Antelope, or pronghorns, are still in a very un- 
satisfactory condition. The 1924 count shows only 
a few more than 5,000 of these animals, most of 
which are to be found in the National Forests of 
Arizona and Idaho. 
w w w 
VIRTUES OF THE BARBLESS HOOK 
GREAT deal is being written about the 
barbless hook nowadays and it seems that 
_ most anglers agree with the sportsmanlike 
principle of the thing. We wonder, though, how 
many of these anglers have actually used the barb- 
less hook and have thus overcome whatever preju- 
dices they may have had in regard to its holding 
power. 
On distinct trips to both trout and bass waters, 
members of the FOREST AND STREAM staff have 
used the Jamison hook with complete satisfaction. 
Its humane qualities become apparent the moment 
a small fish is hooked; no injury is done and 
(provided, of course, care is used in handling) the 
youngling returns to its element none the worse 
for its experience. 
The holding power of the hook is particularly 
worthy of note. So long as a taut line is main- 
tained, there is not the slightest danger of the 
quarry’s escaping. Inasmuch as the taut line is 
one of the angler’s first principles, this should en- 
tail no difficulty. However, we have observed that 
on several occasions, due to unexpected rushes of 
the fish, the line became slack, yet the hook held. 
Summing up, we fail to find any difference in 
holding power between the barbless and the old- 
style hook. We advise all readers who are not fa- 
miliar with the barbless hook to give it a thorough 
try-out, and we venture the opinion that all skep- 
ticism relative to its merits will be removed once 
and for all. 
w w ad 
THE MYSTERY OF ANGLING 
F all the recreations of man, there is none 
more alluring, more filled with the magic 
of mystéry than fishing. No angler can ex- 
plain why he fishes or what the compensation. On 
swift and silent wings the spell envelops man at 
intermittent times and he turns gladly, almost 
wildly, to his rod and lures, a willing victim to a 
strange world-old sorcery. 
He spends a day along some talking stream and 
tilts a lance with the Goddess of Luck. The time 
so used may be filled with the dreams of a living 
Arcadia, the gentle adventures of piscatorial epi- 
sodes, and that fine portion of fishing which slips 
unaware into the witchery and entanglement of 
sheer pleasure. A perfect day passes into the Val- 
halla of Angling. Fishing becomes a matter of 
mood and man. 
Fishing has been called a disease by many men. 
It is a harmless malady. It belongs to the list 
of imaginary ailments like Spring fever, Summer , 
madness, the itching foot, the wanderlust. It 
catches man unawares, in a sort of spiritual en des- 
habille. It is the stuff of dreams which makes the 
“noets, whose sweet spell 
Can make a garden of a cell!” 
Fishing is a mystery. It has changed the leop- 
ard’s spots—think of the otter and the osprey. 
So strong, compelling, elemental is the lure, man 
listens as to a siren, and goes to a day on the 
stream. With Childe Harold the spiritual being 
longs for a dwelling place in the desert or the wil- 
derness, and fishing is the answer. A day amidst 
the inscrutable, indefinable magic and mystery of 
landscapes soothes like balm, and calms the rest- 
less spirit like a benediction. The world is once 
more a place of sweet living and enjoyment. 
eae gs 
PRESENT-DAY TENDENCIES IN BAIT 
CASTING 
N harmony with the tendency of the times 
| toward conservatism and better sportsmanship, 
light lures in bait casting are now occupying 
the attention of anglers. 
Bait casting is distinctly an American achieve- 
ment, having for its background the capture of 
a fighting fish as truly native as the Indian, viz., 
the black bass. 
Since the origin of the sport some decades ago, 
radical changes have come over all articles of 
equipment used by the short rod caster. In the 
process of evolution, the rod probably has received 
the greatest attention. From a heavy, stiff, club- 
like affair, devoid of action, our rod makers have 
developed beautiful examples of near perfection. 
Present-day rods are lithe without weakness, 
active and sympathetic to the angler’s touch. In 
addition, they have been so reduced in weight as 
to make their handling a positive pleasure through- 
out the day’s angling. 
Reels, on the other hand, have undergone but 
few changes. With the exception of aluminum 
spools, free spool devices and level winding 
mechanisms, they are essentially as first designed 
by the old school of reel makers, Meek, Milam and 
Talbot. In fact, many fine old examples of quad- 
ruple multipliers by these makers are still in use. 
Years of experimenting have given us good 
reliable lines of silk, well braided throughout their 
length and perfectly adapted to work for which 
they are intended. 
Lures, it seems, have been the slowest of the 
bait casting essentials to evolve, and this despite 
the fact that experiment and invention has never 
ceased since the day of the old ‘‘expert”’ plug, with 
its long wooden body and formidable array of 
gang hooks. 
The reason probably is that makers of baits 
have laid undue stress on color and design, over- 
looking the fact that bulk and weight are handi- 
caps rather than assets. The best plug baits of 
to-day are without question the light, trim and 
beautiful examples now turned out by leading 
manufacturers. Without the addition of numer- 
ous gangs, the heavy, cumbersome plug becomes 
innocuous, and public sentiment is rapidly out- 
lawing the gang hooks. 
During the past few years, manufacturers have 
produced in increasing quantities many forms of 
weighted flies, bugs, pork rind lures and spinners. 
They are artistic and pleasant to handle, and 
though bearing but a single hook they are highly 
efficient. 
One has but to use light lures in combination 
with the proper tackle to realize that through 
their agency bait casting finds its highest expres- 
sion. 
A475 
