540 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 6, 1907. 
The Boston Casting Tournament. 
Twenty-four events for fly- and bait-casting 
will be held during the Sportsmen’s Show, in 
Mechanics’ Hall, Boston, Mass., April x-13, in¬ 
clusive. The rules are similar, in the main, to 
those generally followed, but in three of them 
we think the tendency will be to keep anglers 
out who would otherwise enter. 
One limits the length of fly-rods to ten feet, 
which means that the usual tournament fly-rod 
is barred, for an unlimited rod less than ten 
feet long would be a curiosity. Most of these 
tournament fly-rods are 10 l / 2 to 11 feet in 
length, and the general rule is to place the 
limit at nRl feet. In order to handle a heavy 
double-tapered C line a rod must be at least 8)4 
ounces in weight and preferably 9 or even 10 
ounces, and no rod maker would care to risk 
his reputation on a rod less than 10 feet long 
hut weighing as much as 9 ounces. It is true 
that a 6-ounce rod will handle the heaviest 
double tapered line up to its maximum limit for 
distance, but this would of necessity be nearer 
70 feet than 100. With rods of io l / 2 or n feet 
the distances covered are generally 80 to 100 
or more feet. 
Another rule prohibits the knotting, leading or 
weighting of lines. The judges may be lenient 
in this and we do not know their construction 
of the rule, but if a made-up tapered fly-line, 
which is spliced in one, two or three places 
after the usual method, is considered knotted 
and weighted, then very few tournament casters 
can enter. No one who wishes to maintain his 
average would have the temerity to cast with a 
level line in an event open to all. Again, all of 
the very small bait-casting lines are knotted or 
weighted, in one sense. The rule is to attach 
to the free end of the fine line a 6-foot leader 
or trace of raw braided silk as large sometimes 
as E, the sole purpose being to secure the line 
against breakage at the very beginning of the 
cast. Nearly all of these traces are attached to 
the casting line by knotting, it being conceded 
that splicing two soft lines of this character is 
extremely difficult and unsatisfactory. 
Another rule limits the length of salmon rods 
to 15 feet, which is shorter than some of the 
rods used by the few anglers who practice sal¬ 
mon fly-casting at our tournaments. 
We think the judges should remove these 
limitations and invite all anglers to participate 
in the tournament, for, as will be seen in the 
summary of events, there are enough restrictions 
imposed therein. 
The entrance fee of $2 entitles any person to 
take part in all events if he so desires. Prizes 
of a gold, a silver and a bronze medal are 
given in each event. 
A summary of the events follows: 
Event 1, April 1, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance. Any length of trout fly-rod can be used. Novices 
only. 
Event 2, 8 P. M.—Trout flv-casting for distance. Open 
only to those who have never cast more than 60 feet at 
any club or tournament. Amateurs only. 
Event 3, April 2, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance. Open to those who have never cast more than 
70 feet at any club or tournament. Amateurs only. 
Event 4, 8 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for distance. Open 
only to those who have never cast 75 feet at any club 
or tournament. 
Event 5, April 3. 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting from canoe 
for distance. Any weight and length of trout fly-rod 
can be used. Amateurs only. 
Event 6, 8 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for accuracy and 
form rather than distance. Open to "all. 
Event 7, April 4, 3 P. M.—Salmon fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance only. Amateurs only. 
Event 8, 8 P. M.—Trout flv-casting for distance. Open 
to those who have never cast more than 80 feet at any 
club or tournament. Any weight and length of trout 
fly-rod can be used. Amateurs only. 
Event 9, April 5, 3 P. M.—Bait-casting for distance, 
14 ounce weights. Open to those who have never cast 
more than 100 feet. Amateurs only. 
Event 10. 8 P. M.—Trout fly-fishing for accuracy and 
form in landing fish. Ten minutes al’owed for landing 
fish. Barbless hooks. 
I'.vent 11, April 6, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance. Open to boys not over eighteen years of age. 
Event 12, 8 P. M. - Trout fly-casting for distance. Open 
to active and associate members of the N. E. F. F. & 
O- \ssociation. Any weight and length of rod allowable. 
