Nov. s, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
741 
Fishing in the West. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 24.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: But few of the local anglers are 
making trips now to any of the trout streams 
in the sierras, although reports coming from 
there indicate that fishing is still in excellent 
shape in spite of the rains that have fallen. 
Most of the fishing that is now being done is 
in the vicinity of the coast and striped bass are 
attracting by far the greatest amount of atten¬ 
tion. At several places on San Francisco Bay 
crude oil has been allowed to escape and some 
of the finest fishing grounds are being ruined. 
At Rodeo, one of the best nearby bass grounds, 
oil is found in such quantities that the fish taken 
are not fit for consumption, and around San 
Pablo the same trouble is being experienced. 
The oil does not seem to have destroyed any 
of the fish, but is gradually driving them away 
from their favorite feeding grounds. Within a 
short time it is anticipated that some good sport 
will be experienced at Wingo and San Antonio 
sloughs, as here some very fine catches were 
made last year and some large fish taken. This 
season but few bass have been found there, but 
a late run is expected. No large fish have been 
taken in the bay so far this season, most of 
those caught ranging from four to eight pounds 
in weight. 
The recent heavy storm along the coast has 
closed the bar at the mouth of the Russian 
River, and no steelhead trout can come into 
that stream, although there are great numbers 
outside waiting to do so. An effort will be 
made to open the bar before the heavy rainy 
season sets in and some fine sport would then 
be secured in the vicinity of Duncan’s Mills. 
Steelheads are running strongly in the vicinity 
of Capitola and some local anglers are journey¬ 
ing to that seaside resort for week-end sport. 
A. P. B. 
Cast of a Swordfish. 
There is now nearly ready for exhibition at 
the American Museum of Natural History the 
cast of a very perfect representative of the 
swordfish taken last summer off Block Island. 
It is the gift of George McKesson Brown. As 
soon as captured, late in July, it was put into a 
specially constructed zinc lined tank filled with 
ice, and sent to the museum, reaching there in 
admirable condition for casting. 
Sword fishing off Block Island has long been 
a sport practiced by a few people, but it is said 
that the species is growing more and more rare. 
The swordfish is a beautiful creature, swift, 
graceful and constantly changing its iridescent 
colors. 
It is reported that the swordfish can endure 
extraordinarily high pressures and that it may 
dive to a depth of 1,200 feet. “When harpooned 
and given freedom, fastened only to a floating 
keg, it may carry a 200-fathom line straight down 
till taut. If the line is too short to reach the 
bottom, the keg will be dragged under.” Then 
the pressure may become so great as to crush 
the keg and the fish may be lost. 
A Water Rat on the Fly. 
A writer in the Field recently tells of the 
unusual action of a water rat, which, while 
CHANNEL BASS FISHING AT BARNEGAT INLET. 
Photographs by “Switch Reel.” 
New Publications. 
Cavanagh, Forest Ranger, by Hamlin Garland. 
Cloth, 300 pages, $1.50. New York, Harper 
& Bros. 
A girl who was born in a cow camp in the 
West, and who spent ten years in school in 
Philadelphia, on returning to her home, was dis¬ 
appointed and discouraged over the changes that 
had taken place. These, the author would have 
it appear, were in the nature of a transition from 
the “chivalrous days” of the old West, when 
every man was a hero, toted one or two guns 
and shot up towns and fellow men, to the pres¬ 
ent, when all is sordid and honor is unknown. 
That is one side. On the other are the men of 
the forest service, whose every action is heroic, 
pitted against the avarice, hatred and greed of 
cattle men, poachers and sheep men. Naturally 
the story is one of action, though the plot is 
lame. It is a curious mixture of statements in 
which the good and evil of the old West and 
the new are strangely distorted, leaving in the 
mind of the reader ignorant of conditions the 
he was fishing, came out from under the bank 
he was kneeling on and took his fly, a red palmer. 
The angler struck and hooked the rat, which 
at once began to dive. After playing it for some 
little time, as he was bringing the rat to the 
landing net, it seemed to seize the gut in its 
paws and either broke or bit it through and 
went off. 
It seems probable that the rat seized the fly 
through curiosity and was hooked before it 
learned what it was that he had taken in its 
mouth. There are of course a number of cases 
on record where swallows, bats and perhaps 
other animals have striven to take a fly. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
On Election Day, Nov. 8, the Newark Bait- 
and Fly-Casting Club will hold an all-day cast¬ 
ing tournament on Weequahic Lake, Newark, 
N. J. The first event, distance casting with un¬ 
limited fly-rods, will be called at 9 o’clock. Dis¬ 
tance bait-casting, half-ounce weights, will fol¬ 
low. The other events will be: Distance fly¬ 
casting with five-ounce rods, accuracy bait, half¬ 
ounce and accuracy fly. 
impression that the West in the -six-shooter days 
was a haven of safety for unprotected girls, but 
that it is now no place for decent persons to live. 
As a brief for the forestry cause, the story is 
in the main excellent, and as there are many 
long arguments explanatory of the benefits accru¬ 
ing from the preservation of the forests and the 
game, it is worth reading. 
Recreations of a Sportsman on the Pacific 
Coast, by Charles Frederick Holder. Cloth, 
399 pages, 74 illustrations from photographs, 
$3 net. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
How Gifford Pinchot hooked, played and 
brought to gaff some of the huge swordfishes 
of the San Clemente Channel, is told in the 
opening chapter of Professor Holder’s latest 
book. That was at a time when Governor 
Pardee, Stewart Edward White, Mr. Pinchot 
and Mr. Holder were cruising in a small yacht 
and camping on San Clemente Island, off 
the Southern California coast. The other chap¬ 
ters deal with fishing in streams and lakes all 
along the western slopes, with shooting and 
other recreations. Some of the chapters have 
been printed in Forest and Stream. 
