944 
FOREST A N D 
STREAM 
The above, form a selection of trout insects that rise during April—part of them also in May. No. i male shadfly, No. 2 female shadfly, No. 3 female shad with eggsack. 
No. 4 brown drake, No. 6 soldier drake, No. 7 sailor drake, No. 8 redbug, No. 9 longhorn, No. 11 needletail. The wings of the three shad flies should lap lower down 
over the body (they are being made so now) but I wished to show the peculiar color markings of the body particularly the peculiar green and gold stripes on the 
body of the male and vivid green eggsack on the female. The longhorn with brilliant orange body is a newly hatched stone fly. It will be noticed the three drakes 
have under bodies a pale greenish cream color and the two little duns are flat-winged—both excellent wet flies. 
along runways that may be distinguished by 
bubbles or floating refuse. 
This rule applies to all fly casting on parts of 
the stream when you see runways, which may be 
exactly in the middle or close to the edge round 
the bend, or round a half submerged rock. In 
such places trout abide at the bottom, to dart 
upwards at passing food and then immediately 
return to the same haunt, where they may re¬ 
main all summer, if not molested or caught. 
The redbug and needletail are two flies that 
may be fished together wet, and allowed to fol¬ 
low the waters’ flow where they list. I should 
use the redbug as end fly and the needletail three 
feet above, tied as before, without loops, by a 
careful knot through the eye of the hook. Loops 
should be discarded as they interfere with a 
feathery cast. The time is past for snelled flies 
looped in the leader either as end or upper flies. 
The fly attachment to the leader must be tied 
with a knot, instead of a loop. The fly I am 
most sure of getting a rise of trout is the brown- 
drake, because, during the latter part of April 
till well past the middle of May it is on the 
wing, in both fair and foul weather. Equally 
good, morning and evening, you may fish it dry 
at the surface in placid places, and also wet 
under water in rough places. This insect, known 
heretofore as March brown is the only Ameri¬ 
can insect identical with the British insect of 
that name. It has never before been tied exactly 
true to nature showing the under body a pale 
green in contrast to the upper body of brown, 
speckled in black. In the Catskill and Adiron¬ 
dack regions the brown drake is much more 
abundant than its larger and more beautiful 
cousin, the green drake. Between the two, I 
have no hesitation in saying, from every stand¬ 
point, that the brown is by far the better fly. In 
Champlain regions, where the green drake is 
very abundant, the cast might be different. 
But all through May, were I restricted to three 
or four flies for use in the Catskills and Adiron- 
dacks, I would fish the brown drake at the sur¬ 
face on warm days and use the female shadfly 
along with black gnat under water afternoons 
and evenings with perfect safety of full creel. 
During early May I find the redbug still on the 
wing (though placed on April chart) in the 
afternoons, and trout take it well indeed. No 
matter what weather conditions prevail, these 
four flies attract all three species of trout, rai» 
bows, brown or speckled, each are equally rav¬ 
enous for them. 
The shadflies, printed on this page show the 
male, female, and female with eggsack, the lat¬ 
ter, by far best of the three, is only seen on 
wing from the 10th of May till the great rise, 
whenever that occurs, according to weather con¬ 
ditions. The female without eggs may be used 
any time during late April, and the male is at 
its best during afternoons and evenings, from 
the last week in April to end of May. 
Of course these observations are limited to 
the fluctuations of weather conditions. Anglers 
must observe for themselves. My studies of 
these insects, though painstaking and careful, 
cannot be exact always, because of changes in 
the rise, due to temperature. For instance, I 
caught shadflies as late as second week in June 
though it is really a fly for May. There are 
times when you can put a shadfly on the water, 
and be most successful with it in June, as well 
as late in April. 
I am not one addicted to constantly changing 
my cast, for if I am using an imitation of some 
insect fairly abundant, without getting a rise, 
I doggedly persevere in other places, and after¬ 
wards'change my method from wet to dry, or 
otherwise. Perhaps, when I get a good pool 1 
take out and try one of my minnows or shiny 
devils in hopes of getting a big fish. 
In addition to the April redbug, there is an¬ 
other excellent insect called the sailor drake, 
that continues to rise early in May, so called 
from being dressed in blue with white under¬ 
body. It is rather smaller than the brown drake, 
but it is very attractive either on warm or cold 
days, from early in the day to late evening. 
Last spring I fished with this same fly for four 
days with very good luck. 
I realize fully that every angler has his own 
peculiar methods and choice of implements, yet 
I modestly offer here a few suggestions that dif¬ 
fer considerably from those described by others 
that still may be found worthy of serious 
thought! While on the stream I never attempt 
long casts. I get as close to the fish as I dare, 
for the shorter the cast the more sure am I of 
hooking the fish. The mere fact of long casts 
are directly apposite to good trout methods. If, 
by a false, or poor cast, the fly fails to float 
jauntily cocked, it is allowed to run past the 
fish, then whipped off, or dragged back along 
the surface. The fly is then well dried in the 
air before being recast. I never try to float a 
fly on rough swift water, but let it have its own 
way, either on, or under water. 
In wet fishing with one or more flies I invari¬ 
ably cast across stream, agitating the flies as 
they float under water and lead them to a run¬ 
way to go down stream, keeping them as near 
as possible where I know trout lie. 
Concerning the implements : The rod, line and 
leader should be made to fit each other, as well 
as the angler. A nine foot rod fits a short arm, 
nine and a half fits the average, and a ten foot 
a long arm, the weight being four, five and six 
ounces. The rod should have an agate guide 
tip and another agate guide eighteen inches above 
cork handle, with snake guides at frequent in¬ 
tervals between. The agate facilitates smooth 
and easy casting. The line should be a good 
one, tapered at both ends, and wound on a reel 
big enough for the spool to hold the line easily 
without crowding it. 
I grease twenty-five feet of each end with deer 
fat, partly to preserve it from being water 
soaked, also to help it in floating. It is well to 
unwind the line every few days to change the 
end, which keeps the line from moulding or 
overwearing on one side. The leader should 
gradually taper from a size slightly thinner than 
the line, to a fairly, though not too fine end 
The gut loop attachment should be only made 
big enough to allow the line to run through it, 
and no other loop should be used either for wet 
or dry fishing. Big loops destroy a feathery 
cast. Such an abomination as a snelled loop fly 
on the leader is not to be thought of. Each 
fly, both end and upper, should be tied by a 
neat knot, the upper flies to hang three inches 
from the leader. The length of the leader should 
be made so that it measures from the tip to 
where you can comfortably hold the end fly be¬ 
tween the thumb and finger while you grasp the 
rod handle. Otherwise it is very inconvenient. 
William C. Adams has been appointed chair¬ 
man of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Com¬ 
mission. Mr. Adams has long been prominent in 
conservation circles, and his appointment gives 
excellent satisfaction. 
