WHERE AND WHEN TO USE THE FLOATING FLY
Before going further into the details of casting and fishing the
dry fly it would be well to consider at some length the question
of the best times and the most favorable places when and where the
angler would be wise to depend solely upon the floater. That the
fascination of dry fly fishing is such that many fly-fishermen
elect to practice no other method under any and all conditions
goes without saying, but the fact remains that under average
American fly-fishing conditions the floating fly is sometimes at
a disadvantage and the average American angler may well accept
this fact with good grace, using the dry or sunken fly turn and
turn about as the occasion determines. In this I do not wish to
be understood as holding any brief for the wet as against the dry
fly for any such reason as that "bigger bags" may at times be
killed with the wet fly than with the dry--it is merely a question
of a few good fish taken by fair methods under the prevailing
conditions. If these may be taken by dry fly casting, so much the
better; if not, then assuredly the average angler, whose fishing
trips are few and to whom a moderate success on the stream seems
very desirable, may have recourse to the wet fly without losing
caste. That, at times, nothing can be done fishing dry is a fact
easily susceptible of proof.
Personally I have never so fully enjoyed fly-fishing as I have
since taking up the dry fly, which I have now come to use almost
exclusively and often when I know perfectly well that more success
would attend the use of the sunken fly. This, however, I take to
be a strictly personal matter; my fishing opportunities are many,
and although I am on the stream a great deal (during the last ten
years at the very least four days a week throughout the season) it
is only infrequently that I go out with any great desire to "catch
fish." To the general run of trout-fishermen, for the reasons
stated above, I would not advise the exclusive use of the dry fly;
if, on the other hand, the angler elects to practice this method to
the exclusion of all others, that is his affair--and a matter for
congratulation.
It would seem that the ideal conditions for the dry fly are
somewhat as follows: A clear, smoothly flowing stream, whether fast
or slow being immaterial if the surface is not too broken; the
stage of water should be normal, although at the lower levels, as
the season advances, everything is in favor of the dry as against
the wet fly; finally, insect life should be fairly abundant on the
stream and the trout feeding more or less at the surface on the
natural fly.
In the early days of the season, when the stream is apt to be
in flood and the water very cold and more or less discolored,
the wet or sunken fly is plainly indicated. Until, with the
progress of spring, air and water have grown warm, and the bright
sunshine brings on the natural ephemeridae, the fish are usually
ground-feeding, or feeding in mid-water, and will rise only
infrequently to the fly fished upon the surface. At such times the
fly caster who holds to the employment of the dry fly is doomed to
disappointment.
In fact, it would seem that fly-fishing under these conditions
should be done more along the lines of bass or salmon fly-fishing
--not with the idea of simulating even approximately the natural
insect food of the fish but rather with the purpose of exciting
the trout and inducing them to strike by the use of a glittering or
highly colored fly which, fished considerably beneath the surface,
arouses their curiosity or anger or may be taken for a small
minnow. This style of fishing with the fly is distinctly on a lower
level than the correct imitation of the natural floating insect
by means of the dry fly; nevertheless, in fairness to the many
fishermen whose days on the stream are rare and eagerly anticipated
with attendant hopes of some practical success, I cannot but advise
the use of the sunken fly under the conditions named or when, at
any time during the season, somewhat similar conditions prevail.
In an average season the dry fly man may confidently expect
success on suitable water from about the first of May to the last
days of the open time. The trout streams are now clear and at or
below the normal stage of water; the temperature of the water is
rising steadily; the observant fly-fisherman will note the natural
ephemeridae abundant at intervals over and on the stream--and there
is no sight in nature (at least from the writer's viewpoint and, I
fancy, from that of all other trout fly-fishermen) more interesting
or more wonderful than a good hatch of duns. With the advance of
the season and the usual gradual falling of the water, conditions
ever grow more and more in favor of the dry and against the wet fly.
