ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Cornell University Library
SH 456.H16

Dry-fly fishing in theory and practice /

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DRY-FLY FISHING.
Ballantyne JOress
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND co.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
 

   

 
DRY-FLY FISHING

IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

B

FREDERIC uA LFORD, F.L5,

(“DETACHED BADGER" OF “THE FIELD”)

AUTHOR OF
‘FLOATING FLIES AND HOW TO DRESS THEM”
MEMBER OF ‘‘ THE HOUGHTON CLUB,” ‘' FLY-FISHERS’ CLUB," ETC,

LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
LIMITED
St, Dunstan's Wouse
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1889
[All Rights Reserved]
AULT

SH
456

Wie

266233
TO

GEORGE SELWYN MARRYAT.

In the last chapter of “ Floating Flies and How to Dress Them,”
entitled “ Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen,” the production of this work
ts foreshadowed.

Lf these pages meet with the approval of our brother anglers; tf they
contain anything that ts likely to be useful, anything that is new, any-
thing that zs instructive, or anything that ts to make dry-fly fishing a
more charming or more engrossing pursuit than it now ts, the novelty,
the instruction, and the charm are due to the innumerable hints you
have been good enough to convey to me at different times during the
many days of many years which we have spent together on the banks
of the Test.

As a faint acknowledgment of ail these obligations, and as a mark
of high esteem and deep affection, this humble effort to perpetuate your
teachings is dedicated to you by

Your grateful Pupil,

FREDERIC M. HALFORD.

35 INVERNESS TERRACE, W.,
November 1888.
ANGLING,

Go, take thine angle, and with practised line,
Light as the gossamer, the current sweep ;

And if thou failest in the calm still deep,

In the rough eddy may a prize be thine.

Say thou’rt unlucky where the sunbeams shine ;
Beneath the shadow where the waters creep,
Perchance the monarch of the brook shall leap—
For fate is ever better than design.

Still persevere ; the giddiest breeze that blows
For thee may blow, with fame and fortune rife ;
Be prosperous—and what reck if it arose

Out of some pebble with the stream at strife,
Or that the light wind dallied with the boughs.

Thou art successful ; such is human life.

THos. DoUBLEDAY.

1790 circa.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR

CHAPTER II.

FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES

CHAPTER III.

HOW TO CAST

CHAPTER IV.
WHERE TO CA8T

CHAPTER V.
WHEN TO CAST .

CHAPTER VI.

STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING .

CHAPTER VII.

CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE ANGLER’S SPORT .

CHAPTER VIII.

SELECTION OF FLY

PAGE

36

46

vas

98

IIo

138

162
x TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

EVENING FISHING

CHAPTER X.

HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING

»

CHAPTER XI.

AUTOPSY .

CHAPTER XII.

TROUT OR GRAYLING .

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY

INDEX

PAGE
201

217

231

251

260

281
Pratze iI.
‘5 IL
‘3 ITI.
i IV.

. Downward Cut—Forward Position .

si VI.

» VIL

» VIIL

3 IX.

p> RL
5 Sar
» XII
» XIV.
oY

» XVI
XVIL
» XVIIL

”

oo) OE,

LIST OF PLATES.

Landing a Trout . ‘ : ; Frontispiece

Grip of the Rod
Over-handed Cast—Backward Position
” » Coming forward .

‘3 » Forward Position

Under-handed Cast—Backward Position
i a Coming Forward
“ 3 Forward Position
Steeple-Cast—Recovering the Line
+5 5 Backward Position
3 » Coming Forward
Dry Switch—Commencement
5 3 Finish
Where to Cast—Illustrative Plan
Mayfly—Eggs, Larve and Nymphe—
Coloured

Larva and Nymphe Magnified

Sub-imago Male and Female—
Magnified
Imago Female Magnified

Sub-imago and Imago—Coloured

”

”

to face page 46

48
50
52
54
56
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
go

172

180

188
xii LIST OF PLATES.

Puate XX. Mayfly—Imago Male Magnified to face page 192

» XI. Autopsy—Longitudinal Section of Trout __,,

Nymphe of Ephemeride
gee oe _
Caddis and Shrimp—Coloured
» XXIII. % Nymphez of Ephemeride

Magnified .
., XXIV. a Caddis and Shrimp Magnified

» XV. Management of a Fishery—Illustrative
Plan .

”

eA

232

238

242

246

276
DRY-FLY FISHING.

CHAPTER I.

THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR.

BEForE attempting to teach a novice how to fish
with the floating fly, it may be desirable, as a preli-
minary step, to give some detailed information about
the tools with which he is expected to work.

In this chapter it is my object to discuss calmly
and without prejudice the pros and cons of each
branch of the subject, in the hopes of inducing the
rising generation of anglers to commence their study
with the aid of the best devised and most suitable
gear. Possibly I may in some instances even per-
suade experienced anglers to abandon what they
have used for years, and substitute improvements
which will tend to render the pursuit of their sport
at once easier and more fascinating. One paramount
difficulty occurs, and this is to avoid making one’s
self the means of puffing the wares of any one or
more makers to the detriment of others who, al-

though unknown to the author, may be as capable
A
2 DRY-FLY FISHING.

of producing first-rate work, and as honest in supply-
ing it. If any names are mentioned here, it is only
because it is barely possible to describe the improve-
ments made in various portions of the angler’s gear
without in some instances referring to the names of
those who have made these particular improvements
their specialities. Although the word “dry” is used
as a qualifying adjective to the expression “ fly fisher-
man” in the title of this chapter, it will, I hope, be
found that most, if not all, of the various kinds of
rods and tackle, as well as the reasons for and
against using them, will apply with as much force
to the votary of the sunk or wet-fly style as to the
most infatuated disciple of the floating fly.

The first and most important factor to be con-
sidered is the choice of a rod; and on this question
the whole angling fraternity is divided into two totally
distinct schools, viz., those who advise the use of a
double-handed and those who prefer a single-handed
one for dry-fly fishing. The advocates of the double-
handed rod allege that with it they can throw a
longer line, and that at the same time the fly is
laid as lightly on the water as with the single-
handed. They also lay great stress on having more
power over a fish while playing it, and being better
able to keep a hooked trout from plunging headlong
into the nearest bed of weeds. On the other hand
the votaries of the single-handed rod deny that a
longer line can be thrown with a double-handed.
They also urge that any fancied advantage due to
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 3

greater power over the hooked fish is far more than
outbalanced by the manifest disadvantage of having
to carry and wield a heavier implement. Above
all, they defend their preference on the ground of
being able to cast with greater delicacy and accu-
racy, of being far less liable to break the fine
gut in the act of striking, and in addition of being
able to cast with greater ease against a much
stronger adverse wind than is possible with the
best balanced double-handed rod.

Personally I am, and have always been, entirely
in accord with those who swear by the small single-
handed rod, and have freely expressed this opinion
at different times. Some friends have criticised and
some utterly condemned this opinion. Those who
have condemned it have quoted as a strong autho-
rity against me one of my best friends, now, alas!
no more, the late Francis Francis. His name and
his opinions have carried and ever must carry very
great weight with all fly fishermen, whether they
have known him personally or whether they have
merely read his charming and ever fresh writings.
He frequently discussed this question with Mr.
Marryat and myself after a hard day’s fishing
together. On this one subject we never could
agree; but at the same time Mr. Marryat and I,
albeit strong advocates of our own idea, admitted
freely that his contention might be right as to the
two points of casting further through being able to
hold up a much longer line, and not being so liable
4 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to catch the long grass behind the angler; and, in
consequence of the greater power of the double-
handed rod, having more command over a hooked
fish. The late Mr. Francis, however, in that spirit
of tolerance and justice which ever characterised
him and endeared him to all who came in contact
with him, conceded the point that for delicate or
accurate casting with the wind, and in a far greater
degree against the wind, the double-handed rod
never had a chance with the single, and he himself
in the last published edition of “A Book on Ang-
ling” (the sixth), inserted the following footnote on
page 160: “TI have seen 26 yards cast with a single-
handed rod, and I also cast that length at the
same time with the same line and rod. It was on
the Old Barge river at Winchester that that was
done, my friend Mr. Marryat being the other ope-
rator, and it was with his rod and line. I have
heard of even longer casts than this.”

This admission as to distance cast, coupled with
the fact that he himself frequently carried a spare
single-handed ten-foot rod for casting a comparatively
short line to fish rising under his own bank, I
think very much diminishes the strength of his own
arguments. As I said before, however, we never
could agree on this subject, and the conclusion
of our argument invariably was the same, “Quot
homines tot sententiae;” and on this angling subject
alone we had to agree to differ.

Having determined to select a single-handed rod,
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 5

the points for consideration are, firstly, the material
from which the rod should be made; secondly, its
length; and thirdly, the style of action to be pre-
ferred. With regard to materials, it may be deemed
too positive an assertion to say so, but I think that
there are, practically speaking, only two open to the
would-be purchaser, namely, split cane, and green-
heart. The greenheart is far less expensive, and
not much heavier than the glued-up split cane. It
certainly casts very well, and another very satis-
factory feature about it is that it stands well after
continual whipping. - Occasionally it has a knack of
breaking off short in a somewhat surprising way.
The fracture usually takes place in the lower or
stiffer portion of the rod. As an example, in a
three-joint rod it may be predicted that if this
accident happens it will be either just below or just
above the ferrule at the upper end of the butt.
Sometimes a flaw will be found in the timber to
account for it, and, with much of the cheap rubbish
sold to the unwary, another probable cause of fracture
at this part of the rod is the weakness produced by
ignorance, or possibly neglect, when boring the butt
to receive the tongue of the lower ferrule of the
middle joint, or what the rod-maker calls the joint.
This boring should never be carried as low as the
end of the female ferrule on the butt, otherwise a
weak place is invariably left. A very small practical
experiment in measuring will enable a purchaser
to make sure of this point when selecting his rod.

%
6 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Very often, however, a greenheart rod broken in this
way reflects no discredit whatever on the manu-
facturer. There is no flaw, the boring is not carried
below the ferrule, and there is apparently no cause
to account for the accident. In such a case it may
be asserted that the angler himself is to blame.

He has smashed his rod by neglect of a primary
desideratum for one who wishes to become a fisher-
man, namely, patience. He has returned his fly
from the water and sent it swinging out behind
him, but instead of waiting until his rod is released
from the strain of this backward motion, has pre
maturely forced it forward again in the mistaken
notion that this action will enable him to cast
further. No timber can stand this double strain,
and hence the smash. For all who only fish
occasionally, and do not care to go to the expense
of the glued cane rod, greenheart is pre-eminently the
timber to select. It is not safe to buy even this at
too low a price, as the timber should be thoroughly
seasoned ; the lengths intended to form each joint
rent, not sawn; and the ferrules made of hard metal,
properly fitted—all and each of which matters of
detail add to the cost slightly, but far more to the
efficiency of the rod.

For the fisherman for whom the comparatively
small difference in price is not important, glued
cane can be most strongly recommended. It is
far superior in every way, and is well worth the
difference in cost. It casts better and casts further,
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 7

and does the work with less labour both to the
angler and to the rod. In fact there is precisely
the same difference between a split cane and a green-
heart rod as between a thoroughbred and an under-
bred horse. One answers when called upon for an
extra effort, the other shuts up. There seems to be
no limit to the responsive power of a first-class
glued-up cane rod in efficient hands, so long as the
line can be kept up off the ground behind the fisher-
man. In addition to this, the built cane rod will
slide four or five yards of slack line through the
rings when making a long cast, if a fairly heavy line
is used; to attempt this with a greenheart rod of
similar action would result in a broken rod.

When properly constructed the action of the built
cane rod is true; it bends equably from point to butt.
When returning, especially a very long line, it seems
to recover sooner from the forward strain of lifting
the line, and instead of quivering when the length
of line is behind the angler, seems to stiffen itself
at once, and hence to be sooner prepared to with-
stand the strain of the cast. Mathematically and
mechanically speaking, the hexagonal section is
the very strongest possible; and further than that,
in the method of manufacture all the outside bark,
which is the hardest, the most waterproof, and the
most elastic portion of the material, is used, while
the interior of the cane, which is soft, brittle, friable
sometimes, and worthless for purposes of rod-making,
is to a great degree discarded. Not many English
8 DRY-FLY FISHING.

anglers will probably be inclined to make their own
rods; but if they do, I can only advise them to read,
and read carefully, Mr. Henry P. Wells’ book, en-
titled ‘Fly Rods and Fly Tackle,” published a short
time since by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle,
& Rivington. The author of this admirable work
has studied and carried out himself every part of
the process of rod-making in his own country, the
United States. He has probably seen much of the
American method of manufacture, and evidently he
is well able to appreciate the good and the bad
points of it. In fact, nearly all his advice is as good
as possible for the practical work of the rod-maker ;
excepting, perhaps, the question of ferrules, with
which I will deal later. It must, however, be re-
membered that to buy here or in America a glued
cane rod at a very low figure must of necessity cause
disappointment to the angler when he attempts
to use it. It is impossible to make a rod of this
description excepting at a comparatively high price.

Just consider successively the details of manu-
facture. First there is the cane. It has to be
selected, it has to be purchased, it has to be
seasoned, and seasoning is an operation which takes
very considerable time; and on the question of
selection the judgment of a thoroughly experienced
workman and judge of this class of timber is
required—an experience which can only be got at
some cost. Having selected your cane, and having
seasoned it, the pieces fit for making the sections of
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 9

the rod have to be rent out of it (rent, not sawn).
Very many of the cheap and inferior rods sold here
are made of sawn sections; and it must be remem-
bered that whereas the whole of the cane can be
sawn into the requisite pieces, comparatively only
a few sections fit for use can be split out of each
cane. These sections have then to be planed true
on two sides to an angle of 60 degrees. Six of
these sections have to be accurately fitted and
glued together to make each joint. They are
then securely bound with string and left until the
glue is set absolutely hard, and it takes many
months for the glue in the interior of the built
sections to set. When it is set the action of each
joint has to be tried, and the whole of the joints
making the rod have then to be put together
with temporary ferrules in order to judge what the
action of the entire rod will be.

Some of our friends may say that with a wooden
rod this same experiment has to be tried; but it
must be remembered that with the solid wood rod,
if it is too stiff, it is only necessary for the rod-
maker to mark the places where it is too stiff and
pare these portions of the joint or joints down.
But with the glued-up rod this is altogether im-
possible, because if he pares down the exterior of the
rod he will remove from it the bark, the only portion
which is of any value for rod-making; hence if
either of the joints be too stiff, it must be promptly
condemned as far as that particular rod is concerned.
10 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Of course if it is too limber he has a chance, and his
chance is to shorten this joint slightly; and if the
result of this shortening is to render the joints of
unequal length, the sale value of the rod is, owing to
a somewhat absurd prejudice on the part of English
sportsmen, much impaired. If any of my amateur
friends should try making glued-up rods, they would
probably be astonished to find how great an effect
on the action of the rod is produced by cutting a
very short piece off any one of the joints, and hence
he can judge how easily, in attempting to remedy
the above-mentioned fault, the rod can be made so
stiff as to be utterly useless.

Having now tried the rod, and got the action of
it quite true from end to end, and seen that the butt
is strong and well set up; having also removed any
superfluous glue from the surface, a considerable
amount of time and labour has to be expended in
whipping the rods with waxed silk at frequent
intervals. On. this point I do not agree with
our American friends, who ‘space their whippings
much too far apart. Lately I have had all glued-
up rods armed with whippings at intervals of about
half an inch at the point to three-quarters of an inch
at the butt; and this is to my mind a great improve-
ment, as tending not only to increase the steely
quality of the rod, but to save it from a probable
smash when it is imperative to kill or cure by putting
an undue strain on a hooked fish. Besides, it is an
assistance to the rod on the occasions when an extra
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. II

long cast has to be made. It is an admirable plan
to whip greenheart rods in the same way, as it in-
creases the stiffness but little and the spring very
considerably.

We now come to the question of varnish. Of
course the mere detail of laying on the varnish is
simple, and whether in England or in America work-
men who can accomplish it are easily found. The
English makers, however, are not as a rule so suc-
cesssful in the varnish they use as the Americans.
Some of the very best glued cane rods are made
in this country, and in all other respects they are
to my mind unmistakably better than the very
best of the Americans. After a season or so the
varnish usually cracks on the surface from the
mere action of the rod, damp gradually works under
the varnish, and it then peels off in flakes, exposing
the exterior portion of the cane (which perhaps is
not very important, as it is almost watertight), but
also exposing the glue in the joint, which in time
must suffer from the action of continual moisture.

In Mr. Wells’ book full instructions are given on
every other detail of the manufacture of glued-up
rods, but strange to relate he is to a small degree
reticent as to the particular form of varnish used.
He calls it coach body varnish, and further on says,
“T use ‘Valentine’s Quick Levelling Varnish.’” I
am told that different carriage builders use different
varnishes for this purpose. I suspect that he means
copal, and this very likely is one of the best varnishes
12 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to use for the purpose. If English rod-makers adopt
it generally their customers must, however, give
them a little more time to carry out repairs: if they
expect them to revarnish, as it takes several days
to dry, and practically weeks ta become adequately
hard.

Some anglers prefer spliced to jointed rods,
urging as their reason for this preference that the
action of a spliced rod is more uniform throughout
than that of an equally well-made rod in which the
joints are connected by the usual metal ferrules.
Before the use of thin hard metal for ferrules, when
they were made of heavy soft brass tubing, there
might have been some good grounds for this, but
with the more modern form of metal ferrules the
action with a properly balanced and thoroughly
well-finished rod is uniform throughout.

Besides the trouble of splicing each time the rod
is taken down, to my mind a great objection to the
principle is that the splice is never thoroughly firm
and sound unless the two taper ends of the joint
are cemented or glued together, when the rod is
practically in one piece. There is always more or
less tendency in the splice to work looser and
looser, and a very small degree of give in it utterly
ruins the action of the rod. Mr. Wells has in his
book, entitled “The American Salmon Fisherman,”
exhaustively argued out the mechanical and practical
disadvantages of the splice, and to those who dis-
agree with me I would commend the study of pages
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 13

33 to 37 in his valuable work. Having deter-
mined to use ferrules, I must confess myself unable
on this one particular point to agree with Mr.
Wells, who is a strong advocate for the simple
parallel fitting as against the ordinary tongued
ones used in this country. On this point I speak
with great diffidence, believing that he may possibly
be right, and that the unpleasant experience I have
had when using rods fitted with the simple ferrule
has been due to imperfections in the manufacture—
to imperfections of fitting accurately the male to
the female ferrule. But mechanically his argument
may be right. If both ferrules are perfectly cir-
cular in section and fit accurately the entire length,
there may be no tendency in one joint to become
separated from the other in the act of casting,
although such rods have not in my experience
been seen in this country.

Candidly, however, I doubt the correctness of his
theory mechanically. It seems that any action pro-
ducing a tendency in the line to fly forward must
have a precisely similar effect on the fittings of the
joints by the friction of the line in the rings. This,
though slight at each cast, is evidently cumulative, and
must in time slacken, and if not remedied, sooner
or later propel the top joint from the ferrule. Until
some marked improvement is made in this point,
I must recommend our English anglers to select
the tongued ferrule, and invariably to tie the joints
together with the ordinary hitcher arrangement.
14 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Neglect of this precaution is very likely to gradually
work the top joint out of the fitting, until at last
the entire strain is thrown on the tongue, which,
being then loose in the socket, gets broken off.

If, however, they are willing to go to some little
extra expense to save themselves this trouble of
tying the joints together, they can do so by using
a screw fitting made by Messrs. Hardy Brothers.
There are other screw fittings made and illustrated
in the Badminton series, but I have not found
either of them satisfactory in use. If the male
ferrules are smeared with old curd soap before
putting the rod together, the joints will very seldom
get jammed. If they should, however, get so firmly
fixed that they cannot be easily taken apart, a few
drops of paraffin placed on the top of the female
ferrule will in a few minutes find its way into the
fitting and remedy the fault.

The rod rings may be either upright, for those
who prefer them (and of all upright forms that
known as the snake is the best), or they may
be of the ordinary loose pattern. The line passes
a little more freely through the former, and the
advantage of the latter is that when packed in the
case there is less likelihood of their becoming broken
or injured. In either case they should be made of
hard German silver. The point ring should be of
the Bickerdyke pattern, or what I think quite as
good, a steel ring revolving in an eye made of
the same wire as the rings. The winch fittings
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 15

should be of the ordinary description, and nothing
further would require to be said on this subject if
tackle-makers had realised what other trades have
been compelled to do, namely, the necessity of
uniformity. Every little maker, however, now-a-
days thinks he has achieved some distinction in
making the scoop of his winch either extraordi-
narily large or particularly small, so that the ordi-
nary winch fitting as fixed on the rod in the one
case will not admit of the reel being put in place,
and in the other will not hold it steadily without
the trouble of packing with paper or some such
substance. Hence, probably, Herr Emil Weeger’s
invention, adopted by Messrs. Hardy, of a conical
fitting at the lower end to take the scoop, and a
ring with very considerable range to secure the
forward end of it.

Some makers and some anglers are very wroth at
the idea of having a spear at the end of the rod.
Its disadvantage is that when playing the fish it
is uncomfortable, and if made too pointed or sharp
may even injure the fisherman or his waterproof.
But if it is made quite blunt and round at the
end there is the immense advantage of being able
to stand your rod up in the ground, so that there
is no likelihood of its being trampled on either
by yourself, your fellow-fisherman, or cattle on the
meadow. When spearing the rod, never jam it into
the ground with a jerk, as this sets the ferrules
tight, shakes the rod, and especially, if it happens
16 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to strike a stone, is likely to break the winch.
Take the butt of the rod with both hands just
above the reel, and press the spear steadily into the
ground.

Now as to the length of the rod to be selected.
At the time when Mr. Francis published the first
edition of his book on Angling, dry-fly fishing was
comparatively unknown ; and as the angler had only
occasionally to make a cast, and never to keep his
fly in the air while working backwards and _ for-
wards to dry it, the exertion of wielding a com-
paratively long rod was very slight. Hence we find
that of the four single-handed rods spoken of by
him the shortest was 11 ft. 7 in., and the longest
12 ft. 8in.; and he himself says that a single-handed
rod ‘“‘ should not be less than to or more than 13 ft.
in length.” JI do not think that the argument that
men in those days were more muscular or more
hardy than we are at present is worth any serious
consideration; and hence I impute this advice to
the fact of the principles of dry-fly fishing being
then in their infancy. In the present day no trout-
fisher can require a rod anything longer than 11 ft.,
and from this to 9 ft. 6 in. are the dimensions every
practical rod-maker or angler would recommend.

With an eleven-foot rod past masters in the art
can cover a fish at from 26 to 30 yards, and with a
short rod of 9 ft. 6 in., one who knows how to use it
can put a fly in the teeth of anything short of a posi-
tive hurricane. In connection with this question of
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 17

length, further remarks as to the reel line must later
on be considered. If the angler will not use the
modern heavy class of line, he must, to make a long
throw, have a somewhat longer rod.

The action of a rod must be absolutely true
and even in every direction from point to handle.
There must be no weak place in it, and at the
same time no part which is unduly stiff. It
should return quickly. The meaning of this is,
that when trying the rods, by imitating the action
of casting and forcing the point forwards, thus
bending the rod, the point should recover and
spring rapidly back to a straight line, and when
there it should not vibrate, but quickly regain its
point of rest, and remain rigid. This simply means
that the elasticity of the whole rod is both uni-
form and smart, the material of which it is built
thoroughly good, and the tapering proportionately
carried throughout its length. For dry-fly fishing
it certainly should of the two be rather stiff than
limber; but at the same time it is not recommended
to use a thing like a barge pole, which cannot by
any possibility cast lightly or with ease.

,. American rods, judging from what one sees here,
are too whippy for our insular ideas, and seem
generally to lack backbone. ‘They are also rather
light in the point, the effect of which is to render it
difficult if not impossible to recover a long line with
them. The fashion of the present day is to use a
rod that is slightly top heavy; and although this is
B
e DRY-FLY FISHING.

more trying to the wrist, yet, considering all points,
it is a fault the right way.

There has been lately, in one section of the sport-
ing press, some controversy as to who can claim to
be the original inventor of the steel-centred rod.
This may rouse the curiosity of readers; but if the
point is considered as to the possibility of the inven-
tion being of any practical use to the angling world,
the only conclusion to be arrived at probably is that
it is waste of ink and paper. The idea is to build
the sections of the cane on a central core of steel. I
believe it is also suggested to treat the wood rods in
the same way. Now the word steel suggests itself
to the casual reader as giving the idea of just what
should be ina rod. Mr. Wells in his book goes so
far as to say that the rod of the future will be the
steel one. That may be, but he is certainly too well
versed in mechanics to suggest the union of two
materials having such totally different action as steel
and timber. One must naturally bend and natu-
rally recover itself far more quickly than the other.
For a moment consider the effect of rigidly fasten-
ing the two materials together. The one with the
quicker action must of necessity tend to hurry the
slower material, and the one with the slower action
must equally of necessity tend to retard the action
of the quicker material. What must be the effect ?
A tendency to disintegrate their union, and some
considerable inconvenience to the hand attempting
to use it. So far, my remarks on steel-centred rods
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 19

have been based upon theory. As for practice, I
cannot personally say much. I have handled experi-
mentally some ten or twelve made by one of the best
rod-makers in the United Kingdom. ‘The price. has
in each case been considerably in excess of that of
a glued cane rod, and my verdict has invariably been
most unfavourable. They have not cast better;
they have not cast more easily; they have not cast
more accurately than the ordinary split cane by the
same maker; they are certainly more tiring to the
wrist, and when killing a fish I do not think that
they have really given any accession of power.

As to reels, there is not much to be said. The
old-fashioned one has been greatly improved by
the more modern pattern with the handle on the
revolving plate. There must be a check. Some
anglers lay great stress on having a silent one,
“but, with no particular reason for it, I prefer the
old-fashioned noisy one, which certainly gives
forth to my ears agreeable music on the first rush
of a three-pounder. There is, however, in con-
nection with the check one point to which tackle-
makers should pay a little more attention, and
that is its strength, or in other words the resist-
ance which it offers to the line being taken off
it. As a rule it is far too strong, and hence even
when striking from the reel (and no other style of
striking can by any possibility be considered satis-
factory), one does occasionally leave a fly in a fish
which lighter action in the reel would have saved.
20 DRY-FLY FISHING.

As the result of a rough-and-ready experiment, Mr.
Marryat is of opinion that when casting about 15
yards of the modern heavy line, if the hand is kept
off the reel line, at each cast or recovery of the rod
just one single click should be heard as the line is
drawn off. Of the size of the scoop I have already
spoken under “Rods,” and only revert to the point to
urge on all successful tackle-makers in the United
Kingdom to do what the makers of microscopic ob-
jectives decided some years back, namely, to agree
among themselves as to one uniform length, thick-
ness, and curve.

Reels are as a rule in this country either of brass
or of ebonite. The ebonite is far lighter, and as
one has to carry the weight all day long, this to
my mind is a very important factor. Some anglers
prefer a brass reel, and they urge that it is less liable
to be broken than one of so brittle a material as
ebonite. And here they are to a certain extent right,
although I find that a first-rate ebonite reel made of
the improved material now in use, treated with ordi-
nary care, will last many seasons. There is another
argument used by both anglers and sometimes tackle-
makers in favour of the brass reel,—an argument
which to my mind is the most incomprehensible on
the part of the angler, and the most ignorant on the
part of the tackle-maker. It is that the heavy brass
reel at the butt end of the rod tends to balance it.
All that can be said is this, that if the rod-maker is
so totally ignorant of his own trade as not to be able
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 21

to make a rod fairly balanced without loading it with
a lump of metal at the butt end, which lump of
metal must throughout the day, when casting, incon-
venience the wrist of the angler, it is time he was
taught better. On the other hand, many first-rate
anglers differ with me on this point, and prefer the
heavy metal reel, thinking that it gives an impres-
sion of lightness in the point and steadiness in the
hand when casting.

We now come to the question of the line, and on
this question I would ask the reader’s most careful
consideration, having devoted a very considerable
time to that branch of the subject. A  reel-line
should be made of pure silk. This sounds like an
axiom, and it is one; but unfortunately, in the pre-
sent age, owing to the mania for extreme cheapness,
adulteration is so much the rule, that to find a pure
silk line is to-day not altogether an easy matter.
Then it should be plaited solid.

There are three methods of plaiting lines: plait-
ing them hollow; plaiting on a core; plaiting solid.
In the first they are worked on a wire, which is
withdrawn as the plaiting proceeds. If a piece is
cut off the end of a line made on this principle, it
can be detected with the naked eye, and the manufac-
turer, knowing this, has attempted to substitute the
second, a class of manufacture which produces a line
not to any great extent stronger than the first, but one
which will yet at a casual glance pass muster for a
solid line—that is to say, he takes a core of silk occa-
22 DRY-FLY FISHING.

sionally, but far more often of jute, and on this core
he plaits a very thin tube of pure silk. This class
of line is most unreliable and in every way to be
avoided; and if only anglers would insist upon
having solid pure silk lines, one of their troubles,
especially when far from home, would be avoided.
Having, then, your silk line, it must be dressed or
waterproofed ; and here again the manufacturer, in
his desire to produce a cheap article, and to pro-
duce it quickly, has gone out of his way to use a
most unsatisfactory class of preparation. He coats
it with some substance consisting chiefly of varnish,
or shellac, or. gold size, any one of which is of
necessity brittle, and hence utterly unfit for the
purpose required. Then, again, he soaks the line
for a short time in this preparation, and it takes
up on the external surface a small quantity of this
brittle substance; the effect of which is that, as soon
as the dressing cracks, the water gets in and the
line very soon becomes utterly rotten. Such being
the case, some three years ago I consulted one of
the most practical tackle-makers with whom I have
ever been acquainted, one who understood his busi-
ness thoroughly and was willing to discuss, experi-
ment, and improve any point brought to his notice.
This was the late Mr. Deller, of Messrs. Eaton &
Deller. He quite agreed with me as to the un-
satisfactory nature of the line sold, and the first
hint he gave me was a most valuable one. He told
me that some years ago the lines were dressed
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 23

under the air-pump, and the moment he used that
word it was a revelation to me. He further told
me that a certain number of lines had ever since
been dressed in this way, and that he was prepared
to try any necessary experiments on the subject.
After trying various substances for dressing, we
arrived at the conclusion that nothing but pure
boiled oil could be used; that by soaking the line
in the boiled oil under the air-pump, it could be
dressed perfectly throughout. The effect of soaking
the lines in the boiled oil under the exhausted
receiver of the air-pump is to draw all the air out,
and thus force the oil into every interstice of the
line. When our experiments had reached a certain
pitch, he made and sold a considerable number of
lines dressed in this way. Unfortunately, to my great
regret, he died before the conclusion of our experi-
ments. He was pre-eminently one who believed in
the necessity of putting thoroughly good material and
thoroughly good work into everything he turned out.
After his death I consulted a very good friend,
Mr. Hawksley, an angler of some experience, who,
being thoroughly versed in practical mechanics, was
able within a very short time to effect considerable
improvements in the details of line-dressing; and
the lines that he has dressed are to my mind so
successful, so thoroughly smooth throughout, so per-
fectly waterproof, and at the same time so supple,
that I cannot help feeling that to the angler himself
or to the tackle-maker I shall be doing a consider-
24 DRY-FLY FISHING,

able service in publishing in his own words the
exact process he uses. He says :—

“Immerse the line in a flat vessel containing pure
boiled oil; place the vessel under the receiver of
an alr-pump; exhaust until all air-bubbles are
drawn to the surface; do not remove the line until
all the bubbles have broken and vanished. Take
the line out of the oil; draw it through your
fingers or a piece of flannel or felt lightly, so
as to remove all superfluous oil. Then wind the
line on a frame, as sketched on fig. 1. The

I 2 3
SS SSS SSBF

   

Fig. 1.

frame, which should be about 18 inches long, is
made of two side-pieces of wood, with two pieces of
iron wire across the ends. There are saw-gates cut
obliquely on one of the wooden sides of the frame.
One end of the line when covered with the first coat
of oil is fastened in the saw-gate marked No. 1, and
the line wound on. The frame and line is then
placed in an oven, heated to the temperature of 150°
Fahrenheit, and baked for about ten hours. The line
is taken out of the oven, and when cold, all irregu-
larities rubbed off carefully with very fine glass-paper,
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 25

taking care not to abrade any of the silky fibres. After
all the irregularities are rubbed off and the line made
as equal in size as possible, it is again put into the oil,
under the air-pump, and the air again exhausted. The
line, when all the air-bubbles have broken, is taken
out, and again wound on the frame, being fastened at
the saw-gate No. 2, and so on; so that the line
should have a different point of contact with the
iron wire after each coat. The line on the frame is
again heated for about ten hours in the oven, repeat-
ing the operation as described ten times, rubbing
down after each coat is baked and cold. "When the
fifth coat is reached, use finely-powdered pumice,
dry, on a piece of felt or flannel, instead of the glass-
paper used previously. The pumice powder will
leave a smooth dull surface. The last two coats will
not require to be rubbed down, and will give the
line a finished, glazed appearance.”

A line dressed thus only requires to be thoroughly
rubbed over with red-deer fat, and the red-deer fat
to be occasionally renewed as the line is used, to
be, to my mind, as near perfect as possible.

Now as to substance of line. It must be fairly
heavy in the middle part; for a fairly stiff rod, as
heavy as shown on fig. 2. It must then taper to as

SS SS SSS A A Lk SA

Fia. 2.

fine a point as the angler dare use. The length of
the taper is a very important point, and if I had to fix
upon an absolute one, I should say that from thickest
26 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to finest it should be five yards long. However, Eaton
& Deller invariably make the line with a six-yard
taper, to allow a small amount to be cut off as it
becomes weak from use. As a matter of economy,
it is well to have a taper worked on either end of
the line. When the tapered point has been too much
reduced in length, the whole of the original taper
should be cut off, and a new tapered point can be
spliced to the central parallel portion of the line with
waxed silk. It is impossible to cast against the
wind with a light line, and it is even easier to cast
down-wind with the heavy one than with the light.
One of the reasons, perhaps, why glued cane rods
cast into the wind better than wooden ones is that,
other things being equal, they carry a heavier line.
Gut collars must be made of the very best gut
procurable, and I am afraid it is not always easy
to get it. Even a high price will not always com-
mand it, as some of the veriest rubbish ever pro-
duced has been offered to me at almost prohibitive
figures. The knot to be used in attaching the
collar to the reel-line is shown on fig. 3. The

 

length of the cast should vary from, say, three and
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 27

a half to as little as one and a half yards, the varia-
tion in length being necessary for variations in the
direction and strength of the wind. A convenient
plan, and one I adopt myself, is to knot up, say, two
yards of undrawn gut tapered from stout to as fine
as you can get, and also to keep a few fine-drawn
points made of three fairly long strands. <A few
of these points and a few lengths of gut, and pos-
sibly a spare cast, should be kept in a wet box
between two layers of flannel, to enable the angler
to make his repairs on the spot; as, if a break takes
place, it is almost invariably in the fine point, which
is the weakest place, and with the wet box the
angler has always reserve gut soft and ready to tie.
A convenient and very portable form of wet box
has been brought out lately by Mr. Hawksley, and
is, I believe, kept in stock by G. Holland of Salis-
bury. It is illustrated on fig. 4. It is, however,

 

Fic. 4.

well to avoid leaving the gut too long in the wet
28 ' DRY-FLY FISHING.

box, as in time it certainly rots it. After a fish has
weeded, you should make it a rule to examine the gut ;
it will probably be frayed. If so, test its strength,
and if necessary break off and tie on a fresh
point. The gut should be soaked in lukewarm
water until quite soft before attempting to tie the
strands together; and of all knots for the pur-
pose, I think that the double one illustrated on
fig. 5 is the safest to use; although not quite so
neat in appearance as a single one tied the same
way, it is far more reliable. As to the colour of
the gut, I do not like it too white, and, from the

 

Fig. 5.

experience of all the streams I have fished, do not
care about the colour that some tackle-makers
affect, which I think must have been designed
with the idea that the angler intended to pay a
visit to the Styx. A slight blue-grey dye can be
easily given to gut by immersing in a decoction of
logwood with a very small portion of copperas; or
it can be dyed in the “slate” dye made by Messrs.
Crawshaw, illustrated in “Floating Flies and How
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 29

to Dress Them.” It is said that the quality of the
gut is very much impaired by the bleaching treat-
ment it meets with in Spain; but I fear that anglers
have not sufficient influence with the trade to work
any special improvement on this point,

I have no intention of boring my readers with
much theorising on the subject of hooks, as it has
lately been ventilated both in the angling press and
in various books published on the subject. I have
in “ Floating Flies and How to Dress Them” given
all the arguments I can advance in favour of the
use of eyed-hooks, and if I have not succeeded in
convincing my readers, I fear the case is hopeless.
Candidly, I can find no possible advantage in the use
of the old-fashioned hook whipped to a piece of gut.

Of course I cannot close my eyes to the fact that
a diversity of opinion prevails throughout the craft
as to the comparative merits of the turned-down
and the turned-up eye. Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell
has argued the point from his own particular
view, and has not altogether had the worst of the
argument. He asked me to give the turned-down
hooks a fair trial. Knowing that up to that time
I had been an advocate for the turned-up in prefer-
ence to the turned-down eye, which he preferred, he
sent me a number of hooks selected by himself. He
asked me to dress my own patterns of flies on them,
and to try whether I should not arrive at the same
conclusion as he had himself, namely, that the turned-
down eye was less likely to miss a rising fish, and
30 DRY-FLY FISHING.

more likely to hold him when once hooked, than the
turned-up. I tried these experiments as carefully as
I possibly could in the spring of 1886. I dressed
the same patterns on turned-up and turned-down
hooks. I placed them side by side in a box, and
when the fish were rising used them alternately.
The result was that I could find no difference
either in hooking or holding fish when hooked.
Both were as successful as usual and failed about
as often as usual; and I think that I may say, as
a simple fact, that where these hooks were used
alternately, they actually killed precisely the same
number of fish. I had, however, when dressing the
flies, one grave complaint to make respecting the
turned-down hooks, and that was the inferior man-
ner in which they had been tempered. I think
I broke more than one-half of those sent to me.
This of course is not an argument against the shape
or form of the hook, but a strong condemnation of
the manner in which the details of manufacture were
carried out.

The original knot recommended by Mr. Hall for
attaching flies on eyed-hooks to the cast is illus-

Fie. 6.

trated on fig. 6; and Major Turle’s knot, which is
certainly far easier to tie, and, practically speaking,
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 31

as secure when once tied, is shown on fige. 4, 3) 0,

 

10, and 11.
Fig. 7.
Fie. 8.
we
Fig. 9.
Fig. 10. Fig. 11.

Where fish run anything like large, a landing-
net is a necessity. One with a solid ring, either
of wood, metal, or whalebone, with a handle long
enough to reach the fish in the water, and a turn-
over joint for the convenience of carrying, is to be
preferred. Every maker has his own particular
pattern, and many of them have points in their
favour. I think it is perhaps a convenience to
carry the net on a separate sling hung on the right
shoulder, so that it is under the left side. Of course
a basket or bag to contain the fish and tackle, &c.,
32 DRY-FLY FISHING.

is a necessity. Bags are not so comfortable as
baskets, and especially in wet weather are liable to
strike damp and cold against the body of the angler
carrying it. Fish also lose more in appearance
when carried in a bag than in a basket, especially
the under ones, if there are many. A basket which
will make a seat is more cumbersome and less
sightly, but altogether, I think, a convenience.

As to carrying flies, they may be packed in a book.
I do not think, if carefully put away, the fact of
flattening them is of much importance, as the first
half-dozen whips through the air will, as a rule,
restore them to their original shape; but for the
angler who cares very much about the appearance of
his flies when he first puts them on, perhaps a metal
box in which the flies could be stood up, sticking
into felt fastened to the bottom, is more convenient.
A convenient form of box for the pocket with
space for a pair of pliers is illustrated on fig. 12, A
pair of scissors and a spring-balance for weighing
the fish are almost necessities, and a loop of string
at the end of the spring-balance, to be passed under
the gills, will be found more convenient, and not
disfigure the fish as much as the hook usually placed
there.

As wading is often necessary, and persistency in
attempting it without protection frequently leads in
later middle life to rheumatism and other allied com-
plaints, I am afraid that the inconvenience of waders
must be borne. Stockings are lighter, but with them
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 33

of course one cannot go in so deep as with trousers.

In a gradually increasing depth of water, when nearly
up to the top of your wading stockings, it is a good

 

plan to hold up the inner edges with the fingers of
the left hand. The water-level will be felt on the
fingers, and often save the angler from wading too far.

When wading, it is best to take short steps,
c
34 DRY-FLY FISHING.

planting the whole weight on the forward foot
before advancing the other. The brogues should
be fairly stout, and for wading on gravel should
have nails in the soles, but for rock should have
soles of felt. For fastening them, nothing is so
comfortable as plain porpoise-hide laces, and nothing
so objectionable as those straps and buckles which
always sooner or later get out of order, and under
which the line is liable to catch when fishing.

A short mackintosh must be carried in so variable
a climate as this. A convenient method of carrying
the waterproof is to fasten it on the top of the
basket, folded a trifle longer than the breadth of the
basket-lid. Straps may be used for this purpose,
but two stout strings of about the substance of blind-
cord are preferable to straps, as, after being thoroughly
wetted, the string will get dry in time, and not re-
main sodden and messy, like leather. Besides, there
are no buckles to come off and get lost, and if any-
thing does go wrong with them, they can be repaired
or replaced easily and anywhere. Each string should
be passed through two openings in the lid of the
creel, and have a loop at one end and a knot at the
other. They are tied in a single bow, as shown on
fig. 13, and one pull at the knotted end of each
string releases the mackintosh. As far as dress is
concerned, generally, woollen materials only should
be worn. The form of costume should be such as
to give the greatest possible freedom to the muscles,
and the clothing should be made of a somewhat
THE DRY-FLY FISHERMAN’S GEAR. 35

light greyish or greenish neutral tint. When re-
turning from a day’s fishing, every sensible man who
wishes to preserve his health should change every
particle of his clothing which is in the slightest

  
 
 
 
 
  

 

>
ZEAL IO
CEERI:

 

Fie. 13.

degree damp, whether from perspiration or rain, and,
if such a luxury is available, a warm bath before
changing will tend much to the comfort and enjoy-
ment of the evening meal.
( 36 )

CHAPTER II.

FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES.

THE simplest definition of the term “‘floating fly” is—
an artificial fly fished on the surface; and that of the
term “sunk fly ’—one fished below the surface of the
water. ‘To carry the definition a trifle further, a
floating fly, whether it is cocked, or, in other words,
floating with the wings up, or flat, that is, lying on its
side, is an imitation of a winged insect, either emerg-
ing or emerged from the nymph state, on the sur-
face of the stream, while the sunk fly is an imitation
of the larva or nymph moving in the water, or of a
winged insect when water-logged or drowned. In
principle the two methods of fishing are totally and
entirely distinct. With the dry or floating fly the
angler has in the first instance to find a rising fish,
to note accurately the position of, or what is techni-
cally called spot, the rise, and to cast to this fish to
the exclusion of any chance work in other parts of
the stream. With the sunk or wet fly, on the other
hand, he casts to a likely place, whether he has or
has not seen a rise there (more frequently he has
not), and, in fact, his judgment should tend to tell
him where, from his knowledge of the habits of the
FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES. 37

fish, they are most likely to be found in position or
ready to feed. Thus wet-fly fishing is often termed
“fishing the water,” in contradistinction to the ex-
pression “fishing the rise,” which is applied to the
method of the dry-fly fisherman.

In treating of the advantages of dry-fly over wet-
fly fishing, I am most desirous of avoiding any
expression which should tend to depreciate in any
way the skill exhibited by the experienced and
intelligent followers of the wet fly. They require
not only most undoubted judgment of the char-
acter of water frequented at various times of the
day and season by feeding fish, not only a very full
knowledge of the different species and genera of in-
sects forming the food of the fish, not only a full
perception of the advantages of fishing up-stream
under one set of conditions and of fishing down-
stream under others; but, in addition to all this, great
skill in placing their flies accurately in the desired
position, and allowing them to drift down in a
natural manner and without any drag or check over
the precise spot they wish to try. There is far too
much presumption of superior scientific knowledge
and skill on the part of the modern school of dry-fly
fishermen, and I should be the last to wish to write
a line tending to encourage this erroneous assump-
tion of superiority, or to depreciate in any way the
patience and perseverance, coupled with an intuitive
perception of the habits of the fish, requisite for a
really first-rate performer with the wet fly. The late
38 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Francis Francis said that ‘the judicious and_ perfect
application of dry, wet, and mid-water fly-fishing
stamps the finished fly-fisher with the hall-mark of
efficiency.” This sentiment is to my mind pre-
eminently characteristic of its author, and worthy
of repetition by any of his admirers in later times.

Under certain circumstances the dry fly has in
every stream great advantages over the wet, and in
rivers where it is not generally used has the further
advantage, that, from the fish being unaccustomed to
see anything but the natural fly floating down cocked
over them, they are altogether unsuspicious of the
artificial, and take it with such confidence as to ren-
der their being hooked, if not their capture, almost
a certainty. To define the circumstances specially
suited to the dry fly is not difficult. When a fish is
seen to be feeding on the surface, when the angler
can ascertain the species of insect on which the fish is
feeding, when he can imitate it, when he can present
this imitation to the fish in its natural position and
following precisely the course taken by the natural
insect, and when he can carry out all these conditions
at the first cast, so as to delude the fish before he
has any suspicion of being fished for, the rising and
hooking of the most wary trout or grayling is almost
a foregone conclusion for the dry-fly fisherman.

