Aug. 15, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
261 
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1 ?■ 
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I 
w 
Fishing at Catalina Island. 
Avalon, Cal., Aug. 5. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: From all the evidence that can be 
gained, the conditions at Clemente nowadays are 
actually placing a premium upon unskilled and 
incompetent handling of fish. This is a most 
remarkable statement, yet I believe I can offer a 
fair argument in proof. The larger yellow- 
tail grow the easier they are to land. Simpson 
foul-hooked his record 60J/2 pounder under the 
ventral fins, but landed it in fifty minutes, 
although badly crippled with a split finger and 
a bunged-up hand. F. W. Weinheimer, of St. 
Louis, brought over from Clemente and weighed 
in a bigger fish than Simpson’s, scaling 60 T /l 
pounds twenty-four hours after landing. The 
engine broke down, and Weinheimer could not 
get his fish across channel, although he started 
home at once, feeling confident he had beaten the 
record, which no doubt he had, considering 
shrinkage, certainly over *4 pound. Mr. Wein¬ 
heimer is a methodical man and takes his own 
time on every fish. He was just twenty minutes 
bringing that big fellow to gaff, and on a dozen 
others of around 40 pounds the time averaged 
but a little more. Anyone who has landed a 20 
to 25-pound yellowtail knows they put up a far 
more desperate fight, and work the angler harder 
than these big fellows, being more apt to break 
something at every stage of the game. ‘The big 
ones are logy, and if these figures do not prove 
them easier to land, then the inexperience of 
some of the sportsmen who have landed very 
large fish certainly does. Other things equal, the 
man who is in the water with his bait the longest 
figures to hang the biggest fish, and when the 
little fellow comes along, the slow, methodical 
style of his logy battle gives the amateur a much 
better chance to land him than even a smaller, 
livelier one. The argument has borne itself out 
in practice. So at Clemente, it appears, the 
amateur has a better chance to hook and an 
equal chance of landing his big fish. Yellowtail 
have been found there in places where the kelp 
is far enough distant not to count as a hazard. 
It looks as if the gold button was fallen from 
its former lofty status. Time was when it rep¬ 
resented patience, perseverance and a high de¬ 
gree of angling skill. But at this place, where the 
bigger they come the easier they are to get, the 
trophy seems a sort of kindergarten medal. 
Another lot of 40-pounders has come in, L. G. 
Murphy landing several, Herman Heinchen an¬ 
other, and, in short, nearly everyone who has 
made the trip excepting “Hard Luck” Hooper, of 
Boston, who certainly is a good sportsman at all 
events. He stopped a boatman cramming flying 
fish into a 38-pounder to bring him up to weight, 
and threw the fish overboard, I am told. I like 
that spirit, and feel that if there is an excuse for 
anyone going to Clemente after a button, it is 
for Hooper. He has stuck to his guns like a 
good loser, in spite of the worst luck I ever 
heard of. 
Regarding the fish supply at Clemente, it ap¬ 
parently cannot be exaggerated. The fish are 
ravenous there. Sardine bait will harvest a boat¬ 
load of 30-pounders; the big ones want flying-fish. 
The rapidity of the sport is such that any other 
angling ground must forever after seem tame. 
We who keep the interests of Catalina at heart 
have been trying to hold up the reputation of 
the island with the three-six gear. Monday I 
won the second degree off Long Point, taking a 
2 4 l 4 pounder from the reef. He put up a pretty- 
fight, but never had anything in jeopardy 
throughout and came to hand in twenty-five min¬ 
utes of as easy handling as I ever gave a fish; 
in fact, I tried to see how little strain I could 
use and lead him in. 
Commodore Potter and I were out with Percy 
Neale, fishing for the kitchen, so we chummed 
liberally. Barracuda, rock bass and white sea 
bass immediately took the bait, and all at once 
the sea bass took one of their flighty notions of 
feeding. We were in the water forthwith, and I 
soon had one on, a io-pounder. All at once, up 
from the bottom rose a veritable shark of a yel- 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., Aug. 1. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Below are the scores of our practice 
meet to-day. This is the first time we have tried 
quarter-ounce bait-casting for distance. Few of 
the members having suitable rods, the scores are 
One-quarter-ounce, distance: 
Casts: 
1 st 
2 d 
3d 
4th 
5th 
Average 
Champion . 
