306 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March 9, 1912 
meeting will be held at 8 o'clock, when Walter 
McGuckin and William C. Metcalfe will present 
arguments in favor of dry-fly fishing, and the 
merits of wet-fly fishing will be expounded by 
Edward B. Rice and R. J. Held. General discus¬ 
sion will follow. Dinner will be served at 7 
o’clock, and any angler will be welcomed. Notice 
of his intention to be present should be sent at 
once to Mr. Hubbell, together with check for 
$1.75 for the dinner. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 24. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The midwinter handicap contest 
was held at Stow Lake. Wind variable; weather 
fair. Scores: 
Event No. 1, 
T. C. Kierulff 
Sperry 
Kierulff 
Sperry. 
Mocker 
Austin 
C. A. 
H. B. 
E. A. 
Tames 
"F. A. 
distance, feet: 
. 99 
. 92 
80 
93 
85 
Watt . 70 
Webster. 82 
F. J. Cooper. 
Dr. W. E. Brooks. 
Paul M. Nippert.. 
L. G. Burpee. 
Geo. B. M. Gray.. 
C. H. Kewell. 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per cent.: 
T. C. Kierulff. 99.4 
Austin Sperry . 97.32 
T. F. Burgin. 97.52 
C. A. Kierulff. 97.28 
H. B. Sperry. 98.40 
F. H. Reed. 98.12 
E. A. Mocker. 97.12 
Tames Watt . 97.52 
F. V. Bell . 98.12 
Geo. C. Edwards_98.8 
Event No. 4, lure 
oer cent.: 
70 
70 
72 
80 
78 
85 
F. A. Webster. 
F. J. Cooper. 
Wm. L. Gerstle_ 
Dr. W. E. Brooks.. 
F. M. Haight. 
Paul M. Nippert_ 
C. G. Young. 
L. G. Burpee. 
Geo. B. M. Gray..., 
C. H. Kewell. 
99.24 
98.44 
96.36 
98.12 
96.40 
94.48 
99.00 
97.48 
96.16 
99.16 
Event No. 3, Delicacy, 
per cent.: 
Accuracy. 
Delicacy. 
Net. 
T. C. Kierulff. 
. 98.32 
98.30 
98.31 
Austin Sperry . 
. 96.44 
96.10 
96.27 
T. F. Biirgin. 
. 97.00 
97.40 
97.20 
C. A. Kierulff. 
. 98.12 
99.10 
98.41 
H. B. Sperry. 
. 98.20 
98.20 
98.20 
F. H. Reed. 
. 99.16 
98.40 
98.58 
E. A. Mocker. 
. 97.20 
99.00 
98.10 
James Watt . 
. 96.56 
98.20 
97.38 
Geo. C. Edwards. 
. 97.43 
98.30 
98.9 
F. A. Webster. 
. 98.44 
98.10 
98.27 
F. J. Cooper. 
. 98.28 
96.10 
97.18 
Dr. W. E. Brooks. 
. 98.12 
99.00 
98.36 
F. M. Haight . 
. 96.52 
95.10 
96.1 
Paul M. Nippert. 
. 96.12 
93.30 
94.51 
C. G. Young. 
. 98.40 
98.40 
98.40 
T. C. Kierulff.... 
.... 95.7 
Geo. C. Edwards_ 
.. 94.9 
Austin Sperry ... 
.... 97.2 
F. A. Webster. 
.. 96.9 
T. F. Burgin . 
.... 94.5 
F. J. Cooper. 
.. 93.7 
C. A. Kierulff.... 
.... 91.7 
Wm. E. Gerstle.... 
.. 88.5 
H. B. Sperry- 
.... 97.9 
Dr. W. E. Brooks.. 
.. 93.4 
F. H. Reed. 
.... 94.4 
Paul M. Nippert_ 
.. 92.5 
E. A. Mocker.... 
.... 97.7 
C. G. Young. 
.. 96.4 
Tames Watt . 
.... 94.7 
L. G. Burpee. 
.. 89.1 
F. V. Bell. 
.... 83.0 
C. H. Kewell. 
.. 89.1 
E. 0 . Ritter, Clerk. 
Experimenting with a Fly-Rod. 
