676 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[APRIL 28, 1906. 


sions our ability to match an insect on the water 
means a full basket, while all the fancies in crea- 
tion will scarcely raise a fish. 
Probably all anglers of experience who fish the 
waters of New York and Pennsylvania can recall 
many instances when the trout were rising freely, 
yet wauld have little or nothing to do with any 
of the artificial flies presented for their accept- 
ance. Usually no great effort is made to ascer- 
tain what the trout are taking. Frequently they 
are said to be midging or playing, when such 
is not the case. It is often difficult to see the 
natural flies upon the water, particularly in the 
evening, when the heaviest rise often takes place 
after the weather has become genial. 
If the angler is in the habit of looking about 
for insects he will be apt to see a few specimens 
of the prevailing flies at odd times during the 
day, and these may serve as a guide when the 
rise comes on. Not only this, but if he can 
match the colors of the flies he finds he may take 
more and larger trout than he would with a 
purely fancy fly, even if he meets with but few 
rising fish during the entire day. A little atten- 
tion paid to the entomology of our trout streams 
certainly adds considerably to the pleasure of fly- 
fishing. It is not necessary to know the Latin 
names of the insects, although an_ illustrated 
work with which to identify them is very desir- 
able. I do not know of any book of this kind 
published in America. It may be said that it is 
too much trouble to be always hunting about for 
insects, and that the occasions when an imitation 
of the natural fly is required are few and far be- 
tween. This last is not true of some of our best 
streams, and no one who has ever hit off the 
right fly during a good rise of trout will be apt 
to consider his efforts or time wasted. Sometimes 
one may take fish almost as fast as he can cover 
the rises which may be seen on every hand. I 
have seen a large creel nearly filled in an hour 
or two. In one instance a skillful angler, familiar 
with the water, took over forty fair-sized native 
trout in less than one hour. He had but one fly 
that was of any service whatever; I had not even 
that one and could do nothing. 
Fishing with a dear friend many years ago, I 
noticed that the trout were taking a small yellow 
fly, and found that I had two yellow hackles in 
my book. One of them was a very pale shade of 
yellow, the other a little darker. I gave the 
former to my friend and he began to kill trout 
at once. They would not take any yellow, so 
we arranged to fish turn about with his rod, each 
of us casting until we caught or lost a fish. 
Fishing with three flies in the old way, the whole 
catch has been made with the middle fly, the 
worst position on the cast. Queerer than this, a 
black hackle with a thin silk body was taken 
every time, while a precisely similar fly with 
black mohair body was entirely ignored. With 
the right fly you may have fine sport when bet- 
ter anglers on the same water are having little 
or none, 
The body and legs of a fly are most important. 
If they are correct in coloring we can do with- 
out wings. There must be great numbers of 
American birds that have been ignored by the 
fly-dresser. Who can tell me of a bird whose 
primary and secondary wing feathers are of a 
pale delicate dun color? It must not be a bird 
protected at all seasons by law, and the fibres of 
the feathers must be fine and cohesive. I never 
fancied dyed feathers for small flies, yet the art 
of dying is now comparatively easy to acquire, 
as a simpler process gives excellent results, As 
regards the imitation of natural flies, any man 
who does much of his fishing in one locality can 
get up an imitation or two that may add con- 
siderably to his success and pleasure. In doing 
this he will become familiar with the natural in- 
sect and acquire the habit of looking out for and 
studying them. 
Fortunately, many of our flies are not mere 
atoms. I have some flies in a little tin box that 
are said to be the exact size of the natural insects 
which rise on the English streams, and the looks 
are mere specks. All these flies are what we call 
midges, and only put up occasionally. Over there 
they are in daily use. We have many tiny insects, 
but the flies common to our waters certainly 
average much bigger than the little artificials I 
have mentioned. When used in these small sizes, 
hooks must be of first-rate quality or despair 
will be our portion. I remember fishing where 
small flies were the rule and quite necessary to 
success. I sent at once for a box of small hooks 
and dressed a lot of flies upon them, ‘They 
proved to be brittle and I had a _ wretched 
time of it. It was all right as long as I hooked 
nothing over half a pound in weight, but at least 
three out of five fish above that weight were lost, 
many of them at the last moment, when they 
were done for and should have been mine. 
I had the same experience with a small lot of 
hooks which I bought for Hall’s eyed, four or five 
years ago. I only landed one good fish with them 
and that was an eighteen-inch brown trout, with 
the next to the smallest size made (00), but the 
hook was fast in the end of his nose, not in the 
hard bony jaw. I had used some lovely rare 
hackles which I could not replace in making flies 
on these hooks for the benefit of a school of shy 
trout. It was the month of August and these 
fish had collected near the mouth of a cold brook 
where the water was shallow. They were ex- 
tremely shy from being much fished ‘for, and I 
had had no luck with them until one afternoon 
_ about 3 o’clock, when I found them rising fre- 
quently. The rays of the sun struck the water 
at just the right angle and I succeeded in stalking 
up within easy casting distance. I had a fine 
tapered cast and the flies with the rare hackles, 
and as soon as a trout rose I put one of these 
over him. Four trout were well hooked, and, I 
give you my word, three were lost through the 
hook breaking. The one I did get was evidently 
the smallest of the four, not going over the half 
pound. These brittle hooks were beautifully 
shaped and finished. 