It must be remembered that the only possible means
of establishing a satisfactory connection between the
fish and the fisherman is the medium of sight. A
fish’s sight is much more highly developed than any
FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES. 39

other sense, it being questionable whether he has
any hearing, or whether his power of smell with
surface food is sufficient to guide him in discriminat-
ing between the natural and artificial fly. Hence
keeping out of sight is a most essential point to
study; in fact, as before said, the fish should be
hooked before he has any suspicion of being fished
for. On the other hand, where no rising or bulging
fish are to be seen, and whence it may be inferred
that the fish are not taking surface food at all, the
conditions -are favourable for the use of the sunk
fly. Even under these conditions it will sometimes
occur that the floating fly is more efficacious than
the wet.

Whatever advantages can be claimed for the sunk
fly elsewhere, however, there are streams and con-
ditions of weather in which it cannot be considered
as having the smallest chance against the floating
fly. As to conditions of weather, on the stillest
days, with the hottest sun and in the clearest water,
the fish are generally on the surface, when the wet-
fly fisher would consider the conditions most unpro-
pitious and unlikely. On such days to kill fish is
most satisfactory and gratifying to the angler’s bump
of self-esteem, and often the largest and most sus-
picious fish feeding under such conditions seem quite
guileless and fall victims to the art of the dry-fly
fisherman, and nowhere so freely and so frequently
as in rivers where the sunk fly only is habitually
used. As to the streams in which the dry fly is
40 DRY-FLY FISHING.

under all circumstances likely to be more successful
than the wet, those which rise from springs filtering
up through a substratum of chalk or limestone, and
in which the water is usually of the very clearest
even after heavy rain, where the current is only
moderately rapid, and which are usually in the
summer months fully covered with weeds, and
hence well stocked with larve of Ephemeride,
Phryganide, and other water-bred insects, are pre-
eminently fitted for the floating fly. These are
usually styled “chalk streams,” and it is said that
there are days when even in the clearest of them the
sunk fly is found more killing than the floating one.
This may possibly be true, but in many years’ ex-
perience such days have not fallen to my lot, and
I should be inclined to consider them as happening
ones, or, in other words, as the rare exceptions which
go to prove the rule. Perhaps the best direct proof
of this rule may be deduced from the fact that every
Hampshire fisherman who has persistently studied
the subject from season to season has gradually be-
come more and more convinced of the necessity of
imitating Nature as accurately as possible, and pre-
senting the imitation in the most natural position,
1.€., floating and cocked.

In Derbyshire, a few years back, every one used
two, and many three, four, or even more flies;
every one fished down-stream, and fished the water.
Now hosts of anglers have invaded the district, the
trout and grayling are as shy and wary as any in
FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES. 41

the country, and what is the result? Day after
day, and year after year, more of the successful
anglers in the district fish up-stream with floating
flies and over rising fish only, and it is only on an
occasional blustering day that one of the old school
succeeds in getting a moderate bag. The same tale
can be told of all parts of the country, where the
local anglers, taught from childhood to fish with sunk
fly, laugh at the possibility of a bag being made with
dry fly. As an example of this. Not many years
ago, in Dorchester, one of the best dry-fly fisher-
men of the day was seriously suspected, and even
accused, of not fishing fair, because he succeeded in
killing great numbers of the largest fish on days
when the natives with wet fly could do no good
at all. At length his proceedings were quietly but
thoroughly watched by one of the local talent, with
the result that he who went to discover a fraud
found that he had been for years following a mis-
taken policy, and went openly to his talented brother
angler and told him all the circumstances, persuaded
him to enrol him among his pupils, to teach him the
art of dry-fly fishing, and at length himself became a
votary of this style and a proficient in it, and ever
after forswore the wet fly, and himself was able in
turn to teach and convert others to the more modern
and more successful school of angling. From north
and south, from east and west, in later times fly-fisher-
men came to Winchester, and when there, sav,
learned, and conquered the use of the floating fly ;
42 DRY-FLY FISHING.

and although they could very likely only succeed in
killing their two or three trout daily, yet very soon
preferred them to heavier bags taken elsewhere with
the sunk fly. They carried the information all over
the country, until at length the spread of dry-fly fish-
ing has become something dreadful to contemplate,
because in the rivers where it is practised the fish
never get a rest, but day after day, week after week,
and month after month, are continually and continu-
ously tempted to their destruction, or worse still,
perhaps, rendered more wary, more shy, and more
suspicious. It is even questionable whether the
bad features of this spread of dry-fly fishing end here,
and whether the perpetual danger of taking surface-
food does not in time keep the fish down, and even
make abstention from floating insects an hereditary
instinct. This, too, is probably enhanced by the
fact of the free-rising fish being gradually but surely
killed off, and the new generations being bred from
those who habitually find their food on the bottom of
the river, so that each generation is less likely to rise
than the one immediately preceding it. Possibly,
too, the introduction of artificially fed trout into the
rivers still further increases their tendency to prefer
the comparatively safe shrimps, caddis, snails, and
larve to the perilous experiment of taking surface
food.

Some dry-fly fishermen are such purists that they
will not under any circumstances whatever make a
single cast except over rising fish, and prefer to
FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES. 43

remain idle the entire day rather than attempt to
persuade the wary inhabitants of the stream to rise
at an artificial fly, unless they have previously seen
a natural one taken in the same position. Although
respecting their scruples, this is, in my humble
opinion, riding the hobby to death, and I for one
am a strong advocate for floating a cocked fly over
a likely place, even if no movement of a feeding fish
has been seen there. By a likely place, such a one
as a bare gravel patch between weeds on a shallow
is meant, or a point under the bank to which every
natural insect must be carried by the stream or
wind, on either of which there is almost invariably
a fish either feeding or ready to feed at the first
hatch of fly. There is no doubt, too, that an angler
catching sight of a trout or grayling lying near the
surface or in position for feeding can often tempt
him with a good imitation of the fly on the water
floated accurately over him at the first cast.

Another great mistake often indulged in, even by
anglers of great experience, is to commiserate with
the votary of the dry fly in blustering or rainy
weather; and one’s friends, when seeking to extenuate
one’s want of sport, frequently express the opinion
that it was “too rough or too wet for the dry fly.”
Why too rough or too wet? The natural duns bred
in the water are seldom if ever drowned in their
native element, however rough the weather may be.
At times the delicate Ephemeride are whirled over
and over by sudden gusts, but they still float, and,
44 DRY-FLY FISHING.

as a matter of fact, a rough day with a good curling
ripple on the surface of the water is the day beyond
all others when the floating fly, if quite dry, cocked,
and accurately delivered, makes the greatest score,
and utterly defeats the sunk fly. The true difficulty
of a rough day is to spot the rise and place the fly
accurately, not to float it; and on a rainy day, al-
though it is undoubtedly hard work to dry the fly,
yet, when once dried, it is undoubtedly far more
deadly than the wet fly.

We are often told that Mr. , the great Scotch
fly-fisher, is quite sure he can kill any number of

 

trout in a south-country stream, fishing in his own
style, and is prepared to make a match against the
best local man. Southron fly-fishers are not in the
habit of fishing matches and weighing in catches
at clubs, but occasionally one of these professors
is invited to try his infallible system on one of their
streams, and the invariable result is that, if he is
obstinate, and so firmly wedded to his opinions that
the stern logic of facts cannot move him, he returns
with the dictum that there are very few fish in the
river, or that the wind is wrong, or the water too
low, or some other plausible excuse. If, on the
other hand, he is a true lover of the art and not
above learning, he quickly discovers that his method
is not successful with the dainty over-fed fish of a
chalk-stream, and before long he becomes a convert
to the dry fly, and, I shrewdly suspect, uses it in hot
bright weather to advantage in his native brooks.
FLOATING FLIES AND SUNK FLIES. 45

A dry-fly fisher must expect to miss an abnormally
large proportion of rises, owing to the very small
flies he uses, and some of our friends are apt to
quote this as an argument against the Hampshire
school, forgetting that even if an unduly large pro-
portion are missed, yet in places, and on days hot,
bright, and calm, when the sunk fly is utterly hope-
less, the chalk-stream fisher will rise fish after fish,
and his excitement will be kept up by hopes of
success, from morning to night. On one point all
must agree, viz, that fishing up-stream with the
finest of gut and floating the tiniest of flies, where
every movement of the fish—his rise at any passing
natural, and the turn and rise at the artificial—are
plainly visible, is far more exciting, and requires in
many respects more skill, than the fishing of the
water as practised by the wet-fly fisherman.
( 46 )

CHAPTER III.

HOW TO CAST,

Castine should be defined as placing the fly, which
is at the end of the collar, in a desired spot, in a
desired manner, and at a desired moment.

There are at least five distinct styles of casting,
which should be understood by every dry-fly fisher.
They are—firstly, the over-handed or ordinary cast ;
secondly, the downward cut; thirdly, the under-
handed or horizontal cast ; fourthly, the steeple
cast; and fifthly, the dry switch.

The beginner must commence by learning the first
of these, or the ordinary over-handed cast. Perhaps
the easiest way for him to acquire it is to place his
elbow on a gate, or even a table, so as to commence
at once by using his wrist and fore-arm only. At the
commencement he must content himself with only a
short length of line, and it is essential that he should
thoroughly master the art of casting this short
length before attempting anything longer. The rod
should be grasped tightly in the right hand, with
the thumb, or thumb and forefinger, extended up the
butt. The more usual plan is to grip the rod with
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HOW TO CAST. 47

the thumb up the butt ; but many very experienced,
and notably one of the most accomplished dry-fly
fishermen of the present day, who uses his thumb
and forefinger for this purpose, claim some advantage
for this grip, as enabling them to direct the fly with
greater precision than with the more usual method,
illustrated on Plate I.

Holding the fly in the left hand, with a short length
of line out, wave the rod back ina curve shaped some-
what like a horse-shoe, at the same time feeling the
weight of the line with the tip of the rod, and letting
go the fly. Wait until the weight of the short line
—say five yards—just commences to bend the top
of the rod backwards before making the forward cast,
noting, however, not to carry the hand much farther
back than the perpendicular. In fact, this may be
taken as a golden rule in all styles of casting.
When the weight of the line behind is only just suf-
ficient to bend the rod-top backwards, or, in other
words, when the line is just felt behind, return
it forwards with a slightly increased velocity of
swing. Lower the point of the rod as the line
comes forward, and see that it is extended at the
level of about one yard over the water, and then
check the forward motion. Carefully note the time of
casting, like music, counting 1, 2, back—3 forward.
It will be found that the time will vary but little
for short or long casts; but the longer the cast, the
farther the line will extend backwards, and the
loop turning over it forwards will also be longer.
48 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Plate II. shows the position and shape of the line
when the hand has been carried back, and just before
casting ; Plate III. illustrates the appearance of the
line when the hand has been brought part of the
way forwards in the act of casting ; and Plate 1V. the
form of the line and position of the hand when the
forward motion has been completed. To these plates
of casting I would invite the careful attention of
my readers, because they are not in any way fancied
or fanciful illustrations of what any one wishing to
prove his own particular theory may think he has
seen, but are actual reproductions of instantaneous
photographs taken for the purpose of illustrating
this work ; and to the photographers, Messrs. Elliott
& Fry, I must tender my hearty congratulations at
the success of their work in this direction.

I would also particularly call the reader’s atten-
tion to the fact that these photographs, one and
all, go to destroy the theories which have been
written from time immemorial in all books on fly-
fishing as to the form taken by the line behind
the fisherman. Over and over again it has been
written, You must wait until the line is extended
ma straight line behind you before attempting to
return. This position cannot in any style of cast-
ing with a line of any appreciable length occur, and
it is only because in those early days there were no
scientific means of reproducing an accurate view
that this theory was started. Its continuation is
due to the fact that, unfortunately, by far the majo-
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rity of authors simply copy, from what they deem
to be good authorities, theories which have been
before enunciated, and give them a further stamp
of veracity without taking the trouble to ascertain
for themselves that they are anything but fiction.

In the dry switch the length of line from the
reel to the fly was about to yards. In all the
other casts about 12 to 15 yards were used, and in
connection with these it should be noted that from
the transparent nature of the gut and the increased
velocity of the end of the line, an exposure of even
the 150th part of a second failed to leave a definite
trace of the three yards of gut collar on the negatives.
From a desire for extreme accuracy I have forborne
to supply this deficiency. It must also be remembered
that the foreshortening of the curves conveys an im-
pression of a shorter line than is actually being used.

With the ordinary over-handed cast, in throwing
a long line the upper arm will come into use in
addition to the wrist and fore-arm, as the angler will
have to feel the line of the backward cast through
the arc of a larger circle. The force required to
propel various lengths of line without over-casting
or under-casting, and only just extending the line,
varies directly with every yard of line used (the
first of these terms meaning the use of too much,
and the other too little; power to extend). This in-
structive adaptation of the power to cast, of cause to
effect, constitutes the whole secret of how to cast well.

These fundamental rules apply with equal force
D
5° DRY-FLY FISHING.

not only to dry-fly fishing and to wet-fly fishing, but
to all the various methods of casting enumerated
in the foregoing pages. The two essential points to
be attended to are, in fact, an exact appreciation of
the force to be used, and correct timing, and these are
the secrets of effective and elegant casting. It must
always be remembered that hearing much sound pro-
ceed from a rod making a cast is an indication of
unnecessary force being used; and it may be laid
down as an axiom that nine anglers out of ten use
far more force than is required for the throw, and that
excess of force only does harm. In all over-handed
casting, note particularly that the hand should never
be carried backwards far beyond the perpendicular.
As a general rule, the great fault in casting made by
beginners is in not giving sufficient time behind.
Many men who can cast a great distance and
throw a pretty fly, do it in so awkward a manner as
to detract very much from the pleasure experienced
in seeing their performance, and it is as easy to
cultivate a good style from the commencement as it
is difficylt to cure an ugly style by any amount of
lessons after having once acquired it. A tyro can
do no better than get a friend, who can cast, to start
him in the right road, which he can do at first by
standing close behind the pupil; and, grasping the
hand holding the rod, with his fore-arm lying close
over his pupil’s, guide the cast, counting at the same
time “one, two, three,” until his pupil appears to
have acquired a good idea of the timing and motions.
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He should then stand clear of him on the left-hand
side, criticising each cast, carefully impressing upon
him the necessity of giving plenty of time between
the casts, and explaining to him what fault in the
motion of the rod caused the corresponding defect
in the fall of the line.

After a few days of this practice, which should,
if possible, be made over water, or, if water is not
available, over a lawn, the tyro can be left to his
own devices for a few days, when he can practise
until his wrist is tired, at which time, however, he
should be cautioned always to stop and rest. After
a few weeks’ interval, the teacher may look at him,
praise and encourage where possible, point out any
faults, whether of style or execution, and nip them
in the bud. At the end of a fortnight an apt pupil
should be sufficiently efficient to try his hand at an
easy stream, where, if he has got it in him, the killing
of a fish or two will make him a life votary of the
charming pursuit.

Drying the fly is merely a repetition of the cast
made in the afore-stated method, only that the fly,
instead of being allowed to touch the water, is re-
covered in the air, and the action is repeated five or
six times. Note, too, that the longer the line, the
farther the fly has to travel, and hence the more
rapidly it is dried. Another point to remark is, that,
when thoroughly dry, the fly will not soak up water
nearly so fast as a half-dried one; and the fly, there-
fore, should not be allowed to get water-logged,
52 ‘DRY-FLY FISHING.

as it takes a very long time and very considerable
exertion under these circumstances to dry it perfectly,
thirty or forty false casts with a very long line being
insufficient to make it float three or four yards,
especially on fast water. The over-handed cast, it
may be noted, is chiefly useful for light or up-stream
winds.

The next two methods of casting, the downward
cut and the under-handed cast, are specially useful for
casting into or against the wind, and except in a
gale, any fisherman who cares to take the trouble of
mastering these two methods of casting can, after a
little perseverance and careful attention to detail,
render himself practically independent of the direc-
tion of the wind. If he finds himself unable to get
the line out in either of these ways when casting
against the wind, he must try less force and give more
time behind. If still unsuccessful, he must shorten
his gut collar by removing from it some few strands
of the coarse end, and if the weather should be very
rough, and he is still unable to force his fly into the
wind, he must still further shorten the gut at the fine
end; and in very rough weather it is well to note that
a slight set back of the line on the water is not so very
important, so long as it does not curl over on itself.

In the downward cut the fly is returned by the
ordinary over-handed motion, and in the act of
throwing, when the arm attains the angle of 45
degrees with the level of the water, it should be
extended to full-length forwards, the - knuckles
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turned downwards, and a drawing circular cut in
towards the body must be made as the line is
delivered, the elbow being slightly raised at the
same moment, and the point of the rod brought
down to the level of the water. This position is
illustrated on Plate V. If this downward cut
is made too soon, the whole of the line will be
blown back in coils. If too late, a heavy splash’ on
the water will be the result. If time and force are
quite right—and again remember no great force is
required—the line will extend itself in the teeth of
the wind, the fly going out nearly straight, and the
back motion of the cut pulling the slack line back,
and the result of the backward motion will not
really be more than the check used in the ordinary
cast. The downward cut is a difficult cast to
describe, and a difficult cast to attain, but it is an
invaluable one when throwing against a strong
wind, especially when the grass is high behind the
angler, under which conditions it is at times quite
impossible to use the next method, which I will now
describe.

The under-handed cast, as the second method of
throwing against the wind is called, is only acquired
after considerable practice and perseverance, but is,
as a general rule, to be preferred to the over-handed
cast, and hence should be used wherever practicable.
Although at the first glance in the case of one accus-
tomed to the ordinary over-handed cast it may ap-
pear difficult to accomplish the action of returning and
54 DRY-FLY FISHING.

throwing under-handed, yet, when once acquired, no -
other method of casting into the wind is to be com-
pared to it, especially as the motion of the rod is
far less visible to the fish. The whole secret consists
in keeping the rod in a nearly horizontal position,
and moving it, whether returning or throwing, in a
line parallel to the surface of the water. If, while
drying the fly, the hand holding the rod is raised
when returning, the action of the wind is very apt
to force the line back too quickly, and the fly may
be cracked off. If sufficient time is not given be-
hind, or, in other words, if the cast is made too soon,
in this, as in every other style of casting, the fly is
also cracked off. If in the act of casting the hand
is raised, the force of the adverse wind on the line
prevents the fly from going out in the desired direc-
tion, and it is curled back on the reel-line, in which
position no highly-educated fish is likely to look at
the fly. Ifin the act of casting the hand is unduly
lowered, the effect is a decided splash on the water.
If in returning the hand is lowered—an almost im-
possible action—the fly is generally securely hooked
to a blade of grass on the bank. Hence, to make
this cast, the horizontal position of the rod moving
parallel to the water is absolutely necessary.

I have illustrated in Plate VI. the position of the
line at the moment that the rod-point is carried
to the farthest point back; in Plate WII. the
moment when the rod-point has travelled half-
way through the arc; and in Plate VIII. the forward
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HOW TO CAST. 55

position or finish of the cast. Continual practice,
and the presence of a friend to correct faults which
are frequently invisible to the fisherman himself are
the best, nay, the only means of learning the action.
At every opportunity, and in every possible place,
this cast should be patiently persevered in.
Although naturally preferable, yet the river is not
an absolute necessity, as the cast can be practised
in a field or ona lawn. It must be borne in mind
that the primary difficulty consists in overcoming
the natural tendency to raise the hand holding the
rod; and the next point is to get over the severe
cramp in the hand, wrist, and fore-arm, which is
caused either by bringing a new set of muscles
into play, or by straining in a different direction
to the accustomed one those muscles which have
been hitherto used in the ordinary mode of casting.
This method is especially useful when casting across
wind to a fish feeding under the opposite bank,
or under overhanging boughs, if they are not too
low. It may also be advantageously employed in
fishing a place where the trees are growing on the
angler’s own bank; and in this case it is necessary
to remember that the rod-point should be as far as
possible kept over the water while drying the fly, and
that the line should be returned under and delivered
over the rod-point. Above all, note where the
bushes or trees are situated, and avoid them. A
step to one side or the other will, as a rule, save
the fly from touching them; so, look back at the
56 DRY-FLY FISHING.

line when drying the fly, and see where it touches
in the first false cast or two, and correct before
absolutely putting the fly on the water; and even
if it should be caught behind, it will invariably be
low down within your reach, so that you can recover
the fly and save a smash.

Accuracy of direction is, however, far more diffi-
cult to attain in the under-handed cast than in any
other style of throwing; and this is due to the fact
that the rod-point, and consequently the fly, travels
in the arc of a circle or ellipse across the point to
which the fly is directed, and not in a straight line
down on it, as in the case of the over-handed
cast. Having once fairly mastered these difficulties,
the angler will find that he has not only acquired
the art of throwing a fairly long line in a manner
which makes it unlikely for the waving of the rod to
be visible to the fish, that he has not only at the same
time practically rendered himself independent of the
direction and of the force of the wind, so long as it
is short of a gale, but, strange to relate, too, his fly
will in the majority of instances land on the water
cocked or floating with its wings up in their natural
position—a most important point when dealing with
very shy fish in very clear streams.

The majority of angling books impress on the fly-
fisher the desirability of following Cotton’s old
maxim to fish “fine and far off.’ As to the first
part there can be no doubt. To achieve success in
the present day the lower end of the gut collar, for
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at least a yard from the fly, must be sufficiently fine.
The thinnest of drawn gut in the longest lengths
compatible with the strength required to handle the
fish when hooked is an appreciable advantage in every
stream, and an absolute necessity on those which are
heavily fished. The finer the gut the greater, and
the coarser the gut the smaller, the number of fish
risen and hooked. On the other hand, the coarser
the gut the greater, and the finer the gut the smaller,
the relative proportion of fish killed when once
hooked. In point of fact, the problem is to arrive
at a thickness of gut which is sufficiently invisible
to rise, and consequently hook, a fair proportion of
feeding fish, and which, at the same time, is not so
thin as to make it almost a certainty that too large
a proportion of the hooked fish break the tackle
either at the moment of striking, or when sufficient
strain is put on to prevent their plunging headlong
into the nearest bed of weeds.

As originally intended, no better advice could be
given than the latter part of Cotton’s adage, viz., to
fish “far off ;” but the tendency of the present age
is to give a far wider signification to these words
than their experienced author ever meant them to
convey. To fish “far off” in the sense that you
should, under all circumstances, keep yourself as
much as possible out of the range of vision of a
rising trout, by crouching, kneeling, or even lying
down, is an axiom for the dry-fly fisher; but to fish
“far off” in the sense that you should, for prefer-
58 DRY-FLY FISHING.

ence, fix yourself in a position where you have to
keep on throwing an unnecessarily long line is
an absurdity. The shorter the cast in reason, the
greater is the probability of hooking the fish. The
action of the strike is delayed by the action: of the
water on a long line. Get as well within your
distance of the fish as possible. By this is meant
that particular length of line which the angler finds
by experience he can manage to the greatest ad-
vantage, 7.¢., not too long to cast with comfort, and
not so short that drying the fly becomes a heavy
toil; and this medium distance is the length of cast
to select wherever practicable. To most people it
is about ten to fifteen yards, and very frequently one
can locate oneself at this distance from the fish.

Instead of placing yourself at what you consider
the most favourable point for casting, and then
regulating your length of line to reach a fish rising
under your own bank, it is a good plan to keep
some thirty yards below, to let out the above length
of line, and dry the fly thoroughly in the air. Keep-
ing your fly working backwards and forwards in the
air with the under-handed cast, so as not to scare
your fish by showing him the reflection of the rod
waving to and fro, work yourself in a crouching
attitude gradually into such a position that your
length of cast will cover the rise, and, above all,
bear in mind the importance of the first throw being
delicately and accurately made.

Occasionally the position of a tree, bush, or other
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HOW TO CAST. 59

natural obstruction, or the shape of the river-bank,
will necessitate your being much closer to your fish
than you would desire, and make the cast a very
short one, possibly only just the length of the gut.
In such a position the dry-fly fisherman is placed at
some disadvantage—first, because it is very difficult
to make a clean short throw, owing to the invariable
fault one makes of using far too much power. To
correct this excess of force, it is a very good plan
to put the left hand as well as the right to the rod
(I am supposing the angler to be fishing single-
handed), grasping the rod tightly in the right hand,
and, just holding the spear between the left thumb
and forefinger, to make the cast with both hands in
this position. The effect of the left hand is merely
to check the forward action, and thus prevent the
exertion of undue force in the act of throwing.

A second difficulty with the very short throw is
to direct the fly accurately, especially when casting
against the wind, and using the taper form of line
recommended in a previous chapter. Even with
a short length of gut, the absence of weight in
the fine end of the line increases this difficulty, and
nothing but continual practice will enable the tyro
to overcome this. Another practical inconvenience
under such circumstances is the great exertion re-
quired to dry the fly, as many as twenty or even
thirty false casts in the air being found requisite
to free it thoroughly from moisture. Here again
the use of both hands does, to a certain extent,
60 DRY-FLY FISHING,

distribute the strain, and will be found of consider-
able advantage.

‘There are, however, places in which one must
either cast a very long line or abandon one’s chance
of getting fish—places in which the river is perhaps
twenty-four to twenty-six yards wide, the water
deep and comparatively still under your own bank,
and a strong stream under the opposite one. Of
course, in such a place the greater run of water, and,
consequently, the greater proportion of natural flies,
will float down near the farther bank, and, with the
wind across or nearly across from behind the angler,
every rising fish will be found there. The artificial
fly, too, in such a position will fish well, and without
drag. The knack of making these extra long casts
is one which can be acquired without any great diffi-
culty, and is simply invaluable to those fishing on
club or subscription waters, as enabling them to give
a fly to rising fish which are passed by as impossible
by the majority of their brother members.

This throw, which is called the “ steeple-cast,”
has been frequently referred to ; but many writers on
the subject have, I venture to submit, failed to con-
vey accurately the principle of it. Commencing with
quite a short line, the right hand holding the rod
is extended nearly straight from the shoulder, and
carried up almost perpendicularly so as to lift the
fly well up into the air, as if trying to clear some
high obstacle immediately behind the angler, and
hence the name of the “ steeple-cast.” While drying
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HOW TO CAST, 61

the fly backwards and forwards, the length of line
required is gradually drawn off the reel with the left
hand, and allowed to pass through the rings. Plenty
of time must be given behind—in fact, it is barely
possible to give too much ; and the action of throwing
should be a steady swing without the slightest jerk,
and very little force should be exerted in making the
cast so as to allow the rod and weight of line to do
the work. After the first cast has been made, the
line is gathered in with the left hand in loose coils,
until short enough to return with ease; and while
drying, the line is gradually liberated, a coil at each
forward motion of the rod, and paid out from the left
hand, the action in front being so timed as to let goa
coil as the rod is in the position where the cast would
have been made, and thus allow the fly to travel out
in the air to the full extent of the line, but not suffi-
ciently to let it touch the surface of the water. By
the time all the coils are out the fly is thoroughly
dried. If it is a very long cast, keep two or three
coils in hand, and let them go when casting.

Plate IX. illustrates the position when recovering
the line, Plate X. shows the form of the line when
the hand is at the maximum height, and Plate XI. as
it is brought down and forwards. When throwing
down-wind keep the point of the rod well up in the air;
but when the direction of the wind is adverse, bring
the rod-point, when making the cast, quite close to
the water with a sort of modified downward cut. It
is astonishing, again, how very little force is required
62 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to throw into wind with the steeple-cast. The dis-
tance to be accomplished after a little practice, by
means of this style of throwing, is quite astonishing
to the fisherman himself, and my friend Marryat, who
is facile princeps in long single-handed casts, has on
a calm day achieved the extraordinary feat of casting
over thirty yards with an eleven-feet rod.

The switch-cast is often used amongst salmon and
trout fishermen for wet-fly fishing, but there are cases
in which it may be of very great service to the dry-fly
fisherman. Say, for example, that there is a wall or
a closely grown hedge, extending to a considerable
height, a few yards behind the bank on which he is
standing. On the opposite side of the river, fifteen
yards off, or possibly in the middle of it, a fish is
rising; and it may be most advantageous to give
such a fish a well-dried fly, because he seldom sees
such a thing as an artificial presented to him pro-
perly, and is consequently likely to be deluded by
it. The ordinary switch, as used by the wet-fly
fisher, is accomplished by drawing the line towards
you on the water, and throwing the fly with a kind
of roll outwards off the water—in fact, a sort of down-
ward cut—the possibility of making the cast depend-
ing upon the fly being in the water at the moment
that the rod-point is brought down; hence it is
evident that the ordinary switch-cast must be made
with the fly wet. The dry-fly fisherman can make a
cast something like this, if there is room up and
down the stream, by turning his face in that direction
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HOW TO CAST. 63

and drying the fly in the air parallel to the course
of the river. If it is impossible to dry the fly ina
direction parallel to the course of the river, this may
be accomplished, especially when standing on a high
bank, by shortening the line considerably and drying
in a vertical direction, keeping it in front of the rod-
point. The angler then takes the dry fly between the
finger and thumb, and turning his face towards the
stream makes a false cast or two with the point of
the rod, describing a figure of 8, but still retaining
the fly between the thumb and finger. At the for-
ward position of the rod, when the cast would in the
ordinary course of events have been made, the hold
of the fly is let go, and the line travels out to the
desired point. Care must be taken not to strike the
obstacle behind with the point of the rod, or to
entangle the line with it; and for this purpose the
action of the rod should be somewhat steepled.

This cast is certainly a very difficult one, and
whether you can accomplish it or not depends much
on the nature and distance of the obstacle behind.
The position of the hand and line at the commence-
ment of the switch is illustrated on Plate XII,
and the position of rod and line, just after letting
go the fly, on Plate XIII. A slight wind behind, as
in the ordinary switch, materially assists the angler,
and it is impossible to switch a dry-fly in the teeth
of a strong adverse wind.

Wherever possible the dry-fly fisherman should
cast up-stream. This may be taken as the first
64 DRY-FLY FISHING.

fundamental principle, and often applies with equal
force to the sunk as to the floating fly. The reasons
are so many and so obvious, that it is only necessary
to refer briefly to a few of them.

When throwing up-stream the angler is below his
fish, and the invariable position of the fish being with
head up-stream, not only for the purpose of feeding,
but for the mere mechanical process of breathing, as
carried out by the action of the gills, the angler is
in the most favourable position to keep himself
out of sight, or what an old keeper I once knew
used to call “very private.” Where the stream flows
evenly, the artificial fly, when fished from below,
sails down in its natural position without drag,
following the exact direction of the current, and
presents itself to the view of the trout or grayling in
much the same way as the natural insect. When
the fish has risen and taken the fly into his mouth,
the slightest raising of the hand, or better still the
fore-arm, drives the barb of the hook firmly home in
his jaw, or, to be precise, in my experience more
frequently into the side of his lower jaw, which is
what I should expect from the position of the hook
in a floating fly when cocked. When a large fish is
hooked it is a great advantage to the angler to be
below him, and to be able at once to commence
working him down-stream, which is at one and the
same time the best and most expeditious way to tire
him, and serves to take him farther and farther from

his home, a place where he has many more chances in
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HOW TO CAST. 65

his favour from his intimate daily knowledge of every’
weed, stone, post, or other impediment likely to assist
him in cutting the connection. Where it is impossible
to fish up-stream, the best direction to select is partly
up and partly across. If this be impossible the cast
must be made at right angles to the direction of the
stream, and again, if this be impracticable, across
and slightly down. When throwing across the
stream attention must be paid to counteracting the
tendency to drag in the manner pointed out in a
subsequent chapter. Casting across and partially
down is called the half-drift, and here again atten-
tion is requisite to prevent dragging by throwing a
slack line, lowering the hand, or even walking along
the bank as the fly floats down on the surface.
Sometimes an extra strong down-stream wind will
be blowing with almost hurricane force, rendering it
well-nigh impossible, or at best very difficult, to cast
up against the wind, even with the under-handed
cast or downward cut. Occasionally, too, there
are places where, owing to natural obstructions such
as trees, bushes, or a jutting promontory just in the
range of the line behind the angler, there is no alter-
native but to drift or throw directly down-stream to
a fish rising under the fisherman’s own bank, or to
pass him by altogether. Under such conditions, and
such conditions only, is it advisable to drift to a
feeding trout or grayling, although in gin-clear
water such as the Hampshire chalk-streams a very

small modicum of success must at the best be
E
66 DRY-FLY FISHING.

anticipated, and no dry-fly fisherman, even the most
experienced, need be astonished at finding himself
setting down fish after fish, and perhaps not even suc-
ceeding in rising a single one during the whole day.

In considering how to drift the floating fly to
the fish, it must be remembered that in this as.
in any other style of casting, the dry fly should,
as nearly as possible, imitate the position and
motion of the natural insect carried down by the
action of the current; hence the cast should be
made with the length of the line correctly judged,
and the fly accurately placed, so that it shall float
exactly over the fish’s nose and travel well down
below him. In the act of casting, the hand should
be well extended, so as to be able to draw it back.
Just as the line is fully extended over the water
and at a level of quite two yards above it, the
hand holding the rod must be carried some distance
back so as to check the cast and place the artificial
—of course quite dry, cocked, and floating—well
in front of the fish, with sufficient slack line on the
water, so that by gradually lowering the hand and
point of the rod the fly will float down until well
past the fish, without the slightest stoppage or drag.
It is well to remember, too, that a fish will at times
back and take the fly as much as two yards below
where he rose. This is specially the case with
the May-fly.

Having made the cast, and the fly having drifted
down below the fish without rising him, it is evi-
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HOW TO CAST. 67

dently necessary to return the line, and the difficulty
of accomplishing this in such a way as not to scare
him is at best very great. In some places the whole
length of line can be lifted sideways clean over the
bank, quite out of his range of vision. But where
this is not possible, the line must be gathered in very
slowly with the left hand (supposing the rod to be
held with the right), until the fly is well above the
fish, when it can be slowly taken off the water, keep-
ing the rod-point well down so that the angle of con-
tact of the line with the water will be very obtuse and
not scare the fish. With the utmost caution, how-
ever, it is very difficult to accomplish the return with-
out rousing the suspicions of your wary quarry, and
hence in this style of casting, even more than in any
other, the greatest precision and delicacy are neces-
sary in the first throw.

In club waters, which are so generally over-fished,
it is not as a rule worth while to make a second
drift over a trout until he has risen again. If not
taken at the first attempt, and provided he does not
rise again within say five minutes, it is generally
as well to leave the fish and pass on to another, keep-
ing wide of him, carefully spotting his position, and
possibly returning to give him a further trial later in
the day. A grayling, however, will frequently allow
a careful and light fisherman, using the very finest
of tackle, to make a second or even third cast over
him, and then perhaps rise falsely, when, after a rest
of a few minutes—especially if in the meantime he
68 DRY-FLY FISHING.

has taken a natural fly or two—another cast may be
successful in securing him. The half-drift, partly
across and partly down stream, if the fly is well
checked as it is descending, and when on the water
allowed to float down without drag, is, however, fre-
quently efficacious, especially in rough windy weather,
the angler above the fish being, of course, less
visible under such conditions. Both trout and gray-
ling will, in such a case, often rise at and fasten to
a somewhat large fly if quite dry and cocked. I do
not think a particular pattern is of very great import-
ance; but for what it is worth, my own experience
gives the preference in such a case to the Wickham,
or better still, the landrail winged variety of it,
on a No. 1 or No. 2 hook. The half-drift is an
especially successful cast for grayling; in fact,
many experienced fishermen prefer it to any other
cast for them.

One of the reasons why drifting is not generally
successful is, that the horizontal cast is often impos-
sible, as when throwing in this way it is necessary
to cast directly down the line of the current, and as
the fly descends, to check the cast in the same direc-
tion. But with the under-handed or horizontal cast
it is manifestly impossible to effect this, as the fly
must of necessity travel round a curve something in
the shape of a semicircle or semi-ellipse. The ordi-
nary over-handed cast then becomes almost the only
practicable one; and in addition to the very grave
defect in this style of cast that the shadow of the
PLATE XIL.

 

 

DRY SWITCH _ Commencement.

D.Meur,del LEIGHTON BROTHERS Sith
HOW TO CAST. 69

upright rod and of the line are ever moving backwards
and forwards. immediately over the fish and in his
direct line of vision, whilst the angler is above him
and also well within his sight, another and perhaps
even more serious disadvantage is present, namely,
that although a cocked fly is almost indispensable,
it is, as shown before, only in a minority of cases
possible to effect this when throwing over-hand.
To sum up the position, it amounts to this: one
throw, and one throw only, must be made; and
although it may happen that the several remote con-
tingencies of placing the fly accurately and lightly
on the water, of letting it drift down over the fish
without drag, and floating in the vertical position or
cocked, and at the same time succeeding in making
the fish rise, may come off, yet in sporting parlance
it is any odds against landing the treble, or rather
quadruple event.

Even if all the above difficulties have been
happily accomplished at the first attempt, and the
fish rises and takes the fly as it reaches his nose,
another serious difficulty occurs. The fish has
just come open-mouthed at the fly; it is between
his capacious jaws; to force the barb of the hook
home it is necessary to strike promptly, and as
the direction of the strike is coincident with the
line of aperture of the fish’s mouth, it must be
achieved at the very moment that his lips are
closed on the fly; or, discovering the fraud prac-
tised on him, he will to a certainty open his mouth
70 DRY-FLY FISHING.

and eject the very best and most natural imitation.
Even if the angler does succeed in striking at the
right moment, it is not easy to do so with just suffi-
cient force and no more. Too little force and the
fish is scratched. The least trifle too much leaves
the fly in his mouth, and with the line extended
straight down-stream and the weight of the current
on it, it is surprising how little apparent force, with
the assistance of the leverage of the rod, is neces-
sary to make a smash of the gossamer gut. Alto-
gether, as before said, this is the most difficult and
disappointing cast of any, and should never be
adopted, except as a last resource where all others
have been tried, and tried in vain.
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CHAPTER IV.
WHERE TO CAST.

With the modern angler it may be taken as an
axiom that his sport is not what is popularly called
luck, but varies directly as his judgment; and as
a corollary, it may be added that, provided he is a
keen and accurate observer, his judgment will vary
directly as his experience, tempered by his capacity
of execution. The object of this chapter is to try
and give, as far as possible, the experience of others
to improve the judgment of the beginner, and to
convey, where possible, hints to men of experience.
No point can possibly be of more importance
than a well-grounded knowledge of where to cast;
and it must be borne in mind that this knowledge
is not intuitive, but must be acquired by marking,
learning, and continuously studying the relation of
the fish and his food, and striving as far as is practi-
cable to take advantage of it. The modern school
are far too much addicted to continual change of fly,
often changing merely for the sake of changing, and
trying imitations of the same insect, only differing
slightly in size, or in the shade of the body, wings,
or legs; forgetting that the fault too often lies in
72 DRY-FLY FISHING.

their own lack of discrimination, which causes them
to select fish in unlikely or impossible places, or
offer surface food to a fish feeding on larve or other
forms of insect life in the middle depths or on the
bottom of the river. At the same time, it must be
admitted that colour, form, and size, or, in other
words, a fairly accurate imitation of the natural fly
on the water, is always and in every way more
likely to tempt a trout feeding on duns than some
monstrosity like nothing in nature, styled a fancy
pattern, which can only appeal to his curiosity.

Places which should be selected by the dry-fly
fisherman may be divided into three classes—firstly,
those which are affected by fish feeding freely, owing
to a large proportion of the natural insects being
carried to or past them by the action of the stream
or wind ; secondly, those where, owing to difficulties
inherent to the situation, the artificial fly is seldom
presented to the rising fish in the same position and
following the same rate and direction of progress as
the living fly; thirdly, places where the inherent
shyness of the fish is decreased by frequent sight of
human beings, or by some other abnormal cause.

Of the first of these three classes a trout rising
close to a bank (and here perhaps it is as well to
note that grayling, as a rule, are not found rising in
such a position) is generally a large one, who chooses
for his feeding-ground a spot where almost off the
sedges themselves, from under a hollow bank, or
from the boards of camp-shutting, he can pick up
WHERE TO CAST. 73

a good meal with a minimum of effort or exertion.
A typical fish to cast for is a trout feeding under the
left-hand bank of the river (looking up-stream), thus
giving the angler a right-handed throw, with the rod
over the water. The stream should be slow and
steady, the wind blowing very slightly ; in fact, only
sufficient to make a slight ripple on the surface, and
in direction towards that bank. There should be a
fair amount of fly hatching, but not too much. The
fish should be lying near the top of the water taking
every natural fly coming over him. The sun should
be in the fisherman’s face, and not too bright. The
fisherman should, of course, be on the same bank as
the fish, and should be able to get within a reasonable
distance, so as to cast for him with a comparatively
short line, say from ten to fifteen yards. On the plan
appended to this chapter (Plate XIV.) such places
are indicated by the letters a, a, a.

One feeding under the opposite bank is usually
able to see you before you are at an angle of 45° with
him, or fairly within casting distance. In a wide
stream, where the current is slow and moderately even,
but the strongest part of it runs close to the opposite
bank (Plate XIV. b), this may be considered a favour-
able spot if the angler will keep low and fish the under-
handed cast, as the natural fly drifts there, and the
artificial fishes well and without drag. Even if the
wind is dead down-stream, so long as it is very light,
such a place is not to be despised when found. Un-
fortunately, however, it is not often found in practice.
74 DRY-FLY FISHING.

At every turn of the river there is generally a suc-
cession of points, close to the bank, to which every
floating object, animate or inanimate, is carried by
the set of the current and wind, and the heaviest
and easiest fish, as a rule, take up these enviable
positions (Plate XIV. c). Subject to exception, to
be hereafter treated of, these are, as a rule, places
where one should cast. It must always be remem-
bered that when feeding close to the bank a trout is
generally less liable to be scared by a small mistake,
and even less liable to notice it, as the eye nearest to
the bank is invariably in deep shade, and probably
at the same time is ever intent on watching for edible
morsels passing between it and the margin of the
stream. It is sometimes a very deadly plan to place
the fly on the bank, and with a slight movement
persuade it to drop on the water. This comes off
best on short grass, as the fly does not usually get
hung up in it. Sedges, however, are dangerous, If
the hook should get caught up, take the line in your
hand and draw gently, but do not on any account try
to extricate it by striking or jerking with the rod-
point. Every angler of experience has occasionally
killed a trout blind of one eye rising close under the
bank, and in such a case it may safely be predicted
that the fish is rising with the blind eye towards
the middle of the stream and the perfect one against
the bank.

On a well-kept shallow—that is, one on which a
fair proportion of the weed is left uncut in bars, and
WHERE TO CAST. 75

in which bright patches of clean gravel altertiate
with banks of weeds—every fish feeding on fly will
take up his station over these gravel patches (see
Plate XIV. d), and some of the cleverest fisher-
men occasionally float a dry fly on spec over the best-
looking of such places if even they fail to see a sign
of arise, knowing that if a fish is there he must be in
position, and ready and likely to take advantage of
any unexpected treat provided for him. In all water,
whether deep or shallow, with plenty of weeds scien-
tifically cut so as to leave clear runs between them,
the feeding fish lie mostly on the tails of the weed-
patches, where the water commences to slacken, and
are partly covered by the weeds or bank-edge, and
in such a position rise with confidence to every pass-
ing insect; and when disturbed by an imprudent
passer-by, or even pricked, merely glide into the
depths of the weeds close to them, and soon come
on the feed again (such places are shown on Plate
XIV. e, ¢); while, on the other hand, in an open
bare piece of water utterly denuded of shelter, when
alarmed they bolt off for twenty or thirty yards,
starting in their headlong rush any other fish in
the vicinity.

At the tail of a rough run, where the water
commences to deepen and become smooth (Plate
XIV. f), where the fly, after being whirled over
and over and swept down at a great pace, recovers
its equilibrium and sails calmly and slowly down
on the deep glide, there is often a specially good fish
76 ‘DRY-FLY FISHING.

waiting to be tempted if the first cast is delicately
made and the artificial fly floats down cocked.

In very hot weather the hatch of fly in the middle
of the day is as a rule sparse, but if at such a time
an occasional quiet ring or a mere bubble is espied
in a shady nook or under an overhanging bank, a
fish there should be selected in preference to any
feeding in the full glare of the midday sun as likely
to be large as well as sometimes unsuspecting.

In large deep eddies the best fish often rise very
quietly in curious positions, generally with their
heads directed apparently down-stream, although
this is, of course, only apparent, as in this case the
flies are carried round the back-eddy in the opposite
direction to the general run of the river. If the
eddy be large enough and the position of the rise
such as to enable the angler to make a wide circuit
wp-stream in order to get below the fish, and, throw-
ing up the eddy, place his fly so that it drifts
accurately over the fish, while the reel-line remains
in the back-eddy so as not to produce any drag, the
spot is a favourable one to try. (Such places are
shown on Plate XIV. g.) The foregoing are all
positions to be selected as those in which fish are
naturally prone to feed.

