TROUT FLIES IN APRIL 



the river (Beaverkill and Willowemoc) to a dis- 

 tance of over twenty miles. 



The early part of May, 1915, up to the 19th, was 

 unusually cold and stormy, with frost almost every 

 night and vegetation two weeks late. On the 11th 

 and 12th of the month the temperature suddenly 

 changed to almost summer heat. This brought out 

 a fair rise of shad-fly, mixed with a heavy flight of 

 small, iron-colored drakes and yellow sallies. 

 Then came a sudden decline in temperature to bit- 

 ter cold. Two days afterward, with slight warm 

 showers and rising temperature, the great rise be- 

 gan about noon, the insects flying thick from the 

 surface to thirty feet in the air, and all remaining 

 over the water till sunset. It would be a feast to 

 the eyes of most anglers to see the water's surface 

 fairly bubble with rising fish, fighting-mad to eat. 



The shad-fly is exceedingly active and strong in 

 flight, which makes it most difficult to capture. It 

 is somewhat like the house moth in action, flutter- 

 ing, rapidly moving in all directions, to get out of 

 the way of a fly-net. It is utterly impossible to 

 capture a specimen away from the water; as, on 

 very rare occasions when they do fly over land, they 

 go from twenty to forty feet high. Sometimes, but 

 not often, they do take a rest to alight on leaves 

 and twigs at the water's edge, but their movements 

 are rapid in every way when efforts are made to 



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