758 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 15, 1912 
Asbury Park Fishing Club. 
Jersey City, N. J., May 27. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: In the course of some comments, 
which Forest and Stream appended to a plea of 
the writer’s in favor of the use of three and 
four-ounce leads in surf-casting tournaments 
made in your columns in the early part of the 
winter, the question was asked whether the 
Asbury Park Fishing Club would adopt the V- 
shaped court, provided the' other clubs would 
take up the three and four-ounce leads, which 
have always been used by the Asbury Park Fish¬ 
ing Club. 
The suggestion was valuable. It pointed to 
common ground where fair comparisons between 
the records of the various clubs could be made 
provided concessions be made to reach that 
ground. It is noted with pleasure that the Ang¬ 
lers’ Club of New York used the three-ounce 
lead in their recent contest, a bold step in the 
right direction. The Asbury Park Club have 
always maintained that the two and one-half¬ 
ounce lead as a single standard was inadequate 
in that it was too light for use as a general fish¬ 
ing weight, and they have stood firmly for the 
three and four-ounce leads. But in the hope 
of leading other clubs to the light, your sugges¬ 
tion was taken under serious consideration, and 
the fruits thereof are to be seen in No. 4 of the 
following list of events to be cast at the annual 
tournament of the club at the corner of Eighth 
and Park avenues, Asbury Park, on Saturday, 
Aug. 3. 
Event No. i.—Club members only, three- 
ounce lead, 30-foot lane. 
Event No. 2.—Club members only, four- 
ounce lead, 30-foot lane. 
Event No. 3.—Club members only, accuracy. 
Event No. 4.—Open to all, V-shaped court. 
Event No. 5.— Open to all, longest individual 
cast. No lane or court restrictions. 
For the benefit of prospective visiting con¬ 
testants it may be stated that the castmg will 
commence about 8:30 a. m., continuing through¬ 
out the day. The contes ant may cast at any 
time he chooses, simply announcing the number 
of the event in which he wishes the score count¬ 
ed. The lanes and court are laid out on a grass- 
covered plot. An attractive list of prizes is of¬ 
fered in the two open events, the idea being to 
induce some of our friends and neighbors to 
come along and beat us so that we may preserve 
our modesty and humility. The full program 
will be sent as soon as printed. Switch Reel. 
Fishing in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
Some splendid sport is now being enjoyed by 
anglers in fish and game district number three, 
which embraces most of the Sierra Mountain 
district in Northern California, the season hav¬ 
ing opened there on May i. The streams are all 
extremely low for this season of the year, and 
even at this early date fly-fishing in some sec¬ 
tions is being successfully carried on. Usually 
most of the fishing done during the months of 
May and June is on the smaller streams, but 
ever since the opening of the season good sport 
has been had this year' on such large streams as 
the Klamath River and North Middle Feather- 
Rivers. On the latter stream s*me exceptionally 
fine catches of large fish have been made. While 
fishing near Cromberg recently J. W. Knight, of 
Quincy, landed a six-pound rainbow, the largest 
taken in those waters in several seasons. In the 
small streams around Cromberg limit catches are 
made without difficulty. 
In the Lake Tahoe district the season opened 
June I ; that is, on the California side of the 
lake. Large fish are sometimes secured here, 
and for these the regulation lake rig is a short 
heavy rod and heavy reel with a copper cable 
for a line. Brass spoons with baited hook or a 
spinner forms the ordinary lure. EfTorts are 
being made to secure uniform fishing laws along 
the boundary line between California and 
Nevada, and these would be of special advan¬ 
tage in Lake Tahoe through which the line runs. 
One of the largest sturgeon that has been 
landed in this State in several seasons was taken 
1 y Rich Dietz, a salmon fisherman, in his nets 
near Corning, recently. The fish measured ten 
feet three inches in length and weighed 712F2 
pounds. 
A phenomenal run of quinnat salmon was 
experienced on Monterey Bay on May 12, and 
during the day anglers caught between 650 and 
700 fish, ranging in size from three to twelve 
pounds. The run continued for about a week. 
C. J. Sadlier, of Reno, Nev., and W. D. Bur¬ 
lingame and R. B. Murdoch, of San Francisco, 
landed the best boat, having fifty-eight fish to 
their credit. These were all taken with rod and 
line, the torpedo sinker equipment being used. 
