480 
FORKST AND STREAM. 
[May 28, 1898. 
old-time "thistle-down" act with the fly, deliberately did 
the opposite. We made all the splash with the fly that 
we could. We defied every known rule of trout fishing, 
and we caught the biggest trout taken on that stream! 
We can do it again. We can beat any man catching big- 
trout who sticks to the old-time, conventional, and I 
shall add strictljf erroneous, though strictly orthodox, 
way of trout fishing with the fly. Look through all your 
literature, and read every authority of the experts or the 
would-be experts, and see if you can find anything about 
this sort of fly-fishing. If so, it will be news to me. 
The Part of Genitts» 
It is the part of genius to set aside the old ways and 
to strike out new hues of thought. I don't claim any of 
this genius, mind. I only say that I fished with "the 
man who had it. Maybe he doesn't know anything but 
trout fishing — I didn't have time to ask him — but he sure- 
ly knows that. He has done his own thinking for him- 
self, and not followed in the tracks of others, and I 
confess a certain admiration for any fellow who is built 
that way. 
I didn't think any man could take me out for two or 
three days and make me completely abjure all my old 
religion about fly-fishing for trout, "but this man did. I 
didn't think anyone could prove in fifteen minutes that 
all the old doctrines are dead wrong, but this' man did. 
Moreover, I had a sneaking suspicion that there wasn't 
anybody who could take me out on a trout stream and 
give me cards, spades, trumps, big and little casino, both 
bowers and the whole deck and skin me easy to a 
finish catching trout; but he did, and he can do it 
again. He can do it to any of you, unless you come to 
his theories, which aren't theories at all, but practical and 
proved methods. He will take you on the same stream, 
and let you fish ahead of him, and he will come right 
along behind you, and at night you may have a few big 
trout, but he will have a whole lot of big ones. You 
may have a basket of trout, but he will have two baskets. 
You may have half a basket, but his basket will be full, 
and full of big ones. Inasmuch as Mr. Tajdor was a 
stranger to me until I thus met him on the trout stream, 
I may be discharged of any plea of bias. This is just 
news, and about the oddest news I ever ran across. To 
think of abandoning the long-line and light-fly theory 
of trout fishing. What heresy! But if this be heresy, I 
am willing to be excommunicated, for never shall there 
fade from my sight the spectacle of fine fat trout, over a 
foot long, which we daily laid upon the bank to admire — 
not the wrinkled, skinny, shriveled little 6 and Sin. trout 
which ordinarily fall to the angler of our mid-West 
streams, but great, shiny, fat. thick-shouldered fellows, 
that jarred the arm to the shoulder Avhen they hit the 
fly. 
The Heresy Propounded. ' 
But I must tell more explicitly about this, pausing in 
the mere exultation of it, though I am half minded to 
leave it all unexplained, as a mystery ncA'er to be made 
known, even to the readers of Forest and Stream, 
until after my death, when sealed packets should give it 
to the public as a priceless secret. ''How to Catch Big 
Trout" — would not that be a legacy for a poor newspaper 
man to leaA^e behind him? But as it will very likely be 
a long time before I get to the legacy stage, I think I 
will just give this thing away now. 
Mr. Taylor and I waded into the river together. "Go 
on ahead," he said, giving me the place of honor on the 
stream,' with which many days of angling had made hint 
perfectlif familiar. I stepped on out, feeling with pleasure 
the gurgle and wash of the cool water for the first time 
this season, and I was very happy. I had tried a cow- 
dung and a coachman, according to suggestion, and I 
began to lay out a goodish line to the many promising 
corners I found, along logs and roots, and under banks, 
and across such rapids and riffles. I passed on down 
the river around the bend, and it did not take long to 
make me believe that it was yet too early for much suc- 
cess. I had a few strikes, not very savage, and mostly 
while the fly was submerged. I took four trout which I 
kept, and as many that I threw away. Then 1 got lone- 
some and waded back up stream to See how things were 
doing there. I met Mr. Tajdor coming down. He 
had three trout, all good ones. He said he had lost his 
leader on a big one at the rapid just aboA-e. Now I 
had fished that same place myself carefully, and only 
taken one small trout there, so I did not relish hearing 
about a big one I had passed over without raising^ As 
we talked, Mr. Taylor came on around 'the bend, and 1 
noticed that he had apparently gone stark, staring mad, 
though I was too polite to say so. He had shortened his 
line until it was only about loft. long._ He had on a 
leader not over 5ft. long. He was wading, it was true, 
with ghostlike care, not making any ripples on the surface 
and not grating any stones together on the bottom. But 
what folly, this thing he was doing! Instead of casting 
with lightness and delicacy, he was slashing away as 
hard as he could, cutting up the surface of the water into 
long ridges, the whole leader and part of the line landing 
on the water and creating the greatest confusion. I saw 
that he was bold and confident, and that he tapped the 
whole length of a half sunken log with careless ease, his 
fly going up to the limit of an inch or so and never 
with any entanglement. Evidently he could cast a bit; 
but if so, why take leave of his sane mind and proper 
senses in this absurd fashion? It was only my great 
native courtesy which prevented me from telUng him he 
was a pink-edged idiot. 
