May 23, 1908 ] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
819 
had much practice at this game with practical 
surf-casting rods. The scores, in feet: 
Best cast. 
E. H. Merritt. 
212 
205 
212 
227 
220 
227 
\V. J. Moran. 
1>04 
205 
212 
225 
225 
225 
Hr. Marshall . 
192 
212 
202 
225 
225 
I. Orp . 
17S 
160 
205 
*70 
*30 
205 
1). P. Curry. 
175 
190 
187 
195 
200 
200 
E. B. Rice. 
168 
182 
176 
200 
1S5 
200 
M. T. Kennedy. 
*40 
190 
200 
200 
140 
200 
George La Branche.. 
ISO 
120 
*40 
198 
198 
K. L. Jeffrey. 
165 
170 
195 
*95 
190 
195 
J. W. Rothschild. 
•SO 
•so 
194 
1S3 
185 
194 
Lloyd Marshall . 
194 
164 
170 
186 
190 
194 
K. T. Held. 
137 
190 
125 
*60 
170 
190 
E. J. Mills. 
145 
165 
160 
147 
152 
165 
Perry D. Frazer. 
*30 
150 
*25 
150 
C. J. McCarthy. 
*50 
150 
150 
Harry Friedman. 
*60 
145 
145 
125 
*40 
145 
Tie for second place 
W. J. Moran. 
. 225 
*60 
220 
225 
Ur. Marshall . 
. 201 
195 
205 
205 
Tie for fifth place: 
\V. T. Kennedy. 
. 207 
207 
D. P. Curry. 
205 
205 
E. B. Rice. 
. Withdrew. 
CAST-OFF 
FOR 
SALMON 
RECORD. 
The tie for third place 
in the salmon 
event 
was cast off and resulted in a victory for George 
LaBranche. The scores: 
George La Branche.... 117 Perry D. Frazer. Ill 
The former holds the club record, as he ex¬ 
ceeded the tie of 116 feet by one foot. 
HIGH AVERAGES. 
Edward B. Rice won a beautiful oil painting 
for the highest amateur average in all the events. 
He scored 20 points. Second place went to C. 
J. McCarthy with 18 points, and third to R. J. 
Held, with 16 points. 
The Indian Chilwa. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have had such a lot of fun with this game 
little fish that I feel constrained to sing, nr 
rather to write, his praises. The Chela argentua, 
as Thomas calls him, is, I suppose ubiquitous 
in India. Certainly I have found him wherever 
my lines have been cast, both literally and 
figuratively, from Simla to Madras, from Bom¬ 
bay to Calcutta. I know that such small fish are 
considered by many anglers in India as not 
worth the trouble of catching, except for use as 
bait for larger game, but I belong to those who 
would rather fish for tadpoles than not fish at 
all. Moreover, if the renowned author of “The 
Rod in India” once put his rod together to 
catch frogs, as he tells us, surely the smaller 
fry among us may angle for chilwas if we 
please? 
There are many kinds of them, all cousins, so 
to speak, but they are all game, merry little 
fellows with silvery-blue sides shimmering with 
a metallic apple-green gloss, and they are ex¬ 
cellent eating. They will take almost any bait 
you offer them. In streams I always fished for 
them with a light lady’s trout rod, fine silk 
line and a very fine gut cast. I used three flies 
and fished “wet.” I got these flies from Alla¬ 
habad, and they were tied on 2/0 Pennell sneck 
hooks. Occasionally I used worms, but the 
fish took the flies so readily that I seldom fished 
with anything else. 
When fishing in still water I used a very thin 
bamboo twig, stiff and about five feet long To 
this I tied a yard or so of the same line, finished 
off with a very fine gut trace carrying a single 
2/0 hook. I then baited with a tiny pellet of 
atta (flour) paste scented with cheese, aniseed 
or something fairly strong, and fished a foot 
and a half below the surface. I had an inch of 
straw, or feather-pith for a float, and the in¬ 
stant it was pulled beneath the surface I brought 
the fish out to the bank or into the boat if fish¬ 
ing from one. A flip on the head, another pellet 
—another fishlet—and so on. The great secret 
—if it is one—was to bait with the smallest pos¬ 
sible pellet of paste, not even covering the 
barb of the hook, and striking the instant the 
float disappeared. 