Many used only handlines. Old-time anglers 
state that such a run of salmon at this time of 
the year is a very rare occurrence. 
d'he fish distributing car of the California 
Fish and Game Commission is now out of the 
repair shop and is in use again. A trip will 
be made soon with a large quantity of fry into 
the Feather River country over the lines of the 
Western Pacific railroad. This section was 
visited by thousands .of anglers last year, and 
many streams will be stocked this season for the 
first time. 
W. C. Whiting, of San Francisco, will 
doubtless be less confiding in the future when 
he chances to meet strangers while on a fish¬ 
ing trip, especially under circumstances similar 
to those in which he recently found himself. 
While whipping Austin Creek, near Cazadero, 
recently he met Deputy Henry Lencioni and 
confided, not knowing to whom he was speak¬ 
ing, that he was having splendid luck, having 
landed ninety-one trout. The deputy promptly 
placed him under arrest and took him before 
Judge Trosper at Cazadero, where Whiting ex¬ 
plained that some of the fish belonged to a 
friend. However, as that constituted an offense, 
the fish were seized and the angler was released 
on his own recognizance. 
The report of the California Fish and Game 
Commission for the month of April indicates 
that violations of the law are being closely fol¬ 
lowed up. During this month there were forty- 
seven arrests made for violations of the fishing 
laws, forty of these being in the San Francisco 
district. Fourteen arrests were made for break¬ 
ing the game laws' and nine for fishing and hunt¬ 
ing without licenses. During the month a num¬ 
ber of cases were tried in the courts and fifty 
convictions were secured with but two acquittals 
and nine dismissals. Fines aggregating $1,301 
were imposed as well as jail sentences, aggre¬ 
gating twenty-one days. The seizures for the 
month included 246 crabs, iSgyi pounds of 
striped bass, ten pounds of catfish and 3,500 
pounds of miscellaneous, the latter from the 
Los Angeles district. There were also thirteen 
set nets and forty-one deer hides confiscated. 
During the month forty-eight mounta.n lion 
skins were brought in, and the bounty claimed, 
Del Norte county sending in the greatest num¬ 
ber. The financial report for the month shows 
that during this time the disbursements amount¬ 
ed to $17,61901. 
Opening Day in Ye Olden Time. 
BY THEODORE GORDON. 
Years ago the opening of the trout season was 
looked forward to most eagerly by men who 
spent the first day or two in the Big Spring in 
Pennsylvania. There was usually quite a gather¬ 
ing of anglers from all parts of the country. 
The law was well observed and for a few days 
the trout were easy. 'J'hey soon acquired a little 
education on that slow-flowing water. I had a 
very good tune on the occasion of my last visit 
many years ago, although the weather was far 
from balmy. The rains descended during part 
of the night and we feared that it would be no 
good in the morning. However, we had a jolly 
evening in the travelers’ room of the hotel. 
Everyone smoked and told fish stories. There 
were two beautiful sportsmen from New York. 
Such nice velvet suits we had never seen before, 
and they w'ere good looking chaps, too. After 
listening to the fish stories of large trout and 
full baskets for an hour or two, they got in¬ 
terested and, going upstairs brought dowm their 
rods and tackle. Putting the rods together, at¬ 
taching the reels, running the lines through the 
rings and lastly putting in the leaders with their 
flies in each, they hung up the rods on the nails 
prepared for them and went to bed. 
At a late hour we all followed suit, but after 
he had gone to bed, those prepared rods and flies 
began to trouble Jim M. Fie always was a devil, 
and remembering that he had a small pair of 
pincers in his kit he stole downstairs and pro¬ 
ceeded to improve the flies by breaking off the 
barbs of each hook. The morning dawned cold 
and raw and by the time we had breakfast it 
was snowing. However, we all started up stream 
in a body and were encouraged when we saw 
good fish rising in the first dam below the road. 
'VVading in only ten or twenty yards apart, we 
began casting our flies and soon everyone was 
busy. The trout rose freely and everybody was 
killing trout, except the tw'o dead game sports 
from New York. They had as many rises as 
the other anglers, but strange to say could not 
land a fish. The trout played about for a few 
seconds and then got away. Occasionally one 
would be brought almost to the net. 
At last one of the New York men had occas¬ 
ion to look his flies over. Fie was a fine looking 
gentle-appearing man, yet his language was hor¬ 
rible. He was really profane when he inquired 
in vociferous tones who had been meddling with 
his cast and flies. However, it was a great day 
and all the anglers got trout. One boy caught 
three strings and sold them for five dollars 
apiece. 
P. S.—The total catch that day. April i, for 
native and visiting anglers was 3.800 trout, and 
for years it ran over 3 000 for the first day of 
the season. Of course the number of fishermen 
was very large. 
