348 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 30, 1898. 
Food of the Bkcfc Bass. 
The food that any fish prefers indicates the lures by 
which it may be taken. The teeth of fishes are not as 
sure a guide to their food as are tlie teeth of mammals, 
yet those of the pike are purely piscivorous. The bristlc- 
likc teeth of black bass may be used to hold fish, but do 
not denote a preference for that diet. Where crayfish, 
which in parts of our country which were settled by 
Germans are called "crabs," are abundant, they are a fa- 
vorite, especially when they have moulted and are soft. 
Insects and their larvre and pupEC come next, especially 
that much-named larva and pupa of the Corydalis cor- 
nutis which I early learned to call a "dobson," but seems 
to -be more generally known as a "hclgramite." Then 
comes the frog as a bon bouche if the bass can get one, 
but in bass waters the frogs become educated, and the 
progeny of one which has left a leg with the bass will 
keep near shore, and when on the bank and compelled 
to plunk in immediately turn and come up under the 
bank; no deep water for them. Gras,shoppers, crickets, 
flics and small fish about complete the menu of the bass, 
but fish are but a small part of it, smaller indeed than 
that of the perch of Europe, which we have to distin- 
guish from other perches by calling it "yellow perch," 
"ringed perch," etc. 
While speaking of food and baits for the bass, the 
iemptation to give another rap at those fly-fishers who 
are sticklers for natural flies is too strong to resist. At 
Cold Spring Harbor on the north shore of Long Island, 
N. Y., there is a large mill pond fed by springs and 
ponds above, and I stocked this with black bass in 1884. 
A short stream Ijclow the dam connects it with salt 
water, and after the bass had become plenty I fished it 
bj^ way of experiment in many ways. One day I gath- 
ered a lot of fiddler crabs from the salt marshes and 
tried them, and the bass took them greedily, althougli 
they had never seen such a thing before, and there are 
no crawfish or other crustaceans larger than the little 
gammarus in the fresh waters of Long Island. The "fid- 
dler" is a burrowing crab about an inch wide by about 
half that length. The female has two small claws, but 
the male has one great claw, which is carried across his 
front and is nearly as large as himself. 
To the old question: "What does the salmon take — or 
mistake — ^the ffy for?" I may respectfully add: What did 
those bass think a fiddler crab was? My own answer 
would be, as in the case of the trout, there was no think- 
ing about it further than this: a fish sees something- 
stir, and it may be alive and good to eat. The fish will 
try it and eject it if the strange object is not palatable. 
The question of a concealed hook, which is prominent 
in the mind of the angler, does not occur to the fish the 
least little bit, not even to one that has been pricked 
with the hook, for there are few nerves in the mouth 
of a fish, and if it is hooked, struggles and backs away, it 
has no knowledge of the actual danger it was in, but 
merely grows cautious about attacking things which 
might prove troublesome. 
Outside of the instinct of self-preservation, a fish, one 
of the "lowest" of vertebrates, has not the fine nervous 
organization of the mammal, the bird, the batrachian nor 
the reptile. It feels little pain from a wound, whether a 
cut or bruise, and its intellect, if it has one, is very feeble, 
being confined to the barest necessities of existence. The 
insects seem to be endowed with all the "instincts" that 
the fishes have. "To live, procreate and die" seems to be 
+hc limit of enioyment of much of animal life, but we 
can't expect that they will be up on trigonometry. 
Browning, Walt Wliitman and the dry-fly question, 
[to be continued.] 
Dry Fly-Fishing* 
BY GKOKGK .\, D. DEWAR (AUTHOR OF "THF. liOOK OK 
In Three Parts— Part II. 
Stalking the Trout. 
Dry fly-fishing is mainly resorted to where very clear, 
quiet-fiowing waters are concerned, and it is here that the 
trout arc necessarily most wary and shy of the approach 
of man. The dry fly-fisherman casts, whenever he can, 
up stream to his rising trout for two reasons, first, be- 
cause he can in this way cause the fly to float more natu- 
rally, and secondly, because he is far less likely to scare 
the trout than were he to cast down stream. But though 
a trout has not eyes at the back of its head, it has a habit 
very often of observing the approach of the enemj' even 
Avhen that enemy is right behind its tail. Unless there- 
fore the angler is fishing the opposite side of a fairly 
broad stream he should get into position for casting in 
a distinctly insidious way. Let him always keep the 
point of his rod well down. The rod really seems to 
alarm trout as much as the gun does certain wild birds, 
and when it flashes in the sunlight, or is held almost 
straight up, it Avill cause a perfect panic among the trout 
of our clear streams. It is curious how many otherwise 
accomplished anglers manage to scare and set down 
fish by careless carriage of the rod. Not only is it well 
to keep the rod down in carrying it, but where practi- 
cable the good angler often prefers to keep it down as 
much as possible in casting. What is called the under- 
hand cast is precautionary as well as thoroughly work- 
manlike. The moi-e the rod is flourished over the head 
the more risk is there of frightening the trout. 
