HOW TO FISH THE FLOATING FLY
(_Continued_)
Casting purely to the rise is the orthodox way of dry fly fishing
on the English chalk streams; that this manner of fishing the
floater is of necessity subordinated to fishing all the water on
American streams has been mentioned heretofore. Save in extremely
favorable localities where the conditions closely approximate
those of the British streams, stalking the fish is practically
love's labor lost. However, large, quiet pools may be fished in
this way if the angler selects the most propitious time for rising
trout--in the warm season a little before sundown and for some time
thereafter. Extensive, quiet reaches where the fishing is open may
also at times be resorted to with the idea of casting to the rise,
and some fair sport obtained.
Regarding the sporting merits of the two methods, I personally am
sure that if conditions allowed I would never cast a fly except to
a rising trout. The visible rise of a trout always appears in the
nature of a challenge, and my inability to get away from a place
where I positively know a good trout is located has frequently
resulted in my return with a pretty light creel. When casting over
a pool, no matter how good, while fishing all the water, lack of
success eventually breeds a doubt as to the presence of a trout
therein; anglers going before may have temporarily fished it out or
for some other reason, the pool may be barren at the time.
But when casting over a rising trout everything is certain and
well-defined. You know where the fish is located, or at least where
he came up; you generally have a pretty fair idea of his size; if
duly observant you can guess closely to what sort of natural fly
the fish rose, everything is sure save the eventual capture of that
particular trout. You are fairly certain that if the right fly is
put over the fish in the right way success will follow. It is up to
you.
To cast with some understanding to a rising trout, it is very
necessary that the angler be somewhat familiar with the habits of
the fish when feeding upon the floating insect and also be fairly
conversant with the life histories of what may be termed the
fishing flies. That rises occur when the fish are not feeding,
that sometimes the trout roll up to or leap above the surface,
is well known to the experienced stream fisherman. With this
feature of the matter we are not here concerned; the habit has
been variously accounted for by anglers and icthyologists but the
motive of the fish in thus acting is still debatable. However this
may be, the angler may safely conclude that any visible rise--save
generally a clear leap above the surface--is a rise to the natural
fly by a feeding trout until the contrary may appear from the
attendant circumstances.
It is with the _bona fide_ rise of a trout to the floating natural
fly that the dry fly caster is chiefly concerned. But in this
connection it should be noted that the feeding of trout upon the
natural insect is by no means confined to the time of the latter's
appearance strictly on the surface. Of the water-bred insects the
_Ephemeridae_, called "duns" when in the sub-imago state, occupy
the place of greatest importance in the entomology of the dry fly
fisherman. In a later chapter something is said of the commoner
insect life of the stream; it should here be noted, however, that
trout feed upon the _Ephemeridae_, for instance, at all stages of
their existence.
From the eggs deposited upon or in the water by the adult insect,
or "spinner," in due time the nymphs are hatched. Upon these the
trout feed at times on the stream-bed and in the weeds, nosing upon
the bottom and in the aquatic vegetation in somewhat the same way
as the common sucker or the German carp go about their business
of drawing sustenance from the muck and weeds of the stream-bed.
This habit of the trout, when followed in shallow water, results in
an occasional disturbance of the surface by the tails of the fish
and is called "tailing" in the nomenclature of the English dry fly
fisherman. In this connection it should be noted, however, that the
nymphs of the _Ephemeridae_ which burrow under rocks and in the
stream-bed and there remain until about to assume the first winged,
or dun, state are practically inaccessible to the fish, although
doubtless taken at times. Tailing trout are usually feeding upon
caddis and other larvae.
Subsequently the nymphs, having undergone certain physical changes
while in the nymphal stage, are ready to rise to the surface, cast
off the nymphal shuck or envelope, and emerge into the air in
the first winged state (sub-imago) at which time, as noted, they
are called duns. During the rise of the nymphs to the surface,
when about to assume the dun state, they are often taken by the
trout with avidity, and frequently when the nymph has neared the
surface a trout taking it will visibly disturb the surface or break
water--again in dry fly parlance called "bulging."
Ground-feeding or tailing trout and trout feeding in mid-water upon
nymphs floating up to the surface--bulging trout--are manifestly
not genuinely rising fish. To consider briefly once more the life
history of the _Ephemeridae_: when the "hatch" is on, the nymph
upon reaching the surface splits open the nymphal envelope and at
once takes wing as a dun--an ephemeral fly in the sub-imago or
first winged state. When the duns are thus hatching the fly may
float for some little distance while ridding itself of the nymphal
envelope and drying its wings for flight; a rise to the fly at
this time is a true rise. It would seem, however, from very close
observation of the water during a good many plentiful hatches of
duns, that only an occasional insect, as compared with the great
numbers hatching, remains upon the water for any appreciable time
while undergoing the metamorphosis from nymph to dun--the change
is in most cases practically instantaneous. You may select any
certain area of water, when duns are emerging constantly from
every part of a pool, and watch that certain area with the utmost
intentness; the chances are you will not see a single fly actually
upon the water although many do, indeed, emerge from the water
under observation and fly away.
