468 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
iJuNB 12, 1897. 
which was 60° to 62", was too cold for them. So we led a 
pipe from the surface of the lake to the pool, and in this way 
raised the temperature of the water to 73° to 74°. The bass 
at once responded and built eight nestg I cleaned the pool 
with hook and line of those which had not spawned. As 
soon as the swarms rose from the beds we took the old bass 
away, and then the fun began. The fry absolutely refused 
to eat anything I offered them. 1 tried meat and liver, raw 
and cooked, codfish raw and cooked, etc., but they would 
have none of it; but they would eat one another. One lin. 
long would cheerfully swallow one of fin., and seemingly be 
perfectly ready to repeat the feat. Then we collected water 
plants, placed them in shallow boxes and put them in the 
pool. That helped a little, but not much, so I sent the whole 
force of the hatchery to fill up their spare time sweeping the 
shallow water of the ponds and lakes near by with mosquito- 
netting nets. But they could not collect food as fast as the 
bass would eat it; and about the last of August I gave it up, 
and took the remaining fry out of the pool. It was a case 
of the survival of the fittest with a vengeance. 
"We got 164 fish about 3iin long, but I figured that they 
cost us about $5 ea-h, and the finance committee said things. 
Incidentally 1 found some of the foes of the black bass fry. 
Two sunfiah got into the pool, how I do rot know, except by 
walking over land ; however, there they were, and after try- 
ing to catch them 1 shot thtm with a parlor rifle while bask- 
ing. They then held nineteen and twenty-two fry, respec- 
tively. A bull-frog also squatted by the edge of the pool 
* and filled himself full, and a bull-frog's capacity is very 
great. Oonnecled with the hatchery is a rather laige pond 
four or five acres in extent. Wcen the frost came we drew 
this down, and as far as po-sible took out all the sunfish, 
rock bass, yellow perch, etc. Then the following spring re- 
peated operations in the pool, and when the swarms rose 
dumped them into the pond» and paid no further attention to 
them. We had only seven nests that year, but despite 
waste, sunfish, bull-frogs, yellow p rch, etc., when we drew 
the pond the following November we secured over 13,000 
little bass about 2in. long, and duplicated the success the 
following year, since which time we have discontinued the 
work, as the pond is too big to be handled comfortably, and 
owing to the large surface of mud exposed the park residents 
dread malaria. However, we have gone far enough to con- 
vince me that with little expense and a simple plaut, black 
bass may be raised to any reasonable extent." 
Mr. Kent's letter is valuable, as it shdws the diflaculties 
encountered and what must be done to surmount them in 
order to successfully rear black bass fry. Successes in fish- 
culture oftentimes comes after repeated failures, and any one 
who points out what must be avoided is a benefactor to the 
fish warden. Mr. Kent's observations upon the temperature 
of water necessary fo incite bass to prepare their nests are 
particularly valuaole. I have just been at the Sl:ate shad 
hatching station on the Hudson, at CatskiUs, and the highest 
the water has been this month (May) is 64°, and the day I 
left, Wednesday, it was 61°, which would indicate that this 
year at least it was a wise amendment to the law which put 
off bass fishing from. May 30 until June 15. If the subject 
is pursued I am satisfied that all anglers who wish to pre- 
seive the bass will advocate a close season extending to 
July 1. 
"Setting" a Fly Book. 
A friend who has a preserve in the Adirondacks has for a 
guardian of the property a man who is commonly called 
Hank, and never by any chance called Henry. Hank is a 
hunter, fisherman, trapper and story-teller, and one of whcm 
many good stories are told concerning his long career as a 
woodsman. 
I was visiting my friend at his camp, and one evening we 
were looking over the contents of a well-tilled fly book, 
when Hank came in. The leaves of the book were turned, 
the contents of the pockets were exposed, and the various 
flies were commenttd upon, but not a word from Hank until 
the book was closed. Then he spoke: "There are more flies 
in that book than I ever saw together before, and if you will 
let me take it and "set" it in the lake to-night I will catch 
more trout than you can haul out of here with two horses." 
A. N. Chenjsy. 
RHODE ISLAND SEA FISHING. 
