142 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 22, 1910. 
which have been washed down from the moun¬ 
tains, and upon the sharp and jagged edges of 
which I have lost many a fine-drawn cast. Up 
and down and across rushed the trout, and owing 
to the extreme lightness of my tackle I was 
afraid to give him the butt, although there were 
but very few feet of line left on the reel. At 
length, during a mad run up stream, he wound 
the line round a submerged boulder, and the 
thin silken strands snapped just above the trace 
as though cut by a knife. 
Sad at heart, I reeled in, tied a fresh trace 
with a black gnat at point, and two red tags as 
droppers. Notwithstanding that my first cast 
fell with a splash such as would have frightened 
any self-respecting trout out of its four senses 
—fish, I believe, have not the sense of hearing 
—I rose a fish the moment the point fly touched 
the water. It was but a small one, however, and 
three minutes later a beautifully marked quarter 
pound trout lay kicking among a clump of golden 
king-cups. 
Having w'rapped my first capture in a large 
dock leaf and laid it in the bottom of my creel, 
I again continued on my beat. Trout were now 
rising freely at the same dark fly as mentioned 
earlier herein. But they would have nothing to 
say to me, and I therefore exchanged my black 
gnat for a small blue dun. For some little time, 
however, with the exception of a brace of small 
fish—probably dace—which came short, I rose 
nothing, and was beginning to feel a little de¬ 
spondent when, thanks to a bad throw, I got 
hung up in the overhanging branch of a willow 
growing on the far side of the river. A gentle 
snatch cleared the line without accident, and as 
the flies dropped on the water the blue dun was 
instantly taken, and I was into a heavy fish. 
This time Dame Fortune proved kind to me, for 
unlike most reaches of the Donajec the water 
there, although deep and sluggish, was free from 
rocks and sunken trees. My only fear, there¬ 
fore, was in regard to the soundness of my 
tackle which I had not renewed since the pre¬ 
ceding season. 
For quite fifteen minutes did that game trout 
battle for freedom, and during the wild struggle 
he made I momentarily expected to see him go 
off with a yard or so of trace. Gallant fish 
though he was he could not cope forever against 
split cane, steel and gut, and at length he lay 
gasping on the grass at my feet, his lovely car¬ 
mine spots vieing with the field poppies in point 
of color. Two pounds and three ounces did that 
game fish turn the scale at, and a more beauti¬ 
fully marked or proportioned trout it had never 
been my pleasure to capture. 
A few more unsuccessful casts over the spot 
in which I rose the last fish, and I retraced my 
footsteps to the willow, under the grateful shade 
of which I found my friend B. slumbering peace¬ 
fully, his head pillowed upon an empty creel, 
while the scarlet spider dangled from an alder 
twig on the opposite side of the river. 
J. M. M. B. Durham. 
British Amateur Casting Club. 
The issue of the London Fishing Gazette for 
Jan. 1 contains the following reference by its 
editor, R. B. Marston, to the formation of a fly- 
and bait-casting club: 
At a meeting of anglers called together by 
R. B. Marston, editor of the Fishing Gazette, and 
held at the Adelphi Hotel on Wednesday, Dec. 
22, 1909, for the purpose of considering the de¬ 
sirability of establishing an amateur fly- and bait¬ 
casting club, it was unanimously decided to pro¬ 
ceed at once with the formation of such a club. 
A committee, consisting of R. B. Marston, H. 
T. Sheringham (angling editor of the Field), 
W. D. Coggeshall, J. T. Emery, H. W. Little, 
J. Holt Schooling and L. Crossle (honorable sec¬ 
retary), was provisionally appointed to carry out 
the preliminary arrangements. 
The object of the club will be to encourage 
skill in fly- and bait-casting, and it proposes to 
effect this— 
(1) By renting a suitable ground and water 
in some accessible spot, in or near London, to 
which its members can resort at any time for 
practice, and 
(2) By holding club contests between the 
members from time to time, the events arranged 
being, so far as possible, of such a nature as to 
encourage the kind of skill in casting fly or bait 
which is likely to be of use in actual fishing, 
tournament casting being a secondary considera¬ 
tion. 
It is hoped that the club will appeal to anglers 
generally, and to the novice quite as much as 
to the expert caster. It will afford opportunities 
of improving in casting, of testing new rods or 
tackle, and of comparing notes; the novice will 
thus have a chance of practicing in company 
with men who are more skillful than himself, 
and profiting by their advice and example. Also, 
the committee hopes to develop the club upon 
pleasant social lines. 
