ROD & CREEL 29 



CHAPTER VI. 



HINTS ON FLY PISHING- FOR RAINBOW, CUT- 

 THROAT AND GRAYLING. 



FLY FISHING for trout is the most delightful of all methods 

 of fishing, and to become a real expert in all its branches 

 requires years of practice combined with a certain amount 

 of study of entomology. 



To make a perfect cast of a fly both hand and eye must work 

 in absolute harmony, just the same as in shooting a gun, hitting 

 a golf ball or making a stroke in billiards, and the man or woman 

 who is good at one can, with practice, become equally proficient 

 at the other. In fly fishing, however, not only is skill required, 

 but you need to use your brains to a considerable degree to out- 

 wit your fish, unless you happen to be fishing in virgin water 

 where the trout are of a confiding nature. The fact that you can 

 cast a perfect fly does not by any means insure success on water 

 that is at all fished. If trout are not feeding voraciously you 

 must give them the right kind and right sized fly. Sometimes it 

 is good to work it fast, at others just let the current carry it. 

 Occasionally a fly should be well sunk, at others nothing but a 

 floating fly is any use. You must also study the condition of the 

 water and weather and, this is where knowledge of entomology 

 comes in, have an idea what flies are or should be on the water. 



In addition to the above requirements the perfect fisherman 

 should be able to tie his own flies, in itself no mean accomplish- 

 ment, so that if he has not a fly to match one the fish are taking, 

 he can sit down and tie one in ten or fifteen minutes. To show 

 how useful such a thing is an instance may be given. 



Some year or two ago I was fishing in a lake in the interior 

 with a moderate degree of success with quite a large sized March 

 Brown. Just about 11 o'clock I saw fish start to rise on the edge 

 of a shallow in a fair-sized bay and by the time I got there they 

 were rising by the hundreds. Such a sight I have never seen 

 before and probably will never see again ; so fast were they feed- 

 ing and the rise so frequent that in spots where the schools were 

 thickest the water had the appearance of boiling. They were 

 nearly all good fish too, going from one and one-half to two 

 pounds, and were feeding on Black Gnats. As luck would have 

 it I had not such a fly or anything I could make one out of, as I 

 had always found before that either the Montreal, March Brown 

 or Jock Scott were quite certain on that particular lake. The 



