82 PRACTICAL FLY FISHING 



FLOATING BUG AND ITS HISTORY 



The idea of a cork-bodied fly is very old. Gervaise 

 Markham in "The Art of Angling," 1614, gives di- 

 rections for tying a trout fly " fixed upon a fine piece 

 of cork." 



The first floating fly made commercially for bass 

 fishing probably was the " Coaxer " fly, a loaf-shaped 

 piece of cork with wings of red felt and a single hook 

 concealed by a feather. 



I have been unable to learn definitely when the pres- 

 ent form of cork-bodied bass fly, or " bug," first came 

 into use. In 1911 Mr. B. F. Wilder, of New York, 

 found Mr. Louis B. Adams using such flies of his own 

 tying on the Belgrade lakes, in Maine. Mr. Wilder 

 passed the idea along to a number of mid-west anglers, 

 notably Will H. Dilg and Fred Peet of Chicago. 

 These ardent brothers of the angle tried them, in 1916, 

 on the small mouthed bass of the Upper Mississippi 

 River with wonderful success. Mr. Dilg Will o' 

 the Houseboat wrote several articles on this fishing 

 which appeared in Field and Stream and the bass bugs 

 instantly became immensely popular throughout the 

 United States and Canada. 



Realizing the danger and confusion of a multitude 

 of patterns I suggested that a few patterns should be 

 standardized, and as a result a meeting was called by 

 some Chicago fishermen and professional fly tyers and 

 the following patterns were named and described as 

 being adequate for all conditions of weather and water : 



