492 
Forest and Stream 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE TROUT FLY 
IT HAS NOT PROGRESSED STEADILY BUT HAS BEEN SUBJECTED 
TO MOVEMENTS BACK AND FORTH DURING FOUR CENTURIES OF TIME 
N OW the trout season is done for 
we anglers are wont to look back 
and ponder over what particular 
fly gave the most satisfaction. 
We argue among ourselves, debate, and 
compare notes of what fly, and whose 
make, killed most fish. I venture to say 
every one has a different favorite and 
for that reason readers will doubtless 
be interested in a brief survey of how 
those favorites de- 
veloped and grew to 
such perfection, yet 
possible to be still 
more perfect. Evo- 
lution of the trout 
fly has not made 
steady onv.'ard prog- 
ress but rather in 
moves back and 
forth in its long four 
centuries of time. 
Major J. W. Hills in his book, “His- 
tory of the Troutfly,” just imported and 
issued here by Frederick Stokes Co., 
gives an exhaustive and entertaining de- 
scription of the evolution of the troutfly 
in England, tracing step by step back 
to the famous treatise on Fyshing with 
an Angle, supposedly written by Dame 
Juliana Bernero and printed by Wynkyn 
de Wode about 1450. This treatise gives 
a list of twelve flies copied from natural 
insects, more than half of which the au- 
thor identifies as still in use at the pres- 
ent day — tied in a similar way — with the 
same feathers and silks. This astounding 
fact, that trout flies 
made over four hun- 
dred years ago for 
the purpose of en- 
ticing trout with 
feathery imitations 
of their natural food 
is perhaps the most 
remarkable case on 
record in the annals 
of sport. During 
this long period 
many great experts 
of the past doubtless 
made changes — not 
always for the bet- 
ter, but from this 
treatise to Cotton, 
on to the time of 
Stewart (the origi- 
nator of upstream 
fishing) from thence to our own time 
the evolution has been going on — always 
changing — never stationary. Some one, 
high above others, invents and produces 
something new, greater than the general 
run of things to make more perfect the 
angler’s craft. 
T he golden age of artistic fly dressing 
(in my judgment) was at the period 
when the Jock Scott salmon fly was in- 
dented, some eighty years ago, which fly 
BY LOUIS RHEAD 
has not since been surpassed either in 
beauty of construction or effectiveness as 
a killer. About the same time, or a 
little later, Alfred Ronalds, Michael 
Theakston and several other fly dressers 
described and pictured in books their 
work in tieing almost perfect trout flies 
as true to nature as they could make 
them. The development went on, at each 
decade some improvements were effected, 
when thirty years later John Bickerdyke 
in his book. Angling for Gamehsh, says 
“There is a peculiarly dressed fly, tied 
by Gowland, which cannot help floating 
owing to the way the wings are out- 
spread. It is not much like a natural 
insect, but a member of the Fly Fishers’ 
Club has had great success with it.” So 
far as I know, this particular fly appears 
to be the first curved spreadwing floating 
fly used by anglers. 
At the same period, or perhaps a little 
earlier, was published Mr. F. M. Hal- 
fords Floating Flies and How to Dress 
Them, a most original monumental work 
Trout feeding on natural insects 
so revolutionary as to create endless dis- 
cussion in England by anglers of con- 
servative, moderate and advanced ideas. 
Mr. Halford’s dry fly theory soon out- 
grew opposition, gathering followers, so 
that when each of the several books he 
issued, all, or nearly all the “great 
minds” in the craft were thoroughly 
converted to his new ideas, which have 
since grown and advanced to the high 
plane it holds at present all over the 
angling world. Of the many flies he in- 
vented, or adopted from old patterns, 
either fanciful, or copied from natural 
insects, there is no question whatever 
of the great superiority over the old pop- 
ular favorite fancy flies hitherto used be- 
cause he made his flies exactly suited 
to the waters he fished, the insects there- 
on and the peculiar conditions encoun- 
tered. 
At the present time the majority of 
expert American 
anglers, as well as 
those abroad, prefer 
to use Halford flies 
almost exclusively, 
and generally, if cap- 
able, tie their own 
flies after his pat- 
terns, irrespective of 
the fact they do 
not, nor were they 
intended to imitate 
American trout stream insects. The art 
of flydressing is rapidly growing in 
America. Expert fishermen after long 
practice have a chosen list of those flies 
they have found most effective in the 
waters they fish, and tie for themselves 
just what patterns they require. It is 
therefore quite natural that English- 
made flies dominate the situation among 
the more expert American fly fishermen, 
primarily for the reason that the clever 
British artisans, having practised the 
art of fly dressing for generations, make 
them better and much cheaper than any 
other country, and the demand is greater 
for British flies all 
over the angling 
world. 
Even though ex- 
perts use imported 
flies, the vast ma- 
jority of trout fish- 
ermen in America 
still prefer to use 
the old standard pat- 
terns of popular fa- 
vorites, many of 
W'hich were invented 
by a fine group of 
cultured American 
anglers of the six- 
ties. Such men as 
Seth Green, Reuben 
Wood, Charles Or- 
vis, Genio Scott, 
Nelson Cheney, 
Henry P. Wells, W. H. IMurray and 
many other famous men of that time. 
These standard patterns have been con- 
tinually altered and improved since their 
creation, and still hold their own su- 
preme place, judging from a canvas of 
experts made this year by a sporting 
journal which shows three of the good 
old favorites by long odds in front place. 
The most famous of all purely American 
flies is the Parmacheene Belle, invented 
(Continued on page 504) 
Different classes of natural trout insects 
