900 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 4, 1910. 
pitating tussle, down went her rod and up went 
her hands to ascertain that her hat was on 
straight. I do not say that there are male 
anglers quite so slavishly under the remorse¬ 
less heel of habits of neatness and precision as 
that, but there are some trout-fishers of my ac¬ 
quaintance who are victims of the place-for- 
everything-and-everything-in-its-place habit to 
such an extent that the mere sight of their fly- 
books always makes me as uncomfortable as be¬ 
ing in a house where you can only get a chance 
of a smoke by sticking your head up the bed¬ 
room chimney and the whole household is 
ordered on five hundred and eighty-seven clock¬ 
work rules which you are expected to remem¬ 
ber and respect. I believe these men with Sun¬ 
day school object-lessons of fly-books would 
rather miss six brace of the best fish of the day 
than slam a fly between the sacred pages with¬ 
out its hackle being carefully combed out and 
the gut attached to it curled in the exact stand¬ 
ard curve. I respect these men, but I cannot 
live up to their fly-books. 
The fly-books—he always carries two—of a 
veteran fly-fishing friend of mine I cannot re¬ 
gard without intense feelings of mingled admi¬ 
ration and awe. They are quarto size, and he 
carries them in hare pockets, one in each skirt 
of his fishing-coat. Each book contains merely 
two huge leaves of felt. When the stranger 
sees him dragging forth the ponderous tomes 
his first thought is that the angler has inad¬ 
vertently brought with him the Family Bible 
or his business ledger; but no sooner is the en¬ 
circling strap unbuckled and the book opened 
than the advantages of the system are apparent. 
The stock of flies is simply laid between the two 
sheets of felt, and one sweep of the eye takes 
in the whole of the contents spread over the 
entire acreage. 
Another friend, whose one recreation is 
angling, and to whom fly-dressing is an im¬ 
portant feature of the recreation, has abjured 
the fly-book altogether. All his flies are dressed 
on eyed hooks and beautifully arranged in 
companies and regiments like a battalion of 
soldiers in cork-lined aluminum boxes. I could 
never live up to that method either. To these 
patterns or orderliness the mere beauty and 
arrangement of their fly-cases is like matri¬ 
mony in the case of the man who was ob¬ 
serving to a casual acquaintance that he had 
married and buried five wives. “Five wives!” 
gasped the other. “Oh, I see—sort of a ’obby 
with you.” Their fly-cases are the kind of 
things to show to a small boy to make him 
wonder whether, if he is very good, he will ever 
grow up to have one like them; but to the av¬ 
erage old-seasoned sportsman, with a higgledy- 
piggledy collection of odds and ends, dumped 
any end up and in every known variety of en¬ 
tanglement in his fly-book, they are the bright 
creatures of another sphere. 
Let us own up to the truth. By the way, al¬ 
though the angler is often credited with the repu¬ 
tation for mendacity, it is really the golfer who 
bears the palm for the elongation and elabora¬ 
tion of a simple fact into a seven-floored struc¬ 
ture of vivid imagination. For the truth was 
revealed in a dream the other night to a friend 
of mine. In his vision he was translated into 
that mysterious hereafter, and there he found 
crowds of spirits laboriously climbing up a long 
and steep stairway to the Elysian Fields. The 
ghostly aspirants were classified and told off to 
certain sections of the great ladder, and as 
each one started on the ascent he was provided 
with a lump of chalk with which he had to 
record upon the sides of his section as he 
climbed all the lies he had told in his life. At 
once my friend was drafted into the anglers’ 
section and became one of a numerous party 
that streamed slowly upward—but ever upward. 
Things, however, were very different on the ad¬ 
joining section, which was reserved entirely for 
golfers. From among the throng of climbers 
one would every minute or two suddenly stop 
in his efforts, scoot off down the ladder, and 
disappear, only to return with all haste that he 
could command and resume the weary ascent. 