"Come in along that cut bank over there," said I to 
him as he got into the bend where I was sitting watch- 
ing him. "You'll get a strike in there. Let your fly 
.sink a little, they aren't coming up yet." This I said in 
the kindness of my heart, because I felt bad about 
him. 
The object of my advice stepped out in midstream and 
tapped at the edge of the whole bank, with his short line, 
his stealthy step, and his absurd slashing, noisy, disturb- 
ing casting of the fly. He did not wait for the fly to 
sink. As though cutting with a whip, he would slap the 
fly straight down upon the water, instantly removing 
it. Once, twice, sometimes three times, he would cut 
the water just at the spot he wanted to reach, then at 
the next cast he would let the fly remain. Partially dried, 
it Avould not sink so quickly as a wet fly, but would 
stay on the surface a moment, then gradually sink and 
drop out and down with the current. Never a bit of line 
showed below the fly, the angle of the cast being siich 
that the fly, when it straightened out, would have all 
the line above it and no bight sagging below, as is Ustl- 
ally the custom in across-stream casting, where the fly 
is allowed to float down and across with the current, per- 
haps gently lifted with the conventionally jiggling touch 
of the fly-fisher, which latter usually ends by finishing 
the cast with the fly drawn up against the current until 
the line is ready for the recovery and the back cast. 
A BJg One. 
Mr. Taylor came on down along the bank to a fringe 
of alders where I had fished carefully as I knew how. 
He sidled oft' across at a little angle, and instead of 
tapping at the other edge of the alders, he began to go 
right in among them with the fly, casting boldly int-o 
every little 6in. opening, until his fly laiided right up 
against the roots and holes under the bank. Here, of 
course, the virtue of the short line was apparent, but 1 
could not approve of the absurd and noisy way in which 
the fly was slapped down on the water, exactly the op- 
posite of the theory of the dry fly. I was thinking of 
this when I heard a short exclamation from my com- 
panion. "One in there," he said. A second after 1 saw 
a flash, and at once the rod went up into a bow as a heavy 
trout made his first rush after being hooked. Then we 
both broke into very joyful cries, and both enjoyed the 
fight, which resulted in the capture of a trout which 
weighed well on to a pound. I was amazed at the 
success of this sort of craziness, but thought it might be 
a fluke, and so resolved to keep quiet a while longer. 
We went on down around the next few bends, side by 
side, T with what I thought was a very pretty style, and 
he with his same short, chopping, slashing casts along 
the hiding places. It grew late and warmer and the 
fish began to feed, and presently I began to realize that 
I was only one who also fished. From under logs where 
only a few inches of water ran, along banks where the 
water was flat and shallow, in open riffles and at the edge 
of still water — in short, from every sort of place except 
the sort where one would expect it possible for a trout 
to lie in hiding, my companion kept on picking out 
trout, not little trout, but big trout. He did not cast 
across stream and let his fly swim down at all. He 
never lifted the tip of the' rod and twiddled the fly on the 
surface or under the water. He kept to the edge for the 
most part, and even if he fished a sharp riffle always tap- 
ped along its far edge as though to knock at the door 
of the trout and ask him to note his arrival. "Here 1 
am!" was the obvious challenge. "Here I ain't!" is the 
conventional attitude. 
At last I quit fishing again and wferit tip to watch him. 
He was coming down a narrow, deep rapid which I had 
fished as well as I knew, and where 1 had taken two or 
three trout. He stopped at a long log lying in shalloAV 
■VN-ater just above this spot, and uttered an exclamation, 
saying that a very heavy trout had come out from under 
the log. This nettled me, for I could get no response 
there at all. As he came into the narrow space in the 
stream, he tapped along the end of a log which ran into 
it, and hooked a trout. Then there was another big 
splash, and he had on a grand double right Avhere I 
had been fishing with only small trout for response! We 
landed these fish and then sat down for lunch. After a 
while .he explained it all to file. 