It is intended that the British Amateur Cast¬ 
ing Club shall come to be the body responsible 
for all future arrangements in regard to inter¬ 
national tournaments in this country. It will 
possess the space, the appliances and the experi¬ 
ence required for the successful organization of 
such meetings, and probably one of its first tasks 
will be to draw up a standard set of rules. 
In the club contests the members will either 
be divided into classes or handicapped in such 
a way as to give to all competitors a fairly equal 
chance and interest in the various events. 
Membership of the club, which will include 
ladies, will be confined to amateur's; that is, to 
those who do not make or sell fishing tackle 
for a living, and who do not give instruction 
in casting or fishing for money. 
The annual subscription has been fixed at half 
a guinea, and anglers desirous of having their 
names put up for election are requested to com¬ 
municate as soon as possible with the'honorable 
secretary, Leonard Crossle, 28 North Side, 
Wandsworth Common, London, S.W. 
Thirty-two well-known anglers signified their 
wish to become members. 
Fishing in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 10 .— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The various local angling organi¬ 
zations are in splendid shape at the present time 
and the new year is being started upon under 
very favorable auspices. The California Ang¬ 
lers’ Association will meet in its club rooms at 
Gearv street to-night for the annual meet¬ 
ing and election of officers, and after business is 
attended to, a smoker will be he’d at which in¬ 
formal plans for next season’s operations wll 
be discussed. The distribution of prizes for the 
season will take place in February and the list 
is a long one. With steelhead fishing still being 
carried on 'there is yet much interest being taken 
in fishing, and most of the members are still in 
hopes of landing a prize winning fish before the 
season closes. 
The members of the San Francisco Striped 
Bass Club will enjoy their annual dinner on 
Jan. 15, and this will be attended by practically 
the entire membership of the club. Fishing for 
striped bass is now well under way, but no very 
extensive catches have been made so far this 
season. The fishing, however, is getting better 
all the time and large crowds are now visiting 
the favorite grounds. 
In Southern California there are great activi¬ 
ties in angling circles at the present time and 
one of the most active seasons ever experienced 
is being planned. The 1 una and Light 1 ackle 
Club of Catalina have inaugurated a winter 
tournament with a large list of prizes, and this 
is to be made an annual event. 1 he fishing sea¬ 
son on the southern grounds has been extended 
until eleven months of the year are covered. 
The Southern California Rod and Reel Club 
will hold a casting tournament in February. 
A. P. B. 
A Plea for Classification. 
Plainfield, N. J., Jan. 14.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: “Father Bill” Curtis, one of the whitest 
men athletics ever knew, and a stickler for pure 
amateurism, once stated that selling guns did not 
make a man a professional shot, nor selling 
skates make him a professional skater. Father 
Bill was right, and no more does the manufac¬ 
ture or sale of fishing tackle make a man a pro¬ 
fessional caster. When a man takes up fly- or 
bait-casting it is because he loves the game, and 
if he loves the game, then, by the shades of 
Izaak Walton, he is no professional and should 
be welcomed among us irrespective of the way 
he gains his living so long as it is clean and 
honest. 
I believe in amateurism, but the present defi¬ 
nition is wrong. If the manufacturer or dealer 
in tackle utilizes his casting ability for purposes 
of gain he is in the position of any amateur 
under the same circumstances and should be 
dealt with accordingly. 
I believe in classifying events so as to give 
all a show, and the best show to those not in 
the fastest class, for those in the fast class need 
no fostering care. Let them all come together 
and we will have a contest worth watching. 
I have no “axe to grind,” but believe it is 
about time, for the good of the game, that we 
got busy and settled the question of professional¬ 
ism once for all. Jno. Doughty. 
The Rainbow Season. 
Linville Falls, N. C., Jan. 10 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The fishing held out this year re¬ 
markably well. We had both rainbow trout from 
Linville River and brook trout from one of its 
tributaries on the 2d of December. The rain¬ 
bows were all taken with the fly, and one of 
them was eighteen inches long. The brook trout 
would take flies to some extent, but it was 
rather cold to wade where one could cast well, 
and the worms brought along in case of need 
were so sure that they were used with telling 
effect. The fishing will begin again in April, 
though it ought not to be permitted before the 
latter part of May, when the spawning season is 
over. Frank W. Bicknell. 