With respect to the second category, or spots
where it is difficult to place a fly, such as under the
boughs of trees hanging close down to the water, or
where it is only possible to fish with an under-handed
cast, or even with a left-handed under-handed cast,
WHERE TO CAST. 77

or close to the knotted roots of trees or willows, a
feeding fish should never be entirely passed over.
In such a position he does not see an artificial fly
floating over him cocked, without drag, and delivered
without splash half a dozen times in a season, and
when he does the result is a rise, if not a kill.

Dry your fly up and down the stream and cast
across from the hand (dry switch) in situations
where there is a high bank, or bushes behind, and
the water is clear. The under-handed cast is also
useful where there are trees behind with boughs not
very low on the water. Look back when drying the
fly and see that the line when returned behind you
works clear of bushes or trees. If the fly should
catch it is sure to be low down, where you can un-
hook it by hand. Where you see a fish feeding in a
difficult place under a bush you are not unlikely to
catch the gleam of a portion of a gut collar hanging
in the bush. Note the danger to avoid it, and col-
lect the remains of some other fisherman’s collar; the
fly at the end of it may often give youa useful hint as
to the patterns used by the local talent—a hint they
are not always willing to convey by word of mouth.

Again, you are out on a boisterous day, and the
first fish you see rising is in a foul corner, where
the wind is in every way contrary. Nineteen out of
twenty fishermen pass such a fish as impossible. But
the twentieth, grateful for the chance, setting his
teeth, grasping his rod, and shortening the gut by
two or three links, by means of the under-handed
78 DRY-FLY FISHING.

cast, or if that be impracticable, the downward cut,
gives the hungry trout a chance of which he is not
slow to avail himself.

Some days, again, especially on a club or subscrip-
tion water, you will notice that your brother fisher-
men have started early so as to be before you, and
have walked up the windward bank. You reflect that
all the feeding fish that they, or possibly you, can
reach are most likely killed or spoiled before you can
get up tothem. You decide to walk up as quickly
as possible to get in front of them, and then all day
long you and they are engaged in a breathless sort
of race, one trying to get above the other, with the
result that all alike get little or no sport. This is
a great mistake, and the next time it happens try
exactly the opposite tactics. Give them a good start,
walk leisurely up the lee bank, cast a short line,
and throwing into the wind, try all the fish you can
see rising under your own bank. Do not be afraid
of the work of casting against the wind, because this,
as shown in a previous chapter, is not altogether
difficult when you know how it is to.be done; and I
venture to prophesy that very possibly at the end of
the day you may find yourself with a better bag, and
generally more contented than any of them.

Also note fish rising under the lee of the windward
bank, especially if the current sets there, as the natu-
ral flies remain in this glass edge out of the wind.
Fishermen looking across will often walk over them
and set them down. They soon come on the feed
WHERE TO CAST. 79

again, and you can walk leisurely up this windward
bank and pick up a bag behind them. There are
usually two glass edges where the wind is across the
stream, one under each bank; that on the windward
side is the part protected from the force of the wind
by the height of the bank, and that on the lee side is
produced by the back-eddy of wind thrown off the
lee bank counteracting the force of the breeze blow-
ing directly towards that bank.

The third class of places to select, namely, those
in which the fish are rendered less shy by some ab-
normal cause, are as a general rule neglected by the
majority of anglers, as, for example, the extreme
ends or limits of a water. If at the lower end, most
fishermen are far too impatient to get on, opining
that if the fish are not feeding well there, they may
perchance be farther afield; and as to the upper
boundary, that generally is never reached if the
fishery be of any great extent. My advice is, never
neglect these positions, and never leave rising fish to
go in search of others in what you fancy are more
likely places. As a rule, if the fish are taking well
in one part of the water they are taking equally well
in others, and vice versd. If you are starting at the
lower end do not be in a hurry; wait there until the
fish begin rising, and try the fish there. On the other
hand, if you are cold and want exercise to restore
the circulation, walk briskly to the extreme upper
end of the water, and there again wait for the rise,
and fish it.
80 DRY-FLY FISHING.

In portions of a river along which a public
footpath or roadway runs trout very soon become
accustomed to the sight of human beings, and are
as a consequence comparatively tolerant of their
intrusive curiosity. They are then not so easily
scared, and if scared when rising, are not long in
returning to their habitual feeding-place to resume
their interrupted meal. A fish rising immediately
above a bridge or a hatch is never very shy, and,
besides, is very seldom fished for; the sapient
angler opines that it is hopeless, as the trout will
bolt down through the bridge or through the hatch
the moment he is hooked. If it be a bridge, he
does usually run down under, but not through,
and there he remains in the shadow of the bridge
until by the continued strain of the rod you have
drowned kim and can land him at your leisure.
Even if, once in a way, he does make a clean bolt
through it and smashes you, or come unhooked, even
then perhaps it is better to have hooked and lost
your fish than never to have hooked one all day long.

Never hold a fish very hard when bolting through
an arch of a bridge. If he is eased his natural ten-
dency is to work up after the first rush, and then
perhaps you may coax him away from the dangerous
locality. In the case of a hatch, if a hooked fish
runs through it, the rod can often be passed through
point first, and the fish killed at your leisure in the
hatch-hole below. With a fish rising under a bridge
or at the upper end of it, either go above and drift
WHERE TO CAST. 81

to him with a strong down-stream wind, or, what is
far better, where possible go below and throw up
with the under-handed cast.

In very rough weather in portions of the stream
which are usually smooth but are then ruffled by
strong gusts of wind and perhaps occasionally lighted
up by warm gleams of sunshine, fish are often seen
feeding among the waves or quietly sucking in the
flies dancing over the rippling surface. Such fish
are generally travelling; in that case throw well
above the rise, taking especial care to notice in which
direction they are moving. Under such circumstances
they are usually silly and unsuspecting, and should
never be passed by without just one polite invitation
in the shape of a floating dun perfectly dry and well
cocked.

Among dry-fly fishermen the remark is often
heard that a particular throw is not likely to be
successful, or that a fish rising in a particular place
is, practically speaking, out of danger, owing to the
fact that with the particular throw or in the par-
ticular place the fly is bound to drag. The exact
meaning of this expression is, however, only clear
to a small minority of modern anglers, and as the
main principle of dry-fly fishing and the success and
want of success of the angler is absolutely dependent
on this point, it is worthy of a proper definition.
When a fly is said to be dragging, the meaning is,
that it is travelling down the stream in some degree

differently to the natural insect. This can occur in
F
82 DRY-FLY FISHING.

one of three different respects ; firstly, by the artificial
fly travelling more rapidly than the natural ; secondly,
by its travelling more slowly than the natural; and
thirdly, owing to its drifting across the run of the
stream, in each case leaving a more or less per-
ceptible wake. The natural insects under normal
conditions emerge from the covering in which they
have been enveloped in the larva or nymph state,
on the surface of the stream, float down at precisely
the same pace as the current, and follow precisely
the direction of the particular run in which they
happen to be when they reach the surface; hence
in every stream the probability of a shy fish like a
trout or grayling rising at any artificial fly which takes
a course opposed to that of the natural one is remote ;
while in clear water or in rivers which are heavily
fished it may be practically considered an absolute
certainty that this remote probability will not come
off. When the wind is blowing very strongly across
the current, it sometimes causes the natural fly to
drag and leave a wake, and when this happens the
fish seldom or ever take it. This experience is derived
entirely from streams which are heavily fished, and
it would be interesting, as tending to show whether
this shyness is inherent in fish or the outcome of a
prolonged and advanced education, to know whether
the same thing occurs on waters where the fly-fisher-
man is comparatively unknown. .

Now to deal with the various causes of the fly
dragging, owing to its travelling more rapidly than
WHERE TO CAST. 83

the stream ; and in all cases, where possible, to indi-
‘cate the means of modifying or counteracting this
tendency. The most usual position in which the
angler is troubled by this form of dragging is where
he is casting across or partially across and up the
stream, and where the swiftest portion of the cur-
rent is between him and the point to which he is
directing his fly. In such a case throwing in the
ordinary way and with a moderately straight line,
the strength of the current pressing against the
reel-line forces it down-stream, thus causing a pull
on the fly, dragging it more or less across, but at
the same time making it travel at the pace of the
strongest part of the stream, or at a greater pace
than the natural fly under similar conditions. The
most effectual means of obviating this is to make
the cast in such a way that while the fly and
last yard of the gut collar lie in a direct line, the
remainder of the collar and a portion of the reel-
line lie on the water in a curve the convex side of
which tends up the stream. The strength of the
current then acting on the belly of the line and
pressing it down-stream does not cause the fly to
drag before it has forced the convex side of the
curve into a straight line, and, if the convexity of
the curve has been sufficiently pronounced, until
the fly is beyond the point where the fish is rising.
Of course the longer the cast and the greater the
disproportion between the extreme rapidity of the
current and that at the feeding-place of the fish
84 DRY-FLY FISHING.,

the sharper or more convex this curve requires to
be. To deliver the line in this curved state with
the over-handed or ordinary cast the assistance of
a slight up-stream wind is necessary; but with the
under-handed cast, it is far easier to accomplish it
with a slight down-stream wind than with one
blowing directly up or across. In such a case it
is not necessary to throw absolutely against the
wind, but merely to cheat it slightly; and hence,
if the angler finds the direction of his first cast is
too ' much into the wind, he must correct the in-
accuracy in the next, either by using less force, by
easing the point of his rod in the act of delivery,
or by increasing the length of the gut collar which
he is using. If the direction of the wind is up-stream
the fisherman must take up his position on the
bank a very short distance below or even level with
the rising fish; and, to allow for the action of the
wind, the cast must be made as though his object
was to place the fly slightly below the fish. With a
down-stream wind it will, on the other hand, be
necessary to direct the fly towards a point slightly
above the fish.

Some natural obstruction on the bank or an
extremely long throw may render the under-handed
cast difficult, or even impossible; and on rare occa-
sions, too, the force of the down-stream wind may
be too great to be overcome. In either of these
cases the fisherman must place himself directly
opposite to or slightly above the spot where the
WHERE TO CAST. 85

fish is feeding. The ordinary over-handed cast must
then be made, or if necessary, owing to the dis-
tance being very great, the steeple-cast is used, and
with either of them a slight downward cut is in-
corporated, and at the moment that the fly has
travelled out to the full extent of the line the cast
is perceptibly checked and the fly lands on the
water with the last yard of the gut straight, and
the remainder of the gut and a portion of the
reel-line in curves or loosely behind it. At the
moment that the fly touches the water the hand
is lowered to allow it to come over the fish be-
fore the line is sufficiently taut to cause a drag,
and as remarked in a previous chapter, sometimes
it is necessary for the angler‘to walk at the same
pace and in the same direction as the fly is floating
down.

When throwing across a very wide stream
throughout which the current is flowing evenly
there will frequently be a slight drag, especially
if the line sinks; and in such a case the plan de-
scribed above of placing the fly with a convex side
of the curve or belly of the line inclined up-stream
should be adopted, or else that of throwing a slack
line. The meaning to be attached to the expres-
sion throwing a slack line is, that the force to be
used should be a trifle more than is necessary to
put the line out straight, and in making this cast
the hand must be checked slightly, so that, as
before, the fly and last yard of the gut are extended,
86 DRY-FLY FISHING.

while the upper part of the cast and a portion
of the reel-line lie in curves or loosely on the
water.

Fish, more especially grayling, often rise in a
smooth place immediately above a swift run, and
in such a position a straight cast made up-stream
from below lays the reel-line on the hardest of the
run, and the fly, being on the comparatively still
glide above, is dragged down by it. To avoid this
drag, the place must either be fished from above
with the half-drift, or from below with a good deal
of slack line on the run, so that the fly is below the
fish before it commences to drag.

Another very favourite position for a rising fish
is a small eddy or a slow-running bay under the
bank, where most of the natural fly is carried by the
stream. Both trout and grayling, especially large
ones, being naturally inclined to get their food with
as little work as possible, show a preference for
spots into which the fly is carried by the action of
the stream or wind, and where it is almost stationary,
or at most moves very slowly. If the eddy is so
strong that the natural insects drift in the opposite
direction to the general run of the stream, the fish
lies with his head down-stream, or rather down
what is the general run of the stream; and if this
happens in a very small space it is almost impos-
sible to fish it without drag. Where, however,
instead of an eddy there is a mere slackening of the
stream, the difficulty may be overcome by putting
WHERE TO CAST. 84

plenty of slack line so that no drag takes place until
the fly is past the fish.

With a strong up-stream wind, a fish rising
directly above the angler is apparently in a very
favourable position; but it must be remembered
that the cast is a straight one, that is, that at the
moment the fly lands on the water the line is
extended to its uttermost, and hence any slight
inequality of the stream causes the fly to commence
dragging, and to continue dragging until it has
travelled far enough to cause a slight slackness
in the line. Anglers, from ignorance or want of
observation, are often surprised at finding difficulty
in rising fish in such a position, while the remedy
is a very simple one. To obviate the drag, keep
the point of the rod well in the air when casting,
and immediately after the fly has fallen on the
water drop the hand, and naturally with it the rod-
point, so as to slacken the line and remove the
strain, which would otherwise cause a drag. The
foregoing are probably the only positions in which the
artificial fly travels more rapidly than the natural.

An artificial fly travels more slowly than the
natural when throwing across, or partially across,
the stream in places where the upper portion of the
gut cast or the reel-line lies on an eddy. A slack
line will to a certain degree prevent this; but such
a place is never easy to fish, and the angler must
not have great hopes of killing in such a position
except, perhaps, on a rough or rainy day, or in
88 DRY-FLY FISHING.

water slightly coloured, or late in the evening.
With a very strong down-stream wind the natural
fly itself is occasionally forced along at a greater
speed than the normal pace of the current. In
such a case the artificial fly drifts more slowly than
the natural, but in rivers that are much fished or
where trout are fairly well educated I do not find
that they are very prone even to take the natural
when drifting faster than the stream; and I at-
tribute this to the fact that under such condi-
tions even the natural fly leaves a slight wake on
the water; and hence I would venture the opinion
that this action of the artificial fly must not be
considered as dragging; in fact, it is questionable
whether under such conditions the fish will not
at times take the imitation in preference to the
living insect.

The artificial fly drifts across the natural set of
the stream under the following circumstances :—
Firstly, when throwing across, or across and _par-
tially down, as soon as the line commences to
tighten. This particular form of dragging can some-
times be delayed until the fly is past the fish by
easing the hand and dropping the rod-point towards
the water, or sometimes by walking slowly down-
stream. Secondly, in deep pools through which
a number of irregular cross currents or eddies flow.
Such places are as a rule very disappointing, especi-
ally in long casts, as the line is subject to the action
of several of these currents, and, excepting in rough
WHERE TO CAST. 89

weather or late in the evening, or perhaps when
quite dark, should be avoided; if, however, fish
cannot .be found rising elsewhere, some little time
may be devoted to what is far more likely to be
educating than catching them. Thirdly, where the
water at the head or any other part of a shallow
commences to widen, the stream usually divides into
a number of fan-shaped runs, and a natural fly of
course would drift down the run on which it
happened to be when emerging from the nymph
envelope. In the case of the artificial, however,
if there happen to be one or more of these runs
between the angler and the place where the fish is
rising, it is dragged across the natural flow of the
current, and hence, it may be inferred, will not be
taken. If in such a place it is practicable to wade
and stand immediately below the rising fish, on the
edge of the very fan-run in which he is feeding,
well and good; there is every chance of getting
the fish. If, again, by standing well above the
fish and half drifting to him, the fly can be got
past him without drag, there is again a fair chance
of killing him; but if it is too deep to wade, and
the distance from the bank is too great for the
second alternative above defined, the place is, to all
practical intents and purposes, an impossible one,
and the fish is safe.

In indicating places which should, as a general
rule, be avoided, it must be clearly understood that
the idea is to give a few practical hints, especially to
go DRY-FLY FISHING.

the younger generation of dry-fly fishermen, to assist
them in judging whether, under ordinary conditions,
a fish feeding in a particular spot is a killable one or
not. At the same time, in streams where fishermen
are not often seen, and where the floating fly is
almost unknown—in fact, where the education of
the fish has not been carried to a high standard—
the silly ones will occasionally take well in such
places, and upset all the preconceived scientific
theories on the subject. In the same way, in a
gale of wind, with the surface lashed into heavy
waves, or during heavy rain or hailstorms, or when
nearly dark, these unlikely places may, even in the
shyest of chalk-streams, be tried with success.

To recapitulate briefly, a fish rising in any place
where the fly is likely to drag is a_ difficult
one to tempt. Such places are where the strongest
of the current is between the angler and the
feeding-place of the fish (Plate XIV. v); where
throwing across a very wide stream, even where the
current is uniform (the use of the slack-line, the
bowed cast with belly of line up-stream, or the half-
drift will prevent or delay the drag in these posi-
tions) ; a small eddy or bay (Plate XIV. w); deep
eddying pools (with some exceptions); a smooth
glide at the head of a run (Plate XIV. 2); or
amongst the fan-shaped runs where wading is im-
possible, as shown on Plate XIV. y.

In summer-time there are on most shallows por-
tions covered with a very close, compact growth of
WIT “SH3HLOX¥g NOLHO1aq

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NSS (nh RUSCEDENIT
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WHERE TO CAST. gt

quite short, bright green weeds, and for the purpose
of briefly referring to such places it may be well to
borrow friend Marryat’s terse cognomen for them—
celery beds. Often and often trout are apparently
rising well over these celery beds, and inexperienced
anglers too often waste a considerable time in trying
to tempt them. At first their inability to get even
an offer induces them to try another pattern of fly,
which in its turn is changed for another, and still
another. At length, in despair, the fisherman makes
cast after cast in rapid succession, generally not even
taking the trouble to dry his fly, until, utterly worn
out and with every muscle of his hand and arms
aching severely, he abandons the attempt. In point
of fact, fish in such a position are rarely, if ever,
taking duns or winged flies of any sort, but are
picking up any little larvee, caddis, shrimps, snails,
or other molluscs drifting off the weed.

This is no mere theoretical assertion, but the
result of continual practical experiment, obtained
by minute examination, day after day and year after
year, of the contents of the stomachs of both trout
and grayling taken under such conditions. Methinks
the reader may with reason exclaim against the in-
consistency of advising him in the first instance to
avoid such places, and in the very next sentence refer-
ring to an examination of the contents of the stomachs
of fish—an examination which, in the natural course
of events, must have been preceded by their cap-
ture. True; but mark how this has been accom-
92 DRY-FLY FISHING.

plished in nearly every case. When no rising fish
could be found in a more favourable situation, the
plan adopted has been to put up either a gold-ribbed
hare’s ear (one of the best general patterns of duns
known) or an orange bumble ; in either case to fish
quite dry, throwing only at long intervals, and alto-
gether resting the fish from time to time, until at
length occasionally a rise has secured the trout or
grayling. What the fish mistake the hare’s ear or
bumble for is mere conjecture. The hare’s ear,
possibly, is taken for a dun just emerging from the
nymph envelope, and the bumble does certainly
bear some faint resemblance to one of the orange
tinted fresh-water shrimps. The above remarks as
to fish feeding over “celery beds” apply in a lesser
degree to fish rising in any part of the water, deep
or shallow, swift or still, over heavy banks of sub-
merged weed.

The inexperienced dry-fly fisherman should gene-
rally avoid places in which the stream is very swift.
Such places are difficult, for two reasons; firstly,
because it is not easy to time the action of the hand
so as to raise the rod just quickly enough to keep
the slack line off the water without dragging the fly,
(and with the slack on the water one may generally
expect to miss the fish altogether, or at best only
to hook it lightly); secondly, because fish in a very
swift run do not as a general rule feed in the most
rapid portion of it, but take up their position just
above the hardest part of it, in which case the
WHERE TO CAST. 93

artificial fly must infallibly drag. There are nearly
always fish feeding immediately below a wide plank
bridge or wooden-trunk carrier, and every fisherman
passing by is irresistibly impelled to study their
movements. As a natural sequence he crouches
down, creeps slowly below them, gets into position,
dries his fly carefully, and takes a cast or two. How
very seldom he is successful, and how rarely fish in
such a place are easy to kill though really taking
well! Is it because they are so frequently tried for?
This may be, although I confess I doubt it, and am
inclined to think that from some as yet unexplained
effect of light and shade either the gut, the hook,
or any little imperfection of shape or colour in the
fly itself is in some way brought prominently to the
notice of the fish, looking upwards against the dead
background of the bridge or carrier.

When only rising moderately well, fish in deep
black-looking pools may as a general rule be con-
sidered unpromising, although here again an excep-
tion may be made at dusk, when, if no other rising
fish can be descried, a few minutes may often be
profitably devoted to them. At times, in such a
place, a considerable number of fish are seen rising
in close proximity, and after a number of casts,
or until the angler succeeds in catching one, he
is in doubt as to whether they are salmonide or
not. If he can secure one, and finds it is a dace,
there is no occasion to go on, as probably they are
all dace ; at the same time it is frequently the habit
94 DRY-FLY FISHING.

of an angler to pronounce fish that he cannot catch
in a trout stream to be dace—and they certainly are
very difficult to catch, and at times it is a convenient
excuse for not killing a big trout.

An example of this I can give on a club water
well known on the Test. Two members starting
in the morning saw two fish rising quietly under
the shade of an old elm. Piscator No. 1 settled
down to try them, and his companion walked on.
An hour or so later Piscator No. 1 joined Piscator
No. 2, and with some emphasis exclaimed at the
presence of this wretched vermin in a trout stream,
imagining and stating that he had wasted his valu-
able time in vainly trying to tempt two big dace.
Piscator No. 2, a somewhat incredulous but ex-
perienced follower of the craft, made a mental
note of the exact position of these two dace, and
determined to devote a few minutes to them on
his way home. When comparing bags, Piscator
No. 1 was rather disgusted to find that two trout
weighing somewhere about seven pounds were
the dace which he had failed to beguile in the
morning: I mention this to show how difficult it
is to differentiate the rise of dace from that of
trout, and how unsafe it is to be quite positive in
these cases. As a general rule, a number of fish
rising abreast of each other are probably dace. Trout
feeding close together usually hunt one another, as
also do grayling, but not so decidedly as trout.
Dace generally travel in shoals and feed in shoals,
WHERE TO CAST. 95

while trout feeding are more often in position one
behind the other.

Sometimes grayling, and large grayling too, may
be seen rising in close proximity in these deep, still
pools. As a rule, careful scrutiny will enable the
angler to distinguish them from coarse fish, from the
curious way in which when breaking the surface
they show their dorsal fins, and at times, too, all
doubt is removed by catching sight of the adipose
fin, which latter, it must be mentioned, is an un-
mistakable index only existing in members of the
salmon family.

A corner or bend into which the wind sets directly
up-stream, and into which every fly floats, looks an
inviting one, but it should be borne in mind that
on a club or subscription water no passing angler
can by any possibility fail to catch sight of fish
feeding in such a place; and if they have been
sedulously fished for only a few minutes previously, it
is surprising how soon their suspicions are aroused,
and how small a mistake will set them down. This
same argument applies to any portion of a piece
of water held in high repute by our brother fisher-
men, either as a taking place or as one contain-
ing an extraordinarily large number of fish, and my
advice to the thinking angler is to pass such places
by. At best he is far more likely to add to the
already far advanced education of the fish than to
the contents of his bag. When fishing for trout
in hot calm weather, portions of the river in the
96 DRY-FLY FISHING.

full glare of the sun, especially in mid-stream,
should be avoided. But, at the same time, it must
be remembered that the largest and freest rising
grayling are usually to be found in such places, and
this, I take it, is one of the most salient points of
difference between the feeding-places affected by
the grayling and by the trout.

Wherever the bank is raised much above the level
of the river (and such a place is shown on Plate XIV.
z), the angler is more visible to the fish, and is hence
placed at a great disadvantage; and if it be just
as the shadows are commencing to lengthen in the
evening on the western bank, it is often impossible,
when standing up, to approach within twenty-five or
thirty yards of the stream without scaring every fish
over whom the fisherman’s shadow passes. If no
fish can be found rising in a more favourable place, it
is sometimes possible to get into position by crawl-
ing slowly to the bank on all-fours, taking especial
care that the shadow is not thrown beyond the edge
of the sedges on the side of the river nearest to you.

Above all, when stalking a fish do not forget to
move slowly. A quick motion is not only more
visible to the fish, and hence more likely to scare him,
but a quick footstep causes more motion of the bank,
which communicates vibration to the water, and, with
it, an intimation to the fish of the angler’s presence.
Having stalked into position, and, I presume, the fly
being thoroughly dry, crouch down as much as pos-
sible, throw with the under-handed cast only, and be
WHERE TO CAST. 97

careful not to raise the point of the rod, nor to throw
its shadow across the rising fish, either when throw-
ing or subsequently when drying your fly, as neglect
of this advice must invariably reveal the fisherman’s
presence to the well-educated fish. With these
precautions, it is sometimes possible to float a fly
over such a place without setting the fish down;
but, at the same time, it is astonishing how small a
movement will scare him, a fact which will usually
be brought home to the fisherman by the heavy fur-
row caused by the headlong flight: of the frightened
trout to the innermost recesses of the nearest bed of
weeds.
( 98 )

CHAPTER V.
WHEN TO CAST.

Ir the first throw over a rising fish, before it has
caught sight of the angler or the reflected wave of
his rod, is accurately and delicately made, and if
the fly floats in its natural position without drag or
curl in the gut, you will probably rise, and possibly
kill, the most highly educated trout or grayling in
the clearest water, while the slightest mistake will as
probably set the fish down for the next half-hour.
But much of this success depends on when this first
cast is made. It may often pay you better to wait ten
minutes before the first cast is made than to make it
as soon as you are in position. A good fish is in
this respect not unlike a stag; you may take hours
to stalk him, and find him in such a position that
a favourable shot is almost an impossibility. The
practical sportsman will wait for an hour until the
stag changes his position before using his rifle, and
it is certainly far better to kill after waiting than
wait after scaring. The same rule holds good with
fish.

To put theory into practice, suppose the angler
catches sight of a fish rising fairly well (selecting for
. WHEN TO CAST. 99

choice one under his own bank), the first problem is
to get within throwing distance without betraying
your presence. Starting at thirty yards below the
spot, and keeping well back, so as not to scare any
other fish on your journey, crouch down as low as
possible, and creep up, still in the crouching position,
until within about twelve yards of the place. If
your fly is not quite dry, you should dry it in the air
before approaching. When the wind is gusty creep
up during a cat’s-paw, get into position, wait during
the succeeding calm, and cast when the next gust
ruffles the water. Let out line sufficient in your
judgment to cover the fish, and take the greatest
pains to make the first cast accurately, but, above
all, beware of waving your rod backwards and for-
wards in such a position that the flash of it on the
water is visible. This will infallibly leave you wait-
ing in vain for the next rise of a fish that has pru-
dently beaten a retreat and departed to happier
hunting grounds. One more piece of advice. If all
your precautions and efforts fail to tempt the fish,
retire in the same crouching position, and do not
stand upright and expose yourself clearly defined
against the sky-line to the vision of the trout; even
if you are unable to come back to him later yourself
you may thus give the next passing fisherman a
chance, and nothing more surely indicates a thorough
sportsman than consideration for other anglers.
Example, they say, is better than precept. A
nobleman residing within a comparatively short dis-
100 DRY-FLY FISHING.

tance of the metropolis had kindly granted me per-
mission for a day in a small stream running through
his park, adding, however, the well-considered ad-
vice not to expect much sport, as the owners of a
number of gardens extending to the edge of the
water on the opposite side had always enjoyed—and,
it is to be feared, much abused—the privilege of
fishing and killing every trout they could get with
worm and minnow. Arriving on the scene of action
on an early June morning, I found the water pretty
and promising-looking, with trees of all sorts along
the banks, throwing out branches which met over the
stream. In the whole length of a mile there was
only one open place in which it was possible to fish
with the usual return immediately behind the angler.
To this spot the keeper took me at once. On cross-
examining him, it appeared that practically all his
lordship’s friends patronised this spot, but that one
resident in the vicinity, who was generally most suc-
cessful, never fished there, but, to use the keeper’s
own expression, was “‘allers poking about among the
trees with a short rod and a partiklar fly of his own
tying.” On a prospecting tour, I gradually worked
my way down to the very: bottom of the water, de-
termined to fish it up with a dry fly wherever a pos-
sible fish was rising. The stream was beautifully
clear, and flowed at a fair pace. The only flies
visible seemed to be iron blues, of which here and
there an occasional specimen was floating down, not
appreciated by the trout. At length one close to
| WHEN TO CAST. Io

the opposite bank was taken, then another, and then
a third. The fish rose immediately under the bough
of an alder overhanging not more than a foot above
the surface. The artificial on the cast was a star-
ling-winged hare’s ear, the body ribbed with flat
gold; to my great delight, I succeeded at the first
attempt in putting it about a foot above the fish’s
nose. In such a position a trout seldom sees a float-
ing fly, except the natural duns, and hence it was
taken without the slightest suspicion. It being im-
possible to raise the rod into a perpendicular position,
it was some time before the first impetuous rush up-
stream of the hooked fish could be checked, but at
length the pressure of the rod, bent nearly double,
turned him,.and eventually brought to the net a
good-looking trout of 1 Ib. 6 oz. Continuing up-
stream, and trying every feeding trout under the
shade of the trees, each time the fly was accurately
placed the first throw, the result was invariably that
the fish rose at it, and was either killed, returned, or
lost, while on each occasion that the first cast was in
any way bungled the trout gave up rising. A con-
siderable number of flies and strands of gut were left
in the boughs of the trees, and eventually, at two
o’clock, finding that my bag contained four brace of
as pretty trout as ever charmed the eyes of an angler
(weighing 114 lbs.), and having returned as many
more, I gave up fishing, although the trout were still
rising very well. During the whole time no fly ex-
cept iron blues was seen, and yet every one of the
102 DRY-FLY FISHING.

fish hooked or killed took the gold-ribbed hare’s ear,
which by no possible stretch of the imagination can
be considered an imitation of the bluish-tinged wings
and purple body of the iron blue.

Another illustration of the efficacy of the first cast
occurred in September last with a party of three ona
Hampshire stream. Our host, being desirous of try-
ing the upper portion of his water until lunch-time,
posted Mr. H. and myself at the lower end, which
contains a very good stock of both trout and gray-
ling, some being of great size. It was a sultry,
oppressive day, with a southerly wind, and to one
unaccustomed to these rivers the absence of move-
ment on the surface of the water might have given
the idea that there were very few fish. My friend
H. had a fancy for a narrow piece about three hun-
dred yards long, extending from a foot-bridge to a
weir, in which were set a series of eel-traps, and leav-
ing him there, I wandered aimlessly down to a taking-
looking shallow at the bottom. Here I sat down,
put my rod together, and laid it down with the cast
in the water to soak the gut. Presently I saw a
trout about 3 Ibs. just under my eyes busily engaged
in appeasing his appetite with that aggravating in-
sect the smut or fisherman’s curse. The bank being
overgrown with sedges, I was invisible to him.
After rising him short with three or four different
patterns I pricked him, and put an end to my amuse-
ment. The previous day I had dressed some red
tags with a bit of scarlet ibis instead of wool, and
WHEN TO CAST. 103

with a desire of trying the improved pattern, knotted
one to my cast. Just where a cart-track crossed the
river in the widest part of the shallow a fish rose
several times at the pale watery-looking duns which
were hatching. I crawled up into position, and after
measuring the length of line by a preliminary flick
over the meadow, at the first cast the fly landed
right, and never having been wetted, of course
floated admirably. There was a quiet rise, and down-
stream the hooked fish went like a shot, and after a
good fight succumbed—a grayling, 2 lbs. t oz. Think-
ing it would be friendly to give H. the tp as to
the killing fly, I started to walk up, but before going
a hundred yards saw the head and shoulders of a
big fish out of water in the centre of a deep but
rather rapidly running horseshoe turn in the river.
Crouching down behind the bank, I waited another
rise to make sure of the exact spot, and at the first
cast again the fly was rightly placed, and the gray-
ling (one of 2 lbs. 9 oz.) was landed after a grand rush.

Meanwhile H. could not get a single chance, but
at my request put up one of the red tags. But it
was of no avail. Each time he tried a fresh fish the
first cast did not come off accurately, and the fish
went down. Fly after fly and fish after fish were
thus tried in turn, but all to no purpose, as, although
a first-rate performer usually, he seemed on that day
to be out in his judgment respecting the first cast.
Ex uno disce omnes.

Many anglers will be disposed to urge that it is
104 DRY-FLY FISHING.

a matter of comparative indifference to them as to
when theyehrow to a rising fish, and that the only
important point is where they throw, or, in other
words, to place the fly accurately. No doubt they
are, to a certain extent, right in their contention,
and the question of accuracy and delicacy combined,
especially in the first cast over a fish, is, as a general
rule, by far the most essential object. Yet with
very shy fish there is a right and a wrong moment to
throw, and hence the subject is worthy of some con-
sideration by all dry-fly fishermen who are desirous
of following up the more scientific portion of the
question. To a mere pot-hunter, whose only object
is to kill as many fish as he can in a given time,
it will not be an interesting study; his tactics are
simply to keep on throwing over every feeding fish
he can see from morning to night; and although he
imagines he will get a larger bag, it is one of the
many cases in which his very eagerness defeats itself,
and certainly he does not derive the same satisfac-
tion from the pastime as the less jealous and more
unselfish fisherman who is worthy to be styled a
sportsman.

With a trout poised close to the surface of the
water, and merely opening his mouth slightly to
suck in each passing fly, it is scarcely possible to be
wrong; but when in such a position he is only
taking one out of six or seven flies floating over
him, the least splash, or sometimes even the mere
gleam of the gut, will be enough to set him down,
WHEN TO CAST. 105

and the farther from the bank the position of the fish
the more gut-shy he seems to be; hence the axiom:
“Never fish with duns one in mid-stream when
you can find one rising under the bank.” With a
trout, the true secret under such conditions is not to
be in too great a hurry to make your first cast, and not
to throw too frequently. Cast a perfectly dry fly,
cocked with greatest care and accuracy, twice, or at
most thrice, and then rest the fish for three or four
minutes, or at least until he has again risen at a
natural; then throw once or twice more. If this
second attempt proves unavailing a study of the fly
on the water is frequently useful, as a change to one
merely a trifle lighter or darker, or a size smaller,
may be found successful, although it is to a great
degree doubtful whether the trout are so dreadfully
particular as to a mere shade of colour. On the
other hand, it must be admitted that a number of
the same flies, hatching at the same time, are to our
eyes identically alike in colour, form, and size.

Do not be too sure, having seen a good many of
any particular fly on the water, that fish are taking
that fly, as when a new species hatches out it may be
sparsely distributed among the prevailing insects, and
the fish may be selecting the last-hatched fly, which,
if you are below, will account for your not seeing
that fly floating past you in that particular run; and
fish, as a rule, take every fly on its first appearance
in preference to one which has been up some time.

As an example, after the olive-dun has been up for
106 DRY-FLY FISHING.

some weeks, the first appearance of the iron-blue
should be persistently looked for, as very often, after
the first day, fish will over and over again let the
olive pass them, and take every iron-blue floating
down.

A point which is intimately and inseparably con-
nected with the question of when to throw is when
not to throw; and with trout it should be remem-
bered that they are more easily scared, and hence
should be cast over less frequently and rested more
often than grayling. A bad moment to select to
cast over fish rising only moderately well is just
after they have taken a natural fly, as they frequently
go down with the fly in their mouths to ruminate,
or possibly enjoy the flavour. A very shy fish, how-
ever, in still, smooth water, on a hot, calm day, can
occasionally be tempted by a good imitation imme-
diately after he has risen at the natural insect, or, as
Ronalds puts it, by ‘‘ casting into the ring of the
rising fish.” The disturbance he has himself caused
by the act of rising seems to cover any little splash
made by the cast, which under other circumstances
would set him down. This plan is specially success-
ful with smutting fish, as they usually come to the
surface, and moving slowly along, suck in some six
or seven of these aggravating little wretches, and
then go down below to digest them.

As previously remarked, a trout rising in a small
slack bay or eddy is a very difficult fish to tempt,
owing to the artificial fly generally travelling down
WHEN TO CAST. 107

the stream, and being dragged by the line out-
side, while the natural is almost stationary, or else
drifts up with the eddy. In a place of this descrip-
tion a fish takes duns or spinners, very much in
the manner above described with curses; coming to
the surface, and moving with barely perceptible
motion just under water, he clears off every fly in the
bay or eddy, and then goes down to await a fresh
hatch. Should a sudden gust blow all the flies in
the eddy off the water, the observant angler would
often succeed in deluding the fish by placing the
artificial just in the bay; or sometimes even the fish
will, when his stock of food in the eddy is thus
exhausted, come outside or on the edge of the run,
where the cast.is a very simple one, and when the
moment is propitious.

When fishing a slow-running stream, it is a sen-
sible plan to leave your fly on the water as long as it
will float. A very good illustration of the wisdom
of this course occurred to my friend Marryat in
my presence. It was during the later part of the
May-fly, at Newton Stacey, when the fish were
taking the spent gnat. In an almost stagnant bay
of a small side stream a quiet rise had been seen.
Across the neck of this bay a plank was extended
to serve as a bridge when walking up the stream.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Mr. Marryat cast
his spent gnat over the plank into this little bay,
and waited for some minutes, when his patience was
rewarded by a bold rise. The moment the fish was
108 DRY-FLY FISHING.

hooked, the keeper, at his request, slid the plank
away, and the trout—a good one, nearly 3 lbs.—
was dragged out into the stream and there killed.
Not one in a hundred anglers would have waited so
long for the rise, and the smallest movement of the
rod would have produced a drag on the fly, and
infallibly scared this wary old stager.

With grayling the question of when to cast is not
so important as with trout. The former, when feed-
ing on surface food, usually lie in mid-stream and
deep down in the water, or even on the gravel at
the bottom. ‘Those curious lozenge-shaped eyes are
designed for looking upwards, and from a depth of
two and a half to three feet can distinguish the
tiniest insect floating on the water. Grayling rise
almost perpendicularly to the surface, and hence
often rise falsely, or, in other words, miss the fly,
either natural or artificial. When, however, they
do secure it, they turn slowly over and go vertically
down to their previous position, and in the motion
of turning over often show their large dorsal fins
and tails above water, thus making that unmistak-
able rise so well known to all in the habit of fishing
for them. Practically speaking, the only moment
not to throw to them is when they are thus going
down head-foremost ; and from their generally lying
so much deeper in the water, they are less easily
scared than trout, will stand being thrown over much
more frequently, and require less resting.

Fish generally rise best at the commencement of
WHEN TO CAST. 109

the hatch of a particular fly on any day, and this is
accounted for in two ways—first, because they, like
other living things, are more hungry and keen at
the commencement of their meal; secondly, because,
although, as before said, it is questionable whether
they are ever as particular to mere question of shade
in the artificial fly as the fisherman is, they have not
quite got the colour in the earliest portion of the
hatch, and hence are not quite so critical as to the
pattern of artificial as later on. There is, beyond
doubt, however, much to be urged on this point, as
every experienced fisherman will remember in his
own case numerous instances of days when at the
commencement of the rise he has killed a brace or two
of fish with a fly at which they would not look later
on. A further study of the natural insect having in
such an instance enabled him to change for a better
match of colour or size, he has found them come on
the artificial again, and been again successful.

Another point worth noticing is, that it generally
happens with a good hatch that the Ephemeride
come down in droves of six or seven; then there
is a small space or break, then another drove, fol-
lowed by another break, and so on. In trying a fish
taking nearly every fly of such a hatch the moment
to cast can hardly be wrongly chosen; but when the
fish are only taking moderately, it is a good plan
to watch for the drove coming down, and throw a
thoroughly cocked dry fly in the break, so that when
floating down it heads the natural insects.
( 110 )

CHAPTER VI.

STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING.

A DRY-FLY fisherman requires at all times to keep
his senses of hearing and sight at full tension, and
to note systematically every circumstance or move-
ment in the water likely to betray to him the locale
of a feeding fish. ‘This very state of tension is often
likely to lead him astray, as straining every nerve to
hear or see the rise makes him superlatively sensi-
tive to the faintest sound or smallest disturbance
on the surface of the water; and hence, in his ex-
citement, he is often irresistibly impelled to waste
his time in drying his fly and floating it over what,
after all, does not turn out to be a rising fish—that
is, one sucking in winged insects on the surface of
the stream.

A past master, however, who has often spoilt a
favourable day by this useless hunt after the impos-
sible, will always make quite sure that the apparent
rise to which he intends devoting his attention is a
real one, and as a first point establishes to his own
satisfaction that it is a fish, and not, as well may
be, a rat sitting close to the edge in a bay out
of sight and feeding on some of the various forms
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. III

of vegetable food he affects, or a dabchick diving
under water when scared by the angler’s approach,
and then just putting his beak above water a few
yards higher up or down the stream to take a fresh
breath, giving very much the appearance of a rise.
If this apparent rise is seen twice or more times in
succession in exactly the same place it is almost
certain to be a fish, as the dabchick generally swims
or dives either up or down, and repeats the apparent
rise elsewhere. An obstruction, such as a floating
stick carried to and kept against the bank by the
curreat, or a bobbing rush only just reaching to the
top of the water, or a curling eddy turning over
stone, frequently produces very much the appear-
ance of a rising fish.

Having determined that the movement is caused
by a fish, it is far from certain that because that
fish is making waves, or apparent rings or bubbles,
he is rising at or feeding on surface food. He
may be bulging, tailing, smutting, or minnowing ; or
the commotion may be brought about by two fish
fighting. Of the symptoms indicating bulging, tail-
ing, or smutting I will treat in a later portion of
this chapter. When minnowing, trout usually make
a quick dart through the water, and the fry are
often seen leaping to escape their open jaws.
When fighting, they generally rush headlong at
each other several times in rapid succession, until
the stronger has driven the weaker off his vantage-
ground. It is well to note that, except when
112 DRY-FLY FISHING.

spawning, grayling very rarely indulge in pugilistic
encounters.

Being certain that the movement in the water
is that of a fish, and of a fish feeding on flies, the
angler’s next difficulty is to spot the rise, or to
place its position. When under the bank this
may generally be accomplished by fixing the eye
on some striking object opposite to it, such as an
extra high spear or a particularly bright patch of
sedge, or a flower, or a brown hollow place in the
ground, remembering, however, that the ring made
by the rise must naturally drift down-stream, so that
the rise is almost invariably placed below its actual
position. I believe that this inaccuracy of judg-
ment is increased owing to the sense of hearing
usually giving the first warning to the angler; and
in the space of time occupied by the sound travelling
to the fisherman’s ear, in addition to the moment
which must elapse between hearing and seeing, the
mark of the rise is carried some distance farther
down than one would expect. When, however, the
rise takes place in mid-stream it is far less easy to
place it, as, in addition to the difficulties above
referred to, the only guide to assist the angler in
determining the precise spot is, generally speaking,
the apparent distance and direction from some rough
run or break on the surface, itself a changing and
moving object.

Sometimes a rising fish is accurately marked
down, and a good imitation of the natural fly on the
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 113

water floated over him without result. The next
rise of the same fish is three or four yards higher
up, and the angler, in response to it, either crawls
up or lengthens his line the required distance, and
covers the last rise again with no result, and a few
minutes later the fish is again seen taking a dun,
having travelled three or four yards still higher up
the stream. This wild-goose chase may, in some in-
stances, be repeated time after time, until the trout
has, by successive steps, moved as much as forty or
even fifty yards. At length no more rises are seen,
and the natural inference is, that the fish is set down.
Looking back, however, to the place where the first
movement of the fish was observed, he may be found
steadily continuing his interrupted meal there in
safety. Such a fish is a most tantalising one, usually
of large dimensions, well fed, and in good condition ;
very shy either of gut or the smallest mistake, and
as often as not, has been hooked many times before,
so as to be quite alive to the dangers of the position.
If not hooked the first cast, the fisherman is advised
to leave him altogether, and find a more unsuspecting
prey elsewhere.

It is not an unusual occurrence to see a trout
working slowly and gradually up-stream close under
the bank, rising occasionally on his journey, and
sucking ina fly here and there. If this is noticed,
before making a cast wait patiently, and do not throw
until he has settled down to feed in one place; the

fish is simply sauntering up to his habitual salle 4
H
114 DRY-FLY FISHING.

manger, whetting his appetite with a passing insect
as a sort of hors d’euvre, and will presently commence
his dinner, taking his own particular seat at a
favourite corner. Whena fish has thus settled down
to feed in a particular spot, it is said on the Test to
be in position. I have observed that a fish will, at
times, come up-stream a short distance to take each
natural fly floating over him; but more frequently
drops slowly back tail first, with his nose close to the
fluttering insect before either taking or refusing it,
in either case returning to his original position. It
is well to notice these little peculiarities, and place
the fly accordingly either well above or comparatively
close to the place where the fish is lying.

When looking up or down from any great distance,
it is almost impossible to locate the rise exactly.
Possibly taking a quick glance at the bank, noting
some striking object apparently opposite to it, and at
the same time measuring mentally the distance from
the margin, may assist, but it is impossible under
such circumstances to spot the rise accurately. The
fisherman may be advised in such a case to crouch,
keeping down, well away from the water’s edge,
and taking advantage of any shelter to keep out
of the extended range of vision of the trout’s sharp
eyes ; to creep up until he has, as nearly as he can
judge, got into position, and then wait patiently
for a second rise. Natural impatience often impels
an active-minded man to fish on spec, persuading
himself that he has the place all right, and then
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. LI5

he keeps on persistently flogging, in the hopes of
tempting his quarry. One of two results will cer-
tainly ensue; either he keeps on throwing below
the fish and tires himself by his useless exertion,
or else his fly is placed too far above, in which
case it usually drags; this sets the fish down for
the next half-hour, besides adding a little more to
his already advanced education.

