Dec. 13, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
469 
flies and modifying them into simplicity, and I have had 
some very good sport with them, I have usually carried 
some of my old stock of standard patterns, and, when 
failing with the new ones over a iish, I have tried the 
regulars and even the river keeper's local pets, but usu- 
ally with no better success than with my own; therefore, 
my old regulation stock is allowed to die out. Many 
regulation flies will cut up nicely when away from home, 
and will redress as one or other of the patterns I give; 
others "are given to the kelts when it is evident that few or 
no spring fish are about, for I like to flog all day and 
chance it for a fresh fish, yet one begrudges beautiful 
specim.ens for such rough work as kelts give Ihem. 
The fashion is to call each salmon fly by some name, 
just as is a ship or boat, no matter whether such name 
resembles a fly, a man, a trade, a rank, or even a king, so, 
in honor of the most reliable bit of male creation with 
which I have had the pleasure of being associated in con- 
nection with water, I name my first fly the Blue-Jacket — 
blue and silver, a light, go-anywhere fly. I have killed 
with it on all sorts of rivers ; indeed, if I Avere forced to 
reduce to two flies, Blue-Jacket would be one of them. 
With the slight variation of jungle cock, instead of blue- 
jay, at sides, it plays the devil in almost any water, bright 
or heavy. The next leveler is mainly red and gold, the 
helpmate of the aforesaid handy man ; this is the Red- 
Marine. But for heavier work and longer range we need 
artillery, so my No. 3, still sticking to the ship, is the 
Blue-Marine (Marine-Artillery), mainly dark blue and 
gold in his uniform. Then we come to the black and 
.«ilver division, a large lot, mostly defaulters, having no 
particular character, useful for doing drudgery in any 
place in any weather, always logged on board ship as in 
the Black List. Finally there remains the yellow fly for 
sulky, sickly fish impounded in low water pools or tropical 
sun ; this is Quarantine, the yellow flag. 
The materials needed for making these flies are com- 
paratively simple, and I have found that even a roughly 
built fly will kill. I am not going to describe the actual 
fly-tying ; there are excellent books thereon, such as "How 
to Tie Salmon Flies," by Capt. Hale, and "The Salmon 
Fly," by Mr. G. M. Kelson. These give all the necessary 
instruction. I would only add that in tying my own flies 
I often depart from the school ways in making wings and 
in putting on hackles. T make numerous stop hitches and 
varnish them, so that if the fly gets ripped by a fish only 
small portions can come away, and often the wreck left 
will fish, and has fished, well enough to kill another. The 
cost of flies is much a question of the feathers used, so I 
bu3' whole skins now instead of a dozen or so of particu- 
lar feathers. A golden pheasant skin contains, bar the 
hackle and sides, all the feathers necessary, but such 
things as mallard, turkey, jay, jungle, gallina, and Simla 
parrot are very inexpensive. The build of the fly may be 
varied, and should be. I. have some patterns long, 
scraggy, and wavy, others of the same, but built stifl^er, 
shorter, and deeper, so as to suit different pools. 
I often tie any one of the flies with slight variations, 
just to anticipate fancy when picking out of the box. See, 
for instance, the Blue-Jacket. You keep to the general 
character of the fly, viz., blue and silver, a dash of scarlet 
about the shoulder, with light blue over at the throat. 
Then the wing a gray over a cinnamon general color. I 
do not think it matters much whether that wing is from 
any particular bird, nor whether it is made of mixed fibers, 
married strips, or strands. Do it as you find convenient, 
and with the handiest feathers, so long as it casts well 
and tows straight. In another wa}' I vary the fly; sides _ 
may differ for different waters or daylights, such as put- 
ting on jungle cock instead of jay, or large, long jay in- 
stead of a little scrap. Failing having spare copies of 
either pattern, and being without the time, material, or 
conveniences for tying flies, a shop standard may be got 
for the time ; match chiefly by body and hackle, and stand 
by to refit in next port. 
I have no doubt that my description, with the draw- 
ings, will be ample for the professional di^esser, so that if 
any fisher likes to try my quaint conceits, he can order 
samples from his tackle man, and see how they look in the 
real. Here I will just touch a point which must appeal to 
the pocket, if not to the common sense, of those who only 
fish occasionally, not being regular, habitual river-siders — 
the pounds, shillings and pence. Taking the average cost 
of middle-sized flies on double hooks, shop made, with 
three or four toppings, they come to 2s. each. Now my 
five flies stand thus for a trip to a river : Five patterns 
in four sizes of each, and three of each size, comes to 
sixty flies to be taken; value £6. Taking Major Tre- 
herne's list of fifteen flies, in the same sizes, and spare 
numbers, we have 180 flies, at a cost of £iS. But wheirwe 
turn to the 244 separate standard patterns given in "The 
Salmon Fly" book, of course, there would have to be 
selection, and I give up such an exasperating puzzle. 