Lost in wonder, the dreamer for some time 
watched these mysterious movements; then, 
unable to countain his curiosity longer, he 
leaned over toward the golfers’ section and ob¬ 
served to one of the climbers, “Excuse me, but 
the strange antics of your friends puzzle me. 
What on earth are they always shooting off 
down to the bottom for?” “More chalk,” 
gasped the other, as he threw himself across the 
balustrade and breathlessly slid down for a fresh 
supply. 
Let us, I say, own up to the truth. The aver¬ 
age angler, when there is a brisk rise on and 
he is changing a fly, has no disposition to waste 
the precious moments in carefully curling the 
gut of the tail-fly round patent studs or coiling 
it precisely to fit in the slits of the fly-page of 
the ordinary book, nor in threading the short 
gut of droppers; he wants to be getting on with 
his fishing. Therefore, the ideal fly-book should 
meet his requirements. My own idea runs in 
the direction of ample accommodation, but I do 
not hanker after something in the style of a 
feather-bed in a portmanteau. My model fly- 
book would not be very thick, but it would have 
generous area. It should be at least crown 
octavo size. It should have a leather pocket 
at each end for miscellaneous bric-a-brac, half 
a dozen parchment pockets for casts and such¬ 
like, and four consecutive leaves of felt, be¬ 
tween which all the flies likely to be of use 
might be comfortably carried. If any tackle 
dealer will put such a book on the market it 
will find a ready sale among old anglers who 
want a really useful and handy thing.—W. 
Carter Platts in the Shooting Times. 
Illinois Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ill., May 23 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: On account of the inclement weather 
the bait events scheduled for May 21 had to be 
postponed. The weather being favorable the 
following morning, the fly events were run off 
as per schedule. The results) being as follows: 
L'ght Tackle, Dry-fly, Accuracy. 
W. H. Ball. 98 2-15 J. E. Amman.97 12-15 
L. E. De Garmo.. 98 8-15 A. F. Swisher. 97 8-15 
N. C. Heston. 99 5-15 
Light Tackle, Distance. 
W. H. Ball. 
.. 88 
J. 
E. Amman.... 
... 74 
L. E. De Garmo... 
.. 85»/ 2 
A. 
F. Swisher_ 
... 60 
N. C. Heston. 
.. 89 
E 
B Rockwell. 
... 76 
The next contest will take place June 4, the 
events being half-ounce accuracy and distance, 
accuracy fly and salmon fly. 
On account of the May 7 contest being called 
off, it will be in order for any member so- de¬ 
siring to cast those postponed bait events on our 
next contest day, June 4. 
A. D. Whitby, Sec’y-Treas. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
The San Francisco Fly-Casting Club held its 
contest at Stow Lake, Saturday, May 21. Wind 
was southwest; weather, cloudy. The scores: 
Event No. 1, distance, feet: 
L. G. Burpee. 84 F. A. Webster. 82 
Re-entries: 
L. G. Burpee. 87 
Event No. 2 , accuracy, per cent.: 
L. G. Burpee. 97.5 Geo. C. Edwards... 98.10 
C. G. Young. 98.10 F. J. Cooper. 98 
F. A. Webster. 99 F. V. Bell. 98.1 
W. D. Mansfield.... 97.12 
Re-entries: 
L. G. Burpee. 
97.5 Geo. 
C. Edwards.... 98.10 
F. A. Webster. 
98.10 F. V. 
Bell. 
. 98.7 
W. D. Mansfield_ 
97.11 
Event No. 3, Delicacy: 
Accuracy, 
Delicacy, 
Net 
L. G. Burpee. 
Per Cent. 
Per Cent. 
Per Cent. 
. 96.44 
98.20 
97.32 
C. G. Y oung. 
. 97.32 
99.10 
98.21 
1'. A. Webster . 
. 97.28 
99.10 
98.19 
W. D. Mansfield... 
. 98.36 
99 
98.48 
Geo. C. Edwards_ 
. 98.12 
99.20 
98.46 
F V Bell. 