Nothing is more aggravating to an enthusiastic
angler than, after patiently casting for half an
hour or more over a feeding trout or grayling, to
find, when hooked, that it is a wretched little finger-
ling instead of the noble three-pounder his fancy
painted it. In some cases it is impossible to form
any estimate of the size of the fish from observation
of the rise, but in other cases experience enables a
fisherman to arrive at a fairly good estimate from the
nature or position of the rise, the sound made, or
other circumstances ; and this power of estimating
size is an important factor in the comparative success
of a number of men fishing the same stream on the
same day and under the same conditions. The
most careful, the most experienced, and the most
observing are, however, at times quite out in their
judgment on this point.

In speaking of rises, it may be explained, in
passing, that the expression is used to describe
the act of a fish taking flies on the surface of
‘the water, whether Ephemeride, either in the sub-
imago or the imago state, winged Phryganide on
116 DRY-FLY FISHING.

the surface of the water, or flies hatched on land,
such as the cow-dung, red ant, &c. A fish taking
caddis, shrimp, or snails is said to be tadling, from
its tail appearing at intervals above water, when the
head is buried in the weeds; when feeding on larve
or nymphe it is described as bulging, from its motion
through the water; and when taking “curses,” or
black midges or gnats, it is spoken of as smutting.
Probably the best means of judging size from
the rise is derived from the sound produced by the
act of breaking the surface when taking a fly, and
the comparative weights may be said roughly to be
arranged in a scale of harmony, the heaviest fish
being the lowest bass, and smallest the highest
treble; the intermediate notes indicating the inter-
mediate sizes. In applying this test of sound, it
must, however, be remembered that it is only ap-
plicable to the case of a fish remaining stationary
and sucking in the fly passing over the spot where
it is lying. The case of a fish following and dash-
ing at a passing fly produces some confusion in the
scale. The volume of sound is to a considerable
extent dependent on the relative size of the insects
themselves. A fish only just separates his lips
sufficiently to enable him to take in the fly, and
experience tends to show that the shyer the fish
the less widely he opens his mouth, so that with
a small insect the sound is comparatively faint,
and with a larger one louder in proportion. <A
splashing rise in day-time is never a likely one,
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 117

and in the majority of instances is made when
taking larve or nymph, and not duns or spinners.
When rising frequently it may be fairly inferred
that the fish is well on the feed, and is likely to
take the artificial the first time it comes over him
accurately, floating and cocked. On the other
hand, having seen a trout rise only once, and
waited patiently for say five minutes, without
result, for a second rise, if the exact position has
been spotted, it is often well to throw carefully and
at longish intervals; and perhaps, after a dozen or
more ineffectual casts, at length the fish is tempted
and killed. A large trout often takes with a quiet
suck close under the bank, making a mere bubble
instead of the ring so generally looked for. ' This
bubble floating down is at times the first indication
to the fisherman of there being a feeding fish at
all; and in this case it is well to wait and watch
for a rise five or six yards above where the bubble
was seen, close to, in fact under, the overhanging
bank, or against a standing rush or bit of weed
or stick stranded against the very edge of the stream.
A rise of this description in very slow-running water
looks like the movement of a minnow, and is too
often passed as unworthy of notice by inexperienced
anglers; or if thrown to at all, a careless indiffer-
ence is displayed in drying or placing the fly. At
such times the scaring, pricking, or hooking of
the fish is quite a revelation in the shape of a
heavy wave made by a trout of two or three
118 DRY-FLY FISHING.

pounds when dashing away from the bank. No
amount of care in drying the fly and placing it
accurately and lightly in such a position is thrown
away.

A trout jumping out of the water is certainly not
rising ; but what causes the fish to take these sudden
leaps is more or less a matter of conjecture. Some
of the modern authorities say that it is done by
the Salmonide with the object of falling flat on
the surface of the water, and stunning or killing a
parasite with which their skin is at times infested.
A quick rush through the water and a break of
the surface is occasionally caused by pike or large
trout chasing and striking at minnow, dace, or trout
fry. This is, however, hardly likely to be taken
for a rise by any but the merest tyro, the sound
being unmistakable; and very frequently, too, the
minnows or fry are seen leaping out of the water
in their endeavours to elude the hungry jaws of
their pursuer.

At times both trout and grayling will dart rapidly
to the surface, take a fly, and as rapidly dart away
again. This is an undoubted rise, but not a hope-
ful one for the fisherman, as it is either a very shy
fish, not likely to forgive the slightest mistake or
bungle, or, worse still, it is the case of a fish who,
in the very act of taking the fly, has caught sight of
the angler and beaten a headlong retreat. Some-
times a fish, rising steadily and slowly in mid-stream,
will show his head above water, then his dorsal fin,
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 11g

and at times even his adipose fin and tail. In such
a case, try and see whether it is a trout or a grayling.
If a grayling, it is not unlikely that he will be
tempted. ' The shape, colour, and size of the dorsal
fin will often enable the fisherman to make quite
sure of the species ; and on the rare occasions when
the tail is visible, the difference in shape between
the forked one of a grayling and the straight or
even slightly convex outline of a trout’s tail is so
marked as to be easily distinguishable. If, how-
ever, the fish making the head and tail rise is a
trout, it may be considered as a bad sign, and an
indication that he is feeding on larve quite close to
the surface.

In deep, slow water a quick flip on the surface is
usually the rise of roach or dace, whose presence is
generally further indicated by a quick succession of
rises on the part of a number out of the shoal com-
paratively close together. Many Hampshire fisher-
men are fond of selecting a fish just showing the
point of his nose above water when rising; but
although, as a general rule, this is a good sign,
yet occasionally trout bulging at larve give this
idea, especially when the angler is directly below
the fish, where the movement up-stream is not
distinctly visible ; hence it is well to make quite
sure that the fish is positively taking winged flies
off the water.

Large fish, as a general rule, rise slowly and take
the fly quietly, while small ones more often come
120 DRY-FLY FISHING.

quickly to the surface and dash down again with
equal speed. A splashing rise at night is considered
by many a sure indication of a good fish feeding on
sedge or other large flies ; and although occasionally
this opinion is borne out by facts, it is not by any
means a safe one to follow invariably, as the largest
and best-conditioned fish are frequently found tak-
ing the adult Phryganide as quietly and with as
little commotion as when rising at the tiniest of
Ephemeride in the middle of the day; and all of us
have, time after time, wasted the few and precious
moments during which this maddening rise lasts in
trying for splashing fish, and when successful in
killing any of them, finding that they were small
ones, or, if sizeable, an autopsy showing few, if
any, sedges, and a considerable number of shrimps,
snails, or other molluscs, and nymphe of both Ephe-
meride and Phryganide. JI remember one evening
at the end of May 1885, having a day with my
excellent friend “Red Spinner ;” the fish rose badly
during the day-time, but in the evening, just before
dusk, every trout and grayling in the river seemed
madly on the feed, splashing continually, and ap-
parently taking sedge-flies in all directions. The
difficulty was, which fish to select, as the whole
surface of the stream seemed to be in a literal boil.
For some time we both tried, and tried in vain, fish
after fish and fly after fly, and at length I managed
to secure one trout of 22 Ibs. with a large “artful
dodger.” On arriving at our quarters I opened
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 121

this trout, wondering what the autopsy would
show, and, mirabile dictu, found the undigested
food to consist of three or four May-fly nymphe,
three large dark sedges, and at least thirty fresh-
water snails in their shells. Possibly these molluscs
are in the habit of coming near the surface of the
water in the hot summer evenings. In any case, it
may lead others to note the contents of the stomachs
of trout killed under such conditions, to see whether
it was an exceptional circumstance, or whether one
may take it for granted that, in the majority of
instances, fish splashing noisily during their evening
meal are partaking of this heterogeneous diet.

“T tell you, sir, the trout were rising all over the
place, and although I tried every fly in my book, I
could not find out what they were taking.” Season
after season we hear this formula repeated over and
over again by tyros, or sometimes even by old anglers
who have not taken the trouble to study the subject
thoroughly. If discussed @ fond, it is generally
found that every fish in the stream has been feeding
ravenously, ploughing the water in all directions
while following the food, but scarcely ever being
actually seen to take a dun floating on the surface.
On such a day the dilettante usually returns with
empty creel, deploring his ill fortune at being unable
to discover the particular form and colour of fly the
greedy trout were affecting. The more experienced,
and probably more earnest, votary of the art has
often, by continual and varied observations, proved
122 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to his own satisfaction the futility of hoping to be
even moderately successful under these conditions.
He knows only too well that the apparent rises are
bulges, and that instead of sucking in the duns
when hatched, the fish are busily engaged in chasing
and securing the Ephemeride in the nymph state,
before they have emerged from the shuck.

At times the indications of this preference for the
fly in the immature state are unmistakable. The
feeding fish have taken up their positions on shallows,
usually over or immediately below ‘“ celery beds,” and
are taking some small objects under water in a space
of a yard or more on either side of their stations,
darting rapidly backwards and forwards to the right
and to the left, and after each mouthful returning
to the posts they had originally occupied, their pre-
cipitate motion through the water causing these
continual disturbances of the surface, whence the
expression bulging is derived.

As a rule, they take under water, but at in-
tervals a fish here and there will follow his prey
to the surface, and only succeed in catching it
at the very moment it emerges in the sub-imago
dress. Some readers may inquire why the dun in
the nympha state should not be imitated, and, as
remarked in a previous chapter, it is my opinion that
the difficulty does not lie in dressing an artificial
grub fairly resembling the dun nymph, but in im-
parting to that imitation the motion and direction
taken by the natural insect at that stage of its exist-
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 123

ence. Some authorities recommend the use of a
large sunk fly when trying bulging fish, but personally
I have never found this advice of any assistance,
although, to a certain extent, one cause has ever
operated against the chance of success, that being
the fact that, not having confidence in the use of
a large artificial when fish are feeding on a small
natural, I have tried it in a half-hearted way, and
without any faith in the experiment.

On rare occasions one hears of a brace or two of
bulging trout or grayling having been killed by a
comparative novice with wet-fly dragging, or even
fished down-stream; and once or twice I have posi-
tively seen such a thing occur. Possibly these tactics
might be adopted with advantage on private streams
which are seldom fished, but on club or subscription
waters, where the fish are highly educated, they are
not likely to prove of much avail. One point, how-
ever, should be borne in mind, that, after all, a
bulging fish is feeding and looking out for food, so
that if by any chance he catches sight of a tempting
morsel drifting past him, he is not unlikely to add
this to previous items in his midday or evening meal.
Hence, perhaps, a slightly showy pattern, such as an
orange bumble, floated occasionally over the feeding
fish, may be successful, but only occasionally, and
by giving the trout or grayling a rest after each
cast, so as to thoroughly restore his confidence,
which may have been shaken by the gleam of the
gut, or any little error of judgment in the preceding
124 DRY-FLY FISHING.

throw. Probably, however, the very best fly to use
for bulging fish is the gold-ribbed hare’s ear, and the
reason is not far to seek. Put side by side, under a
microscope with a low power (say a 3-in. or even
4-in. objective), a nymph of any of the Ephemeride
and an artificial of the above pattern. The most
casual observer will at once perceive that projecting
from each joint, excepting the last three, of the
abdomen of the nymph, there are fin-like appen-
dages. ‘These are called branchiz, and are, in fact,
external prolongations of the respiratory organs used
for the purpose of extracting from the water the air
held in solution; and the short hairs of the fur
picked out in the body of the artificial bear a very
strong resemblance to these branchie. If unable to
get a look from a bulging fish after a few attempts,
do not change your fly, but change your fish, and
then later on again, perhaps, return to your old love.
At times trout bulge at shrimp, snail, and caddis, as
well as larve and nymph, but more frequently when
feeding on them they are tailing.

It has been darkly rumoured that some anglers
are invariably able to get sport among bulging fish,
and that the plan adopted is to cast up-stream
with a good-sized sunk fly put directly above. The
slightest movement of the trout is answered by a
quick and somewhat violent strike, the effect of this
action being to drive the hook into some part of the
moving fish, but certainly not into his mouth. I am
inclined to doubt the possibility of accomplishing
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 125

this with a single hook, although it has been often
vouched for by fishermen of ripe experience and
unimpeachable veracity. Be this as it may, there is
no word in the English language strong enough to
express the utter contempt which a true sportsman
should feel for a pot-hunter who would descend to
such a strategy. It must utterly spoil a water, and
for every fish killed at least ten must be pricked,
scratched, or rendered shy, and any so-called fisher-
man detected in such an act should be “ boycotted .
by all true lovers of fly-fishing.

Sometimes fish, when feeding on larve and
nymphe, however, rise quietly, and do not move
about much from place to place; and under these
circumstances, it is almost impossible to distinguish
the apparent from the bond fide rises, except by
watching intently the surface of the water with the
view of making certain that the winged duns floating
on the stream are being taken. One such case is
brought prominently to my mind, when on a hot
August evening a trout rose steadily under the bank
until it was almost pitch dark. For an hour or more
I kept on throwing steadily, and, I am vain enough
to think, without making any glaring mistake, over
this fish. Commencing with a very small pale yellow
dun (Flight’s Fancy), then trying in succession a
blue-winged olive, red quill, ginger quill, hackle-
winged red spinner, Jenny spinner, and detached
badger, I at length, as a last resource, put up a
small silver sedge on a O hook. The very first cast
126 DRY-FLY FISHING.

secured a trout upwards of 2 Ibs.; and knowing
that fish feeding on curses will occasionally, for
some occult reason, take this particular pattern, I
fancied that I knew all about it, and made sure that
it had been feeding on these annoying little insects.
On my return home, an autopsy of the contents of
its stomach revealed an extraordinary conglomera-
tion of shrimps, caddis, snails, larve, and nymphe,
but not a single winged fly.

The expression tailing, as applied by the angler,
refers to a fish lying with its head in the weeds
gorging itself with shrimps, snails, caddis, young
crayfish, or some of the many minute forms of
animal life with which they abound. In order to
force its head well into the thickest of the sub-
aqueous vegetation, a series of vigorous strokes are
every few moments given with the tail, which is,
of course, at a much higher level in the water than
the head—in fact, is as often above the surface as
below. If carefully watched when feeding in this
way in very shallow water every movement of the
fish, from the tail to about the lower end of the dorsal
fin, will be visible, the head and remainder of the
body being hidden by the weeds, out of which it
is actively engaged in extracting succulent morsels.
First the tail rises, until half or more of it is out
of the water; an energetic wag follows; the fish
meanwhile turning half on his side, and boring
his way down into the undergrowth, seizes all the
food within his reach. This action sets a number
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 127

of shrimps, larvee of both Ephemeride and Perlide,
&e., adrift, and as they float off from the weeds the
fish’s tail sinks, and his head as a natural sequence
rises in the water, enabling him to secure a further
supply to add to the mass already in his mouth. He
then remains quiescent for a few minutes, probably
while swallowing the mouthful, and then the opera-
tion of raising his tail and forcing his head into the
weeds, followed by the depression of the tail and
resumption of the horizontal position in the water,
or rather near the bottom, is repeated da capo.

When, as usually happens, the tailing trout or
grayling is in a deadish, shallow place, over thick
weeds, the case is unmistakable; but when the
depth of water above the weeds is a trifle greater,
so that in the most vertical position the extreme tip
of the tail only just breaks the surface, or does not
quite reach it, and when, in addition to this, per-
haps, it is nearly dusk, the appearance, especially
if the fish, as large trout do, is moving slowly, is
so similar to that of a rise that the most careful and
observant anglers are frequently deceived. Not in-
frequently they keep on throwing over it time after
time, even perhaps devoting some precious moments
to a minute examination of the natural fly on the
water, changing to the best imitation of that insect,
and using the most anxious caution in approaching
and casting with the greatest accuracy over what,
after all, turns out to be the caudal appendage, and
not the mouth, of the fish.
128 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Various methods and diverse flies are recom-
mended as likely to tempt tailing fish. Some say
that a moderately large, flat-winged fly, such as an
alder, governor, or caperer, fished wet down-stream,
and dragging, will be found efficacious. Others,
again, advise the use of a large showy grilse fly,
well sunk, which should be thrown up-stream, well
above the fish, and brought down quickly with two
or three steady draws of six inches to a foot each.

To any one wishing to try this last plan, I would
add that the cast should be made just as the fish’s
tail is sinking, so that the enormity called a grilse
fly should be visible to the trout as his head rises in
the water. It is obvious that, as long as the greater
portion of the fish, including his eyes, is buried in
the thicket of weeds, any object floating above that
level cannot by any possibility be seen. Some
anglers, especially the selfish ones, are in the habit
of using a huge bunch of peacock herl for wings
over a silver body, called the ‘‘ Alexandra.’”’ What
a profanation to bestow on this monstrosity the
name of one of the most charming and amiable
princesses of this century! It certainly is not the
imitation of any indigenous insect known to ento-
mologists ; possibly the bright silver body moving
through the river gives some idea of the gleam of a
minnow. Long ere this its use should have been
prohibited in every stream frequented by the bond
Jide fly-fisherman, as it is a dreadful scourge to any
water, scratching and frightening an immense pro-
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING, 129

portion of the trout which are tempted to follow it.
It certainly would have been prohibited, too, but for
the fact that experience shows that in any stream in
which it has been much fished the trout spon become
quite alive to its danger, and not only will not move
an inch towards it, but when worked close to their
noses will not so much as turn at it, but at times,
on the contrary, even fly in terror from the dread
apparition.

The best policy to adopt, perhaps, is to leave
tailing fish alone. True, they are feeding, and feed-
ing well; but they are ever intent on the shrimp,
caddis, &c., drifting out of the weeds, or are partially
submerged in the thickest of them with their heads
down, and in a more or less perpendicular position }
and no means are as yet known to the angler by
which he can make his artificial lure travel in a
similar way. A really good imitation of the fresh-
water shrimp might at times be successful in basket-
ing an odd trout here and there, and such an imita-
tion has been dressed by my good friend Marryat,
who has shown it to me. Both of us, however, have
solemnly sworn never to reveal the secret of it ; and
as it is the only artificial fly of which we have ever
demurred to give a pattern to any fisherman, and as
neither of us ever uses it or even calries it in his
book, this refusal must not be considered as a selfish
action. In the heavily, fished Hampshire streams
it is surely desirable that the trout should be able

to indulge in an occasional meal in safety with-
rT
130 . DRY-FLY FISHING.

out being haunted by that dire dread and danger
of the barbed hook? Honestly, I doubt if the arti-
ficial shrimp would under any circumstances prove
killing ; for, as in the case of the larva, it is at
all events problematical whether the most natural
imitation in colour, size, and shape would prove
efficacious unless the active motion of the natural
creature could by some means be imparted to it.

At times every trout on a shallow is tailing, and
not a single rise can be distinguished, although
possibly a considerable number of flies of different
sorts and descriptions are floating down over them.
To one residing permanently near a river, perhaps
the best counsel in such case is to give it up in
despair, and either go home or wait for a change of
mood on the part of the fish; but to a busy man
living in town, and only having rare opportunities of
indulging in his favourite sport, this advice is too
trying and disappointing. At all events, he must
not expect much success; but if he must try, his
best chance of getting a brace of fish with dry fly is
to use a fancy pattern, such as the orange bumble,
dressed on a largish hook, o long, which is not
unlike one form of the shrimp; or at times the
Jurnace will rise tailing fish when floated over them
at the moment they are raising their heads towards
the surface. Although the chance of killing tailing
fish in a clear chalk-stream with a floating fly is very
remote, and in the club waters, which are daily and
hourly thrashed from end to end, practically nil, yet
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 131

in private waters, where the appearance of an angler
is a rarity, on a day when no rising fish are to be
found, one of the above-mentioned flies may occa-
sionally prove efficacious in picking up an odd fish;
and in all such cases it must be remembered that
the less the depth of the water the greater is the
probability of the trout or grayling catching sight of
the fly and taking it; and if tried at all, the very
thinnest portions of a shallow over weeds should be
selected in preference to the deeper channels flowing
through the clean gravel.

On a still, hot, muggy day in July some two or
three years ago, starting from the lower end of a
favourite club water, I wandered in a somewhat dis-
consolate frame of mind gradually up the stream.
Every now and again a fish would rise faintly and
lazily to the surface, but the lightest and most
accurate cast produced no response; and whether
with smallest of flies on the smallest of hooks or
larger ones; whether with sad and sober-coloured
duns or gaudy fancy patterns; whether with winged
flies or hackle ones or bumbles ; whether floating,
half-submerged, or even sunk ; whether fished up-
stream, across, or down, the invariable result was
nought. At length, reaching an eel-weir at the
upper part of the water, and thoroughly exhausted
by the long walk in waders and the high tem-
perature combined, a smooth, sloping grassy bank
tempted me to take a well-earned rest. Reclining
well out of sight, and looking over the still, calm
132 DRY-FLY FISHING.

surface of the stream above the weir, a gentle move-
ment of a 3-lb. trout in the middle of the water
attracted my attention. It seemed to glide slowly
upwards, and scarcely making a ripple, just showed
the point of its nose above the water as it quietly
sucked in some tiny insect. It then gradually
dropped down until it was perhaps a foot below
the surface, and slowly swimming to the right, again
almost imperceptibly rose and took another fly;
then to the left, taking a third; then again it
leisurely sank to a short distance.

Four or five other trout were to be seen following
precisely the same tactics; and the water being as
clear as possible, the day perfectly calm, and the
light of that dead-grey, hazy type in which every
object in the water for many yards seems distinctly
visible, every movement could be discerned, and the
outline and even marking of every fish plainly
distinguished. This day was so pre-eminently a
typical one for smutting fish—or, in other words,
fish feeding on those microscopic black midges
usually called the fisherman's curse or smut—
that, though loth to intrude personal experience
on my readers, I cannot help citing it as an ex-
cellent example from every point of view, save and
except only that of killing fish. The heat, the haze,
the absence of wind, the peculiarly languid way in
which the trout seemed to swim about in the slow-
running water, apparently without aim or object,
every now and then sucking in a fly or two, all com-
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 133

bined, as a typical example of that aggravating form
of rising described as smutting.

Perhaps the most annoying feature connected
with this particular subject is, that in the Hamp-
shire chalk-streams, on a day when the smuts are
hatching in great numbers, the largest and best-
conditioned fish are ever on the feed, and take
not the slightest notice of the most tempting-
looking natural duns floating down over their very
noses ; at the same time they will travel yards’ to
secure a wretched little midge scarcely visible to the
naked eye. There must be some specially piquante
or attractive flavour in the tiny insect, or possibly a
sense of security from the knowledge acquired by ripe
experience of the almost insurmountable. difficulty
to the fly-dresser in imitating so small a fly.

There are certainly several sorts of smuts, varying
in size, colour, shape, and other details, and of
these four, at least, are well known to the obser-
vant angler. It would certainly tend to advance
our knowledge on the subject if some ento-
mologist of experience would give their correct
scientific names, and describe in detail their life-
history and metamorphosis. At the present time
it is not even known to fishermen for a certainty
whether they are bred in the water and swim about
in the larva stage, rising to the surface to assume
the perfect or imago state, or whether they are
bred on the land, and their presence on the water
is a mere accident. Probably, from the great
134 DRY-FLY FISHING.

number on the water at all seasons, it may be
inferred that they are in their early stages water
larve; but it is not, with our present limited
knowledge, safe to take even this for granted.

The first on the list of smuts, and earliest in
date of hatching, has long legs and a small glossy
black body ; it is said to be carnivorous, and to have
been seen preying on the bodies of dead duns. It
hatches in the early spring, from the opening of the
season until the warm weather first sets in; but the
trout do not seem to care much for it. Possibly the
plethora of Ephemeride in the larva and nymph
stages, together with shrimps, young crayfish, and
other crustacea, at this time of the year are more
attractive. As soon as the weather becomes genial,
and throughout the summer, the most prevalent
smut has a short black body, the female being, as
is the case with most insects, much larger than the
male, and having distinct. white tips to her wings;
the male is, on the other hand, much smaller, and
not unlike a diminutive edition of the hawthorn-
fly, with clear wings. Another form of the fisher-
man’s curse, having a clear tortoise-shell body, is
frequently out in considerable numbers during the
hot weather, and in the early autumn finds its way
indoors, and is seen in rooms of houses adjoining
the streams, covering the ceilings in great quantities.
Later ‘still in the autumn a smut looking like a
very small horsefly is abundant. This has a dull
bluish body, and is on the water even during the
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING, 135

coldest winter days; in fact, in December 1885,
during a hard frost after three o’clock in the after-
noon, I saw a trout rising freely and taking every
one that came over him.

As to the dressing of imitations of the smut,
ooo hooks, being the smallest made, must, although
far too large for the size of the natural fly, be
invariably used. The tortoise-shell-bodied variety
should be dressed with body made of a couple of
strands of cock golden pheasant tail, legs of cock
starling hackle, and wings of young starling very
small and flat; in fact, all species of curses should
be tied with the wings as flat as possible. For
the more usual summer pattern, the body should
be of black, shiny quill (that stripped from the
central quill of the cock chaffinch tail being perhaps
the best), cock starling hackle, and wings for the
male of palest starling wing, and for the female of
starling tail, which has a distinctly marked pale
buff margin to the feather, thus imitating the pale
tip of the natural wing. The most effective-looking
wing, however, is made of a single piece of pike
scale, prepared according to Mr. Macnee’s patent
process, cut to shape, and laid flat along the top of
the hook. Another good rendering is Sir Maurice
Duff-Gordon’s, a black silk body, with silver tag,
hackled with a badger hackle, worked over a
couple of turns of black ostrich herl. These various
dressings are given, although no angler must ex-
pect, unless under very exceptional circumstances,
136 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to make a bag with any of them. ‘True, some years
ago, Mr. H. 8. Hall, at Dorchester, did kill two or
three brace of good fish on a hot, bright day with
the pike scale pattern, and he and others have on
rare occasions repeated this success. When, how-
ever, one considers how heavily the fisherman is
handicapped with such very small hooks, and the
necessity for using the very finest of gut at a time
when the weeds are in their most vigorous and
luxuriant growth, it is not surprising that so large
a proportion of rising fish are either scratched or
not hooked at all, and even when fairly hooked,
manage to break the hold of the diminutive barb,
or inextricably entangle themselves in the dense
vegetation.

Smutting fish, however, are undoubtedly fish
rising and taking surface food, and are to be killed
with floating flies; but the best tactics to pursue
are not to fish imitations of the smut, but to use
certain flies which have been proved by experience
to be effective under such conditions. Patterns to
be used with success vary to a certain extent in
different rivers or in different parts of the same
river, and, of course, the more persistently a water
is flogged the more shy and suspicious the fish
become, and the more difficult to delude.

Why the fish should take these particular pat-
terns is a complete mystery to all who take the
trouble to think about the matter, especially as no
one of them bears the smallest resemblance to the
STUDIES OF FISH FEEDING. 137

natural fly in size, form, colour, or any other charac-
teristic. As far as known to me, and for what it is
worth, the following, however, have proved in my
experience the most deadly artificials — viz., for
either trout or grayling, the Wickham; or, better
still, the landrail-winged variety of it, usually
known as the pink Wickham, dressed on oo hooks,
should be tried first as the most likely, to be fol-
lowed by the silver sedge on 00 hook, red quill on
oo hook, orange bumble, and furnace. The Sanc-
tuary on a large hook, No. 1 or even No. 2, is more
often taken by smutting grayling than trout. For
grayling, however, when taking the-natural “ fisher-
man’s curse,” no fly yet dressed has borne compari-
son with the ordinary red tag, or, even better still,
the improved pattern of that fly invented by Mr.
Marryat, in which the tag is, as usual, of scarlet
ibis, the hackle a good blood-red one, and the
body made of a single strand of macaw tail, which
is a brilliant metallic blue on one side, and a
bright yellow on the other. When this strand is
rolled on to form the body, it has the appearance of
being a yellow ground with a fine blue rib running
up it. What object, animate or inanimate, hatched
in the water or bred in the air, it resembles is a
problem not easy of solution. One parting word of
advice. With smutting fish, above all, remember
the importance of “accuracy and delicacy com-
bined in the first cast.”
( 138 )

CHAPTER VII.
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE ANGLER’S SPORT.

Or all circumstances most usually credited with exer-
cising an influence, whether prejudicial or beneficial,
over the angler’s sport, the state of the weather is,
according to the works of most authorities on the
subject, the predominant one. Although it cannot
be denied that the force of the wind, its direction,
the state of the atmosphere, the presence of sun or
cloud, rain, and the ever-varying effects of light are
certainly to some extent conditions which must be
reckoned with in estimating the probability of good
or bad sport on any one day, yet they are not the
all-important factors that many eminent angling
authorities would lead us to believe. If this is true
(and I hold it to be true) of wet-fly fishing, it is
ten thousand times more so when treating of the
dry-fly fisherman’s art.

To find a rising fish is the first problem, and the
fish cannot be expected to rise until the insects on
which they feed are to be found floating on the
surface of the stream. They very seldom rise well
unless these insects are plentiful, and hence it may
be safely argued that the most important factor in
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 139

determining the dry-fly fisherman’s chance of suc-
cess is the presence in considerable numbers of
the Ephemeride, Phryganide, and other flies in
the winged state. This is usually called by anglers
a good hatch of fly. The word hatch is a con-
venient one, and hence I have used it throughout
this book in the above sense; but it must be
understood that it is a misnomer. The true mean-
ing of the expression hatch is the metamorphosis
from ova to larva, or in other words the change of
state effected by the larva first emerging from the
egg. This metamorphosis takes place certainly
with all Ephemeride and Phryganide at the
bottom of the river; and of all the water-bred flies
on which the fish habitually feed, the only one
which is certainly hatched on dry land is the Alder
(Stalis lutaria). As used by the angler, however,
the word hatch, if applied to duns, signifies the first
appearance on the surface of the sub-imago imme-
diately after it has split open and struggled out of
the shuck or envelope forming the outer skin of
the nymph; when applied to spinners, it refers to
the falling on the water of the imago either while
laying its eggs or soon afterwards, when its only
duty, the work of reproduction, has been fulfilled ;
when applied to the Phryganide, it refers either to
the change from nymph to imago in those species
which undergo this change on the surface of the
water, or to the subsequent visits to the water by the
imago probably for the purpose of laying the eggs.
140 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Referring to the first of these, viz., the hatch of
duns, it is surprising that so very little study or
attention has been devoted to the subject either by
entomologists or anglers, and especially that the
latter, whose sport is so largely dependent on this
point, should not have made some serious attempt
to work out the conditions under which they may
expect either a plentiful or a sparse supply of
floating food for the fish. Nothing is likely to
elucidate this question but continual observations
made simultaneously in different streams and dif-
ferent parts of the same stream on definite and
identical lines, carried on from season to season, and
the results methodically arranged for careful exami-
nation and consideration. This question is well
worthy of exhaustive study on the part of modern
dry-fly fishermen. I have devoted some attention to
the subject, and have from time to time started in
my own mind various theories to account for the
prevalence of Ephemeride in the sub-imago state on
some days, and its comparative scarcity on others.
At first I fancied the temperature of the air was
a controlling influence. This theory, however, was
very soon disproved. Then the idea occurred that
the temperature of the water or the relative tempera-
ture of the air and water had something to do with
it; and to work out this theory I never failed during
two years when at the river-side to take two or three
times on each day simultaneous readings of two
thermometers, one registering the temperature of the
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 141

water, and the other that of the air. The only re-
sult of these experiments was to strengthen a theory
I had conceived, that whenever the air temperature
fell below that of the water the hatch of duns ceased.
I still believe that as a general rule this theory is
correct, although my belief in it was very seriously
shaken on the 3rd December 1886, when, on a fine
cold moonlight evening, with the temperature of the
air at 30°, and that of the water at 36°, dark olive
duns were hatching freely, the grayling taking them,
and my friend hooking fish after fish, only losing
them one after another owing to his line freezing to
the rings of his rod. After this experience I aban-
doned this continual taking of temperatures as un-
likely to lead to any practical results. As before
said, however, the subject is one worthy of careful
consideration and study.

For some years past, throughout the early spring,
the inquiry as to sport, especially on the Hampshire
chalk-streams, has seemed invariably to invite such
answers as, “This cold wind quite prevents the fly
from hatching ;” or, “The fish never take well in a
northerly wind ;”’ or, again, “ How is it possible to
do anything with the wind directly down-stream ?”
Or you may hear from a veteran loud regrets as to
the deterioration of climate in the good old country,
and fervent prayers for a light southerly breeze.
When philosophically considered, what does all this
amount to? ‘Three distinct and separate hypotheses,
all of which are more or less erroneous—first, that
142 DRY-FLY FISHING.

with north wind the fly does not hatch plentifully ;
second, that what does hatch is not freely taken ;
third, the difficulty of throwing up-stream in the
teeth of half a gale. In a previous chapter I have
tried to show how the difficulty of casting against the
wind can be overcome, and my present object is to
deal with the first two points.

As to the first point, a northerly wind in the
spring usually brings with it a high barometer and a
low thermometer, and if these two causes are suffi-
cient to reduce the temperature of the water to a
point only two or three degrees above freezing, flies
of the Ephemeride family do not as a rule hatch in
any considerable quantity. Apparently, too, in such
weather the water seems extraordinarily clear, so that
every weed and patch of gravel, and every trout or
grayling lying or moving on them, are most distinctly
visible to an angler standing on a bank raised slightly
above the surface of the stream. It is, however, held
by many authorities that this seeming extra clearness
of the water is only apparent, being due to the dull
leaden colour of the sky and to the extreme density
of the atmosphere, and that it does not of itself
indicate that to the fish looking upwards objects are
abnormally magnified or more easily distinguished
than under ordinary circumstances.

The ‘question of temperature fortunately is not a
matter of conjecture but of fact, which can be defi-
nitely determined by practical experiment. It will
be found that there are very few days in the spring
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 143

during which, between the hours of eleven in the
forenoon and three in the afternoon, a thermometer
plunged in the coldest of chalk-streams will register
less than 40° Fahr. At this temperature the early
duns, both olive and iron-blue, will hatch freely, and
an angler neglecting occasionally to keep on throw-
ing over rising fish will be enabled for himself to
note the number of these delicate little insects float-
ing down the stream, and will at the same time
probably improve his chance of getting good sport,
no mistake being so continually made by modern
fishermen as that of casting in rapid succession time
after time over a feeding fish, until sooner or later
some slight mistake is certain to rouse his suspicions.

To quote from actual personal observation, let us
take May 8, 1885. It was a day on which a fresh
breeze from the north-west was blowing, and so cold
was it that, to an idler on the river-bank, it was a
difficult matter to keep his hands warm; and yet the
number of flies hatching was, even to one accustomed
to the plentiful supply on chalk-streams, something
astonishing. The trout seemed to have appetites
which could not be appeased, rushing about in all
directions, making heavy bulges under water as they
took the larve rising from the bed of the river, or
here and there just breaking the surface as they
seized the fly at the very instant of its casting off
the envelope in which it had passed the pupa state.
This should of itself indicate the fact that it was a
most unsuccessful day, and that the trout could not
144 DRY-FLY FISHING.

be persuaded to look at any artificial fly, as their
every movement was to secure the swiftly darting
larvee when rising to the surface and before emerging
from the shuck.

No doubt this particular failing of feeding on the
imperfect grub is one that seems to increase from
year to year, and for the dry-fly fisherman it is a
most unfortunate one. To dress an artificial repre-
senting the larva or pupa is difficult, but not an
absolutely impossible task. Having overcome his
natural repugnance to descend from what may be
described as high art to the less scientific sunk-fly
style of fishing, and having succeeded in turning
out a fairly good imitation, the amateur is prone to
imagine that he has at last solved the problem, and
can, by fishing it under water, make sure of a respect-
able bag at a time when the fish are bulging inces-
santly at the natural larve. Alas! how woefully he
is désillusionné. The fish will not look at this,
although it is an admirable representation, both in
colour and shape, of the natural insect. And what
is the reason? ‘To elucidate this, take a handful of
weed from the bed of the river, and extract from it
three or four specimens of the dun larvee with which
it abounds; place these in a tumbler of clear water,
and patiently watch. Those that are nearly ready to
hatch, or are rising to the surface for that purpose,
seem positively electrified, every feeler or leg, and
every fold or rib of their bodies, moving in an
eccentric but continual motion. How is it to be
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 145

expected that a timid, shy fish like a trout, who from
painful daily, and even hourly, experience is warned
to use the keenest of all the senses with which he
has been endowed by nature, viz., his sight, for his
protection, should mistake that motionless supine
compound of dubbing, silk, quill, and hackle drifting
helplessly and lifelessly like a log down the stream,
for the active, ever-moving larva sparkling in the
sunshine, and varying in colour at every motion as
rays of light strike it at different angles ?

As to the second erroneous hypothesis, viz., that
the fly when hatched is not taken freely during a
prevalence of northerly winds. When the wind is
down-stream the fish rarely have a fly put to them
right, and hence appear to be less suspicious than
when the wind is more favourable. North wind is
generally a cold wind; a cold wind is an iron blue
wind ; the iron blue is the favourite fly of the fish in
chalk-streams. Carry your memory back, or (if you
are sufficiently methodical to keep a diary) refresh it
by a reference thereto, and see how on the 18th of
April 1885, a bitterly cold day, with a strong wind
from that unpleasant quarter, the fish rose well from
ten or eleven o’clock until four ; how every fisherman
on the water secured more or less sport ; how your own
bag contained two or three brace of really good trout,
through your fortunately remembering and starting
sufficiently early in the morning to secure that little
bend or corner where the north wind was favourable ;

and how, when returning to your homely quarters,
K
146 DRY-FLY FISHING.

tired and stiff from the unaccustomed exertion, and
your shoulder aching from the pressure of the strap
of your creel weighed down by a goodly load, it just
dawned on you that after all fish do sometimes rise
well in a down-stream wind, and when they do so
they take hold of the fly in right earnest, so that a
fair proportion of hooked fish are landed. Contrast
this with the 21st of April, only three days later,
when your first glance out of doors showed you a
dull, leaden-coloured sky, with heavy banks of drift-
ing clouds travelling quickly before a southerly gale.
Remember how the usually smooth portions of the
river were lashed into heavy crested waves by the
force of the wind blowing directly against the force
of the current. You then wandered for miles, watch-
ing in vain for either fly or the welcome ring of rising
fish, and returned at night weary and disheartened,
with an empty basket, to find every one of your
confréres in an equally dismal plight. The further
this reference to your diary or other reliable data
is carried the more you will be inclined to doubt
whether in the chalk-streams running from north
to south the time-honoured condemnation of a
northerly wind is not a worn-out and erroneous
impression handed down from generation to genera-
tion. A southerly wind, which in these streams
blows directly from the sea, is usually a cold, damp,
and unpleasant one, bringing with it alternate squalls
and heavy rain. During the showers the dry-fly
fisherman’s muscles are fearfully overtaxed by his
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 147

efforts to keep the fly free from moisture, and in the
intervals between the showers the rough up-stream
wind is continually blowing the natural fly over and
over in strange and unnatural motions, or forcing it
upwards against the stream ; and wherever the fish
are shy they will not rise freely at a fly behaving
itself in this curious fashion, but seek their food in
comparative safety at some considerable depth below
the surface.

Yet on the very next day during which ‘rude
Boreas” has been running riot, each and every one
of you, when comparing notes in the modest village
inn over your post-prandial tobacco, will revile your
atrociously bad luck in getting such weather, and
that delightful old colonel in the corner will again
treat you to his special grumble on the dire effects
of the Yankee predictions, or the School Board, or
some other new-fangled and even Radical notion
(pray pardon the word—no politics) on the climate
of our well-beloved fatherland, and tell you how
in olden times, during the “forties,” the weather
in spring was invariably a compound of warm, re-
freshing showers, delicious, bracing, light southerly
breezes, and long spells of beauteous sunshine, and
how it is only since the advent of the transatlantic
cables that these dreadful north winds have been
introduced to damp, or rather freeze, our ardour.
Do you think he really believes in the terrible
theory he is advancing? Do you honestly think that
the prevailing wind and weather during succes-
148 DRY-FLY FISHING.

sive seasons have not as nearly as possible followed
the same immutable law of average ; and, above all,
do you think that the same beneficent Providence
does not now, as much as heretofore, adhere to the
eternal fitness of things, and send in due season heat
and cold, frost and rain?

In southern streams the east wind is not, as a rule,
a favourable one; it seems to be almost invariably
accompanied by haze, and in hazy weather the duns
do not appear to hatch freely. At the same time,
however, it sometimes happens that with east winds a
fair hatch of fly is seen, and the fish take well. But
this must be considered exceptional. Light winds
are certainly preferable to heavy ones. Just suffi-
cient wind to cause a slight ripple on the surface of
the water is the beau-ideal as to force; less than this
makes it difficult to approach the water without
scaring the fish, and more than this makes it difficult
either to spot the rise, or, what is perhaps nearly as
important, to see your own fly when floating down
over the rising fish. When the wind is very strong
and the surface of the water lashed into heavy waves
fish do not ever rise well. ‘The reasons for this are
not difficult to find; the natural fly is whirled over
and over, and at the moment the fish thinks he is
just on the point of securing it, is as likely as not
suddenly blown off the surface of the water. After
a few of these unsuccessful attempts he thinks it far
less troublesome, and a far more efficacious method
of appeasing his appetite to sink gracefully into the
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 149

depths of the weed, and there continue feeding on
the shrimps, snails, larvee, or caddis, whose move-
ments through the water are not affected by the
sudden gusts of wind. Grayling are even less
inclined to feed on the surface in tempestuous
weather; in fact, they seem generally more affected
by change of weather than trout. Of course any fish
taking well during a gale of wind are far more easily
approached,.will stand coarser gut, will take larger
flies, especially when floating and cocked, and gene-
rally are more easy to get on terms with than in
calm weather.

It is a preconceived notion among angling authors,
and even among entomologists, that the Ephemeride
do not hatch freely in northerly, easterly, or north-
easterly winds ; and Pictet, whose work on this family
is not only of the very highest literary character, but
bears on every page the unmistakable impress of
careful and truthful examination, states from his own
observation in his own words, ‘‘ Elles naissent peu
lorsque régne le vent du nord.” My own experi-
ence of the Test, and especially of the part of it
fished by the Houghton Club, most distinctly con-
tradicts this assertion, and I think I may say with-
out exaggeration that every abnormally large hatch
of the smaller Ephemeride witnessed by me has
occurred on days when the wind has been northerly
or north-easterly. The Test may be an excep-
tion to the general rule, but it would be well
for anglers on other chalk-streams, or, in fact, on
150: DRY-FLY FISHING.

any other rivers, to make observations, and record
their results in full, with a view of checking this
experience.

Bright sun in calm weather is, as a rule, fatal
to success; this is probably due to gut being very
visible in the strong light. Sometimes, however,
even on a bright, hot, calm day, there is a chance of
killing if the angler will take the risk of losing
an extra large proportion of his fish and use the
smallest of flies on the finest of gossamer gut.
In sunny weather fish seem wonderfully gut shy,
and perhaps it may be asserted without fear of con-
tradiction that gut shyness is the prevailing form
of shyness from which trout and grayling suffer in
streams where they are frequently cast over.

During and after rain the fish, as a general rule,
rise well. For some two or three days beforehand,
however, they appear to be waiting for it, and either
do not rise at all, or if they do, indulge in an occa-
sional peculiar corky sort of rise, certainly not taking
any fly on the surface, but coming up as if for air,
and almost immediately turning over and diving
down again. The moment the rain commences to
fall the fish commence rising, and although during
the rain it is beyond doubt difficult and hard work
to dry the fly, it is equally beyond doubt worth the
exertion if the angler is really desirous of getting
good sport, as nothing is so deadly as a perfectly

dry fly floating cocked over a rising fish in wet
weather.
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 151

And here I am about to embark on the most diffi-
cult part, not only of this particular chapter, but of the
whole subject ; and yet it is, to my mind, so important
and so little understood by my brother anglers, and
so difficult to express intelligibly, that I feel almost
constrained to ask forgiveness beforehand if my
meaning is not quite clear. Among Scotch gillies
it is not unusual to hear the expression, ‘‘ The light’s
no good,” used to prepare the fisherman for a day
of despair and disappointment. What does he mean
by this description which is best expressed in
English by the words ‘‘a bad light?” <A peculiar
state of the atmosphere intuitively tells him what
from his own experience he has had many oppor-
tunities of verifying, viz., that the fish will not take ;
and without being able to offer any reason beyond
mere conjecture, I can confirm the truth of his pre-
diction, whether in a Scotch river or loch, whether
in a Hampshire chalk-stream or a turbulent moun-
tain brook, whether fishing in heavy pools for thirty-
pound salmon or whipping for three-ounce Devon-
shire trout. It would not surprise me to hear that
even when bottom-fishing for roach or barbel, pater-
nostering for perch, spinning for pike, or even
bobbing for eels the same atmospheric conditions
would produce the same result, and that in this ‘‘ bad
light” all forms of fishing alike were unsuccessful.