. 90 
83 
88 
78 
100 
91 4-5 
Muldoon . 
. 92 
103 
90 
80 
92 
91 2-5 
Travers . 
. 30 
70 
70 
85 
90 
69 
Mapes . 
. 72 
59 
20 
66 
75 
58 2-5 
Endersby . 
. 20 
87 
85 
30 
30 
52 2-5 
Bennett . 
. 45 
45 
51 
59 
60 
52 
Eichlin . 
. 40 
45 
40 
50 
50 
45 
Klemm . 
. 35 
35 
45 
42 
35 
38 2-5 
Buchan . 
. 30 
20 
30 
35 
35 
30 
Half-ounce, accuracy: 
60ft. 
70ft. 
80ft. 
90 ft. 
100 ft. 
Total 
F. T. Mapes. 
. 2 
4 
1 
2 14 
10 6 
3 
0 
3 
1 
7 6 
41 
P. Muldoon . 
. 6 
2 
2 
3 1 2 
0 8 2 
5 
5 
5 
3 
0 1 
45 
R. Eichlin . 
. 4 
5 
2 
3 2 2 
0 12 
2 
5 
2 
6 
5 5 
46 
C. T. Champion. 
. 3 
1 
1 
5 2 4 
2 5 3 
1 
2 
u 
7 
4 7 
49 
T. Travers. 
. 6 
1 
1 
4 4 4 
3 3 3 
3 
4 
1 
5 
8 5 
55 
Geo. Endersby . 
I. Bennett' . 
T. Buchan . 
. 6 
5 
1 
8 0 3 
8 7 1 
3 
3 
5 
7 
212 
71 
. 6 
3 
2 
2 20 8 
7 6 12 
1 3 1 
Withdrew. 
20 
9 
7 
10 
5 3 
R. Klemm .... 
. 6 10 
7 
Withdrew. 
Per Cent, 
97 4-15 
97 
96 14-15 
96 10-15 
% 5-15 
95 4-15 
lowtail, and with sheer impudence he lazily har¬ 
vested the chum within a rod of the rudder, 
giving us splendid opportunity to feast our gaze 
upon his mammoth proportions. Usually it is 
little use to go after one of these big fellows 
when feeding on chum; they seem to know by 
instinct which piece is loaded. However, I 
buried a hook in a big sardine and tossed it over; 
he passed it up a dozen times, and a rock bass beat 
him to it once, but the next sardine seemed 
just ripe enough to tickle his fancy, and with a 
bang he went to it. I struck and actually got his 
nose around, heading for sea before he realized 
what had happened. Then he started inshore. 
There was no turning him; he was going home. 
The regular contest of Aug. 8 was enlivened 
by the superb casting of Dr. R. J. Held, who in 
practice cast a Rj-ounce weight over 220 feet, 
with several others a trifle shorter, and in the 
regular event, in which he took part as a visitor, 
he averaged 197 4-5 feet in five casts, with 210 
feet as his best single cast. As the marking line 
was only 200 feet long, the Doctor went back 
twenty feet and cast from the water level. 
Fred T. Mapes won the accuracy bait event. 
Perry Frazer won the distance fly event, and he 
was high in the distance bait event. His 179 
feet is the club record for distance. John 
Doughty won the accuracy fly event, which was 
not finished until dark. The scores: 
Half-ounce accuracy, bait: 
60 feet. 70 feet. 
