April, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
181 
had no success, or but little, the dry fly 
then and later made good. 
Now, if from these typical experiences, 
the ordinary clear-running, open brook, 
the forest creek, (pool above the dam of 
the beavers) the larger stream and the 
lake, — we try to analyze the situation 
and get anywhere, I think we may reach 
certain direct and definite conclusions, 
and others not so definite. 
M OST larvae live at or near the bot- 
tom of fairly shallow water. As 
the wet fly imitates either the 
larvae stage, or the insects just as they 
are emerging into the imago stage, it is 
plain that in very deep water, a,s in the 
lake mentioned, the fish would be expect- 
ing to find only the fully-developed imago, 
which would be floating on the top of the 
water to deposit their eggs. For deep- 
water fishing, either in lake or pool, evi- 
dently the dry fly would be indicated, 
provided a hatch of some such insect was 
then on, because at that time the fish 
would be seeking their food at the sur- 
face. Very few fish will rise from a 
depth of more than six or eight feet for 
a surface lure. It is preposterous to 1 
think that they would come up from a 
depth of from thirty to sixty feet. Yet I 
have seen brook trout in water of that 
depth taking insects on the top of the 
water, plainly having been lying near the 
surface at the time of the rise. 
In fairly shallow water, especially 
when there is a current, fish feed at the 
surface or below it, as, during a shower, 
insects are beaten down into the water 
and at first float along or near the sur- 
face, but later would be carried down 
nearer the bottom. At such times, either 
the dry or wet fly should take fish. 
Approach this pool cautiously 
If the water is oily, muddy or discol- 
ored, it would be more difficult for fish, 
in any depth of water at all, to see the 
surface clearly and to distinguish objects 
there. In such circumstances, the wet fly 
gives better service. 
For bright weather, and in clear water, 
the dry fly, lighting gently on the surface 
and moving at the same speed as other 
objects there, or lying still, if there is no 
current, will present a more natural ap- 
pearance than the wet; as it is impossible 
with any length of line out at all, to keep 
all the line out of the water, and when 
the fly is drawn along, the motion of the 
line can be seen by the fish. At such 
times any knots in the line may be risen 
to by a fish lying there. 
When there is but a slight current or 
ripple in clear water, the dry fly will do 
better than the wet, if properly fished. 
I HAVE seen the statement that the dry 
fly secures fewer, but larger, fish. My 
own experience has not always con- 
firmed this. In fact, my largest trout 
have been caught by letting the fly float 
downstream submerged quite deeply, at 
the whim of the current, to simulate a 
drowning insect. My conclusions are 
based entirely on my experience with 
speckled trout. I have never had the 
pleasure of fishing for brown trout, nor 
have I seen any caught. 
It often happens in the summer that 
small or medium-sized lake trout feed on 
surface-insects, evidently having come up 
fiom a considerable depth. Possibly a 
large dry-fly, floating about on the water, 
might prove a successful lure at such 
times. The wet fly would not be suc- 
cessful if the surface were fairly smooth, 
because the keen-sighted fish would see 
the movement of some part of the tackle 
and be frightened off by it. The feeding- 
time is just at dawn or early evening, 
when, as a rule, there is no breeze, and 
the surface is consequently smooth. At 
such a time the canoe might be allowed to 
drift, with the fly quietly resting on the 
water. Then there would be no drag or 
belly in the line to prevent a successful 
strike when the rise came. 
JAMES ALEXANDER HENSHALL 
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE APOSTLE OF THE BLACK BASS 
FATHER OF THE GRAYLING AND DEAN OF AMERICAN ANGLERS 
TWELFTH PAPER 
D URING my residence in Oconomo- 
woe, though much engaged in the 
study of the black bass, I found 
time, occasionally, to do some sailing and 
ice-yachting on Lake LaBelle, and to in- 
dulge in some shooting and much fishing. 
At that time Wisconsin furnished an 
abundance of sport with fur, fin and 
feather. Ruffed grouse were plentiful 
in the tamarack swamps of the vicinity, 
and sharp-tail grouse abounded in the 
oak openings of the western part of the 
state. To the south was Koshkonong 
Lake, a broad expanse of Rock river, 
forming an extensive, shallow lake with 
a luxuriant growth of wild celery which 
formed an attraction for immense 
flocks of canvasbacks, redheads, and 
widgeon. In the north, Horicon lake and 
marshes were the resort of innumerable 
mallards, pin-tails and teal, blue-wings 
and green. The wet land bordering 
Koskonong and Horicon furnished sport 
galore with woodcock and Wilson snipe, 
which compensated, in a measure, the 
absence of quail, which did not exist in 
the state. 
At Horicon a weather-beaten trapper 
and market hunter used to pole me about 
the marshes in his long and narrow, flat- 
bottomed boat. Fred was the best punter 
I ever knew. His sight was remarkable ; 
he could invariably tell the species of a 
flock of ducks a mile away, from their 
manner of flight. The marsh was dotted 
with hundreds of muskrat houses, and 
Fred made a good living trapping them 
at five cents per skin. If Fred knew that 
they were now selling for three or four 
dollars each he would, doubtless, be 
tempted to return to the fens and swamps 
of Horicon. 
The passenger, or wild pigeon, was 
still trying to eke out a precarious exist- 
ence, and once when I was on a shoot- 
ing trip for sharp-tail grouse near a lit- 
tle station on the West Wisconsin Rail- 
road, I was told by the station agent 
that he had shipped five tons of wild 
pigeons, within a month, packed in bar- 
rels, to New York City. There was a 
pigeon roost many miles away, but the 
feeding grounds were much nearer, and 
market pirates, responsive to a telegram, 
appeared with decoys and nets and were 
doing their best, or worst, to exterminate 
the beautiful bird. As we all know, now, 
only too well, their hellish purpose was 
accomplished a few years later. 
Up the state, toward Lake Superior, 
the white-tail deer was plentiful, but not 
much molested except when the lumber- 
jack desired a change of diet from white 
bacon to red venison. A few sportsmen 
visited the region in early winter, when, 
after a good tracking snow it was no 
hard matter to pick off a fine, fat buck. 
I enjoyed several short winter camps in 
that neck of woods, and several well- 
mounted heads of six or seven points are 
still in evidence. 
I made two summer trips in a Mack- 
inaw boat from the “Soo,” and along the 
south shore of Lake Superior to Brule 
river, and had great sport fishing along 
