May 20, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
779 
/ 
Anglers’ Club of New York. 
The sixth annual fly- and bait-casting tourna¬ 
ment of the Anglers’ Club of New York was 
held May ir, 12 and 13 in Central Park. It 
opened at 2 in the afternoon of Thursday, was 
continued at the same hour on Friday, and occu¬ 
pied all of Saturday, the twelve events cast off 
furnishing anglers with a variety intended to— 
and which evidently did—please all classes. 
Weather conditions were favorable in the main. 
The first two afternoons were very warm, with 
a southeast wind, but on Saturday the wind was 
from the west and northwest, and cool, though 
gusty. Light tackle events were interfered with, 
therefore, and the distances in the salmon and 
mittee consisted of John L. Kirk, Chairman; E. 
M. Gill, Walter McGucken, W. N. Hardy, E. B. 
Rice, R. J. Held, N. S. Smith, H. C. Henderson 
and Edward F. Todd. It acquitted itself credit¬ 
ably, but special reference must be made to the 
superb fly-casting of Walter McGucken which, 
under the trying conditions, was wonderful, and 
called out praise from every one. The club’s 
secretary, Jason G. Lamison, was on the plat¬ 
form throughout the tournament, and did not 
find time to cast. 
Formerly the club had a practice platform on 
the Pool, but it was in a place where it attracted 
too much attention, particularly from little folks, 
and it was blanketed by trees, making favorable 
casting difficult. Tournaments were held on 
with more or less serious consequences. A rustic 
bridge leads to the platform, and a gate which 
is kept locked turns all persons away save those 
who practice casting. While open to the public, 
those who wish to use it must procure a key. 
This keeps little folks from playing on the plat¬ 
form and falling from it. The prevailing wind 
during the casting season is from a southerly 
direction, hence it is favorable for the casters, 
who face north or northwest, while west winds 
are broken up more or less by trees and houses 
not far away, so that easterly winds alone are 
very unfavorable. The surroundings are as 
beautiful as they are restful to tired men, and 
in case of rain there is shelter and a place to 
leave tackle in one of the park houses nearby. 
■ 
vs* 
* ' -T - 
A STUDY OF THE POSITIONS ADOPTED BY THREE EXPERT FLY-CASTERS. 
\\ alter McGucken (left), R. J. Held (center), and George La Branche (right), casting in the distance event with five-ounce fly-rods. 
heavy fly-rod events cut down in consequence, 
but the scores made were on the whole excel¬ 
lent. It must be remembered that New York 
men have little time and few opportunities to 
practice before an important tournament, and 
with most of them the only preliminary practice 
had was a hurried outing along some trout 
stream. A determination to do one’s best cast¬ 
ing is commendable, but thorough practice is 
better, particularly in accuracy events and in the 
surf, salmon and unlimited fly events, where 
muscles should at least be supple if not strong. 
Another handicap is the lack of time to ar¬ 
range for and carry out the innumerable details 
connected with a tournament of this sort. 
Usually the hard work falls on two or three 
men who happen to be good natured, but who 
are also fond of casting, and who are of course 
badly handicapped by a multiplicity of demands 
on their time and strength. This time the com- 
Harlem Mere, a favorable place generally so 
far as the elements were concerned, but so pub¬ 
lic, that during afternoons the presence of the 
reserves from one or two police stations was 
necessary in order to keep the horde of specta¬ 
tors from pushing those in the front ranks into 
the lake. These were people who had no in¬ 
terest in the sport, but came out of curiosity and 
crowded away men and women who were really 
fond of angling and anglers’ competitions. 
Van Cortlandt Park, where the national tourna¬ 
ment was held two years ago, is inconvenient, and 
the south side of the big lake in Central Park, 
where last year’s tournament was held, is a 
place of contrary winds. This year the park de¬ 
partment very generously granted to the club 
permission to erect a platform on the west side 
of the big lake off a rocky point out of the way 
of small boats and safe from the visits of small 
boys who have a way of falling into the water, 
Overlooking the platform is a natural stone plat¬ 
form where there are benches for spectators, and 
more find space along the shaded shores. 
The club’s practice of making separate classes, 
so that beginners can receive encouragement as 
they gain skill, while the experts must strive 
diligently to gain and hold their places, is an 
excellent plan and one that meets with the ap¬ 
proval of all classes. Even the handicapping 
on the records of contestants, which is always 
unfair in that it is based not on what a man 
can do under average conditions, but on what 
he has done under favorable conditions, is con¬ 
sidered as good a plan as any, for it encour¬ 
ages beginners, and in the long run is fairly 
satisfactory. 
The features of the first afternoon’s casting 
were the splendid average of 130^2 feet, made 
by A. Jay Marsh, of the Orange Rod Club, with 
quarter-ounce weight, and George La Branche’s 
