

HE practice of taking fish by 
iT means of the artificial fly origi- 
| nated centuries ago, just when, 
oerhaps no one knows. The Romans 
and Egyptians are said to have used 
lies or at least feathered hook ar- 
’angements approximating what ‘we 
lefine as flies today. Of this early 
Jyfishing, we know little, but the grad- 
ial development of the art through the 
years, for the past two or 
vhree centuries, is recorded 
aistory. 
| England is the country 
wherein all angling methods 
aave been brought to their 
1ighest development and this 
‘s particularly true of fly 
ishing. 
Many patterns of flies in 
common use in our Ameri- 
tan waters today are pat- 
werns which have been pop- 
alar in England for years. 
Probably most of the vari- 
ties of flies used on this 
side, however, are designs 
‘made up by anglers through- 
out the country who hap- 
‘pened, in the course of their 
fy making, to hit upon some 
particularly killing combina- 
tion of wool or silk floss and 
feathers, and the fly has 
lived on, unchanged, as a 
good song or well executed painting 
lives. Examples of this sort of fly 
fare the Seth Green, Rube Wood, Sil- 
ver Doctor, Parmachenee Belle, etc. 
| To the uninitiated an artificial fly 
jis a nondescript bit of wool, thread, 
and feathers, bright in hue, and en- 
closing a hook, on which (the bait 
fishermen in particular aver) fish are 
seldom if ever made fast. To the 
man who spends summer days on the 
streams and lakes in quest of bass 
and trout with a fly rod, an artificial 
fly means the proper combination of 
wool and feathers to suit the time 
of day and season, besides the moods 
of the fish and the weather. 
Many flies are imitations of some 
definite insect, while others resemble 
nothing existent. These latter com- 
‘binations are usually known as 
“fancy” flies. The natural imitation 
theory applies more to dry flies than 
3 
Fi 

| 


hatch of insects? 
angler’s soul, 
From nowhere in particular they come, duns, 
drakes and spinners, slowly at first, then in increas- 
until the river bed is a mass of 
ephemeral, fairy, winged things. 
Glorying in their brief hour of life, they flit and 
flutter with feathery grace over the singing water 
ing numbers, 
line and surging fins? 
ay 
The Angler’s Page 4) 
A Little Talk on Flies, That Subject Dear to Lovers of Rod and Reel 
By W. J. SCHALDACH 
to wet, as in the former method, the 
angler aims to approach nature much 
more closely than he does when using 
the latter method. Despite the fact 
that fancy flies are man-made crea- 
tions, having their genesis in the 
minds of anglers who think that such 
and such a combination of color ought 
to take fish, rather than being the 
replica of some ephemeral aquatic in- 
Have you ever stood knee deep in a trout stream 
in the stilly calm of a Jume evening, watching a 
The sight is one to delight the 
that lately imprisoned them. 
Their mission of mating performed, they sink 
exhausted to the surface once more, where eager 
trout jaws close upon them. 
What is the real charm of the trout stream? 
it only the “plop” of rising fish, the feel of a taut 

sect, they are often highly successful, 
and remain so for a period of years. 
And this raises the oft-repeated ques- 
tion, who knows anything about flies 
anyhow? For fly-fishing is notoriously 
uncertain and no one has. yet been 
able to lay down a set of invariable 
rules, stating the combinations of color 
that shall be used in flies that are to 
be successful at any time when the 
angler shall see fit to use them. 
HERE are many species of fish 
that will take the artificial fly. 
Practically all of these rise te the sur- 
face, though some kinds will often take 
a deeply sunken fly (fished with a 
split shot or two on the leader). The 
wall-eyed pike or pike perch is one of 
these. White perch, yellow perch, blue 
gills, rock bass, crappies, sun-fish and 
even the lowly bull-head will at times 
take the fly, But the fly angler in 
Or is it a deeper emotion 
that causes us to stand at the bourn of a wonder- 
land into which we may venture just so far, and 
gaze with fascination upon that which, in spite of 
our cleverness, we are enabled to sense but vaguely? 
— = in 
this country is chiefly interested in 
three species of fish, trout, bass and 
salmon. The average angler is in- 
terested in the first two only, as a 
rule, due, not to native inclination, 
but rather to the fact that salmon 
angling is a sport beyond the means 
of the ordinary mortal. 
Many patterns of flies are tied in 
both bass and trout sizes. There are 
many more patterns of trout 
flies, however, as a lot of the 
trout patterns would not be 
effective if tied in bass sizes. 
As a general thing, bass flies 
are more gaudy than trout 
flies, the black bass having a 
preference for red and yel- 
low. Salmon flies are en- 
tirely different from either 
trout or bass flies. They 
are, with few exceptions, 
gay in hue and intricate in 
construction. 
S many as fifteen differ- 
Is ent varieties of feathers 
enter into the making of 
some patterns. Most of them 
have at least six or seven 
kinds of feathers, beside fur, 
tinsel and mohair or worsted. 
In design, many salmon flies 
are so similar that only an 
expert can tell them apart 
upon close inspection. Illustrative of 
this point, an old time tackle sales- 
many says “a salmon that can tell the 
difference between a Nepissiquit Gray, 
a Silver Gray and a Mar Lodge, isn’t 
fit to eat—there’s something wrong 
with him!” Yet some salmon anglers 
swear that one will take fish on a day 
when the other two will yield no re- 
sults whatever. 
Trout flies are tied on hooks rang- 
ing in size from No. 16 (the smallest 
ordinarily used) to No. 6. Bass flies 
start where trout flies leave off, in 
size. Number six is the smallest bass 
fly generally used; the sizes most com- 
monly used are No. 1 and No. 1/0. 
Salmon flies are tied on a great num- 
ber of sizes of hooks, ranging from 
the diminutive No. 8 (which is a pop- 
ular trout size to the immense No. 5/0 
and even No. 6/0. Many of the smaller 
sizes of salmon flies are tied on a 
AOI 
