FOREST AND S T R E A M 
217 
April, 1918 
i 
strip in hot water, then with turpentine, 
and rub, roll, and pull it a little between 
the fingers till it is tacky. Draw it out to 
four or five times its original length, when 
it is ready for winding. But previously, 
you should have prepared a little wedge- 
shaped piece of cork, with a slit in the 
edge, into which you catch the selected 
tail-fibers; and have fastened a fine cam¬ 
bric needle eye-end in the vise, and have 
thrust the cork, with the fibers, down onto 
the needle across its point, as illustrated. 
Now wind the rubber around fibers and 
needle, beginning close up against the cork, 
working toward the vise, and winding tight¬ 
ly at first in order to make the body to 
taper toward the tail, and to securely grip 
the tail fibers. Continue toward butt of 
needle, lessening tension, till you have a 
body about three-quarters to seven-eighths 
of an inch long. Push body off the needle 
with finger-nails. The rubber will have ad¬ 
hered together solidly and will not unwind. 
A number of these bodies may be made up 
and stored for use as wanted. (This whole 
procedure—as that of the pike-scale wings 
previously described—serves admirably as 
a specimen illustration of the individual 
“tricks-of-the-trade” that workers develop.) 
Another way to make a detached body 
is to construct it over a piece—single or 
double—of silkw'orm-gut. You may also use 
boar’s bristles, to be had of any dealer in 
shoemaker’s supplies. Take a piece of gut 
about three-quarters of an inch long, with 
a knot tied close to the end, which catches 
the tail. Place it on back of hook with 
the knot pointing in the direction ‘of the 
bend. Wind half-way along shank and 
over the gut, with thread, to secure it. 
Steps in making McClelland detached body 
Carry thread back toward head and fasten 
in a piece of dark brown silk floss, as we 
will suppose you are tying a March Brown, 
one of the most popular patterns, and one 
that some anglers prefer tied with an ex¬ 
tended body. Carry thread back and wind 
floss over it, and the shank to point were 
gut leaves the hook, then continue wind¬ 
ing floss on up the gut toward the knot, 
which cover in. Cut off surplus floss. To 
make the underside of body lighter in 
color, split now a strip of yellow floss, 
to cover it smoothly and evenly, and bind 
spirally with thread carried up to head of 
fly. Cut off surplus yellow floss and fasten 
thread. 
If you desire to make any of the arti¬ 
ficials with extended bodies, the drakes— 
which include the March-browns—should 
be so constructed, as the tail-ends of these 
naturals are cocked up most emphatically. 
The March Brown category includes the 
March Brown, Turkey Brown, August 
Dun (drake) and Great Red Spinner. 
Now that you have made up a goodly 
supply of flies, see to it that you keep their 
hooks sharpened. Test the points before 
using the flies a second time, and if dulled 
they should be filed with a fine file, on the 
inside and at the sides of the point only; 
don’t touch the outside. And, when in 
use, inspect your cast frequently, to make 
sure that the point of the hook has not 
been broken off, as it really is too much 
to expect that a pointless hook should 
catch a fish. This breaking of points is 
chiefly caused by catching on stones, in 
the back-cast. • 
INTERESTING THE CROWD WITH A BAIT ROD 
YOU MAY BE LUCKY ONCE IN A WHILE, BUT A KNOWLEDGE OF FISH HABITS 
COUPLED WITH PERSISTENT CASTING IS THE COMBINATION THAT WINS 
By GEORGE S. BROWN 
T HERE is an attractive sheet of water 
way over in the eastern part of the 
Nutmeg State. Gardner Lake is the 
name that it is known by, and when we 
feel like fishing but have no particular 
place in view, we just naturally drift out 
to this lake. The drifting is no quiet 
peaceful journey; it is a rough and rocky 
one. Gardner Lake road is 
bad, but the lure of the 
“small mouth’’ is too strong 
to keep fishermen away. 
We know every twist and 
turn, every bump, rut and 
water-bar in that road, but 
there are fish in Gardner 
Lake, and since we our¬ 
selves have put a few thou¬ 
sand in there, we like to 
worry them now and then. 
“Jimmie” and I arrived in 
Latimer’s Grove about four 
o’clock in the afternoon 
and found quite a gathering 
of friends and strangers 
there. In fact, they had 
been there all day and the 
sight of the good things 
scattered about almost made 
us wish that we had come early—in time 
for dinner at Last. 
“Ah! Here comes the fisherman,” was 
the greeting received. 
“By the number of rods around here, 
I should judge that the fishermen were 
plenty,” I remarked. “What luck?” 
“Not a thing. Frank had one on but 
lost him.” 
One of the ladies then spoke up, “It’s 
up to you to show them.” 
So we prepared to show them. That is, 
we hoped we could. We have had enough 
experience in pursuing bass to learn that you 
cannot depend on these fish to do as you 
would like to have them. But we would not 
have to go very hard to beat the day’s record. 
I JOINTED our two-piece split-bamboo 
casting rods, and after threading our 
No. 5 silk casting lines from the tubular 
frame free-spool reels through the guides, 
attached a couple of lures that I knew 
were easy casters as I anticipated what 
was in store for us before we should get 
away from that crowd. 
Jimmie and I took our traps and walked 
down to the lake shore where the boat 
was. The crowd was hanging about and 
one of them spoke up: 
“Now just give us a demonstration of 
bait casting. I’ve been'telling these people 
how you do it, how far you can cast, and 
how accurately you can place your bait. 
So just show them and verify what I 
have said.” 
I suppose that I ought to 
have been “tickled pink” by 
such praise, but I was not, 
for I do not like to play 
to the gallery. (Back¬ 
lashes are too easy to 
get.) But as there was not 
a bait caster in the crowd. 
I kept my nerve and said: 
“It’s easy to cast, but 
when it comes to getting 
fish merely being a good 
caster doesn’t always do 
the trick. You may be 
lucky once in a while, but 
a knowledge of fish habits 
coupled with persistent 
casting is the combination 
to use. A lazy, careless bait 
caster doesn’t show up well.” 
I made a few casts to show them that a 
five and a half foot rod when used cor¬ 
rectly would shoot a lure a goodly dis¬ 
tance. Then I tossed out a block of wood 
and made a number of casts to show ac¬ 
curacy and to show that a bait did not 
merely go where it pleased but was the 
willing servant of the caster. 
“What’s the idea, anyway?” asked an 
