>8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 4, 1908. 
for bait. Sunday morning Vincente’s men got 
mostly the new variety, and it may be partly 
for that reason we had so good a catch of fish. 
Some big white sea bass have been taken thus 
far. Barron got one of forty pounds on Three- 
Six, and Sunday night A. L. Beebe, of Port¬ 
land, got his mate, so there is apt to be a tie 
for the honors unless somebody gets a better 
one. Falconi seemed to have most of the bigger 
ones on his boat the other day. 
Quite a number of English sportsmen have 
visited the island this winter. George H. Hodg¬ 
son, of Bradford, England, who is on a trip 
around the world, has been at the island since 
the last of March, fishing nearly every day. 
Commodore Potter took the second degree 
with Three-Six last Monday night after one of 
the most memorable fights with a fish that it 
has ever been my good fortune to witness. The 
fish weighed twenty-four pounds, and was a 
prime vellowtail, fat as a seal and of unusual 
beauty of color and outline. 
This leaves the Three-Six roll of honor with 
seven names in the following order: Dr. Van 
Bergin, 19 pounds; Al. A. Carraher, ig l /2 pounds; 
Tlios. McD. Potter, i 8 j 4 pounds; Second De¬ 
gree, 24 pounds; E. L. Hedderly, 18 pounds; 
Prof. C. F. Holder, 18 pounds; Samuel A. 
Barron, i 8 j 4 pounds. Barron qualified Friday 
last. Lafayette Streeter has caught two of about 
151/2 pounds, and A. C. Brode has landed sev¬ 
eral also, but under the required weight. H. 
St. John Earlscliffe, A. K. Goodwin, Col. Daniel 
M. Burns and a number of others have promised 
to use the tackle this summer also. 
I have just received from Mr. Streeter a card 
of the newly organized St. Petersburg Tarpon 
Club, of St. Petersburg, Florida. The motto 
of the organization, “For a higher standard of 
sport,” taken in conjunction with its rules, 
printed on the reverse of the card, suggests that 
the sport must indeed be in a bad way in Florida 
if the enforcement of a twenty-four thread line 
and a minimum rod length of six feet are elevat¬ 
ing the game. The St. Petersburg gentlemen, 
however, have shown enough nerve to put into 
effect some limitations most of the angling clubs 
would look at askance, however. Witness these: 
“Only thumb brakes shall be used, with no 
mechanical device for that or any other pur¬ 
pose to the unfair disadvantage of the fish.” 
Seems to me that would be a hard rule to en¬ 
force. One might bar agate guides, swivels, 
almost anything under a literal construction of 
that rule. The doubling back of the line at the 
tie is limited to a foot, and the leader wire must 
not exceed five feet in length. That is a wise 
provision. Here on the coast there is nothing 
to prevent a man from fishing with a ten-foot 
leader, which means the boatman could lead the 
fish in to him, but no one wants to take such 
an advantage simply because it would lessen the 
sport, and sport is what we all are after when 
we go fishing. 
Geo. E. Downey, of Aurora, Ind., and W. L. 
Straub, of St. Petersburg, are president and 
secretary of the new tarpon club whose mem¬ 
bership button is a silver tarpon jumping, with 
the name of the club encircling it. This must 
be won by the applicants taking a tarpon on the 
prescribed tackle. A trophy goes to the biggest 
one taken each year. From such beginnings 
light tackle clubs may grow. 
Edwin L. Hedderly. 
Trouting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., June 10. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Believing that among the many 
readers of your instructive journal throughout 
the Eastern States there are a number of the 
devotees of angling who take pleasure in perus¬ 
ing any article descriptive of the virgin fishing 
waters of California, I will give you the result 
of an interview I had with J. B. Kenniff, one 
of the most expert fly-casters of the San Fran¬ 
cisco Fly-Casting Club, who visited the Eel 
River in northern California last fall. 
Leaving Sherwood, the terminal of the North¬ 
western Pacific railroad, Dyerville, 105 miles dis¬ 
tant was reached by stage at twilight the follow¬ 
ing evening over a very mountainous and pic¬ 
turesque country. Traveling leisurely by team 
and fishing in any of the many tributaries of 
this prolific river, sportsmen generally put up 
wherever night overtakes them. By this manner 
of travel, pleasure seekers view a portion of 
California that is in its primitive state and enjoy 
besides a jolly good outing. Some of our city 
sportsmen, whose taste for mountain scenery and 
the delights of camp life have never been culti¬ 
vated, journey to Eureka by steamer, thence by 
train to Scotia, which is a favorite town of 
anglers who fish the lower stretches of the river. 