Now what is a bad light? It is when the entire
hemisphere of the sky is of one heavy, grey, dull
leaden colour ; when the very light itself seems to
152 DRY-FLY FISHING.

have become imbued with this sad leaden tinge ;
when the water appears unnaturally clear, probably
from its contrast with the dull grey tint of all
its surroundings; when every object in the water,
whether trout or grayling, whether banks of green
weed or patches of light clean gravel between the
weeds, are distinctly visible from an extreme dis-
tance. Such a day in early spring is cold, and in
summer or autumn is oppressive, sultry, and pro-
ductive of headache and other malaise in human
beings ; and on such a day I have never seen a good
hatch of duns, nor do I ever remember on such a
day good sport to have fallen to my lot or to that
of any other angler’s on the same stream. Probably
such a day is almost invariably the precursor of a
change of weather, and fish seem always to go off
the feed at the first signs of such a change, and wait
until the change has taken place before coming on
the feed again. Thus, too, after a sudden rise or fall
of the barometer both trout and grayling seem for a
day or two positively glued to the bottom of the
river until the result of the warning barometric
movement has developed.

On days when small fleecy clouds are drifting in
the sky, when the light is variable and the wind
changeable, when one moment the surface of the
stream is calm and lighted up by brilliant sunshine,
and the next moment a little puff of wind ripples
the water and the bright sunlight is dimmed by the
shadows of the morning clouds, frequently good sport
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 153

may be anticipated. On such days, however, it is
well to remember that the fisherman should crawl
into position during a gust of wind, wait during the
succeeding spell of sunshine, and cast to his fish
during the next puff. This advice has been given
before in this book, but it is one of the golden rules
to be observed by every dry-fly fisherman who wishes
his efforts to be rewarded by success, and I will not,
therefore, apologise for its reiteration.

It is said that thunder has the effect of putting
the fish off the feed, and this assertion is correct to
the extent that when the sky is obscured by heavy
thunderclouds rolling and piling themselves up in
preparation for the great dénowement there never is
anything approaching a good rise. When the air is
heavy, hot, and oppressive, when the thunderclouds
are tinged with red and the sky here and there has
a lurid appearance, when flashes of lightning are
seen over the distant hills and the ominous roll of
thunder indicates that every moment the storm is
approaching, still not a rise is seen to break the still
surface of the water. At length the storm breaks,
vivid flashes of lightning overhead are followed
almost instantaneously by heavy claps of thunder,
and the rain pours down in a torrent. During
the very heaviest of the rain the fish generally rise
well, and although not a pleasant time to fish, yet
it is, as a rule, worth the fisherman’s while to brave
the elements and persevere.

With uniform grey cloud overhead and occasional
154 DRY-FLY FISHING.

light showers during the spring, fish generally take
well on a moderately mild day, and very often, too,
when it is raining lightly throughout the day. If
only the exertion of keeping the fly thoroughly dry
is undergone, the best of sport can be had; in fact,
in some parts of the Test and other chalk-streams
it has become almost a cant expression that the
fish are always silly in rainy weather. A bright
blue sky, with heavy white banks of cloud on the
horizon, even if there is not much wind and the
clouds are almost stationary, does not indicate a
promising day. It is always well to fish into the
sun, and hence avoid the angler’s shadow being
thrown on the water; and as the sun gets lower
in the horizon, the shadows are naturally thrown
farther on the river, so that in the evening it is
most important to be on the eastern bank if pos-
sible. It is, of course, always well to fish up-stream
into the wind rather than down-stream with the wind,
although the work is a little harder.

It would be quite possible for anglers to compile
a very valuable set of data as to the days on which
they have been successful or unsuccessful, but to do
so it would be necessary for a considerable number
to collect and tabulate identical information on the
same days in different places; and the efforts of the
Manchester anglers to induce their members to
keep diaries and record any circumstance they deem
worthy of note, besides certain information as to the
state of wind, weather, barometer, thermometer, the
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 155

different species of flies hatching, &c., &c., &c., are
most useful, well directed, and will, I trust, be
crowned by success. A useful adjunct to every
angler’s diary would be what is called the Beaufort
Scale, giving to each letter of the alphabet a dis-
tinct signification of some particular state of the
weather, and which is, or certainly was, in use in
the reports issued from the meteorological office.

On some days fish after fish apparently rise fairly
at the fly, and the natural expectation of the angler
is, at any rate, to hook a fair proportion, even if he is
not successful in landing them afterwards. But no!
On such a day time after time he strikes seemingly
at the right moment, and with just sufficient force to
drive the barb home, and either has a short run or a
turn or two, and away comes the hook; or else he
experiences no resistance to the action of striking,
indicating that he has not even pricked the fish. A
number of men on the same day, at the same or con-
tiguous waters, compare notes in the evening, and
find that the experience of one has been the experi-
ence of all, with the slight difference caused by the
various degrees of shyness of fish in diverse portions
of the same stream, due to having been more or less
frequently cast over. This unfortunate propensity of
rising at the fly, and either not taking it at all or
else handling it (or rather mouthing it) so gingerly
as to be insecurely hooked, is technically called
among dry-fly fishermen coming short.

Before considering the various causes and methods
156 DRY-FLY FISHING.

of coming short it will be well to clear away cer-
tain delusions indulged in on the subject. How
often one hears it said, ‘‘ Confound the fish; I keep
on missing them to-day.” This is quite a mistake.
Once in a way a fish is missed through the fisher-
man’s wits having for the moment strayed from the
object on which he should be intent, and caused him
to neglect raising his hand or striking at the rise ;
but these cases are very few and far between, and
even when they do occur the pluck of the fish is
usually distinctly felt. It is not that the fisherman
has missed the fish, but that the fish, either by a mis-
calculation of the speed of the current or of malice
prepense has failed to take hold of the bunch of
feathers and hook which we believe represents more
or less accurately the natural insect.

On the other hand, it is not safe to infer that when-
ever a fish gets away through being lightly hooked
it is due to coming short, as occasionally the fault is
in the fisherman himself striking too quickly, some-
times even before the fish has taken hold of the fly,
and the cause of this mistake is usually to be attri-
buted to nervousness. It is well to note that striking
either too soon or too late is, like many other bad
habits, when once acquired, difficult to correct, and
the most phlegmatic and coolest of men are to be
excused if they are more or less flustered at the rise
of a big fish. Besides, to the angler himself it is so
difficult to determine whether the strike was pre-
mature or the opposite, and a bystander is not always
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 157

able to speak with certainty on such a point. Ifthe
action of striking has been too violent, the discovery
of the fact that the fly has been left in the fish’s
mouth is usually conclusive evidence.

Coming short is an indication either of the fish
taking badly on a particular day or of their being
very shy, or of a combination of these two disagree-
able vagaries. Accuracy and delicacy combined in
the first cast over a rising fish will generally obviate
this; at times, too, the use of very small flies will be
found efficacious. ‘Thus it will often happen that on
one of these disappointing days, using a fly on a o
hook, rising fish, one after another, come short; but
on changing to an artificial of the same pattern on a
oo or even 000 hook the fish will be found to fasten,
although the use of so small a hook as a 000 cer-
tainly does handicap the angler very heavily, and
cause him frequently to fail to hook the fish. It
must, however, be remembered that when once. the
barb is fairly home the hold of the smallest hook is
as secure as that of the largest, and the former un-
doubtedly is not so apt to cut out as the latter.

A slow rise is generally an indication of taking
well, and, further, may, in the majority of instances,
be considered a sign of a large fish, and in the case
of a slow rise or large fish the advice cannot be too
strenuously given not to hurry in striking. On the
other hand, a quick rise is usually made by a small
fish or a very shy one, and should be struck quickly ;
in fact, to use a lawn tennis term, half-volleyed.
158 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Large fish take a fly leisurely and reject it slowly,
while small fish, as a rule, snap at it, and spit it
out almost as soon as they touch it, especially gray-
ling, and more particularly in north country streams,
where they run small.

Another very prevalent form of coming short,
especially in waters that are heavily flogged, is when
a fish, rising steadily to all appearances, comes up
to and takes the artificial fly fairly and well in the
mouth, and the strike either just scratches or does
not touch him at all. The only feasible way of
accounting for this is, that the fish is highly edu-
cated, and hence very shy of the gleam of gut. He
sees the fly, and starts with the intention of seizing
it; when close to it he catches a glimpse of the
gut, or there is some other circumstance which
arouses his suspicion; but having given with his
tail the necessary impulse to reach the surface, this
arousing of his suspicions takes place at a moment
too late for him to be able to check himself and
refuse the fly. If able to do so, he then turns short
either to the right or the left, and in the act of
breaking the surface drowns the fly; but never
having really taken it into his mouth, no action of
striking can by any possibility hook him. Some-
times, however, he does not discover or suspect the
danger until it is too late to turn to one side, when
I firmly believe that a very shy fish simply closes his
mouth and allows the momentum he has acquired to
carry him to the fly, which he touches, and of course
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 159

sinks it as he goes down. The effect of striking in
this case is either to miss him altogether, or at least
to hook him outside; and after losing a fish in this
way a single very small scale is often found firmly
fixed on the barb of the hook. A confirmation of
this theory is found, too, in the fact that these very
small scales are only found on the back of the neck
immediately behind the head. I remember one
evening hooking a trout of about 3 lbs. who rose
very much in this way. I could really do nothing
with him for a time, and quite imagined he was
hooked in the tail or one of his fins. On landing
him, however, the hook, a oo, was found deeply
imbedded in his snout, fairly between the nostrils,
and it would appear impossible that a fish taking
the fly fairly in his mouth could be hooked in this
remarkable position.

Grayling are far more confirmed offenders than
trout in respect to coming short, and, strange to say,
it frequently happens that even when rising at the
natural fly they fail to secure it. This, however,
is probably due to their remaining at a lower level
when feeding and coming up almost perpendicularly
at a fly to take it, which very likely makes it a diffi-
cult matter to calculate the exact angle at which
they must rise to reach the precise spot to which the
insect has been carried by the force of the stream,
and thus accounts for their coming short so often.
Whether they have caught or missed the fly, they
almost invariably descend in a vertical direction to
160 DRY-FLY FISHING,

the same depth and the same position as they occu-
pied previously. Another, and to my mind inexplic-
able peculiarity of grayling is, that for hours together
every rising fish will come short, and very possibly
not a single one will be landed. Suddenly, without
any variation of weather or any other apparent cause
to account for the singular change, every one will
fasten, and the basket be filled in a comparatively
short space of time.

In bright sun and clear water fish are very apt
to come short, thus giving, if required, another proof
of this provoking incident being due to excessive
shyness. A fish coming any distance to secure a fly,
either natural or artificial, is usually an indication of
feeding well, but sometimes a trout will drop, tail
first, down-stream for yards with his nose almost
touching the fly, and after all refuse it, and return to
his position in a most annoying way; this, again, is
probably a case of extreme shyness, or of his sus-
picions having been aroused by some abnormal cir-
cumstance. In these cases he has generally satisfied
himself that the particular pattern is a fraud. He
will repeat the operation with a change of fly, and
sometimes fasten after a dozen changes. The angler
may go on casting at such a fish, remembering, how-
ever, not to put the same fly over him more than
twice or at most thrice in succession.

On a certain part of the Test, a private piece of
water, and one of the very best on the stream, which
is certainly not overdone with anglers, both Marryat
CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING THE SPORT. 161

and I have found that the fish continually came
unhooked in a mysterious manner, so much so that
we gave to this particular style of losing the trout
the name of the charming estate.

Rising fairly, and generally slowly, at the fly, and
seemingly taking it well, the fish, when struck, goes
off with arush, and you congratulate yourself on being
well into him ; and just as you begin to hold him hard
the hook comes away. Ifthis happened once, or even
twice, it would provoke no special comment; but
when, as I can positively aver from my own experi-
ence, it has occurred as many as twenty times in one
day, the only inference is, that it is one more form of
coming short; and a further evidence of this con-
tention is found in the fact that an examination of
the hooks often reveals the presence of a very small
scale firmly fixed on the barb, which must be a
conclusive proof of the fish having been hooked
outside.
( 162 )

CHAPTER VIII.
SELECTION OF FLY.

Any advice as to the pattern of fly to use under
particular circumstances is easy, perhaps, to give, but
it will, in all probability, not be usually followed
by the angler. To begin with, every fisherman of
experience has, with more or less good reason, his
own fancies, and if he is using one of them will
persevere for hours. If the fish take, this is another
argument for the particular dressing, and if not
he can always find an excuse to account for the
want of success; either it was not dry enough,
or not cocked, or did not come over the fish quite
accurately, or the trout was set down by his first
cast; in fact, the possible excuses are infinite in
number. On the other hand, when the angler is
using a pattern which he is not inclined to swear by,
avery moderately dry fly placed somewhere in the
vicinity of the rise in a somewhat careless way is
sufficient to enable him to declare that, as he had
predicted, it is the wrong fly, and hence he must
change it to one of his pet patterns. My object in
this chapter is not to advance the claims of any fly-
dressers or of their inventions, or, to be more accurate,
SELECTION OF FLY. 163

perhaps their imperfect copies of the beautiful works
of nature (and, after all, the best of artificial flies are
only very imperfect copies), but to do the best in
my power to give the angling fraternity the benefit
of any experience I have been able to gain during
many years of dry-fly fishing in various rivers. For-
tunately I am able to be more precise in these
matters than many of the brethren, and to base my
advice on the solid foundation of facts, having care-
fully kept a diary of each day’s fishing for some ten
seasons, and recorded in every case not only the fly
with which each fish was killed, but also some par-
ticulars of the natural ones on the water, the state
of weather, and other useful details.

Of course my data are mainly derived from club
or subscription waters, in which the education of the
fish has reached a very high standard, and where
day by day, from the opening to the closing of the
season, flies, dry and wet, floating and sunk, are cast
with more or less precision over every fish, who, from
bitter experience, must perforce get some idea of
the dangers lurking behind the seemingly toothsome
insect. I have not had many opportunities of trying
the more favoured localities where the visit of the
fly-fisherman is of rare occurrence, and the flashing
of the glittering gut an unusual circumstance ; but
where I have done so, the conclusion arrived at has
been that the selection of fly is of far less importance,
and the accuracy and delicacy of far greater import-
ance; that the detail of dressing the fly does not
164 DRY-FLY FISHING.

require so much study, but that to keep out of the
keen range of vision of the trout, whether it be the
angler or his flashing rod, requires far deeper and
more careful study. In fact, it appears that the
effect of education on the fish, or, in other words,
the continual presence of fishermen plying their art
over them, is to make them far more suspicious
of the artificial fly or of any little mistake, and far
more shy of gut, but far more tolerant of the pre-
sence of man and the gleam of his accompanying
rod.

I purpose dividing this chapter into three sec-
tions—firstly, selection of fly for spring; secondly,
selection of fly for summer, in which I propose in-
cluding the green drake or May-fly, and incorporat-
ing with it something of the life-history of the
natural insect, as well as hints as to how it should
be fished; and, thirdly, selection of fly for autumn
and winter.

SPRING.

The trout-fishing season commences in some por-
tions of the United Kingdom as early, I regret to
say, as the 2nd of February, but the Hampshire rule
has, I think, been never to open before the 25th of
March ; and even this date is, to my notion, cer-
tainly too soon. In what condition the Devonshire
trout may be in the early days of February I have
nothing but hearsay to guide me, but a Test fish
SELECTION OF FLY. 165

at the end of March, if more than say a pound and
a half, is probably very far removed from what
would be considered by experienced fishermen on
the spot to be anything like good condition. I
am convinced that if in the Hampshire streams the
fish were allowed to feed in safety until the middle
of April, say the 15th, the anglers sport would in
the end improve, not only from the superior con-
dition of the fish, but from the fact of their having
become accustomed to take the flies floating on the
surface without danger. But I fear that no argument
of mine will avail much to induce the keen angler
to abstain until so late a date; and, candidly, after
a long winter my own sympathies are to a great
extent with him.

As to selection of fly, say from the beginning of
April, one must not be very far wrong, in the first
selection, if it is intended to get a fair day’s sport,
as the rise is generally a very short one,—on a
moderate day from twelve o’clock till two, or after a
frosty morning following a cold night, the rise as a
rule will not commence before one to half-past ; so
that within these small limits there is not a great
deal of time for experiment. Sometimes, if the
weather is mild, the fish will commence feeding
only moderately well .at a comparatively early hour
—-say eleven o’clock—and go on to four, or even five.
Generally on such a day the rise is not fast and
furious, but one can see a fish here and there taking ;
and especially if light and warm, but not heavy, rain
166 DRY-FLY FISHING.

is falling it is usually a successful one. Yet at
times all these calculations are upset. The day is
one which would be considered absolutely made to
pattern. One goes out full of hopes, but from morn-
ing till night not a single rising fish is seen.
Perhaps one of the greatest charms of fishing is
this extreme state of doubt as to what one is likely
to achieve. However, for the early part of April,
the best patterns are some of the darker olives, such
as the rough olive, the india-rubber bodied olive, or
the dark olive quill, or for a change a blue quill.
When we reach the middle of the month the gold-
ribbed hare’s ear is perhaps the most successful
of all, especially with bulging fish. This point has
been already treated in detail in a previous chapter.
If not taken well, and a change is thought de-
sirable, the medium olive quill, a detached olive, or
a drake’s extractor for olives; or, when they are
hatching, one of the various patterns of iron blues,
a fly which is far too often neglected by the south-
country fisherman, may be put up. In fact, it is
very questionable whether any dun is so well taken
when it is on the water as a really good imitation
of this particular species.

Almost the first mild days after the middle of
April will, in rivers where it is found at all, bring
the first signs of the grannom. There are so many
fallacies existing in the minds of even the highest
authorities as to this fly, that I am constrained to
criticise their dicta adversely. First of all they say
SELECTION OF FLY. 167

the grannom is essentially a fine-weather fly. Now
this is true as far as regards the old flies going
out to lay their eggs on the water, these being flies
which had changed from the nymph state some
days previously, and have become very much darker
in colour than when first hatched. They are usually
seen flying in great clouds through the air; they
occasionally dip and just touch the surface of the
water with the tail end of the abdomen, which is
probably the act of laying the eggs. Not one of
them is seen on the water, and naturally not a
single trout is taking them.

Then again we are told that at the first shower
of rain not a grannom is seen. This again is
true as regards the old hatched flies. In fact, it
is a question in my mind whether every winged
insect in existence would not seek shelter to pre-
vent its wings becoming sodden. But these are
not the grannoms on which the fish feed. The fish
sees rising through the water the nymph enveloped
in a thin skin, which skin splits on the surface
of the water, and the winged grannom flutters over
it until it reaches the bank in safety. Fish rising
at grannom are taking that fly in one of the
two above-mentioned states—either the nymph, or
the winged insect struggling on the water to get
safely to shore. The symptoms are unmistakable,
whether it be the nymph or the winged fly, as the
fish cannot poise themselves in the same way as
they do when taking duns and quietly suck in the
168 DRY-FLY FISHING.

insect floating down to it. They keep darting back-
wards and forwards after the active nymph or the
fluttering imago ; in fact, altogether the appearance
is very like that of trout bulging. After the hatch
of winged grannom has once commenced (and the
first commencement is certainly retarded by unseason-
able weather) all this fair weather theory is blown
to the winds. Frequently on cold, wet, blustery
days the fly is well up, the fish are taking it well,
and especially if the surface of the water is rippled
by a moderate breeze the angler has a fair chance
of getting near his fish without being seen.

I venture to differ entirely from the common
theory of anglers that the grannom should be used
only in fine weather. The grannom is certainly a
capital fly to fatten the fish, but it is as certainly only
plentiful on a few streams, and is altogether a most
disappointing one to the anglers. On the days of
its biggest hatch, when a quiet part of the river is
simply one seething mass of struggling flies just
hatched, and empty shucks, and the fish are boiling
in all directions, the angler really does not know
which fish to try. It is almost impossible in such
a commotion for him to tell one from the other;
in his hurry he generally selects the small fry,
and if by chance he should hook a big fish, the
general result is a smash, as, owing to the excite-
ment of seeing so many trout rising and the dis-
appointment of hooking small fellows one after the
other, at length he loses his coolness, and the
SELECTION OF FLY. 169

natural result is a little too much power in the
strike.

Worse than all, perhaps, after a few minutes the
fish are gorged and the rise for the day is at an
end. Whenever, during the hatch of grannom,
the trout are evidently not taking it, try one of the
greener-bodied medium olives.

The. commencement of May may be said to be
the end of the grannom, sometimes even the best of
it, and especially in cold seasons. We then come
to a time of the year when the natural dun is paler
in colour, and perhaps a trifle smaller, and such
patterns as the hare’s ear quill, the pale olive quill,
the goose dun, and so on may be tried with advan-
tage. On rough bright days the gold-ribbed hare’s
ear is the best and most reliable. In fact this
sentence may be written without exception on every
month in the year, and if a Hampshire fisher had
to select one fly, and one fly only, on which to pin
his faith he could not do better than take this.

Iron blues when hatching are specially successful
at this period during the day; and for the evening,
although there is not much evening rise as early
as this, yet sometimes, when calm, the various forms
of red spinner, red quills, detached badger, jenny
spinners, and even occasionally the silver sedge may
be tried with advantage.

The olive spinners are often out, but as far as
my experience goes the fish do not take the natural
well, and the imitation, as may be expected, is
170 DRY-FLY FISHING.

taken still worse. For patterns to resemble it, the
olive badger is the most like nature, but perhaps a
medium olive quill is quite as likely, if not more
likely, to kill.

At the latter end of May the season of curses
commences. Perhaps this word may be taken in
both senses, as these horrible little midges seem the
most provoking form of insect ever bred in the
water. For patterns, the black gnat, both male
and female, the pike scale, and the pattern given in
‘Floating Flies and how to Dress them” as the
‘“‘Fisherman’s Curse, A.,” with body of cock golden
pheasant tail, are the best imitations. As stated in
a previous chapter, when fish are apparently taking
minute flies, and the angler cannot discover the right
pattern or see the insect itself, the orange bumble
or furnace is always worth a trial. On some rivers
smutting fish freely take a pink Wickham, tied
quite small on a oo hook, and in connection with
this point rather a curious circumstance should be
noted. It is not only on some rivers that smutting
fish take a pink Wickham, and on other rivers that
they refuse it, but on some parts of the same stream.
And, as an example, Houghton is a piece of water on
which trout will very seldom take the Wickham ; but
on a small tributary of the same stream which I
formerly rented I almost always found it successful.
This, however, was not due to the fish being less
shy, as I think I can honestly say that in no stream,
or no part of any stream, even including Houghton
SELECTION OF FLY. 170

itself, had I found the fish so shy and so difficult as
on this particular piece of water. Sometimes where
they will not take the pink Wickham, a small red
quill or a small silver sedge may be successful,
although, as previously explained in a chapter on
the subject, it is a great mystery why, and for what,
these particular patterns are taken by fish which are
palpably, as shown by actual experiments in the
shape of autopsy, taking nothing but these little
black midges. I have seen sedges out quite early
in May, and have not only seen them, but have
killed with them. As an example, I note from my
diary that on the 19th May 1882, on a cold evening,
with a northerly wind, when I only arrived by train
at a few minutes before seven o’clock, and started
at once fishing, I killed with a silver sedge on a
o hook a trout 2 lbs. 4 ozs. at the very first cast,
and subsequently lost and rose several others. In
the last days of May sometimes the first appearance
of the green drake is noticed, with the accompanying
alder, button, sedge, &c.; but these flies belong to
June, and I will treat of them in detail under the
section of Summer.

SUMMER.

With the commencement of June in ordinary
seasons the first appearance of the May-fly may
be expected. Probably more inaccuracies and more
misleading matter have been given forth to the
172 DRY-FLY FISHING.

public about this fly than on all other angling sub-
jects. The May-fly fortnight used to be said, especially
by the older school of authors, to be a sort of carnival
—in fact, some have canonised it by the name of
St. May-fly; and to read their glowing sketches
one would fancy that it was only necessary to cast
the fly in any slipshod fashion anywhere, to find as
a result that all the big fish in the river were com-
peting in a race to get at it; and anglers, especially
of the younger school, reading these exaggerated ac-
counts, are in the habit of going down to the river
buoying themselves up with hopes of great sport and
easy fishing. Some even say that it is unsportsman-
like, and describe it as a sort of poaching, as bad as
the minnow, worse than the worm, and only on a
par with the net. How soon they would be unde-
ceived if they only tried one season on the Test!
They would find that, really and truly speaking, it is
far more difficult than any ordinary fishing, not only
because of the mere labour of drying the fly and the
increased difficulty of casting so big an object against
the wind; not only because of the long hours of
daylight during which they stop out of doors and try
to keep on fishing; not only because of the heat of
the weather, but in addition to all this, because of
the fact that, as they well know, the big fish are
all on the move; of course every one’s desire is to
catch the big ones, and these wary old customers
will not stand the smallest mistake.

On the other hand, experienced dry-fly fishermen
     

 

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SELECTION OF FLY. 173

among southern anglers have, for many seasons past,
raised a general wail of discontent at the bad sport
they have obtained during the short fortnight of the
May-fly. Complaints on this score have been even
more rife this year (1888) than previously, and
hence, perhaps, a calm and judicial consideration
of the various circumstances producing or tending
to produce this undesirable result is not out of place
here. Itis said that trout do not take the natural
fly as freely as was their wont in former days. I
believe that this is not the case, and that the
almost universal disappointment is due to a variety
of ‘causes, some natural and others preventable,
brought about partly by want of experience and
partly by the ever-increasing shyness of the fish,
greatly increased by excessive or injudicious casting
over them at all times and seasons.

The life-history of the May-fly has been exhaus-
tively treated by many entomologists, notably by
Pictet, and in later years by the Rev. A. E. Eaton,
and a short résumé, as far as I have been able to
verify the various statements from personal obser-
vation, may be acceptable to the reader. ‘The
eges, an illustration of which, magnified forty-six
diameters, is shown in Plate XV. 1, when first
laid in the water sink to the bottom and adhere
to the soil or stones forming the bed of the river,
where they remain until hatched into a small grub
or larva. How long this process of hatching takes
is, more or less, a matter of conjecture. I can to
174 DRY-FLY FISHING.

a certain extent elucidate the question from positive») >>>:
experiments, as I secured a number of eggs from
about 120 impregnated females, and an enthusiastic
angling friend tried to hatch them in captivity in a
small aquarium. These eggs were taken on the
oth of June 1887. They numbered, as nearly as
could be calculated, about 800,000. This number
may, at the first glance, appear to the reader to be an
exaggeration, but the result of dissecting out and
counting under the microscope the eggs from six
females (three large and three small) gave respec-
tively the following numbers: 6693, 6048, 7134,
5682, 5748, 7728; and these figures tally sufficiently
closely to an average of 6500 eggs per fly, to show
that this calculation is very nearly accurate. They
were safely delivered into the hands of my friend (Mr.
Hawksley), and carefully deposited by him in certain
vessels for the purpose of hatching. On the 15th
August, or about five weeks later, I received a most
exciting telegram, “Cannot leave home; May-flies
hatching.” On the next day came a letter with full
details stating that thousands had hatched, that the
new-born larvee were busy cleaning themselves and
commencing to feed, that a certain number had been
sacrificed in the cause of science, and were tempo-
rarily preserved in spirit for me. Thanks to this
forethought I am able to give the accompanying illus-
tration of the larva (magnified twenty-three diameters,
on Plate XV. 2), when certainly less than one week
old. Both Mr. Hawksley’s and my own excitement
SELECTION OF FLY. 175

about this time were very great. We were building
hopes of at last (for we had previously hatched larva,
but failed to rear them) working out in full detail the
life-history of one of the Ephemeride. To provide
as far as possible a fair imitation of their natural
surroundings, I had brought up from Hampshire a
quantity of mud taken from the bed of the river,
and a number of various sorts of weeds growing
there. These were carefully distributed in the various
vessels.

The larvee commenced to dig burrows into the sandy
mud with their powerful forelegs, which are armed
with formidable claws for the purpose, and altogether
we began to think that our experiment showed
fair signs of being successful, especially as we
knew that throughout the larval and nymph stages
the May-fly takes up its habitation in the mud.
After a few weeks a careful search in one of the
vessels showed us not a single sign of a larva.
This naturally gave rise to considerable anxiety,
and we could not be satisfied with anything less
than an exhaustive search, which, alas! proved that
our very worst apprehensions were only too well
founded.

Excepting the small number of larve preserved in
spirit, we could only find one other specimen. Our
want of success was probably due to a variety of
causes, notably ignorance of the natural diet of the
insect, and the impossibility of producing in the
circumscribed area of a small aquarium in a London
176 DRY-FLY FISHING.

greenhouse the same conditions, the same atmos-
phere, the same flow of fresh water, and possibly
the same pure water filtered through the chalk as
in its native river.

Be that as it may, we failed ; and our only remedy
is to try again, with hopes of better results. Strange
to say, however, some months later a number of
eggs were found which had not hatched, and yet,
under the microscope, gave every indication of being
alive. These eggs were treated in the same careful
manner, but having shown no change whatever up
to June 1888, a period of twelve months from the
date of being laid, we concluded that, from some
unexplained cause, they were unfertile eggs, and
hence we reluctantly decided to destroy them. Ex-
periments, however, are still being conducted on
the subject, and will, I trust, eventually prove suc-
cessful, elucidating the question as to the period
which elapses between the laying of the egg and the
appearance of the sub-imago or winged fly.

As the larva grows it sheds its outside skin many
times, and at some period of its growth it com-
mences to assume the nymph state. Plate XV. 3 is
a coloured illustration of the larva life-size, and Nos.
4 and 5 on the same plate are the female and male
nymph respectively. On Plate XVI. the larva and
both sexes of nymph are shown magnified three
diameters. The only apparent difference between
the larva and the nymph is the appearance in
the latter of two small oval-shaped excrescences of
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SELECTION OF FLY. 177

a dark colour, springing from the back of the
thorax. These are, in fact, cases in which the
wings of the sub-imago are curiously folded up,
somewhat in the same way as an umbrella is folded
for the purpose of carrying when not in use. There
is some doubt in my mind as to the correctness,
from a scientific point of view, of the use of these
two names, larva and nymph, as indicating, one the
immature insect without, and the other the im-
mature insect with, the small wing-covers; but as
their meaning is explained they are convenient terms,
and hence my scientific friends will perhaps forgive
me if I am guilty of a misnomer.

As the weather becomes colder the larva digs its
way more deeply into the soil. In the depths of
winter it is said to be immersed as much as a yard
or more in the soft mud, and in more genial weather
it is found usually at a depth of about eighteen
inches. As an illustration of this I may state that,
in the month of March 1887, my friend Major Turle
sent me from Newton Stacey, his water on the Test,
specimens found at a depth of from a foot to
eighteen inches below the surface of the mud, and
a fortnight later, when a sudden change of weather
had caused a very decided fall of temperature, could
not get any more when dredging to the depth of
nearly a yard. Entomologists are somewhat vague
as to the length of time during which the insect
remains in the larval and nymph dresses. This is

certainly not less than two years, as in the second
M
178 DRY-FLY FISHING. |

week of June larve have been found by me without
any sign of the wing-covers, and not more than one-
half the length of the full-grown nymph, when at
the same time the winged fly was prevalent on the
water.

When the time to be spent in the larval state has
come to a close, however long it may be, the nymphz
are found among the roots and the weeds in the
sandy mud at a depth of about an inch. This fact,
as noticed in the Pield of 2d July 1887, was wit-
nessed by me in person, and perhaps I may be
excused for quoting the paragraph in extenso:— ~

“ May-FLy MetamorpHosis.—In my May-fly notes
of June 4th the following sentence occurs :—The
larve of Ephemera danica,’ from the time of their
first emerging from the eggs to about a month or so
before undergoing the further metamorphosis to the
sub-imago, burrow deeply into the mud, and there
take up their habitations. My reason for accepting
the period of a month or so before assuming the sub-
imago state was because I could get no reliable in-
formation on this point, and had not been able to
satisfy myself as to the habits of the larve or nymphe
when approaching the transformation to a winged
insect. Fortunately, however, I met on one of the
waters fished last week a remarkably intelligent

1 In the original this May-fly was named Ephemera vulgata, but I
prefer to follow the nomenclature of the Rev. A. E. Eaton, the best
modern authority on this family, who gives as its scientific name

E. danica, The May-fly of warmer rivers is usually E. vulgata (Eaton)
or, more rarely, E. lineata.
SELECTION OF FLY. 179

keeper, who assured me that the larve were then
about an inch below the surface of the mud around
the roots of the weeds. At my request he scooped
out several bunches of weed with roots and mud
attached, and after leaving them a few moments on
the bank the head and shoulders of the nymphe
emerged from the soil, and I preserved several speci-
mens for future observations under the microscope.
The wing-cases were fully developed, and one nympha
actually underwent the metamorphosis under my
eyes, splitting open the larval envelope between the
shoulders, then lifting out its head and legs, then
curving its body upwards and drawing it out, to-
gether with the sete; and lastly, unfolding the
wings as they emerged from the wing-cases, it flut-
tered away, to fall a victim to the open jaws of a
hungry swallow. This information is of great value
to owners of fisheries who are bothered by the
various opinions expressed on the subject of weed-
cutting just before the May-fly season. They can
now safely cut away all superfluous weeds, in full
confidence of not hindering the hatch of drakes and
spoiling their sport in the early days of June.’’?

This description of the process of metamorphosis
to the sub-imago is, I believe, accurate, and I would
only add that the powerful digging claws, the whole
of the mouth appendages, and the branchie or gill

1 J may here acknowledge, with many thanks, the courtesy of the
proprietors of the Field in according me permission to use this and other
matter which has appeared in that invaluable sportsman’s Bible.
180 DRY-FLY FISHING.

apparatus used for separating air from the water for
breathing purposes, are shed with the exuvie of the
nymphe; and the hairs with which the antenne,
legs, setee, and parts of the body itself are fringed in
the larval state are absent from the sub-imago.

In a state of nature, as soon as the wings of the
sub-imago or green drake are thoroughly dried, it
flies to the shore. During the process of drying its
wings it is frequently seen floating on the surface of
the stream, using the nymph envelope as a support-
ing raft. When ashore the sub-imago rests on the
under side of leaves or on blades of grass, selecting
invariably the shady side; in fact, at this period of
its existence it seems especially to shun the burning
rays of the sun. Nos. 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Plate XVII. are correct representations of female
and male at this stage drawn under the microscope,
and reduced to the natural size, and Plate XVIIL.,
1 and 2, are the female and male sub-imago magni-
fied three diameters. After about twenty-four to
thirty-six hours, the time being, I believe, entirely
dependent on temperature, the green drake casts
the entire outer skin of its head, wings, thorax,
and abdomen, as well as the thin coverings of the
antenne, legs, and sete, the forelegs and sete
increasing very much in length, and the increase
being relatively far greater in the males than in
the females. The wings of the sub-imago are
covered with small thorn-shaped spines all over
the surface, and hairs along the edges, but the
 
  

MAY FL

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LeiGuTon Bros.Lith,

 

 
SELECTION OF FLY. 181

wings of the imago or perfect insect are compara-
tively smooth and free from these excrescences,
which are shed with the sub-imago envelope. The
imago, male and female, is shown on Plate XVII,
3 and 4, the natural size, and Plates XIX. and XX.
show the female and male imago respectively magni-
fied three diameters. It is curious to note that the
clouds of imago rising and falling in the air are exclu-
sively collections of males. As the sun gets low in
the horizon and the air begins to cool the males come
out in clouds, congregating together ; and, dancing up
and down, lie in wait for and catch each female as she
flies out into the open in the imago state. Sexual
intercourse takes place in the air, and very shortly
after it the female drops her eggs on the water, and
the act of reproduction being complete, both sexes
fall almost lifeless on the surface of the stream,
with their wings extended and lying flat; and
their bodies, mere empty shells, are at this stage,
by a strange misnomer, called by anglers the spent
gnat.

A retrospect of the life-history of the May-fly will
show that the larve and nymphe while burrowing in
the mud cannot to any large extent serve as food for
the fish. Hence the first stage at which it is possible
for the trout to feed on them freely is that of the
nymph at the moment it is rising to the surface of
the water as a preliminary to the change into the
winged insect. Thus, from an angler’s point of view,
the consideration of the subject divides itself natu-
182 _DRY-FLY FISHING.

rally into the three states of nymph, sub-imago, and
imago.

In the first of these states what is usually, but
erroneously, called the hatch of the May-fly has just
commenced. The first of the nymphe are swimming
upwards in all directions, and the trout, who are
probably not endowed by nature with the faculty
of memory from past years, are scared at the sight
of this strange and large creature. After a time
curiosity probably impels them to try it from a
gastronomic point of view, and the first mouthful
proving tasty is soon succeeded by others, until at
length all over the stream the fish are feeding
ravenously on the succulent and highly nutritious
nymphs. The evidences of this are unmistakable
—a noisy splashing floop continually recurring, with
frequent changes of position as the hungry trout
chase the active nymphs; but there is very seldom
an actual breaking of the surface except when the
nymph reaches the top of the water and splits the
shuck at the very moment the fish is in the act of
taking it, when he quickly secures either the winged
insect or the empty envelope. It is a strange cir-
cumstance, too, that the fish often take the empty
shuck in preference to the nymph itself.

The above is what happens in a river neglected by
man. In civilised parts the first appearance of the
fly is rapidly communicated by letter or telegram
from the zealous keeper, and spread far and wide by
the sporting press. Everywhere the cry, ‘The fly
SELECTION OF FLY. 183

is up,” is raised; every angler renting water or
having the privilege of fishing on club or private
ground is off by the next train, anxious to be
first on the spot. The fish, long before they have
settled down to feed on the fly—in fact often before
they are thoroughly sure of the flavour of the
nymph—are cast over time after time, pricked when-
ever a mistake is made, and a certain proportion
killed. They are scared by the sudden influx of
people on the banks of the streams comparatively
deserted at other times, until at length the natural
result is to render them preternaturally shy and
drive them off surface food for very fear of their
lives.

In private waters the remedy is simple, and it
is in the owner's hands. He should himself ab-
stain from fishing until the trout have become
accustomed to the winged fly, and the abstinence
he practised himself could not be a great hardship
to his friends. In subscription or club waters, how-
ever, this is impossible, for although, as a class,
anglers are unselfish and considerate towards their
confréres, there would, I fear, in each case be some
one or more greedy members who would strive to
get a start and distance their more considerate fel-
low-members. If, therefore, obliged in self-defence
to try the fish in this stage, there are a few simple
rules which should materially increase the bag of the
fisherman.

For the fish when feeding on the nymphe a
184 DRY-FLY FISHING.

new pattern, and a most efficacious one, has been
recently evolved by Mr. Marryat. It is dressed
without wings, with Egyptian goose hackle, body
of the palest buff, maize-coloured floss silk, ribbed
with a strand of peacock’s herl, which is of pale
cinnamon colour at the root. The pale portion
of the herl is worked at the shoulders so as to show
about three turns of the dark metallic bronze at the
tail end of the body, which very fairly represents the
darker marking on this portion of the natural fly.
The tail is of brown mallard, or gallina, dyed to this
colour. It is, however, a very difficult fly to dress,
owing to the stubborn nature of the stem of the
Egyptian goose hackle. If this pattern is not avail-
able, an ordinary straw-bodied small May-fly, with
wings of the tint known as Hammond’s champion,
is a very good substitute. In any case the fly
should not be too dry, although, at the same time,
it should not actually sink below the surface, and
when using the winged pattern it is above all essen-
tial to fish it with the wings flat upon the water
and not cocked. Any experienced fisherman can,
after a few trials, manage to achieve this, and I
would refer the novice to a previous chapter, which
will indicate the best method of delivering the fly
so that it shall not be cocked. This is done by
either casting over hand, which perhaps is not de-
sirable, or putting a little superfluous force into the
throw. Two or three accurate casts delicately
made, and the fly placed well above the fish, are
PLATE XVII.

  

  
 
 
 
   

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Subimago Male X 3.

Subimago Female X 5.

LEIGHTON BROTHERS Lith

E.Keme, del
SELECTION OF FLY. 185

quite sufficient. To go on flogging after this is
simply to educate the trout, and ruin your own
sport, as well as that of others. If after two or
three casts the fly is not taken, wait, rest your fish,
let him get the flavour again of a few naturals, then
give him the artificial two or three times. If still
unable to tempt him, crawl back from the bank
so as not to show yourself and scare him, and go
and find another fish, returning to your old friend
in half an hour’s time. If, however, the river has
been left alone until the fish are really well on the
sub-imago or green drake, then great sport may be
expected for some days during the prevalence of
the fly. It is well to note the hour at which the
rise takes place, and in settled weather it will be
found as a general rule that this hour becomes later
from day to day. Observation of this point will
save unnecessary fatigue.

When trout are taking the green drake there can
be no possible doubt about it. The fly is floating
down continually, fish after fish take up their posi-
tions and suck in quietly without splash or disturb-
ance one after another, and this is the time to make
a bag. It must be remembered, however, that a very
small mistake is enough to set a rising fish down,
so that the well-known and oft-repeated maxim of
accuracy and delicacy combined in the first cast
is most essential, and an absolutely dry fly cocked
a positive necessity to ensure success.

As to patterns, “their name is legion.” The
186 .DRY-FLY FISHING.

majority of them are good. Perhaps the best of
all is the straw-bodied champion; and the undyed
Rouen drake-wing, with straw body, or Canadian
summer duck wings may be tried for a change.
Professionals as a rule, however, dress their May-flies
on hooks many sizes too large and out of all propor-
tion to the natural insect. Compare a champion on
a No. 2 hook with a live fly, and it will be seen that
it is quite as large as—in fact, a trifle larger than—
the male green drake; and one on a No. 3-long is
exaggerated as to size when compared with a very
large female. It is true that fish will rise at these
colossal specimens of the fly-dresser’s art ; but it is
equally true that they rise shyly and without confi-
dence, floop at it, and do not take it, or are only
pricked, and are spoiled for hours at least, or some-
times even for the whole season. Too great stress
cannot be laid on the necessity of modern anglers
purchasing only May-flies dressed on small hooks,
and thus curing professionals once for all of their
silly mania for turning out such disproportioned
imitations.

Weather is probably credited with having far too
much effect upon this as well as all other classes of
fly fishing. In rain it certainly is difficult to dry the
fly, but, on the other hand, the fish take better in
cloud or gloom than in sunshine. To cast so large
a fly with more than, say, a yard and a half of gut
against a strong down-stream wind is impossible ;
but, as a consolation, an up-stream wind lifts the
SELECTION OF FLY. 187

natural fly off the water almost the moment it is
clear of the shuck, while with a down-stream wind
it sails along steadily, and is more easily secured by
the fish ; also, as remarked in a previous chapter, it
is more easy to cock the fly when casting against the
wind. Again, the advice is repeated not to keep on
hammering away at a rising trout. Keep out of
sight, crouching well down on approaching the bank,
and while fishing or retiring. Use the under-hand
cast invariably, and although fine gut is desirable, it
is not so absolutely essential as when using duns or
other small flies. One other hint. Sometimes the
fish are not taking the natural May-fly well and yet
rise occasionally, and under these conditions it is
better to try first with Flight’s fancy, or some other
small fly. Very few casts will tell whether these are
likely to be successful, and if not, do not hesitate
for a moment; put up either an alder or a Welsh-
man’s button, both of which are almost invariably
found at the same time as the May-fly, especially
for half an hour just before the rise of the green
drake.

If neither of these is successful, a sedge will
often prove of service in converting an unfavourable
into a favourable day’s sport. Of the efficacy of the
Welshman’s button I had curious evidence some
years ago when fishing on a very good piece of
private water. My friend who was with me on
that occasion, and who is quite in the first school
of Hampshire May-fly fishers, had been trying a
188 DRY-FLY FISHING.

fish rising on the edge of a run for some time,
fishing scientifically, and to my notion very well.
When I arrived on the spot he was grumbling at
his bad luck in not being able to get a rise, and
exclaiming that probably our host had either pricked
or hammered the fish on the previous day. A few
moments before I had killed a fish with a Welshman’s
button, and as he had previously refused a champion,
I suggested to my friend a change to the button. He
is generally an advocate for sticking to the fly on
the water, and not seeing any of these particular
insects, somewhat scornfully said, “ You had better
try him yourself.” My first cast was certainly not a
good one—that is to say, it was not an accurate one,
as the fly was coming down on the extreme right-
hand side of the run, while the fish was rising on
the extreme left ; yet he came right across the run,
seized the fly, and was killed in a few minutes—a
good trout of about 24 lbs.

During the hatch of the May-fly, especially the
earlier portion of it, there will often be seen of an
evening a small number of large red sedges. I say
a small number advisedly, as, with the utmost dili-
gence when hunting for it, I have only succeeded in
getting in the last two years some twelve or fourteen
specimens. A pattern of sedge which I have called
the Kimbridge as a modification of a pattern pre-
viously dressed and called by that name, seems to
me the best imitation of that large sedge. I dress it
on a 3-long hook, with wings of woodcock, body of
XIK.

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SELECTION OF FLY. 189

pale condor—not absolutely white—and rib it right
down with two pale ginger hackles. This pattern
has proved so successful in killing large fish during
the evening rise, and sometimes too in the middle of
the day, when the May-fly itself has not seemed to
tempt the trout, that I think it worthy the attention
of my brother anglers.

