Jan. 26, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
141 
Little Talks About Fly-Fishing.—II. 
(Continued from page 1 02 ) 
In dry fly-fishing I like the leader to be just 
under the surface 6 —never could do much when 
it floated like a snake or made a straight line in 
the water. The fly cannot float to'o cockily. Of 
course, I do not pretend to be a past master 
of dry fly or any other style of fishing, but we 
are always learning something either from per¬ 
sonal experience or from other anglers. There 
are just a few men who lock up everything they 
learn in their own breasts and imagine that no 
one knows anything worth while except them¬ 
selves. The great charm of fly-fishing is that 
we are always learning; no matter how long we 
have been at it, we are constantly making some 
fresh discovery, picking up some new wrinkle. 
If we become conceited through great success, 
some day the trout will take us down a peg. 
We may see them rising madly, yet no fly we 
can put up is of any service whatever. Again 
we hook an enormous trout only to lose him 
through stupid blundering upon our part. 
It is rather surprising that women do not take 
to fly-fishing more than they have in the past. 
They are usually interested at once when they 
do try it, and one of the best chums and most 
faithful fishers I ever knew was a girl. Prob¬ 
ably the trout think that they are tempted quite 
enough as it is without having pretty girls on 
the streams to whom no well bred fish could 
say no. ■ 
In dry fly work it is often difficult to float the 
fly naturally, unless the current flows evenly and 
we are directly below the fish. If trout are 
rising in almost still water or an eddy under the 
far bank and the current is swift between the 
angler and the fish, the cast is a difficult one. 
The stream seizes the line and drags the fly out 
of the eddy at once; in fact, this tendency to' 
drag is a nuisance in many places and is some¬ 
times impossible to overcome. Throwing a slack 
line will often allow the fly to float naturally 
long enough to raise the trout. I was taught to 
believe that every rising trout would be missed 
if the line was not straight between the rod point 
and the fly, but this is not the fact in this fish¬ 
ing. There may be a long curve in the line or 
quite a slack line in the water, yet the fish may 
be struck successfully. With large trout a slight 
delay is probably an advantage, as usually they 
take the* fly more slowly than the small fish. 
In wet fly-fishing a straight line is more of a 
necessity, yet I believe that large trout are often 
missed or are lightly hooked through hasty strik¬ 
ing. The fly may even he pulled away before it 
is in the mouth of the trout if the fish is seen 
before the rise. One cannot make hard and fast 
rules for fly-fishing. Trout rise differently under 
varying conditions. They may rise boldly with a 
splash or just dimple the water as they suck in 
an insect. I have seen them leap out of the 
water and strike down upon the fly or miss it 
altogether. Again a big fish has slowly finned 
itself after the fly, like a cat creeping upon a 
mouse, until very close, and then pounced upon 
it like a tiger. There is endless variety in the 
sport, and if we are in good health no day is 
long enough for us. From the first cast in the 
morning to the last one at night is but a moment. 
We have been absorbed in our occupation and 
happy for many hours. When I was quite a 
small lad I made up my mind that one day 
should be long enough, anyhow. I tumbled out 
of bed before daylight in the longest day in 
the year, June 22, and tramped far up the stream. 
I was casting my flies as the sun rose and con¬ 
tinued fishing until 9 o’clock at night. I killed 
three trout in the morning, one at noon, and 
three at night, seven in all, and returned home 
completely worn out. I was really satisfied for 
several days. 
In lake fishing for large trout one may do 
hcst by sinking his flies ‘and drawing them 
through the water with short, slow jerks. The 
same is true in black bass fishing and numbers 
of the pike family may often be deluded in much 
the same way. A very large, light colored fly 
is best for the latter. Skittering a fly for pick¬ 
erel is not bad fun if you have nothing better 
in view. I have had great sport fly-fishing for 
the big-mouth bass and occasionally with the 
more gameful small-mouth. 
As Dr. Henshall has succeeded in his efforts 
to hatch the grayling artificially and has distri¬ 
buted thousands of the fry in several States, I 
trust that in years to come this beautiful fish will 
become abundant in many of the waters suited 
to its habits. It spawns in the spring and is in 
fine condition when the trout are up the streams 
and on the spawning beds. It is a fine game fish 
and free riser at the fly. Unfortunately it has 
been almost exterminated in Michigan, where 
nothing was done to keep up the stock. While 
the streams which it inhabited were liberally 
supplied with trout, naturally the latter had the 
best of it. Many of our waters are so full of 
feed for the fish that they could carry comfort¬ 
ably Targe numbers of both trout and grayling, 
but there may be a few in which only a limited 
number of fish can thrive. The number of well 
fed, healthy trout in streams that are very little 
fished and where there has been no great mor¬ 
tality from other causes, is sometimes extraordi¬ 
nary. I hawe heard of twenty-eight pounds of 
trout being taken from one stand in a long June 
evening. 
Fly-fishing for grayling differs little from 
trout fishing. They are rather finical and require 
considerable variety of fly. A little tinsel or a 
red tag sometimes adds to the attractions of 
the small flies most in use. The late Fred. 
