298 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 23, 1907. 
An American Entomology. 
Annapolis Royal, N. S., Feb. 11 .—Editor 
and Stream: I have a proposition to make to 
the serious anglers of this continent, particu¬ 
larly those who see in fly-fishing the highest 
phase of the art. It is this: For each angler 
to do something during the coming Season to¬ 
ward the preparation and eventual publication 
of an angling entomology. 
This appeal to my fellow-fishermen is the re¬ 
sult of my own ignorance and totally ineffectual 
efforts to remove it. After graduating from 
worm to fly at an early age in New England, I 
learned, not a great while ago, the delights. of 
dry fly-fishing in England, its mysteries being 
easily comprehended by means of the many 
books and papers on the natural insects of the 
streams, culminating in Halford's monumental 
“Dry Fly Entomology,” a superbly illustrated 
work in which all the known ephemeridse and 
diptera of the English rivers, and also the arti¬ 
ficial flies tied in imitation of them, male -and 
female, are faithfully depicted. Returning across 
the sea I proceeded to spend parts of two sum¬ 
mers in experimenting with dry fly methods in 
this province. The first necessity was, of 
course, the flies. I called on two of the best 
dealers in New York, two in Boston, and wrote 
to several others. “Oh, yes,” was the com¬ 
mon answer, “we have exact imitation flies,” 
and they proceeded to place before me a col¬ 
lection of English dry flies! 
Then they tried me with “gauze-wing” flies, 
“fluttering” flies, and what not, but, with the 
exception of India rubber insects and a caddis 
or stone fly. no answer was vouchsafed to my 
question, “What insect is this or that fly made 
to represent?” Like Faust, I searched and 
searched, not only in shops, but in American 
angling literature, but all in vain, for the result 
was like this: nichts! I therefore came to the 
natural conclusion that there was no American 
angling entomology, either in word or prac¬ 
tice, and I thereupon hied me to the waters of 
Nova Scotia and selected from my English 
stock such specimens as most resembled the 
flies I found the trout feeding upon. Now, the 
results of my New World dry fly-fishing have, 
as a matter of record, been quite unsatisfactory, 
not to say utterly abortive; but to draw any 
definite adverse conclusions in regard to the use 
of the dry fly from these experiments would 
be wrong, if for no other reason than that my 
flies were imitations, not of Nova Scotian, but 
of English ephemera. Furthermore, our far 
northern waters, where fontinalis likes a lively 
bug and is partial to bright colors, are not the 
best territory for such an experiment, which 
might better be tried in Pennsylvania or Con¬ 
necticut. 
Now, I may overstate the case when I opine 
that no amateur has ever seriously tried to lure 
the brook trout with flies tied in the exact 
semblance and size of the ephemera upon which 
they actually fee<4; secondly, that not one angler 
ill fifty even takes the trouble to note what 
flies are on the water, but proceeds to run the 
gamut of his fly-book until he has found a 
killer; and, thirdly, that not one in two hundred 
can tell one natural fly from another after he 
has it between his fingers! 
This is another way of saying that American 
fishermen care nothing at all for entomology; 
in fact, I have heard many of them say that, our 
trout being uneducated, such niceties are quite 
unnecessary. May be so, but until an American 
Halford appears to give 11s some American 
“niceties,” it has certainly not been proved. 
Many . of us strongly suspect the contrary. 
There is. however, rio need to waste more words 
along this line. The men to whom I appeal 
will understand, and I hope appreciate, what I 
am driving at. 
The question arises, How shall we go to 
work practically? The great angling republic 
of the United States and Canada is a vast 
country, and the preparation of an authoritative 
entomology must necessarily be the work of 
years, but all the more should we be up and 
at it. My idea is somewhat as follows: Let 
every interested angler provide himself with a 
magnifying glass, a few pins, a tiny bottle of 
chloroform and a few small boxes, those es¬ 
pecially made for collectors being best. Let 
him capture, kill and bring back as many speci¬ 
mens as his time and enthusiasm will permit of 
the insects which he sees the trout to be actu- 
-ally feeding upon. But this is not enough; he 
must number his specimens and prepare (on 
the spot at the time of capture) a careful de¬ 
scription of each, being very particular about 
color. Those who care to take any extra 
trouble can take along a small box of water 
colors and note with the description the exact 
shade of color of wings, etc. Each specimen 
should be marked with the date, country, county 
and water, as well as the time of day captured. 
Boxes of specimens, together with descriptive 
lists, each properly marked so as to avoid con¬ 
fusion, should then be handed in to some suit¬ 
able and interested person, say the editor of 
Forest and Stream, who shall act as a curator 
of the collection, publishing the results from 
time to time, with suggestions as to what seems 
most to be needed in any given direction. In 
due time the first edition of an “American 
Angling Entomology” can be brought out, and 
meanwhile a stimulus will be given to such men 
as John Harrington Keene and other profes¬ 
sional and amateur fly-tyers to produce a series 
of flies that should exactly imitate the insects 
fed upon by fontinalis and other American game 
fish. 