When feeding on the spent gnat or imago in the
final stage of its existence a trout usually takes
up its position close to the surface, and swimming
leisurely along with his nose almost out of the
water, quietly sucks in every fly drifting down.
The flies scarcely move, and are apparently lifeless,
so that the disturbance even of the largest fish is
unimportant, and the mark made by the rise of a
four-pounder a mere bubble, like the rise of a min-
now. It is usually late in the day or evening, per-
haps nearly dusk; the wind has died away; every-
thing is calm and placid. In the deep, slow, or even
almost stagnant water, the fish, and frequently the
very largest ones, are only submerged a few inches
under the surface, and swim slowly along taking
every spent gnat they see. They cruise about a
good deal when feeding in this way, and it is
desirable to watch the wave of the trout, and thus
ascertaining the direction in which he is moving,
cast about afoot above him. Under these conditions
it is not surprising that the smallest splash, the least
curve in the gut, the shadow of the moving rod, or
the slightest suspicion of anything abnormal, is suffi-
190 DRY-FLY FISHING.

cient to show a danger-signal which promptly moves
the trout already gorged with food to seek safety in
a quick retreat.

As to the imitation, no spent gnat pattern can be
considered in the same category as that invented by
friend Marryat as the result of life-long study. It
is, as is well known to Hampshire anglers, dressed
with wings lying horizontally at right angles to
the hook-shank, and formed with four transparent
blue Andalusian grizzled cock hackle points, body
of white floss silk ribbed with a cinnamon-ended
strand of peacock, whisks of brown mallard or
gallina dyed a dark brown nearly black, a grey
partridge hackle at the shoulder, and a badger cock
hackle carried down the body from the shoulder to
the tail end. For choice it should be dressed on
nothing larger than 3-long hook, and for very shy
fish even smaller.

When to cast is an important point. The natural
fly usually floats down in a string of twenty or more
close together. A fish will take every one of such a
series, and then go down to swallow the mass. The
artificial should, therefore, be thrown at the moment
the string of natural flies is approaching, so that it
will lead the file. If it is not taken the first cast,
wait and let your fish take another lot of the natural
before trying again. Sometimes, if this is unsuccess-
ful, a cast a foot to the right or left of the drift of
natural flies will tempt him; but if this, in turn,
is of no avail, pass on and try another fish. Above
SELECTION OF FLY. Ig

all, do not keep on casting over the same fish. It
is utterly useless, and worse still as only tending
to render a shy fish still more suspicious. The
largest fish are killed with a spent gnat when they
do take it; and as an example, some few years ago
one of 8 lbs. was secured with it, and the follow-
ing season one of 7 lbs. in very nearly the same spot.
And yet altogether it is the most disappointing style
of fishing. Perhaps, as a consolation, we may think
it just as well that the big fish only take it freely
at rare intervals ; otherwise, with the present plethora
of sportsmen, the race would in many rivers soon be
extinct. Occasionally the trout take the spent gnat
well in the morning, especially after a very great
show of green drake over night; so after the first
few days with the fly it is always worth while to
try it when unable to get a rise with the May-fly
itself.

One more hint. If you happen to be fishing on a
stream a week or so after the May-fly is over, and
find a fish rising at duns or other small insects, and
cannot succeed in tempting him, do not hesitate to
give him one cast with the May-fly or spent gnat.
The memory of the taste seems to linger in their
minds for some short time.

On rivers where no May-fly hatches, or where they
are not sufficiently plentiful to make the fish feed on
them, June is generally a good month. Moderately
early in the morning, say seven o’clock perhaps,
the claret spinner or detached badger will often
192 DRY-FLY FISHING.

take. Not so often, but yet occasionally, the jenny
spinner. This circumstance seems to me somewhat
strange, as one is the female imago and the other
the male imago of one and the same fly, the iron
blue. During the day-time, if there is any small
fly rise, Flight’s fancy, medium or pale olives, iron
blues, sometimes orange bumbles, and furnaces will
take. The alder is a fly which is always worth
trying, as on most rivers there is more or less of
it about from the middle of May to the middle of
June. In the evenings red spinners, detached bad-
gers, red quills, badger quills, and after dark various
patterns of sedges, not forgetting Hammond's adopted,
the artful dodger, or our old friend the Kimbridge,
mentioned when speaking of the May-fly, or imitation
of the large red sedge, which is only seen at this
time of the year.

Of July there is not much to be said. Altogether
it is perhaps the worst month in the year for killing
trout in the day-time. In rivers where the May-fly
is plentiful they have scarcely recovered from it.
They are fat and lazy and generally shy, and in all
rivers, whether those where there is or is not much
May-fly, duns are very scarce. If there is any rise
at all the flies are small, and must be dressed on
oo or 000 hooks ; the finest of drawn gut must be
used ; and at a time when the weeds are thick and
strong, when the fish are in the pink of condition
and have a strong tendency to go to weed and to
smash the angler when there, it is not easy to hold
PAVE 2x.

MAY FLY
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SELECTION OF FLY, 193

them, and the general disappointment experienced
by fishermen is not altogether surprising.

Sometimes grayling take well in July, but they
should not, to my notion, be killed earlier than the
middle, or at very earliest the commencement, of
the month. The fact that they do feed well in
July is a strong argument in favour of having them
in streams with the trout, providing the stock of
food is plentiful. Of course, if there is not a suffi-
ciency of insect life to form food for both trout and
grayling, and the river will only support a certain
head of fish the effect is not satisfactory, as the
grayling, who certainly increase far more rapidly
than trout, seem to take an unfair share of the
food and crowd out the salmo fario. The grayling
take red tag, macaw tag, orange tag, orange bumble,
furnace, curse, black gnat, Wickham, small silver
sedge, and even Sanctuary tied on a large No. 2
hook. ‘These patterns for day-time only. In the
early evenings both trout and grayling sometimes
rise well, taking all sorts of red spinners, blue-
winged olive when it is out, and, of course, its
imago, the sherry spinner, which is best imitated
by a somewhat pale-bodied red spinner or detached
badger. When it gets almost dark the grayling, as
a rule, do not take, and rising fish may be generally
considered to be trout. They should first be tried
with silver sedge on a oO hook. If this is un-
successful a hare’s ear sedge of the same size;

then as it gets darker either the silver or hare’s
N
194 DRY-FLY FISHING.

ear sedge on a No. 2 hook; and when quite dark,
some of the larger sedges, such as Hammond’s
adopted, artful dodger, or the dark sedge dressed
on hooks about No. 4.

AUTUMN.

To include the month of August under Autumn
is perhaps not strictly correct, yet I do so advisedly,
because the particular style of feeding on the part
of the trout begins in that month to partake of the
character which I would describe as specially ap-
pertaining to this season. They certainly seem in
better appetite and far less shy than they were in
July in the day-time. Of course the same small
flies dressed on 00 and ooo hooks on finest gut,
with the addition of the Indian yellow, little Marryat,
and cinnamon quill are the prevalent patterns of
duns. Sometimes, if the weather be very sultry and
very calm, I have found the black and red ants
useful flies during the heat of the day, especially
the red. As to evening fishing, it is distinctly good,
and the night fishing, if I can call the period just
after dusk so, even better.

Success or non-success in fishing after dusk depends
entirely on the presence of sedge flies, and the later
we are in the season the more prevalent are the natu-
ral insects ; in fact, I think there are more to be seen
in October than any month in the year. Very fine

gut is not necessary; in fact, one may use strong
SELECTION OF FLY. 195

undrawn, there being no advantage in handicapping
yourself at a time when the gut is probably far less
visible to the fish than during daylight. It is also
well to note that no place in which a fish is feeding
need be passed over on account of the natural diffi-
culties of landing him when hooked, as even in
parts almost entirely overgrown with weed, with
mere patches between, trout may be frequently
killed, as they very seldom go to weed after dark.
Probably this is accounted for by the fact of the
fisherman being invisible until they are almost tired
out and practically in the net; and weeding is, I
believe, in many cases, the result of a scare on the
part of the trout from seeing the fisherman.

In September the trout, especially the large ones,
are in real good fettle, and often take well from
morning to night. Candidly, I think it is very
doubtful whether it is wise policy to kill them on
comparatively early rivers like the Test; and after,
say, the 15th, I feel certain that proprietors of
fisheries would be doing good by ending their season.
This assertion is based on a somewhat careful study
of the subject. Some years back I suspected, and
since then continual examination from season to
season has convinced me, that by far the majority
of the fish killed in the latter half of September
are females getting heavy with roe. The result of
killing any great number of these must obviously be
to unduly decrease the stock of fish likely to spawn
at the end of the year.
196 DRY-FLY FISHING.

The flies for trout in September are exactly as in
August. ‘The erayling run a good average, fight well,
being in good condition, and take from sunrise to
sunset. They are always somewhat difficult to please,
and require great variety of fly. It is surprising
how a little perseverance and continual changing of
pattern will enable one angler to make a good day
among them, while his brother anglers on the same
stream who are sticklers for using only a good imita-
tion of the natural fly on the water get little or no
sport. Of the various duns, the small red, blue, olive,
and cinnamon quills, little Marryat, Indian yellow,
Wickham, and small silver sedge are about the best.
The black gnats, curses, various patterns of red and
orange tags, and bumbles are all good for a change.
Occasionally, but very seldom, grayling take the
sedge well just at dusk. On very hot days, at
times, they will take it comparatively early in the
afternoon.

With the end of September at the latest trout
fishing should close on every southern stream; in
fact, Francis Francis’s “ Anathema Maranatha’ on
those who will kill grayling in June is not half
scathing enough for those who will kill trout in
October. No matter in how perfect a condition
they may seem to be, yet within an hour of their
being dead they are flabby, dark-coloured, and loath-
some objects. For the table they are utterly useless ;
and although some so-calledsportsmen salve their
consciences by declaring the trout they kill in Octo-
SELECTION OF FLY. 197

ber are barren ones, yet I confess I should not care
to trust gentlemen who profess to be so wise on this
point. Certainly one provoking feature about it
is, that the trout rise well, and not only rise well,
but take well; and in addition to all this, when one
lands a trout in October it frequently is a very large
one for the stream. Yet all who wish their stock of
fish to have a fair chance of multiplying and being
fruitful should make a rigid rule of returning them
in this month. Of course, fish rising close under
the banks should be avoided, as they are generally
trout.

It may be a consolation, however, that grayling
are not only in the best condition, and hence fight
better, in October than in any other month in the
year, but all of them, from the largest to the smallest,
are feeding freely. Thus the best sport may be antici-
pated by the fisherman who determines to treat gray-
ling fishing as a serious branch of the subject, who
uses small flies and fine gut, who fishes dry over rising
fish, and who avoids the dreadful theory perpetrated
by some of our northern friends that grayling fishing
consists in throwing at haphazard two sunk flies
down-stream anywhere. All that may be truly called
grayling patterns are good ones in this month. The
adjutant blue, perhaps, is the best, and very nearly
allied to it are the autumn dun and blue quill. Tags,
bumbles, Wickhams, and even blacks are some-
times successful. The little Marryat, cinnamon
quill, and Indian yellow are all reliable standards in
198 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Hampshire; and on very rare occasions the willow
fly, but not often. This elegant member of the
Perlide family is, however, said to be a favourite
with grayling elsewhere, especially in Yorkshire,
Derbyshire, and other parts of the Midlands. It
is, however, not an easy pattern to imitate; and to
appreciate the difficulty, it is only necessary for the
angler to note the difference in appearance between
two specimens, one flying through the air with its
four wings extended and fluttering, and the other
crawling up a post or over a bridge, and looking like
a fragment of annealed iron wire, whence probably
the north country name for it of needle brown is
derived. Late in the afternoon red quills, red
spinners, and silver sedges are possible chances
for sport.

In the two concluding months of the year,
November and December, the larger grayling are
not generally rising, and those which rise often
take duns, gold-ribbed hare’s ear, or blue quill for
choice. Sometimes there is an off chance with
Indian yellow, little Marryat, Wickham, adjutant, or
autumn duns; and when the fish are rising and
no flies can be seen on the water, it is perhaps well
to try tags, bumbles, and such fancy flies, but they
are certainly not uniformly as successful: as duns
at this season of the year. Cold weather does not
always prevent the grayling from rising well. I had
heard this assertion many years ago, and, candidly,
misjudged the sportsman who made it; but ex-
SELECTION OF FLY. 199

perience has since taught me that he was not far
wrong. And perhaps my own doings of two days,
the 28th and 29th November 1884, may be of interest
as tending to show what sport one may have on such
days. I killed on the 28th, a comparatively mild day,
nine grayling weighing 9 lbs. 13 ozs. At sunset it
became very cold and cloudy. After a time snow
began to fall, and continued throughout the night.
In the morning the ground was covered to a depth
of nearly a foot. It was bitterly cold, and snowing
off and on until midday. It then cleared up, but
was still very cold, although the sun broke through
occasionally. About one o’clock a few large olives
were hatching; but it was still freezing; indeed, I
think it froze all day long. About half-past one the
fish began rising, and within twenty minutes, fishing
with a gold-ribbed hare’s ear, I killed six grayling,
weighing together 8 lbs. 7 ozs., the best and last one
of 2% lbs., and lost five or six more; and such sport,
I think, as this would be sufficient to tempt any
angler, even in a severe frost.

Tam told that grayling rise well on mild days up to
Christmas, although I have not fished as late as that.
After that date the river should be rested until the
opening of the trout season. The trout as soon as
they have done spawning are hungry, and when-
ever there is anything like a rise of fly they naturally
feed and get pricked ; some perhaps are hooked and
returned, and so made even more shy than usual.
In fact, I doubt whether after the end of November
200 DRY-FLY FISHING.

it is really worth trying at all excepting on particu-
larly favourable days. It is also well to give the
keepers plenty of time to attend to various details
on the water, such as removing heavy patches of
weed, repairing bridges, renovating planks, and
generally making improvements in the state of the
fishery, and the time between Christmas and the
opening of the trout season is, to my mind, by no
means too long for that purpose.
(| 201 )

CHAPTER IX.

EVENING FISHING.

As the days lengthen at the end of the spring the
water usually gets lower and brighter, and the trout
from day to day become more and more gut shy, and
when they do take flies they are smaller and smaller,
until at last it becomes almost impossible to do any
good at all in the day-time, except, of course, on
streams or parts of streams where the fly fisherman
is a rara avis, or possibly on an occasional cloudy,
rainy, or windy day. The quantity of Ephemeride
hatching also becomes smaller and smaller, for they
do not, as a rule, change from the nymph to the sub-
imago state in great numbers in the heat of the sun.
This, possibly, is to some extent due to instinct on
their part, as the sub-imago appears unwilling to
expose itself for any length of time to great heat.
Under these conditions the best chance of getting
sport is probably during what is called the evening
rise. Now this evening rise is divided into two sec-
tions, the evening rise proper, or the time during
which the fish are feeding on Ephemeride in either
the sub-imago or imago stage, and the sedge rise, or
time during which the fish are as a rule affecting flies
202 DRY-FLY FISHING.

of the Phryganide family. The true evening rise,
that of the small fly, usually commences about the
time. that the lower limb of the sun touches the
horizon. It will begin somewhat earlier on parts of
the river where there is a hill on the western side
or a high bank, producing a sort of artificial ac-
celeration of sunset; and this rise continues just a
little later than it is possible for one to see the artifi-
cial fly when throwing towards the light. About this
period there is a lull for a quarter of an hour or so,
during which the fish apparently are not taking much
surface food. After this they come on to the smaller
Phryganide. After some quarter or half an hour of
this the larger sedge class are beginning to hatch,
and seem to be taken more freely by the fish than
any other.

It is evident that the small fly rise, or, as it is
usually styled at Winchester, “Tom Fool’s light,”
from the supposed facility with which fish can be
killed, cannot, under the most favourable circum-
stances, last much more than half an hour. Fish
during this period are almost as particular as to the
colour of the fly, its shape, its size, or of its being dry
and cocked (though they do not seem to mind the gut
so much), as during the day-time. It would appear,
therefore, that a fish’s power of discrimination of
colours is not to a very great extent impaired by par-
tial loss of light, possibly owing to the lens of a fish’s
eye being capable of adjustment to a wider range,
and consequently able to work through a denser
EVENING FISHING. 203

medium than that of animals living in the air. Now,
seeing the short time that this rise lasts, it is evi-
dently an essential point that the first selection of fly
should not be far out. The red spinners of various
sorts, by which I mean such flies as red quill, de-
tached badger, brown badger, and so on, and some
of the yellow-bodied and even white duns, are the
most useful.

There is occasionally on hot evenings a little
white fly, somewhat similar both in colour and shape
to the jenny spinner, but smaller, and the wings
distinctly more rounded in shape. It is certainly
much smaller than the jenny spinner, and on the
evenings when it hatches comes out in tremendous
swarms. JI mention this fly because so many have
noticed it, and so few seem to have taken the trouble
of ascertaining anything about it. As far as my
personal experience goes, and as far as I have been
able to check it by the experience of other anglers,
I have not been successful in finding one authenti-
cated instance of its being taken by the fish; yet, at
the same time, I think it is very probable that they
take it; and possibly the reason of my not having
been able to find it in any autopsy is, either that it is
very rapidly digested, or, far more probably, that fish
feeding on it will take nothing else ; and thus, being
unable to dress an imitation of so minute an object,
Ihave failed to tempt them when taking it. This
fly is one of the genus Cznts, probably either Cxnis
rivulorwm (Eaton) or C. lactea (Pictet). Many of
204 DRY-FLY FISHING.

the Hampshire fishermen have a singular delusion
about this fly, being of opinion that it bites. Now,
a greater absurdity than this cannot exist, because,
like all the Ephemeride in the winged state, the
mouth organs are so atrophied that it would’ be
utterly impossible. The reason of this fancied un-
pleasant tendency of these flies is due to the fact that
they remain for a very short time in the sub-imago
state, and wanting to change their coats, settle on
the nearest object, whether it be a man’s hand or his
face, and as they settle they instinctively dig their
claws into the substance on which they have settled
for the purpose of fixing the claws of the sub-imago
exuvium, to enable them to wriggle out of it and
emerge an imago.

Possibly the reason of flies of the red spinner
species killing well during the early evening rise is
due to the fact that the majority of Ephemeride on
the water are in the imago stage. It is possible that
the cooling of the air after a hot summer's day kills
or weakens them, and it is well known that the
hotter the day, as a rule, the better is the evening
rise, provided there is no mist. There is another
reason, and most likely the best one, for accounting
for the great numbers of spinners on the water, in the
fact that, having laid their eggs, and thus fulfilled
their province of reproduction, their life is at an end,
and they fall on the water with their wings flat.

This flat-winged state in which they appear on the
water is to my mind one of the strongest arguments
EVENING FISHING. 205

in favour of dressing spinners hackle or buzz fashion.
They should have plenty of hackle, although hackle
flies float very much better than one would think,
but are a little more difficult to see. As for time of
year, June, July, August, and even September are
the best months for this style of fishing.

On some evenings the various smuts are very
strong on the water, and although, as a rule, they
are not used by anglers, I think it is very possible
that they might be with advantage ; and my reasons
for expressing this opinion may be best given by the
illustration of an incident which happened to me on
the 1st August 1887. I was fishing the lower part
of the Houghton Water, on what is called the mill
pond, and noticed a number of fish rising. My
friend was quite sure they were dace, that is, after he
had made a few casts and failed to obtain a rise from
any of them, and suggested going on. I said, ‘No;
I should be sorry to be contradictory, but I do not
think those are dace.” The natural rejoinder was,
‘Well, try them yourself.” I had a detached badger
on with which I had been killing very fairly for
the previous evening or two, and crept quietly up
into position to the lowest fish. The fish were
rising one below, the other in one run. About the
second cast I hooked a fish, and at the first rush I
suggested to my friend that the dace in these parts
were of somewhat colossal dimensions, and eventually
he netted for me a grayling over a pound and three-
quarters. The very next cast I hooked a second
206 DRY-FLY FISHING.

erayling over 2 lbs., and got him out. My friend,
encouraged by this, thought he would have a try
at these dace, and killed a grayling just under one
pound and three-quarters ; and by this time I think
that we had set down the remainder of those which
had been rising. We, however, walked up a short
distance, when I saw a fish rising close under the
opposite bank. My friend somewhat dared me to
try him, and although perhaps it was not good judg-
ment, as it was a longish throw, I did throw, and’
was fortunate enough to put the fly right, after the
second or third cast, and killed a trout just under
one pound and a half. When at home I spent
some time in making an autopsy of every one of
these fish, and with the exception of a few larve
and a beetle or two in the grayling, the whole
undigested contents of their stomachs consisted of
nothing but smuts of different sorts and sizes.

The blue-winged olive is a fly which, although
frequently out of an evening, especially from about
the last week in July, is not as a rule successful ;
this, for one reason, probably because we have not
found a really good imitation of it. The colour,
especially of the body, is very peculiar, and I
confess that none that I have yet seen have been
really dyed to that shade. This fly is known to
modern entomologists as Ephemerella igmta. Its
imago, which is usually known to anglers by the
name of the sherry spinner, is only imitated moder-
ately well by a very pale or faded detached badger.
EVENING FISHING. 207

The natural fly carries a bunch of eggs of a blue-
green colour at the penultimate section of the
abdomen, holding them in position by its three
sete, which are turned forwards under the body,
and hence barely visible. When flying in the air
carrying these eggs they look very like ants, and
until we caught them we always fancied they were
ants. They are generally heading up-stream, and
when they are seen in great numbers it may be
taken as an almost certain sign of an extra good
rise on the part of the fish, and an exceedingly light
basket on that of the angler. From an entomo-
logical point of view it is a very interesting insect,
being, as far as I know, the only member of the
Ephemeride family which carries the whole of its
eggs in a ball in this way; and it has specially
lent itself to experimental hatching of the larve
in captivity, owing to the facility with which the
eggs can be taken without injury either to them
or to the fly itself. In 1886 we took a very con-
siderable number of these eggs. On July 16 we
placed them in water on stones. ‘They at once
adhered to them. These stones were carefully
taken up to London and turned into various vessels
in aquaria in the greenhouse of my friend Mr.
Hawksley. They were there followed and studied
from day to day under the microscope, with the
result that the gradual development of the embryo
in the egg was noted; and although on many
occasions H. began to despond, and to think that
208 DRY-FLY FISHING.

they never would hatch, yet after perseverance, by
February 18, 1887, many of them had hatched out
into larvee, of which, from our want of knowledge of
the necessities, surroundings, and possibly food, also
possibly from the fact of the London water not suit-
ing them, the majority only survived a few weeks,
and the last ended its existence at the compara-
tively early age of three months.

It is not a good policy, I think, to be continually
changing fly during the short evening rise. Red
quill, red spinner, detached badger, or occasionally
the jenny spinner, although not so often as the
different forms of red spinner, are, as before indi-
cated, the best patterns. No. 1 Whitchurch used to
be a good pattern of evening fly; lately, however,
it does not seem to have done as well. This, pos-
sibly, is because it is not so often fished. In any
case, if these flies are not successful in rising a
particular fish, perhaps the only change worth
making is to a smut; and if, again, that is unsuc-
cessful, go back to one of the previous patterns and
try another fish. Sometimes I have been desperate
myself. I have seen and tried every imaginable
fly—smuts, duns, spinners, sedges—and all to no
purpose, and yet the fish seemed to be rising in
all directions and to be taking everything; and all
I can say is, it is incomprehensible.

T am decidedly of opinion that during the even-
ing rise the fish take better in deep water than
on the shallows; and hence, for preference, level
EVENING FISHING. 209

runs of medium depth should be selected, rather
than shallows on which the fish are often bulging or
tailing, and feeding on larve, shrimps, &c., rather
than on fly. When you do hook a fish, kill him as
quickly as possible. There is no time to waste, and
one must remember that, after all, if everything goes
off well—that is to say, if you happen to hit upon
the right fly, the right fish, the right place, the right
moment, and they all connect, and you are not
broken—the outside sport that you can achieve can-
not by any possibility exceed two brace of good
fish. Remember that if anything goes wrong, it is a
very inconvenient light to repair tackle by.

At the end of the small-fly rise, that is, just at
dusk, no fly is so successful as a small sedge dressed
on a No. o hook, either the silver sedge or an orange
sedge with hare’s ear body. Comparatively still
places in deepish water are the best to select. Of
course a fish under your own bank is, as a rule, a far
more likely one than in the middle of the stream or
by the opposite bank, and altogether the fish are not
quite so particular. I think a dry fly is certainly
an advantage, although there are some who are
not particular even on this question. You can get
comparatively close to your fish, and I think the
fault the majority of anglers make is not getting
close enough. If you are very close the under-
handed cast is a decided advantage, because, no
matter how dark it is, in all probability the fish

looking up from the water can discern any moving
0
210 DRY-FLY FISHING.

object above the surface of the water against the sky.
As to changing your fly even at this time of evening,
or even later, the operation presents no difficulty. If
you cannot, by holding the eye of the hook up to
the light, get a sufficiently clear view to pass the gut
through the eye once, strike a match and do so; and
having once got the gut through the eye, if you use
Major Turle’s knot it does not require sight—it is
only a question of feeling to tie it, and hence there
can be little difficulty.

We now come to the very last stage, namely, that
of fishing with a large sedge when it is almost dark.
IT am strongly of opinion that this particular class
of fishing should be prohibited. It only serves to
render the fish, if possible, more shy in the day-time
than they are now; it is, as a rule, not to my mind
the very finest of sport, because it is only in special
circumstances and under special lights that one can
see one’s fly. I fear, however, that if it were pro-
hibited the number of large fish killed in many of
our southern streams would be very largely decreased.

The angler ought to be, if possible, on the
eastern bank, looking up into the light towards
the portion of the horizon in which the sun has
set, except that on moonlight nights he should, for
preference, place himself in such a position as to be
looking into the moon. In the opposite direction
his shadow, being on the water, must certainly scare
the fish. Stout gut may be used with advantage.
The floating fly is, I think, as necessary as at any

}
EVENING FISHING. 2t1

time during the day; and for patterns, all the sedges
are practically good—the large silver or the orange,
or the orange sedge with a hare’s ear body, dressed
upon a hook of about No. 2, or the artful dodger,
or Hammond’s adopted, or a large Wickham on a
No. 4 hook.

I do not, however, think that the pattern is very
important. If the natural fly is dark, select a dark
one, and if light, a light one. One must not expect
many rises. When you have seen a fish rise in this
light mark down the spot as correctly as possible;
get within ten yards if you can do so, or even nearer
sometimes ; throw accurately, do not throw too fre-
quently, and be most particular to dry your fly. Cast
either up or across and partly up the stream, and
above all do not drag your fly. If you are anxious
to fish down-stream, better at once boldly throw off
all pretence of using a floating fly. Put on two big
sedges and flog steadily wet down-stream. In all
cases at the slightest suspicion of a rise strike gently,
but not too quickly, because fish take a large fly
more slowly than a small one; and having hooked
your fish, give no law. Do not be afraid of weedy
places. Trout, as I have said, seldom weed at night,
probably because they do not see the angler, and
grayling very seldom take well as late as this. The
moment you are sure that the fish you are trying is
set down leave him and go on to another. Do not,
above all, waste time, because the rise is a very
short one and very soon over. If you are in doubt
212 DRY-FLY FISHING.

as to whether there is a tangle or a hitch in the
gut, run your hand down the cast from the point of
your rod to the fly and see that it is all clear. It
is not a bad plan to carry a spare cast round your
hat with a large sedge attached, because if there
is anything of a tangle it is almost impossible to
disentangle it at night, and it is an easier plan to
take off the old cast and knot on the new one. Of
course in changing your fly you will, as mentioned in
an earlier part of the chapter, use Major Turle’s knot.
It certainly is not worth the trouble of changing
your fly excepting to vary the size.

One often hears the expression ‘“‘splashing at
sedge” used. Do not believe it. Fish do not
splash at sedge. I had long suspected this, but the
experience at the end of May 1885 described in a
previous chapter, “Studies of Fish Feeding,” fully
confirmed this suspicion.

Sometimes after a long spell of dry weather a
wet night turns out a very good one for this class of
fishing. I have vivid recollection of one such on
July 21, 1884, when, only starting after half-past
seven o'clock at night, I hooked in one meadow six
fish, and succeeded in losing five of them in different
ways, none of them, however, broken, although the
place was very weedy. The only fish I killed was
over three pounds, and, curious to say, hooked in
the anal fin.

I can recall one evening in 1886 which, to my mind,
was so pre-eminently a good one for sedge-fly fishing
EVENING FISHING. 213

that I feel tempted to give a little personal expe-
rience. It was on July 5, after a hot, dry day,
with very little fly and no sport beyond returning a
few undersized grayling, that I started out with
about the usual anticipation of an evening's sport.
I started somewhat late, made the best of my way
to the eastern bank of the river, and slowly com-
menced moving up-stream, looking out for a rise.
I was not long in finding one, and the very first cast
—which was, to my mind, passing fair and clean
—with a detached badger set him down at once. I
hence retired, imagining that he would come on the
rise in another moment or two. However, I saw
no more of him. Walking a few paces up-stream,
a similar thing occurred. Changed my fly to a
smaller and lighter one; saw another fish rise. Put
the fly to him. Again set down; and so on with
fish after fish ; so that, having walked some distance,
and finding myself at a position where there was a
convenient bridge to cross the stream and make the
best of my way home, I felt that the case was so
desperate as to give me every desire to thus beat a
retreat. It was very nearly dark; the small-fly rise
was over. I had not had a single rise, although
trying as well as I knew how fish after fish, and I
must confess to having felt somewhat downhearted.
I crossed over to the western bank, and walked down
slowly, of course peering out into the darkness (and
practically it was darkness, being on that side of the
river), in hopes of seeing something disturbing the
214 DRY-FLY FISHING.

surface. I arrived at length at the upper part of
North Head shallow, when for the first time the
sound of a rising fish caused me to stop and take
a general observation of the state of things. It was
still about dusk, and an extraordinary number of
sedge flies were moving about in the sedges along
the margin of the stream. I stepped down gently
close to the bank, and found myself practically sur-
rounded by them, like being in a swarm of bees. I
listened, and again I heard the rise. After a time
I managed to spot the exact position of it, and
kneeling down, judging as well as I could the
length of the line, had a cast over him. A very
small movement aroused my suspicions, and the
next moment I found a good fish careering down
the shallow in front of me. Without much hesita-
tion I jumped into the water to get past an awkward
stile, and had to take the fish almost down to the
bottom of the shallow, when I netted out a nice-
looking fish just over two pounds and three-quarters.

After this, feeling somewhat consoled, and having
arrived at a portion of the river in which, owing to
a bend, looking up-stream placed one in a position
where the light was very good, I put up a fresh fly
one size larger, dark sedge, and presently saw a quiet
rise above me—so small a rise that at once I felt
certain it was either a very small fish or one of the
wary old customers who frequent that shallow but are
not often seen feeding on it in the summer excepting
at night. My first cast was a very fair one; the fly
EVENING FISHING. 215

landed perhaps two feet above where I had seen the
rise; and although there was no moon, looking up
into the light as I was, I could see it floating down
distinctly. Another small rise, an instinctive strike,
and a rush up-stream with the line flying off my
reel at such a pace as to make me feel nervous
was almost the first indication I had of having
hooked a fish. I had to jump into the water
again to get round the fence, as the stile is set
some distance back, and by the time I got on to the
bank immediately above that place, found myself
all alone, with no assistant to handle the net; and
with a large fish about twenty yards from me just
above the head of the island, and apparently with
every intention of plunging down on the far side of
it from me. I steadied him for a moment or two,
and managed to get the better of him to the extent
of a few yards. Again he took a few more yards of
line, and I was on the point of jumping into the
water to follow him to the other side of the island.
However, after persevering—he in trying to get on
the other side of the island, and I in taking every
inch of line I could get—eventually I commenced to
get on terms with the fish, and got him gradually
near me. In time I got a comparatively short line
on the fish, and he then for the first time really
showed himself. I had suspected all along that it
was not a very small fish, and, I confess, felt nervous
when I saw his broad side as he leapt out of the
water. However, I had very little time to think, as
216 DRY-FLY FISHING.

he was off with a rush again down-stream ; so back I
stepped into the water, round past the fence end,
and ran along as quickly as I could to get below him.
Getting below him, and fighting him every inch of the
way, and stopping him every moment from plunging
into the various beds of weed, I eventually dragged
him down to the lower end of the shallow and into
the deep water below, where, getting out the net
after two or three more or less unsuccessful attempts,
I succeeded in guiding him into it, and lifted out a
heavy fish. It was too dark to weigh him there and
then, but on my way home I met my friend, who
asked me what sport I had had. I told him one fish
over two and three-quarter pounds, and another good
one. To his inquiry, ‘How big?” I said, “Oh,
about four pounds.” He said, ‘‘Let me see;” and
added, ‘“‘No; that is a very well-conditioned fish,
but he will not go four pounds.” However, when
we got home and weighed him, we found that,
although a very short fish, he was in such per-
fect condition as to turn the scale at, and slightly
above, four pounds and nine ounces. This fish,
which I believe is as handsome a specimen of a Test
trout as has ever been killed, is now the property of
the Fly Fisher’s Club.
( 217 )

CHAPTER X.

HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING.

Att the previous chapters written have led up to,
and included, the point of rising the fish, and we
have now arrived at the stage when, having risen the
fish, we must consider what is necessary in order to
hook it. Two apparently distinct sets of opinion
exist on this subject—one that the policy is to
strike, and the other not to strike. I describe these
as only apparently differences of opinion, because it
is a moot question whether both are not in reality
one and the same though. expressed in different
language. The advocates of the striking policy
certainly do not mean to advise giving a snatch or
a sudden jerk, and hence running a grave risk of
breaking the gut and leaving the fly in the fish’s
mouth. On the other hand, the advocate of the
non-striking policy does, in all probability, slightly
and slowly raise his hand just to tighten on the fish
when it takes. Hence I would suggest that the
argument is not only an unprofitable one, but is
based on a mutual misconception of each other’s
meaning. When the rise is seen and the fly is
taken, it is necessary to raise the hand and forearm
218 DRY-FLY FISHING.

slightly with the object of fixing the barb of the
hook firmly in the fish’s jaws. I confess I am in-
clined to call this action striking; and if I do so,
the non-striking fisherman must not imagine that
I am at variance with him, unless he means to argue
that no motion of the hand at all is required, and
that the fish must either hook himself without any
tightening of the line, or that if he fails to do so
no action of the fisherman can in any way tend to
produce this result.

It must be remembered that there is a very con-
siderable difference in the manner of taking a fly by
large or small fish. A small fish comes up to it with a
dash, takes it quickly, finds out his mistake quickly,
and he ejects the bundle of feathers with which he
has been deluded equally quickly. In this case it
is necessary to strike at once. A large fish, on the
contrary, raises his head leisurely in the water, slowly
sucks in the insect floating over him, and quietly
turns his head and goes down to swallow the tasty
morsel; hence the effect of striking quickly would
be either to pull the fly away from him before he gets
fairly hold of it, or if he just has it in his mouth,
merely to scratch and scare him. It is, of course,
difficult for any fisherman to preserve his equanimity
at the moment of a large fish taking his fly ; but, at
the same time, to fail to do so, and in his excitement
either to drag the fly away before the trout or gray-
ling has secured it, or to scratch him, is to upset all
previous calculations, and at the very moment that
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 219

success is in his grasp to undo all the work he has
previously efficiently performed. A quite appreciable
pause should intervene between the moment of a
large fish taking and the tightening of the line on
the part of the fisherman to hook him; in fact, as a
general rule with fish of one pound or oyer, it is
quite soon enough to strike when the head is turned
down. It may very likely be safely inferred that a
surprisingly large proportion of the cases of so-called
coming short are in reality blunders of the angler
in his impatience to secure his prey.

Of equal importance with the precise moment
when to strike is the further one of the precise
degree of force to be employed in striking, and it
is astonishing how little is really requisite, and any
excess is worse than useless, and only too likely
to produce a smash. Of course slack line on the
water delays to a small degree the action of striking,
and, to a somewhat smaller degree, decreases the
force of the blow. One golden rule may be unhesi-
tatingly laid down without fear of contradiction,
namely, strike from the reel, i.e, do not put your
hand on the line so as in any way to hold it when
striking, but let the full force of the action of your
hand come on the line and on the click of the winch.
In this way many a smash is saved and a good fish
secured, which would otherwise go away with a sore
mouth, and an inclination rather to get rid of the
hook in his mouth than to feed again. The re-
sistance of the check in a properly made winch, as
220 DRY-FLY FISHING.

before remarked, should be very slight, so that if a
trifle too much power has been put into the strike
the line comes off the winch, and saves your break-
ing the gut.

Now, suppose your fish is properly hooked, the
very first thing to do is at once to obtain command
of it by getting the rod-point well up; this position
is technically called butting a fish. By this is not
understood what the late Francis Francis aptly styled
middle-jointing the fish, or raising the rod and plac-
ing it inclined backwards over your shoulder, and
thus not only running a considerable risk of straining
the rod, but, what is even more likely to militate
against the ultimate success of killing your fish, prac-
tically losing all control over your rod. If your fish
should make a sudden rush or a spring into the air
with the rod in this position, it is scarcely possible to
get the rod-point down quickly enough to save a break,
and if he should run in under your feet, you cannot
assist your efforts to keep a tight line to the smallest
extent by getting the rod-point farther back. When
butting the fish the rod should be held at about an
angle of sixty degrees with the water-level, and it is
only just at the very critical moment of netting the
exhausted fish that it should be in a more perpen-
dicular position. When putting the reel on the rod
it is a good plan to place it so that its handle is on
the left side when the rings are turned downwards,
and immediately the fish has been struck the rod
should be transferred from the right to the left hand,
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 221

and in the act of transferring it be turned over, so
that the rings are upwards, and the reel-handle in
position for the right hand to control it. The effect
of this is to correct the invariable tendency of rods,
when much used, to get bowed and set in a curve
with the rings on the concave side.

Tf the first rush of the hooked fish is up-stream, let
him go, and do not hold him too hard until turned ;
if he hangs about in the same place or seems inclined
to work down-stream, get below him at once, and in
this case, as well as that of the fish who has just
been turned from his first mad rush up-stream, drag
him down as quickly as you can. Keep well below
him on a short line, and keep dragging him down
for some distance; in fact, as a golden rule, use
your heels to save your reel. In this way you
keep on taking him farther and farther from ‘his
home into a strange country, where every obstacle,
weed, post, or pile, is unknown to him, and hence
he is unable to entangle you in them with that
degree of decision and certainty he can exercise when
close to home. In addition to this, you are every
moment taking more out of him in the most effica-
cious way, and rapidly drowning him, as it is called.

It seems anomalous to speak of drowning a fish
in his native element, yet it is not altogether an
inappropriate expression, as the coroner’s verdict in
such a case would be “death by suffocation.” A
fish requires for breathing purposes to take in water
through his mouth and eject it through his gills, in
222 DRY-FLY FISHING.

which action the oxygen required for breathing is
extracted by the aid of the special apparatus con-
tained in the gills for that purpose called branchia.
When the fish’s head is directed up-stream, the
natural flow of the water assists him greatly in this
function of nature, but the moment his head is
turned down-stream the process is partially reversed,
the water passing im at the gills and out of the
mouth whenever he opens them to breathe, caus-
ing an insufficient supply of the necessary oxygen
and consequent suffocation; hence the great and
manifest advantage of pulling him down with the
current, and the faster the stream the more rapid
its action.

While playing a fish, as full a strain as the rod and
tackle will conveniently bear should be kept steadily
on him, and it would probably astonish even the
most experienced anglers to measure how little force
this really represents. Wery few full-sized salmon-
rods can lift a dead weight of two pounds, and an
ordinary single-handed trout-rod probably, cannot
exert a greater pressure than, say, half a pound, or at
most three-quarters of a pound, when playing a fish.
With large fish the best policy is to put on as much
strain as possible at once. A large proportion of
lost fish owe their escape to getting out of con-
trol by a want of prompt decision when first playing
them; and with a very lightly hooked fish, perhaps,
all things considered, it is as well to lose him at
once rather than a few moments later. A lively,
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 223

active trout of about one pound and a half will not,
however, without getting unhooked, bear the same
strain as a large one; and hence with fish of this
size and character much judgment can be shown by
the angler who has good hands on his fish when to
hold him and when to ease him.

If all is smooth sailing, or, in other words, if your
fish does not succeed in getting into weeds or wind-
ing the line round a post, &c.—and you can, to
a great degree, prevent this by keeping his head
well on top of the water—there is no great difficulty
in killing the very largest fish. If he jumps, and as
often as he jumps, at once lower the point of the
rod until he is back in the water, to prevent the full
momentum of his falling weight coming on your
tackle. As soon as he is back in the water the rod
should again be placed at an angle of sixty degrees.

Sometimes all efforts to keep his head up and
prevent his burying himself in a bed of weeds are
unavailing ; and here one of the most difficult posi-
tions occurs for the angler. If it is in quite shallow
water, the fisherman can generally wade in and,
keeping a steady strain, walk up or down to the
place, and thus either scare the fish out, or if he
will, as Uncle Remus styles it, “lie low,” occasion-
ally he can be extracted by the landing-net. If at
the first rush he simply makes a straight dive into
and through the weeds, he generally breaks you at
once. If when first hooked you can foresee this
probability, the best plan is not to hold him, but
224 DRY-FLY FISHING.

let him run to weed, and take the risk of getting
him out afterwards.

When a fish is once weeded, the following tactics
are what I should suggest :—Firstly, get well below
the fish, lower the point of the rod so as to take all
strain off it, and keep a slight steady pressure on the
line. If after a few minutes the fish does not stir,
let out plenty of line, and take hold of the line with
the hand clear of the rod-point, and draw steadily,
sawing lightly, still holding the rod in the other hand
in case the fish should make a sudden rush. I would
caution my readers that the strain to be put on the
fish must be a very slight one. If the effect of this
pressure is to move the fish, let go the line at
once, and again restore the pressure from the rod-
point. If this plan of pulling the line by hand is
unsuccessful, draw plenty of the line off the reel and
slack the fish altogether, even, if you like, laying the
rod down and waiting some minutes. This plan of
slacking altogether is often most efficacious and far
more successful than many of my readers would
imagine. The moment the fish moves, the line
running through the water will give timely warning
and enable you once more to resume your rod and
play the fish. If still unsuccessful one more chance
remains, and that is, to cut away the weed around
the fish with a sharp implement fixed on a handle.

The cutting instrument usually made by tackle-
makers, and called, I think, the “Angler’s Friend,”
is one of the best for the purpose. It is, however,
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 225

a desperate and last resource, and even with the
greatest care there is considerable risk of cutting
the line. If all the above methods, after being tried
one after the other, prove unavailing, you must, I
fear, bear with equanimity the loss of your fish,
or rather what might have been your fish. You
have had a varied entertainment, and have tried in
succession all the dodges I know to get him out of
his strong position, and your only resource now is to
raise the siege. Very often if you do so, and manage
to draw your line out of the weeds, you will find that
the trout has by this time saved you any anxiety by
himself effecting a fracture of the gut next to the hook.

If a fish is hooked in a place with very heavy
banks of weed, he can, as a general rule, be prevented
from hanging you up by a somewhat summary pro-
cess, which, however, must be adopted almost imme-
diately after he is hooked. The moment your fish
is held in such a position, put on a strong strain
and get his head well up alongside the bank of
weeds, or even on it, keep your eye on the fish, and
once having got his head up, never let him get it
down again. Each time he tries to do so take a
couple of turns of your reel-handle, the effect of which
will be to draw his head up again, and the more
he struggles the more quickly he propels himself
on the top of the weeds towards you. It is quite
astonishing how fish after fish can at times be killed
in such a place by resolutely and immediately follow-

ing these tactics.
P
226 DRY-FLY FISHING.

Though at night a trout does not often weed, if he
does at any rate he does not weed deeply, and this
is probably due to the angler not being easily seen ;
and in the same way in daylight, if the fisherman
keeps well out of sight of a hooked fish, he can
often be killed in the midst of heavy weeds without
once attempting to get into them. Grayling do not
as a rule go to weed as often or as resolutely as
trout, and scarcely ever really entangle the tackle
in it; so that if a grayling does go to weeds,
by waiting with a moderately tight line he can
generally be persuaded out of them. A fish hooked
above a bridge or a hatch will probably on his first
rush make a bolt down, and even occasionally
through; but, as before noted, in the case of the
bridge they usually only run down under it, and do
not go through, but remain in the shade beneath the
bridge. In such a case too much strain should not
be put on when running down, but a steady and
severe strain maintained when the fish is under the
bridge will usually in time bring him up again. If
the bridge is a narrow one, or in the case of a
hatch, the rod may be passed through and the fish
killed at leisure below.

Sometimes a fish running up or down, but more
often down, towards a dangerous spot may be turned
by the angler getting in front of him and pulling
him towards the place of danger, which the fisher-
man wants him to avoid. Owing to his natural con-
trairiness, he will often turn and go in the opposite
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 227

direction, and when once clear of danger it is as well,
if possible, not to let him get back to it. |

As long as the angler is playing a fish he should
try to keep a uniform strain on the rod, and by no
means let it get slack. He can usually avoid put-
ting on too much strain by looking at the curve
made by the bowed rod, if necessary easing to it a
trifle. A fish hooked at the end of a long line at
the moment he feels the hook will sometimes run
straight in under your feet, and then it is im-
possible to get in your line fast enough to avoid
slacking. If this should happen do not be in a
hurry or flurry; if the fish was lightly hooked he
is gone; and if, on the other hand, the barb is fairly
home, he will simply go down in the weeds, or near
the bottom of the river and sulk. Meanwhile you
can leisurely reel in your line, and proceed to play
the fish as soon as it is taut again.

