r April 6, 1895. 1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
269 
MATERIALS FOR FLY-TYING. 
The article entitled A Fly-Fisher's Gossip, in last week's 
Forest and Stream, has Drought us a number of inquiries 
as to the varicus materials which are used in tying arti- 
ficial flies. Thpse inquiries are so numerous and so 
various that it is impossible for us to answer them all, 
and we are obliged to refer those interested in the sub- 
ject to Mr. Keene's interesting little work, "Fly Fishing 
and Fly Making, for Trout, Bass and Salmon." This 
volume gives *ery full instructions as to fly-making, and 
is, besides, very fully illustrated with cut°, showing the 
different processes to be gone through with in fly-tying. 
It contains also two plates on which are shown the actual 
material, that is to say the feathers, silk, wool, tinsel, 
etc., used in making the flies. One of these plates, some- 
what reduced; is given here, and we quote the descrip- 
tions of the various feathers shown: 
' 'No. 26.— Silver black hackle, or white sock-a'-bondclhu. 
Choose for preference very clear black tapering [center, 
pure silver white tips. 
"No. 27.— Mottled hackle, from Plymouth Rock 
chickexis. s*^ 
"No. 28.— Gock-a'-bonddhu hackle, black center, brown 
tips. Acquire them whenever you get a chance. They 
are most useful for a variety of flies. 
'No. 29.— Brown hackle. Ditto repeated. A good 
hackle is short in fiber, with thin, strong mid-rib. Get 
your hackles as near the colors I have described as pos- 
sible, but do not discard thos° that are near the shade 
but not it exactly. On the hocx they look different from 
what they do off it. 
"No. 30.— Ibis. The feather s..own is the small breast 
feather, and but inadequately, expresses how beautiful 
and useful the whole feathers of the bird are. The entire 
skin is one blaze of scarlet, and hardly a feather is 
wasted in fly-making. A whole^skin is quite necessary 
to the) amateur fly-maker. 
FLY MATERIALS. 
"No. 31.— Mallard. This feather is from the breast of 
the mallard, and is given as typical of the sort of fibers 
required for a large variety of flies from its near relations 
—the wood- luck, pintail and canvasback. In all cases 
where this beautifully mottled feather is indicated, it is 
taken from the breast. The feathers from each are so 
similar that I do not think it necessary to repeat the 
others. 
"No. 32. — Brown hen. Taken from the quill feather on 
a brown hen or rooster. Nearly every feather of a brown 
chicken is useful. 
No. 33 and 34.— Feather from underside of mallard 
wing. These feathers provide the metallic-looking dun 
wings of a great variety of flies and vary in shade from 
a white silver pearly to a dull, almost black dun. Turn 
up the wing of the mallard and there they are before you. 
"No. 36.— Blue heron. This is a very useful substitute 
for the dove in the Henshall, though, perhaps, Dr. 
Henshall would not think it an improvement. It is some- 
times impossible to get the gray dove wings, and a noted 
Florida fisherman tells me he has substituted this feather 
with great advantage among the many fly-rising fish 
abounding in the waters of that region. 
"No. 37.— Ostrich herl from the plumes of the bird. 
This is exceedingly useful for the heads of flies, and 
makes a very attractive furnish-leader, both strong and 
light." 
Smelt Fishing 1 in Lake Champlain. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— I suppose something about 
smelt-fishing is in order just n< w. One day last week 
two of us left Whalon's Bay about 9.30 a. m. and returned 
before dinner with two nice strings of fisb. "We fished 
just about two hours, in the bay next to Grog Harbor, 
south, and six miles north of Westport village. Two holes 
had been cut through the ice here which we reopened. 
We also entered into the labors of former fishermen in us- 
ing their brush house to keep out of the wind. The day 
was cold, our lines freezing together when left out a 
minute. 
This] little bay ia nearly land-locked, being exposed in 
only one direction. A brush house is simply a collection 
of cedar limbs and small trees placed to windward of the 
holes. A fire too had been built by our predece=sors on the 
ice in the sheljter of the bushes, and within a few feet of 
the holes. We soon found it necessary to relight it to 
warm our half paralyzed fingers. We found a trea=ure 
in a piece of cedar-pitch, the next best thing to pine-pitch, 
in starting up a blaze. We each reeled off about thirty 
feet of line. I sounded with fifty feet out and brought no 
bottom, though we were within four rods of the shore. 
We caught on the average one fish every five minutes, for 
at the end of the two hours we counted forty-five smelt 
and one perch; not a wonderful catch to be sure, but they 
were biting well when we had to come away to do "noon 
chores," that is, watering the stock and cleaning out 
stables, feeding again for the night, etc. 
