900 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June s, 1909. 
vegetation; net result, two trout, weights 
and I pound, and about two pounds of algae. 
I took time at this point to light a pipe and 
recuperate niy nerves. 
A little later, after a hard fight, in which I 
had to fend him ofif from the bristling -projec¬ 
tions on the raft’s sides, I landed my best 
trout, 154 pounds. My friend, who had watched 
from shore with bated breath, was eager for 
the fray. He landed two big trout. 
It was growing late in the afternoon and 
raining hard when I went out for my last turn. 
We had kept up a fire, and cheered ourselves 
with tea, for the September rain was chilling. 
I secured two more good trout. In all, I had 
six, weighing 8 pounds. The moral is: Don’t 
take a 3l4-ounce fine split-bamboo to fish from 
improvised rafts in wilderness ponds. Green- 
heart or dagama will give good enough sport 
and do the work better. 
We left the pond at 5 o’clock, for we had to 
walk six miles and row one and one half miles. 
Next day we took the train for home, saying, 
“.A.irs well that ends well,” and with our re¬ 
grets at exchanging the pure and bracing air 
of the Laurentians for the stuffy and smoky 
city atmosphere, but somewhat mitigated by 
our memories of the last day’s sport.- 
Silver Doctor. 
Illinois Bait-Casting Clnb. 
Chicago, Ill., May 24.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The scores made at the club contest, 
held in Washington Park lagoon. May 22, were 
as follows: 
quarter-ounce accuracy bait. 
\V. H. Ball. 
91.1 
H. F. Wait. 
... 97.4 
\V. T. Jameson. 
98.9 
H. B. Rice. 
... 97.3 
L. E. De Garmo. 
98.8 
E. H. Mathews_ 
... 96.9 
N. C. H. 
98.8 
H. R. Winfield.... 
... 96.9 
T. E. Amann. 
98.6 
E. K. Pearson. 
... 96.8 
A. D. Whitby. 
98.5 
P. J. Einderman... 
... 96.5 
John Mohan . 
98.2 
A. Wagner . 
... 95.7 
0. C. Wehle. 
97.7 
H. C. Chapman... 
... 95.7 
C. P. Clifford. 
97.6 
Cieo. H. Asper. 
... 93.8 
F. W. Heming:hous... 
W. W. McFarlin. 
97.6 
97.5 
*Mr. Cooley . 
... 97.4 
DRY-FLY 
ACCURACY EVENT. 
T. E. De Garmo. 
99.0 
IT. E. Rice. 
... 94.3 
F. ). Einderman. 
97.2 
A. D. Whitby. 
... 94.1 
R. E. Rawlins. 
96.0 
T. F. Amann. 
... 86.1 
W. J. Jameson. 
*Visitors. 
94.3 
*Mr. Sperry . 
... 94.1 
Owing to a heavy northeast wind the delicacy 
fly event was postponed indefinitely. Attention 
is called to the number of 98 scores or better, 
given above. 
A cordial invitation from the Chicago Fly- 
Casting Club is extended to the members of the 
Illinois to participate in its complimentary tour¬ 
nament, which will be held June 6, at Anglers’ 
Pool, Garfield Park. It is hoped that a repre¬ 
sentative body will be present. 
R. F. Bennett, Sec’y. 
Chicago Fly-Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ill., May 22. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The scores made in the regular club 
contest to-day were as follows: 
QUARTER-OUNCE ACCURACY. 
D. F. Beatty. 
.... 98.7 
H. A. 
Newkirk.. 
.98.2 
0. E. Becker. 
.... 97.7 
H. W 
. Perce.... 
. 98.8 
Dr. C. F. Brown. 
.... 95.8 
F. N. 
Peet. 
.96.5 
R. W. Crompton.. 
.... 97.8 
E. A. 
Snell. 
.96.3 
E. R. Letterman.. 
.... 97.9 
*Knitters . 
. 97.4 
DELICACY FLY. 
Dr. C. F. Brown.. 
.97 20-30 
H. W. 
Perce. 
..97 26-30 
H. A. Newkirk... 
.97 18-30 
F. N. 
Peet. 
..99 12-30 
*Guest. 
Geo. a. Davis, Sec’y. 
Tarpon at Sarasota. 
Sarasota, Fla., May 22. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On the night of May 5, although a 
little early in the season for tarpon, I thought 
I might be lucky enough to hook one, as a num¬ 
ber of the big fellows had been seen in the pass 
in front of the hotel. I started about 9 p. m. 
in the launch, carrying with me Paul Noble, 
guide and boatman. 
It was an ideal Florida night. The moon was 
full and the bay and gulf looked like a sea of 
silver. The silence was broken only by the call 
of the whippoorwill, the blowing of porpoises 
and the occasional splash of some monstrous 
fish as he fell back into the water after a leap 
into the air. 
