FOREST AND STREAM 
943 
and while I can congratulate you on 
your skill, I honor you more for 
your love for the fish. You are 
sure different from most of the 
sportsmen who come to our moun¬ 
tains.” He then declared that he had 
enjoyed the sport almost as much 
as myself, and said that he would 
now go back home, and leave me 
to do as I wished with the fish. 
Peter and I then wended our way 
down stream, fishing all likely-look¬ 
ing pools, with some success at all 
of them. My catch for the day was 
thirty-seven grayling, nearly all of 
them one and three-quarter pounds 
each. Of the entire catch I killed 
and kept but eleven for the table, 
and to preserve the dorsal fins to show my Texas 
friends. 
Next morning I started alone for a three-mile 
walk to the creek. The morning was clear and 
beautiful, the air cool and bracing, so that 1 
enjoyed every foot of the way, and was not at 
all tired when I reached the creek and slipped 
into my waders. I found that Peter was right, 
and that the fish were moving rapidly toward 
the river. I had even better sport than on the 
previous day. I took my time and put in the 
rest of the day. The catch nearly all weighed a 
pound and three-quarters each, and they seemed 
to do their utmost to give me all the sport I 
needed, though I am free to confess that some 
of them knew more of the game than I did and 
handed me back my proffered fly with thanks. 
My catch for the day was forty-eight—my best 
day as it proved. 
I fished daily when the weather permitted, and 
the catch dwindled daily, until the last day I 
took but nine, for the fish had nearly all reached 
I N warmer sections of the temperate regions 
the latter part of May is the most favor¬ 
able time to get a full creel of any period 
of the trout season—if you cannot capture them 
now, you will not do so later on. After the win¬ 
ter is past, trout are exceedingly ravenous—par¬ 
ticularly brown trout, in my opinion is the gami¬ 
est, next to the rainbow, of all our more com¬ 
mon trouts. Feeding night and day, they soon 
become plump and in fine condition. The water 
is still cold, the rivers are full—rushing along to 
make fish more active and bolder. Insects begin 
to multiply in such vast numbers that trout are 
more anxious to grab a line than any other time 
throughout the year. There is nothing fastidi¬ 
ous in the way trout rise in May—every insect, 
large or small is alike swallowed. 
The time is near when every intelligent angler 
will find it imperative to acquire a reasonably 
fair intimacy with trout insects and the varying 
weather in which they have their rise. For 
instance, if you are familiar with the fact that 
certain drakes and duns only appear on dull 
days, and others on bright days, you are pretty 
the river. My total catch on the trip was one 
hundred and twenty-nine, of which number but 
twenty weighed less than a pound and a hall 
each, the majority going a quarter of a pound 
more. I fished but one fly on a six-foot leader, 
except as a matter of experiment when I used 
two flies, and in six instances I landed two fish 
at a time. 
In all fairness I want to say that I like the 
grayling rather better than the trout. The play 
of the grayling is very fair and attractive, while 
for the table I know of no fish that suits my 
palate as well; it is the queen of delicacies. The 
grayling, being so clean and free from slime, 
and having but few and weak teeth, is pleasanter 
to handle and unhook than the trout, whose 
strong and sharp teeth are a menace to the fin¬ 
gers. The various trouts, as a rule, lie concealed 
under a bank or near some protective object, 
from which they dash with vigor to seize the 
fly, and fight furiously, mostly under water, and 
endeavor to regain their hiding place, giving the 
safe to prepare accordingly. In my book 
“Trout Stream Insects” the shadfly is described 
as the most numerous trout insect in May. Since 
it was written last year I have been able to get 
convincing proof by numerous tests of what a 
seductive fly through the month of May, my 
imitation is, the right time being dependent upon 
weather conditions. Isolated specimens may al¬ 
ways be seen, but the grand rise—the great shad 
snow storm—when every trout, chub and dace 
gorges to suffocation while the rise is on, which 
may be only three hours, and again, may last 
three days. It is very easy to make a selection 
of May flies that is sure to result in full creels, 
if the angler, of course, be at all skilful in his 
method and his equipment of fair quality. Yet 
I must say that May is a saucy, coy month, 
changeable as the wind; from good to bad all of 
a sudden in the mountain regions. During the 
first two weeks, after a beautiful day and good 
sport, you may wake up the next morning to see 
a fierce snowstorm or heavy frost, which will be 
the cause of an entire change in your use of flies. 
After seven years’ intimate study of trout in¬ 
angler all he can do to effect their 
capture. On the other hand the 
grayling lies in the open at the bot¬ 
tom of pools, from whence he rises 
with extraordinary swiftness. On 
being hooked the grayling moves as 
swiftly as possible in various direct¬ 
ions, but always in the open, in or 
out of the water, never seeking re¬ 
fuge of brush or weeds. He is ex¬ 
ceedingly lively withal, but one can 
hardly say that he has a “fight” with 
a grayling, but rather a play or 
game, and one in which the fish is 
often the winner. He is capable of 
some very effective tactics in free¬ 
ing itself from the hook, and how 
he sometimes does so is a mystery 
to me. I have already mentioned the tackle I 
used on the trip. My flies were heather moth, 
Jock Scott, oak fly, olive dun, March brown, Brad¬ 
shaw’s fancy and gray hackle, though I am not 
prepared to say that one was better than another, 
for all were successful. After the first day I 
left the creel at home, as all fish but eleven were 
put back into the water uninjured. 
On September 12 it began snowing and for two 
days and nights I had a taste of mountain 
weather that reminded me that it was high time 
that I was turning my face toward Texas. When 
the storm abated I found that the fish had all 
taken refuge in the Madison River, and I was 
glad that it was so. 
I can not close this account of the most en¬ 
joyable fishing trip of thirty years, without thank¬ 
ing my good friend, Dr. James A. Henshall, for 
his kindness and courtesy in planning the trip. 
I also wish to thank the Doctor’s great admirer, 
Mr. Peter Kersemacher, for his personal care for 
my comfort, and for his interest in my sport. 
sects I have found that small dark colored flies 
are more abundant on cold and wet days. The 
larger, brightly tinted insects, prefer to rise on 
warm days and evenings and becoming more and 
more abundant towards the end of the month. 
Thus it is that weather conditions control your 
selection of flies and the right time to use them. 
You can throw away the old, archaic, antiquated 
advice that such and such a fly is good, trusting 
entirely to your own intimate knowledge of the 
situation and the stream conditions. 
The list of flies pictured in April Forest and 
Stream formed a selection from thirty-six speci¬ 
mens I painted of the most abundant insects that 
rise during the month of May. All, or nearly all, 
haunt the streams of the temperate regions. In 
addition to this list there are a few insects ar¬ 
ranged in my April list of nature flies pictured 
on the next page that continue to rise during the 
first two weeks in May. The most valuable are the 
female shadfly, needletail, redbug, and sailor 
drake—the last one being a floater, can be fished 
at the surface any time when the sun shines. 
This fly repeatedly drops on the surface and 
floats gracefully along till devoured; or, on ris¬ 
ing it flutters about four to six feet above the 
water surface. If you wish to fish it dry, it 
should be neatly tied (without loop) on a nine 
foot finely tapered gut leader, without other 
flies attached, and cast either up or down stream. 
HALCYON ANGLING DAYS IN MAY 
IMPORTANCE OF ACQUIRING A FAIR INTIMACY WITH TROUT 
STREAM INSECTS AND CONDITIONS THAT GOVERN THEIR RISE 
By Louis Rhead. 