Re-entries: 
94.20 
94.50 
L. G. Burpee. 
F. A. Webster. 
. 96.52 
97.50 
97.21 
. 99.8 
100 
99.34 
W. D. Mansfield_ 
. 99.16 
99.40 
99.28 
Geo. C. Edwards... 
. 98.44 
99.10 
98.57 
Event No. 4, lure 
casting: 
Long Dist. 
L. G. Burpee. 
Per Cent. 
Average. 
83 
C. G. Young... 
. 97.9 
115.4 
F. A. Webster. 
. 89.9 
104 
W. D. Mansfield... 
. 97.7 
120 
Geo. C. Edwards... 
. 97 
114 
F. J. Cooper. 
. 90.1 
117 
Re-entries: 
L. G. Burpee. 
. 73.4 
80 
F. A. Webster. 90.9 
W. D. Mansfield . 94.4 
Geo. C. Edwards. 90.2 
119 
The second contest was held on Sunday, May 
22. Wind was southwest; weather, fair. The 
scores: 
Event No. 1, distance, feet: 
Austin Sperry . 100 H. B. Sperry. 97 
J. B. Kenniff. 127 C. H. Kewell. 91 
Re-entries: 
J. B. Kenniff . 125 
Event No. 2, accuracy, per cent.: 
Dr. W. E. Brooks.. 
. 9S 
J. 
B. Kenniff.... 
. 98.2 
Austin Sperry . 
. 97.2 
H. 
B. Sperry_ 
. 98.14 
C. G. Young. 
. 98.10 
T. 
C. Kierulff.. 
. 98.13 
James Watt . 
. 96.8 
C. 
H. Kewell... 
. 98.12 
F. V. Bell. 
. 98.9 
H. 
C. Golcher.. 
. 97.14 
C. A. Kierulff. 
. 97.8 
F. 
M. Haight . 
Re-entries: 
F. V. Bell. 
. 97.11 
J. 
B. Kenniff.... 
. 99.2 
Austin Sperry . 
. 97.4 
H. 
C. Golcher.. 
. 97.14 
Event No. 3, Delicacy: 
Accuracy, Delicacy, 
Net 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 
Per Cent. 
Dr. W. E. Brooks.. 
98.4 
99.10 
98.37 
Austin Sperry . 
95.32 
97.50 
96.41 
C. G. Young. 
99.4 
98.40 
98.52 
Tames Watt . 
96.36 
97.10 
96.58 
C. A. Kierulff. 
98.24 
98.10 
93.8 
T. B. Kenniff. 
97.48 
99.20 
98.34 
H. B. Sperrv. 
98.12 
98.50 
98.31 
T. C. Kierulff. 
98.52 
98.30 
98.41 
C. H. Kewell. 
97 
97.40 
97.20 
F. M. Haight. 
95.40 
96.30 
96.5 
H. C. Golcher. 
97.56 
98.30 
98.13 
Re-entries: 
Austin Sperry . 
..... 
96.16 
97.50 
97.3 
H. C. Golcher . 
97.36 
98.20 
97.58 
Event No. 4, lure casting: 
Per Cent. 
Dr. W. E. Brooks. 91.6 
Austin Sperry . > 94.2 
C. G. Young. 95.8 
James Watt . 96.4 
C. A. Kierulff. 93.8 
T. B. Kenniff. 96.1 
H. B. Sperry. 97.7 
T. C. Kierulff. 95.3 
C. H. Newell. 89.6 
H. C. Golcher. 84.9 
F. J. Cooper. 89.8 
Re-entries: 
F, V. Bell. 85.5 
Austin Sperry . 96.4 
J. B. Kenniff .. 
H. C. Golcher. 93.6 
Dr. W. E. Brooks. 93.8 
Long Dist. 
Average. 
67.6 
103.8 
99.6 
126.2 
102.6 
152 
105 
94.6 
127 
91 
182 
134.8 
101 
E. O. Ritter, Clerk. 
The Forest and Stream may he obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
suppiy you regularly. 
