten o’clock, 
dry-fly distance, dry-fly accuracy; 1 o’clock, 
miss and out. half-ounce accuracy, half-ounce 
distance and distance fly. unlimited rods. Gold, 
silver and bronze medals will be awarded the 
winners, with the exception of the miss and 
out event. 
Members of the Anglers’ Club of New York 
and the Orange Rod Club, as well as unattached 
casters, are cordially invited to attend. Take 
D., L. & W. R. R. to Denville, then trolley to 
Fox Hill Lakes. 
. Fred. T. Mapes, Sec’y. 
Monterey Bay Salmon. 
San Francisco, Cal., Aug. 15 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The record fish in the Monterey 
Bay and San Francisco Light Tackle Club to 
date are as follows: 
Ed. Mocker, blue button, 33-pound salmon; 
Stafford Keesling, blue button, 25(4-pound sal- 
ED MOCKER AND HIS 33-POUND SALMON. 
mon; Earl S. Pomeroy, blue button 33%-pound 
salmon; Earl Pomeroy, blue button, 39%-pound 
salmon. All at Capitola. 
Chas. H. Kewell. 
Elgin Anglers’ Club. 
Elgin, Ill., Aug. 21. —Editor Forest and Stream: 
The scores of the Elgin Anglers’ Club contest of 
Aug. 20 are 
as follows. No 
wind; very 
bright 
and everyone 
out of practice: 
%-ounce. 
%-ounce. 
D. & A. 
1 ). & A. 
T). & A. 
Fly. 
E-ggebrecht .... 
. 98.7 
98.1 
11 awthorne .... 
. 95.6 
97.8 
97 2-15 
Provost . 
. 98.4 
98.4 
98 
Elliott . 
. 96.7 
95.3 
99 1-15 
Saunders . 
95.6 
Huff . 
. 98.0 
97.3 
97 4-15 
R. W. Hawthorne, Sec’y. 
Salmon Abundant. 
Capitola, Cal., Aug. 9. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: During the past few weeks we have 
been having some fine sport fishing for salmon 
and some large catches of fine fish have been 
made almost every day, and it looks like the 
run of salmon may continue until the season 
closes on Sept. 17. 
Ben B. Knight, the twelve-year-old son of 
District Attorney B. K. Knight, who was one 
of a party who went salmon fishing on Lee 
Pomeroy’s launch, caught four of the nine sal¬ 
mon secured by the party. One weighing twenty- 
five pounds was landed by the lad. 
Walter R. Welch. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
San Francisco, Aug. 1 3.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Scores made by members on Stow 
Lake yesterday and to-day; wind variable, 
weather fair. 
Event No. 1, 
J. B. Kenniff... 
J. F. Burgin... 
E. A. Mocker.. 
SATURDAY, 
distance, feet: 
. 1-2 *J. B. Kenniff. 
. iff *J. F. Burgin. 
. 98 *E .A. Mocker. 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per cent : 
J. B. Kenniff. 99.36 *T. B. Kenniff. 
C. G. Young. 99.12 *C. G. Young. 
!'• A. Webster. 98.28 *F. A. Webster. 
J. F. Burgin. . 98.32 *J.' F. Burgin. 
Geo C Edwards... 98.28 *Geo. C. Edwards... 
E- A. Mocker. 97.52 *E. A. Mocker. 
F. H. Reed. 97.40 *F. H. Reed. 
Event No. 3, delicacy. 
per cent.: 
J. B. Kenniff. 
Accuracy. Delicacy. 
C . G. Young. 
99.40 
E. A. Webster. 
100 
J. 1’. Burgin. 
93.50 
Geo. C. Edwards. 
. 98.8 
98.40 
E. A. Mocker. 
100 
F. H. Reed. 
99.40 
*J. B. Kenniff. 
99.20 
*t. G. Young. 
100 
■*F. A. Webster. 
. 98.52 
100 
*J. F. Burgin. 
94.50 
*Geo. C. Edwards. 
. 98.24 
99.40 
*E. A. Mocker. 
. 97.24 
99.40 
*F. 11. Reed. 
