FOREST AND STREAM. 
421 
r 
Sept. 12, 1908.] 
1 - 
!i 
/ back in after his prize to thread her devious way 
! around this tree of kelp; between those, and per- 
i haps out of the maze, by which time the lead¬ 
ing to sea process may be resumed, and the fish 
will be sufficiently docile to eat out of the hand. 
No written description can convey an accurate 
idea of this process, for circumstances vary and 
the achievement is as much of the brain as the 
hand. Each situation must be studied out on 
the spur of the moment; the angler’s thoughts 
must travel with the directness and unfailing 
accuracy of light, for a false move must be fatal. 
The fish may go into kelp; if so, he must be 
coaxed, teased or driven out if there be a chance. 
The only rule is to get the boat over the par¬ 
ticular tree he has chosen to explore and study 
out the best chance, if any. Sometimes it pays 
to exert considerable strain and start the fish, 
particularly if only his head and the end of the 
piano wire leader be foul. Again, when the 
strain is mostly on the line above the leader, a 
little judicious work with the reel sometimes will 
shorten the line and bring his head to the ob 
struction which often means getting free from 
that hazard. It is aggravating to take a fish out 
of one mess only to have the current drift him 
into another as happened to me the other day, 
but a battle well fought and lost is better than 
not to fight at all. That particular yellowtail 
got into half a dozen kelp trees first and last. 
We who fish at Catalina are jealous of our 
standing as light tackle fishermen, particularly 
when called into question from New York, which 
in a sporting way has not yet shown angling 
enterprise enough even to follow the lead in re¬ 
finement of salt water angling methods which 
we of the West have inaugurated. 
All tackle is a matter of proportion, and if 
the use of a six-thread line, six-ounce rod and 
No. 1 reel upon fish of from twenty to forty 
pounds is not a higher development of the art 
of angling than the use of the same powered 
tackle upon fish of from one to five pounds 
weight, then, indeed, are we in error. But if 
the argument be admitted, and surely it must 
be, the Catalina Three-Six Club will continue 
to proclaim itself as a champion of “bona-fide 
light tackle” for marine big-game fishing. 
Now a word regarding the six-ounce yellow- 
tail rod. Its butt is a foot long and weighs a 
little less than three ounces. It has solid Ger¬ 
man silver reelseat ferrule. The tip is five feet 
three to five inches in length, has six bridged 
agate hoop guides and offset agate tip, all to 
come out of a weight of a fraction over three 
ounces, including the male German silver ferrule 
! which fits into the butt. 
Such bass casting rods as I have seen were 
i of about the same weight, but shorter, five and 
a half feet over all being rather longer than 
they averaged. They had only two guides, a 
shorter grasp, and considerably more wood in 
; the tip. I would consider them rather too stiff 
for successful six-thread line fishing. The six- 
! ounce rods are decidedly more resilient, and as 
fishing rods I believe are a better and more 
sporting tool than the average Kalamazoo type 
If I may be allowed to take a shy at the black 
bass brethren after a stay of ten years away 
from them, it would be to question if as a class 
the black bass men have not gone daft on cast¬ 
ing to the exclusion of fishing in designing their 
rods. A good casting rod may be too stiff to 
prove the pleasantest fishing rod. Nor have I 
found long casting any help in practical fishing; 
fifty to seventy-five feet is distance enough. 
Rather would I trust to accuracy. Dropping a 
frog or other bait between lilypads is more apt 
to succeed than throwing out 200 feet. Per¬ 
sonally, six feet must ever be the minimum for 
any fishing rod of mine. Every fraction of an 
ounce in a rod bears a relation to its length, and 
a six-ounce five and one-half-foot rod is far 
different from the same weight stick extended 
seven or ten inches. The taper must be different 
and the action is sure to be. 
Charlie Howland, the “King of San Clemente 
Island,” who leases it from the Government for 
a sheep range, has made a number of the sports¬ 
men a liberal proposition, which has been ac¬ 
cepted. He has given a site for a club house 
with a good beach in front, and the scheme now 
is to get 100 good fellows with $100 apiece and 
to use the $iojooo thus raised in putting up a 
commodious and comfortable house with water 
tank storage facilities and a launch of enough 
size to cross the channel daily as a sort of 
ferry to Catalina. Bunking accommodations for 
twenty-five or thirty are proposed. A man and 
woman to live there during the fishing season 
and provide good, substantial meals at a rea¬ 
sonable charge to members and their guests 
are part of the scheme which surely would fill 
a long-felt want and remove one of the chief 
objections to the trip as it is now; the danger 
of being held at Clemente by stormy weather 
longer than provisions will hold out. Beside 
Howland, Johnny Vaughn, Gifford Pinchot, the 
Lacy brothers, Judge Banning, Congressman 
Conn, Commodore Potter and many others al¬ 
ready have signified their willingness to go 
ahead with the scheme. 
Even the women are going to Clemente. Miss 
D. May Sweezey, a frail looking young lady, 
who seems hardly physically fitted to wrestle 
with a yellowtail, succeeded in capturing a silver 
button fish last week, and she did not miss the 
gold standard by far. Miss Sweezey does not 
weigh a hundred pounds, but handles a fish 
better than a goodly proportion of the men. 