A trout's rise or supposed rise having been observed, 
the drj^ fly-angler will constantly have to bend down low 
and advance within range very slowly; at other times it 
is absolutely necessary to go on hands and knees, and oc- 
casionally one must simply crawl or drag one's self along 
the ground to the scene of action. In dibbing with the 
dry fly — an exciting branch of dry fly-fishing to which 
I shall hope to refer^ — I have again and again taken ofl^ 
my hat, and flat on the ground, drawn myself to the edge 
of the stream, for this has been the only way of approach- 
ing the trout sufficiently near for the purpose. It may 
be frankly admitted that there is not much stalking need- 
ed when the stream is broad and the trout are rising 
under the opposite bank. A trout, I fancy, does not see 
you so well when you are opposite him as when you are 
fl]?ove or below him; at any r^/te tie does not seem to 
take nearly so much notice, and that is the great point. 
The greatest care in stalking is necessary where the 
banks are high and the angler is not wading — this I 
think is almost the most difficult of all conditions for dry 
fly-fishing — or when there are almost no banks at all, 
the water being practically flush with the surface of the 
ground, and no cover. Hands and knees have to be fre- 
quently resorted to in these cases, and the angler must 
keep away from the water as much as possible. I have 
found a little cover go a long way — few blades of 
coarse grass, a few rushes, even a big thistle, will help 
greatly if the angler carefully avails himself of this ap- 
parently meager shelter. Ronalds, author of the charm- 
ing "Fly-Fisher's Entomology," and usually very ac- 
curate, was not right, I think, when he Avrote that the 
trout's vision was so keen that it could penetrate even 
a bush. It is a clear cut figure against the skyline, or a 
sudden movement, or the flash of a rod, which alarms 
the trout so invariably. Given a small amount of cover, 
the angler, by very deliberate and gentle movements, 
can usually get well within casting distance of even the 
wariest trout. Failing cover in between one's self and 
the trout, cover immediately at one's back is better than 
none at all, provided of course it be not so high as to 
make casting impossible. In some dry fly waters wading 
is allowed, and it is then often much easier to appi-oach 
trout without scaring them; but indiscriminate wading 
is a simply abominable practice in a clear dry fly water. 
It disturbs the water shockingly, and sets down shy trout 
sometimes for hours. 
Stalking a fish carefully is often necessary, not only in 
order to avoid scaring that particular fish, but also in order 
to avoid scaring several others feeding hard by, whose 
turns should come presently. By frightening fish situ- 
ated between one's self and the selected feeding trout, one 
often finds, moreover, that the latter is alarmed and set 
down through the commotion caused by the former. A 
scared trout frequently scares several others, where the 
stream is well stocked, and few things are more irritating 
than this to the angler who knows he has himself to 
blame. 
As a rule it is best to get as near one's trout as pos- 
sible. Some anglers prefer to fish "far and fine" with the 
dry as with the wet fly, but to my mind "near and fine" 
is commonly better. A fish hooked with a long line gets 
away much oftener than a fish hooked with a short line, 
and besides one can see more what the trout is doing 
at close quarters. The shorter the line the more careful 
the stalk must necessarily be. Of course no matter how 
careful the stalk the attempt to put the floating fly over 
the rising trout at close quarters must in the long run 
mean the scaring of more fish than where the longer line 
is used in casting; but notwithstanding this, I shall 
always prefer to get as near my trout as I can to casting 
to it from a distance. I like to see if possible the whole 
performance, which adds greatly to the interest of this 
branch of angling. When the trout is seen rising dis- 
tinctly at the artificial fly, it is well to give him time. A 
fatal inclination under such conditions is to strike too 
soon. 