How it is Done. 
"You have on too long a leader," said he. "You 
shouldn't use over 6ft. at the outside. One fly will do, or 
two if you like. I am using No. 8 hook. You shotdd not 
use a long line, because it can not be handled so closely 
and accurately. A difference of 2 or 3in. from just the 
right place may make the difference between a fish and 
no fish. Don't try to cast easy. Make all the splash you 
can. Wake up your trout. That is what I do. I wake 
them up! I tantalize an old big trout till he can't stand 
it any longer, and has to run out and grab that fly! You 
may laugh, but that is just Avhat is the truth. 
"Now, you may fool a little, young trottti nto believing 
that a fly, any sort of drowning insect, will float down 
across a stream, and then begin to float up stream; btit 
you can't fool any old, big trout into believing any such 
thing. He knows better and he won't tackle anything 
of that sort. A long line scares more fish than it catches, 
because it bellies down stream right across the water 
you want to fish, ^ 
"An old trout will lie in under a bank or a log as laf 
as he can get. He can't always see you Avhen you wade 
along, if you go Carefully and don't put him on by mak- 
ing ripples in the water or making a noise on the bottom. 
If you are careful, you can wade up within loft. of 
the biggest trout on this stream, if you take advantage 
Of the cover. He will be back out of sight under some- 
thing, not roving around all over the stream, like a little 
ttotit. 
"Suppose you are a big trout, old and very shrewd. 
You lie under the bank, where no one would_ think you 
had water enough to cover you up. You can't see what 
is going on out in the water, and you aon't want to see 
it. You are not ctirious, because you are too old and 
shy to stick your nose out. You wouldn't swim far for 
any bug that ever buzzed. 
"But though you are an old trout, you niust live, and 
moreover you are a bit irritable and cranky after all. 
While you are lying there snoozing, you hear a spatter- 
ing on the water, where some dragon fly, in dipping his 
tail in the water, trying to get up out of the water, or 
just cooling his feet for the fun of it — ^you know how 
you will always see a trout rise at a dragon fly if one 
crosses a pool, and how it will always be a large fish that 
will rise. A bass will jump at a dragon fly. But fish 
like big feed. Well, you are a big trout, and you see 
ripples spreading into your house under the log, and you 
poke out your nose an inch to see what in the world 
it is all about. If it were a tiny, delicate fly that had fal- 
len and was swimming by, you wouldn't know aiiything 
about it, and wouldn't care anyhow. You don't care 
much for little dead flies. But a big fly, and an impudent, 
annoying fly— that is diflferent. The first time that big 
fly strikes the water your nose is out in sight, just far 
enough so that you can see and not be seen. The 
second time it alights, buzzing with its tail on the water, 
you get ready for it. Again it dips into the water, it falls 
and begins to drown, floating away with tM-6tt$feDf., 
You rush out and gtab it at once. And there you ax.&]" 
Results. 
This then is the theory of this sort of fishing. It i§, ^ 
are all successful theories, founded upon pure reasott. 
The reason of its success is that all l^ig trout like big 
feed, all big trout are half caution and half pugnacity, 
and all big trout like live food rather than dead, like any 
other animal of prey. Moreover, all big trout know that 
dead flies do not swim up stream, or have a long string 
ahead of them. 
Now, natural as this theory seems when you come to 
look at it, it is a narrow explanation for results such as 
those which I saw it show — saw not once or twice_, but 
continuously. Mr. Taylor came along behind me, and 
sometimes we fished side by side for quite a way. He 
would cast over spots where I had cast, and pick up 
fine big trout right where I had failed to get a sign. If 
1 had not seen him do this I might have suspected some 
trick about it, but it was bona fide fly work. He was 
not afraid to go within an inch or so of a bush, or a log, ' 
or a cut balil<. Sometimes he would pause for quite a 
while and work aAvay at the same Spot, fishing very slow- 
ly and carefully over and over again at some nook otl 
which he had set his heart. Always the result would 
be the same. After a time there would be a rush, a flash, 
a scream of the reel, and the bent back of the tod. 
We came into a nice bend, where the deep water rail 
about the middle of the channel. A big oak tree stood 
at the bank, hut there was no hole under the roots, and ^ 
the bank did not look like a good place to fish. We came 
down into the pool side and side, and each took a fish 
out of the deep water. Then I edged to the right and 
Mr. Taylor was inside, nearest the bank, where the watei 
was bright, open and shallow. 