Luck runs in queer streaks. I caught all of the large 
smelt and not one small one, while my friend Guy 
caught all of the small ones. We fished in holes not eight 
feet apart, both baited and hooked alike and fisher! at the 
same depth nearly. We reel up our lines a la Canuck. 
The fish-pole is about two feet in length, having an eye 
at the end for the line to run through, and near the base 
a boat-cleat screwed on to keep the line on when not in 
use, and to hold the excess of line. Drawing the fish-pole 
to an easy distance with the right hand, a stick of about 
two feet long catches the line (with the left hand) about 
four feet down; then the fish pole again, and so on. The 
line in this way can be drawn up rapidly, about thirty 
feet in five seconds. Of course, all that is necessary is to 
keep a steady pull on the line, and as the fish nears the 
ice, slow up a little so as not to rub it off against the sharp 
edges. Some use the thumb of the left hand and the fish- 
pole in the right, but this is not so fast, and the cold, wet 
line makes one's hand ache. Then, too, the stick keeps 
the loops open and free to run out again, whereas when 
the thumb is used the struggling fish is apt to close up 
some of the loops while you are taking him ofi. Then 
come the fuu to "pick up your dropped stitches." 
I knew an old one-handed fisherman who had a way of 
his own to draw up his fish. When he hooked a fish he 
would run the length of his line on the ice, the hole being 
cut so as not to catch the fish as he passed out. 
About here they use for bait the flesh of the smelt. The 
cut is made beginning at the vent on the belly and cut- 
ting away from the belly-fin for about three quarters of 
an inch. Smelt's eyes are also often put on the end of the 
barb, and I think it pays to cover this up, but not many 
do it. 
_ All of the larger smelt we caught were roe-fish, not a 
single male >f size being caught. This roe is delicious, 
cooked in the same pan with the fish. These fish have 
scales, but it is no trouble to remove them, for simply 
passing a knife blade once the "wrong way" loosens all 
of them; a washing then makes them as free from scales 
as a trout. They are cooked, rolled in flour or bread 
crumbs, with heads and tail left on. The bones of the 
smaller ones may be eaten, as with trout. Our largest 
smelt ran twelve to thirteen inches, and the smallest, six 
inches. There were fifteen small ones, four large ones 
and the rest medium. Heathcote. 
Our correspondent adds this fuller description of fish- 
ing a la Canuck: If in a sitting or stooping posture, the 
fisherman, assumes Fan erect position, on hooking a fish, 
at the same time raising the short fish-pole to the heighth 
of the shoulder with the right hand. Now the two-foot 
blank pole held in the left nand engages the line near the 
ice from the opposite or right side, and is immediately 
raised to the height of the shoulder, in a semi-circle de- 
scribed to the left from below, while the right hand, with 
the fish-pole, descends, describing a complimentary semi- 
circle to the right, from above to the ice, passes in front of 
the body to the left, and engages the line near the ice from 
the further side or left. When one hand is up,the other is 
always down. The arms are held far apart and rigid in 
order to keep tlie line taut. The same motion is gone 
through, only backwards, in holding a skein of yarn on 
the thumbs of both hands, while (say your sister) winds 
it into a ball. Eeverse this motion, that is reel it from a 
ball of yarn on to your two thumbs, and you have the 
same motion nearly. 
Smelt in Lake Champlain. 
Boston Mass. — March 21. — In this week's issue I noticed 
Mr. A. N. Cheney speaks of the ice fish or smelt of Lake 
Champlain being taken only near Port Henry and West- 
port. I have taken many dozens of these delicious fish 
near Burlington when a youngster, and can say that they 
are taken in several localities in that part of the lake, 
one of the favorite places being near either end of the 
Burlington breakwater. So far as I could ever learn they 
were never seen in the lake in Summer, and it was then 
generally supposed that they came up from salt water via 
the St. Lawrence, every winter. C. H. Morse. 
Pennsylvania Trout Streams. 
We have received word from Mr. Charles S. Lee, Gen- 
eral Passenger Agent of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, that 
a number of trout streams in Bradford, Sullivan and Wy- 
oming counties, Pa., tributary to the Susquehanna River, 
and adjacent to the line of the railroad, will be stocked 
by the commissioners of fisheries April 1. The list in- 
cludes the following streams: 
Stout's Creek and Ransom Creek, Ransom township;. 