An uncomfortable feeling is produced when a
hooked fish indulges in what is called jiggering ;
this expression means a series of quick short jerky
pulls followed by an equally quick slacking of the
line. If the fish is visible you will notice that he
is going through a curious set of antics, wriggling
about and doubling himself up in a strange way.
How to account for it I do not know. Perhaps
salmon are more given to it than trout or grayling.
Some angling authorities have said that it is a lightly
hooked fish ; but, if allowed to judge from my own
experience, I cannot recall many instances of having
228 DRY-FLY FISHING.

lost jiggering fish. Altogether, however, it does
make one feel nervous and uncomfortable.
Sometimes a fish seems to dive in under your own
bank, or to be trying to find his way into rat-holes or
under a ledge. In such a case the reason of his
tactics is to try and fray the tackle against the ledge
or other projection, and it is necessary for the angler
to keep his rod in a horizontal position, with a good
strain on the fish, Some years ago a very curious
instance of a somewhat similar occurrence happened
to me when fishing a small Hertfordshire stream.
I had hooked an undoubtedly good-sized fish ; he at
once ran in under my own bank, and, to my astonish-
ment, continued running line off the reel. Naturally
T imagined that he had run round a post and was
back in the stream. With a view of disentangling
the line from it, I stepped up to the place, when I
found at right angles to the course of the stream a
large drain-pipe, up which my fish had bolted, it
probably being his usual hiding-place when not feed-
ing. Keeping the. rod in a horizontal position, and
standing immediately over the mouth of the pipe, I
continued playing this fish, my chief, in fact my
only care being to prevent the line from coming in
contact with any portion of the circumference of the
pipe. This performance lasted some minutes ; to me
it seemed some hours; and at length inch by inch
I recovered line, and eventually had the satisfaction
of landing a four-pound trout in perfect condition.
This happened in the morning, and, strange to say,
HOOKING, PLAYING, AND LANDING. 229

the only other fish I killed that day was a three-
pound fish hooked at the same place in the evening,
who pursued precisely the same tactics, and eventu-
ally succumbed to precisely the same treatment.
Now having tired your fish, keeping still below
him, place the landing-net in the water below him,
and always hold the net in the lower hand; that
is to say, if you are on the right-hand bank looking
up-stream, in the left hand; and if you are on the
left-hand bank, in the right. The position of an
angler just on the point of landing a trout is illus-
trated in the frontispiece, which is an accurate repro-
duction of an instantaneous photograph taken on the
Test by Messrs. Elliott & Fry. Keep the net still
and well sunk, and judging the length of the line
accurately to bring the fish to the net, draw him
down and drop him into the net. Remember that
the test of a fish being ready for the net is his turn-
ing on his side. When the fish is in the net do not
lift it, but draw it to the bank ; take the fish out of
the net ; if he is undersized unhook him gently and
return him to the water. Do not dash him down
and kill him, but drop him quietly; and if you find
he is sick and disposed to turn on his side or back,
nurse him, hold him in his proper position with his
head up-stream, in a place where the stream is not
too strong, and in ninety-nine out of a hundred cases
he will in a few minutes recover and swim away.
If he is sizeable knock him on the head to put him
out of pain, and remember that one smart blow on
230 DRY-FLY FISHING.

the right spot is sufficient. The right spot is exactly
at the summit of the spinal column where the head
joins the body. Straighten him out, lay him in your
basket on dry rushes or grass or nettle, or in a linen
bag or wrapped up in a towel. As soon as he is
stiff, if you want him to look well, close his mouth
and bend him down bellywards to hog his back, as
this always makes fish look more shapely.
( 231 )

CHAPTER XI.

AUTOPSY.

One of the first objects of a true sportsman should
be to study and observe the habits and habitat of
his quarry, so as to acquire an intimate knowledge
of the class of food most affected by it and best
calculated to sustain and improve its condition.
With respect to birds preserved and even bred
entirely for sporting purposes, a very considerable
amount of attention has been paid to this branch of
the subject ; and considering the paramount import-
ance of this point to the fly-fisherman, whose only
lure is an imitation of the fish’s natural food, it is
surprising how persistently he deludes himself and
others by neglect of the simplest plan of observation,
viz., that of examining the contents of the trout or
grayling’s stomach, and thus ascertaining for an
absolute fact the nature of the meal on which his
appetite has been assuaged. The continual com-
plaint of not being able to discover the species of
insect on which the fish are feeding, or, worse still,
the confident tone in which one is assured that the
angler could see the trout taking iron-blue or olive
duns, and yet could not persuade them to look at
232 DRY-FLY FISHING.

the very best imitation, becomes tedious from its
frequent reiteration. Yet to the large number of
grumblers who indulge in these vain laments it
never seems to occur that, providing only they can
succeed in catching a feeding fish—not always a very
easy feat to accomplish—the remedy is in their own
hands, and a few moments devoted to a careful
autopsy will at once solve the problem.

Having caught your fish, and given him a smart
tap on the head to kill him, hold him in the left
hand with back downwards, and with a sharp knife,
inserted at the vent, edge upwards, so as not to cut
into the entrails, make one incision right up to
the gills. Turn the flanks outwards, and pull the
whole of the internal arrangements upwards and
clear of the fish, except, of course, just at the throat,
where a clean cut is required to sever the tube; and
thus separate the entrails from the remainder of the
fish. Plate XXI. is a longitudinal section of a
trout, showing the digestive organs, air bladder,
pyloric appendages, &c. A portion of the stomach
is cut open to show the undigested food it contains.
The tube leading from the stomach to the vent, which
contains only digested food, can be discarded. Com-
mencing at the gullet end, the throat and stomach
should be slit down longitudinally, and the contents
carefully turned out into a small vessel containing
water. Perhaps, if the fish are rising very freely,
many anglers will think they would never haye the
patience to perform this operation deliberately. It
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AUTOPSY. 233

certainly is not a waste of time to do so; but one’s
sympathy must be with the ardent sportsman, who,
having secured one, burns to achieve the further
distinction of making it a brace. But if you cannot
have the patience, there is often an easy way of
getting a part of the information you require by
opening the mouth of the fish and taking from it on
the point of a knife a few of the last insects he has
seized but not yet swallowed. Turning these into
a vessel of water, and examining through an ordinary
magnifying-glass will, after some little experience
and study, tell the fisherman something about the
insects, or at least show him to which family they
belong, and in which stage they are being taken by
the fish.

However, to return to the contents of the vessel
into which the whole of the undigested food has
been turned. The first thing that will strike the
observant student is, that one portion of the food
is lighter than water, and therefore floating on the
surface, but that a far larger proportion is of greater
specific gravity, and hence sinks to the bottom. The
floating portion consists of winged insects and
nymphe just on the point of assuming the winged
state. It may fairly be asked how this last fact is
ascertained, and any one taking the trouble can
easily prove the question to his own satisfaction.
Let him take two or three of the floating nymphe,
and as many of the sunk ones, and soak them for a
few minutes in water in which is dissolved a small
234 DRY-FLY FISHING.

piece of ordinary washing soda. ‘This is necessary
to counteract the action of the digestive fluid of the
fish, which is strongly acid, and if neglected, diges-
tion or decomposition will continue for some time.
After washing thoroughly in water to free from soda,
these nymphz may be dropped into a small bottle
with methylated spirit, and kept for almost any
length of time without apparent change. To make
them sufficiently transparent for a thorough examina-
tion under the microscope, they should be immersed
for some days in oil of cloves. When transparent
they should be placed on a glass slip on the stage of
the microscope under a low-power objective, such as
3 ins. or 14 in., which are equivalent to magnifying
powers respectively of about 15 and 30. A great
contrast will be at once apparent between those that
floated and those that sank. In every one that
floated it will be seen that inside the sete or tails
of the nymph are plainly visible the sete of the
sub-imago, which is just about emerging from it ; and
in the same way, in each of the six legs, in the head,
in each antenna, and even in the abdomen itself,
the distinct outline, with every detail of the corre-
sponding limb or organ of the sub-imago, may be
seen.

In fact, in general appearance, the nymph consists
of two distinct portions, the inner or solid-looking
portion being the sub-imago complete in all its parts
excepting that the wings are folded up inside a pair
of somewhat oval-shaped covers; this sub-imago is,
AUTOPSY. 235

however, entirely enveloped in a thin transparent
covering, which is perceptibly larger than, and
projects beyond the outline of, the insect itself.
Attached to this apparently loose covering are all
the organs which are especially provided for the
larya living in the water, and not required for its
subsequent or winged stage, and these organs are,
without exception, shed with the larval envelope.
Among these the most prominent are the various
mouth organs, and the branchie, or external portion
of the breathing apparatus. The less developed
nymphe, which sank in the water when the autopsy
was originally performed, have, however, quite a
different appearance. ‘There is little or no appear-
ance of the larval covering being loose; the sete and
legs are solid-looking limbs, the latter often armed
with formidable claws; the mandibles and other
mouth organs are very prominent, and firmly attached
to the head ; in fact, there is no indication of an im-
pending metamorphosis. In considering the deduc-
tion to be drawn from the comparison between the
proportionate quantity of sunk and floating nymphe
from the autopsy, it must be remembered that all of
the floating specimens were nymphe rising to the
surface for the purpose of emerging from the envelope
in the sub-imago state, and hence were taken in mid-
water, while the sunk ones were down among the
weeds or on the gravel, and must be considered as
bottom food.

The remainder of the floating portion of the
236 , DRY-FLY FISHING.

autopsy will, at the first glance, be thought to
consist entirely of winged insects. Some are, in
fact, so, among which must be classed curses or
little black midges of all sorts, winged ants, any of
the winged Phryganidz, and a portion of the residue,
which at a superficial examination will all look like
winged Ephemeride. Such of these as are in the
imago state are easy to separate, and, of course,
represent floating flies taken by the fish; but of the
duns or Ephemeride in the sub-imago stage, it will
be found, by careful microscopic examination, that a
considerable proportion have their wings still folded
up along the longitudinal nerving; but the trans-
verse folding has become extended, owing to fracture
or decomposition of the wing-covers. A further
examination will in these often bring out the fact
that the abdomen is still enveloped in the larval
shuck with the branchi@ attached. Hence it may
be inferred that these, again, when taken by the fish
were nymphe, and were not on the surface of the
water. In fact, the tendency of careful scrutiny of
the contents of the stomachs of both trout and
grayling is tending in one direction, viz., that of
showing how small a proportion of the fish’s insect
food is taken when floating, and how large a pro-
portion belongs to the middle and lower depths of
the stream.

Considerable space has here been devoted to the
smaller or floating portion of our original autopsy,
as this is essentially the part requiring study by the
AUTOPSY. 237

votary of the dry fly. A brief outline of the probable
composition of the solid mass of sunk animal matter,
forming by far the greater portion of every autopsy,
will not be out of place. Apart from small, semi-
digested or detached pieces, the predominating larvee
found in stomachs of fish killed in chalk-streams are
those of the smaller and medium-sized Ephemeride,
both in the early or larva stage and in that of the
nympha—a nympha being simply a larva in which
the development of the wing-covers has sufficiently
advanced to be visible under the magnifying-glass or
microscope. As before remarked, the nymph imme-
diately before the metamorphosis to the sub-imago is
not found among the sunk portion of the autopsy.
The immature larve of the May-fly, living in bur-
rows excavated in the mud, are, as might be expected,
rarely found in the fish’s stomach. I have never
discovered any of the flat larve of Ephemeride in
either trout or grayling. ‘These are the immature
forms of the genera Ecdyurus and Heptagenia, of
which the March Brown and Yellow May Dun are the
best known British species. They live on the under
side of stones in swift shallow water. They adhere so
closely to the stones, and, after covering themselves
with sand or other fine detritus, are so like them in
colour, that it is questionable whether the fish would
notice them at all; and if they did, it is even more
questionable whether they could detach them from
the stones. As a general rule, a considerable number
of shrimps are present, as well as a few caddis in
238 DRY-FLY FISHING.

their cases, stones which are probably the undigested
residuum of other caddis-cases, often snails, and occa-
sionally beetles of various kinds.

Plate XXII. is a reproduction from microscopic
drawings taken from life, in which 1, 2, and 3 are
Ephemeride—1 and 2 immature nymphs, and 3
another nymph just on the point of changing to the
sub-imago state; 4 is the fresh-water shrimp (Gam-
marus pulex), and 5 and 6 are caddis or larve of
Phryganide with their cases. On Plate XXIII. the
nymphe are shown magnified three diameters, and
on Plate XXIV. the shrimp, caddis, and cases mag-
nified to the same degree. Sometimes there are
a few larve of the smaller Perlide, and very rarely
in the Test minnows or bullheads. During the
autumn grains of corn are frequently found in gray-
ling, but not, as far as my personal experience goes,
in trout, and, perhaps, altogether, the contents of
the grayling’s stomach may be briefly described as
more heterogeneous than that of the trout.

From a scientific point of view, it is certainly de-
sirable that fly fishermen should prosecute steadily
from day to day, and from season to season, the study
of autopsy, but at the same time it will be of very little
use to them unless they will well and truly “ mark,
learn, and inwardly digest” the results of their study,
and, by careful reasoning, work out for themselves the
ultimate teaching, so that it will tend to assist them
in the difficult problem of selecting the most likely
pattern of fly, especially with shy fish who are not
 

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AUTOPSY

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AUTOPSY. 239

infrequently either killed or set down altogether by
the very first cast.

It has been already shown that by far the larger
proportion of the contents of the stomach of a trout or
grayling consists of larve, nymph, caddis, shrimps,
&c., which are invariably in the middle and lower
depths of the water, from which fact the inference
must be drawn that the major part of their food
is taken below the surface. At the first glance, a
natural deduction from this would be, that the sunk
fly would be more likely to tempt than the floating
one. Very possibly many of the sparely dressed pat-
terns used more generally in the north for wet-fly
fishing are taken for some forms of larvee, or even in
some cases water-beetles, and it has been confidently
said by north country anglers of great experience,
that an adept of their style could work sad havoc
on some of the well-stocked shallows of the chalk-
streams. Unfortunately very few of the disciples of
the dry fly practise, even if they understand, the art of
fishing with sunk fly, which may account for the fact
that as a general rule when tried in the Hampshire
streams it has not proved successful. It would be
well for a first-rate performer to pay a visit to the
Test or Itchen and thoroughly thrash out the point.
It must not be in private water where the trout are
unsophisticated, and when on the feed take anything
looking like an insect, but on one of the well-whipped
waters of the Test or Itchen—such as Houghton on
the former, or the Old Barge at Winchester on the
240 DRY-FLY FISHING.

latter. I confess to feeling very grave doubts as to
the result. If it is to be judged by any attempts
heard of up to the present time, it is foredoomed ;
if, on the other hand, previous failures have been due
to want of knowledge or experience on the part of
the fishermen, it is quite on the cards that it might
revolutionise the whole art of fly-fishing as prac-
tised in Hampshire. If, however, as I am inclined
to predict, this should be a fiasco, the natural ques-
tion is, to inquire whether it is possible to take
these wary fish when feeding under water with
an imitation of their natural food. The larva has
been frequently imitated, and has occasionally done
well; but, strange to relate, on the days when it
has done well it has almost invariably turned out
that other fishermen on the same waters have also
done well with the dry fly. It has generally been
in the early spring, when the trout are comparatively
easy to catch, and no one would seriously advise the
use of a sunk fly on a day when the floating would
kill as well. At other times of the year there is no
record of the sunk fly having had any chance on such
waters as the above, and occasionally the dry fly is
certainly somewhat efficacious. In any case it must
be remembered that the presence in an autopsy of
nymphe just on the point of changing to the winged
state indicates that the fish, although, as a rule,
under such conditions looking downwards, has yet
followed the active nymphe towards the surface ; and
if one of them should succeed in reaching the surface
AUTOPSY. 241

and, splitting open the larval shuck, struggle out
into the winged state, it is not unlikely that the trout
or grayling would seize and swallow it; and if per-
chance at this moment the angler’s very best imita-
tion on invisible gossamer gut should be floating
down towards his nose lightly cocked and sailing
jauntily along, it is also not unlikely that the two
birds will be killed with one stone, or, if all goes
right, a good fish added to those already in the
basket.

Autopsy shows that the diet of grayling is more
various than that of trout. This may, to a certain
extent, account for grayling being, as a rule, less
difficult to catch than trout. In addition to grains
of wheat and oats, it is not uncommon to find a
number of different sorts of water-beetles, insects
looking like large house-flies, cowdung flies, and
many other forms in both larval and perfect stages,
besides, of course, the usual number of larve and
nymphe of the smaller Ephemeride, shrimps, &c., in
the capacious paunch of a single grayling. ‘This
seems to indicate a love of a meal in many courses,
or possibly a sort of feminine curiosity, and to this
cause may be attributed the success of many fancy
patterns, such as red tags, orange tags, green insects,
coch-y-bonddhu, bumbles, Wickhams, &c., with
Salmo thymallus. Generally speaking, it may serve
to encourage the fisherman to persevere with a
feeding grayling, and try pattern after pattern, no

matter how unlike anything he may see on the sur-
; Q
242 DRY-FLY FISHING.

face of the stream, in hopes of at length chancing
on some combination of feathers, tinsel, and silk
which will tempt the fish to rise and take the glitter-
ing object in its mouth, without any suspicion of
the barbed sting lurking unseen under the folds of
the hackle.

Above all, the study of autopsy should teach one
lesson, viz., that the precise shade or tint of the arti-
ficial and the exact imitation of the natural fly most
plentiful on the water are not so all-important as
many fly-fishermen seem to imagine. The contents
of the stomach of a fish almost invariably comprise
many different species of the same genus, or many
varieties of the same species. Insects belonging
to different families, or even different orders, are
often side by side. The larve and nymphe closely
packed together in the gullet and stomach are,
when separated and examined with a magnifying-
glass, found to differ in colour from the palest
primrose to the deepest olive, from a light buff
to a deep chocolate-brown. Some are so small
as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye, others
are nearly three-quarters of an inch in length.
Some are in the most rudimentary condition, and
others again are just about to undergo the meta-
morphosis to the sub-imago and change from a grub
living in the water to a winged insect. Now if fish
feeding, as they do, almost continuously will take
all and every one of these insects, no matter what
colour or in which stage, no matter whether small
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AUTOPSY. 243

or comparatively large —Ephemeride, Phryganide,
Diptera, Perlide, Sialide, as well as Gammari and
other Crustacea—it cannot be so much the question
of what fly or which pattern is offered to them.

Reasoning from this point, what is the secret of
fish in some rivers being so difficult to tempt? The
logical deduction seems to be, that a combination of
very bright clear water and frequent flogging must
be one cause, and probably the presence of a very
great quantity and variety of suitable food in the
river, as tending to enable the fish to satisfy their
appetites with very little exertion, is another cause
tending to render them particular, and not easy
to beguile with any artificial, no matter how good
an imitation of the natural insect.

To carry the reasoning a little further: What, then,
must the angler learn and attempt if he wishes to
achieve any success in a difficult water? The longer
one lives and the more the subject is studied, the
more forcibly are the lessons impressed upon one’s
mind. The fish being frequently cast over get
to know the appearance of gut, and to be suspi-
cious of all fliles—sometimes even the natural ones;
hence the finest gut which will hold the trout
or grayling must be used, and the greatest care
taken that the artificial fly is placed on the water
lightly, that it is perfectly dry and cocked, that it is
so placed on the stream as to float down without the
smallest semblance of drag or check, following pre-
cisely the natural run of the current ; and in addition
244 DRY-FLY FISHING.

to all of these points, one, and perhaps the most
important, is, that all the above conditions should be
fulfilled in the very first cast, and before the shyest
fish can have the slightest suspicion that he is being
deluded. This sentence has in substance been written
many times before in this book, but it is so essentially
the most important factor in determining the success
or want of success of the angler, that no apology is
needed for its reiteration. It should be impressed
over and over again on the mind of every dry-fly
fisherman; in fact, he might be tempted to say, in the
immortal words of Moliére, though very differently
applied by him, “Je les veux faire graver en lettres
d’or sur la cheminée de ma salle.”

The experience of any angler who has perse-
vered in the practical study of the food affected
by trout and grayling must tend to prove that when
thoroughly on the feed they are not over nice
or particular in their choice, and are, like their
human congeners, fond of change and variety. Some
of the forms of animal life found may be fairly de-
scribed in the above words, and, besides, the eloquent
lessons taught as to the habits of the fish, must
prove of considerable interest, not only as mere ento-
mological specimens, but also as conveying a faint
idea of the marvellous numbers and sorts of larve,
beetles, crustacea, &c., living in the water.

In a previous chapter a somewhat curious, though
certainly not unique, result of an autopsy was re-
ferred to. In this case, one evening at the end of
AUTOPSY. 245

May, the fish were apparently rising furiously and
splashing heavily, and yet the only one killed had
been regaling himself chiefly on water-snails, or
Limnee. Any one fishing that evening would, judg-
ing from the ordinary dicta of writers on the subject,
have been certain that they were taking some large
fly of the Phryganide family, and kept on changing
one sort of sedge fly for another, probably trying
larger and larger patterns, until at last he arrived at
some monstrosity about the size of a grilse fly. If he
had by any chance succeeded in rising, hooking, or
killing a fish with any particular pattern, he would
have been convinced that it was the pattern, colour,
or size which had achieved this success; whereas
an examination of the contents of the stomach would
have entirely dissipated this notion, and shown him
that it was, after all, an accident, brought about by a
passing humour of the trout or the chance circum-
stance of the fly floating close to his nose just at the
moment that he was following his intended prey
towards the surface.

In July 1886 Mr. Marryat and I were wandering
rather than fishing in the middle of a hot calm after-
noon, when we noticed a fish come to the surface
and take some small insect. This was repeated
several times, not exactly at one spot, but over an
area of perhaps two or three square yards. The rise
was too deliberate for either smutting or bulging, and
yet did not look as if the fish was taking duns or
spinners, of which, by the way, there were very few on
246 DRY-FLY FISHING.

the water. A cinnamon quill on a ooo hook tempted
the fish—a good one nearly 2 lbs.—at the first cast, and
setting to work immediately after landing the trout,
we proceeded to make an autopsy. Of undigested
food there was not much, and what there was con-
sisted of, say, thirty to forty specimens of one and
the same species. It was a small water-beetle with
very short and broad head and beautiful purple
eyes. The elytra or wing-cover was artistically
marbled in a deep purple colour on a neutral ground.
Under these was a pair of very fine and almost trans-
parent flying-wings. The hind-legs were fringed
with hairs all over, and in the lowest joints these
hairs were spread out into a perfect paddle. For-
tunately, Mr. Marryat knew the insect at once as one
of the Corixe, a small water-beetle about a quarter
of an inch in length, which remains under water for
a time, but has to come to the surface occasionally
for air, and can fly as well as swim. This creature
had never before been found by me in an autopsy,
and, strange to relate, since that date I have only
found it on one occasion, and that during the summer
of 1887 in a trout about 3 lbs. caught in the same
part of the same shallow. The insect is not alto-
gether uncommon, and has been found in other parts
of the same water.

Fishing one evening in the early autumn of the
same year in another part of this stream, when there
was a very fine show of the sherry spinner, the
metamorphosis of the blue-winged olive (Ephe-
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merella ignita of Katon), a fish was noticed feeding
freely at the lower end of a deep hole, just where
the stream began to flow rapidly. Naturally the
first fly to try was a pale-coloured detached badger,
followed by various patterns of red and ginger quills,
none of which procured any response. A short rest
and a change to a hare’s-ear-bodied orange sedge
was successful in deluding him, and after a sharp
but determined fight a handsome trout of 3 Ibs.
2 ozs. was safely in the landing-net.

Following the maxim of never attempting to make
an autopsy in the dark, we waited until we arrived
home. The fish was in perfect condition and colour,

‘and his belly abnormally full. In his mouth and
all the way down his gullet was a compact mass
of sherry spinners, and even after extracting this
the lower portion of the stomach seemed much dis
tended. Careful manipulation then extracted par-
tially digested remains of five fully-grown crayfish,
the largest of which would, when extended, have
measured fully four inches in length. Just imagine
the powers of digestion of a trout to dissolve not
only the interior soft portion but the hard calcareous
shell of these crustacea. Besides, only consider the
appetite of a fish able and willing to take thousands
of sherry spinners with this mass of undigested food
in his capacious maw. Is it surprising that with a
plentiful supply of food they grow so rapidly and
reach such major proportions ?

In an autopsy of a trout last spring I found a
248 DRY-FLY FISHING.

small quantity of weed, and as this was the first
time I ever found free vegetable matter in a trout’s
stomach it was only natural to make a microscopic
examination. The weed contained a considerable
number of small caddis enclosed in cases formed of
pieces of rush. It is to be inferred that neither
the weed nor the vegetable case of the caddis was
taken as food by the fish, but that in its attempts
to secure the succulent grub it had to include these
unconsidered trifles.

‘Grayling fishing last October on a fine and genial
day, after killing two brace of good fish—6? lbs.—
with a Wickham, I happened to notice arise in a deep
hole just inside a swift run. The Wickham, which
had killed previously, landed ‘right at the first
attempt, and the fish rose slowly and steadily, was
fairly hooked, and in the very first dash succeeded
in breaking the fine-drawn gut at a weak place.
After a few minutes (perhaps twenty) had been
occupied in making the necessary repairs to the
tackle, and before knotting on a fresh fly, a quiet
rise in the run about four to five yards above the
place where the fish had been hooked attracted
my notice. It looked very like smutting, as there
did not seem to be any quantity of fly visible on the
water, yet every few minutes another quiet rise was
to be seen at the same spot. Selecting a female
black gnat on a oo hook, and fishing with cau-.
tion, casting only occasionally once or twice, and
then resting the fish altogether for some minutes, I
AUTOPSY. 249

persevered, especially as no other feeding fish was
visible. At length he made a mistake, and was duly
killed—a grayling, 2 Ibs. 14 ozs. Immediately sus-
pecting that it was the fish who had broken away
just before, a search was instituted to discover
either the Wickham or the mark of the hook, but
neither could be discerned. A considerable number
of willow flies in his mouth, however, tempted me
to make a careful autopsy on our return in the even-
ing, especially as this member of the Perlide family
is very seldom found in Test grayling. The whole
of the stomach, gullet, &c., being taken out, cut
away below the gills and slit down, a heavy mass of
willow flies were turned into a saucer of water, and
with a spatula I commenced selecting a few of the
best specimens for preservation. The spatula struck
against something hard in the saucer, and the Wick-
ham was there and then taken out of the water and
dried, to be preserved with the remainder of the
contents of the stomach. This was evidently the very
grayling which had previously broken me. All the
time he was taking the natural willows; yet he rose
at and took a Wickham, was hooked, broken, and
within a short time met his end with a black gnat.
Strangest of all to relate, however, is, that he must
have swallowed the Wickham and hook after he
had broken away, for the internal parts of the fish
had been taken out from the belly and the gullet cut
off below the gills.

What a strange answer to the charge of cruelty
250 DRY-FLY FISHING.

brought against fishermen, that a fish should succeed
in unhooking himself, then swallow the hook, and
a few minutes later take and fall a victim to another
artificial, and this one in no way resembling the
natural fly on which he had been continuously
feeding !
( 251 )

CHAPTER XII..
TROUT OR GRAYLING.

REFERRING to the question of which I propose to
treat in this chapter, namely, that of attempting to
guide the angler in discriminating from the appear-
ance of the rise or from its position whether the
fish is likely to be a trout or a grayling, I must pre-
mise by dealing with two very conflicting opinions.
Some authorities are strongly opposed to the intro-
duction of grayling into trout streams. Many first-
class fishermen say that they do not care for grayling
fishing, possibly because they have never really tried
it, or equally possibly because they are not quite—
I will not say straightforward—but disingenuous
and candid in the opinion they are giving. Then
they quote Cotton, who wrote that extraordinary
sentence about the grayling being the deadest-
hearted fish that swims. Cotton certainly never
killed a three-pound grayling on a Test shallow;
if he had, with his power of discrimination and
strong desire for truth, he could not have written
that sentence. Some fishermen have even been
heard to say that they wished the last pike in the
Test might be choked in the act of swallowing the
252 DRY-FLY FISHING.

last grayling. This, however smart it may sound, is
childish and selfish, as many fishermen consider that
grayling fishing is quite as good in its way as the
trout, and with these I wish to be numbered.

A grayling of equal weight is a more difficult fish
to kill when once hooked than the trout. With
the single exception that it very seldom weeds you
with that pertinacity exercised by the trout, he tries
the tackle more and is more often lost than the
trout, unless he is hooked in the leathery ring form-
ing the outer margin of his mouth, in which case
the hold is better than any part of the trout. Even
if hooked there grayling have a nasty habit, if they
can once get below the angler, of boring down-stream
and hanging the whole of their weight on the line,
and hence as soon as they are hooked it is more
essential even to get below them than it is with
the trout. When they catch sight of the fisherman
their rush is as brilliant and as prolonged as that of
any trout.

As regards the difficulty of distinguishing between
the rise of a trout and of a grayling, it is no doubt very
great as to the rise, per se, unless a glimpse can be
caught of the dorsal fin of the grayling, which is a
very prominent feature. With regard to tailing fish,
it is scarcely possible to tell whether it is trout
or grayling unless very close, and considering the
marked difference in shape between the forked tail
of a grayling and the straight or slightly convex one
of the trout, this is somewhat surprising. The tail
TROUT OR GRAYLING. 253

of a grayling is, I think, lighter and more silvery,
although distinctly tinged with yellow, than that of
the trout, which always appears to me a sort of
dark brown hue when standing out of the water.

In attempting to distinguish trout from grayling
when rising, the main difference is certainly the
position of the rise rather than the nature of it—its
position, I mean, with regard to the character of the
water and the time of the year, modified by the fact
that, as a general rule, it may be taken that grayling
are less prone to rise quite close to the bank than
are trout. In the early spring, before the trout have
got thoroughly fixed in their positions, and are rising
more or less all over the stream, when the grayling,
just having spawned, are also feeding, it is difficult
to be certain which is rising, and the best judges
are often mistaken, whether it be on a shallow or on
a smooth glide above a shallow, or anywhere, in fact,
excepting deep still water. Then as the summer
goes on—that is to say, the end of the summer—the
end of July and August—when both fish are in good
condition, perhaps the only rule of guidance to be
taken is that of the trout being under the banks
and the grayling more frequently in the middle of
the stream, excepting perhaps in the case of what our
northern friends call dubs, which are long stretches of
smooth water of any length, from twenty to two
hundred yards, of moderately uniform depth of three
to, say, five feet, and with a current pretty steady
throughout. Now if in these dubs a,good sprinkling
254 DRY-FLY FISHING.

of rises are to be seen, probably they will be
grayling; and when a grayling does rise near the
bank it may always be taken as an extra heavy one,
and very likely an extra wary one, and it will rise
at shorter intervals than a trout.

One particularly aggravating feature about both
trout and grayling is the pertinacious way in which
they will feed just at the time when they are out of
season—that is to say, the number of grayling that
one has to return in the spring, and the extra-
ordinarily large ones too, and the number of trout,
and very large trout too, taken in October and
sometimes in November, are certainly most annoy-
ing; but still there is a consolation if one returns
these large fish, and returns them with care—one
may know pretty well if they are in the stream
there is a chance of catching them another time.
Perhaps this would not console some of our pot-
hunting friends much.

Trout as a rule when feeding, and feeding steadily,
keep very much in one spot. They do not as a
rule travel far while feeding, and if they do they
-generally travel up-stream. Now a feeding grayling
is in quite a different position. He ranges over a
considerable area. He deviates from the right to
the left, up and down, but seldom is a persistent
traveller. The reasons for these peculiarities of
rises are not difficult to find. It only requires a
small amount of study of the fish and its habits
to point out the reasons of it. A rising trout
TROUT OR GRAYLING, 255

places himself near the surface of the water, so
that to take in the fly floating down over him he
has only to slightly raise his head and open his
mouth. Hence he places himself in a position
where a continuous stream of the particular form of
fly he is feeding on is floating down, and if he should
have a desire to shift his position, it will probably be
up the particular run where he can see a continuous
and apparently unending stream of food floating
down towards him.

With the grayling the case is different. A gray-
ling even when rising well is probably not less than
two feet below the surface, and in some instances
much lower down; and to look at him anatomi-
cally, it really does not appear that he was ever in-
tended to feed on surface foods at all, as the mouth
of a grayling in a horizontal position seems to be
more adapted for picking up an object from the
bottom of the river than for feeding on the surface.

However, our grayling is, as before stated, at a
depth of about two feet below the water, and out of
those curious pear-shaped eyes of his he is care-
fully scanning every object floating over his head.
Presently he sees within the limited area of his
vision—and there is good reason to believe that the
area of vision of all fish is somewhat limited—what
looks to him like an insect of the sort he likes to
feed on. He rises towards the surface, and if he has
calculated his distance exactly he secures it. A
very small miscalculation, however, in rising through
256 DRY-FLY FISHING.

that depth of water will throw him out, and hence
the reason why the grayling so frequently rises falsely,
whether at the natural or at the artificial fly. Having
taken or having missed his fly, he again retires to the
comparative depth at which he is lying, until attracted
by some other fresh passing insect. Now a very
small amount of consideration will show that the
rays of light entering the eye of the grayling at the
lower depth will spring from a far larger area than
those entering the eye of the trout comparatively
near the surface, and the grayling will therefore see
flies covering a much wider area and be likely to
take them. There is very often a kind of flash or
flick of the fin caused by the dorsal fin of a grayling
when rising, although the fin itself is not altogether
visible. This particular kind of rise is eminently
characteristic of the grayling, and of comparatively
small or medium-sized ones, say from a pound to a
pound and a half, the larger ones affecting a slow
subdued rise, much more like that of the trout.
Although there are many places in which the
angler must be doubtful, when seeing the rise, as to
the probability of its being a trout or a grayling, there
is one place where he may be almost invariably
certain that it is a grayling, and this place is the
final portion of a smooth glide above a rough run,
just where the water is breaking, or in a similar
position at the very point where the smooth water
pours overa short fall, and in this latter case it seems
almost impossihle that a fish could remain in such
TROUT OR GRAYLING. 257

a position. Yet grayling do, and sometimes rise
well there; of course excepting when, in the very
act of taking the fly, they are comparatively deep
down in the water where there is no current. .As
may be expected, and as pointed out before, in
this as in any other position they very often miss
either the natural fly or the artificial. The faster
it travels the more likely they are to miss it, and
the advice can fairly be given that so long as it
does not drag it is impossible for it to go too
slowly ; or, to borrow from the salmon-fishermen one
of their phrases which admirably describes it, where
possible it is well to hang the fly in such a position.
Grayling certainly when rising do so more frequently
than trout, and although they cannot be said to be
less shy, they certainly are more tolerant of being
fished for, and when only lying in position compara-
tively deep down in the water can sometimes by a
pertinacious angler be worried into taking the fly.
There are many reasons why grayling should be
introduced into trout streams, provided there is
plenty of food for both, and from an angling point
of view the strongest is, that it practically gives three
extra months of fishing without doing the trout
any particular harm. Both these fish are, as a rule,
not at the same time in the same class of water.
The grayling take to the stream when the trout are
dropping out into the deeper water after spawning,
and vice versd. As to the destruction which each

causes to the other, there are many points to be con-
R
258 DRY-FLY FISHING.

sidered ; probably grayling eat the ova of the trout
in considerable numbers, but so do many other living
things which are tolerated by those who strictly
preserve rivers, notably some of the water-birds, such
as ducks and swans, not forgetting our so-called
harmless friend the dabchick ; and probably if these
birds were exterminated from thoroughly preserved
trout-streams we should hear less of the destruction
of ova wrought by the grayling. On the other hand,
the trout not only eat the ova, but the young fry of
both their own species and that of the grayling,
while the grayling only feeds on the ova, and does
not, I believe, touch the trout alevins; so that, after
all, perhaps the trout themselves are more destruc-
tive of their own species than the much-maligned
grayling.

There is one marked peculiarity of a grayling
when hooked, viz., that it seems to have a far more
wholesome dread of the net than trout, and it
not infrequently happens with large ones, that
when, to the fisherman’s notion, they are apparently
tired out, the angler, holding his net in the water,
gives the grayling a view of it, and he seems to get
a sort of new lease of life. Off he starts, with so
rapid and brilliant a rush as frequently to eclipse all
his former efforts. This is certainly a very dangerous
position. It seems so surprising that the fish, which
has been almost on its side, and apparently at the
mercy of the angler, should all of a sudden muster
courage and strength for so_determined a prolonga-
TROUT OR GRAYLING. 259

tion of the struggle, and if the angler has to any
degree lost his presence of mind at the suddenness
of it a catastrophe is often imminent. Of course if,
in his excitement, the fisherman should by chance
have tightly gripped his line to the rod for the final
coup with the landing-net, the effect will be disas-
trous—either a break, or the fish will come un-
hooked and wobble down-stream on the surface of
the water, so done up that if the angler has a friend
with him who can use a net, he can very often get
the fish out of the water after he has come unhooked.
This has happened to me with grayling twenty times
at least in the course of my experience, and yet I
can never recall to my memory a single instance of
having succeeded in taking out with a net a trout
who had once managed to get clear of the hook.
( 260 )

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY.

Francis Francis, in his “ Practical Management of
Fisheries,” says that in one of Sir J. Gibson-Mait-
land’s ponds at Howietoun, where the trout are
artificially fed, the trout, averaging 4 lbs. each, were
distributed over the area in the proportion of one
fish to each one and a half square yards in water
five feet deep. I quote this sentence from the works
of one of the keenest and most reliable observers as
giving some idea of the extreme fish-bearing capacity
of water under the most favourable but purely artificial
circumstances. It would be at least most unlikely, if
indeed not impossible, to achieve such results in any
ordinary fishing stream ; but it must be borne in mind
that attention to the same points which produced
so remarkable a head of fish in captivity may be
applied with more or less success to any water suit-
able to the growth of trout or grayling, and once
established, the head of fish may, without any great
difficulty; be maintained from season to season.
Briefly, the points are—Stock, feed, and protect,
and these constitute the pisciculturist’s golden rule ;
and of these three heads I propose first to treat in
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 261

detail, followed by a few hints as to the manage-
ment of the water, as regards cutting of weeds and
adapting the fishery to the natural wants of the
trout and grayling when established there.

Stocking may be effected in several ways.

1. By turning in large fish.

2. By catching fish in various tributaries or small
streams and turning them in.

3. By turning in artificially bred fry, yearling, or
two-year-old fish.

4. By either spawning artificially so as to obtain
the ova, or by purchasing eyed ova, and either breed-
ing them in hatching troughs, or, better still perhaps,
by laying them down in the stream on artificial redds
made in suitable places for the purpose of receiving
them.

The simplest form, if expense is no object, must be
to obtain and turn in adult fish of large size, say a half
to three-quarters of a pound, which may be caught the
same season, or left for a season or two to breed with-
out fishing for them. ‘There are, however, in this case
two points requiring considerable attention—firstly,
to see that a due proportion of the fish turned in
are females, as in a state of nature it is doubtful
whether one male will fertilise the ova of more than
one female in a single season, and if the males are in
excess they fight and injure one another. The second
point is, to pay great attention to the strain of fish
to be selected for this purpose, and introduce the stock
from rivers where they are known to grow to consider-
262 'DRY-FLY FISHING.

able size and are in the habit of subsisting largely on,
and hence rising freely at, the natural fly. Probably
the best strain of all is to be obtained from High
Wycombe, as they combine to a remarkable degree
gameness, good flavour, size, and, above all, freedom
of rising.* Next to High Wycombe probably Test
fish are to be preferred, and possibly there are
many other streams not so well known to the angler
from which fish good enough for all practical pur-
poses can be obtained.

Of all others, however, the very best means of
stocking a fishery is to catch from any tributaries
or bye-streams what may fairly be called wild fish,
taking them from comparatively shallow streams,
where, from insufficiency of food, or depth of water,
or from there being a great quantity of fish, they
have no fair chance of attaining a large size. Such
fish are naturally in the habit of shifting for them-
selves, whether as to picking up their food or keep-
ing clear of their natural enemies, whether birds or
fishes. The main objection to this plan is that it is
not generally possible to find sufficient naturally bred
fish in the streams for this purpose, and hence the
aid of the pisciculturist has after all to be sought to
supply the deficiency. It must also be remembered
that the large trout as a rule head up to thin water in
the main or side streams to spawn, and after spawn-

* Mr, Andrews of Guildford, to whom I am indebted for many
valuable hints and suggestions for this chapter, says, “I consider Wey
and Tillingbourne quite equal to the Wycombe fish in all these points.”
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 263

ing return to the heavy water, leaving the small
fish, when hatched, in the lesser streams, to die in
great quantities during hot summers, from extreme
lowness of the water or lack of food; and of those
who survive these contingencies a vast proportion
fall a prey to the devastations of herons, kingfishers,
and other enemies; so that, after all, it is an economy
of the stock to remove these young fry to the main
river. A considerable number of them are left high
and dry in carriers running through water-meadows
when the hatches regulating the flow of water to
them are closed, and an intelligent keeper should,
where practicable, remove all the trout from these
carriers some days before the water-supply is to be
cut off. If, however, the depth of water in a carrier
should be so great as to render the capture of the
fish impossible, they should be removed immediately
after the water has been turned out. Hatch-holes
should also be looked over, and any large fish who
have worked up into them removed and turned into
the main stream.

As to the third method of stocking, viz., that of
turning in fry, yearling, or two-year-old fish, there
are many arguments to be adduced in favour of
either plan. Fry are most inexpensive, easy to
carry, learn from the start to shift for themselves,
and more easily adapt themselves to the general
conditions than older fish. Yearlings are far more
expensive than fry, but if they have been reared in
ponds or streams containing a plentiful supply of
264 DRY-FLY FISHING.

natural food are certainly as a rule the most
satisfactory, on the combined score of economy and
efficiency. If, however, they have been artificially
fed, a terrible percentage probably die from inability
to find their own food. Two-year-old fish are very
expensive, and it is at best doubtful whether they:
will breed for a season or two. Of course, how-
ever, they become takable fish a season sooner than
yearling fish would under the same circumstances.
Of the fourth or last means of stocking, it is
questionable whether in the present age it is worth
while for any angler to take the trouble of himself
spawning the fish and hatching the ova. Eyed ova
can be purchased at a very small figure from dealers,
who keep the female and male fish in separate
ponds, and can thus obtain practically every egg
from the female at the right period and fertilise them ;
while to obtain female and male fish both at the
requisite stage for successful fertilisation from the
river is a matter of considerable difficulty, and in
some seasons almost impossible. The eyed ova, when
obtained, may either be hatched in troughs accord-
ing to, the instructions given by Mr. Andrews in
the volume of the Badminton Library treating of
‘Salmon and Trout,” or, as I hear has been latterly
carried out with great success, by laying them down
in suitable places in redds artificially made on the
shallows exactly similar to those made by the fish,
leaving them to hatch out and take their chance
on the river. When, however, it is remembered
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 265

how few out of a thousand ova ever arrive at the
yearling stage, it will be seen that the number of
eggs required to produce any satisfactory,result must
be very great.

The head of fish that any river will naturally carry
must always be limited by the quantity of natural
food in it, or, as Francis Francis pithily says in
“The Practical Management of Fisheries,” page 14:
“The value of your stream is in the ratio of the
food it produces and not an atom beyond.” ‘This
food should consist of flies and their larve, chiefly
Ephemeride, Perlide, Phryganide, Sialide, Diptera,
&e., fresh-water shrimps (Gammarus pulex), cray-
fish, various water-snails (Limnezz), &c., minnows,
loach, bullheads, and other small fish, and of occa-
sional worms, especially where drains or carriers run
into the main river. Of these the most valuable
are the different flies, shrimps, and snails.

The shrimp can without difficulty be introduced
into any water suitable for it, and is what, in my
opinion, gives the red colour to the flesh of a
trout, but at the same time, from the fly-fisher-
man’s point of view, is not so good as the insect
food, as it certainly is not surface food, and where
it is abundant the fish prefer it to the natural fly.

Minnows, loach, &c., are not, however, altogether
beneficial to a trout stream, as they eat the same
class of food as the trout, and before becoming
themselves food for the trout will, beyond doubt,
have consumed many times their own weight in
266 DRY-FLY FISHING.’

provender, which should go, in the first instance, to
the trout. Besides, trout who are in the habit of
feeding on minnows and other small fry seldom rise
well at the fly.

The artificial introduction of flies into rivers
where they are not indigenous has been frequently
attempted, the usual plan adopted having been
to carry gravid females and turn them loose, with
the intention of their depositing the eggs, and thus
reproducing in due course the larve and the winged
insects themselves. As far as I can gather, these
experiments have one and all been unsuccessful ;
whether from the eggs not having been deposited,
or from the conditions of the streams into which it
has been sought to introduce them not being
suitable, I have been unable to ascertain. The
difficulties, however, of conveying mature insects
any distance in perfect health are greater than is
usually imagined. The confined space in which they
are carried usually proves fatal to a great majority.
A few may be carried as specimens, but it has never
been successfully accomplished with large numbers.