In the numerous streamlets to be found at the 
bottom of almost every valley between Simla 
and Sabatlni, I have caught many hundreds, if 
not thousands of these little fish. Here, how¬ 
ever, as the streams are fairly rapid, I generally 
used flies or sometimes worms. The bridle path 
between Sabathu and Simla, just after leaving 
Kulkahutti. drops down rather suddenly some 
hundreds of feet to a small suspension bridge 
over a stream. Fishing westward along this 
stream one afternoon in the hot weather, I 
caught over two hundred chilwas. I was fish¬ 
ing with a cast of three tiny flies, very light 
tackle, and a lady’s light trout rod, and I had 
great fun. 
Sometimes a fish would leap out of the water 
JUDGE BACHMAN AND W. J. EHRICH. 
The latter held the club bait-casting record for two days. 
at one of the flies and hook himself while in the 
air; many times two were on at the same in¬ 
stant, and occasionally three. Frequently a fish 
would drop off, and almost before the fact had 
been realized another would have taken his 
place. Or, just as the line was lifted for a fresh 
cast, a fish would be swung out with it and 
hurled far away upon the bank. It was quite 
comical to watch. The only limit to the pace 
at which the fish were caught seemed to be 
the rapidity with which the angler could kill 
them, free the hook and get the line into the 
water again. 
Whenever these little fish are on the feed, as 
I think they always are from sunrise to sun¬ 
set—with an interval of a few hours sometimes 
during the middle of the day—their hunger 
seems to take the form of a violent epidemic. 
As soon as the sun is gone, the fun is all over. 
I once spent some days camping and fishing 
among the nullahs all about Sabathu and Sirai. 
I saw a few different kinds of fish, but the only 
ones I caught with one exception were small 
carp, blackspot and chilwa. The exception was 
an eel. 
Once I induced a large lizard to take a fly. I 
saw him looking out of one of the slots in the 
masonry cut to receive bridge cables I cast to 
him and he took the tail fly. I did not strike, 
of course, and he then blew it out, much as a 
fish would if one gave him time. Again I cast, 
and again he “rose.” But after that he would 
not be drawn any more. 
On another occasion, when on a trip after 
ghooral —wild goat—in the hills on the borders 
of Sirmoor, I camped for a few days beside a 
stream teeming with small fish. Among others, 
I recognized the chilwa, freshwater shark, black- 
spot and goonch. We found the goonch were 
no good to eat. The chilwa is much used in the 
Punjab as bait for the mahseer. He certainly 
forms a most attractive bait, but I always find 
him so fragile that I prefer almost anything 
else. It is probably my own clumsiness in 
arranging him on the flights, as many men I 
know use him with great success, and swear by 
him. The chilwa has many enemies. Even be¬ 
fore he emerges from the egg the campaign 
begins. His life is one of terror before he is 
the length of one’s little fingernail. I have heard 
that the mosquito kills him, and I rather in¬ 
cline to that belief. But though I have often 
watched, I have never seen it happen. I am 
quite sure that the chilwa eats plenty of 
mosquito larvae. Among his deadliest enemies 
in the water may be found his own relations, 
and as soon as he is big enough the kingfishers 
have a go at him from above. Determined as 
his myriad foes are upon his destruction, yet 
he survives, and is cheerful withal. Apart, how¬ 
ever, from those of his enemies who only take 
him singly, he has others who take him if they 
can get him—by the pint, notably the fresh¬ 
water shark. 
I think the best way to cook chilwas is as 
follows. Cut off the heads and tails, and re¬ 
move the backbone. Skewer them by dozens 
at a time on thin peeled bamboo twigs and fry 
them in butter to which has been added a 
sprinkling of curry powder. Served with slices 
of lemon, tabasco sauce and brown bread and 
butter, in my opinion, they form quite one of 
the best breakfast dishes to be met with in India. 
Starlight. 
The London Tournament. 
R. B. Marston, chairman of the tournament 
committee, informs us that at the London cast¬ 
ing tournament in July, “the minimum limit in 
length for bait-casting rods will be six feet. Our 
rule 22 will be altered. It says ‘unrestricted,’ 
but it will be restricted to a minimum length of 
six feet.” 
This bars out nearly all American bait-casting 
rods used with half and quarter-ounce weights. 
Few rods of six feet and over are used. 
Wilfred M. Plevins, who took part in the New 
York tournament last week, went home to Eng¬ 
land with a couple of American Tonkin rods, 
both of which were under six feet in length. 
They are typical of the rods used here, as are 
also the reels and lines he purchased here. It 
was his intention to practice with American half 
and quarter-ounce weights and compete in the 
London tournament. He expressed himself as 
disappointed with the rules for the London tour 
nament. He has twice taken part in tourna¬ 
ments in New York, will in all probability come 
over for the National tournament at Chicago 
in August, and is well pleased with the fair 
treatment he has received at the hands of Ameri¬ 
can anglers. 