There is great advantage in having confidence 
in the fly you are using. Much time is lost in 
making changes if one is in doubt as to the cor- 
rect pattern. With a favorite fly one goes ahead, 
fishes his best and makes no alteration in his 
cast unless special conditions demand it. There 
are certain colors and combinations that can 
always be relied upon to kill a few fish. Other 
flies there are which are in good repute, yet 
sometimes are of no use whatever, except to 
catch baby trout. The fly we want is the one 
that will be accepted by the big fish. Two 
equally good anglers fishing together may take 
the same number of trout, but the fellow who 
has the right fly will have the heaviest creel. If 
a certain ‘fly has been upon the water morning 
and evening for several days, even in small num- 
bers, the larger fish will be apt to patronize an 
artificial of the same color. 
We must put up the exact shade if possible. 
The backs of natural flies are usually much 
darker than the bellies, so they should be exam- 
ined from below before making up an imitation. 
We sometimes find flies that greatly resemble in- 
sects common on the other side of the Atlantic. 
Last summer I saw a few corresponding to the 
beautiful little Jenny spinner for the first time. 
They were larger and the red, instead of being 
at the head and tail of the fly, was under the 
wings in the middle of the body. The clear, 
glassy wings and milk-white body with this rosy 
tinge made up a very pretty fly. It would be im- 
possible to match those wings in feathers, but a 
body of rose and white with a very pale creamy 
badger hackle might answer. 
Usually I prefer to imitate the dun or sub- 
imago stage of existence, as the duns are more 
in evidence upon the water than spinners. In 
fact, a medium-sized dun is hard to beat as a 
standby on any stream. They are seen in many 
shades, as the temperature of the air affects the 
color, darker in cold, lighter in warm weather; 
and as all the ephemeride pass through this 
stage of existence, several sizes are useful. 
The question of size is a very important one, 
and it is often difficult to determine which is the 
best size of hook to use. To a certain extent 
only, one may be guided by the size of the stream 
he is fishing, as, in a general way, the larger the 
stream the more large flies one will see, and the 
bigger, in season, the hook may be. Hooks, Nos. 
8 to 14, old style of numbering, will answer most 
purposes in New York and Pennsylvania. 
When we use the fly as a lure, representing 
something alive, not necessarily an insect, but 
appealing to the predatory savage nature of game 
fish, we are working upon a different basis of 
action and may try a very large pattern of un- 
usual colors or make up, more particularly if we 
are in pursuit of trout of unusual size which we 
have reason to believe are not often surface feed- 
ers. These big fish are not in the habit of feed- 
ing upon small flies, although they may accept 
one if they are in position in shallow water or 
near the surface, but they are seldom found in 
such positions. ‘It is hard to raise trout over 
three pounds in weight, yet they will rise if one 
is fortunate enough to find them well on the feed. 
In fact, there are not many small things, seem- 
ingly possessed of life, that these Jumbos will 
not move at if they are hungry. They can do 
without food for some time. If the water is 
warm they feed little, but when they do go out 
to dine they want a regular gorge in many 
courses. 
I cast over one three-pound trout that was 
feeding upon minnows near the edge of a gravel 
bar in a big pool for the best part of an hour. At 
last I went above,and getting outa long line al- 
most hung the fly over the spot where the min- 
nows were skipping. Then it was taken. This 
trout was simply crammed with fresh silvery 
minnows. They must all have been taken very 
recently, and there were lots more to be had near 
that bar, yet the old glutton grabbed my little 
dun, just by way of an olive or anchovy. 
A combination of red and white may provoke 
a savage dash from a big fish, but speaking now 
of the Middle States, my experience is that they- 
do not often take it in. If small flies fail I pre- 
fer something mothy looking with good long 
hackles to give life to the fly. Occasionally they 
will take a floating fly, and I have had several 
very exciting experiences of this when big trout 
sprang out of the water in striking at the fly. 
They presented a splendid spectacle which I shall 
never forget. One cleared the surface and struck 
down with open mouth upon the fly, and kept it, 
as it was tied on cobweb gut. Another sailed 
into the air without touching the artificial, and 
I got him in the evening when the strong light 
was off the water. I did not dare to try him 
again immediately, as I thought he was suspi- 
cious, and the sun was still well up in the west- 
erm sky. 
The light has much to do with our success or 
non-success in fly-fishing. At times in strong 
sunshine and in certain states of the atmosphere 
our artificial flies, even the very best of them, are 
the most transparent clumsy frauds imaginable. 
The finest gut shows up like an ocean cable, and 
we feel that we are miserable, low-down hum- 
bugs. With the light of day in our favor at the 
right angle, all things are vastly different. Our 
casting line is invisible and the flies appear on 
or in the water as dainty living insects, quite 
sufficient to deceive the wariest old three- pounder 
that ever wagged a fin, 
Fortunately for the fly-fisher, all round-eyed 
creatures are deficient in visual impressions of 
form as compared with man and his almond 
eyes. Trout appear to be able to discriminate in 
the matter of color, as a‘ slight difference in 
shade will sometimes affect the killing qualities 
of flies tied to the same pattern. They quickly 
detect any movement upon the part of the angler, 
and are often alarmed by shadows cast upon the 
water. A man standing perfectly still will not be 
noticed by fish, and this is true of many wild 
animals, deer, for instance. I was amused re- 
cently to note that the turkeys outside my win- 
dow were greatly frightened by the shadows of 
sparrows which were flying from tree to tree, 
Trout are wonderfully expert in concealing 
themselves in small brooks during long drouths 
in summer... One may be able to count every 
pebble on the bottoms of the pools and nothing 
may be seen except a few small trout, suckers 
and minnows, yet there may be trout of from 
one pound up in those very pools. The big fish 
know that they are in danger during the low 
water and become extremely shy. If they feed 
at all it will be at night. In a full stream, with 
an abundance of water above and around them, 
they feel safe. In dry seasons try the large pools 
after sunset. You may be rewarded. If you 
know the habitat of a big trout, go for him again 
and again. By persevering you ‘will find him on 
the feed at last. 