On the other hand, the larve of some water-flies are
comparatively hardy, and if not roughly handled in
catching, and transferred under proper conditions,
will mature and establish a stock. This has been
conclusively proved during the past season. I
have succeeded in taking and hatching the eggs
of three different flies, two Ephemeride, the May-fly
(Ephemera danica) and the sherry spinner (Ephe-
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 267

merella wgnita), and one of the Phryganide, the
grannom (Brachycentrus subnubilus). The larve,
however, in every case died at a comparatively
early age, due probably to the fact of their being
kept in London water, comparatively stagnant, in
a confined space, and very possibly without the food
necessary for their subsistence. These experiments
are now being continued under far more favourable
conditions, and will, I trust, lead to the solution of
this all-important question. Mr. Andrews, the well-
known pisciculturist of Guildford, has been kind
enough to undertake the arduous duty of super-
intending and recording all matters connected with
the hatching of these eggs and the subsequent
rearing of the larve, and with the advantages of
having at his command an unlimited supply of pure
water and plenty of specially constructed hatching-
troughs and tiny ponds, coupled with his great
experience on all questions relating to this and
similar subjects, there are, I think, very fair prospects
of his ultimate success.

The next point to consider is that of protecting the
fish from their numerous enemies. The most deadly
foe of the trout and grayling is certainly the pike, who
not only preys upon them from the very earliest stage
of their existence until they have reached dimensions
almost equal to those of their voracious enemy, who
not only devours them in numbers which would
appear incredible to any one who has not studied the
subject, but who also by continual attacks renders
268 DRY-FLY FISHING.

them so shy as to prevent their feeding, and retards
or even prevents altogether their getting into good
condition. An unfortunate phase of this shyness,
from the fly-fisher’s point of view, is, that in streams
where the trout and grayling are much hunted by
the pike they rise less and less during the hours
of daylight, from fear of showing themselves, until
at length the only possible sport is to be ob-
tained by evening or even night fishing. No sign
can be more certainly deemed conclusive of the
presence of pike in a stream than to find that with
good hatches of fly day after day the fish will not
rise, but only feed during the brief half-hour of
twilight or after dark. No word used by the late
Francis Francis in condemnation of the short-sighted
policy adopted by proprietors of fisheries who have
neglected to keep down by all means in their power
this deadly scourge is an exaggeration, and yet in the
present day the same insane neglect of their own
interests is continued, while from all quarters the
difficulty and expense of leasing good fishing is ever
increasing.

To get rid of pike a continual war to the death
must be waged on them; no rest, no quarter must be
given; throughout the year, day and night, and by
every possible means they must be destroyed; and
one of the most important qualifications for a first-
rate keeper is the knowledge of these means of
destruction, and a capacity to put them in action.
The most efficient weapon in the hands of a man who
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 269
|

can use it is the wire, and wherever the pike can be
seen, whether in ditches, carriers, or thé main river, it
can be used with fatal effect on all calm days and
especially in hot bright weather. When the surface
of the water is rippled by a stormy breeze it is, how-
ever, very difficult to make sure of a fish; and per-
haps altogether it is a better policy not to attempt it,
as after being scratched once or twice with the wire
it soon gets too wary to let the keeper get near it.
In very shallow water pike may be either shot or
speared, and for the latter purpose the best spear
is the small grains. The head of this spear is cruci-
form, with a barb at each corner, and a fifth in the
centre at the intersection of the cross pieces.

Pike run up the ditches to spawn early in April,
and this is manifestly the best time of the year to
kill as many as possible, as preventing the hatching
of a new generation. Ifa female and a male run up
a ditch and the female is not very near spawning, it
is a good plan to wire or spear the male and spare
the female. In a few days another male will gene-
rally appear on the scene, and in this way as many as
three or four males may be secured, as well as the
female. This, however, is a dangerous experiment
unless the greatest care is taken not to wait too
long and let her deposit the ova. It is well, too, to
note that the female is generally the larger fish of the
two. In deep holes or backwaters, which cannot be
reached by the wire, trimmers should be laid, and
where there is little or no stream the forked form
270 DRY-FLY FISHING.

described in Francis Francis’ ‘‘ Practical Management
of Fisheries,” on page 44, should be used without
sinker ; but in deep water where there is any stream
the same form of trimmer with sinker is preferable.
There are also several forms of cages made for pike-
catching. The best, perhaps, is one similar to the
thief-net, but made of galvanised wire-netting. It
is placed in the river or ditch and baited with two
or three roach or dace. Sooner or later, the pike is
tempted into the cage, and as it is made something
after the shape of an eel-basket, when once in the
trap egress is impossible.

It is advisable in every good trout-stream to net
the water from top to bottom at least four times in
the year—twice in the spring and twice in the
autumn. It is a very good plan, too, to carry out
each season’s netting on consecutive days. The weeds
should, if possible, be cut and the water drawn down
low a few days before netting. Two trammel-nets
are required ; one—the stop-net—should be pitched
in a shallow below deep water; the other net should
be stretched across the stream three or four hundred
yards above, and dragged down to the stop-net.
Both nets should be drawn in simultaneously, one
inside the semicircle formed by the other; the inner
net is then landed first and the outer afterwards,
thus securing any fish which may have escaped over
or under the first net in drawing. The stop-net
should then be carried down to a convenient spot,
pitched, and the operation repeated. It is not a bad
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 271

plan, for a change, to draw both nets down, one a
hundred yards behind the other, as in this way many
pike who have escaped the lower are caught-in the
upper net. If the water is clear and the bottom
muddy a drag-chain drawn down in front of the net
discolours the water and starts the pike out of the
weeds and other hiding-places, besides giving timely
warning of the position of snags, roots, or other
obstacles which otherwise might entangle and tear
the net. It is never safe to omit netting for a season,
as jack who one year can pass through the mesh
are large enough the next year to do incalculable
damage. Besides, fresh fish are often attracted by
food from adjacent waters, or are washed down by
heavy floods. Pike seem to prefer trout to grayling,
and hence the grayling fishing is often good in a
stream after the trout fishing has been seriously
damaged. Any coarse fish taken in the nets should
be killed, as they compete keenly with the Salmonide
for the natural food in the river, besides often wasting
the angler’s time and patience when rising at fly.

Large trout of, say, 5 lbs. or upwards, and espe-
cially long-headed lanky male fish, are quite as
voracious and destructive as pike, and should be
killed in every possible way, the more so as they
very seldom rise to the fly, and when they do it is
only at night.

The winged enemies of the fish must not be for-
gotten, and every available opportunity of destroying
them should be taken by keepers or owners of
227 DRY-FLY FISHING.

fisheries. The heron, who not only feeds upon the
adult fish, but from apparently mere wanton cruelty
kills and maims far more than he eats, and the
kingfisher, who preys upon the fry, and also the
smaller yearlings on the shallows, should be ruth-
lessly killed. Dabchicks, moorhens, coots, ducks,
and of course swans, who eat the spawn, should be
kept off the water. .

Otters have a very bad name, and are considered
very destructive to a fishery; and no doubt in small
streams where there are no eels, pike, or other coarse
fish they will in a very short time nearly destroy
the head of fish in a well-stocked stream. If their
tracks be found, notice should be sent to the nearest
master of otter-hounds, or failing this resource they
must be trapped or shot. In large deep rivers, how-
ever, competent observers have assured me that they
prefer eels and pike to any Salmonide.

It is essentially the duty of the keeper to prevent
the ravages of poachers, and wherever a piece of
water is much poached, it may be laid down as an
axiom that he is at best inefficient or careless of
his master’s interests, or worse, spends his time in
the village inn and besots himself with beer, or
worst of all, is in league with the thieves who are
in the habit of levying periodical toll on his master’s
water. With an incompetent or dishonest keeper
nothing can be done to prevent poaching, so that
the only remedy is to discharge him and fill his
place with a better man.
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 273

Staking the shallows is advised as a preventive
to netting, but possibly it is not as useful as is
imagined. Poachers as a rule pitch their net, a
silk trammel heavily leaded, at night, at the lower
end of the shallows, and drive the fish down to it.
If there are no weeds every fish runs to the net and
is secured ; and if there are weeds, those who take
shelter in them most likely escape. Then, again,
the stakes have to be drawn before cutting weeds
if the chain-scythe is used, and poachers have been
known to take advantage of the intervening night
to drag the shallows, if they affect that style of
net. In any case, no poacher would risk his costly
gear on any shallow without first making himself
acquainted with the position of any stake or other
impediment likely to damage his net. Brick burrs
or old stone rick straddles placed here and there
on a shallow not only prevent netting, but also
make good hides and breaks such as large trout
specially affect. Squares of galvanised wire net-
ting about eighteen inches each way, rolled up with
the ends projecting, or old tin cuttings, are useful
for fouling and rolling up the nets; and broken
bottles are awkward things for the bare feet or
even boots of poachers, but are equally or more
destructive to the angler’s waders. Francis Francis
says that an old. cart-wheel plentifully studded
with tenterhooks sunk in a deep hole is a capital
thing to stop the use of a casting-net. Drowners,

as they are called in the south of England, or, in
8
274 DRY-FLY FISHING.

other words, the men regulating the water in the
meadows, have exceptional opportunities of taking
the large fish out of carriers or small drains at
night or early morning. They run up these drains
to feed on worms, and a small landing-net is all
that is required to take them out.

Fish on a shallow require shelter for two reasons
—firstly, to enable them to rest when feeding out of
the main strength of the current; secondly, to give
them shelter within a moderate distance when scared.
These two objects may be effected to some extent
by judicious weed-cutting where there are weeds—a
subject of which I will treat farther on—and still
more by the use of artificial hides. These hides may
be made in several ways; brick burrs and straddles,
as stated above, may be scattered on the shallow, and
behind each of these in the slack water a fish will
take up its position. Often, too, a fish will be seen
immediately above the obstacle, in the wedge of dead
water caused by the division of the current, and such
a fish is invariably feeding. Weeds hung up on the
head of stakes break the force of the water, and thus
make hides under which fish will lie. The so-called
table hides are made by fastening a table or platform
of one-inch planks to four stout posts driven into the
bed of the stream within a foot or eighteen inches
of the bottom, or the table may be constructed and
afterwards sunk by loading with stones or concrete.
On waters where they are in use I am assured
that they make good shelters, and, strange to say,
THE MANAGEMENT OF A FISHERY. 275

when hooked fish very seldom run under them. It
is scarcely necessary to point out that in establishing
a fishery the order of procedure should be to kill
down enemies and prepare water first, and then to
adopt the plan selected for stocking the water.
Perhaps the most important question of all in con-
nection with the management of a fishery is that of
weed-cutting. If every scrap of vegetation in the
shallows is shaved away the fish must be very shy,
and when one is scared from the absence of shelter
he rushes up or down stream for twenty yards or
more, scaring on his way other fish, each of which in
turn communicates the scare to others, until there is
not a fish to be seen on the shallow. If, on the other
hand, the stream is choked up with weeds, there
may not be for some distance a single open place to
throw to, and where there is an open patch a hooked
fish has every chance of weeding and getting away.
Of the two it is safer to err on the side of too much
rather than too little weed ; but, strange to say, there
is scarcely a water in the south of England where
the happy medium has been attained. The best
method known to me is that called the side and
bar system, the rule for which is, sede the deeps
and bar the shallows. To explain the meaning of
this : throughout the deep water the weed should be
cut along either bank for four or five yards, or as far
as a man can reach with the long-handled weed-scythe.
All the fish will then feed either on the edge of the
weed, or more likely under the bank in the run of clear
276 DRY-FLY FISHING..

water. The chain-scythe should never be used ex-
cepting on mill ponds, and there in the interests of
the miller rather than the angler. So far it is all
plain sailing, but the management of the shallows
requires far more judgment. ‘To assist in showing
the bar system I have taken from the Ordnance
Map a portion of the well-known Sheepbridge
shallow at Houghton, and shown on Plate X XV. how
it would appear if thus treated. The plan consists in
leaving alternate bars of weed and clean gravel each
from ten to twenty yards wide. The gravel is cleaned
by harrowing across the stream, and kept clean by
an annual repetition of the treatment if necessary.

Any hides or burrs would probably be unnecessary
with this treatment, as the fish would lie either under
the shelter of the weeds or among them. The abun-
dance of weeds left would ensure a sufficiency of insect
and other food, and make it difficult for poachers
to net the shallow. If netting is necessary in the
interests of the fishery, weeds can be cut at the end
of the season for the purpose. Should these bars of
weed back the water up too much, as many longi-
tudinal cuts as necessary can be made through the
weeds, and the current can be diverted to any spot
desired by making these longitudinal cuts leading
towards such spot.

Much inconvenience is caused by cut weeds drift-
ing down from other waters above; in fact, many of
the best fishing days are frequently partially, if not
entirely, spoilt by the owners of waters above either
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designedly or thoughtlessly sending down their weeds.
It is very easy to obviate this by stretching across
the upper part of a fishery at a narrow and not
very rapid part a heavy large-meshed net, a couple
or three feet deep, with the lower side weighted,
attached to strong posts on either bank. The large
masses of floating weeds gradually accumulate, and
in time form a barrier, effectually preventing even
the smallest pieces from passing through. At the
end of the day’s fishing, or at any time; if the strain
becomes too great, the mass can be liberated by
slacking away the rope attached to one end of the
net, and replacing it when requisite. The weeds thus
liberated drift down in a body, and will only inter-
fere with the fishing for, say, a quarter of an hour,
instead of spoiling the whole day.

It is desirable to make some definite rules as to
the conditions under which fishing is to be carried
on, more particularly as to the season during which
fish may be killed, the limit of size, restrictions as
to what baits may be used, and the season during
which wading should be prohibited to prevent injury
to spawning beds and young fish. Taking the Test
as a type, the rules as appended meet with general
approval, and may be varied to suit the condi-
tions of other rivers. Season—Trout, April 15 to
September 15. Grayling—July 1 to December 31.
Bait—Artificial fly only. Size—Trout or grayling
under twelve inches to be returned to the river.
Wading not allowed between November 30 and
278 DRY-FLY FISHING.

April 30. N.B.—In May-fly waters the limit of
size during the May-fly season may, I think, be
advantageously raised to, say, fourteen inches, but
this must be regulated to the capacity of the par-
ticular stream. I may add that, as regards under-
sized fish, where the stock is plentiful, an average
which results in the keeping of about one-third of
the fish caught is a fair thing for the stream if the
stock is to be kept up. I have lately heard of a
plan adopted by the lessee of a celebrated fishing
on the Kennet, and commend this generous treat-
ment of a stream to all anglers who have the ultimate
good of the river at heart. During the last two
months of trout fishing, August and September, he
returns uninjured to the water every female fish
landed, and as experience shows that during these
months ten females are caught for every male, the
self-denial practised by this true sportsman is an
example which should be followed by all desirous
of deserving this noble title. It is an established
fact that in a river which is heavily fished, when
netting at spawning-time the proportion of sexes
shows thirty males to every female, and I think
the plan of killing off some of them is extremely
judicious.

In conclusion, and before taking leave of my
readers, the following advice is tendered. Before
taking a water see that it is adapted for trout or
trout and grayling; that the water-supply does not.
fail during the hot weather, and is as much as pos-
THE MANAGEMEFT OF A: FISHERY. 279

sible under your control; that there are shallows
or tributaries for spawning, as well as deep water
for large fish in hot weather. A reasonably long
lease should be secured, unless the water is already
well stocked, or you may find yourself in the dis-
agreeable position of having expended a consider-
siderable sum in improvements, with the result of
either having your rent raised in consequence of
these very improvements, or worse still, finding the
water let over your head to some other tenant, who
will benefit by your expenditure, and very possibly
impoverish the water during his tenure.

Finally, to all honest anglers a word of advice—
Fish fair, never take undersized or ill-conditioned fish,
never refuse to brother angler a day’s fishing or
a pattern fly, and give as freely and fully as I have
endeavoured to do the benefit of any discovery you
have made or experience you have gained in the
great case of “ Angler v. Fish.”
INDEX.

——

A BaD light, 151.

Accuracy with under-handed cast, 56.

Action of a rod, 17. :

Adult fish, stocking with, 261.

Advantages and disadvantages of
grayling in trout-streams, 251, 257.

Advantages, comparative, of dry-
fly and wet-fly, 37.

—— of casting up-stream, 64.

— of double-handed rod, 2.

of selecting apparently unfa-
vourable places, 78.

—— of single-handed rod, 2.

Air and water, temperature of, as
affecting hatch of duns, 140.

Air-pump, use of, in dressing reel-
lines, 23.

Angler’s friend, 225.

April, selection of fiy, 164.

Artificial fly, dragging caused by tra-
velling too quickly, 33.

Artificial fly, dragging caused by tra-
velling across natural set of stream,
88.

Artificial fly, dragging caused by tra-
velling too slowly, 87.

Artificial May-fly, occasional use of,
after May-fly season is over, 191.

Artificial May-flies, size of, 186.

Attaching eyed hooks to cast, Hall
knot for, 30.

Attaching eyed hooks to cast, Turle
knot for, 31.

August, selection of fly, 194.

Autopse, how to, 232, and Plate
XXI.

Autopsy, floating portion of, 233.

Autopsy, sunk portion of, 237. .

Autopsy, lessons to be learned from,

243.

 

 

Average number of eggs laid by May-
fly, 174.

Bay, slow-running, fish rising in, 86,
106,

Beaufort scale, 155.

Bickerdyke point-ring, 14.

Blue-winged olive( Zphemerellaignita),
206.

Boiled oil for dressing reel-lines, 23.

Box for flies on eyed hooks, 32.

Brass reels, 20.

Bridge or hatch, fish rising just above,
80.

Bright sun, as influencing sport, 150.

Brogues, fastening, 34.

Bulging, definition of, 116.

Bulging fish, patterns for, 123.

Bulging, indications of, 121.

Butting a fish, 220.

Cappis and cases (Phryganida), 238:
and Plates XXII. and XXIV.

Canis lactea (Pictet), 203.

Cenis rivulorum (Eaton), 203.

Captivity, eggsof Ephemeridz hatched
in, 266.
Captivity, eggs of
hatched in, 267.
Captivity, May-fly eggs hatched in,
174.

Carrying mackintosh, 34.

Celery beds, 91.

Cast, accuracy with under-handed, 56.

dry-fly switch, 63, and Plates.

XII. and XIII.

over-handed, 47, and Plates II.,
III., and IV.

— steeple-, 61, and Plates IX., X.,
and XI,

Phryganid

 

 
282

Cast, under-handed, 53, and Plates
VI., VIL, and VIII.

—— under-handed, positions where
specially useful, 55.

Casting, cultivation of good style of,
50.

— definition of, 46.

force required’in, 49.

— noise made by rod, 50.

up-stream, advantages of, 64.

Chain scythe, use of, 276.

Chalk-streams, 40.

Check to reels, silent or noisy, 19.

Choice of a rod, 2.

Circumstances favourable to wet-fly,
39:

Circumstances favourable to dry-fly,
38.

Classes of places to select, 72.

Collar, gut, knot for attaching to
reel-line, 26.

Collars, gut, 26.

Coming short, 155.

short, fish hooked outside when,
159.

— short, grayling, 159.

—— short, sometimes an indication
of shyness, 158.

Comparative advantages of dry-fly
and wet-fly, 37.

Corixe in fish, 246.

Cotton, fishing, “fine and far off,”
56.

Crayfish, full-grown in fish, 247.

Cultivation of good style of casting,
50.

Cut, downward, 53, and Plate V.

Cut weeds, to prevent from drifting
down, 276.

Cutting weeds on shallows, 275.

Cutting weeds, side and bar system,

275.

 

 

 

Daos or roach, rise of, 119.

Dace rising in trout-streams, 93.

Deep eddies, large fish rising in, 76.

Deep pools, grayling rising in, 95.

Deep water preferable to shallow for
evening rise, 208.

Definition of bulging, 116.

of casting, 46.

—— of dragging, 81.

—— of floating fly, 36.

 

 

INDEX.

Definition of hatch of fly, 139.

of rising, 115. :

—— of rod returning quickly, 17.

—— of smutting, 116.

of sunk fly, 36.

of tailing, 116.

Difference between nymph and larva
May-fly, 176.

Difficulties of acquiring under-handed
cast, 55.

Difficulties of hooking fish when
drifting, 69.

Difficulty of very short throw, 59.

Disadvantages and advantages of
grayling in trout-streams, 251, 257.

Distance thrown by steeple-cast, 62.

Distance, to get within throwing, 99.

Distinguishing grayling from trout
when rising, 252.

Double-handed rod, advantages of, 2.

Double and single-handed rods (the
late Francis Francis), 3.

Downward cut, 53, and Plate V.

Dragging caused by artificial fly
travelling across natural set of
stream, 88.

caused by artificial fly travelling

too quickly, 83.

caused by artificial fly travelling

too slowly, 87.

definition of, 81.

—— natural fly, 82.

to prevent or retard, 83.

Dressing reel-lines, 22.

- reel-lines, use of air-pump in, 23-

reel-lines, boiled oil for, 23. '

—— reel-lines, Hawksley’s method of,
24.

Drifting, 66.

difficulties of hooking fish when,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

69.

 

down, to prevent cut weeds

from, 276.

reasons for general non-success
of, 68.

—— to return the line when, 67.

—— to strike when, 69.

Drowners, 273.

Drowning a fish, 221.

Dry-fly, circumstances favourable to,
38.

—— fishing, spread of, 42.

in rough or rainy weather, 43.

 

 
INDEX.

Dry-fly, switch-cast, 63, and Plates
XII. and XIII.

Drying the fly, 51.

Dubs, 253.

Duns, hatch of, temperature of air
and water as affecting, 140.

Duties of keepers, 272.

Dyeing gut, 28.

EastTERLy and northerly winds, hatch
of fly as affected by, Pictet’s opinion
on, 149.

East wind as influencing sport, 148.

Eaton, Rev. A. E., life history of
May-fly, 173.

Ebonite reels, 20.

Eddies, small, fish rising in, 86.

Eddies, large deep, fish rising in, 76.

Eggs, average number of, laid by
May-fly, 174.

Eggs, hatching, of Ephemeride in
captivity, 266.

Eggs, hatching, of Phryganide in
captivity, 267.

Elliott & Fry's instantaneous photo-
graphs, 48.

Enemies, protecting fish from their,
267.

Enemies, winged, of fish, 271.

Ephemeride in captivity, hatching
eggs of, 266.

Ephemeride nymphs, 238, and Plates
XXII. and XXIIL

Evening rise, 201.

rise, deep water preferable to

shallow, 208,

rise, early, red spinner for,

 

 

204.

—— rise, early, smuts for, 205.

Evidences of fish taking May-fly
imago, 189.

Evidences of fish taking May-fly
nymph, 182.

Eyed hooks, 29.

—— hooks, box for flies on, 32.

hooks, Hall knot for attaching
to cast, 30.

—— hooks, Turle knot for attaching
to cast, 31.

Eyed ova, 264.

Eyed ova, hatching, 264.

Eyes, turned-down, for hooks, 29.

Eyes, turned-up, for hooks, 29.

 

 

283

FasTENine brogues, 34.

Fear of grayling of the landing-net,
258.

Ferrules, parallel, 13,

Ferrules, tongued, 13.

Fish-bearing capacity of water (Fran-
cis Francis), 260.

Fish, butting a, 220.

—— drowning a, 221.

—— fighting, 111.

for stocking, two-year-old, 264.

yearlings, 263.

hooked outside when coming

short, 159.

in position, 114.

—— jiggering, 227.

—— natural food for, 265.

playing the, 221.

-— protecting from their enemies,
267.

rising in large deep eddies, 76.

rising just above hatch or bridge,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

80.

 

rising in slow-running bay, 86,
106.

— rising in small eddies, 86.

shrimp (Gammarus pulex) as

food for, 265.

strain on rod while playing a, 222.

taking May-fly imago, evidences

of, 189.

taking May-fly nymph, evidence

of, 182. ,

taking May-fly nymph, patterns

for, 184.

travelling while rising, 113.

—— typical, to cast for, 73.

winged enemies of, 271.

Fishery, suggested rules for, 277.

Fish-bearing capacity of water (Fran-
cis Francis), 260.

Fishes’ stomachs, variety of food found
in, 242.

Fishing, ‘fine and far off,” Cotton, 56.

from high bank, 96.

the rise, 37.

the water, 37.

Fittings, Weeger winch, 15.

Fittings, winch, 15.

Flies on eyed hooks, box for, 32.

Floating fly, definition of, 36.

Floating portion of autopsy, 233.

Fly, drying the, 51.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
284

ly, April-, selection of, 164.

—— August-, selection of, 194.

—— floating, definition of, 36.

—— July-, selection of, 192.

—— June-, selection of, 171.

—— May-, selection of, 169.

—— November and December, selec-
tion of, 198.

October-, selection of, 197.

September-, selection of, 196.

sunk, definition of, 36.

Food for fish, shrimp (Gammarus
pulex), 265.

Food, natural, for fish, 265.

Food, variety of, found in fishes’
stomachs, 242.

Force required in casting, 49.

Force to use in striking, 219.

Francis Francis, fish-bearing capacity
of water, 260.

Francis Francis, practical manage-
ment of fisheries, 260, 265.

Francis Francis, the late, on double
and single-handed rods, 3.

Fry for stocking, 263.

Full-grown crayfish in fish, 247.

 

 

 

GET within throwing distance, 99.

Glass edge, 78.

Good style of casting, cultivation of,
50.

Grannom, 166.

Gravel patches on a shallow, 75.

Grayling and trout streams, means of
killing pike in, 268.

—— and trout streams, pike in, 267.

and trout, position of rising

compared, 255.

and trout streams, otters in, 272.

coming short, 159.

diet of, more various than that

of trout, 241.

fear of the landing-net, 258.

in trout streams, advantages and
disadvantages of, 251, 257.

—— in October, 197.

reason why so frequently rise

falsely, 255.

reasons why they shift their

position when rising, 255.

rising in deep pools, 95.

to distinguish from trout when

rising, 252.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INDEX.

Grayling, when to cast to, 108.

willow flies in, 249.

Greenheart rods, 5,

Greenheart rods, whipping, It.

Grip of the rod, 47, and Plate I.

Gut collar, knot for attaching to reel-
line, 26.

—— dyeing, 28.

knot for tying strands together,

 

 

2&

 

collars, 26.

HALF-DRIFT, 65.

Hall knot for attaching eyed hooks,
to cast, 30.

Hatch of duns, temperature of air
and water as affecting, 140.

of fly as affected by northerly
and easterly winds, Pictet’s opinion
on, 149.

— of fly, definition of, 139.

of fly during northerly winds,

145.

or bridge, fish rising just above,

 

 

 

80,

Hatched in captivity, May-fly eggs,
174. .

Hatching eggs of Ephemeride in
captivity, 266.

Hatching eggs of Phryganide in
captivity, 267. :

Hatching eyed ova, 264.

Hawksley’s method of dressing reel-
lines, 24.

Hawksley’s wet box for gut, 27.

Heavy banks of weeds, playing a
trout hooked among, 225.

Hides and shelters on shallows, 274.

High bank, fishing from, 96.

Hooked outside, when fish coming
short, 159.

Hooking fish when drifting, difficul-
ties of, 69.

Hooks, eyed, 29.

Hooks, turned-down eyes for, 29.

Hooks, turned-up eyes for, 29.

Houghton, Sheepbridge shallow, 276,
and Plate XXV.

Howietoun, Sir J. Gibson-Maitland,
260.

How to autopse, 232, and Plate
XXI.
INDEX.

InpicaTions of bulging, 121.

Indications of smutting, 131,

Indications of tailing, 126,

Imitations of larve, reasons for non-
success of, 144.

Imitations of May-fly imago, 190.

Initations of smuts, 135.

Influence of weather on sport, 138.

JAMMED, to loosen joints when, 14.

Jammed, to prevent joints from get-
ting, 14.

Jiggering fish, 227.

Jointed and spliced rods, 12.

Joints, screw fittings for, 14.

Joints, to prevent from getting
jammed, 14.

Joints, to loosen when jammed, 14.

Judging size of fish from the rise,
116,

July, selection of fly, 192.

Jumping, trout, 118.

June, selection of fly, 171.

June, selection of fly where no May-
fly hatches, 191.

Keepers, duties of, 272.

Killing pike, means of, in trout and
grayling streams, 268.

Knot, Hall, for attaching eyed hooks,
to cast, 30.

—— for attaching gut collar to reel-
line, 26.

— for fastening mackintosh to bas-
ket-lid, 35.

for tying strands of gut together,
28,

—— Turle, for attaching eyed hooks,
to cast, 31.

 

LaNDING-NET, 31.

Landing-net, grayling’s fear of, 258.

Landing-net, use of the, 229.

Large deep eddies, fish rising in, 76.

Large sedge, 210.

Larve, imitations of, reasons for nun-
success of, 144.

Length of rod, 16.

Lessons to be learned from autopsy,

243.

Life history of May-fly, 173.

Life history of May-fly (Rev. A. E,
Eaton), 173.

 

285

Life history of May-fly (Pictet),
173.

Loosening joints when jammed, 14.

Loose rod-rings, 14.

Maoxrnross, carrying, 34.

Mackintosh, knot for fastening to
basket-lid, 35.

Male trout, voracity of large, 271.

Manufacture of split-cane rods, 8.

Manufacture of split-cane rods, Henry
P. Wells on, 8.

Material for reel-line, 21,

Materials for rod-making, 5.

May, selection of fly, 169.

May-fly, 171.

average number of eggs laid by,
174.

—— difference between nymph and
larva, 176.

—— eggs, 173, and Plate XV.

eggs hatched in captivity, 174.

—— imago, 181, and Plates XVILI.,
XIX., and XX.

—— imago, evidences of fish taking,
189.

—— imago, imitation of, 190.

—— larva, 176, and Plates XV. and
XVI.

larva just hatched, 174, and

Plate XV. 2.

metamorphosis, 178.

— nymph, 176, and Plates XV.
and XVI.

nymph, evidences of fish taking,
182,

—— nymph, patterns for fish taking,
184,

occasional success of other flies

during hatch of, 187.

occasional use of artificial May-
fly when season is over, IgI,

—— Pictet’s life history of, 173.

—— Rev. A. E. Eaton’s life history
of, 173.

— sub-imago, 180, and Plates XVII.
and XVIII.

May-flies, size of artificial, 186,

Means of killing pike in trout and
grayling streams, 268,

Means of preventing poaching by
nets, 273.

Metamorphosis, May-fly, 178.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
286

Method of dressing reel lines, Mr.
Hawksley’s, 24.

Methods of plaiting reel-lines, 21.

Minnowing trout, 111.

Moving slowly, necessity for, when
stalking fish, 96.

Natura fly dragging, 82.

Natural food for fish, 265.

Necessity for moving slowly when
stalking fish, 96.

Net, landing-, 31.

Nets, means of preventing poaching
by, 273.

Noise made by rod when casting, 50.

Noisy or silent check to reels, 19.

Non-success of drifting, reasons for
general, 68.

Non-success of imitations of larvae,
reasons for, 144.

North wind, 141.

Northerly winds, hatch of fly during,
145.

Northerly and easterly winds, hatch
of fly as affected by, Pictet’s opinion
on, 149.

November and December, selection
of fly, 198.

Number of eggs laid by May-fly,
174.

Nymph and larva May-fly, difference
between, 176.

Nymphs, Ephemeridz, 238, and Plates
XXII. and XXIII.

OccasionaL use of artificial May-fly
after May-fly season is over, 191.

Occasional success of other flies dur-

ing hatch of May-fly, 187.

October, grayling in, 197.

October, selection of fly, 197.

Other flies, occasional success of, dur-
ing hatch of May-fly, 187.

Otters in trout and grayling streams,
272.

Ova, eyed, 264.

Ova, eyed, hatching, 264.

Over-handed cast, 47, and Plates IL,
TIL, and IV.

. PATCHES, gravel, on a shallow, 75.
Patches, weed, tails of, 75.
Patterns for bulging fish, 123.

 

INDEX.

Patterns for fish taking May - fly
nymph, 184. :

Patterns for smutting fish, 137, 170.

Pictet, life history of May-fly, 173.

Pictet’s opinion on hatch of fly as
affected by northerly and easterly
winds, 149.

Photographs, Elliott & Fry’s instan-
taneous, 48.

Phryganide in captivity, hatching
eggs of, 267.

Pike in trout and grayling streams,
267.

Pike, means of killing in trout and
grayling streams, 268.

Places to avoid, 89.

Places to select, classes of, 72.

Plaiting reel-lines, methods of, 21.

Playing a fish, strain on rod, 222.

Playing a trout hooked among heavy
banks of weeds, 225.

Playing the fish, 221.

Poaching by nets, means of prevent-
ing, 273.

Point-ring, Bickerdyke, 14.

Point-ring, revolving steel, 14.

Position of rising trout and grayling
compared, 255.

Positions where under-handed cast is
specially useful, 55.

Practical management of fisheries
(Francis Francis), 260, 265.

Preventing cut weeds from drifting
down, 276.

joints from getting jammed,

 

14.

— poaching by nets, means of,
273.

or retarding dragging, 83.

Protecting fish from their tnemies,
267.

 

QUIET rises, 117,

Rain as influencing sport, 150.

Reasons for general non-success of
drifting, 68.

for non-success of imitations of

larve, 144.

why grayling shift their position
when rising, 255.

—— why grayling so frequently rise.
falsely, 255.

 

 
INDEX.

Red spinner for early evening rise,
204.

Reel-lines, Mr. Hawksley’s method of
dressing, 24.

dressing, 22.

—— knot for attaching gut collar to,
26.

—— material for, 21.

—— methods of plaiting, 21.

substance of, 25.

—— taper of, 25.

Reel-lines, use of air-pump in dress-
ing, 23.

— boiled oil for dressing, 23.

Reels, 19.

— brass, 20.

ebonite, 20.

—— silent or noisy check to, 19.

Retarding or preventing dragging,
83.

Returning the line when drifting, 67.

Ring, Bickerdyke point, 14.

Ring, revolving steel point, 14.

Rise, evening, 201.

—— falsely, reason why grayling so
frequently, 255.

—— judging size of fish from the,
116.

—— of roach or dace, 119.

—— to spot the, 112.

Rises, quiet, 117.

——, splashing, 120.

Rising, dace, in trout-streams, 93.

definition of, 115.

—— fish, in large deep eddies, 76.

—— fish, in slow-running bay, 86,
106. re

fish, in small eddies, 86.

— fish, just above hatch or bridge,
80.

— fish travelling while, 113.

grayling, in deep pools, 95.

—— quickly, 120, 157.

—— reasons why grayling shift their
position when, 255.

— slowly, 119, 157.

to distinguish grayling from
trout when, 252.

—— trout and grayling, position of,
compared, 255.

Roach or dace, rise of, 119.

Rod, action of a, 17.

—— advantages of double-handed, 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

287

Rod, advantages of single-handed, z.

choice of a, 2.

—— grip of, 47, and Plate I.

length of, 16.

Rod-making, materials for, 5.

Rod returning quickly, definition of,
17. °

Rod-rings, upright, 14.

Rod-rings, loose, 14.

Rod, steel-centred, 18.

Rod, strain on, while playing a fish,
222.

Rods, double and single handed (the
late Francis Francis), 3.

greenheart, 5.

spear for, 15.

—— spliced and jointed, 12.
— split-cane, 7.

split-cane, Henry P, Wells on

manufacture of, 8.

split cane whipping, Io.

varnish for, II.

whipping greenheart, 11.

Ronalds, when to cast to a very shy
fish, 106.

Rough or rainy weather, dry-fly in,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

43
Rough run, tail of a, 75.
Rules for a fishery suggested, 277.

Screw fittings for joints, 14.

Scythe, chain, use of, 276.

Sedge, large, 210.

Sedge, small, 209.

Sedge, splashing at, 212.

Selecting apparently unfavourable
places, advantages of, 78.

Selection of fly, April, 164.

of fly, August, 194.

—— of fly, June, 171.

—— of fly, June, where no May-fly
hatches, 191.

of fly, July, 192.

of fly, May, 169.

of fly, November and December,
198.

—— of fly, October, 197.

of fly, September, 196.

September, selection of, 196.

September, trout in, 195.

Shallow, deep water preferable to, for
evening rise, 208, ,

Shallow, gravel patches on a, 75.

 

 

 

 

 
288

Shallows, shelters and hides on, 274.

Shallows, staking, 273.

Shallows, weed-cutting on, 275.

Sheepbridge shallow at Houghton,
276, and Plate XXV.

Shelters and hides on shallows, 274.

Sherry spinner, 207.

Shift their position, reasons why gray-
ling, when rising, 255.

Short throw, difficulty of, 59.

Shrimp (Gammarus pulex) as food for
fish, 265.

Shrimp (Gammarus pulex), 238, and
Plates XXII. and XXIV.

Shyness, coming short sometimes an
indication of, 158,

Side and bar system of weed-cutting,
275.

Silent or noisy check to reels, 19.

Single-handed rod, advantages of, z.

Size of artificial May-flies, 186.

Size of fish, judging from the rise,
116.

Slack line, throwing a, 85.

Slowly moving, necessity for, when
stalking fish, 96.

Slow-running bay, fish rising in, 86,
106.

Small eddies, fish rising in, 86.

Small sedge, 209.

Smuts for early evening rise, 205.

Smuts, imitations of, 135.

Smuts, various sorts of, 133.

Smutting, definition of, 116.

Smutting, indications of, 131.

Smutting fish, patterns for, 137,
170.

Snails (Zimnee) in fish, 245.

Spear for rods, 15.

Spent gnat, 181.

Splashing at sedge, 212.

Splashing rises, 120.

Spliced rods and jointed rods, 12.

Split-cane rods, 7.

rods, Henry P. Wells on manu-

facture of, 8.

rods, manufacture of, 8.

rods, whipping, Io.

Sport, bright sun as influencing, 150.

east wind as influencing, 148.

rain as influencing, 150.

—— thunder as influencing, 153.

—— weather as influencing, 138.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INDEX.

Spot the rise, 112.

Spread of dry-fly fishing, 42.

Staking shallows, 273.

Stalking fish, necessity for moving

' slowly, 96.

Steeple-cast, 61, and Plates IX., X.,
and XI.

Steeple-cast, distance thrown by, 62.

Steel-centred rod, 18.

Steel, revolving, point-ring, 14.

Stocking, best strains of trout for,
262.

Stocking, fry for, 263.

—— two-year-old fish for, 264.

—— with adult fish, 261.

— wild fish for, 262.

—— various ways of, 261.

yearlings for, 263.

Strain on rod while playing a fish,
222.

Strains, best, of trout for stocking,
262.

Strike when drifting, 69.

Striking, 217.

Striking, force to be used in, 219.

Substance of reel-line, 25.

Success, occasional, of other flies dur-
ing hatch of May-fly, 187.

Suggested rules for a fishery, 277.

Sunk fly, definition of, 36,

Sunk portion of autopsy, 237.

Switch-cast, 62.

Switch-cast, dry-fly, 63, and Plates
XII. and XIII.

Tactics to pursue with trout when
weeded, 224.

Tailing, definition of, 116.

Tailing, indications of, 126.

Tail of a rough run, 75.

Tails of weed-patches, 75.

Taper of reel-line, 25.

Temperature of air and water as
affecting hatch of duns, 140.

Throwing a slack line, 85.

Throwing distance, to get within,

 

Thunder as influencing sport, 153.

“Tom Fool’s light,” 202.

Travelling, fish, while rising, 113.

Travelling, trout, up-stream and rising
simultaneously, 114.

Trout and grayling, position of rising
compared, 255.
INDEX.

Trout and grayling streams, otters
in, 272.

—— and grayling streams, means of
killing pike in, 268.

—— and grayling streams, pike in,
267.

—— diet of grayling more various
than that of, 241.

—— for stocking, best strains of,
262.

—— in September, 195.

—— jumping, 118,

—— minnowing, III.

—— playing a, hooked, among heavy
banks of weeds, 225.

—— rising and travelling up-stream
simultaneously, 114.

— streams, advantages and disad-
vantages of grayling in, 251, 257.

—— streams, dace rising in, 93.

— voracity of large male, 271.

when rising, to distinguish
grayling from, 252.

—— when weeded, tactics to pursue,
224.

—— weeding, 223.

Turned-up eyes for hooks, 29.

Turle knot for attaching eyed hooks
to cast, 31.

Turned-down eyes for hooks, 29.

Two-year-old fish for stocking, 264.

Tying strands of gut together, knot
for, 28.

Typical fish to cast for, 73.

 

UNDER-HANDED cast, 53, and Plates
VL, VIL, and VIII.

—— accuracy with, 56.

—— difficulties of acquiring, 55.

—— positions where specially useful,

55+
Upright rod-rings, 14.
Up-stream casting, advantages of, 64.
Use of air-pump in dressing reel-lines,
23.
Use of the chain scythe, 276.
Use of the landing-net, 229.

 

289

Variety of food found in fishes,
stomachs, 242.

Varnish for rods, 11.

Various sorts of smuts, 133.

Various ways of stocking, 261.

Very shy fish (Ronald’s), when to
cast to, 106,

Voracity of large male trout, 271.

WADERS, 32.

Water and- air, temperature of, as
affecting hatch of duns, 140.

Weather, dry-fly in rough or rainy

Weather as influencing sport, 138.

Weed-cutting on shallows, 275.

Weed-cutting, side and bar system of
275,

Weed-patches, tails of, 75.

Weeded, when trout, tactics to pur-
sue, 224.

Weeding, trout, 223.

Weeds, cut, to prevent from drifting
down, 276.

Weeds, heavy banks of, playing a
trout hooked among, 225.

Weeger winch fittings, 15.

Wells, Henry P., on manufacture of
split-cane rods, 8,

Wet box for gut, Mr. Hawksley’s, 27.

Wet-fly and dry-fly, comparative ad-
vantages of, 37.

Wet-fly, circumstances favourable to,

39:
When to cast to grayling, 108.
When to cast to a very shy fish
(Ronald’s), 106.
When not to throw, 106.
Whipping greenheart rods, 11.
Whipping split-cane rods, Io.
Wild fish for stocking, 262.
Winch fittings, 15.
Winch fittings, Weeger, 15.
Winged enemies of fish, 271.
Willow flies in grayling, 249.

YEARLINGS for stocking, 263.

PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
By the same Author.
NOW READY. SECOND EDITION.

Floating Flies and How to Dress Them.

A TREATISE ON THE MOST MODERN METHOD OF DRESSING
ARTIFICIAL FLIES FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING.

With full Dlustrated Directions and containing Ninety Hanp-CoLovrEp
Eneravines of the most Killing Patterns, and accompanied by a few
Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen.

By FREDERIC M. HALFORD,

“ DETACHED BADGER” OF ‘‘ THE FIELD,” MEMBER OF THE ‘‘ HOUGHTON CLUB,”
“Fiy-FISHERS’ CLUB,” &c.

ABSTRACT OF CONTENTS.

Chap. I.—On Eyed-Hooks. Chap. IV.—To Dress Floating Flies on
Chap. II.—On Materials and Imple- Eyed-Hooks.

ments for Fly-Dressing. Chap. V.—On Artificial Flies.
Chap. I1I.—On Dyeing. Chap. VI.—Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen.

N.B.—All plates of pattern flies are hand-coloured, and the effect is naturally
much enhanced by this process.

CONDITIONS OF PUBLICATION.

A Large-paper Edition, printed on Dutch hand-made paper, limited to 100 copies
for England and 50 for America, price 30s., in vellum binding.

(This Edition is exhausted. The copies for America are sold.)

Small-paper Edition, Demy 8vo, cloth, price 15s. :

Extracts from Reviews of ‘‘ Floating Flies and how to Dress them,”

‘*This book is therefore something more than deeply interesting, for in its
practical purpose, no less than in its literary style, abounding information, and
superlative illustration, it is a landmark in the history of angling literature, and
it is not surprising to learn that a large-paper edition was disposed of by order
before publication.” —Field.

“We must congratulate Mr. Halford on the very thorough, clear, and interest-
ing manner in which every detail of his work has been carried out, and we must
also congratulate the fly-fishing fraternity on the fact that such an accomplished
and practical fly-fisherman as Mr. Halford should thus unreservedly have thrown
open to them his almost unequalled experience."—Fishing Gazette.

‘‘The writer deserves the hearty thanks of all fly-fishermen for the able way
in which he has placed his undoubtedly great knowledge of the art before his
readers. We should recommend the careful perusal of his volume to all fly-
tyers—professional as well as amateur.’"—Saturday Review.

“Mr. Halford has done good service to the whole fraternity, and has distinctly
added a standard work to English angling literature.”— Vanity Fair.

**No more skilful exponent of this art could be found than Mr. Halford... .
The gems of the book are the numerous delicate engravings, most carefully hand-
painted, of the chief flies in use in chalk-streams. Nothing more beautiful of its
kind has ever been published. These illustrations are creditable both to. the
artist and to the enterprise of the publishers, The book is simply indispensable
to the trout angler in clear deep streams, and will be a constant source of delight
to him in unseasonaBle weather. We have never seen more sensible directions
for fly-dressing. So practical, and yet so much a work of art, is this book, that
the difficulty is, whether specially to recommend it for the study or for the
drawing-room table.”—Athenceum.

The Small-paper Edition will be sent post free on receipt of price by the Publishers.

Messrs. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, Limirep,
Sr. Dunsran’s House, Ferrer Lang, Lonbon.
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