South Pobtsmoxj'xh, R. I , May 29.— To the lov.rs of sea 
fishing it will be of interest to know that the finest fi.shing 
to be had in the United States can be found along the shores 
and on the outer edges and reefs on the line of coast extend- 
ing from Bateman's Point Island of Rhode Island to Sa- 
chuest Point in Middletown, R I., and the most southern 
part of that town. Directly opposite Sachuest Point is the 
tar famed West Island Fishing Club, lor many years noted 
for its striped bass fihhiug. Sachuest Point or Easton's Point 
being equally as good, but not fished so thoroughly as West 
Island, except Sachuest Neck, where it has been the good 
fortune of the writer to fish, boy and man, for the past thirty 
years for striped bass. Without wishing to be thought ego- 
tistical, I may add that no one rod or line has killed more 
striped bass than mine in Rhode Island waters, which fact 
can readily be substantiated by local fishermen, and also by 
the markets of Newport. No doubt some reader will 
say professional fisherman, and I must pie id guilty to some 
extent. When a boy I followed fishing for pleasure, and it 
became such a passion with me that 1 resolved if I ever had 
my own way to follow it as a business. Fortunately, or un- 
fortunately, when quite young I was placed in a position to 
make my own choice of an occupation. Pishing, I found, 
paid well if foUovped systematically and intelligently; sol 
went at it, and for the past twenty years have spent all my 
time during the season fishing. Possibly this declaration 
may rob this article of what little interest it might possess 
for your readers, but I assure any brother angler who may 
reaa this that although fishing is a daily business with me, I 
can take the fly rod and feel as keen enjoyment in using it 
as any one need to; or I can take a 7oz, bait rod and play a 
black bass, and enjoy every tug and leap of a bronze back, 
and feel sorry even when the last leap is made and the land- 
ing net is under the fish and he is landed. You see 1 follow 
it almost as much for pleasure as I do for profit, and to day 
if there was. not a dollar in it I should fish just the same. 
It's second nature to some of us to follow the water. But I 
am off the track entirely from what I started to write. 
Your correspondent, W. H. M., speaks of the 181b tautog 
caught at Price's Neck in the trap of George Calvert as estab- 
lishing the record "for that vicinity," which I don't dispute, 
but I can go a few pounds better for Rhode Island waters. 
In 1885, 1 think it was, one was taken at Seaconet Point in 
a trap, .and I saw it weighed, which tipped the scales at 
SSAlbs In 3889 one was caught at Coggsball's Point and 
was on exhibition in the Newport market, that weighed 
19ilbs., and again, two years later, one of 301bs. These are 
of course abnormally large fish of this kind. The largest I 
ever caught weighed iSilbs,, and to date is said to ba the 
largest ever caught with hook and line in Seaconet River, 
On Friday, May 28, I caught three tautog in a day's fishing 
weighing 10, 8i and Slbs. ; the total catch was close to 
3001bs. There are many catches of from 200 to 3001bs. of 
tautog taken in a day's fishing in this section; the best fish- 
ing is to be had in boats, but those who prefer the shore fish- 
ing may have good sport. In season good flounder fishing 
can be had. Daring the fall and summer run of round 
mackerel for the past two years very large numbers have 
been caught from the recks; one catch of over 1,200 was 
made on the rocks on Sachuest Point by two rods in less 
than seven hours, and for nearly six weeks it was a daily oc- 
currence for parties to drive out from Newport and take from 
50 to 200 to a rod. I saw one party of four with four corn 
bags (such as the Western corn is transported in, holding 
about two bushels each) packed full for a half day's fishing. 
There must have been from 1,600 to 1,700 of them in 
number. 
Now, one more fish story and I am done. I can name two 
men who within the past fifteen years have caught in one 
day's fishing within four miles of Sachuest Point, R. I., 
9811bs. of tautog and sea bass. Wm. M. Hughes. 
m A FLY-TYING FACTORY. 
While the angler of this country stands far ahead in his 
expertness in casting the fly, it is very doubtful if many 
know much about the surroundings of the art of fly -tying, 
or that there is in New York city the only fly factory in this 
country, and that it is the largest in the world. 
At one time Great Britain held the palm for artiflcal flies 
and exported them to this country. Now the American 
flies are exported to England. The superior system of su- 
pervision of every process of manufacture and inspection of 
the flnif^hed product is one reason for this; but, undoub edly 
the method of "team wotkmg" almost universally employed 
in England is largely to blame for the loss of their trade. 
By team workmg is meant that the fly-tying is done at the 
tenements of the workers and not in a regular factory. In 
this way one family will, for example, work for years on a 
very few patterns, and this work becomes mechanical and 
the tiers lot^e all interest in it. 
In this factory the workers are recruited from the vast 
population, and no one is employed who does not seem to 
be likely to take an interest in her work and who is not 
pretty well educated. Add to this, the American (as in most 
business) is on hand personally looking after every detail in 
his factory, pulling the loose ends together, active and intent 
on getting the very best individual work he can out of bis 
intelligent help. 