Falls Creek, in Falls township; Teague's Eddy, Washing- 
ton township; Meshoppen Creek and branches in Meshop- 
pen; Tuscarora Creek and branches in Skinner's, Eddy 
Township; Sugar Run Creek and branches in Sugar 
Run; Wyalusing Creek and branches inWyalusing; Mey- 
ersburg Creek. Durell Creek, and little Wysox Creek in 
Wysox; Satterlee Run in Monroeton; South Branch Creek 
in "South Branch; the head waters of Towanda Creek in 
Fish Pond ; Two streams, feeders of Loyalsock Creek in 
Satterfield; Birch Creek in Bernice; Lopez, Loyalsock, 
Pigeon and Sauter Creeks, Rock Run and Sherman Run 
in Lopez; Ellis Creek and branches, and Glass Creek 
(two branches) in Seamans; Painter Den Creek, South 
Brook and W<-df Run in Newell; Open Run in Lee Road; 
Mehoopany Creek — two streams, headwaters of Me- 
hoopany Creek in Ricketts; Pond Branch and Middle 
Branch of Bowman's Creek, and the south branch of Mf- 
hoopiny Creek and Beau Run Creek in Beau Run; 
Sickle's Brancn of Bowman's Creek, and Beth Run's 
Creek in Belli Run. 
A Veteran Angler Gone. 
Wesley M. Cameron died suddenly Sunday, March 24. at 
the Barrett House, Cincinnati, at the advanced age of 
nearly eighty-two years. Born, in Cecil county, Md., he 
came to Cincinnati in 1833, and became a master builder 
and accumulated much wealth. He always kept his 
promises, and among his business associates his word was 
as good as his bond. Retiring from active business 
twenty-five years ago, he devoted much of his'leisure to 
It 
angling for trout, at which he was an enthusiast. For 
eighteen years he made regular trips to Lake Superior and 
up the Michigan River, usuallv accompanied by his 
brother-in-law, the well known Forest and Stream corre- 
spondent, Alex Starbuck. His last trip was made about 
eleven years ago. About six years ago he was at Petosky, 
Mich., to obtain relief from asthmatic trouble, and was 
eager to go on another fishing trip, but was dissuaded by 
his wife and daughter, who feared the rough weather 
might prove injurious, although in other respects he was 
unusually rugged for a man of his age. Hn was an old 
time frequenter of, and at the time of his death, a direc- 
tor of the well known Curier Club, and was at the club 
rooms the Friday evening preceding his demise. He was 
a good-natured, genial, pleasant gentleman, fond of re- 
lating his experiences in the Canadian wilds, and had 
a host of friends who will miss his presence among them. 
E. S. W. 
The Doctor's Luck. 
Tarpon fishing has begun, but tarpon catching is back- 
ward. Up to this writing but five tarpon have been 
caught in the Caloosahatchie River, and two at the mouth 
of the river at St. James — seven altogether. 
My "lack" for the week is as follows: One silver king 
(tarpon) caught to-day, weight 1181bs., length, 6ft. 4in., 
time to gaff, one hour. One channel bass, or red-fish, as 
the natives call them, weight, 171bs., length, 37in., time 
to gaff on light rod, 15 minutes. One alligator, length, 
6 ft, shot with a .38-55 take-down rifle at 75 yards, from 
boat while alligator was swimming. One rattlesnake, 
length, 5 ft. I shot this fellow in a coil so tbat in shoot- 
ing his head I unfortunately blew the rattles off al«o. 
This, with a string of large mouth black bass or trout, as 
they are called here, comprised my "luck." 
Ruecs Clipens, M.D. 
Early Montauk Trout. 
A correspondent of Forest and Stream writes me that 
trout fishing was active near Helena early in March. On 
the 10th two anglers drove to Beaver Creek and returned 
the same day. bringing with them seventy fine fish of the 
red-throated kind — the fish which has been so outrag- 
eously slandered by calling it a "cut-throat." 
Another fisherman caught forty-two in the Little 
Blackfoot, near Elliston, one of them weighing three and 
a half pounds. Our correspondent learned that the fish 
were taken with the fly. 
"Beaver Creek," he writes, "is eighteen miles from 
Helena. The only way to get there is by team, which can 
be had for three dollars per day. The Little Blackfoot 
is also about eighteen miles distant, and can be reached 
by the N. P. R. R-, fare about -$1.45 for the round trip. 
The train leaves HoleE a at 8.40 a. in., returning arrives 
at Helena at 10 p. m." 
At the date of this letter (March 17) there was a great 
deal of snow on the mountains, but the sun was bright 
and warm and an overcoat unnecessary. He has heard 
of numerous trout streams within a radius of twenty-five 
miles and has promised to locate them and send a full ac- 
count of the fishing. 
Washington D. C. T. H. B. 
Big Pickerel. 
Ithaca, N. Y.— Some extraordinary fine catches of 
pickerel have been made recently at the northern end of 
Cayuga Lake. At Union Springs a few days ago an Au- 
burn party, fishing through the ice, caught a pickerel 
weighing nineteen pounds, the total weight of the day's 
catch being close to sixty pounds. Again, at Cayuga, 
March 25, Wm. Ferree and James Heffer, both of Au- 
