THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 8i 



my knowledge these flies in a warm sun, for an hour or two in 

 the day, are certainly taken. 



JANUARY. 



1. A red brown, with wings of the male of a mallard almost 

 white : the dubbing of the tail of a black long-coated cur, such 



is offered to them. I have, from mere wantonness of experiment, caught 

 dozens from a still pool, at noon-day, with a white miller ; and have rarely 

 known a hackle, adapted to the water, and weather, and time of day, to 

 fail. Hackles, in their several varieties, are the mainstays of the Ameri- 

 can angler, though not to the exclusion of winged flies. Thus, in the 

 Long Island ponds and sea fed streams, hackles are almost exclusively used 

 early in the season, followed, not supplanted by the far-famed Professor, 

 the green drake, the grey drake, and the camlets. Indeed, a skilful an- 

 gler, well acquainted with those waters, and disposed to give me informa- 

 tion, persisted in answering to all my questions about flies in their seasons, 

 *' hackle, hackle, hackle." He says : " I have found the plain, black 

 hackle, the black and blue-bodied hackle, the dark red hackle, the bright 

 red hackle, the yellow hackle, and the partridge and woodcock hackles, 

 decidedly the most killing flies in all American waters at all seasons, keep- 

 ing this in mind, that the later the season, the brighter and gaudier-bodied 

 fly maybe used successfully. I am not an admirer oi fancy flies, nor have 

 I seen them take many or large fish on Long Island. On the lakes in the 

 interior of New York, I have been informed that this is not the case, but 

 that peacock's eyes, drake wings, and even gaudy macaws kill well ; but 

 were I fishing for a wager, I would stick to the various hackles, unless it 

 were for salmon or sea trout, in taking which I believe the fancy flies pre- 

 ferable." 



Another skilful brother of the rod says, that (the present year) about 

 the first of April, the trout on Long Island would take freely only the grey 

 drake, made large for the tail and smaller for the drop ; though he killed 

 several with a gnat fly of brown body and black wings. 



Yet another, and a friend on whose judgment much reliance is to be 

 placed, writes his experience of the inland streams : " When I began to 

 fish, I bought flies according to the season in which the seller said they 

 were good, as did some of the books ; but I soon found that nothing could 

 be ascertained in this way, and that I could judge of a fly only by actual 

 trial, as the trout are very capricious in their taste. By observing what 

 fiy was on the water, or by putting on three or four of different colors, I 

 could decide wnat fly was to their taste, and keeping that fly so far as the 

 wings were concerned, I could change the body of the fly according to 

 circumstances. For my part, I believe that book knowledge will help an 

 angler in this country very little, for the obvious reason that the seasons 

 FART IT. 4* 