I could easily cite numerous instances which have occurred in both
my own experience and in that of other anglers which go to prove
the effectiveness of the floating fly on low, clear water, late
in the season, when the wet fly is usually ineffectual. Without,
however, going into narrative detail, it should be sufficiently
obvious that, under the conditions named, a very delicately
dressed floating fly, in appearance quite similar to the natural
ephemeridae common to the stream, attached to a practically
invisible leader and riding down buoyantly on the surface, with
wings erect, in the exact, jaunty manner of the natural dun, is far
more apt to deceive the fish than two or more wet flies, shapeless
and draggled, of dubious coloration, pulled across or against the
current in a manner never followed by the natural insect. Wherever
a fly may be floated the dry fly is distinctly the thing for late
spring and summer fishing.
Much has been said and written concerning the character of the
streams favorable for the employment of the dry fly--that is, as
regards the natural characteristics of the water itself, whether
fast or slow in current, smooth or broken, shallow or deep, and so
on. The dry fly having originated upon the placid currents of the
south of England rivers, it is only natural that the impression
should prevail that a floating fly can be used effectively only on
a slow stream. The practice and experience of American fly-casters
has thoroughly proved this an erroneous theory. It may be
truthfully said that the dry fly may be successfully used upon all
except white water.
It is not the rate of the current which determines the suitability
of the floating fly to any given stream; wherever the surface of
the water is unbroken the dry fly works well, but where white water
prevails, although the angler may persist in the use of the dry
fly, actual dry fly fishing is impossible, the fly can only be made
to float for an infinitesimal length of time, is almost immediately
drowned by a wave or drawn under by a whirlpool, and the result is
a hybrid sort of angling in the nature of wet fly fishing with a
dry fly.
The point has been made that even under these conditions it is best
to use the dry fly on the ground that, dry or wet, the floating fly
is materially, in form and coloration, a better imitation of the
natural fly than is the average wet fly. Under like circumstances
the natural insect acts in a similar manner, that is, is drawn
under the surface in broken water and carried here and there by
conflicting currents. For some time it has been my custom to use
dry flies for wet fly fishing, but I would emphasize the fact that
fishing a drowned dry fly in white water is hardly genuine dry fly
fishing and that any resultant success must be accredited to the
wet fly method. Any statement to the effect that the dry fly may
be used in the rapids of any trout stream where white water is the
rule must be taken with a grain of salt and with due allowance for
the enthusiasm of the man who makes it.
In any stream the swift runs where the water is smooth may be
very effectively fished with the dry fly; taking an average of
American trout streams, excepting the smaller rocky, mountain
brooks (generally a succession of shallow, rough rapids with
comparatively few smooth places) it may be said that a fly may be
quite successfully floated over probably three-quarters of the
water comprised. By smooth water I do not wish to be understood
as meaning absolutely flat water--the floating fly will ride a
wave or a succession of them with surprising buoyancy; but if the
crests of the waves are broken into miniature "white-caps" then
the fly is soon drowned. The wet fly, or wet fly methods, should
be followed wherever the water is of the latter description. The
writer's own custom when fishing a stream wherein smooth and white
water alternate constantly is to use a single dry fly, a coachman
or Wickham's fancy, casting dry or wet as the nature of the stream
may seem to render expedient.
In line with a general discussion of the times and localities
when and where the dry fly is indicated it should possibly be
noted that dry fly casting, as the more clever method and designed
particularly for the purpose of angling for educated trout, should
be favored over wet fly fishing on any stream which is whipped a
great deal by wet fly fishermen. That the trout of such a stream
grow "gut shy" and exceedingly canny and, at best, when the
stream is clear and natural insect food somewhat abundant, rise
reluctantly to the wet fly, is axiomatic. In view of the fine
tackle, the finesse, and the fidelity to nature afforded by the dry
fly method it would seem that no angler could for a moment doubt
the efficacy of the floating fly under such circumstances. On the
other hand, I believe--although practical experimentation has never
yet been possible--that a skilfully fished wet fly, on a stream
where dry fly fishing has become the rule, might, on occasion, by
the very novelty of the thing, be made to do wonders.
