August, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
413 
to No. 7, which is the largest size ad- 
visable to use. 
I used this fly exclusively last summer 
when there was a very heavy fall of 
grasshoppers on the river I was fishing. 
I used No. 10 hooks mostly, but I found 
that sometimes a feeding trout that had 
refused the small fly several times took 
a larger fly on the first presentation, but 
this is not always the case. It is best 
to use a fly slightly smaller than the 
average size of the grasshoppers. An- 
other important point to remember is 
that the body must not be made fat, it 
should be as slim as possible, if otherwise 
the fly makes too great a disturbance 
when being cast onto the still surface of 
the deep pools. 
I find that one application of oil when 
commencing to fish is generally sufficient 
to last out the life of the fly. Some- 
times when a fly has been very badly 
mussed up it may be necessary to oil 
it again. 
When a fly is in a very bedragled con- 
dition, before trying to dry it, it is ad- 
visable to cast the fly on the water, 
allow it to sink well below the surface, 
and then draw it in, by a series of 
sharp jerks. This removes any slime 
from the fish’s mouth that may have 
been responsible for the condition of the 
fly and now it can be dryed again with- 
out very much trouble. 
T O further hasten the drying process 
the fly cap be squeezed between a 
folded piece of amadon. Amadon 
is a fungus that has the property of 
absorbing moisture in a very miraculous 
manner. It can be obtained at drug- 
gists’ stores. I had very good success 
with this fly, fished dry, last summer on 
a river that is heavily fished and where 
the trout are extremely sophisticated. 
Although I am not quite a novice in the 
art of casting a fly, having fished for 
trout for over 30 years, I believe my 
success was chiefly due to the fly and 
not to any great extent to my moderate 
skill with the fly rod. 
When the “fall” is well on, before com- 
mencing to fish a pool, a brief examina- 
tion should be made and the location 
of the various feeding fish noted. 
Beginning at the lower end where the 
water is generally quite smooth and 
deep, the nearest feeding fish should be 
covered by casting the fly about 2 or 3 
feet above the spot where he took his 
last grasshopper, and the fly should be 
floated down over this position with no 
motion except that of the current. If 
the fish does not take the fly, let it 
float down 5 or 6 feet below where the 
fish is supposed to be before lifting the 
fly from the water. 
If the fly has been made correctly — 
i. e., not too bulky there will be no dif- 
ficulty in making it drop lightly on the 
surface and although the surface may 
be like glass if a fine tapered leader is 
used, tapering down to XX or XXX, 
trout can be caught in the most impos- 
sible looking places. 
I F a fish is hooked, steer it down stream 
at once and land it with as little com- 
motion as possible. As progress is 
made towards the upper part of the pool 
and the surface current increases, the 
fly should be cast further upstream above 
the location of the feeding fish until, 
where casting in the swift water near 
the head of the pool, the fly should 
alight as much as 6 or 7 feet above the 
place that you wish the fly to float 
over. 
Last summer the most successful ex- 
ponents of the bait fishing school did 
not have the success that I had and 
after a very thorough trial of this fly I 
have no hesitation in recommending it to 
all those who look upon trout fishing 
as a sport and not as a method of pro- 
curing food. At the same time there 
is the solid fact that, if one does be- 
come an expert in the use of this fly, 
one can catch just as many and quite as 
large trout as the followers of the cruder 
method ever do. 
I F one starts out to make a rough in- 
ventory of the trout streams of North 
America, the fact is brought home to 
one that there is a very large extent of 
water that is composed of streams and 
rivers which flow through bottom lands; 
especially is this the case in the west- 
ern half of the continent. These bottom 
lands are frequently in the form of hay 
meadows and the insect life that is most 
numerous during the summer months in 
these localities is the grasshopper. 
Where the grasshoppers are in con- 
siderable numbers, which is the rule and 
not the exception, they form a very im- 
portant part of the natural dietary of 
the trout inhabiting these particular 
streams. 
Trout do not feed, to any great ex- 
tent, on flies or other insects when the 
grasshopper is present in large numbers, 
for the reason that they swallow such 
enormous quantities of grasshoppers dur- 
ing the day that when the usual even- 
ing rise of flies appears they are full 
to repletion and do not pay very much 
attention to the small flies on the surface. 
The rivers on which grasshoppers are 
prevalent, are, from the nature of the 
surrounding country, not the dashing, 
rough streams met with in the hills, but 
generally they consist of a series of 
large, deep, slow flowing pools, connected 
together by short rapids or riffles; con- 
sequently there is plenty of room and 
numerous opportunities to make fairly 
long casts in reaching the feeding fish, 
and furthermore these same fish are of 
a larger average size than the fish that 
are caught in the rough water nearer 
the source of the stream. 
I N the early hours of the day the grass- 
hoppers do not move about very much, 
but by the time the sun has developed 
strength they begin to take short flights, 
and it is in taking these flights that they 
frequently have the misfortune to fall on 
the surface of the water. 
Once they are in this unnatural ele- 
ment, they very rarely get back onto dry 
land again, and if they fail to do so- 
very quickly they will undoubtedly be 
taken by a fish. 
4 
We generally speak of a “hatch” or 
“rise” of flies, but the correct designa- 
tion for the appearance of grasshoppers 
on the surface of the water, should be 
termed a “fall” of grasshoppers. This 
may seem to be a hairsplitting style of 
nomenclature, but I believe everything 
should be called by its correct name; 
(continued on page 444) 