Fred T. Mapes. 2 0 1 2 3 2 
George Endersby . J ? ” ] 
P J. Muldoon . J J ^ ill 
C. T. Champion. 5 6 2 110 
A T Neu.. 2 2 1 4 2 7 
Perry D. Frazer. 3 0 3 foe 
Jacobus . J \ ? o 
Bennett . 5 6 b Z i o 
Eichlen . 1 4 3 G 9 0 
John Doughty . 8 0 3 9 7 6 
Visitor. „ , „ , 
R. J. Held. 2 0 1 13 4 
Finally we decided to go in after him; a risky 
thing, but it might have won had we done it a 
hundred yards sooner. From one piece of kelp 
to another, out of one mess, around the next we 
steered-him, but finally he passed a piece of the 
saw-edge kelp and cut the line adrift with hardly 
a pound strain, within clear sight only 40 feet be¬ 
low. A line will slide around the big stems of the 
macrocyst kelp, but this saw-edge stuff has a flat 
leaf and stem, generally diseased and dead at the 
edges, which makes a rough, saw-like expanse of 
stuff as hard as a bit of tin, and a line only 
strikes it once. Our fight was further compli¬ 
cated by a stiff current, which, by pulling on the 
long sag of line out, kept worrying and stirring 
up the fish, else we undoubtedly would have got 
him headed round and out to sea again. At any 
rate, we were on him half an hour and had him 
practically whipped, so feel better satisfied with 
the power of the tackle than ever. 
Edwin L. Hedderly. 
80 feet. 
90 feet. 
100 feet. 
Total 
Per C’t. 
4 0 
5 
4 
2 
1 
5 
3 
7 
41 
97 4-15 
2 5 
1 
4 
3 
5 
7 
5 
1 
47 
96 13-15 
3 4 
4 
0 
5 
3 
5 
7 
4 
50 
96 10-15 
1 5 
1 
9 
1 
7 
6 
3 
3 
51 
96 9-15 
7 1 
5 
5 
3 
2 
2 
9 
3 
55 
96 5-15 
6 4 
4 
4 
2 
2 
*20 
1 
2 
57 
96 3-15 
8 15 
4 
7 
2 
2 
8 
3 
6 
84 
94 2-15 
0 3 
1 
*20 
1.5 
4 
6 
6 *20 
103 
93 2-15 
1 *29 
4 
*20 
2 
5 
*20 
5 
5 
105 
93 
15 *20 
6 
*20 
7 
7 
*20 
8 
8 
144 
90 6-15 
3 4 
8 
7 
4 
8 
5 
15 
8 
73 
95 2-15 
Distance. 
bait casting. 
Wounce: 
Average. 
106 
*69 
*60 
*65 
All the fish laivs of the United States and Can¬ 
ada, revised to date and now in force, are given 
in the Game Laivs in Brief. See adv. 
Perry D. Frazer... 149 142 *125 
John Doughty- 173 163 164 
F. T. Mapes. *126 139 145 
Tacobus . 127 134 120 
George Endersby.. 152 *94 *105 
P. J. Muldoon. 122 * 131 
A. J. Neu. *83 *60 
Bennett . *50 115 
Eichlen . *58 *15 
C. T. Champion... *60 *80 
Visitor. 
R. J. Held. 210 
Distance fly-casting: 
Perry D. Frazer. 101 
F. T. Mapes.. 76 
John Doughty . 72 
P. J. Muldoon. 65 
C. T. Champion. 62 
A. J. Neu. 54 
Visitor. 
R. J. Held. 79 
Salirnn fly-casting: 
Perry D. Frazer. Ill 113 
Accuracy fly-casting: 
John Doughty— 
10112 536 
Perry D. Frazer— 
80122 655 
C. T. Champion— 
11111 544 
P. J. Muldoon— 
14423 333 
A. J. Neu— 
02215 576 
Visitor. 
R. J. Held— 
0 1 1 2 0 020 
179 
169 
140 
168 
*50 
157 
135 147 
160 
120 
*93 
*40 
*10 
* 
147 
*65 
*70 
106 
*40 
w 
190 205 187 197 
152 3-5 
143 4-5 
141 2-5 
132 3-5 
131 3-5 
87 3-5 
82 2-5 
76 
36 3-5 
197 4-5 
99 
78 
78 
68 
63 
56 
82 
113 
1 
5 
5 
6 
99 
81 
81 
64 
57 
97 
79 
67 
Best Cast. 
97 101 
81 
81 
68 
67 
57 
86 90 
110 
114 
90 
114 
8 10 10 0 5 10 10 
1 0 5 4 4 3 6 
33 97 12-15 
46 96 14-15 
49 96 11-15 
5S 96 2-15 
81 94 9-15 
29 98 1-15 
