AUGUST, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
351 
THE SHAPE OF THE ARTIFICIAL FLY 
CURVED LINES. TYPICAL OF LIFE AND ACTION. HEIGHTEN THE PLEAS¬ 
URABLE NERVOUS OVERFLOW THE FLY EXCITES IN THE TROUT 
By DR. HARRY GOVE 
W E have been rather dilatory this 
morning; consequently, we are a lit¬ 
tle late getting down to the river. 
We have no occasion to worry about it, as 
there are few, if any, flies on the water in 
the early part of the day. As bait fishing 
is not even to be dreamed of by the an¬ 
glers of Forest and Stream, we will take 
our time. 
Let us consider how necessary it is for 
us to properly construct our artificial fly. 
First, its shape must be along correct lines; 
second, its size must be identical with the 
insect it is intended to represent; third, its 
color should give the general impression 
of that of the insect; fourth, the fingers of 
the artist must impart to it life-like ap¬ 
pearance and apparent movement. A di¬ 
vergence from size, shape, and color 
changes at once our artificial fly into a lure. 
The best illustration I know of to convey 
my meaning is wrapped up in a mechanical 
toy—the artificial mouse. Lying at rest on 
the table it attracts attention from the fact 
that the color, size and shape of the animal 
are correct. Wind up the toy and impart 
movement to it and the illusion is really 
charming. 
I never could understand why lake trout 
flies should be constructed so that they 
clearly overstep the principle that correct 
size is very important in the illusion of 
the artificial insect. Divest yourself of the 
idea that it is either prudent or sensible to 
convert the artificial imitation, by distortion 
of its size or shape, into a lure. The flies 
we are using in America are as a rule too 
large and clumsy. Remember that by fail¬ 
ure to imitate in the natural size, with an 
imitation to which you apply color, you are 
making but a single appeal to the fish, that 
to his sensibility to color. This discussion 
can be dismissed with this statement (and 
it is the correct one) : size and shape are 
absolutely necessary in the construction of 
an artificial fly, but to make the illusion 
complete, color also is required, and the 
fly must be tied by an artist who can infuse 
into it life-like appearance and apparent 
movement. 
Regarding the imparting of movement 
to the artificial fly: by wrist manipulation 
of the rod this can be accomplished only to 
a limited extent; too much of it is ruin¬ 
ous to the illusion we wish to sustain. Try 
the delightfid method of fishing up-stream, 
so often recommended, and notice what an 
inspiring effort you can make in imparting 
natural movement to the lure. After this 
experiment, try another one. When you 
hook a two-pound trout on a light cast 
with flies tied on a Number 12 hook, keep a 
steady strain on him and give him the butt 
end of the rod. It is always expedient to 
do this; we must not be too selfish, but can 
afford to contribute occasionally to the wel¬ 
fare of the casting line manufacturers— 
and the safety of the fish. 
T HERE are eighteen shades in the 
millinery departments of the stores, 
that cater to the taste of the Ephemer- 
idae and other insects (the favorite food of 
the trout) as regards their costume. I 
give you a list of the colors, as it may be 
of assistance in selecting an artificial fly. 
They are dark red, ginger dun, claret, yel¬ 
low, gray, orange, black, olive, purple, red 
brown, amber red, greenish brown, lead 
color, yellow dun, mulberry, white, yellow¬ 
ish green and blue. You will notice that 
these shades are not really decided colors. 
A writer in the April number of the 
Angler remarks: “Take all the flies with 
you that you can secure; no one can tell 
just what kind of a fly a trout wants.” 
From the countless number of the pat¬ 
terns of the so-called standard flies and 
the legion of the commercial flies, an an¬ 
gler would consume an entire day in the 
endeavor to select one to meet his demand, 
and the chances are against him succeed¬ 
ing even then. This is a fair comment on 
the present system of angling with stand¬ 
ard and commercial flies: a nice mess to 
contemplate! 
I fancy it is in our power to do a little 
better than this. I have remarked that 
there are eighteen colors which cover the 
ground of* the shades of the natural flies. 
If we intended to make exact imitations, 
illusions true to life, necessity would com¬ 
pel us to use one or more of these shades. 
In the interval between the natural hours 
of the trout’s feeding time, which we are 
considering, our imitations do not require 
to be constructed on the lines of exact im- 
Figure 3 
Figure 2 
itation. We will therefore tie eighteen 
flies, each containing a slight preponder¬ 
ance of one of the eighteen shades. All 
these flies we will construct on the lines 
of shape and size. Any and all of them 
will not excite suspicion, provided we do 
not make them too large. The great error 
that can enter into their construction will 
be that they are clumsy and oversized. 
The smaller the fly the less glaring will be 
a mistake, if there is any. You are per¬ 
fectly safe, when selecting a cast, never to 
loop on a glaring oversized monstrosity. 
Is it necessary for us to place in our fly- 
book more than eighteen different shades 
of artificial flies? I think not, for direct 
deviation from our eighteen shades places 
our fly at once in the domain of the “freak 
fly,” the hob-goblin and Harpy of the lake 
and the river. 
We will again refer to shape. A de¬ 
tached-bodied fly, on which the body has a 
distinct curve upward so that the tails of 
the fly reach out above the spread of the 
wings, is the best (Figure 1) because this 
is the way it occurs in the natural insect 
ready for flight. To assist in the fulfill¬ 
ment of this indication, and others, I put 
a bend in the shank of the hook (Figure 
2). There are no suggestions of life in 
straight lines; curved lines indicate both 
motion and beauty. This curve in the 
shank fulfils two other indications; one, 
that it imparts the illusion of movement; 
the other, that it is always “cocked,” the 
correct position an artificial fly should as¬ 
sume on the water. 
I N the beautiful painting, “The Race of 
Atlanta,” when she stoops in swift ca¬ 
reer to pick from the ground the golden 
apple—which moment’s hesitation was fa¬ 
tal to her success—there are two impres¬ 
sions conveyed: first, that of instant cessa¬ 
tion of movement; and last, that it can be 
instantly renewed. We will tie some flies 
that will convey these two impressions. If 
we can put the impression of just ready to 
start in our artificial flies, it will increase 
the activity of the rise to them. Figure 1, 
an exact drawing of one of my flies, ex¬ 
presses the idea. Compare it with Figure 3, 
a feather imitation of an English May-fly 
by one of their best artists. Don’t you 
think the latter fly looks as if it were dead? 
You will no doubt remark: “Doctor, you 
are getting away up in the air.” My an¬ 
swer is that we are viewing the artificial 
fly from an artistic standpoint. Look at 
the glaring imperfections so plainly visible 
in the patterns of the standard and com- 