The factory is on the top floors of a building with the best 
of light and ventilation, and the first section is the feather 
storage, where in tin-lined bins are stored feathers from 
almost every known bird of brilliant plumage, Europe, Asia 
and Africa not excepted. These are divided in the first in- 
stance into these of seafowl and landfowl. The former are 
most preferred for flies wherever their colors are right, be- 
cause of the greater amount of oil contained in them, wtuch 
renders the fly more serviceable and more durable in the 
water. These feathers are bought from every available 
source, and so hard is it to keep an adequate supply of the 
smaller types that it is necessary to carry a stock for four 
years at least. There is no known or recognized market for 
them, no set price; the manufacturers find a supply here, 
there and everywhere, and fix the price according to the 
quantity. For instance, the barred feathers vary from a 
quarter of a cent to four cents each. These bulk feathers 
have to be carefully selected and sorted by girls trained to 
the work, and they are sorted first to colors, then to quality, 
then to size. The quality is determined by the closeness of 
the bars to each other. The size ranges from "14," which 
are about lin. long, to "2," which are about 4^in. long; 
these numbers representing the size of the fly they are in- 
tended for. Very few feathers are died, the bulk are used 
in their natur-il colors. It takes a girl about twelve months 
before she is considered competent, as the eye must be edu- 
cated to tell the distinction between the close running num- 
bers at a glance. Roughly speaking, thire are every year 
about 150 girls taken on "for the various departments, to 
eventually become fly tiers, and out of these not more than 
ten have the requisite delicacy and quickness of eye and 
hand. 
When the girls sit down to tie, there are ten girls to every 
hundred told oS simply to wait on the fly-makers and bring 
them the various supplies called for; and these ten girls are 
kept hustling all the time. The hooks with the gut snells 
attached are taken in hand, and with the low-priced flies the 
body is first formed by deftly wrapping around the shank a 
piece of suitable worsted, this being the base, in varying 
colors, for the majority of that grade; then a strip of feather 
is taken of the type suitable for that particular fly, and this 
is wound around the upper part of the body, so that the 
quill section (if one may so term the film of skin) lies its full 
length next to the body, while the bars of the feather stand 
out in every direction direct from and at right angles to the 
body like the spokes in a wheel. This sounds very easy, 
but It is quite a trick to do it properly, and on this point de- 
pends the ultimate success of the fly. Then the wings are 
added, these being another strip of feather bars, deftly tied 
so that it stands up behind the collar- like strip just adjusted, 
at an angle of about 45°, and this efl'ect is secured by a 
peculiar twisting, whipping and knotting of the silk which 
holds the tiny artistic creation together. While the British 
flies have wings lying almost flat on the shank of the hook, 
the Americau fly has wings standing well up; this being 
necesssry by reason of the more rapid streams in this 
countrj'. 
In the higher class of fly this process of manufacture is 
reversed to a great extent. Then the bronzed hook, specially 
tested for temper and strength, having a full hollow point, is 
taken, and the wing is at once whipped on to the shank, 
lying flat forward from the barb; then the body of chenille, 
etc., is whipped on securely, then the tinsel, or whatever the 
species calls for, and then, the body completed, the wing is 
bent backward and whipped in its proper position. Thus 
each portion is separately whipped, and ail doubly whipped 
by the finish at the head, which is then cemented and var- 
nished. 
A girl can tie five or six dozen per dav of the high grades, 
and of the cheaper grades a good wor&er ties from twelve to 
sixteen dozen per day. This record varies much according 
to pattern and minutia?. 
It is found necessary to take all these precautions of sepa- 
rate tyiugs, ceraentings and varnishings to make the fly as 
strong throughout as possible, for none but a fly manufac- 
turer, possibly, fully appreciates the terrific strain placed 
upon a fly quickly whipped through water, a pressure to the 
square inch which nothing but the natural elasticity of the 
feather enables it to bear. 
As to the designs of the flies, they are almost all modeled 
on some insect or bug in nature, the exceptions being certain 
combinations of colors which have, for some little grasped 
reason, proved successful in the past. Now a new feature 
is being taken into consideration, and that is the aj)pearance 
of the natural fly when wet, and the appearance of the 
artificial fly when wet. In the water most blues become 
nearly black, reds become purple, yellow grows several 
shades lighter, etc., etc., according to the water, and if the 
insect has, for instance, a pale blue fuzz on a gray skin, and 
the fly should have a pale blue wing rather long and a 
slightly darker blue body, in the water it will look to have a 
body almost black with the wings widely different from the 
natural insect. 
The flies made vary from the tiny "midge" to the great 
flies which would overlay a dollar; and these are all for trout. 
The flies for Colorado and Montana are nearly all whipped 
on double hooks which point out in opposite directions about 
|in. apart. The most gaudy and impossible looking speci- 
mens, which go to country sections, where there is a demand 
for them which must be filled, and which are of little use 
anywhere else in this country, prove good killers in Maine, 
where the waters are deep, clear and cold. These are the 
Silver Doctor, .Jenny Lind, etc. The very large flies go 
mainly to Canada and California, and the Northwestern 
States, where there is very rapid and deep water, and the 
fish are plentiful ; but an Eastern expert would look askance 
at any fisherman usmg them in Long Island waters, In the 
very high priced flies many designs are special, invented by 
private individuals, who in Europe would carry their own 
kit and tie them themselves, but who in this busy country 
of ours have neither time nor inclination so to do. 