While my friend was waiting the order to 
proceed, considerable uproar across the street 
from the hotel attracted his attention, and he 
asked the proprietor of the inn if he could vouch¬ 
safe an explanation for it. The landlord re¬ 
plied, “You must be a stranger to these parts, I 
reckon. The noise you hear is made by steel- 
head trout that are going up the river to their 
spawning beds. The river at this season is alive 
with fish; there are millions in the run.” 
Albeit my friend’s destination was Pepper- 
wood, some eighteen miles further by stage, he 
could not resist the temptation to remain over 
one day at least to prove the truth of the state¬ 
ment of the big run. In answer to my query. 
“Did you have good luck?” He replied, “I could 
have filled a wash tub, they came so fast. I 
had to quit early in the afternoon from sheer 
exhaustion. I took them on a No. 4 Parma- 
cheene Belle with one fly on my cast.” Then 
he continued: 
“On the following day I journeyed on to 
Pepperwood and had a couple of days’ sport of 
a similar kind, thence to Camp 5, well up the 
Eel River, where the small fish were very much 
in evidence. My rod was very light and my 
gossamer cast—to which I attached two flies, 
No. 12 Parmacheene Belle and Benn’s royal 
coachman-—was well tested during my few days’ 
outing at Camp 5. This is proof convincing 
of what light tackle can accomplish under severe 
strain. I then returned to Ferndale prior to re¬ 
turning to San Francisco. 
“At Ferndale my friends insisted that I take 
another day off and accompany them down the 
river to the ocean in quest of salmon. As I had 
had all the sport I desired I nevertheless strained 
a point and accepted their invitation. Down the 
river I went in the very best of company, and 
such fishing ! My first salmon was a 45-pounder, 
the second a 40-pounder and several 25-pounders 
were successfully landed.” 
This statement may seem incredulous to some 
people, but when one takes into consideration 
that to handle a 45-pounder on an eight-ounce 
rod, nine-thread line and a No. 4 striped bass 
spoon, considerably over an hour’s work is re¬ 
quired, some idea may be formed of the sport 
that awaits anglers on this great fishing river. 
A few good fish is a good afternoon’s work for 
any ordinary individual I should opine. 
The Eel River is a very large body of water. 
It has its source in Mendocino county, 175 miles 
from the sea. It flows into the ocean at Fern¬ 
dale. From Oct. 15 to Nov. 15 the best steelhead 
fishing is enjoyed in these waters. The fly is 
the killing lure, and fish are taken from one-half 
pound to twelve and fourteen pounds. The best 
fishing is to be had from a boat by drifting. 
. There are many pools a mile or two in length. 
The steelhead is the gamest fish in California 
waters, and when fresh from the ocean on propa¬ 
gation bent will put up a fight par excellence. 
The California Fish Commission planted striped 
bass near Eureka a few years ago, and their 
presence in the river is expected at any time. 
Several club houses adorn the banks of the 
Eel River, principally among which are Frank 
Maskey’s lodge and one supported by a few 
sportsmen of Eureka, which city is distant only 
twenty miles by train. The Eureka sportsmen's 
club house is, I am informed, thoroughly up to 
date in all its appointments, nothing wanting for 
the comfort of its members. 
According to railroad officials who should be 
in a position to speak correctly, the tiresome 
ocean trip between this city and Eureka, a dis¬ 
tance of 100 miles or more, will be dispensed 
with in a year or so hence, as the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, which is extending its line from 
Willits to Eureka, will have completed the work 
of track laying. 
The scenery between Willits, the present ter 
minus of the road, and Eureka, is said to be of 
the most beautiful in rustic grandeur and prime¬ 
val wildness, and after the iron horse will have 
puffed its way through costly tunnels that have 
pierced many mountains on which grow stately 
red woods and underbrush that shelter bear, 
panther, wildcat, deer, etc., it will then skirt the 
beautiful Eel River for many miles, passing 
stretches of fishing water which, to the traveler 
who has a penchant for angling, will recall sweet 
features of sport that he enjoyed at some pre- j 
vious time on rivers which have indelibly 
stamped in his mind fond and pleasant recollec¬ 
tion of bygone days. Mile after mile, in its 
devious course, the trains will carry devotees 
of the quiet and beautiful pastime in full view 
of riffles, pools, trout and salmon stretches which 
at the present writing are literally alive with 
game fish. A grand opening and what a splendid 
opportunity will be afforded the sportsman who 
communes with nature and who delights in the 
rhythmical song of the fishing reel to spend a 
few weeks on the banks of this virgin water 
on the completion of the railroad. And it is 
needless for me to say that every devotee of 
the pastime, in this city at least, is looking for¬ 
ward to the time when he may cast over large 
game fish that fight every inch of water from 
the hooking to the landing. James Watt. 
A delayed letter from John S. Roebuck, Jr., 
of Newport, Ky., conveys news of the death of 
his father, Captain John S. Roebuck, in his sixty- 
first year. The captain was a life-long sports¬ 
man. 