99 
Event No. 4, lure casting, per cent.: 
J. B. Kenniff. 98.8 *J. B. Kenniff. 
C. G. Young. 97.4 *C. G. Young. 
F. A. Webster. 96.4 *F. A. Webster. 
J. F. Burgin. 93 *J. F. Burgin. 
Geo. C. Edwards.... 93.3 *Geo. C. Edwards.... 
E. A. Mocker. 98.2 *E. A. Mocker. 
F. H. Reed. 79.3 *F. H. Reed. 
Event No. 5, lure casting, average, feet: 
J. B. Kenniff . 189.6 *J. B. Kenniff. 
E. A. Mocker. 33 *E. A. Mocker. 
*Re-entries. 
SUNDAY. 
Event No. 1, distance, feet: 
C. 
H. Kewell. 
. 85 
E. A. Mocker. 
T. 
T>. Kenniff. 
.118 
*E. A. Mocker 
J- 
F. Burgin. 
. 90 
*C. H. Kewell 
121 
95 
96 
98.8 
98.52 
98.16 
99.4 
98.40 
97.8 
98.4 
Net. 
99.8 
99.16 
99.30 
92.31 
98.24 
98.32 
99.20 
98.42 
99.40 
99.26 
94.23 
99.2 
98.32 
98.52 
97.8 
97.2 
96.4 
96.4 
91.7 
97.9 
90.5 
155 
73 
98 
9S 
92 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per cent.: 
C. H. Kewell. 98.32 
J. B. Kenniff. 99.24 
Tames Watt. 96.32 
Dr. W. E. Brooks.. 98.4 
C. G. Young. 98.32 
J. F. Burgin. 97.32 
E. A. Mocker. 97.4 
F. H. Reed. 98.16 
,C. A. Kierulff. 98.28 
F. M. Haight. 97.40 
F. J. Cooper. 98.24 
*C. G. Young. 99.28 
*F. H. Reed. 9S.56 
*E. A. Mocker. 97.12 
*C. H. Kierulff. 98.44 
*C. H. Kewell. 98.24 
*F. J. Cooper. 98.40 
Event No. 3, delicacy, per cent.: 
Accuracy. Delicacy. 
C. H. Kewell. 96.28 98.40 
J. B. Kenniff. 97.56 99.20 
Tames Watt . 96.56 99 
Dr. W. E. Brooks. 96.48 98.10 
C. G. Young. 98.24 99.40 
J. F. Burgin. 92.56 92.30 
E. A. Mocker. 97.16 98.10 
F. H. Reed. 98.56 99 
C. A. Kierulff. 96.44 99.10 
F. H. Haight. 98.40 99 
F. J. Cooper. 97.48 97.20 
*C. G. Young. 97.44 99.20 
•F. H. Reed. 98.32 99.40 
*E. A. Mocker. 96.28 99.50 
*C. H. Kierulff. 97.24 98.30 
*C. H. Kewell. 96.24 98.40 
*F. J. Cooper. 97.24 97.10 
Event No. 4, lure casting, 
C. H. Kewell. 96.3 
T. B. Kenniff. 97.4 
James Watt . 96.7 
Dr. W. E. Brooks... 92.5 
C. G. Young. 97.7 
J. F. Burgin. 92.9 
F. A. Mocker. 98 
F. H. Reed. 94 
Event No. 5, lure casting, 
C. H. Kewell. 170.6 
J. B. Kenniff. 153 
James Watt .151 
Dr. W. E. Brooks... 110 
T F. Burgin. 47 
E. A. Mocker. 90 
* Re-entries. 
Net. 
97.34 
98.38 
97.5S 
97.29 
99.2 
92.43 
97.43 
98.58 
97.57 
98.50 
97.34 
98.32 
99.6 
98.9 
97.57 
97.32 
97.17 
per cent.: 
C. A. Kierulff. 90 
F. J. Cooper. 95.7 
*C. G. Young. 97.1 
*F. H. Reed. 95.2 
*E. A. Mocker. 9S.7 
*C. H. Kierulff. 88.8 
*C. H. Kewell. 96.7 
*F. J. Cooper. 97 
average, feet: 
F. J. Cooper. 117 
*E. A. Mocker. 59.6 
*C. IT. Kewell. 134 
*F. J. Cooper. 104 
*J. F. Burgin. 85 
E. O. Ritter, Clerk. 