On reaching the pass just three miles from the 
hotel we launched the rowboat, and with care¬ 
ful movements commenced to row silently in 
search of tarpon. Rod in hand, I sat in the 
stern of the boat, about thirty yards of line 
trailing astern, full of eager expectancy. After 
about fifteen minutes of this, “Zip—ze—ze—ee” 
sang my reel, and before I could check it, sixty 
yards of line had been taken out, then into the 
air leaped a fine tarpon, shaking his head like 
a terrier shakes a rat in a vain effort to rid 
himself of the hook. By rapid reeling and giv¬ 
ing him the butt, I managed to throw him back 
into the water, fairly on his side. This checked 
him for a few minutes and I was able to regain 
considerable line, but with a mighty pull went 
the line out again in another sixty-yard run, then 
the tarpon leaped again, causing a repetition 
of the former tactics. This was repeated eight 
times and the the fish took it into his head to 
go to the bottom and sulk. With aching arms 
and wrists I held the rod, first giving and then 
taking a little line, slowly but surely pumping 
him nearer the boat. 
After a strenuous half hour’s work I ordered 
the guide to make for the beach about a mile and 
a half distant. When the tarpon first struck we 
were about five hundred yards off shore: the fish 
hod towed the boat containing two men the rest 
of the distance. For the beach we headed, tug 
and pull, tug and pull, a few yards gained, a few 
feet lost. Finally the boat grounded in the surf 
and we jumped out up to the waist in the salt 
breakers. Then fighting my way backward I 
went toward the beach, reeling as I went, some¬ 
times gaining, sometimes losing. Finally with 
about the last good pull I was capable of, I 
yanked him into shallow water where my guide 
managed to gaff and pull him ashore. We found 
him to be a beautiful specimen, weighing eighty- 
five pounds and measuring five feet four inches 
from snout to tail tip. It had taken about an 
hour to land this fish. 
Later another tarpon was hooked and another 
glorious fight commenced and won. <This fish 
weighed eighty pounds and measured five feet. 
This night’s work gave me two tarpon and about 
two and a half hours of the most exhilarating 
sport it is possible for a man to indulge in—the 
greatest sport in the world, and there is plenty 
of it here. Any morning from now till the end 
of July one can see in the passes around Sara¬ 
sota at sunrise thousands of these gamy mon¬ 
sters going out into the gulf where they lay 
around in the day time. 
Since the trip just described I have caught 
three other tarpon weighing respectively 30, 85 
and 125 pounds, also a ground shark weighing 
400 pounds. Landing a shark is something of 
a task. I use an ordinary tarpon rod and 36- 
thread line in all my fishing. Unlike the tarpon 
the shark does not jump, but darts with light¬ 
ning rapidity from side to side and then sinks 
to the bottom, and from that time on it is a 
steady pull and strain. One can imagine what 
it would feel like if one’s line was fouled by a 
launch running about six miles an hour. This 
is as near as I can come to describing a shark 
strike. It took about two hours to land this 
fellow on the beach as I did the tarpon. Get¬ 
ting him into the boat was out of the question; 
as it was he broke the shaft of my gaff, which 
was of oak, five inches in circumference, throw¬ 
ing my guide a complete somersault in the surf, 
and for a few minutes it was hard to distinguish 
the guide from the shark. 
Jack Halton. 
Tournament Casting. 
Milwaukee, Wis., May 25.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since the beginning of time we have 
indulged in the pleasant pastime of stoning our 
prophets and when the folly of the act becomes 
clear we make a stupid attempt to avoid look¬ 
ing foolish over what we have done. 
I am not going to dodge because of anything 
that I may be guilty of, but on the contrary I 
feel certain that the stand taken by the National 
Association will result in ultimate good to the 
organization and will eventually lead to the 
framing of a code which will deal justly and 
fairly with the case of the so-called professional. 
But instead of all wrangling and ill feeling, if 
such exists, I think that the professionals them¬ 
selves should draw up a code of their own to 
meet the difficulty and submit it to the National 
Association officers who, I feel sure, will give 
it fair consideration. 
It is well understood by all of us that it is 
unfair to saddle the odium of certain conduct 
on all, because it may be charged against one 
or two, but it is equally unfair to blame the 
National Association because it has taken the 
precaution to avoid a practice which, in the past, 
has led to trouble and disruption of well laid 
schemes. I feel that the professionals should 
show how the difficulty at the bottom of the 
matter can be met and controlled, and I think 
that suggestions from them will be highly wel¬ 
comed by those who are standing up for the 
good of the organization. . M. A. Beck. 
Anglers* Casting Club of Chicago. 
Chicago, Ill., 
May 23 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following scores were 
made' at 
our club contest 
to-day: 
%oz. Acc’y- 
14oz. Dist. 
H. Hokamp . 
. 97.0 
104.8 
W. J. Jamison. 
. 98.0 
134.0 
T'. M. Nordholm... 
. 98.6 
116.6 
C. B. Nordholm. 
. 97.6 
120.0 
C. E. Lingtenfelter 
. 97.2 
76.0 
J. T. Hartley. 
. 97.1 
G. G. Chatt. 
. 95.9 
68.4 
M. H. Cooley. 
. 97.8 
72.6 
S. F. Campbell. 
. 93.1 
P. J. Mortell... 
lOEO 
Visitors: 
L. E. De Garmo_ 
. 95.8 
132.0 . 
R. W. Crompton_ 
. 94.7 
H. W. Perce. 
. 97.9 
iii.o 
C. C. Wehle . 
. 98.6 
78.8 
A. D. Whilty . 
. 98.1 
W. H. Ball. 
T. E. Ammon. 
. 97.2 
75.2 
H. F. Bennet . 
. 96.4 
P. J. Mortell, 
Sec’y. 