Event 13. April 8, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance. Open only to contestants under twenty-one years 
of age. 
Event 14, 8 1’. M.—Trout fly-casting for distance. Open 
to all. 
I'.vent la, April 9, 3 P. M. Five tests in landing boy 
at the end of line with salmon rod. 
Event 16, 8 P. M.~ -Bait-casting for accuracy; % ounce 
weights, 60, 80, 100 feet. 
Event 17, April 10, 3 P. M.—Handicap trout fly-casting 
for distance. Open to these holding previous records 
in this tournament. 
Event 18, 8 P. M.—Salmon fly-casting for distance. 
Open to all. 
Event 19, April 11, 3 P. M.—Five tests in landing man 
at end of line with salmon rod from anchored canoe. 
Event 20, 8 P. M.—Flv-casting from canoe, for ac¬ 
curacy, form and distance up to 60 feet. Amateurs only. 
Event 21, April 12, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for dis¬ 
tance; any weight and length of fly-rod can be used. 
For guides only. 
Event 22. 8 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for accuracy. Open 
to all. 
Event 23, April 13, 3 P. M.—Trout fly-casting for ac¬ 
curacy and form. Open to contestants under twenty-one 
years of age. 
Event 24, 8 P. M.—Bait-casting for distance, % ounce 
weights. Open to all. 
Followed by exhibition of casting by prize winners. 
Legislative Neglect in Oregon. 
Hood River, Oregon, March 18.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: I inclose copies of two bills that 
the Oregon Fish and Game Association formu¬ 
lated and had introduced in the Senate and the 
House, and that I worked on with the “wise 
men” of both branches, but without success. 
The House treated us more fairly than the 
Senate. In the latter body the committee, with 
three sportsmen out of five members, abso¬ 
lutely refused to entertain my urgent attempt 
to have them even report the bill back to the 
Senate without recommendation, but it was no 
gO', and of course a recommendation “that it do 
not pass” was a death blow there. The House 
committee recommended that “it do pass,” but 
when the measure came up for passage, some of 
the members started to ridicule it to death and 
succeeded. The Speaker (Davey) spoke for 
the bill and told the members that there was no 
valid argument that could be urged against the 
same, but in spite of thirty-eight promises that I 
had secured for the bill, it received but nineteen 
favorable votes and was killed. 
That there is urgent need of something being 
done in the matter of restocking our streams 
there is no doubt, for the simple reason that if 
the present method is continued there will very 
shortly be no fish to be taken out of them. This 
State has never expended one cent in the way 
of restocking our waters with any sort of fish 
except salmon, and all appropriations that have 
been made have been solely for that use and 
purpose. Several times has our association en¬ 
deavored to secure a small amount from the 
State for restocking, but each time we have been 
refused. Last year we canvassed the member¬ 
ship on this proposition and finding it to be 
the unanimous opinion that something of this 
sort would undoubtedly receive the attention 
that it deserved, and was what the anglers of 
the State wanted and were willing to pay for, 
our committee on laws (and myself) drafted 
these two bills and after submitting them to the 
members at our annual meeting in January last, 
I was appointed to go up to the Legislature 
and urge their enactment. The facts I used as an 
argument were that the only trout or other 
game fish fry or eggs that have come into the 
State within the past eight years have been 
given by the United States Government and 
upon application of the members of this as¬ 
sociation, and all such fry have been distributed 
by them at their own expense; the total of such 
fry is about i,800.000, and with the great num¬ 
ber of anglers that whip our streams each year, 
it can only be a very short time before there 
will not be any fish to take. 
This State is the only one where trout abound 
that has no hatchery or means for propagation 
of game fishes. On either side of us the States 
have good and sufficient hatcheries, and each 
year release millions of fry. We shall make an¬ 
other try with the Legislature in 1909 and will 
go prepared to get what we want in this direc¬ 
tion. A more extensive system of information 
and education will be undertaken by us. 
