332 
THE PISHING GAZETTE 
[May 6, 1893 
Many imitators of this fly seem to me to be 
trying to over-copy nature. The wings, which 
cannot be of much importance when dry and 
cocked fa position the natural fly never assumes), 
might be made from plain, light-brown feathers, 
and the smaller darker patterns should be with¬ 
out the green tail. The biggest trout I have 
killed this year—a fish of 2;flb.—was taken on a 
grannom having a dusky black body, ditto hackle, 
green chenille egg sack, which latter exactly 
imitates the natural egg bag when slightly damp 
The following is a dressing of this fly taken 
from an old book printed at the beginning of the 
present century; “The Greextaii. Fly. — The 
wings are from a feather out of a pheasant’s 
wing, which has a fine shade, that exhibits the 
very resemblance of those of the real fly; the 
body, the black part of hare’s fur, a brown strip 
of peacock’s tail, a very small bit of a green one, 
wiih a grizzle cock's hackle." Then it gives the 
details of making; the body formed with hare's 
fur and brown peacock herl, and the green tail 
by one lap of the green herl. With these 
materials one should make a very fair imitation. 
Although the grannom has been so plentiful and 
lasted so long this year, very few fish have been 
killed on it, or, at least. I can speak of that 
portion of the Test between Mottisfont and 
Komsey. The first and principal reason has been 
the extreme clearness of the water. Then the 
wind has been mostly down stream or easterly. 
However, with a change to the west, my brother 
took a very handsome trout of 31b. at Mottisfont, 
and another of 1 ^Ib. on the same water, the 
smaller fish, strangely, not being in as good 
condition as the large one. On the ISth I had a 
trout of 2]-lb. This fish took the fly not five 
yards above where my brother got his largest 
fish. It is a ereat pity more fish have not 
rewarded the efforts of the anglers, as they look 
and eat more like June than April trout. 
Grayling have been pretty active after the fly. 
and it is rather disappointing to find one has 
wasted the best part of the rise over a grayling. 
There seems to be a growing feeling amongst the 
anglers round Romsey that these fish are much 
too plentiful, and that they are crowding out the 
trout. Still, they give excellent sport in the 
autumn, alihougb they are somewhat of a 
nuisance now. rising at every passing fly, when 
they ought to be intent on family affairs. 
The best rise, as a rule, has been from 10 a m. 
until 2 p.m.; although some few fish seem 
to be rising nearly all day. The other evening I 
killed a trout of lib. on the grannom as late as 
5.30 p.m , and, at nearly six o’clock, I hooked and 
lost a large fish on the Silver Sedge. 
I think the fish take the grannom as it comes 
to the surface during the first rise in the morning, 
and it is then a partially wet fly is taken as well 
as a perfectly dry one. I have often watched, but 
have never seen, a fish rise at the fly while the 
latter is dipping and laying eggs. No doubt the 
uncertainty of the insect’s movements then have 
taught the fish to disregard it. 
The grannom is a fly not much used, or use, on 
the Itchen. From Winchester down to some 
distance below' Bishopstoke there are none to bi- 
found. This year, while making a boating ex¬ 
pedition on the lower waters of the Itchen, I saw a 
fair sprinkling of the fly, but nothing 'n compare 
with the Te.'^t. and I .'•re in a note from Winchester 
in the Fluking Gazette of April 29. mention of 
this fly. 
If fish have been few it has been a most 
delightful month ; the days by the river have 
been thoroughly enjoyable. The migratory birds 
seem to have had some mysterious information 
of the lovely time awaiting them in England. 
'I'he swallow.s and sand martins appeared here on 
March 31. On April 15 the cuckoo came; night¬ 
ingales were singing in the woods far earlier than 
usual, and one might go on enumerating nearly 
all the birds and flowers as being equally early. 
The May was in blossom on April 20 here, and the 
flowering of the hawthorn is in some years con¬ 
temporaneous with the May-fly. It will be strange 
if the Ma> -fly is not up before its time. I sincerely 
hope not, as it will be most desirable that wo 
should have a week's trood rain before that advent. 
Percy H arland, a plucky youth of some twelve 
years of age, wh-lst with his father—fishing on 
Loch Maree—assisted in taking an eagle’s nest, 
with two eggs, on a neighbouring height. 
m. 
[altontana 
I SHOULD not be at all surprised if this was a 
very early May-fly season in England, unless after 
this spell of heat we are treated to some Arctic 
weather. Already the “fly is up’’ in Ireland, 
some weeks before its time. Everything in the 
country is in an extraordinary forward condition; 
strawberry plants are in bloom and fruit already 
forming; a dish of gooseberries might easily 
be picked from some bushes which I inspected 
this afternoon ; many spring flowers are blooming 
at least three weeks earlier than usual. A 
severe frost now would be almost a national 
calamity. I have an unpleasant recollection of 
something of the kind last year—in June, I 
think—when fourteen degrees of frost robbed me 
of all roy Fi'ench beans. I hope you see the 
connection between French beans and angling; 
of course the connection is May-flies. Well, 
everything being early, why not May-flies too ? 
Surely the heat, will affect them as it has affected 
things vegetable. It will hardly be safe this year 
to put oft' visiting the water to the usual day; 
it would be wise to come a week too soon, and 
infinitely better to do this than to come a week 
too late. 
ilR. Halford, by the way, in his magnum opus 
on dry fly-fishing, is not by any means in favour 
of flogging the water at the commencement of 
the rise of the fly; he thinks the fish should be 
left quiet for a day or two. I never could quite 
make up my mind whether I agreed with this or 
not. (.ine thing I do know, that, as a rule, you 
can catch more fish during the first three days of 
the rise than during the six days which follow 
them. 
