Sept. 27, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
397 
Fly-Fishing With a Casting Rod 
By PAUL H. BYRD 
1 HAVE never seen an artificial fly of any kind 
in the process of making, and never read 
anything about it. Therefore, what I may 
write on the subject is original, and the instruc¬ 
tions easily followed. I have fished for trout 
with flies and acquired a certain degree of pro¬ 
ficiency in the art of fly-casting, yet it never 
occurred to me to examine a fly with any other 
object in view than that of learning the fitness 
of its physical condition for further use. I have 
cast bass flies with a trout rod, and for several 
years have had a book of bass flies, but up to 
the time 1 conceived the idea of using a fly in 
connection wdth a bait-casting rod, as described 
in a previous article, I had never looked at them 
with a curiosity beyond the anxious question, 
“Well, what in the world of flies shall I try 
next?” and when it came to employing a fly in 
the new way, and needing the eyed kind, I 
noticed for the first time that all of mine were 
tied on gut. At first I used these, but the men¬ 
tal strain was too great. The first cast would 
lay the entire connected lure on the water as 
neatly as if it had been placed there with my 
hands directly, and a (big) bass would make a 
terrific rush for it and miss. Hurrying matters 
somewhat, the next four consecutive casts would 
result each time in a tangled mass of fly, casting- 
weight and spinner hitting the water with a 
splash to be towed ashore looking like a bunch 
of tumble weed, and leaving a similar wake. 
But the fifth cast would be a technical success, 
as evidenced by that mighty tug and yank on 
the line, only to be immediately followed by that 
depressing, sickening slack—the fish had attacked 
the spinner. It was more than a mental strain; 
it placed the moral status in jeopardy. And it 
was not treating the bass right. 
The trouble was all with the long gut on 
the fly, and I began to look at flies with much 
keener observation. What I wanted in eyed 
flies could not be found in my part of the coun¬ 
try. This, and curiosity led me to try to make 
one. My first efforts resulted in most ludicrous 
specimens, although even they lured a few perch 
and bass, much to my surprise. I took apart a 
large trade fly and noted carefully how it had 
been made, and you who are familiar with the 
articles will smile when I say that for the first 
time I knew the hackle or “feelers” to be the 
feathers or hackle from a cock bird. That’s a 
confession of supreme ignorance, but you who 
are not wise may now correct the evil without 
a similar exposure of your shortcomings. Just 
how professional fly tyers place the hackle, how 
they start and stop the windings of the body, 
and how they place certain kinds of wings I 
do not know even yet, but however it is done 
I do know that my method is a close second to 
it for neatness, and has it beaten for durability 
further than a country boy can sail a rock. They 
last so long that I grow tired looking at them 
and imagine the fish do, too, but not so, because 
their attractive powers do not wane. Maybe 
they promote hereditary belligerency, a family 
sanguinary obsession which enables you to catch 
succeeding generations of bass. 
For use in very clear water I favor a No. 2 
or smaller hook. Not only because the defects 
of a larger show more pronouncedly, but because 
the smaller mouthed perch may take it. The 
more discolored the water the larger the fly. 
TAKING 42 1 / 2 -POUND CALIFORNIA STRIPED BASS. 
Photograph by Paul H. Byrd. 
All of my very large ones are yellow, orange 
and white, with the usual dash of red, which 
in these go in to the tail, or “stinger,” or what¬ 
ever that thing may be that sticks out behind on 
an artificial fly, and which I have never dis¬ 
covered on real live insects. 
Any of the large, straight bend hooks are 
satisfactory, but a fine choice of mine is 
O’Shaughnessy or sproat, because of the peculiar 
bend of the shank. This bend, if the fly is tied 
with the barb underneath, not only gives that 
lifelike curve to the body, as in a wasp, but on 
a straightaway pull, whatever that law of me¬ 
chanics may be, tends to force the barb further 
away from the point of resistance. To get the 
effect, tie a string in the eye of a bare hook 
and drag it on a piece of cloth. What you see 
is one more good reason why one hook on a 
lure is enough. With that much the best of it 
you are certainly a third rater if you lose an 
undue proportion of your battles. 
If the barb is underneath the fly, it may be 
made weedless by tying in two pieces of very 
small spring wire diverging to points on both 
sides of the barb. This form of the weedless 
feature serves as a balm for the conscience when 
you note that it acts also as a safety device 
(for you) when a fish is hooked. I prefer the 
weedless which is made so by tying with the 
barb up, the wings shielding it "from view, and 
the fly sliding safely over all obstacles. It is 
true that a hook in that position has greater 
difficulty penetrating the hard, bony upper jaw, 
especially of the large-mouth, which so frequent¬ 
ly almost gorge the lure on their savage rushes, 
but this is partially offset by the greater striking 
power of a bait-casting rod over that of a fly- 
rod. 
There is a particular wax or glue used in 
tying flies, but I have never had any. Le Page’s 
glue was substituted and contributed its full 
share to the longevity of the flies, which refutes 
the belief of friends that it would soon disinte¬ 
grate in water. I happened to have several 
spools of No. 00 rod winding silk and used it 
often, especially on the smaller flies, but ordi¬ 
nary sewing silk thread No. A proved entirely 
satisfactory. If a dull lustreless effect is wanted 
on the body, use yarn. It can be had in five- 
cent skeins any color. The bright, glossy finish 
is produced with silk floss or twist, the best of 
which I have found to be that in skeins in a 
patent paper holder at five cents each, or six 
for twenty-five cents, and of every conceivable 
color. Of course, if you notice some doilies or 
other similar works of art in the process of 
home construction and can with impunity make 
a raid on the work basket, you save this ex¬ 
pense maybe, for it may be found to be only a 
matter of bookkeeping, because your own work 
bench is subject to surreptitious visits. Chenille 
makes those fuzzy bodies as of a caterpillar or 
bumblebee, and milliners and dressmakers have 
quantities of it in odds and ends of any desired 
color and size. With it you can make an imita¬ 
tion fuzzy form so lifelike that a scream will 
be heard when she finds it sticking in the window 
screen where you have left it to dry. There is 
a body filler on the market, and I got some, but 
could not quite learn how it should be used, so 
I continued the successful use of yarn for that 
purpose, winding it on the required size of the 
fat-bodied imitations and a veneer of silk there¬ 
on. The small flies and those having thin bodies 
I wound solid with silk. The wildest extrava¬ 
gance in the use of the floss cannot make your 
flies expensive. But care must be taken in wind- 
