18 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 2, 1910. 
ing is mainly left to certain fish known as back- 
enders which do not leave the sea till almost 
fully ripe, thus husbanding their strength by 
making their river visit with its dangers and 
privations as brief as possible, and which work 
they begin in their grilsehood, never after being 
good for anything else but this spawning; that 
salmon are almost exhausted to death in their 
work of parturition, so that even backenders 
very seldom spawn more than twice and then 
only in alternate years so as to secure sufficient 
rest and recuperation between, and that these 
backenders never can appear as springers, no 
more than a drone bee can haply become a 
worker. 
Finally, we see that although the British spring 
salmon does not usually succumb to the cruel 
trials of its long river sojourn, sometimes last¬ 
ing fourteen or fifteen months, he scarcely ever 
repeats the experience and is very often given 
to put off the evil day as long as possible, so 
that in some cases the fish actually never leaves 
the sea at all after once entering it. What age 
or weight such a salmon may possibly attain is 
a thing of wonder, but quite shrouded in mys¬ 
tery as yet, though a salmon of a round 100 
pounds has been taken in British waters within 
the last few years or so. It is to this procrasti¬ 
nating habit that we owe our great forty-pound 
or fifty-pound springer. The experts invariably 
tell us these big fish are in the river for the 
first time, exactly as in the case of the smaller 
ones. Did they all visit us betimes it is clear 
we should never see a big fish at all. 
This theory of salmon life in its various 
phases may have its touch of apparent extrava¬ 
gance here and there, but as Bacon recommends 
in another case, we may hold it tentatively as 
explaining phenomena till such times as experi¬ 
ment and research offer us something better. 
With the decay of peel fishing in July or 
August, salmon fishing is practically over for 
the year in our early rivers, and soon after the 
first backenders begin to run. This last of the 
three migrations is at its height by November, 
and a month or so later the redds swarm with 
spawning fish. Thus springers are, many of 
them, almost a year in the main or sea river 
before leaving for the small tributary streams 
where in the highest < parts spawning is chiefly 
carried on. Peel remain a few months before 
moving up, but the backender pushes right 
through. Still this fish, too, lingers a little on 
its way and is by far, strange to say, the freest 
rising fish of all and takes the fly with great 
avidity. These backenders are well advanced 
in pregnancy on arrival, and physiology apart, 
should be of no interest to the angler. They 
are heavy and dull fighters, ugly to the eye, red 
or copper-colored externally, while the flesh is 
white, so that they may be called a good fish 
turned inside out, and except in the kippered 
condition they are unfit for food. They vary in 
size, but run large and generally include all 
the very biggest fish found in our rivers. 
Shannon Shore. 
Illinois Casting Club. 
Chicago, June 20. —Editor Forest and Stream: 
Our regular scheduled contest of June 18 (to¬ 
gether with re-entry of May 21) was cast off 
in regular order, with the exception of the fly 
events, scheduled for the morning following, 
which were postponed on account of unfavor¬ 
able conditions. 
Weather conditions.—During accuracy bait, 
wind northwest and west, shifting from variable 
to calm; during distance bait, wind southwest, 
velocity about eight miles. 
Following are the scores in the order as cast: 
>4oz. Acc’y Bait. %oz. Dist. Bait. 
- a-„ --a-- 
,T. M. Ranney_ 
Regular. 
Re-entry. Regular 
Re-entry. 
97.6 
L. E. De Garmo.. 
. 98.8 
98.7 
123% 
90% 
D. R. Linder... 
98.3 
103% 
105 
L. N. Place. 
. 98.8 
99.2 
118% 
W. W. McFarlin 
. 95.3 
97.6 
D. Kernaghan .. 
. 9S.6 
99.2 
85% 
83 Ys 
Wm. Stanley _ 
. 98.9 
99.0 
A. Bauer . 
..... 98.S 
99.0 
H. R. Winfield.. 
. 97.5 
98.0 
F. W. Hemminghous. 97.9 
98.3 
H. B. Kirk. 
. 97.9 
98.5 
O. C. Wehle. 
. 98.7 
99.3 
H. C. Chapman... 
. 93.3 
G. H. Asper. 
. 98.1 
96.5 
R. C. Nicholson.. 
. 97.8 
98.0 
W. H. Ball. 
. 99.2 
99.7 
* 
T. E. Amman. 
. 9S.8 
97.6 
97 
82% 
E. H. Mathews... 
. 98.5 
97.6 
G. W. Cook. 
. 97.5 
98.7 
81 y s 
78% 
A. G. Berg. 
. 94.5 
94.5 
E. K. Pierson- 
. 99.3 
97.2 
... 
... 
Visitors: 
Mr. Mick . 
. 97.6 
96.7 
Mr. Cooley . 
. 93.5 
... 
Mr. Town . 