Edwin L. Hedderly. 
The New Pool in Garfield Park. 
The new pool which the Chicago Park De¬ 
partment has constructed for the use of the 
Chicago Fly-Casting Club has been completed, 
and the members held their first contest on it 
recently. It is in Garfield Park, and Fred N. 
Peet, the veteran, who has taken part in fly- and 
bait-casting contests in many cities, says “it is 
the finest casting pool in the country. 
“The pool is 120 feet in diameter,” Mr. Peet 
continues, "in a space 300 feet square, has a 
cement curbing with a ten-foot brick walk all 
round it, and a gravel bottom. 
“The water in the pool is about twelve inches 
deep, and the overflow is just eighteen inches 
below the curb line, so that all casting can be 
done from the standard distance of eighteen 
inches above the water. We have worked hard 
to get this pool built for us, but the park de¬ 
partment has certainly got it right at last.” 
In urging the members to try the pool George 
A. Davis, the club secretary, reminds them that 
they are indebted particularly to E. R. Letter- 
man and E. P. Sperry, whose earnest efforts are 
largely responsible for the new casting pool, but 
he says the park officials have been more than 
generous in carrying out the members’ wishes. 
Illinois Bait-Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ill., Aug. 
31 
—Editor 
Forest 
and 
Stream: The scores mac 
Aug. 29 were as follows. 
e in 
our 
club contest 
Quarter-ounce, accuracy: 
Score. 
- 
Re-entries 
-\ 
VV. J. Tamison. 
99.1 
99.0 
97.7 
A. J >. Whitby. 
99.0 
97.9 
J. M. Ranney. 
98.6 
97.3 
98.6 
E. H. Matthews. 
98.6 
97.8 
96.9 
P. I. Linderman. 
98.2 
98.1 
97.4 
1. E. Amann . 
98.6 
96.9 
L. E. De Garmo. 
98.1 
H. C. Chapman. 
97.2 
... * 
[. P. Mohan. 
97.7 
O. C. Wehle. 
97.5 
A. Wagner . 
.... 
II. R. Winfield . 
97.7 
96.6 
96.8 
97.3 
C. P. Clifford. 
97.7 
95.5 
W. W. McFarlin. 
94.2 
96.5 
K. W. Hemmmghaus. 
97.6 
97.6 
95.3 
90.9 
11. Greenwood . 
97.4 
95.6 
96.4 
W. O. Van Treese.. 
96.7 
11. E. Rice. 
96.6 
96.6 
E. A. Humphrey. 
97.7 
.... 
Visitors: 
M. H. Cooley. 
97.1 
.... 
M. 1). Cooley. 
97 .G 
.... 
Half-ounce, accuracy: 
W. J. Jamison. 
98.2 
A. I). Whitby. 
98.1 
T. M. Ranney. 
98.4 
98.4 
E. H. Matthews. 
98.6 
P. 1. Linderman. 
97.2 
98.2 
I E. Amann. 
98.0 
L. E De Garmo. 
97.7 
H. C. Chapman. 
96.5 
J. P. Mohan. 
98.4 
97.9 
97.8 
O. C. Wehle. 
98.6 
A. Wagner . 
97.5 
11. R. Winfield. 
92.5 
97.2 
90.3 
C. P. Clifford. 
97.3 
97.1 
W. W. McFarlin. 
97.1 
F. W. Hemniinghaus. 
98.3 
97.5 
96.6 
90.9 
I’. Greenwood . 
97.6 
96.3 
W. O. Van Treese. 
97.1 
11. E. Rice. 
96.8 
90.6 
E. A. Humphrey . 
98.1 
W. L. Dolan. 
95.5 
.... 
Visitors: 
M. H. Cooley. 97.2 
M. D. Cooley. 98.4 
Mr. Maloney . 93.4 
Accuracy, fly: 
W. T. Jamison.98 
L. E. De Garmo..98 12-15 
I’. J. Linderman.. .98 11-15 
Next contest Sept. 12, half-ounce accuracy, 
half-ounce distance and dry-fly accuracy. Re¬ 
entry day, Sept. 19. 
All re-entries due members must be cast Sept. 
12 or 19. Score sheets have been mailed to each 
member of the club. Kindly figure out from 
these whether or not you are entitled to any re¬ 
entries. This will be easier and more satisfac¬ 
tory than having the secretary do it for you. 
H. E.- Rice, Sec’y. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., Sept. 5 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: A. J. Marsh made the best average in 
the practice event held to-day. He scored 98.9 
per cent, in the half-ounce bait. The results 
follows : 
Score, 
Demerits. Per Cent. 
A. J. Marsh. 21 98.9 
F T Mapes. 33 97.12 
George Endersby . 47 96.13 
C. J. Comppen. 57 96.3 
The next club contest will be held Sept. 26, 
when these events will be cast: Half-ounce dis¬ 
tance bait, half-ounce accuracy bait, distance 
trout, accuracy fly. 
Preparations for the interstate tournament to 
be held here on Oct. 3 are being completed and 
invitations are to be extended to all clubs and 
individuals in the East to take part. The pro¬ 
gramme is not quite ready. 
Fred T. Mapes, Sec'y. 
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