Mr. Keene invented the scale-wing fly and, I 
understand, manufactured a great number, but 
one hears little of them nowadays. I do not 
know whether they were imitations of any par¬ 
ticular insects known to science, but suppose 
they were. 
It will be necessary to have the specimens 
examined and named ’by competent entomolo¬ 
gists, and individual collectors can greatly assist 
the work by submitting their own insects to 
good authorities and having them correctly 
named. 
Undoubtedly there are very many American 
anglers who have for years been in the habit 
of observing the real insects on trout waters, 
and quite likely some of them may already have 
formed collections or at least made and kept 
notes of their observations that must prove of 
great value. It would be interesting and in¬ 
structive to hear the opinions of these gentle¬ 
men. 
It might not be a bad idea to form a loosely 
coherent, unorganized association of angling 
entomologists. I should be happy, for one, to 
contribute an annual membership fee to furnish 
the sinews of war, for instance, to provide a 
suitable cabinet in which to store the collec¬ 
tions, etc. Edward Breck. 
A Walton Relic. 
The Field reminded us that Dec. 15 was the 
223d anniversary of the death of Izaalc Walton, 
“who ended his days on the fifteenth day of 
December, 1683, in the great frost, at Winchester, 
in the house of Dr. William Hawkins.” A small 
lava tankard, said to have belonged to the father 
of anglers, was sold at Christie’s on Thursday 
(Dec. 13), for £44.—Fishing Gazette, London. 
Tournament Casting.—I. 
The Proper Equipment. 
Within the last few years the growth of 
popular interest in this most fascinating sport 
has been truly phenomenal. Numerous clubs 
have been formed throughout the country for 
the purpose of holding casting tournaments and 
to promote the sport. The more prominent of 
these clubs have in turn been banded together 
and form a central body, known as the National 
Association of Scientific Angling Clubs, whose 
aim is to perfect rules and conditions govern¬ 
ing the various clubs and uniform regulations 
for conducting tournaments. 
These tournaments, in former years, were 
gatherings of a few enthusiasts, their friends 
and the usual number of “cranks” who could 
not cast themselves but knew all about how 
it should be done. Nowadays they are events 
of great importance to the whole angling fra¬ 
ternity, looked forward to and prepared for 
many months in advance. The attendance is 
large and varied and one sees all manner of 
men—and women, too— among the enthusiastic 
and interested spectators. The fishing tackle 
makers and dealers are also much in evidence, 
and their keenly interested representatives may 
be seen at every meet, making friends among 
the novices by timely and useful advice, good- 
naturedly chaffing and “knocking” each other 
and always ready to help along the proverbially 
overworked committee. 
The steadily growing interest in the sport 
among all anglers, and the constantly increas¬ 
ing number of inquiries from all over the coun¬ 
try, has led me to give this short treatise on 
the more popular forms of tournament casting 
in vogue to-day, through the medium of Forest 
and Stream, one of the stanchest friends of the 
sport. 
Tournament Fly-Rods. 
Naturally, the first thing for the beginner is 
a proper equipment, and let me say right here 
that this is no place to save money by getting 
any of the “just as good” kinds. This is es¬ 
pecially true of the rod, and my most earnest 
advice is to get the best rod you can buy. The 
average angler has no idea and, indeed, but few 
tournament casters stop to consider the really 
terrific strain the rod is called upon to bear 
in this game. Not only are the lines used by 
expert casters much heavier than those usually 
employed in fishing, but, by repeatedly ex¬ 
tending and retrieving the line to the utmost of 
your ability, you are constantly forcing the 
rod to its last fiber of strength from tip-top to 
butt-cap. Few rods will endure this kind of 
work for any great length of time, and it is 
the “exceptions” which ^vill stand the racket and 
still preserve their “life” after a few seasons’ 
steady use. 
Thus one can readily understand that this is 
pre-eminently a case of where the best is none 
too good, while the failure of the “just as good” 
kinds is a foregone conclusion. 
It goes without saying that your rod will be 
of six-strip split bamboo, for practically nothing 
else is used to-day for this purpose. In most 
tournaments it is usual to divide the fly-casting 
into classes for four-ounce, five-ounce and 
“unlimited” rods. In the first two classes the 
rods must not weigh more than four or, five 
ounces respectively, although it is usual to make 
an allowance of three-quarters of an ounce for 
all rods having solid metal reel-seats. This is 
done to prevent casters from employing rods 
having light wooden reel-seats (or none at all), 
to the great disadvantage of those whose rods 
were equipped with the heavy metal reel-seats. 
