302 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Feb. 20, 1909. 
boy formerly required to operate the tail line. 
The line is knotted at the ends, as shown, and 
these ends are slipped through the holes in the 
target arms (marked J in Fig. i, and A in 
Fig. 7) and pulled into the slots for fastening. 
Knots are made in the line to mark the 60, 70, 
80, 90 and loo-foot distances, and midway be¬ 
tween the 60, 70 and 8o-foot knots we wind on 
a few turns of red or yellow string to supply 
the 5-foot spaces for quarter-ounce work. 
Our old line was provided with small canvas 
tags, numbered, oiled and varnished, but so 
persistently would the perch and small bass 
grab these tags every time that the line was 
moved or lifted from the water that the num¬ 
bers soon disappeared; and then we learned 
that the numbers were not necessary in order 
to tell where the target stood. Had we put 
small hooks on the tags we could easily have 
killed the idea that tournament casting is not 
angling. 
The tail or anchor line is fastened to a block 
of wood in which is mounted a small sheave and 
two screw-eyes as shown. The purpose of the 
block is to keep the sheave from rolling and 
twisting the line at this point. Along the water 
edge of the platforms we bored 3 /^-inch holes, 
into which we screw the idler sheaves shown; 
but it is best to nail short blocks to the edge 
of the platform and bore the holes in these. 
Platform and Target Box. 
Next to having a good target, it is highly 
important to have a suitable and convenient 
place to keep it when not in use, in order that 
it may be protected from the weather and 
from the evil eye of the small boy, who is al¬ 
ways handy with a rock or brick-bat and dead 
certain that he can hit an inviting mark, es¬ 
pecially when it happens to be in the water. In 
our case we provide for this in the manner 
shown by Fig. 17, which shows one end of the 
main platform arranged as a target box. 
At the waterline, 18 inches from the top 
boards, and at the front and rear of the plat¬ 
form, are placed two 2x4s, on which rest the 
target bars, as shown. The two middle bars 
are provided with a roller at the front end and 
the remaining space between them is bridged 
across to provide a floor to stand on when the 
target is moved in or out. For this purpose 
the two middle boards of the platform top are 
hinged and made to open as shown. The sizes 
of material used are satisfactory for the 8j4- 
foot target and can be readily changed to suit 
a larger one if desired. The target can is all 
we depend on to keep the target open and 
flat and it is strong enough for all requirements, 
although in pulling the target into the box we 
generally, take hold of the hinged arms and 
run these over the roller. 
Both top and end boards of the target box 
are provided with padlocks. 
Rod Rack. 
To complete our equipment at the casting 
pool we needed a rod rack, and this I made out 
of two dandelion spuds and a piece of leather 
belt at a cost of less than two dollars. The 
two spuds are pushed into the sod where most 
convenient to the casting platform and the rack 
is slipped over the pegs in the end of the 
handles, as shown. Coat hooks are placed 
about 8 inches apart and serve a useful purpose 
when the grass is wet. The rack fully serves 
the purpose for which it was intended, and has 
the further merit that it can be easily pulled 
down, or up, and stored in the target box with¬ 
out taking up much space. 
M. A. Beck. 
Proposed Change in Casting Rules. 
At its last meeting the Newark (N. J.) Bait- 
and Fly-Casting Club adopted the following pre¬ 
amble and resolution: 
Whereas, Article 2 of the constitution of the 
National Association of Scientific Angling Clubs, 
relating to professionalism, provides as follows: 
Section 4.—No professional shall be eligible to office or 
to membership on the executive committee of the N. A. 
S. A. C. Neither shall they as members of any affiliated 
club have any voice or vote in the management or con¬ 
trol of N. A. S. A. C. affairs. 
Section 5.—A professional is defined as follows: (1) One 
who is or has been a teacher of casting for pay. (2) One 
who is or has been a market fisherman. (3) One who is 
or has been a paid guide. (4) One who for pay casts 
or has cast with any rod, reel, line or device in the 
interest of the maker or seller thereof. (5) One who 
does or has done exhibition casting for pay, either 
directly or indirectly. (6) One who for pay conducts or 
has conducted any exhibition of casting. (7) One who is 
engaged in the manufacture or sale of fishing tackle. 
