March 4, 1893] 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
149 
THE PROPOSED NEW THAMES 
FISHERY BYE-LAWS. 
(Copy of a circular which has been sent to the 
secretaries of the Thames Angling Societies and 
the London Angling Associations. Any persons 
interested in the matter can attend). 
Dkar Sir, —A public meeting of those inter¬ 
ested in the Thames Fisheries will be held nest 
week, on Wednesday evening, at 7 o’clock, at 
Foresters’ Hall, Clerkenwell.* 
I shall be glad to know if your society will be 
represented. The object of the meeting is to 
discuss the proposed alterations as regards the 
riparian owners and the Thames Bye-laws only, 
and to pass resolutions, and draw up a petition 
to the Privy Council, praying that the present 
bye-laws, as far as they relate to the powers given 
or belonging to riparian owners in respect of the 
Fisheries, shall remain as they are now. 
Yours truly, 
R. B. MARSTON, 
Editor Fishing Gazette. 
We are glad to see some of the members of the 
Piscatorial Society have had sport at Ringwood, 
or near it. Mr. Hare Winton had a ‘28ilb. salmon 
on Feb. 22, and one of 27|lb. next day, and on 
Feb. 24, Mr. Hodges had one of 281b. and one of 
21 ,Ub. _ 
Red Palmer’s “Fly-Fishing.” — The second 
edition of this useful little book on fly-fishing, 
by kir. James Tayler, president of the Junior 
Fly-fishers Club, and secretary of the Gresham 
Angling Society, has been sold out, and we are 
informed a new and enlarged edition will shortly 
be ready. The same author is about to publish 
a “ Guide to the Business of Public Meetings,” 
with forms of procedure, powers and duties of 
chairman and other officers, and references to the 
various Acts of Parliament and decisions govern¬ 
ing such matters. _ 
ISIr. Philip Geen writes : “ Dear Mr. Marston,— 
I am up here for my usual winter holiday, and 
am enjoying more than my usual good luck. 
The Lyon has been in first-class trim for salmon 
fishing until this week, when the frost has 
brought it too low for sport. I have had some 
splendid fish for such a small river, among others 
two of 181b., one 191b., one 201b., one 221b., one 
241b., one 2.51b., and a grand fish of 31|lb. 
Yesterday I had a day on Loch Tay, and got 
three fish, one of which I send to you, which 
please accept.” It was a beauty. Loch Tay fish 
are of excellent flavour. 
Fly-Fishing on Loch Leven. —The fourteenth 
annual competition of the National Angling 
Clubs Association will be held on Loch Leven, on 
Wednesday, the 7th of June next, when forty-four 
fly-fishing clubs, already on the roll, will be 
entitled each to send one representative. The 
winner takes the championship of the National 
Clubs and a substantial money prize, and there 
are also several other money prizes. 
Trout Stocking at Henley-on-Thames. —The 
Henley-on-Thames and District Fishery Preserva¬ 
tion Association have recently received a thousand 
yearling trout (fario), and, following their usual 
custom, have placed them in tributary brooks in 
their district. A large number which were 
placed in the brook at Ascot last year, where 
they had egress to the Thames, have thriven, 
many of them stopping in the brook, others 
going into the river. At Marsh lock the asso¬ 
ciation has constructed a small stew, where a 
certain proportion of the present yearlings will 
be reared until they become two-year-olds and of 
a fit size to be put into the Thames. The placing 
of trout fry in the river has been proved over 
and over again to be a mistake, and only lack of 
funds prevents the various associations from 
always buying large fish. 
* Near Farringdon-street Station, on Underground 
Railway. 
GEORGE COLE BAINBRIDGE’S 
DRESSINGS OF ARTIFICIAL 
FLIES. 
No. 1 is a dark fly, with black body, which 
appears very early in March, and sometimes even 
in February, and as so few flies suitable for the 
purpose of the fly-fisher are at that time animated, 
it is to be used with great success during the 
whole day. The body is made of dark fur, to be 
obtained from a black water spaniel or rabbit, 
with a very small proportion of claret-coloured 
camlet, merely to give the mixture a tinge when 
held up to the light, the wings from the back of 
the fieldfare or hen blackbird, and a dusky black 
hackle for legs. 
The Black Gnat does not appear until nearly 
the end of April. The body is made with a black 
strip from an ostrich feather, and must be 
dressed thick, and rather short; the wings of a 
pale stai’ling’s feather, or it is equally neat if 
dressed as a hackle, for which purpose a pale dun 
is most suitable. Although this fly is generally 
highly praised by writers on angling, and by some 
has been recommended as a standard or never- 
failing fly, the character which it has obtained is 
infinitely too favourable. During several seasons 
in which the compiler made use of this fly, he 
observed that it was neglected by the flsh if a 
grouse hackle was upon the same line, and that his 
other flies always proved more attractive than the 
black gnat. But as it is a favourite fly with 
many persons, and will certainly kill fish when the 
water is low and fine, to have omitted the descrip¬ 
tion would have been censurable. 
The March Brown or Dun Drake. —This 
very excellent fly generally appears about the 
middle of March, and is strongly recommended 
as a good killer from eleven o’clock until three. 
Large quantities of these beautiful insects sail 
down the streams in succession, and invite the 
trout to action. Their wings are upright on the 
body, and whilst they are on the water it is 
almost in vain to attempt the use of any other 
fly. Therefore, as they vary in the shade of the 
body, it is advised to use three flies of this form, 
but of different sizes and colours, at the same 
time, which will insure success to the angler. 
