30 Fisuina iy American WATERS. 
piece of lead and drawn quickly through the water, is often 
the only bait used by heavers and haulers for bluefish, who 
fish for a livelihood. 
Of artificial flies, I know that gaudy colors are generally 
preferred by the black bass, while the red ibis is one of the 
most attractive lures for trout in the waters of Long Island, 
and in many streams and lakes remote from the sea-board. 
Of course the red ibis fly does not imitate any winged insect 
seen on the waters of the State of New York. Its adoption 
resulted from the frequent rises of trout to the red float while 
fishing with bait. I scarcely suppose a critic will be found 
willing to risk his reputation, however slender, upon insisting 
that a red float is the imitation of some water-fly. Anglers 
generally regarded these trout-leaps at the float as a whimsi- 
cal caprice of theirs while on a spree. Not so, however, with 
Judge Philo T. Ruggles and Mr. Finn, two among the best 
fly-fishers in the state. They concluded to test the fancy of 
trout by offering them a red fly. Accordingly, Mx. Finn 
bought a red ibis of a taxidermist, and employed a fly-tyer 
to make it into flies. The result was a success; and the fly- 
tyer, who was presented with all of them but a couple of 
dozen, actually made money enough by the sale of them to 
set himself up in the fishing-tackle business. Early in the 
season this is the most killing fly on Long Island, though per- 
haps not for large fish, which generally prefer the fly made 
Tue ARTIFICIAL DRAGON-PLY. 