This definition does not include the amateur rod builder 
or fly tier, or the amateur maker of any angling device, 
not as his principal means of livelihood. 
Section 6.—Any professional who is a member of any 
affiliated club and who may desire to be reinstated as an 
amateur may make an application in writing to the ex¬ 
ecutive committee for such reinstatement, showing to the 
satisfaction of the executive committee, that he has 
abandoned permanently the conditions which made him 
a professional, and upon a two-thirds vote of the execu¬ 
tive committee he may be so reinstated. 
Whereas, Some of the above strictures on pro¬ 
fessionalism have caused much dissatisfaction in 
the various affiliated clubs of the National Asso¬ 
ciation, and are calculated to introduce and per¬ 
petuate an element of discord which is not con¬ 
ducive to the best interests of either the affiliated 
clubs or the National Association, and 
Whereas, We recognize that the National As¬ 
sociation with its affiliated clubs is an organiza¬ 
tion of amateur sportsmen and believe in main¬ 
taining its status as such, we nevertheless believe 
that definition 7 of Section 5 classes as profes¬ 
sionals a goodly number of men who are de¬ 
voted to the art of tournament casting for its 
own sake and not from mercenary motives, who 
possess all the essential qualities of true amateur 
sportsmanship, and whose co-operation and in¬ 
fluence are helpful and beneficial to the common 
cause, but who are debarred from participating 
in the national and local tournaments, except 
under conditions that cause a certain amount of 
odium to attach to them; now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of this club 
that definition 7, Section 5, as aforesaid should 
be repealed; and be it further 
Resolved, That the secretary be instructed to 
notify the proper officials of the National Asso¬ 
ciation of Scientific Angling Clubs at least three 
months prior to its next annual meeting, that 
it is the intention of this club to offer an amend¬ 
ment to the constitution of the National Asso¬ 
ciation of the Scientific Angling Clubs repealing 
said definition 7 of Section 5 of Article 2; and 
be it further 
Resolved, That the secretary be instructed to 
communicate with the other affiliated clubs of 
the National Association, advising them of the 
action by this club, and inviting their co-opera¬ 
tion also to give publicity to same in the sport¬ 
ing journals and to use all other legitimate 
means to procure the repeal of said definition 
7 of Section 5 of Article 2 of the constitution 
of the N. A. S. A. C. 
Fiy- and Bait-Casting in Paris. 
The Fishing Gazette of London recently con¬ 
tained the following note by R. B. Marston, its 
editor; 
“It is proposed by some influential noblemen 
and gentlemen in Paris to hold an international 
fly- and bait-casting tournament near Paris at no 
very distant date. Valuable prizes will be of¬ 
fered, and it is hoped that competitors from the 
United Kingdom may be attracted. I shall be 
able to give in the Fishing Gazette details of 
arrangements in due course, and have supplied 
our French friends with some useful informa¬ 
tion as regards rules, etc. I trust the affair will 
be a success, and believe it will be the first of 
the kind ever held in France or anywhere in 
Europe except in the United Kingdom.” 
The fly- and bait-casting club recently pro¬ 
posed by London anglers has not as yet been 
organized. 
A Florida Fish Story. 
Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 10.— Editor Forestand 
Stream: C. W. Bingham, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
who is a regular winter visitor, had an experi¬ 
ence here which beats all records in fishing. 
Last April, while fishing for shark from the 
ocean pier, he hooked a big fish, and after play¬ 
ing him for over an hour the chain leader on 
the hook broke and the fish got away. 
Recently he was fishing for shark at about 
the same place on the pier when he hooked 
what he thought was a big shark after over an 
hour of hard work. He got the fish in to the 
beach where it was hauled out. It turned out 
to be an immense jewfish, and there in its mouth 
was the hook and chain he had lost last April. 
The fish weighed over 500 pounds and Mr. 
Bingham has the hook on exhibition in the 
Breakers Hotel here. Wm. Deitsch. 
All the hsh laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
