Nov. 16, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
627 
show of fly was not great, and I had difficulty 
in finding the good fish. They had dropped down 
on to the shallow water while I was patiently 
fishing the pools. However, I found them be¬ 
fore dusk and killed three, every one of which 
made a grand rush for his pool the instant he 
felt the hook. After leaving the water the dun 
(sub-imago) does not move about much after 
finding a good resting place, sheltered from the 
wind and sun until it undergoes the transfigura¬ 
tion into a spinner, or perfect insect of the 
Ephemeridce, and the latter will often remain 
at rest for a day or two. 
I have had them under observation at large 
and also in boxes. The caddis flies are perfect 
insects when they rise from the water and the 
stone flies remain among the stones for some 
time while growing their wings. Many queer in¬ 
sects appear from time to time, but they are not 
usually of importance to the angler. If he fishes 
at night he may want a few big flies. The moths 
and large brown caddis flies are often about, but 
for daylight work rather small flies usually kill 
best. On the high water, when the trout had 
fed well, I made the mistake of fishing flies too 
large and lost a couple of fine fish by it. I dis¬ 
covered that the trout were not hooking well and 
changed to much smaller flies with satisfactory 
results. The fish were probably a bit shy and 
indifferent, as the first conspicuous fly put up was 
refused by two trout. Yet many had been taken 
with the same pattern earlier. When the stone 
flies are growing wings, one may find the trout 
close in shore in water that will scarcely cover 
them. When a man takes to the floating fly, it 
is well for him to have had much experience of 
wet-fly fishing, not only with lures, but with 
small imitations of nature. He will not be apt 
to affect or feel superiority, as he knows that 
there is a science of the wet-fly as well as of 
the dry. 
Big trout are at times averse to breaking the 
surface, and in waters where they feed almost 
entirely upon minnows, the floater may only tempt 
the small fish. • A man who confines himself to 
fly-fishing on free waters should be proficient 
with the wet, dry and even the sunk fly. If there 
are very big trout about, you want one of them, 
and there is this to be said for the artificial 
purist. He develops all that is inherent in the fly. 
Small wet flies and imitation of the nymphs are 
being used to some extent on the chalk streams 
of England; the home of the dry-fly for a great 
many years. If the trout are feeding just under 
the surface upon immature insects, why not meet 
them there? The larva and remains of grub 
cases will often be found in their stomachs. We 
fish the dry-fly because it is most interesting, not 
because superior. There have been some wonder¬ 
fully clever men with the wet-fly. If a man is 
excited when casting a dry-fly to a large trout, 
he is apt to strike too quickly and too hard, pull 
the fly away from the fish, or leave it in its 
mouth. Fine gut will not endure being jerked, 
yet will bear a steady strain. 
Fishermen should be considerate of each 
other and remember that other men are follow¬ 
ing them. On a big stream in a full water the 
trout are not so easily scared, and I have had a 
good day after nine men had preceded me, but 
a careless or indifferent angler can spoil sport 
for hours on low water or in a small stream. 
We are greatly interested at present in the 
problem of providing sport on free waters for 
the rapidly growing army of anglers. Much can 
be done by restocking with fingerlings or larger 
trout, but probably still more by saving the 
streams of rapid descent, checking the terrific 
forces of the water and rolling stones in time 
of flood, and providing safe harbors with deep 
waters for the larger trout during long drouths. 
If this work is skillfully done, the cost need not 
be very great. Trout can go without food for 
a considerable time, but feed freely when the 
water rises. In floating flies much depends upon 
a well-shaped hook, and for small flies nothing 
seems to be better than the Hall. Big hooks 
may spoil sport when not well taken, and with 
tiniest midge hooks one is apt to miss or scratch 
a good many fish. I have fussed over hooks for 
many years and spent time and more cash than 
I should in the pursuit of perfect hooks, only to 
arrive at the conclusion that several bends are 
good when well made. Also that fine wired 
hooks are best for fine fishing in a low water, 
but that stout wires are required where the trout 
run large. On the back cast the fly is moving 
at high speed, and any hook may be broken if 
it touches a hard object. Plenty of expensive 
salmon flies have been ruined in this way, even 
when dressed in the heaviest O’Shaughenessy or 
Pennell hooks. 
While we have a wonderful variety in in¬ 
sect life, and many more large flies than are 
found on English waters, we also have many 
flies that approximate British species in size and 
color. For instance, we have lovely little red 
spinners, Jenny spinners, yellow and blue duns, 
big spring Browns and many others. We have 
whacking big red spinners and many caddis flies 
different from any described by English writers. 
