30 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



piece of lead and drawn quickly through the water, is often 

 the only bait used by heavers and haulers for bluefish, who 

 fish for a livelihood. 



Of artificial flies, I know that gaudy colors are generally 

 preferred by the black bass, while the red ibis is one of the 

 most attractive lures for trout in the waters of Long Island, 

 and in many streams and lakes remote from the sea-board. 

 Of course the red ibis fly does not imitate any winged insect 

 seen on the waters of the State of New York. Its adoption 

 resulted from the frequent rises of trout to the red float while 

 fishing with bait. I scarcely suppose a critic will be found 

 willing to risk his reputation, however slender, upon insisting 

 that a red float is the imitation of some water-fly. Anglers 

 generally regarded these trout-leaps at the float as a whimsi- 

 cal caprice of theirs while on a spree. Not so, however, with 

 Judge Philo T. Ruggles and Mr. Finn, two among the 'best 

 fly-fishers in the state. They concluded to test the fancy of 

 trout by offering them a red fly. Accordingly, Mr. Finn 

 bought a red ibis of a taxidermist, and employed a fly-tyer 

 to make it into flies. The result was a success ; and the fly- 

 tyer, who was presented with all of them but a couple of 

 dozen, actually made money enough by the sale of them to 

 set himself up in the fishing-tackle business. Early in the 

 season this is the most killing fly on Long Island, though per- 

 haps not for large fish, which generally prefer the fly made 



THE ARTIFICIAL DRAGON-FLY. 