Shape is much a matter of fancy. I find long wings 
cast best and tow far best. Give me a skinny fly in pref- 
erence to one high-arched and full-winged. The draw- 
ings, of course, show more stuff than should actually be 
found in the fly, being descriptive, not portraits of flies. 
And the length of wing, of hackle, of tail, or of sides 
should be put in the actual fly as suits the dresser's fancy, 
unless the fisherman has his own ideas on the subject. 
The mode of building the wings, again, can be varied, 
even in one pattern of fly, so that, in the four sizes and 
three copies of each to be carried, almost any kind of 
water-run can be satisfied. Even some variation of dress- 
ing, much depending on the feathers one has handy, will 
not be hannful, even may be useful, so long as the general 
appearance of the fly remains as suggested. Vide, for 
instance, the Quaraiitine (Fig. 4), the back to back whole 
feathers can be golden pheasant sword feathers with 
longer jungle sides, instead of Himalayan pheasant red 
and spot hackles with short jungle at sides. Or, in the 
Blue-Marine, on some days and states of water I should, 
on personal presumptive precocity, prefer bluejay sides 
instead of the j ungle cock sides ; but I do not know that 
the salmon would, so I tie some with jungle. In the Red- 
]\Iarine fly, probably a strip of scarlet and black-tipped 
Simla parrot between wing is as effective as are the two 
spot and black Himalayan pheasant red hackle feathers, 
projecting from between the four or two tippets in the 
alternative dressings. You may have plenty of sizes of 
the one, and but small amount of the other in your tying 
box. stQ^f, 31ack-List can be harmlessly but sometimes 
Fish's Vision 
Figr. 1. 
Blue- Jacket 
Fig. 2. 
Red-marine 
Fig. 3. 
Blue-Marine. 
Fig. 5. 
BLACk-LlST 
usefully varied by gold pheasant scarlet sword feather in 
place of Simla red parrot, or red macaw can be put in; 
in short, we want some bright scarlet. As to Blue-Jacket, 
the only variation I make, or rather keep in the box for 
daily use, is as to the sides and the throat hackle, I think 
if I had kept a log record of kills, Blue-Jacket would 
stand at two for every one fish killed by the four other 
flies. Taking throat hackle first, I have found dark Prus- 
sian blue, almost black, very good on dull days; jungle 
instead of jay for sides on some waters; and, again, the 
largest pale blue whole jay, almost as long as the body, 
excellent as sides on a bright day. So, I say, tie what you 
like so long as you have the distinct changes, and instead 
of buying a microscope to examine your flies with — or 
niore probably for the purpose of criticizing some other 
fellow's flies — expend that money in new sound gut casts. 
One word more as to build before I state the formal 
dressings. Except in rare circumstances, I believe that 
toppings make the fly. On a bright day toppings dis- 
close the fly at a distance, acting as a heliograph to the 
fish to come and inspect, and the body and hackles do the 
trick with the overhang of the toppings. This overhang- 
is about the only part of the wing that the fish can see 
after the fly comes over him in deep water. In shallow 
water a side show, in addition, is useful, but its minute 
nature, I consider, is immaterial beyond general tone 
(vide dra-\ving of fish vision for medium depth water). 
On a dark, black, windy day toppings are of less value. 
Black on red is your game if you want, salmon in hand. 
Now the bttgle sounds for dressing. I give the formal 
names, as I suppose they may indicate the make-up; but 
by "shoulder" I mean the place for a hackle wound round 
just under the wings; by "throat" is meant between head 
and wing — a neck hackle. 
The Blue- Jacket (Fig. 2).— Tag: Silver, and light 
blue silk. Tail: Topping and light blue fibers. Butts: 
Bronze peacock herl. Body: In two parts, silver tinsel 
flat and ribbed, or embossed silver, then light blue silk 
ribbed with silver, and a bright cardinal red dyed hackle 
run down it. Wings : Two strips of any light brown or 
cinnamon turkey, mottled, or zebra mottled gold pheasant 
tail, two strips of gray mallard (for choice) over, and 
two long toppings. Sides: Whole jay, pale blue feather; 
vary size in different flies, even to extending theTength 
of the body; in sorne small flies put jungle instead. Horns: 
Two scarlet at mid-wing outside, and two blue macaw 
over the mallard. Throat: Very light blue, dyed hackle, 
long, and wound round. Head: Varnished black. 
