138 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 22, 1911. 
Little Talks About Fly-Fishing. 
Ulster County, N. Y., July 15.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: May is usually considered the fly¬ 
fishing month par excellence, but this year the 
seasons were somewhat astray. The weather was 
hot and dry, and the streams shrank until they 
were flowing at midsummer levels. We did 
hear of occasional good sport, but it was not 
until June changed to April weather that every¬ 
one had a chance at the fish. Rain and cool 
winds came together, and all the rods were out. 
A great many trout were killed, and while it is 
true that the streams were for a time too much 
discolored for the artificial fly, yet the bait- 
fisherman made the most of his opportunities. 
Now we wish for more rain. The waters have 
been falling, falling, and high winds have dried 
the surface of the earth. 
On a number of streams this season the variety 
of water-born insects or number of species 
hatching at the same time was remarkable. Late 
in the afternoon a storm of flies began to rise, 
and multitudes were in the air, for the most part 
flying up stream. At this time one realized that 
the trout were really very numerous, as they 
were rising everywhere from the bottom of a 
pool to the broken water at the top. Until this 
great show of fly it had been thought that the 
stock of trout was small, owing to prolonged 
drouths and poor conditions during two years. 
Upon all the streams in the mountains the 
effects of deforestation and drainage may be 
seen. With many great floods or freshets dur¬ 
ing the past ten years the tendency has been to 
destroy the natural banks or bounds of these 
waters. In many parts pools have been elimi¬ 
nated, and there are long stretches of rapid 
shallow water flowing between wide margins of 
stones of all sizes. High water being followed 
by prolonged drouths during the summer and 
fall months, streams of good size degenerate 
into mere brooks and the fish are much exposed. 
My sympathies go out to the big trout in a 
low clear water. When his pool shrinks to a 
mere puddle, he is apt to be “spotted” and every 
man’s hand is against him. It will not be long 
before he is dragged out with a wire, or some¬ 
times a rifle ball driven through the shallow 
water terminates his career. Big fish have a 
curious influence upon many people. All ideas 
of sport seem to vanish. They are crazy to gain 
possession no matter what the method. Prob¬ 
ably they dare not exhibit the big trout, as it 
shows the marks of wire or spear. What is the use? 
Minnows are very abundant in all these waters, 
and anyone who has watched a large trout on 
the feed knows how rapidly they are taken. 
One three-pounder disgorged sixteen fresh bright 
minnows about the size for trolling baits. These 
large fish rarely contain trout. At long intervals 
one is found in the stomach of a freshly cap¬ 
tured specimen, and the fact is heralded far and 
wide. One would be led to believe that the 
diet of big trout consisted largely of little ones, 
but they have other fish to fry, an abundance of 
food without venturing in pursuit of their small 
brothers and sisters. 
The large brown trout used to feed upon the 
large caddis or so-called “stick bait” which was 
formerly extremely plentiful. The floods and 
frequent changes in these rivers appear to have 
removed much of this food. At one time all 
the large pools and still waters were paved with 
it, and the large grub must be very nutritious. 
The trout gulped them down, woody case and 
all. The cases or remains of the same would be 
found in their stomachs. 
There are yet quantities of the small case 
worms or caddis which build their homes of 
small gravel and grains of sand, and are of 
many sizes and colors. The stick bait hatched 
out at night into flies of the sort known in Eng¬ 
land as sedges, large brown insects in shades 
of color from light to dark. Some had varied 
or slightly mottled wings. 
One of the best anglers of my acquaintance 
said to me recently: “I have fished for trout 
more than forty years. Twenty years ago' I 
thought that I knew all that could be learned in 
regard to these fish. I understood their habits 
and the use of artificial flies at all times and 
seasons. Now I make no such claims. I do not 
know a great deal about trout and never ex¬ 
pect to.” 
It is the man of limited experience who knows 
it all. The old hand is alive to the fact that he 
is always learning something new and interest¬ 
ing. Fly-fishing would never have been a pas¬ 
sion with some of our greatest and best men if 
all its intricacies could be mastered in a few 
weeks. 