Mather was a great admirer of the grayling and 
this is certainly a strong argument in favor of 
the fish. The ordinary trout fly tackle is all 
that is required for them, although in England 
some men are fond of what is called “swimming 
the worm” for grayling. A rod of about twelve 
feet is used with a fine line, small hook, and a 
tiny cork float. The worms must be small, bright 
and well scoured. In William Henderson’s “My 
Life as An Angler” many great takes of trout 
with worm are chronicled and much has been 
written by English writers of the “clear water 
worm.” The majority of American anglers 
eschew the worm as their love of fly-fishing in¬ 
creases and only resort to it when trout are re¬ 
quired for food. When we were young we 
carried a variety of baits in addition to flies and 
the unfortunate trout were tempted in several 
ways. We killed all we could and were quite 
destructive. As a man grows older he cares less 
for slaughter. One of the very best “clear 
water” worm fishers in this country, who, I am 
confident, could hold his own anywhere, has 
used the artificial fly exclusively for years and 
kills quite enough trout to satisfy him. 
A number of fly-fishers may follow one 
another on a fairly large stream and each one of 
them enjoy fair sport, but there are certain baits 
and methods of using the same which make the 
trout shy and put them off the feed for hours. 
This is rather a selfish business, I fancy, and 
its effects are more marked and noticeable after 
the early part of the season when the water has 
become low and very clear. Bait fishing and 
spinning are usually prohibited in club waters, 
and it will be noted that this rule alone, if strictly 
adhered to, will lead to a considerable increase 
in the stock of trout. On our mountain streams 
we usually experience a good deal of cold, windy 
weather in April, and trout never rise freely 
until the snow water has run off. I have not 
seen many natural flies until May in these ele¬ 
vated regions, although at a lower level, and 
further south, many gnats, brown and dun- 
colored ephemera, have appeared on the water 
before the end of March. The trout in the early 
days of the season are hungry and not very shy. 
Sometimes they will rise at any of the well 
known artificials. A large and bright fancy fly 
may do as well as anything. No. 8 hook is big 
enough. The silver dun, blue dun, Wickham’s 
fancy, March brown, black gnat, Beaverkill, cow 
dung, Seth Green and royal coachman will prob¬ 
ably enswer every purpose. The professor and 
queen of the water are favorite flies. 
In May, when natural flies of various colors 
appear, I like to approximate the coloring of 
those which are most numerous. Duns of dif¬ 
ferent shades are very useful; brown and golden 
spinners are good. These with the flies already 
mentioned will probably be sufficient. In Maine 
the blue jay, Montreal, Parmachene belle and 
beau, B. Pond, scarlet ibis, silver doctor, pro¬ 
fessor, toodlebug, brown hackle, large alder and 
many others. No. 6 hook seems to be a favorite 
size now. Not so many big flies are used as 
formerly and some quite small flies are used on 
No. 8 and 10 hooks. For the landlocked salmon 
it is becoming the fashion to use small salmon 
flies in the well known patterns, Jock Scott, 
Durham Ranger, silver doctor, black dose, 
Childer’s, etc., or No. 4 to 6 hooks. 
New patterns are evolved every season, but 
if the combinations of color are good, it will 
usually be found that they resemble some old 
or almost forgotten fly. I have often had good 
success with flies dressed to color and not to a 
pattern, but there are several of my own inven¬ 
tion which I have found so reliable in stream 
fishing that I adhere closely to the original for¬ 
mulas. It does not pay to change a good thing 
unless you are positive that you are making an 
improvement. I remember seeing a great take of 
trout in Maine, with that curious fly the Jenny 
Lind. I pleased my fancy at the time by imagin¬ 
ing that the reason for this was that I had seen 
some small bright blue butterflies near the lake. 
I do not supnose that the trout ever saw one of 
them. On the same lake I had fine sport one 
evening when using small imitations of natural 
flies. The weather had been bright with very 
little wind and the large flies commonly used 
had failed completely. 
It is still possible for the man of moderate 
means to enjoy the pleasures of salmon fishing, 
but the great majority of our fly-fishers are 
pretty well satisfied if they can spend a few 
weeks on fair trout waters. The rivers of New¬ 
foundland and Nova Scotia are free (except cost 
of license), but the only place I know of where 
the Atlantic salmon can be taken in the United 
States.is in the Bangor pool in Maine. I think 
that it was Francis Francis who said that, “A 
good trout fisherman will soon become an ex¬ 
pert salmon angler, but that if the latter descends 
to trout fishing he may have to go to school 
again.” I cannot quote literally as I do not 
remember where I read this. If a man wishes 
to kill large salmon with a spoon, probably the 
best places to go is the Compbell River, Van¬ 
couver Island. The Tyee salmon are killed there 
over fifty pounds weight. Salmon flies are ex¬ 
pensive and many patterns unnecessary. Prob- 
(Continued on page 154 .) 
