86 o 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June i, 1907. 
salt water rod which- he presented to the club 
through Milton H. Smith, its vice-president, to 
be competed for in some future club event, the 
final owner to win it at least twice. 
This rod is remarkable. It is about 7 feet in 
length and weighs about 24 ounces. It consists 
of a tip and a butt of the form usual to rods of 
this class. The tip, however, is made of sixteen 
strips of split bamboo. Each strip, instead of 
being of the usual triangular form with the 
enamel of the cane on the outside, is cut in the 
form of a long wedge, with the enamel on one 
side, so that all of the enamel is inside the rod, 
and the surface, after the planing and smoothing 
was left perfectly round and even, like a wood 
rod. It was wound, fitted with agate guides and 
top, and varnished. The butt was made from 
sixteen strips of white and sixteen strips of red 
cedar alternately. It was then fitted with Ger¬ 
man silver reel seat, butt cap and ferrule to take 
the doweled ferrule on the butt of the tip. It 
was made by Mr. Cushier a good many years 
ago, but is now in good condition save that it 
needs varnishing. It was turned over to one of 
the rodmakers who will polish the fittings, renew 
windings and varnish it. 
The conditions under which it will be con¬ 
tested for will probably be arranged at the next 
meeting of the club, on June 4, at which time 
several club contests will be arranged, to be held 
fortnightly throughout the warm season. 
Mr. F. A. Niccolls, of Boston, who attended 
the tournament in company with his son, made 
a host of friends among the New York anglers. 
The Boston anglers who have been trying to ob¬ 
tain permission to hold club contests on the frog 
pond on Boston Common believe the privilege 
will be accorded them, and after they have begun 
to practice Mr. Niccolls suggests holding inter¬ 
club contests, one in New York, another in Bos¬ 
ton, etc. The idea is a good one and should 
be carried out. F. A. Niccolls, Jr., who is only 
sixteen years of age, picked up a lot of infor¬ 
mation along with the experience he gained in 
his first tournament work, and when he comes 
to New York again will undoubtedly give a good 
account of himself in all styles of casting. His 
94 feet in the open-to-all fly-casting event was 
far and away more creditable than his score of 
97 feet at the Boston Sportsmen’s Show, for in 
that affair contestants stood on a platform some 
forty-two inches above the water, and the line on 
the back cast fell on a floor covered with paper, 
whereas on the Mere he stood on a platform 
exactly eighteen inches above the water (we 
measured it carefully) and a strong cross wind 
interfered with the line and leader. 
The fact that Harlem Mere is full of golden 
carp, and that these fish were to be seen in large 
numbers all about the casting platforms and near 
the shore where the thousand of spectators stood 
or sat gave rise to a great deal of incredulity 
among the East-siders attracted there. These 
good people could not understand why so many 
fishermen tried so hard for three days, but could 
not land any fish. It was useless to tell them the 
men were not fishing, for could they not see 
with their own eyes that they were? 
In the fly-casting events all rods were split 
bamboo. In the unlimited events the rods were 
mostly 11 feet long and weighed 9ounces. 
Messrs. Ehrich, LaBranche and Frazer had rods 
about 11 feet 3 inches long, the two latter 
weighted in the butt to bring the total up to 14 
ounces. Other rods were slightly shorter, the 
weights ranging from 7 to 8 ounces. Lines were 
double tapered, size C, and two B salmon lines 
were used. This is an extremely heavy line to 
lift, however, as was evident on the first day, 
during the rain. Several lines were treated with 
deer fat and graphite, which, while exceedingly 
unclean, is claimed to be an advantage in shoot¬ 
ing the line. This graphite accounted for much 
soiled linen during the tournament and the prac¬ 
tice preceding it, for if one happened to be stand¬ 
ing near a fly-caster, a fluky wind often coiled 
the line around his neck, smearing his face and 
collar with graphite and water. Leaders were 
made up of three feet of heavy salmon gut, three 
of bass gut and three to six feet of trout gut, 
thus making a tapered leader to finish out a 
tapered line. 
In the half-ounce bait-casting events all rods 
used were split bamboo, the lengths ranging from 
5 feet 2 inches to 5)4 feet, with one or two of 
6 or 6 l / 2 feet. Five to six ounces were the 
weights. Nearly all were fitted with two narrow 
agate guides and ap agate offset top; some had 
three guides. The caliber of these ranged from 
5/16 to> inch, while R. C. Leonard’s guides 
were much smaller. Reels were all treble or 
quadruple multipliers, the latter predominating. 
German silver was the material, with no prefer¬ 
ence as to makes. Reuben Leonard used a reel 
which he had made himself. It was small in 
diameter and had a rather short spool, quite un¬ 
like the average reel recommended for tourna¬ 
ment casting, which it is generally conceded 
should have a long but thin ‘spool. Mr. Leonard, 
through constant practice, apparently, seldom or 
never spoils his average by that bane of all bait- 
casters, a backlash, caused by the line overrun¬ 
ning. 
Lines were the smallest obtainable, with little 
preference as to makes, but all were of the square 
soft braid. All were used with six or eight foot 
From left to right the second and third in the first row 
are F. A. Niccolls, Jr. and Sr., of Boston; fifth and 
sixth, R. C. Leonard and Hiram Hawes. 
traces of F or G braided silk next the weight. 
