302 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 19, 1910. 
the bait round the nose with a few turns of 
his silk. Sometimes a little pointed wooden plug 
was pushed half way into the bait to keep the 
forward part straight and stiff, and this simple 
mounting has accounted for thousands of fine 
Shannon spring fish in the olden time. But 
many fish were missed, and some anglers were 
known to add a small shoulder triangle to the 
flight, and with good results. However, some 
years ago several spinners made their appear¬ 
ance and came to stay, so that there are few 
anglers now left who do not occasionally vary 
the wobble with a spin. As to the respective 
merits of the rival methods, each has its days 
when it alone seems to attract, while again on 
other occasions neither shows any decided su¬ 
periority over the other. 
When the troller has had out some twenty 
or thirty yards of line as his boatmen propel 
his boat slowly through the water, his work is 
for the time being over. He slips a coil of 
line under a strong rubber band which encircles 
his rod a little way up from the reel so as to 
resist the strike of a salmon and drive the hooks 
home, and then sitting on the butts after plac¬ 
ing the rods one on each quarter, extending out¬ 
ward, he watches and hopes. He can do noth¬ 
ing more himself to get on terms with a fish, and 
this forced inaction is the great defect of trolling. 
In order to keep his baits down and moderate 
their motion, the cot men begin at the head of 
the water, and working their small paddles, al¬ 
low the boat to move in the current at an ang¬ 
ling rate only from side to side the while, so 
as to cover all the reach. This is called harl- 
ing and is a method of fishing much more prac¬ 
ticed in Scotland than in this country, as very 
few of our early rivers lend themselves to it. 
When a salmon strikes, the harler grasps his 
rod, the stroke oar does the same with the idle 
one, and winds in; the second one holds the 
cot in position with his pole which, with light¬ 
ning rapidity, he has substituted for his pad¬ 
dle, and presently the decks are fully cleared 
for action. 
Castleconnell tackle is very strong, the water 
is free from dangerous obstacles, the boatmen 
are perfect masters of their work, and should 
the hooks be well home, the angler as a rule 
has but himself to blame should he lose his fish. 
A spring fish is a whirlwind fighter and rushes 
things magnificently from the start. The line 
cuts the strong stream with a whiz, then he is 
quivering in the air at the end of it, but souses 
down again with a mighty splash before the 
angler can recover the forty yards of line he 
dragged under in his rush. This drowned line 
offers immense resistance to the spring of the 
fish, especially as the strong stream is sweep¬ 
ing it onward, and after a second or third 
somersault the end and his silver side are with¬ 
in sight, and little remains but the gaffing. 
Few fish are lost at Castleconnell. Fifty fish 
or even less to a rod is a good spring fishing, 
and these conditions do not encourage any trifl¬ 
ing with a fish when hooked. 
Spring fish are of all sizes from ten pounds 
or eleven pounds upward, the smallest of them 
being fish which have entered the sea as smolts 
some eighteen months previously and are on 
their first visit to their native fresh water home. 
Strange to say, very few of the largest fish 
seem to proceed beyond Castleconnell or Killa- 
j oe Shannon Shore. 
Tournament Casting. 
New York, Feb. 10.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I see by your late issues that the 
leaven of unrest is again working in the asso¬ 
ciation over that old bone of contention—the 
“professional” rule. 
As I have, from the standpoint of fair play, 
fought this rule from the beginning, I am im- 
measureably pleased to see your paper qualify 
on the side of broad-minded good sense and 
come out flat-footed for fair play to all. 
Rest assured that this thing is not going to 
drop, but will be fought out to a final and defi¬ 
nite understanding one way or the other. The 
threats from all quarters to pull out and start 
a rival association are by no means idle talk, nor 
confined to any one club or section of country. 
Neither are these people, once fairly started on 
the war path, willing to bury the hatchet and have 
the row smoothed down by some unctious Pooh- 
bah from within the sacred inner circles of what 
Brother Hopkins calls the “National Association 
of Scientifically Selected Trophy Grabbers.” 
Those who have been interested in the fight on 
this rule for the past two years, and who have 
kept an ear to the ground, will tell you thaf 
sentiment outside the association is even stronger 
against the professional rule than among the 
members themselves. The spectator at tourna¬ 
ments does not care what constitutes a profes¬ 
sional; he wants to see the best man win. “Se¬ 
cret service” reports from within the association 
show that the rule was originally put through by 
a very small but very influential clique in Chi¬ 
cago. 
