STREAMCRAFT 



Mr. Frederick M. Halford, a distinguished 

 English angler-author, was the most eminent 

 modern revivalist and apostle of the dry-fly cult, 

 which unquestionably has been overworked by 

 some of his more zealous followers. Mr. R. B. 

 Marston of the London Fishing Gazette notes 

 that James Ogden of Cheltenham, England, 

 claims in his book on Fly Tying, published in 

 1879, that he originated and introduced the 

 upright- winged floating fly about the year 1840; 

 and that Pulman, in his Vade-Mecum of Fly- 

 Fishing for Trout, has a very clear description 

 of the use of the dry fly in his third edition 

 1851. If it was in the first edition, that was in 

 1841. Also that Francis Francis has some most 

 pertinent references to dry-fly fishing, in his 

 Book on Angling (1867). But the trick of oiling 

 the fly is of much more recent origin. 



When the late Theodore Gordon first began 

 to use the dry fly he wrote to Mr. Halford to 

 learn how it was tied, in response to which he 

 received some of the Halford flies and a long 

 letter on the subject. Gordon's experience was 

 that the particular patterns which he received 

 from England gave service on American streams 

 much inferior to native creations in imitation of 

 certain "American bugs;" though we cannot say 

 authoritatively whether water flies differ ma- 

 terially in different sections of the world. But 

 why shouldn't they? Many of the other kinds 

 110 