In the surf-casting event the rods were of all 
kinds. Greenheart tips were common, several 
were split bamboo, a few of lancewood or 
dagama, and there were a few of green washaba. 
One of the latter was wound solidly with black 
silk throughout its length. Two of the green- 
heart tips were smashed in casting. 
New England Angling and Anglers. 
Boston, May 25.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Grand Lake, Maine, seems to be the star attrac¬ 
tion for Massachusetts anglers. Reports of fine 
fishing at this lake are reaching Boston almost 
daily. Col. C. A. Hopkins, of Brookline, and 
others who have returned with stories of the 
best kind of sport, have created enthusiasm 
enough to send down a few score of anglers. 
The Grand Lake fishing waters are big enough 
to provide good sport for all if they would only 
scatter about. Every man, however, desires to 
try the stream when the fishing opens June 1, and 
the first few days of the month the three miles 
more or less of good fishing is overcrowded, a 
condition which is not very agreeable to those 
who find the solitude of the forest one of the 
chief attractions of angling. For something like 
fifteen years it is doubtful if Mr. Louis Har- 
burger, of Boston, has missed a season at Grand 
Lake. Many men like to change about, going to 
a different place each season, but Mr. Harburger 
is so well acquainted with this region and has 
had such excellent results that he remains con¬ 
stant in his regard. Accompanied by Mrs. Har¬ 
burger he leaves on May 27 for a two or three 
weeks’ stay. Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Wheeler, of 
Hyde Park, Mass., leave on May 29 for a two 
weeks’ trip to Grand Lake. Mr. Wheeler is 
extremely fond of stream fishing. 
Mr. C. C. Mitchell, of Boston, left on May 21 
for a ten days’ trip to the same waters. He will 
spend most of his time in trolling, but hopes to 
land a few salmon with the fly. Mr. H. S. 
Potter, of Boston, will make his initial visit to 
the same waters and devote a week to trolling 
for salmon and lake trout. 
Boston is indebted to Dr. J. C. French, of Bur¬ 
lington, Vt., for a flying visit during the last 
week. Those who know the doctor are aware 
that he never stops very long in the haunts of 
men, but is always on the move seeking virgin 
land or'water for his gun and rod. He has just 
returned from the south and is now going to try 
the fishing at Square Lake in northern Maine. 
In Mrs. French the doctor has a companion who 
likes fishing as well as he does and it takes 
heavy weather indeed to keep them off the water 
when the trout or salmon are taking the bait or 
fly. 
Mr. H. J. Frost, of New York city, and Ins 
friend Mr. Walter Raymond, of Brooklyn, passed 
through Boston a few days ago on their return 
from Nova Scotia. They have been trout fish¬ 
ing for two weeks in the Caledonia region and 
declared themselves well satisfied with results. 
Mr. Walter Hill and Mr. Harry Dutton, of 
Boston, are both members of the Oxford Club, a 
rather exclusive organization of anglers with 
special fishing privileges at B Pond, Maine. 
This pond is known for its superior fishing. The 
trout are large and take the fly greedily. Messrs. 
Hill and Dutton will be away' several weeks. 
Both are industrious fishermen and they will 
cover many of the other lakes of the surround¬ 
ing territory including C Pond, where Mr. Hill 
has had a small cabin built for his two boys, both 
of whom made excellent scores in the casting 
events at the Boston Show. 
A brook trout io l /2 inches long, taken from the 
water near Newburyport, Mass., by a young son 
of G. W. Brown, gave its captor quite a sur¬ 
prise when he started to prepare the fish for 
the table. Curled up in the stomach of the trout 
was a snake of the “brown adder” type which 
w T hen stretched out measured more inches than 
the fish. The process of swallowing his snake- 
ship would surely have been an interesting sight. 
Mr. F. W. Mathews, of Boston, left a few 
days ago for a week’s trip to Portage Lake, a 
part of the Fish and Square Lake system in 
northern Maine. As the early fishing in all these 
lakes is excellent, Mr. Mathews feels sure of a 
successful trip. Mr. Huntington Lee, of Pitts¬ 
field, passed through Boston on May 24 bound 
for Pierce Pond, Maine. He will be away two 
weeks and started off rather discouraged over 
his inability to find a guide. He will also fish 
Rowe and the Otter ponds and will pay con¬ 
siderable attention to stream fishing, of which 
there is an abundance in the region he will visit. 
Mr. George W. Schaefer, of Somerville, has 
just returned from a few days’ fishing at Sebec 
Lake, Maine. Out of twenty-seven fish hooked 
he landed twenty-five, twenty-one salmon and 
four trout. This is certainly a very good record. 
Anglers who troll for salmon are aware of the 
great number that get away after being hooked. 
It is Mr. Schaefer’s theory that in most cases 
the fish are not given time enough to get the 
bait well into the mouth. The number of fish 
he landed out of the total hooked on the trip 
just finished would make it appear that his ideas 
on the subject are substantially correct. 
Hackle. 
Eustis, Maine, May 16.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The ice left Round Mountain Lake to¬ 
day and the fishing is good. A few warm days 
will improve the fly-fishing. There is finite a 
lot of snow in the thick woods yet and this will 
have to melt away before the stream fishing will 
be much good. The deer seem to be in good 
shape, showing that they wintered well, and par¬ 
tridge are drumming everywhere. If the cold 
rain storms will keep away, there will be some 
excellent shooting next fall. 
Dion O. Blackwell. 