Those members of the British Sea Anglers’ 
Society who are so disposed will have the oppor¬ 
tunity of journeying to Deal in company at an 
early date, for the purpose of joining in a pleasant 
little outing organised by the committee. There 
is nothing of the nature of prizes or competitions 
about it, simply companionship, fresh air, and 
sport. Fishing off Deal is most uncertain, except 
during September and October, and I must 
confess I was not a little surprised the other day 
to receive a letter, written by the landlord of the 
“ Compasses,” in which he informed me that he 
had just come off the sea, bringing with him 
three capital cod, weighing 141b., 17Ib., and 161b. 
respectively. There were four other boats on the 
spot, one of which had nine cod, weights unknown. 
The nets have been taking few herrings. 
I NOTE with more or less interest that a Rivers 
Pollution Prevention Bill is coming on for its 
second reading. My interest is languid in the 
matter for this reason; if the Bill proposed is to 
do anything to put a stop to the pollution of onr 
rivers it would most certainly be blocked and 
thrown out by the numerous manufacturers, to 
whom the passing of the Bill would mean, perhaps, 
the expenditure of a thousand pounds or two out 
of the many thousands which they possess. If, 
on the other hand, the Bill is a make-believe, and 
would leave m tters very much as they are, it will 
pa'^s, whoever has it in hand will obtain a little 
cheap credit, and the rivers will be none the better. 
.Anglers, from the nature of their favourite 
sport, always take a great interest in the question 
of footpath and highway preservation. Many of 
the loveliest walks we know are mere tracks 
through riverside meadows. In valleys watered 
by rivers the verdure, wild flowers, herbage, and 
trees all grow more luxuriously than those on the 
uplands. Such paths lead one through many of the 
most beautiful districts in England. It is cruel to 
exclude the unfortunate persons who have no 
lands of their own from seeing what nature has 
given them, and for some years now the National 
Footpath Preservation Society hus been doing 
good work in making public the exact legal 
rights of the people in respect of highways and 
footpath-', but now something more is to be done. 
In the District Councils Bill, which the Govern¬ 
ment say they intend to pass, there are one or two 
valuable provisions. The first one is that no 
existing pathway shall be closed by legal process 
without the consent of the parish council first 
having been obtained. This is an addition to, 
rather than an alteration in, the existing law, and 
is doubtless intended to give the inhabitants of 
any parish a better chance than they have at 
present of expressing their wishes in the matter. 
The second provision is that it shall be the duty 
of the district councils to see that no existing 
footpaths and rights of way generally are wrong¬ 
fully obstructed; in other words, that which has 
hitherto been left to public-spirited persons will 
now have to be undertaken by district councils 
(which are more important bodies than the parish 
councils), and if the dwellers in districts do not 
take the trouble to elect persons to represent 
them who will look af er their interests, it will 
only be their own fault if they lose many valuable 
rights. Templar. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Heatherbell. —The wife of the Editor of the 
F. O. thanks “Heatherbell" for the charming 
present of roses. 
Split Cane. —Will send your strictures to the 
writer of the article in our contempKirary. 
Corresponirmc 
[TFe do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinioru 
expressed by our Correspondents.] 
“ One of the charms of angling is that it presents an 
endless field for argument, speculation, and experi¬ 
ment.” —T. E. Pritt. 
DEATH OF “ STORMY PETREL.” 
Dear Sir, —The report of the condition of 
Mr. S. J. Harris was, on the occasion of my recent 
visit to the Isle of Man, so serious that 1 feared 
the end was not far off. It has come, for by the 
inclosed extract from the Isle of Min Tines 
of Saturday last you will see that he died on 
Thursd 'y the 27th ult. I know thar. I amexp'ess- 
ing your own, and many readers of the Gazette's 
sentiments with regard to poor “ Stormy Petrel,” 
when 1 quote the words of Robert Burns:— 
The friend of man, the friend of trath ; 
The friend of age, and guide of youth. 
Pew hearts like his with virtue warm’d. 
Few heads with knowledge to inform’d. 
I am, sir, yours truly, E. E. 11. 
[We have elsewhere referred to this sad event. 
— Ed] 
A RISE OP MAY"-PLY IN LONDON. 
INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS. 
My Dear Marston, —To-day there was a small i 
rise of May-fly from the larvae that you kindly j 
sent me some time ago, both male and female, t 
I have seen finer specimens. 1 
It was very interesting to watch the last few \ 
hours of the larval stage, which by isolating an f 
individual insect and using a lens I was easily j 
able to examine and observe. | 
Amongst many things quite new to me was 
the formation about the upper surface of the 
thorax of many minute air bubbles about 0'50() 
millimetres in diameter. I assured myself on this 
point by removing some with a pipette. 
The labour was some eight hours in progress, 
and after the first two hours the branchias ceased 
working. Convulsive movements of the fly t'l 
and fro inside the exuviie were all that could be 1 
seen, but on irritating either of the hinder legs li 
there was reflex action ; no other part of the body » 
seemed susceptible. 
The first indication of this interesting change • 
which attracted my attention, was the move- • 
ment of the setas, wUich, during their extraction, 
became bent at a right angle to the body and 
towards the front. The branchia; remained 
standing, and the hindermost legs, which have 
pincers, remained the longest irritable. I have 
told you as much or more, perhaps, than you care 
about, but I think you should have the first 
fruits of an experiment in which you so materially 
assisted.— With kind regards, believe me yours 
very truly, T. P. Hawksley. 
97, Adelaide-road, London, N.W. 
30th April, 1893. 
[Early this year we obtained some May-fly 
larvie for Mr. Hawksley, but we did not expect 
he would be successful in rearing them to the fly 
stage.— Ed.] _ 