W. P. Andrus. 
The Forest and Stream will be glad to be put in com¬ 
munication with all owners, superintendents and man¬ 
agers of boys’ summer camps all over the country. It 
has under consideration a project which it is believed 
will be interesting to and will meet the approval of those 
interested in the instruction and guidance of youth, and 
it desires their assistance in carrying it out. Fuji in¬ 
formation given on request. Address Camp Department. 
Canadian Fish and Fishing. 
Quebec, March 27. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Despite the united efforts of the Hon. Mr. 
Prevost and the North American Fish and Game 
Protective Association, the netting of pike-perch 
in Missisquoi Bay is permitted this spring as 
formerly. This is a great outrage against nature. 
Missisquoi Bay is the spawning place of the pike- 
perch of Lake Champlain. Of the fry of this 
fish the United States Fish Commission has 
planted over 160,000,000 in Lake Champlain in 
one year. If the present netting continues, it 
will be folly for the commission to continue 
planting pike-perch, for in spite of it all the 
supply must ere long become exhausted. Nett¬ 
ing in Vermont waters of Lake Champlain has 
been stopped the last few seasons, on the under¬ 
standing that Canada would stop it, too. Mr. 
Prevost has done everything in his power to stop 
the netting. It is understood that the licenses 
for netting have been issued against his recom¬ 
mendations. The netters put up sufficient money 
to pay lawyers with a big political pull, and won 
out in the battle of opposing influences. The 
only hope of putting an end to this destruction 
of spawning fish, as far as can be seen at pres¬ 
ent, is for the Dominion to close Missisquoi Bay 
against netting. This has been asked over and 
over again by the North American association, 
but politics, here, too, have interfered to prevent 
the good work. Nobody can now blame Ver¬ 
mont if she permits her own people to net pike 
perch in the spawning season as the Canadians 
do. There are said to be only about a dozen 
of these netters, and yet they often catch on 
the Canadian side of the boundary hundreds of 
thousands of pounds of this excellent food fish,! 
exporting it to the United States. People from 
Montreal and elsewhere spend the summer sea 
son at Phillipsburg and elsewhere in the vicinity 
of Missisquoi Bay, largely because of the fish¬ 
ing to be had there, for the pike-perch takes 
both bait and a troll readily, and frequently 
rises to the fly. The netting of the fish has so 
much destroyed the supply, however, that there 
is now scarcely any rod and line fishing at all 
to be had there, and to the great disgust of 
those who formerly profited by the large num¬ 
bers of summer boarders in the place, the num¬ 
ber of these visitors is now rapidly decreasing. 
I am not without hope that some means 0) 
putting an end to this disgraceful business will 
be found by the international commission which 
is to study the whole question of the fisheries 
along the boundary line. In the meantime, ii 
should be the duty of every American citizei 
tO' endeavor to. kill whatever market the Cana 
dian netters have for their catch in the Unitec 
States. 
Massachusetts has taken a correct stand ii 
this matter, Mr. G. M. Richards, of Boston, hav¬ 
ing reported to the North American association 
that a close time for pike-perch had been estab 
fished from Feb. 1 to June 1, and that the trans¬ 
portation of the said fish into the State between 
the dates in question has been forbidden, n< 
matter where they may have been caught. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Fishing in Washington. 
Seattle, Wash., March 15. —Editor Forest ana 
Stream: These are the days when the angle 
in busily engaged inspecting his rods, reels 
fines, leaders and flies, in anticipation of the ex 
hilarating sport he will have April 1. when it i' 
lawful to kill trout, “with hook and fine” in th 
splendid lakes and streams of Washington. 
The season, generally speaking, extends tc 
Nov. 1, giving its devotees seven months t- 
enjoy the sport. Fishermen should remember 
however, that a special law applies to the water 
of Chelan county, one of the most magnificen 
game regions as well as scenic wonderlands c 
the world. It is all right to fish there the firs 
fifteen days of April, but from then on t 
July 1 the bars are up. 
Tt is true that many of the smaller stream 
in the State have been closed by landowners t 
the general public, but with such glorious river 
as the Snokane, in eastern Washington, th 
Skykomish, the SkokomisI allops an 
