Jan. 19, 1907-] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
101 
,i«le Talks About Fly-Fishing.—I. 
Men who are not members of the great fra- 
irnity of anglers have no idea of the pleasure 
ley.have missed and are missing; of the savor 
nd sweetness which a love of fishing, and par- 
cularly fly-fishing, adds to life on this old 
lanet. Those who can say with Fishin’ Jimmy, 
I allers loved fishin’ and knowed it was the 
jest thing on the hull earth,” are fortunate. It 
not necessary, however, for a man to begin 
radioing the gentle art early in life, business, 
le practice of one of the professions, or loca- 
on, may prevent many from going fishing until 
aite late in life. Sir Humphrey Davy was 
;ty years old before he took up his rod, yet he 
jecame a celebrated angler and wrote 
Salmonia.” 
One stores up many happy memories for all 
me. The incidents of past seasons rise before 
is mental sight on gloomy wintry days, and 
ith the beginning of a new year he thinks of 
le joyful days to come, when he can snap the 
lackles which bind him and fly away to his 
ivorite trout stream. Then there is so much 
leasure to be had out of the accessories of the 
rt, the rod, reel and line, the beautiful arti- 
:ial flies and filmy casting lines or leaders. If 
e is a moderately patient man and is gifted 
ith a little mechanical ability, he may make 
lost of these things himself. Many amateurs 
e lovely flies, and some of the finest rods I 
jave seen have been made by them. Where 
lere was one fly-fisher fifty years ago, there are 
ow a hundred, and we cannot fail to note the 
rowing interest in the sport. Many books on 
igling have been written in recent years. and 
one that I know of have failed to find readers. 
Some people say that nothing can be learned 
om books, but I think this is quite a mistake, 
racfice is absolutely necessary, of course, but 
e gain many valuable hints in our reading as 
ell as in conversation with anglers of ex- 
erience. As an instance of this, many years 
go I saw in a work on angling an illustration 
f a fly-fisher casting his fly, and this picture had 
reat value for me. I had been, up to that 
;me, rather a laborious wielder of the fly-rod. 
requently my arm ached so badly after a long 
.ay’s work, or after several consecutive days on 
le stream, that my sleep was not sound or rest- 
il. I gained something from that illustration; 
cannot say now just what it was, but I do 
now that from that time on fly-fishing has 
?en more pleasurable and less fatiguing. The rod 
iems to do the work in ordinary stream fish- 
ig without conscious effort on my part and 
nly the grasp of the hand is cramped or un- 
Dmfortable at the end of the day. 
Again, I was fishing a large stream after a 
eavy freshet. The water had subsided con- 
derably, yet the trout seemed to have re- 
ained in numbers in certain sheltered places, 
hey were rising steadily under the bank of a 
mg curving pool, but nothing I could offer 
lem seemed to their taste. I could not see 
hat they were taking until I went up stream 
id waded across. Then I found that a flight 
t ants was on, as it was in August. Why or 
ow they got on the water I did not stop to 
insider, but went through my fly-book looking 
r an artificial ant. I found none and for a time 
as at a loose end. Suddenly I remembered 
iving read somewhere that a small lead winged 
oachman would kill when ants were on the 
ater, and soon found three of these insects 
1 No. 12 hooks. To my notion they were not 
uch like ants, but the trout welcomed them 
adly and I killed in that long pool either 
/enty-two or twenty-eight good trout, I forget 
hich. I found out afterward that I was fli¬ 
ghted to that veteran angler, H. R. Francis 
lot F. F.) for this hint, and it was not iti- 
nded for American anglers either. 
I believe strongly in the purchase of a really 
'St-class rod. If you are a beginner and think 
mrself clumsy or nervous, buy a cheap rod 
1 begin with. Smash it in your early efforts 
catch fish and then get the best rod you can 
ford to buy. A really first-rate weapon will 
} practically all the work in casting the length 
line usually required, and is a source of con- 
ant pleasure to its possessor. There are some 
rods that one loves to cast with, even when 
there are no fish. It is best to have water to 
practice on, but a lawn or open field is good 
enough. You can get the idea of how to cast 
in a room, with a switch and a piece of string. 
Use the wrist in short casts and keep the elbow 
down near the side. In the back cast never 
allow the point of the rod to go much beyond 
the perpendicular. It is the spring of the rod 
and the wrist that do the trick. It is only in 
long casts that the whole arm comes into play. 
Make the rod spring with the wrist; don’t just 
wave it to and fro. Begin with a short line, 
not much longer than the rod—the longer the 
line the more difficult it is to allow the correct 
time before coming forward. 
One great advantage of the modern split bam¬ 
boo rod is its quick, snappy action. The old- 
fashioned rod was comparatively slow and soft. 
One had to allow more time behind. Some 
people call casting the fly whipping, and there 
is some analogy between the fly-rod and a whin 
with a short stock and very long lash. I fancy that 
a good driver of oxen would use his wrist 
largely in neatly clipping a piece of hide out of 
one of the leaders, and we have all heard the 
story of the stage coachman who was so expert 
that he could twitch the pipe from between the 
lips of passing pedestrians with his whip lash 
as he drove by. It is not difficult to learn how 
to cast well enough to kill a few trout. After 
this your fate- is sealed. You will never be able 
to drop angling, as you may some other sports, 
even if you have not time to become very 
expert. In the beginning try to acquire a good 
style. A high back cast is most important. Never 
allow the fly to touch ground or water behind 
you. A great many people throw the points of 
their rods too far back in casting and then 
wonder why so many hooks are broken and flies 
ruined. I have known men who could cast a 
long distance and who were quite successful in 
killing trout, who never got over this habit of 
smashing flies. It is ugly work and it is very 
expensive. 