"Did you fish that bank?" he asfeed, and I told him I 
had and that there was nothing there. He cast in two or 
three times, and from where 1 stood I could see his fly 
plainly tapping along the shallow bank about opposite 
to me. Then there came a flash, and a'big trout appeared 
from somewhere, I could never tell where. My com- 
panion laughed at me as he landed the fish. Then he 
cast back in and did the satrie thing over again! This 
second trout, which weighed over ^Ib., took the fly ^ 
not loft. from my legs as I stood in the water. Now 
if I were altogether a tenderfoot on a trout stream, thi$ 
sort of thing might seem different, but I had fished trout 
enough to know something about it; that is to say, some- 
thing abottt it according to the old principles. 
We went on down around another bend, a bank with 
deep water alongside, offering a likely looking country. 
Here I got a fisli, but only one. Following along just 
behind me, Air. Taylor took four from the saine bank, 
and asked me if I really thought I had fished that bank. 
I had now seen enough to satisfy nle. I capititlated, 
and went in to learn Avhat I saw to be the best way of 
fishing for big trout. Under careful instruction I began 
to get the hang of it, and caught a share oi the fish after 
that, the size of my take steadily increasing. We took 
in two very nice baskets of trout that evening, and with 
my fish I included a few very badly shattered theories 
and doctrines about trout fishing, I was deeply con- 
tented when we laid out our catch. I do not recollect ' 
just the number, about three or four dozen, I should say, 
but they Were of very large average, the largest I had 
ever seen taken On a Wisconsin stream. They were all 
the speckled brook trout, and We had no rainbows* M'C 
Taylor tells me he has taken 2 and evell 3lbs. weight irt 
this stream. We had nothing that day over a poUnd, 
but I should say none of our fish, barring one or t-WcJ 
that I saved early in the day, would go_ less than 8yim. — <■ 
I mean that length by the foot rule and not by guess. 
I should think the average length would have been over 
gin. by the rule, and we had some oyer iiin. and still 
larger. Now if the reader will take a second look along 
the same foot rule, and will cast his eye back to the 6in, 
mark, he will get about the average length of the Wis- 
consin brook trout (6in. is the legal limit, but many are 
kept which do not measure that). A simple sura of sub- 
traction, effected by a look along the rule up to the g, 
10 and I2in. mark, will show him just the difference be- 
tween the old way of fly-fishing and this new waj', be- 
tween the past and the present, between orthodoxy and 
heresy, between dogma and progress, between conven- 
tionality and genius. 
Mr. Taylor modestly says that he never goes out withi 
any one who can take so many trout as himself — this not 
in a boast, but as matter of fact. He adds to his system 
a very keen eye, a light foot in the stream and a thorough 
knowledge of the habits of his game. 
We tried the same reach of the river a second time on 
the day following, but the weather came off cold and 
blustery, and we had not so good luck. Mr. Taylor 
again was high hook of the two, taking a couple of dozen 
of very nice ones, one very large one. Again on the 
following morning we w^ent out— for as the trains are 
only one a day each way, and the stage goes only three 
times a week,'one may fish till noon and yet get out in 
time — and fished for an hour or so in the forenoon. 
Again I saw my companion wade right up alongside oil 
log piles and deep bank holes and lead out big trout 
which one would never suspect could be taken so boldly. 
He got two that morning that ran to the pound notch, 
and I was lucky enough with my last fish to break our 
record in size, taking a A^ery handsome trout which gave 
me a lively fight and made a fine addition to our take. 
Mr. Taylor helped me pack up a nice lot of our best trout 
to bring home with me, and, thanks to his contributions, 
I had Avhat I have above stated, the best average of trout 
I have eA^er personally seen come from Wisconsin into 
this city with an angler who used the fly. 
Details. 
Mr.' Taylor tells me that very often he casts a dozem 
or twenty times over the same spot before he can get his. 
fish to come out. He says it "teases" a fish into strik- 
ing. It is contrary to his belief that a fish aviU be 
frightened and not strike if it sees a fly and does not at 
once take it. He says he has very often waded down on 
to a big trout in open bright water, Avhippmg the surface 
into a band of ripples so that the fish could not see him. 
He has had a fish strike so short and sharp while he was 
thus whipping as to nearly break his rod. Personally I 