The great blessing of fly-fishing probably comes 
in old age. Men of affairs who have led a busy 
life find their greatest consolations and renewed 
health and strength in pursuit of trout or sal¬ 
mon. Any kind of fishing is good, but fly-fishing 
is best of all. These fish rise at natural and 
artificial insects. You will remember that George 
Dawson would never sink his fly. He wished 
always to see the rise of the salmon; to be 
thrilled by it. A fly well sunk might kill better, 
but he would have none of it. 
We are constantly meeting in print or person, 
with the angler of one, two, three or four flies, 
which they claim are all that are necessary for 
the taking of trout at any time and anywhere. 
They have good success upon the waters with 
which they are familiar, and the practice saves 
time, observation and possibly thinking. It is so 
largely a matter of locality, the water and the 
season, also of the feeding habits of the trout, 
that controversy is idle. To have a large stock 
of flies of all sorts and colors does not mean 
changing for the sake of changing, putting up 
fresh flies because one is not catching trout, but 
it does mean the ability to change—when it is 
worth while, when it so happens, for instance, 
that the fish are feeding upon a particular in¬ 
sect which is hatching freely. For the time 
being they seem to have eyes for that fly and 
neglect others. These times are not so rare as 
some people think. They are not uncommon in 
New York and Pennsylvania, and I have seen 
them in Maine lakes when the weather began to 
get warm and there was not much breeze. Again 
and again, early in the season as well as late, 
fishermen will tell you that they did weil before 
the rise of fly came on. Then, although the 
trout were rising freely, they could do little or 
nothing. There is no rule; at times they will 
take anything in the way of a standard pattern, 
but when you do have the right fly when you 
need it, you will have great sport for an hour 
or two with the better class of fish, and what is 
more, having succeeded when faiiure seemed im¬ 
minent you feel quite proud of yourself. The 
occasion will be marked down in memory as a 
red-letter day. 
1 was upon a bridge with a friend recently 
waiting and watching for a fly that he said was 
hatching in the early evening. A young angler 
with poor tackle was casting above, with some 
effort, as his rod was a poor affair. A suffra¬ 
gette, or at any rate a strong-minded lady, came 
along with a meek little husband trotting beside 
her. She said: “It seems to me that the kind 
of fishing you do here is very fatiguing and not 
practical. You should fish, as we do for crabs, 
with a net. It is much more productive and less 
laborious.” 
There is so much in the point of view. I 
once caught eighty crabs when I was trying to 
catch the Southern sea trout or spotted weak- 
fish. Those crabs simply froze on to the shrimps 
we were using for bait and were derricked into 
the boat two at a time (we were using two hooks 
on heavy gut leader). I wonder if this lady 
would have enjoyed taking crabs when she de¬ 
sired sea trout ? 
The Scots average up well in intellect and 
have a good record of success in many parts 
of the world. They usually have plenty of self- 
confidence and are strongly opinionated. These 
remarks are in re of a book read about twenty 
years ago last winter, called "The Angler and 
the Loop Rod,” by a Scotch fisherman. The 
most entertaining chapter was devoted to the 
works of Mr. Cholmondeley Pennell, as the 
views of that gentleman failed to coincide with 
those of the author. Pennell’s typical three flies 
for trout and three for salmon were not ap¬ 
proved of, .and our friend from this point pro¬ 
ceeded to instruct us in the only correct method 
of fishing for trout (and salmon). In the first 
place the rod must be fourteen feet in two pieces 
with a loop of twisted horsehair at the point. 
To this loop the line and long leader were 
looped. No reel must be used. Upon the gut 
nine flies in short snells were to be attached 
for daylight fishing. For night work six flies 
were advised. Careful directions were given in 
order that the flies be not allowed to alight upon 
the water in a “swarm.” 
Now, our author was a practical man. He 
made a livelihood by his rod during a portion 
of the year, and I do not doubt that he fre¬ 
quently made baskets of from twenty to thirty 
pounds of trout upon the hard-fished waters of 
the Clyde and Tweed (as he states). He tied 
his own flies in his own peculiar manner, and 
one interesting fact was that fishing with nine 
or six flies, a large portion of the catch would 
be made upon one particular pattern. There is 
always something to be learned from men of 
experience, but we do not fancy that anyone 
will care to use a fourteen-foot rod and nine 
flies in trout fishing. 
It seems to me that when the flies appear 
natural or deceptive to us, and the gut line 