Good single-action click reels can now be 
bought for much less money than a few years 
ago. Steel springs and ratchets are most im¬ 
portant. If you are to have but one reel, buy 
one that will carry fifty yards of the line which 
suits your rod. A stiff rod requires a heavier 
line than a more pliable one to bring its full 
power into play, but I find it easier to cast 
lightly with a thin line than with one of large 
diameter. In actual fishing it is not often 
essential to throw a very long line. Braided 
waterproof silk is what we ask for, and now-a- 
days we usually find just what we want, or very 
near it, at the shops. Formerly I used an E 
double tapered line, but an F or even G level 
line is good enough for stream fishing. 
As for flies, their name is legion and new 
patterns are constantly being added to the 
lengthy list. A wandering angler who casts his 
line in many waters requires a large stock of 
flies, as he must be prepared to vary the size 
as well as the colors. He must have the gay 
and gorgeous, as well as the modest and sub¬ 
dued. Midges and imitations of the natural 
flies may kill best in one place, the fanciest of 
fancy lures in another. The man who haunts 
one stream or locality has comparatively little 
trouble. He soon learns the colors and sizes 
which suit the water and may get through his 
season without using more than half a dozen 
patterns in two sizes. If he is an entomologist, 
he will want quite a variety in size and color, 
and perhaps several shades of the same color 
in the flies he deems best. This man, I think, 
gets rather more out of his sport than the 
unbeliever who scoffs at his theories. He is 
constantly on the lookout for natural flies and 
deeply interested in their transformations, which 
are truly wonderful. He is only at sea when he 
visits regions where lures are killing and his 
small imitations of little value. 
I have almost overlooked one of the neces¬ 
sities, the leader, of silkworm gut. This should 
usually be about nine feet in length and stout 
or fine as required to meet the conditions of the 
waters fished and the size and shyness of the 
fish. I usually make up my own, beginning 
with moderately thick gut next the line and 
tapering to the finest point I think it advisable 
to use. We can buy finer natural gut than 
formerly, if willing to pay the price asked for it, 
but are still occasionally driven to this drawn 
gut for shy fish, when the water is low and 
clear. This is gut which has been drawn 
through diamond or steel plates to reduce the 
size and make the lengths of even thickness 
throughout. It is said that many years ago gut 
was not bleached and could be had clear and 
colorless as glass. The chemicals used in 
bleaching make it white and opaque, and much 
more conspicuous in the water. It is claimed 
also that bleaching detracts from the strength 
of the gut and makes staining necessary. From 
time to time we have been led to hope that good 
gut in long strands would be produced from one 
of the large American silkworms, but nothing 
practical has yet been accomplished. I have 
seen a strand six feet in length, but it was not 
of good quality. 
Horsehair still has its advocates in some parts 
of England, the dales of Yorkshire, for instance. 
There four small flies on hooks tied on hair 
and with single hair casts, are used by old- 
fashioned anglers. Th§y claim hair falls straight 
and lightly on the water, that the droppers stand 
out better from the cast, and that it is less con¬ 
spicuous than gut. They may be able to get 
better hair than we can procure in this country, 
but from my own experience I should say let 
hair alone; it is a delusion and a snare. 
Drawn gut can be had of any fineness desired, 
as fine as a lovely woman’s hair. It is graded 
and numbered by the letter X, X being heaviest 
and XXXXXX the finest made. Sometimes 
the thickest grades are known as l / 2 and 
drawn. The finest natural is known as refina 
and occasionally we are able to buy a hank in 
long, round strands, which are fine enough for 
the lowest water and shyest fish. Common gut 
can be had in abundance at a low price, but 
the heaviest salmon and finest trout are ex¬ 
pensive, the former particularly so; in fact, one 
seldom sees a leader made from imperial sal¬ 
mon gut. 
Much pleasure will be found in buying rods 
and tackle. If inexperienced, any old angler 
will rather enjoy helping you out, or you can 
go to a first-class shop, ask for a salesman who 
is an angler and tell him where you propose 
to fish. If economy is an object to you, very 
fair working; tools can be had for a little money. 
It is surprising to handle some, of the rods that 
are priced at five to ten dollars. I do not con¬ 
sider weight in the scales of great importance, 
as I like a good-sized comfortable handle. It is 
the weight outboard from the hand that tells. 
One of the lightest rods I ever saw weighed 
eight ounces on the scales. It had a big, fat 
wooden handle and substantial fittings, but the 
rod proper was very light. My individual prefer¬ 
ence is for a rod of ten feet, but lots of men 
prefer something shorter. I have seen good 
work done with an eight-foot rod, but there is 
a great difference in the power of rods of the 
same length. A tall strong man can handle a 
rod of great power, and with a suitable line 
bring out all there is in it. He may be able to 
do this all day long without great fatigue, while 
a weaker person would be heavily handicapped 
and tired to death. 
Dry fly-fishing is more fatiguing than ordinary 
wet fly work, but at times and on some waters 
it has advantages and will kill more trout. It 
is quite essential in this fishing that the fly 
should be cast in such a way that it falls of its 
own weight, otherwise it is apt to drop on its 
side, with wings flat upon the water. In this 
position it is not nearly so attractive, particu¬ 
larly to shy fish. To do this, direct your fly at 
an imaginary mark about two feet above the 
level of the water. It is not hard to accomplish 
this with a moderate length of line, but where 
a very long cast is a necessity, one must just 
do his best to reach the spot by carrying his 
hand high in the air and bringing the whole 
arm into play. As I said before, one can get a 
very good idea of how to use the wrist in cast¬ 
ing with a stiff, springy switch, and a piece of 
string, or fine line, two or three times the length 
of this impromptu rod. If most of one’s fishing 
is done in small brooks where few large trout 