In regard to dressing, I have found that in the very 
small sizes it is. well to tie the body all in the silk of the 
pattern, and rib it with tinsel, instead of dividing the 
body; and also, in such case, to run the first hackle right 
up the body in some flies, to somewhat veil the tinsel 
where the water fished is very clear. 
Blue-Jacket, Blue-Marine and Black-List can usefully 
be tied in two natures — stiff, deep, and short winged, and 
long, scraggy, wavy, long hackled. The other two are 
always stiff flies, Avhole-feather make. 
The Red-Marine (Fig. 3). — Silver, with scarlet or 
claret silk. Tail: Topping, with tippet strands. Butts: 
Bronze herl, or green herl. Body: In two parts; first, 
gold with silver ribbing; second, cardinal red, or nearly 
claret, silk with similar color dyed hackle down it, and 
ribbed with gold. Wings: Two Himalayan pheasant 
red hackles with white and black spot, set back to back, 
projecting well from between two or four tippets, in latter 
case lapped to form three black bars a side; or, alterna- 
tively, a broad strip of red and black tip Simla parrot ; or a 
golden pheasant scarlet sword feather in place of the 
Himalayan spot hackle, and a couple of strips of mallard 
over this, three or four toppings over all. Horns: Two 
scarlet. Throat: Hackle light blue, dyed, wound round. 
Head: Varnished black. 
The Quarantine (Fig. 4).— Tag: Silver, and blue 
silk. Tail: Two toppings. Butt: Black herl. Body: 
Black silk, or fur, or wool, ribbed silver tinsel and lace. 
Hackle: At shoulder bright yellow golden, such as 
macaw. Wings: Two Himalayan pheasant red hackles, 
white and black spot, back to back (or gold pheasant 
scarlet sword feather, or ditto two breast red hackles, or 
red macaw fibers, etc.), four or five toppings over. Sides; 
Jungle cock, two or three spots. Two horns of green 
peacock herl. Throat : Spotted guinea fowl, dyed bright 
blue, or, in small sizes, bluejay for hackle. 
The Blue-Marine (Fig. 5) .—Tag : Silver, with blue 
silk. Tail : Topping with tippet strands. Butts : Black 
herl. Body: In two parts; first, gold flat or embossed, 
ribbed with fine silver; then second, dark blue silk, ribbed 
with silver oval, with blue dyed hackle down it. Wings: 
Long tippet strands (or red macaw), close long body, two 
wide strips black turkey with white points, narrow strip 
(or several strands) scarlet, such as Simla parrot, macaw, 
etc., two strips narrow brown mottled turkey, or zebra 
mottled gold pheasant tail, and brown mallard over (in 
smaller flies only the brown mallard is enough over the 
scarlet); two toppings over all. Sides; Bluejay, or in 
some put jungle. Horns: Scarlet over the wing side, 
and blue macaw over all. Shoulder : Guinea fowl spotty 
hackle, dyed dark blue, almost black; bluejay in small 
sizes of flies. Head ; Varnished. 
The Black-List (Fig. 6). — Tag: Silver, and red silk. 
Tail : Topping and tippet or scarlet fibers. Butt : Black 
herl. Body: Black silk or fur, ribbed with silver. Hackle: 
Scarlet from second turn of tinsel. Wings : Scarlet, ne.Kt 
body (such as Simla parrot strips, macaw, scarlet sword 
feather, or tippet), over such two good strips black and 
bronw dark turkey, cinnamon ends ; darkest brown mallard 
stripes over, and two or so long toppings. Sides: Long 
jungle on line of turkey. Horns: Scarlet just above, 
turkey outside, and, in large flies, two blue macaw on 
top. Throat : V ery dark blue, dyed, spotted gallina, or in 
long scraggy flies a long black hackle, and in quite small 
flies bluejay for throat hackle. Head: Varnished black. 
Also, I have found very small flies of the above five 
patterns, but simplified to a mere likeness in the dressing, 
are fine killers of sea trout and large lake trout. The 
hackle here called cardinal red is somewhat difficult to 
describe; it should be toward claret, but yet decidedly on 
the scarlet side. Ramsbottom, of John street, Liverpool, 
has hackles just the color that I fancy; also, I find them, 
and the blues, in hackle-feather picture brooms obtainable 
at the stores. 
In very low watpf and bright sun small Jay or blue 