Even when one finds insects that are very simi¬ 
lar in size and color, they are not quite the same. 
I found a lot of small Ephemeridce that ap¬ 
peared to be dull Jenny spinners, but saw that 
they were duns (sub-imagos). After shedding 
their coats they appeared as lonely little spin¬ 
ners with clear glassy wings. The markings at 
the tail end and thorax were similar to the Eng¬ 
lish Jenny. A similar but larger fly had only 
a touch of color below the wings. 
When insects are plentiful upon the water 
or have been so recently, imitation may be of 
great importance, but when the trout are in 
position to feed, they may be quite ready to ac¬ 
cept any natural appearing fly if it is presented 
attractively. Theories are interesting, but of 
little value unless they have been tested on the 
stream. We can theorize as much as we please 
and fish as much as we are able during many 
years, but there is always something new to 
learn; some fresh difficulty to be conquered. 
Britian River. 
The stream indicated tumbles its way down 
from the Canadian Cascade Mountains and 
finally into Jervais Inlet, an arm of the Pacific, 
coursing through a forest of gigantic fir and 
cedar. Cold and clear, one’s thirst is continually 
invited, and upon the July day I am going to 
tell you about, it was gratefully accepted. 
We were a party of four, good companions 
at home, in the woods, and mountains. An early 
start from our cruiser, the Totem, allowed us an 
easy tramp of about six miles over a crooked 
blazed trail before 11 o’clock. The point of ar¬ 
rival at the river was shaded and cool. The 
writer suggested lunch, and that for lunch I 
would catch a few trout. 
Setting up my rod I rigged a cast of a 
gray and a brown hackle No. 8. Meanwhile the 
three good fellows under the maples hauled out 
of my creel a nice lot of sliced bacon, lettuce, 
sandwiches, fruit and other ictas. Biff! My 
flies had struck the pool nicely and I had struck 
a 24-inch rainbow, which after a beautiful vigor¬ 
ous fight I landed in about ten minutes, having 
no net to discourage him with. 
Walking across the bar with this perfect 
specimen I presented him for lunch, but though 
we admired him greatly, the opinion was unani¬ 
mous that he would be awkward to fry in a tin 
pie plate, so he was dressed and laid carefully 
on the wet moss in the shade. 
While I fried bacon, the commodore took 
the rod, and in a few minutes landed a modest 
offering of four pretty six-ounce fellows of the 
same kind, but from a shallow riffle. Of course 
those who have been there know that it is right 
difficult to keep trout as fresh as these from 
curling right out of the pan, but notwithstand¬ 
ing the sweet smelling smoke, which seemed to 
follow one around the little fire, they were done 
to a turn. 
When this ‘‘best ever” lunch was finished 
and the cigars lighted, the commodore in the 
mean time having stolen from my pool on that 
same gray hackle a three-pound perfect cut¬ 
throat, I went back to the music of the uneasy 
water and took another three-pounder and five 
from one to one and a quarter pounds each, all 
rainbows, certainly the brightest jewel of all the 
trout. 
Then the rod was taken down. Our party on 
board could not eat more than sixteen pounds 
of trout, and besides, the creel was full, and for 
me at least the day was full, and in truth I am 
not so sure that those under the maples, all good 
sportsmen, had not enjoyed it as much as I, for 
the landing of those big rainbows was against 
as pretty a fight as I ever saw; one of them by 
actual count having leaped twelve times fully 
two feet in the clear. 
So much for the trout, and I could tell you 
something about the timber which we really went 
up there to look at. The cedars are 200 feet 
high, the lower Half free of limb or knot. I 
will not mention the firs because I would like 
to have you believe all of this story (it being 
my first appearance and I intend to tell you 
something more later on). But there are red 
deer as well as rainbow trout. A pretty two- 
year-old buck deliberately waded the river on a 
riffle not 200 feet above where we were resting 
and filling our pipes 1 on our way up stream. 
But though I believe our Canadian cousins would 
not expect us to go hungry even in the close sea¬ 
son, we were not in fact very hungry, and be¬ 
sides there was no rifle, and what was more re¬ 
grettable we did not bring the camera. 
Britian River, though beautiful and wonder¬ 
fully attractive, is by comparison with other 
British Columbia rivers not a trout stream. The 
bais aie miles long of smooth flowing rapid 
water with practically no pools, but the few 
trout are certainly fine. 
The total American yield of diamonds, 
emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones in 
1911 amounted to only $343692. Most American 
diamonds come from Arkansas and California. 