Some little idea of the detail in manufacturing flies may 
be gleaned from the fact that at this factory there are turned 
out every year about 5,000 flies of different kinds, qualities 
and sizes, and that each individual one of these is made 
(with few exceptions) in about 500 varieties, such a3 sizes of 
hooks, quality of gut, etc., etc , and that about 10,000 of the 
more commonly asked for varieties are kept in stock from 
day to day. 
When the flies are completed, each separate one is passed 
before an inspector and inspected for flawless gut, perfect 
knotting of snell, perfect whippings of fly, perfect cementing 
and varnishing, and then goes down stairs into stock with a 
number which shows who made the inspection ; and so, if 
after the flies have been sold and guaranteed as perfect, any- 
thing is found wrong and the customer returns the card, etc., 
which bears the faulty fly, the poor work can be immedi- 
ately traced. This system works as a preventative and com- 
plaints are very few. This is not done in any European 
factory. 
Eighteen years ago Mr. Imbrie (of Abbey & Imbrie, the 
proprietors of the company) went to Spain and made ar- 
rangements for securing proper and adequate supplies of 
silkworm gut. This gut on which the fly-hooks are snelled 
plays an important part in the factory, and is all imported 
from Europe, being the sac in the silkworm, which nature 
gave it to generate the s-ilk. These sacs are withdrawn from 
the insect, and then, tightly held between the thumb and 
finger of each hand, are stretched to about 10 or I2in., in 
fact, as long as the gut continues round, this being continu- 
ally tested by ?he tip of the tongue of the operator, both 
hands being employed. Quality is roundness rather than 
weis;ht, and as long as it is round the area of tension is more 
evenly distributed and the grain of gut uninjured. Thick- 
ness only indicates great strength when round, and a flat gut 
of great width is weaker than a thin round gut as a rule. 
The quality is judged by appearance, freshness, etc., and it 
comes ten bundles in a hand, selling by the 10,000. When 
these are received at the factory each bundle is opened and 
sorted in sizes as near as possible, and then goes to the 
knotter, who makes the loops at the opposite end to the hook, 
drawing them tight over a screw hook in a bench, thus cut- 
ting the ends very close, which when the gut (being soaked 
before tying) dries out, is as hard and tight as if welded. 
The leaders of various length are no longer lashed in the old 
way, but by means of a new process are closely whipped and 
cemented with a waterproof composition which becomes 
harder with age and more perfect in every way. 
It may be remarked that the annoying "snapping" of the 
fly, breaking it off the line when casting is occasioned, as is 
well known, by the caster not letting his line get a perfectly 
straight extension before whipping it forward, but there are 
also other reasons. One is that the gut is too dry, and that 
if the gut had been adequately soaked before casting this an- 
noyance would be minimized. Another feature is the new 
reinforcing of the gut for the higher priced flies, which by 
bringing the gut back to the free snell, strengthens the snell 
just where it "snaps," and incidentally gives it a certain 
stability which makes it "drop" better and straighter. 
Every piece of gut in this American factory is graded to the 
hook on which it is to be used, and this i9 done nowhere else 
in the world. 
Thus the American fly presents almost perfection of art, 
graded feather, graded gut, graded hook, scientific reinforce- , 
mentof weak parts, waterproof cementing and greater spring 
to the feathers by reason of their adjustment, rendering the 
domestic trout fly, as claimed by the enthusiastic manufac- 
turer, a work of art not ranking behind the paintings of the 
old masters. In conclusion, the prices of these flies range 
from 18 cents per dozen to the fisherman, up through the 
grades of 25, 40, 45, 60, 80 cents, $1, $1.50, $2, $2 50, and 
salmon flies from $4 to $12 per dozen. Think of the endless 
detail of the skilled wort and then look again at the prices, 
The Silver Hook. 
We have received from Mr. Wm. de la M, Gary a copy of 
his etching entitled "The Silver Hook." We are aware that 
within recent years theorists have denied the existence of the 
bare-footed small boy, who catches with his rude tackle more 
and larger fish than reward the best efforts of the city angler 
with his fancy flies; and we take it, therefore, as important 
testimony on the question that Mr. Gary has here succeeded 
in depicting the youngster in such a lifelike presentment 
that there can be no question of his actual existence. The 
picture shows the small boy bartering his string of fish to an 
angler in consideration of a piece of sUver; it is in Mr. Gary's 
best vein. The plate measures 18x22in. The price is |6 
a copy. Mr. Gary's studio is at No. 35 Chambgrs street,, 
New York, 