The strike really is or should be nothing more than a 
twist or twitch of the wrist, which is quite sufficient to 
drive the barb of the hook home. In wet fly-fishing, so 
far as I have osberved, and so far as my own personal 
experience goes, the angler does not by any means always 
strike — unless fishing up stream — until he feels his trout, 
and then the strike is really the tightening of the line, 
caused by raising the top of the rod, the beginning of 
the process known as playing the fish; but in dry i[y- 
fishing the angler should strike directly he sees the 
ring, that is in cases where he cannot see the trout. 
Where the trout is distinctly seen somehow one does 
not as a rule notice the ring, perhaps because one is so 
engaged in observing the fish itself, and then, as I have 
pointed out, there is often a fatal inclination to strike too 
soon. When the trout is thus seen rising at the fl)', the 
angler will do no harm by allowing him to turn before 
striking. Some anglers try to accustom themselves un- 
der these circumstances to count sa.y three slowly be- 
fore striking. It may be hard to school one's self in 
this way, especially where big trout are concerned, but 
it is certainly easier when the whole performance has 
been observed to fail through striking too soon than 
too late. There have been anglers professing to disbe- 
lieve altogether in the strike; but I am sure it is necessarj^ 
in dry fly-fishing; only a certain proportion of fish will 
hook themselves. A gentle feeling at the line by a 
slight slow movement of the rod to make sure whether 
a trout has taken or no, is nearly always fatal, for the 
hook will come away. Strike therefore with decision, but 
not too hard. 
Remember that the finer yotu- tackle and the smaller 
your hook — ^we often dry fly-fish with a 000 hook — -the 
less considerable must the sudden strain be. As regards 
these very small hooks I must say that I do not take 
verjr kindly to them. They come away from a fish's 
mouth more easily than a fair-sized hook. At the same 
time in clear waters when the dry fly is used they tempt 
more shy and well educated trout, and as the season 
advances they become more and more necessary no 
doubt during the daytime. Fine gut, nicely tapering, 
attached to a nicely tapering line — I commonly use one 
of your American waterprooL trout lines — is very de- 
sirable for this dry fly work. Coarse ca,sts will often set 
down the fish. 
Angling last Mayfly season one broiling Sunday after- 
noon on the headwaters of old Izaak's favorite stream, 
the Lea in Charles Lamb's "Pleasant Hertfordshire," 
I found only one fish stirring. This was a huge trout of 
perhaps 61bs. or more in weight lying in the shallows 
and now and then leisurely sipping down some minute 
object, probably one of the "fisherman's cusses." My 
cast was rather coarse, as I had been using May fly, it 
being the time of the imago of that insect called with 
us the spent gnat. I attached a small fly to this cast, got 
into position, and sent a long line up stream over the 
great fellow. It was a fair and a straight cast, and the 
fly gently fell on the water a foot or two above the trout's 
nose. He noted the gut and rushed off in wild alarm. 
Two hours or so later I found the fish back again, and 
cast to him with exactly the same humiliating result. 
That trout knew a good deal no doubt, but the sight of 
anytljimg save the finest gut will terrify much less edu- 
cated ti-out in. very shallow, clear and slow water. A 
fine cast is- a thing one must not do without in dry fly- 
fishing, save when May flies or gome other equally big- 
artificials are being used. 
I wrote with interest this observation of Mr. R. B. 
Marston in his paper on the brown trout in Mr. Cheney's 
Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission Report for 1895, 
which I have just been fortrmate enough to add to my 
small angling and natural history library: "If the brown 
trout retains in American waters the same characteris- 
tics that he has here, then I think American anglers 
will find that it requires more pure skill to deceive him 
and successfully land him than any other fish in the 
world, weight for weight. If this is so, it will give 
him an additional value in their eyes." 
Some Dry Fly Diificolties. 
It is the great object of the dry fly-fisherman to imitate 
closely nature in order to deceive the trout. Therefore 
the artificial fly should float down over the rising fish, 
just as the natural insect floats down. As already men- 
tioned, it i,s usual for the fly-tyer to imitate the insect 
known as Epheineridae, which have upright wings. The 
angler's fly, accordingly, whether it be an imitation of 
May fly or of dun, must float or sail down stream with 
erect wings. It is true a trout will sometimes take the 
artificial when it is lying flat on the water, provided it is 
floating Avell; but the most shy and educated of our chalk 
stream fish will often scarcely deign notice, much less 
take, an artificial which is not floating with well "cocked" 
wings. Flies are made nowadays with split and some- 
times with double wings, which when dry float well 
under favorable conditions. 
