March i 6, 1907 .] 
it drop, which is the proceeding when delicacy 
counts, but to roll out the line so that the fly 
lands right slap on the target. With a heavy 
line, short leader and large fly you should, after 
a little practice, be able to send your line out 
straight—barring wind—and land your fly 
squarely on the target. 
As soon as you have measured or calculated 
the distance of the target to be cast at and 
marked the distance by grasping the slack line 
at the right point, recover your line smoothly 
and without jerking. Let the rod go well back 
behind you but keep the elbow low and do the 
work with the wrist and fore-arm. Drop the 
tip of the rod a little lower behind you than 
usual in order to get the loop in the line. As 
the back cast is started, pull in about two feet 
of slack with the left hand and hold it. Draw 
with the eye an imaginary vertical line up from 
the center of the target and on the forward cast 
bring the rod straight down this line. Cast 
low and at the finish of the cast hold the rod 
steady and pointed straight at the target. Just 
before the cast is fully extended let the left hand 
go forward with the line to the proper mark, 
but do not release the line. This is done so 
that the line will straighten out without any 
jerk, as it would if the distance were fully cast 
without the line being eased from behind. When 
you recover, reach out well with the rod and 
pull in the slack again, always holding the line 
at the same place. Of course, this is neither a 
pretty nor delicate cast, as the heavy line turns 
the fly over with a spat, but it is accuracy we 
are after and by this method a caster with a 
true eye and steady hand can stand and whack 
the target in the center cast after cast. 
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Obstacle Fly-Casting. 
These events, as the name implies, are those 
in which the caster has various obstacles op¬ 
posed to him which effectually prevent a free 
and natural cast being made. The idea is, of 
course, to simulate as far as possible some of 
the difficult and trying situations in which the 
angler often finds himself when fishing, such as 
casting beneath a tree trunk leaning across the 
stream, under an overhanging bush or between 
two rocks, snags, etc. It is intensely interest¬ 
ing work and calls for great delicacy and pre¬ 
cision in the handling of the rod and an ex¬ 
treme nicety of calculation. As in the events 
for accuracy, the conditions governing obstacle 
casting differ at the various tournaments, there 
being no list of standard events. Probably the 
three most popular and interesting forms of 
obstacle casting are casting for accuracy at a 
target fixed beneath an overhanging bush, for 
accuracy at a target placed behind a cross-bar 
which is raised four feet above the water and 
for distance beneath a cross-bar 30 feet away 
anl six feet above the water. For the first two 
events the proper tackle will be the same as 
described for accuracy casting, and the rolling 
loop is what does the business par excellence. 
First measure the distance as closely as possi¬ 
ble in the preparatory casts, marking the dist¬ 
ance by catching the slack line in the left hand 
as in accuracy casting. If you are allowed to 
do so by all means kneel on the platform and 
handle your rod as low as you can without 
making the movement awkward and unsteady. 
In all*accuracy events use no more force in 
the cast than is necessary to fully extend the 
line, depending almost entirely upon the wrist— 
too much force will cause the line to kick and 
jerk the fly back in spite of the easing away 
of the slack line. When you are ready to cast 
remember that the same rule holds good here 
about drawing an imaginary line straight up 
from the target and bringing the rod down this 
line on the forward cast. 
When casting at the target under the four- 
foot bar, go easy and don’t hit the bar—keep 
you cast low and it will roll -under smoothly and 
straight on the target. In casting for distance 
under the six-foot bar, use a fairly pliable rod 
of about 6 ounces weight and from 9 to g l / 2 
feet long. The best line for this cast should be 
moderately light and have a long taper. Use a 
moderate length leader, from 6 to 9 feet, and 
put on a small fly. Kneel on the platform if 
permitted and have your line arranged as for 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
fly casting—ready to shoot. Extend the line to 
the bar and, when ready to cast under it, let 
the rod go further behind on the back cast than 
in any other style of casting—say at an angle 
of about 60 degrees from the vertical. When 
you start the forward cast, begin the movement 
by pulling the handle of the rod forward, with¬ 
out starting the rod upward, until the forearm 
is about vertical. Then finish the cast by a 
sharp forward drive of the forearm and wrist. 
In order to get a long cast beneath the bar the 
idea is, of course, to simulate as near as possi¬ 
ble the low-rolling loop of the switch-cast, and 
by allowing the rod to go so far back, and the 
application of the peculiar forward cast, you 
obtain a loop which will imitate the action of 
the switch to a remarkable degree. It is the 
trickiest cast I know of and, to one who does 
not understand and has not seen it done, the 
distances attained by those “in the know” seem 
impossible. 
Selection of the Equipment. 
Don’t go about this hurriedly and don’t 
jump to the conclusion that because So-and-So 
uses this or that rod, reel, etc., that it must 
be the best. Tournament casting is truly a case 
of “many men of many minds” and that which 
may be the proper rig for one may be entirely 
unsuited to another, to say nothing of the dif¬ 
ferent equipment necessary for and peculiar to 
different styles of casting. Lou S. Darling. 
Pennsylvania Shipping Fish. 
