

——— 
AuG. 31, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 





EA ANID IRINVIRIR TFISTEDING 




The National Casting Tournament. 
Ir there is any person in Racine, Wis., «who 
is not proud of the manner in which the mem- 
bers of the Racine Fly-Casting Club conducted 
the national fly- and bait-casting tournament, 
held in Racine, Aug. 15, 16 and 17, that person 
has not yet been found. 
The tournament was a great feather in the 
cap of the one-year-old National Association of 
Scientific Angling Clubs, but the Racine anglers 
deserve a great deal of the credit for placing 
the feather so that it would stay. The Racine 
club is not a large one or an old one, and its 
members are very busy men. Some of them had 
never before attended a tournament. Until a 
short time ago they had no body of water that 
would serve the purpose. Up to the night be- 
fore the opening day they were still in the dark 
as to the mumber of contestants they could ex- 
pect; for, although Secretary Browne had sent 
out programmes and entry blanks, only a small 
number had responded. There was a convention 
in town and the best hotel had more than its 
usual number of guests. 
A few of these conditions might have stumped 
a less energetic club, but the situation was met 
and the members were equal to it. 
The only criticism we have to make is that 
members of clubs failed to notify the Racine 
committeemen of their intentions, and caused 
the latter needless anxiety and worry. Of course 
there were many who did not know whether they 
could attend, but it is easier to provide for ten 
persons and find that half of them have failed 
to put in an appearance than to provide for one 
and have ten arrive at the last moment when 
even the last cot is occupied. 
At. the tournament grounds there was never 
any fuss or flurry. None of the officials. showed 
excitement by calling to others at a distance. 
The only voices that were heard above the hum 
of conversation were two: that of Club Captain 
John R. Dishington, who frequently used a mega- 
phone, but who never needed it. so clear and 
distinct were all the orders uttered in his power- 
ful bass voice; and that of Charles H. Wash- 

H. E. 
Secretary of the National Association of Scientific Angling Clubs, ready to cast. 
RICE, 


burne, president of the club, who moved about 
quietly, but who was always just where he could 
be of the most assistance to the boys. 
Dr. Charles F. Browne, the secretary-treasurer, 
who is also treasurer of the National Associa- 
tion, worked like a beaver in his tent, in town 
and everywhere. 
Allen B. Northrup, chairman of the entertain- 
ment committee, secured quarters for the visi- 
tors, made up a splendid display of all the prizes 
in one of his large store windows, assisted in 
various ways, and earned the thanks of every- 
body. 
Allen H. Barnes, vice-president of the club and 
chairman of the publicity committee; O. F. Bots- 
ford, chairman of the trophies committee; E. B. 
Hand, chairman of the reception committee, and 
the members individually and collectively worked 
together as smoothly and as quietly as if they 
had been training. 
The tournament grounds were about ten 
minutes’ ride from the court house square. 
Root River, a crooked stream, meanders along 
one side. Flowing into it at right angles is a 
small brook whose bed is in the center of a 
swale one hundred yards wide, with a high hill 
on one side and a lower 
bridge crosses the brook at its mouth, and the 
road is a bit higher than the swale. By con- 
structing a dam with a spillway under the bridge, 
the Racine clubmen flowed this swale, giving 
several feet of water along the road-dam for a 
width of forty yards, and a shallow lagoon 
several hundred yards back up the grassy 
swale. 
Two platforms were erected on one side of 
the lagoon and about 125 feet apart. Off the 
other shore was a.third. Back of these, and out 
of the way of all contestants, a narrow platform 
was thrown clear across the lagoon, for those 
desiring to practice. A whole flock of metal 
cans, pdinted red, were moored within casting 
distance of this long platform. There were two 
at 60, two at 65, and two more every five feet 
up to 100, and that the arrangement was ap- 
preciated was evident, for from 8 o'clock in 
the morning until dark the bait-casters stood 
THE 
one on the other. A’ 
shoulder to shoulder in one long row practicing 
at the buoys. 
Then there were two targets, one for practice 
and one for use in the bait-casting events, and 
the fly-casters limbered up on one of the plat 
forms that was not in use at the time for events 
The targets were excellent, and the larger one 
was praised by all hands, as wiéh it accurate 
scoring by the judges was made simple and 
rapid. A large flat bottom boat was attached tp 
a heavy line made fast at either end, and by 
simply hauling on the line the boat was moved 
from point to point as the target was changed, 
then held alongside through the medium of a 
long bamboo pole jabbed down in the bottom of 
the pond. Chairs for the judges faced the target, 
and they sat throughout an event in such com 
fort as they could obtain, though the hot sun 
of the last two days, and the rains of the first, 
were not all pleasant, and scarlet faces were 
abundant. 
The target was attached to a long line, one 
end of which was made fast to a corner of the 
casting platform. There was a metal ring on 
the platform post, and the target line was equip- 
ped every five feet with a snap hook. Whenever 
the distance was diminished, Captain Dishing- 
ton pulled on the line until the next snap came 
to hand, when he made it fast to the post-ring, 
ordered the boy on duty at the other end of the 
line to haul it taut and make fast, and another 
round was started. To increase the distance one 
hook after another was cast adrift, and the boy 
straightened the line. Nothing could be simpler. 
The marking line for distance fly-casting was 
equipped with large floats, one every five feet, 
with small floats every foot. The first mark was 
85 feet distant from the casting platform and 
the last 160 or further. The large floats were 
egg-shaped, but with four sides flattened slightly 
to give space for marking the distance. They 
were painted drab and the figures black. 
For the accuracy and delicacy fly-casting there 
were three thirty-inch hoops of wood attached 
to a line, each with a three-inch wood disk for 
a center. The first one was painted red, the 
second one white, and the third blue. 


FIRST EVENT OF THE TOURNAMENT. 
Accuracy Casting, quarter-ounce, for professionals. 

