NORTHERN INLAND FISHES. 2/9 



the best, and from eight to twelve feet of water the best depth ; 

 but some of the finest specimens which have been coaxed from 

 ponds have been taken with worm bait in fifty feet of water. The 

 fact is, however, that flies are often most killing- at times when 

 baits of any kind are hardly serviceable. For instance in the Del- 

 aware and Schuylkill the fish will not rise to the fly where they are 

 mostly caught with bait, for the fishing is essentially bottom fish- 

 ing in deep water (say from fifteen to twenty feet), at the foot of 

 dams or falls, or in still deep pools. In such places those most 

 successful use a weighted line, and endeavor to keep the bait 

 from two to three feet from the bottom. Now one would cast 

 with little effect with small flies, especially in such places, because 

 of the great depth of the water. The fact of the necessity of 

 special flies for particular places, from all testimony, seems quite 

 indispensable. The non-success of flies in bass fishing arises 

 more from faults in their size and color than in lack of apprecia- 

 tion in the fish ; most of the bass flies sold by the trade generally 

 hav^e only a local reputation, not applicable to all conditions aris- 

 ing from the varied haunts of this fish ; and this fault can not be 

 corrected except by observations of the many conditions that arise. 

 The most approved patterns for northern waters are the fol- 

 lowing : 



Page Fly. — Scarlet wings with scapulas of guinea fowl. 



HoLBERTON Fly. — Orange body ribbed with gold tinsel ; head of peacock's 

 herl ; a hackle of peacock's herl mixed with purple ; tail of wood duck feathers 

 tipped with scarlet ; under wing coverts of scarlet ibis mixed with mallard feath- 

 ers dyed yellow, outer wing coverts of wood duck feather, with two long rays of 

 peacock's herl, the latter giving the fly a very jaunty and attractive appearance 

 which even the best educated salmon could not resist. 



Turkey Brown and Turkey Green. — The first-named has turkey wings, 

 brown body ribbed with gold, red hackle and wood duck tail streaked with scar- 

 let ; the turkey green is similar except that it has a green body. 



Ferguson Fly. — Hook. — Medium No. 2 Sproat, or in Limericks about No. 10. 

 Trt?'/.— Peacock, yellow and scarlet, a portion each. Body.—'SlaAe: full, a bright 

 yellow tipped and ribbed with gold. Legs.— A green hackle, quite bushy, tied in 

 only at the head of the body under the wings. Wings.— K portion each of yellow 

 and scarlet feather with the dark brownish mottled feather from the wing of the 

 wild or tame turkey. 



Patterns of bass flies are various, and can be multiplied ad 

 libitum, gaudy colors being generally combined. Scarlet and 

 white used to be exclusively used. Now we have : 