But there is a difficulty in dry fly-fishing which no 
tackle inventor has so far been able to overcome in the 
least, or reduce, and which, I fancy, he never will, namely, 
what is called the "drag." The "drag" is easy to ex-- 
plain, if passing hard to defeat. It occurs when the 
current takes hold of the angler's line and drags the 
artificial fly at a greater rate than it would travel if 
attached to nothing; the "drag" pulls the fly down, thus 
taking all the "cockiness" out of it, and ultimately 
drowns it. The trout with any pretentions to education 
or enlightenment will have nothing to do with the fly 
in these cases, and occasionally it will so offend him that 
he will at once cease rising. These extreme cases where 
a "dragged" artificial actually causes a trout to cease 
rising are scarcely credible to some anglers, and I for 
one have been reproached for exaggeration in dwelling 
upon them; yet that there are such cases I am quite sure, 
and so I know are other anglers who have studied trout 
at all closely. Indeed the sight of an artificial floating 
naturally will apparently offend a rising chalk stream 
trout at times — though fortunately such cases are not 
very common. 
The drag occurs of course by reason of the stream 
being stronger at some point between the angler and his 
artificial fly than on the piece of water on which that fly 
is floating, and to avoid it the angler has recourse to 
various devices. . He will try to so alter his position 
in casting that his line shall not fall upon the stronger 
current. Sometimes he will, in order to avoid the drag^ 
have to cross the stream and try and assail his rising 
trout from the other side. And at other times, if this 
practice is allowable, he will wade out into the stream 
and cast from a more favorable position. Again he 
will keep a little spare line in his hand, and pay this 
out to the current, hoping thereby to save his artificial 
from being, as it were, instantly knocked over and 
drowned. The spare line cure is occasionally effective, 
as it may save the artificial for a matter of moments, 
and meanwhile the trout may rise and get hooked; but 
only occasionally. Where a trout is rising in a still or 
almost still pool, and go where the angler will there is 
a bit of rapid water between that pool and himself, the 
"drag" is practically unavoidable. The trout sees the 
artificial directly it alights perhaps, comes at it, but be- 
fore he can seize it the resistless current has dragged 
away fly, cast and all. The lure is again presented to the 
hungry trout, and the same thing again takes place. After 
a while the trout grows weary of this phantom and takes 
no further notice of it. 
I have only known a very few cases of trout in good 
condition- — "mens sana in corpore sano" — taking 
"dragged" artificial in dry fly-fishing on chalk streams, 
though the grayling is not always so particular in thij. 
respect. The "drag" is more constant in the sharper 
flowing streams, which twist and turn about a good deal. 
Such streams form many a miniature backwater, which 
the trout have to frequent because the natural fly gets 
driven thither by the current, and can then be captured 
by the rising fish at a slight exertion. The lower 
lengths of our (Derbyshire) Wye, which are familiar 
to so many Americans who come to see Haddon Hall 
and Chatsworth, and often stay at the far-famed Pea- 
cock Inn, are full of such miniature backwaters, and the 
dry fly-fishing on this river is accordingly very difficult. 
Sometimes the drag maybe avoided by the angler going 
above his fish, and casting a dry fly down to it. This 
method is known as "drifting" the dry fly, and its ad-, 
vantage is that the Qy having a good start of the line 
will not drag till the line, as it were, catches it up. But 
"drifting" the dry fly is a very difficult thing to execute 
.satisfactorily, and I fancy most anglers could count on 
their ten fingers the number of good trout they have cap- 
tured by this device. The best way to defeat the drag 
is to ^void "t by getting if possible into a position where 
it piay bf" at any rate minimized. Only practice and 
expr -'encf ■—'ll enable the angler to overcome difficulties 
of tiits kiuO, together in some cases with a thorough 
knowi^..t,'e oi the water. 
As we nave seen, it is of prime importance that the lly 
should float well. In Avet weather it is really hard Avork 
to keep the fly from getting "water-logged," • because 
it tends to become saturated with the rain, even while 
the angler attempts to dry it in the air. The May fly, 
owing to its size, is particularly difficult to dry properly 
on rainy days, and one may blister one's hands very 
easily over the work, even if they have been holding the 
rod a good deal for some time and have therefore be- 
come fairly hard. To make the fly float well very many 
dry fly anglers now touch the hackle or wings with a 
little paraffin or oil Small bottles of scentless paraffin 
