Brook Fly-Fishing. 
There is a fascination about fly-fishing a 
small brook that is different from any other 
angling pursuit. It is not every one who has 
the patience for this work. But to those who 
have, there is a satisfaction in getting a good 
fish under adverse conditions. 
If in fishing larger waters it is conceded that 
up-stream work will bring the best results, it 
is also true of brook angling. Indeed, the 
method is really more important on brooks 
than on greater streams. 
It is frequently true that the pools of a small 
brook are open and have little cover—at the 
upper end—and some other place for casting 
must be chosen. The sides of such pools, how¬ 
ever, have just the contrary difficulties; masses 
of weeds, grasses and bushes are found there. 
It is only from the lower end that the angler 
can get a decent cast. 
In the days before I practiced the productive 
art of wading up the current, I used to go 
around the best pools, when fishing brooks, and 
take my casting position below. Now I invari¬ 
ably wade directly up the narrow watercourse, 
swinging my line back and forth between the 
ferns and overhanging jewel-weed. 
On small waters the angler will do well to 
remember that the lower he keeps his head the 
more fish he will catch. There are places where 
he should wiggle upward along the bank on his 
knees. If lowliness and willingness to “stoop to 
conquer” are not parts of the fisherman’s make¬ 
up he had better pass by this form of sport. 
It is not stooping that I object to so much 
as I do to the wicked affinity that my fly has 
for thistles, bee-balm, and weeds. On large 
streams, and in an upright position, the angler 
is not so often driven by his back-cast almost 
to desperation. At such times it is important 
not to get rattled; just calmly crawl back and 
disentangle the fly, and slip forward again like 
a mink. 
The rod for up-brook fly-fishing should be as 
short as the angler can use and yet get out a 
fair length of line. I made a rod for this pur¬ 
pose only 714 feet long; but, although almost 
perfection for the most of a brook, yet there 
are times when a 50-foot cast has to be made, 
and the dainty wand is not up to the work. By 
experience I have found that an 8 or 8v4-foot 
rod of split bamboo is well adapted for small 
brook fly-fishing. It should be light, not more 
than 4 ounces in weight. Indeed, I have been 
shown, but have never had the opportunity of 
trying, an 8^4-foot rod weighing 2j4 ounces. 1 
think that this delicate weapon would be just 
the thing for a small brook.* 
The flies for brook fishing should be most 
carefully chosen. In general, they should con¬ 
form with the needs of the geographical situa¬ 
tion of the stream. In Canada the usual Can- 
*A well balanced split bamboo rod of "V 2 feet and 3 
ounces will handle 50 feet of tapered line satisfactorily, 
and is a very handy rod for brooks if a 4% or 6 foot 
tapered leader is employed.— Editor. 
adian flies should be used, but smaller than 
those intended for lake and large river fishing; 
Montreal, Parmacheene belle, red ibis, silver 
doctor and coachman make up a formidable 
battery. The sizes should be from No. 8 down 
to 12 or 14. 
In the brooks in lower New York and 
throughout the Middle and Eastern States the 
following list should cover the ground, rather 
the water, pretty thoroughly. Coachman, Cahill, 
cow-dung, brown hen, professor, queen of the 
water, grizzley king and the hackles, brown, 
black, gray and ginger. 
Only one fly should be used. It is difficult 
enough to keep a single fly from being hitched 
up; two are too many, and three are rank folly. 
In this respect brooks are altogether unlike 
lakes where, over the latter, it is possible to 
string on the leader as many flies as the fisher¬ 
man desires. The rule is pretty definite; the 
smaller the water, the fewer the flies that can 
be used to advantage. 
The leader should be round, fine and strong. 
Drawn gut leaders have their place—on open, 
low, clear pools and on mirror-like lakes or 
ponds—but in fishing a br-oolc their cobweb 
tenuity is a danger and an exasperation. Many 
times an hour the angler is sure of hooking 
weeds, bushes and trees. If the leader is too 
delicate for the task, it will snap with the for¬ 
ward swing of the rod, leaving the fly as a 
curio for the birds. So choose leaders that, 
while fairly fine, are up to the work; to be pre¬ 
cise, let them be tested to at least a 3-pound 
strain. 
There is a little point about the tackle that 
is somewhat important. The reel should not 
be made with what the tackle dealers call 
“raised pillars,” but should be provided with a 
smooth band of metal around the frame. When 
fishing a brook, it is frequently necessary to 
push the butt of the rod behind the angler, and 
“raised pillar” reels have a way of catching on 
twigs and stones. 
My favorite fly at nearly all times is the 
coachman, not only on brooks but on larger 
waters. If the coachman is taking I don’t gen¬ 
erally bother to make changes. But one day. 
noticing that my fish were running rather 
smaller than it seemed to me they should, I 
changed my coachman for a black fly of non¬ 
descript pattern which I had bought because it 
“looked good.” The result of the change was 
immediate and amazing. 
The brook was a small one in Sullivan county 
in New York State. It is well stocked with 
both brown and native trout. As I said, I had 
been catching smallish fish before I made the 
change in my fly. 
Just above where I was standing lay a nar¬ 
row, deep pool, completely shut in toward the 
upper end and on the sides by over-hanging 
trees. But from where I stooped, between the 
rocks below, I could drop my fly into the tail 
of the smooth water just above where it broke 
over the stones. 
If a dynamite bomb had exploded above me 
it could hardly have amazed me more. Where 
he came from with such startling quickness it 
is impossible to understand. His rush was like 
that of a black bass; he surged at the fly, not 
breaking the water. 
1 saw at the very start that he was a big 
brown trout, and knowing what he would likely 
do, after hooking him with a decided yank, I let 
him run to his heart’s content. But he had 
mighty little space in which to show off his 
antics, and used up his gymnastic waters almost 
immediately, starting down stream. 
This could not be allowed. If he got between 
my legs, I could perceive trouble coming in 
chunks. So I executed a few unstudied quick¬ 
steps in the bed of the brook. He did not like 
my method of dancing and rushed back to the 
head of the pool, neatly wrapping himself, as it 
in a green garment, in mosses and water-w'eeds. 
I got him in the end all right, but if my leader 
had not been fairly stout, this tale would not 
have been told. We fishermen seldom tell of 
our failures. 
It was the black fly that did the business that 
day, and by afternoon I had a basket of splendid 
fish; my explosive friend of the difficult pool 
remained the biggest. 
There is no royal road to successful fishing; 
this is true of every branch of the art; from 
making flies and leaders to cooking the catch 
a satisfactory result is always the reward of 
patient endeavor. In no branch of angling is 
this more true than in fly-fishing a small brook. 
Perhaps the difficulties make the success more 
delightful. At all events, there is a glow' of 
complacency that accompanies a full creel as 
the angler trudges back along the old lumber 
road at the close of the day. The little brook- 
in the ravine sings a very cheerful song, and 
the shadows fall refreshingly in the shady 
glades. 
As she turns out the catch into a milk pan 
in the kitchen of the farm boarding-house the 
angler’s hostess exclaims, “Sakes alive! you 
don’t mean to say that all those came from the 
little brook back of the sap-house!” 
The admiration of the small boy of the fam¬ 
ily; the surprise of the farmer when his wife 
shows him the pan of fish; the good supper with 
mealy baked potatoes waiting until the angling 
lion of the hour can “w’ash up”; all these make 
the angler think a small brook is just about 
the finest thing going in the entire category of 
fishing. Ladd Plumley. 
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