JULY, 1917 
313 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
Fly Fishing 
for Trout 
By H. B. CHRISTIAN 
A MONG several interesting articles 
upon this subject that have come to 
my attention recently, some of the 
claims and theories of the writers I can 
endorse, but others have not been borne 
out by my own experience. Perhaps a 
brief summary of some of these actual 
stream experiences—which after all offer 
the most reliable data—may be of interest 
to Forest and Stream readers and may en¬ 
able some of them to become more suc¬ 
cessful anglers. 
Artificial flies are of two general classes, 
winged and palmered, or hackled. Some 
claim that the latter are the best killers. 
Trout sometimes gorge themselves on fly 
larvae when no flies are to be seen on the 
surface of the water. These larvae have 
no wings, so naturally the palmers repre¬ 
sent the “fly” that the trout are feeding 
upon at these different periods much better 
than do the winged flies. You can prove 
this by dressing your fish on the stream, 
when you will note they are full of little 
striped yellow-bellied things that are wing¬ 
less. This may happen in the forenoon, 
and in the afternoon these same flies may 
be hatching and floating on the surface, 
and at that time you will have very poor 
success on your palmers, as the larva has 
now grown a pair of wings and looks very 
different to the trout. 
As to the value of coloration in the ar¬ 
tificial fly, I am aware that there are an¬ 
glers who deem it a foolish effort to try 
to match the colors of the natural insect. 
I would say, by all means, to match them 
as nearly as possible, as the very best we 
can do is poor enough. Years ago the 
color may have made but little difference 
—as is true today with the absolutely wild 
trout of some virgin waters, so far back 
in the wilderness that it is impossible for 
a man to reach them for a few days’ fish¬ 
ing. Only under such conditions may trout 
still be taken on any kind of fly, regard¬ 
less of what kind of insect is on the water. 
But for the educated trout in well-known 
streams that are much fished, it is neces¬ 
sary to imitate the naturals as nearly as 
possible, and to give this imitation to the 
trout in a very neat and clever way. This 
course I am sure will bring the most suc¬ 
cess. 
It is also of great importance that the 
neat, slim body of the natural fly be copied 
in the artificial. Some mistakenly think 
that a big fat showy fly—or, worse, three 
or four of these tied to one cast—will best 
catch the fish. The angler who applies 
this theory may change his mind after he 
fishes a well-fished stream. For either he 
will leave the stream and say there are no 
'fish there, or he will change his ways and 
go at it right, using nice slim-bodied flies 
neatly tied, and a fine leader—and have 
success. Most flies have slim bodies and 
only about six legs; some have eight, and 
some ten, but that is about the limit. So 
ckm’t use flies with about five hundred, all 
in a bunch: a couple of turns of hackle 
of the proper size will make plenty of legs. 
Without any -desire to dispute anyone’s 
pet theory, I may state it as my conviction 
that he who says wet flies will invariably 
catch more and larger trout—if that state¬ 
ment is intended to include both the native 
and the brown trout—has not used the 
dry fly sufficiently to give it a fair trial; 
and perhaps has not had the proper kind 
of dry flies when he was using them. Un¬ 
derstand that I do not go back on the wet 
flies, which I use every year with good 
success at different seasons, when the 
streams are high and after dark; and after 
dark you will take some very large trout. 
Good catches of trout on wet flies are 
also made when there are no insects on 
the surface, and when the larvae, or creep¬ 
ers, are moving around in the water pre¬ 
paratory to hatching. But I would recom¬ 
mend the dry fly for general daytime fish¬ 
ing. I have gone to a pool after several 
fishermen had fished it with wet flies with¬ 
out taking a single trout, and with some 
of them still fishing the pool while others 
had given it up and gone ashore to sit 
down and watch me, have taken fifteen 
trout from that pool on a dry fly. For 
you can take a good-sized old brown trout 
on a dry fly when he would’nt look at any 
kind of a wet fly. 
For the best sport—by which I mean 
taking more of the nicest fish—at any rate 
from streams in which the brown trout 
predominates, I would recommend that 
considerable attention be devoted to flies. 
As for the relation of the weather, or 
atmospheric conditions, to success in fish¬ 
ing, I have given the matter comparatively 
little attention. I look rather for the pres¬ 
ence of flies on the water, and the same 
flies usually appear at about the same time 
each year. Yet I do know that late in 
August, when there generally comes a 
cooling change in the weather, fishing is 
usually the best. 
PROTECTING THE WOODCOCK 
In reply to extended inquiries by the 
Biological Survey in regard to the present 
status of the woodcock, with a view prop¬ 
erly to protect it under any new regula¬ 
tions that may appear to be necessary, the 
Bureau has received a large amount of 
valuable and interesting, although conflict¬ 
ing, data. It is urged that readers of 
Forest and Stream, who have not already 
done so, furnish the Biological Survey 
with any information they may have along 
the lines suggested by the questions: 
1. Has there been an increase or decrease 
of woodcock in your vicinity during the 
past several years? 
2. Does the woodcock breed in your vi¬ 
cinity ? 
3. What is your estimate of the number 
of woodcock killed in your vicinity during 
the past year? Please state the area cov¬ 
ered by this estimate. 
4. Do you believe the species is threat¬ 
ened with extinction? 
5. Do you advise protection of woodcock 
by a closed season for a term of years? 
Any other suggestions you may wish to 
make regarding woodcock will be appre¬ 
ciated by the Biological Survey, and will 
materially assist its efforts to properly 
conserve the woodcock. Communications 
should be addressed to the Chief of the 
Biological Survey, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
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