Finally, as regards the general question of when and where to use
the dry fly, let me emphasize the fact that, for success, the
sportsman must have confidence in the floater and use it constantly
wherever he may consistently do so--that he must not consider his
box of dry flies as merely supplementary to his familiar, old-time
book of wet flies, but must give preference to the dry fly method,
consider himself, in fact, a dry fly fisherman, and have recourse
to the wet fly only when his common fishing sense advertises the
fact that the floater is not the thing for the time being.
Sporadic experimentation with the dry fly when the wet has failed,
although frequently successful in its purpose, is not a true test
of the efficacy of the method when followed consistently, for the
degree of true sport which the dry fly is capable of affording. Of
all forms of angling, the phrase "it is not all of fishing to catch
fish" is most true of fishing with the floating fly.
Coming now to the question of when and where to fish the floating
fly on water evidently suitable therefor, in view of the fact
that the American dry fly caster of necessity usually fishes the
water rather than the rise, it is evident that the fly-fisherman
must depend upon his knowledge of trout haunts and habits in the
determination of this matter. Given a stream fairly abundantly
stocked with trout, either _fontinalis_, the native speckled brook
trout, _fario_, the brown trout, or with rainbows, where the most,
the best, or any trout will be found, is to a considerable extent a
matter of time and temperature--notwithstanding which the careful
angler, and in particular the dry fly fisherman, will proceed to
fish all the water except such as may be known to be barren of
trout.
In general, trout will be found at the head and foot of riffles and
rapids; at the head and tail of pools; in the lee of rocks in swift
runs; under shady, shelving banks and boulders and similar "hides";
particularly in warm weather, where small, cold, spring-fed brooks
enter the trout stream; and anywhere where the set of the current,
as in little bays and on the bends, is such as to collect insect
food in quantity. Really the angler need only remember that trout
require cold, moving, and aërated water, especially brook trout,
and the same thing is true of brown trout in somewhat lesser degree.
To enlarge upon the matter further would be impracticable here.
In point of fact, stream experience alone will enable the angler
to spot confidently and with precision the places where a good
trout may be lying. Each trout taken by an observant fly-fisherman
adds to the angler's sum of knowledge regarding "where the trout
hide"; it would seem that a mental picture of the place is retained
subconsciously--the trend of the current, the character of the
banks and stream-bed, and where, in relation to some prominent
object, such as a large boulder or possibly a sunken log, the trout
rose; all these and other details are noted and mentally recorded,
and eventually the angler, by the correlation and association of
these mental pictures, comes to recognize instantly, almost to a
matter of inches, the places where a rise may be expected. That an
experienced fly-fisherman can tell "almost to a matter of inches"
where a trout will rise may seem, to the casual reader, to be
putting it rather strongly. However, inquiry of some sportsman of
many seasons' experience with the fly-rod will definitely settle
the matter one way or another.
While, indeed, the character of American trout streams is such
as to definitely discourage fishing the rise purely, it cannot be
too strongly emphasized that the dry fly-angler, while fishing the
water, should constantly be on the lookout for a rising trout.
Time and time again, while fishing a good pool or run where the
rise of a trout could be noted, the writer has spotted rising
fish to his very practical advantage. In this regard it might be
well to note the fact that a rising and feeding trout creates
very little disturbance on the surface of the stream, and does
not, in accordance with the popular idea, leap above the surface;
sometimes there is a slight "plop," and at times a little spray
thrown, but the fish very seldom shows itself, and twenty trout
could rise within the vision of an inexperienced and inattentive
angler without attracting his attention. Upon glassy, still pools
the subsequent widening circle of ripples tells the plain story of
a rise; in a current, however, the actual rise must be seen--and
often is if you are looking for it.