The rule was opposed on the clause classify¬ 
ing dealers as professionals, but this clique, by 
dint of threats and cajolery, practically crammed 
it down the throat of the association willy nilly. 
This looks suspiciously like a case of the tail 
wagging the dog—all the more so because at 
this day the rule is only backed by two clubs, 
half-heartedly supported by a third, and is op¬ 
posed either openly or secretly by the balance 
of the association. This same report has it that 
the present officers of the association, who are 
charged with being responsible for the rule, are 
only holding over in office because of no quorum 
at the annual meeting of delegates for the elec¬ 
tion of officers. It was openly charged at the 
time—August, 1909— that the inability to obtain 
a quorum was due to the absence, “for state 
reasons,” of two delegates who would, if pres¬ 
ent, have constituted a majority against the rule 
and upset the apple cart. 
Whether these reports be true or not, they 
show in no uncertain manner the feeling exist¬ 
ing against the present regime—a feeling which, 
if fanned into open revolt, will either disrupt the 
whole shooting match or result in a separate 
organization. 
I am sure that all who have the best interests 
of the sport at heart will agree with me that 
either case would be a great misfortune and 
work a tremendous injury to the game; and I, 
for one, am squarely opposed to any such course, 
believing that common sense and fair-minded¬ 
ness will prevail in the end and save the day. 
To the best of my recollection this foolish 
rule was first foisted upon the committee gov¬ 
erning the tournaments held in Madison Square 
Garden years ago by an ultra English faddist 
who was a power in the sport at that time. This 
sort of thing may be all very well for England, 
where the “gentleman amateur” flourishes to 
some extent in a class all by himself, but it will 
not do for this democratic country; what we 
want is “a fair fight and no favor and may the 
best man win.” 
To my mind the able article of Brother 
Doughty, in your issue of Jan. 22, hits the ques¬ 
tion squarely between the eyes and is sound, 
solid sense. Settle the status of a member upon 
his standing as a sportsman and a gentleman. 
Open the tournament to all and let the best man 
win. Make your championships worth something 
and remove the stigma of cowardice justly earned 
by barring some of the best men in the country. 
Lastly, classify your events and give everyone a 
fair show. 
As it is, the tournaments under the present 
rule are only of interest to the expert few, as is 
proven by the miserable attendance at late tour¬ 
naments and the waning interest and member¬ 
ship in clubs. 
Classification has been thoroughly tried and 
found perfectly feasible, and whenever tried it 
has not failed to arouse great interest and bring 
out many casters who would otherwise have 
stayed away by virtue of being hopelessly out¬ 
classed. I need not add that interested casters 
make successful clubs and successful clubs make 
a flourishing association. 
Once more I ask, as a lover of the game, and 
in the best interests of fair play and clean, 
honest sport, for all hands to get together and 
endeavor to settle this question in the broad¬ 
minded and common sense American way. 
There is no need nor use for any battle; just 
make it an open game with a square deal and 
all hands shown on the table. 
Lou S. Darling. 
Fishing on the West Coast. 
San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 9 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The season for steelhead fishing 
was brought to a close on Feb. 1, and now ang¬ 
lers are devoting almost their entire attention to 
fishing for striped bass. Very fine weather has 
been experienced during the past three weeks, 
and some fair catches have been made, but the 
numbers of fish secured have been rather small 
on the average compared with the number of 
fishermen who have been visiting the sloughs. 
The closing days of the steelhead season were 
active ones and some very fine catches were 
brought back by those who went from this city. 
The largest steelhead that has been taken for 
many years at the Point Reyes grounds was se¬ 
cured just before the close of the season by 
Louis Gotthelf while fishing in Paper Mill Creek. 
This fish weighed nineteen pounds and afforded 
much sport before it could finally be landed. 
Constable James Sullivan recently arrested 
four men for illegal fishing in San Antonio 
Creek, near Petaluma, and Captain Antonio 
Balazza and Captain Frank Bruno were each 
fined $100. The other two men were acquitted, 
as it was shown that they were employed by the 
two captains. More than 500 pounds of striped 
bass were seized and distributed among the 
worthy poor. Ten Japanese were arrested near 
Los Angeles recently for fishing within a mile 
of the sewer outfall at Hyperion. The men were 
fined $15 each for the offense. A. P. B. 