New York City, Feb. 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: While experimenting with a fly-rod I 
devised the following method of determining 
the stresses and resulting strains, or bending, 
which under a live load in casting a rod is sub¬ 
jected to. 
Figure I. shows the rod AB bent at the 
moment of greatest stress, while recovering the 
line after having made a forward cast. S is a 
spring, B a line eye and SEP a fine wire or line 
fastened at any point P on the rod, passed 
through the line eye E and fastened to the 
spring S. (I used in this case, at the suggestion 
of E. J. Mills, an automatic reel.) A marker 
or button is threaded on the line SEP and is 
free to move up and down on said line if 
actuated by a force. 
Before making the cast, when the rod is 
straight and the line SEP under tension through 
the spring at S, the marker is adjusted so as 
to be just in contact with the line eye E. When 
the rod is bent by the act of casting, the marker 
is moved upon the line SEP to the amount the 
line has been shortened from the point P to 
E, due to the curvature of the rod. It will, 
of course, measure the shortest distance be¬ 
tween the points E and P when the rod is 
under the maximum strain. By taking several 
points on the rod, the curve it takes, while mak¬ 
ing the casts, can be reproduced statically with 
a steelyard or weights. I found the stresses 
to which a rod is subjected, due to the momen¬ 
tum of the line and friction of the line in the 
water and air, are much greater than is generally 
conjectured, and I am led to believe, from my ex¬ 
periments, that when making long casts, or 
when thrashing out a line against strong wind, 
a rod is subjected to stresses which, if repro¬ 
duced statically, would break it or put a perma¬ 
nent set in it. The reason that a well made rod 
of good material does not take much of a per¬ 
manent set is due to the fact that the fibres that 
the rod is made of are alternately subjected to 
tension and compression. 
Figure II. shows the mean of a number of 
experiments I made with a fly-rod, the dimen¬ 
sions of which are as follows: Length, 10 
feet; weight, 5J4 ounces; size above handle .404 
inch; below first ferrule .308 inch; second joint 
size, above ferrule, .291 inch; below ferrule, .185 
inch; tip size, above ferrule, .177 inch; point, 
.075 inch. 
Figure III. shows the arc the rod took in re¬ 
covering the line, after making a 7S-foot cast. 
The stress which produced this curve proved to 
be ij 4 pounds in the direction of the line, as 
shown in the figure. The arc of the curve had 
a chord of 7 feet 2^2 inches, while the greatest 
ordinate to the chord was 2 feet 4)4 inches. I 
found that the rod, from the point B just above 
the handle to a point A, 7)4 feet from the point 
B, took a curve which coincided almost exactly 
to an arc of a circle, with a radius of 3 feet 6 
inches, showing the rod was most beautifully 
proportioned. 
Owing to the rigor of the winter, I was un¬ 
able to make any experiments in the open, and 
was obliged to pursue my experiments under 
cover in a tank only seventy-five feet long. As 
soon as I have an opportunity, I shall make 
further and more exhaustive experiments. In 
the meantime, I should be pleased if some of 
your readers should be interested sufficiently 
to make experiments along these lines and so 
eliminate as much as possible the personal 
equation. Thomas D. Whistler. 
Casting at the Sportsmen’s Show. 
A suMM.VRY of the events cast including Mon¬ 
day night follows. The scores in detail will be 
given next week: 
Trout fly casting, five-ounce rods, 70-foot class 
—T. G. Saunders, 68 feet; Willich, 62)4 feet; 
E. F. Todd, 61 feet. 
Accuracy bait, quarter-ounce — A. J. Marsh, 
97.3 per cent,; F. T. Mapes, 96.5; C. T. Cham¬ 
pion, 95.8. 
Trout fly casting, five-ounce rods, 85-foot class 
—Perry Frazer, 78 8 feet; A. B. Hubbell, 74 
feet: F. T. Mapes, 73 feet. 
Accuracy bait, half-ounce, 97 per cent, class— 
E. M. Gill, 97; C. H. Higby, 96 4-5; Walter Mc¬ 
Guckin, 96 3-5. 
Accuracy fly-casting, 98 per cent, class—W. C. 
Metcalfe, 99.12; A. B. Hubbell, 98.67; A. R. Hau¬ 
liers, 98.33. 