. 97.8 
99.i 
116 
1.28 
Attention is 
called to 
W. H. 
Ball’s 
score in 
the quarter-ounce accuracy bait of 997, which 
breaks our club record (previously th,e highest) 
and establishes a new national record. Who’ll 
beat it? 
Re-entries: For the information of members 
who have not yet cast their re-entries, it may 
be stated that re-entries for the events of May 
7 and June 4 (postponed because of weather 
conditions) may be taken on any regular con¬ 
test day for such events during the season. 
Inter-club Contest: The first of the 1910 se¬ 
ries of contests for that loving cup, with the 
Chicago Fly Casting Club, will be held on our 
grounds on either July 10 or July 17, the date 
to be definitely determined within a few days. 
Inasmuch as the utmost harmony has always 
prevailed between the two clubs, and the “Chi¬ 
cago Fly” will, as usual, send us experts to con¬ 
test, the coming bout should be looked forward 
to with unusual interest. It is now three to 
three, with odds in favor of the next even num¬ 
ber. 
Our team will be selected on the basis of 
those five members having the highest general 
averages in the quarter and half-ounce accuracy 
bait events, and who will have completed their 
scores to the July 9 contest inclusive. 
Elgin Tourney: The complimentary tourna¬ 
ment given by the Elgin Anglers’ Club on 
the 19th instant was voted a pronounced suc¬ 
cess, and though our representation—because 
of many absentees from the city and our own 
scheduled contest—was small. 
There were some thirty odd entries, from 
various clubs, with the result briefly as follows: 
Quarter-ounce accuracy bait, first prize D. R. 
Linder; half-ounce accuracy bait, first prize W. 
W. McFarlin, Illinois Casting Club; half-ounce 
distance bait, first C. E. Lingenfelter, of the 
Illinois Casting Club and the Anglers’ Casting 
Club of Chicago. 
In the accuracy fly event, Mr. C. E. Elliott 
of the Elgin Club and Mr. Fred Peet of the 
“Chicago Fly” tied for first place, which was 
won in the cast-off by Mr. Elliott. 
O. C. Wehle, 
Secretary pro tern. 
The Tuna Club. 
Concluded from page 1019. 
CUPS, MEDALS AND PRIZES. 
(Awarded under Tackle Specifications of Blue 
Button Class.) 
Tuna (Thunnus thynnus). 
Banning Cup.—For exceeding club record, 251 
pounds, silver loving cup. 
Earlscliffe Cup.—For exceeding his record, 180 
pounds, under 1898 club rules (barring drags), 
silver loving cup. 
Burns Cup.—For exceeding club record, 251 
pounds, silver loving cup. 
Morehouse Cup.—For exceeding club record, 
251 pounds, silver loving cup. ♦ 
Conn Cup.—For largest of season over 100 
pounds, silver loving cup. 
Club Medal.—For largest of season over 100 
pounds, gold medal. 
Vom Hofe Prize.—For exceeding club record, 
251 pounds, tuna rod and reel. 
Stearns Prize.—For exceeding his record, 197 
pounds, tuna reel. 
Murphy Prize.—For last of season over 100 
pounds, tuna rod. 
Coxe Prize.—For first of season over 100 
pounds, under 1898 club rules (barring drags), 
reel. 
Pflueger’s Prize.—For largest of season over 
100 pounds, taken by lady aqgler, inlaid reel. 
Holder Prize.—For smallest of season, minia¬ 
ture loving cup. 
Club Prizes.—For first, second and third 
largest of season, respectively, gold, silver and 
bronze medallions. 
Swordfish (Tetrapturus mitsukurii). 
Holder Cup.—For largest of season, silver 
loving cup. 
Black Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas). 
Tufts-Lyon Cup.—For exceeding club record, 
436 pounds, silver loving cup. 
Rider-Macomber Medal—For largest of sea¬ 
son, gold medal. 
White Sea Bass (Cynoscion nobilis). 
Harding Medal.—For exceeding club record, 
60 pounds, gold medal. 
AWARDED UNDER TACKLE SPECIFICA¬ 
TIONS OF LIGHT TACKLE CLASS. 
Tuna (Thunnus macropterus). 
Potter Tuna Cup.—For largest of season over 
50 pounds. 
Tufts-Lyon Prize.—For largest of season, 
hand-made light tackle split bamboo rod. 
Club Prizes.—For first, second and third 
largest of season, respectively, gold, silver and 
bronze medallions. 
Yellowtail (Seriola dorsalis). 
Western Hardware & Arms Co. Cup. — For 
largest of season, silver loving cup. 
Nordlinger Cup.—For largest of season taken 
by lady angler, silver loving Cup. 
Burns Cup.—For largest of season taken by 
lady angler. 
Gillies Medal.—For largest of season. 
Simpson Prize.—For exceeding his record, 60^2 
pounds, gold ring. 
Dyas-Cline Prize.—For largest of season taken 
in competition between previous lady winners, 
silk pennant. 