In his quarterly report to the Pennsylvania 
Fish Commissioners last week, Commissioner 
Meehan announced trouble among the young 
trout of the different hatcheries by which there 
has already been heavy losses. The trout in all 
the hatcheries but one have contracted the 
disease known as “sore throat.” It is common 
among lqke trout at certain times, but it has 
been many years since it has attacked the young 
trout in the State hatcheries. At the Corry 
hatchery nearly a million and a half have died 
within the last two weeks. At the Spruce Creek 
hatchery nearly one-third of the entire stock 
is gone, and it has broken out at the Belle- 
fonte hatchery. It has not appeared at the 
Wayne hatchery, but the superintendent is ex¬ 
pecting it daily, as the young fish are showing 
signs of uneasiness, a symptom which often 
precedes sore throat. 
The present disease differs from the ordinary 
sore throat which attacks young fish in that 
the little spot which appears on the throat of 
the fish is of a yellowish instead of a deep red 
color. The cause of the disease is unknown, 
but it is probably due to snow water getting 
into the spring water in unusual quantities and 
thus reducing the quantity of oxygen. This 
has a tendency to weaken the small fish when 
they are crowded in the troughs and renders 
them liable to disease; in fact, anything which 
will weaken the little fish will do this. The 
commissioner states in his report that if the 
fish could be gotten into the streams at once 
the trouble would probably disappear, and he 
has therefore given orders to the superintend¬ 
ents to ship immediately to the applicants. It 
will be a little rough on many of the applicants 
in the mountain streams to receive their fish 
at this time, but it is necessary to accept them 
now or not have any, because if the fish re¬ 
main in the troughs very much longer they will 
all die. 
Price of Gut Again Advanced. 
An authority on silkworm gut has made the 
following statement regarding this year’s visible 
supply in the Fishing Gazette: 
“The old-fashioned extra thick salmon gut is 
almost non est this year, but to make up for this 
shortage what is known as the ‘medium’ and 
‘stout’ is of specially good quality. It has been 
found necessary also to advance all the other 
grades owing partly to short supplies and partly 
to the alteration in the rate of exchange with 
Spain. It is gratifying, however, to be able to 
supply as good quality gut as formerly, or even 
better.” 
4.2! 
Angling Legislation in the Transvaal. 
His Excellency the Acting Lieutenant-Gov¬ 
ernor of the Transvaal, says The Field, has 
made the following regulations, under the 
powers vested in him by Section 4 of the Trans¬ 
vaal Fish Preservation Ordinance, 1906, and it 
may be mentioned that these netting regula¬ 
tions apply to native fish (it being legal to catch 
trout, where such fishing is sanctioned, only 
with the artificial fly): 
“1. No person shall take any fish by means 
of any drag, cast, stake or other net unless he 
shall have obtained a license under Regulation 
III. hereof, provided that nothing in this regu¬ 
lation shall apply to the use of a small net, 
known as a ‘landing net,’ for the bringing to 
land of a fish caught with a rod or line. 
“2. No person shall take any fish by means 
of any drag, cast, stake or any other net under 
any license issued in accordance with these 
regulations, except during the period commenc¬ 
ing jan. 15 and ending Sept. 15 in each year, 
both days inclusive. 
“3. Licenses to take any fish by means of any 
drag, cast, stake or any other net shall be 
issued by the resident magistrate of the district 
in which such fish are to be taken. 
“4. For every such license a fee of five shil¬ 
lings shall be paid. 
“5. Every such license shall expire on Sept. 
15 next succeeding the date of its issue. 
“6. No license shall be issued under these 
regulations for any net, the mesh of which is 
less than 2 inches, measured from knot to op¬ 
posite knot. 
“7. For the purpose of these regulations the 
words ‘resident magistrate’ shall include an 
assistant resident magistrate and a resident 
justice of the peace, and the word ‘district,’ as 
well as magisterial district, shall mean any area 
under the jurisdiction of an assistant resident 
magistrate or resident justice o'f the peace.” 
Tarpon at Miami. 
Miami, Fla., March 10.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Tarpon fishing is attracting the atten¬ 
tion of all the salt water anglers now sojourn¬ 
ing here. The first catch was made late in Feb¬ 
ruary by Philip Bylaskas, weight 140 pounds, and 
this caused all hands to stop jewfishing and turn 
their attention to livelier game. Vincent B. Hub- 
bell, of New 1 York, caught a tarpon measuring 
6 feet 6p2 inches, weight 150 pounds, and on 
the same day Gen. A. B. Shattuck, of Cincinnati, 
brought in one that was but two pounds lighter. 
Mr. Hubbell caught three tarpon in three days 
early in March, and J. Keis and W. R. Comfort, 
of New York, captured two on the same day. In 
all more than a score of the big fish have been 
taken so far during March, and a couple of big 
jewfish were caught by anglers searching off 
shore for the silver kings for which all were 
waiting. W. R. 
A Large Salmon. 
The net fishermen in the employment of the 
proprietors of the great Lax Weir, at Corbally, 
Limerick, while engaged fishing off Island Point, 
south of the Weir, on .Friday night, Feb. 15, 
caught a magnificent spring salmon. The fish 
when scaled was found to weigh 52j/2 pounds, 
and was in splendid condition. It was forwarded 
for the London market by the evening train for 
Dublin from Limerick on Saturday evening.— 
Irish Times. 
Mr. Darling’s Book. 
We understand that Mr. Lou S. Darling pur¬ 
poses to publish in a book of convenient pocket 
size the instructions on tournament casting com¬ 
pleted in this issue of Forest and Stream, with 
the addition of illustrations and other timely 
matter. It should be well received by anglers. 
St. Johns, Newfoundland, Feb. 23.—For over thirty 
years I have never been without your paper. Forest 
ans) Stream has really become a necessity.—R. A. 
Brehm. 