The wings are made from the dark mottled 
feather from the tail of a partridge, or mottled 
feather from the ptarmigan in its summer 
plumage; the body of the fur from the hare’s 
ear, intermixed with a small portion of yellow 
worsted well dubbed together; a grizzled hackle 
for legs, and, if the imitator chooses to be exact, 
two fibres from the same feather which composed 
the wings will enable him to form the tail. This 
appendage to the flies in their natural state need 
not be attended to in the artificial formation, as 
it is of little importance in aiding the success of 
the angler, although, if flies are dressed for sale, 
it improves their appearance and renders them 
more showy and attractive. It may also be 
dressed as a hackle, by means of the spotted 
feather from a pariridge’s back, using the same 
mixture for the body as before described. 
The Hazle Fly is of a round form and rather 
difficult to be imitated with success. It is to be 
used in May and June, and is very destructive 
where bushes abound. By some this is im¬ 
properly called the Marlow Buzz. The body is 
made of ostrich harl, of two colours, viz., black 
and purple, which must be twisted very thick; 
the wings of the sandy-coloured feathers from 
under the wings of a throstle, or from the red 
feather of a partridge’s tail, provided it be not 
too dark ; a bluish hackle, twisted tolerably full, 
will answer for the under wing as well as for the 
le" 3 . The cow-lady flies are also made in this 
manner, substituting a red or black hackle for the 
dun, and reducing the size of the fly considerably. 
The Great Dark Dun is one of the earliest 
flies which appear upon the water, and may be 
used in February, if the weather be mild. It has 
four wings, which are to be imitated by the dun 
feathers from the wing of a mallard, which have 
a brownish tinge; the body of dark fur from the 
mole, mixed with a little dark brown mohair, and 
a dark grizzled for legs. This fly may be used 
during the whole year, early in the morning if 
the wind be high, and is often successful in 
raising salmon. 
' The Stone Fly is found near the edge of 
shallow, stony streams, and is a favourite article 
of food to the trout, so long as it continues in 
season. The usual time of the stone fly’s appear¬ 
ance is in April ; but Salter, in his excellent 
little work on “Angling,” gives the following 
account of his success with this fly at a much 
earlier period: “ The general opinion that it never 
appears until the middle of April is a mistaken 
one. The reason that induces me to trouble you 
with this digression is to remove the error, by 
stating a circumstance that I have met with. On 
March 8, when sitting by the side of a stream to 
repair my line, I observed a stone fly crawling 
on the gravel. The appearance of a stranger so 
unexpected (in a cold day) excited my curiositj' 
so far as to make a trial of an artificial one, the 
result of which was very great diversion from 
half-past eleven till one, when the trout ceased 
rising to it. It was on a deep, slow stream that 
is generally tinged with turbary water; but I 
never have found so much success with it upon 
rapid streams so early in the season.” This fly 
is the largest of the representation given, being an 
inch in length, and large in the body. The wings, 
which are four in number, should not much exceed 
the length of the body, and are to be made to lie 
flat; the mottled feather from a hen pheasant or 
peahen is best adapted to this purpose. The body 
is composed of any dark fur—such may be pro¬ 
cured from bear’s skin, or the dark part of the 
hare’s ear, &c.—and is to be mixed with yellow 
camlet or mohair, so that it may appear most 
yellow near the tail and belly of the fly, with a 
grizzled hackle of good length wrapped under the 
wings. Some persons in imitating this fly, add 
two hairs from the beard of a black cat, or from 
the tail of the fulmart or polecat, as representa¬ 
tions of the horns; but, as before observed, 
attention to such minutim is unnecessary. 
Another very general mode of dressing this 
fly, is by means of a long-fibred grizzled hackle 
from a cock’s back, without wings. It is also a 
deadly bait used in the natural state, by dibbing 
under bushes, and must, in common with all large 
flies, be invariably used at the point. 
The Mealy Brown or Fern Fly appears in 
May, and is an excellent lly for grayling. It has 
four wings, which are made from the under part 
of a throstle or fieldfare’s wing; those feathers 
should be selected which have the yellowest tinge. 
The common hen is sometimes to be met with of 
this shade, in which case her feathers may be 
used. The body is of dusky orange, which the 
light brown fur from a fox’s breast will furnish, 
and a pale dun hackle for logs. 
Attention must be given to the division of the 
wings. 
(To be continued) 
THE LOWER THAMES TROUT 
PRESERVATION SOCIETY. 
The readers of the Fishing Gazette must not 
think that because there was no report last week 
of the doings of the above-named society, that 
there is any want of energy to make it a success. 
On the contrary, I have issued nearly six hundred 
circulars, which has fully occupied my spare time. 
I have already promises of support from several 
trout fishermen. I have asked for subscriptions, 
and hope by next week to be able to give a further 
amount of subscriptions promised. I intend 
during the next week to make a call on some 
thirty hotels on the river, and leave a framed 
circular at each one, together with a book for 
collecting subscriptions. I called on four 
this week, in the neighbourhood of Staines, 
and the proprietors have promised to do their 
best to collect subscriptions, and have also 
promised me to support the society. As I found 
the river in full flood I must defer my visits 
until the floods subside. It took two men to row 
me up from the Packhouse Hotel, Staines, to the 
Anglers’ Rest, Egham, and it was as much as 
they could do, so strong was the stream. How¬ 
ever, I did nob go for nothing; it was the mean) 
of getting two supporters to the society. 1 hope 
all those who take any interest in the society 
will send me their names, also the narnes and 
addresses of any of their friends who are fisher¬ 
men.—Yours truly, Penton Hook, hon. sec. 
Lower Thames Trout Preservation Society, 
Care of Fishing Gazette, 
St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter Lane, E.C. 