In "American Insects" Professor Vernon L. Kellogg, of Leland
Stanford University, writes as follows: "At the end of the immature
life the nymphs rise to the surface, and after floating there a
short time suddenly split open the cuticle along the back and after
hardly a second's pause expand the delicate wings and fly away.
Some nymphs brought into the laboratory from a watering trough at
Stanford University emerged one after the other from the aquarium
with amazing quickness." This from an undoubted authority, with
my own experience, comparatively short but to the same end, leads
me to believe that rises to the duns on the surface at the time
of metamorphosis from the nymph are certainly less frequent than
commonly believed and implied by dry fly writers; the rise would
have to come at such an acutely psychological instant that the
chances are altogether too many against it.
In fact it would seem that when the duns are hatching many, perhaps
most, rises are to the floating nymph and not to the winged insect.
Autopsy shows a marked preponderance of larvae and nymphae about to
change to the winged state over winged insects in the stomachs of
trout taken under natural conditions. Furthermore, I might quote
Mr. Halford when, in discussing bulging trout, he says: "Fish,
when feeding on larvae and nymphae, at times rise quietly, without
moving about from place to place. It is almost impossible under
these circumstances to distinguish the apparent from _bona fide_
rises."
All of which does not militate in the least against the theory
that the artificial fly should correspond with the natural; when a
decided hatch is on the trout are fully aware of the nature of the
prevalent fly and if feeding upon it are quite likely to notice no
other either natural or artificial. But the theory does, indeed,
explain some phases of dry fly fishing which otherwise are quite
inexplicable; for instance, inability to induce a rise to the
properly fished winged artificial when its corresponding natural
is hatching and "apparent" rises to it are evidently common. It
seems fairly certain that at such times the fish are feeding
exclusively on the floating nymphs, taking them on the surface in
practically the same way as the winged dun is taken. Also fish
thus feeding would hardly come within the technical definition of
bulging trout as that term is generally understood.
Having assumed the first winged state, scientifically the
sub-imago, the duns thereafter are upon the water more or less
during its continuance, sometimes blown upon the water or
descending to the surface without apparent reason, and the trout
rise to and feed upon them when in the mood. In a short time the
dun or sub-imago undergoes another metamorphosis to the imago or
"spinner"--the adult insect. The male spinners are subsequently
upon the water in a spent or practically lifeless condition
following the completion of the act of coition. The latter takes
place over the stream to which the female spinner then descends to
void her eggs. This, with some species, is done upon the surface,
the fly floating downstream the while eventually to rise again
and fly, generally it would seem, upstream--unless the program is
incontinently halted by the accurate rise of a trout. The spent
spinners ("spent gnats") also serve as food for the trout--the
male when it has completed the act of procreation and falls to the
stream, the female when all the eggs have been voided.
Excluding, then, bottom-feeding or tailing fish, also fish feeding
upon nymphs either in mid-water or, as noted, practically upon the
surface, the trout feed upon the _Ephemeridae_ first as duns and
subsequently when, as spinners, the female floats on the surface
when voiding her eggs, and upon both males and females when spent.
Before casting to a rising trout the angler should, as far as may
be, determine the nature of the rise and the fly to which it was
made. The question of the right fly having been decided, it remains
only for the angler to put the fly over the fish in the right way.
When you see the rise of a presumably feeding trout, spot it
carefully; that is, make very sure of the exact spot where the
fish rose. Unless this is done it will be necessary to wait for
another rise, which may never come, or to cast haphazardly over the
approximate place, which usually results in failure. As a general
rule the artificial must travel in practically the same path as
the natural fly if the trout is to rise to it
Choose your place from which to cast over the trout with two
things in mind--to avoid being seen by the fish, and to lessen the
liability of drag. Keep low and cast not a foot more line than
necessary.
Do not cast to the exact place of the rise; drop your fly some two
or three feet above it so that the fly will float down over the
place where the fish rose. Moreover, if possible, avoid throwing
your leader over the fish--which will not occur unless you cast
actually in line with it from below.
If the fish fails to rise let your fly float well below it before
lifting it from the water--for which the reason should be obvious.
My own experience leads me to believe that often a trout will rise
only to a fly, natural or artificial, floating over a certain small
area of the surface which sometimes the fish seems to have selected
for the purpose of feeding; if the artificial fly fails to cover
the exact spot to which the trout is rising it may be the fish
will wholly disregard it. Frequently I have cast to a rising fish
and failed through difficulties of drag--and poor casting--to get
the fly over the right place in the right way until possibly the
fifteenth or twentieth cast, and in the meantime have seen the fish
rise to the natural fly within six inches of the artificial. But
when I have had the right fly and by dint of persistent casting
have at last floated it over the exact spot--the "dead line" for
the natural fly--the response has almost always been instantaneous
and emphatic. So I would advise not letting up on a rising fish
until you are sure that what may be termed the feeding zone of the
trout--often very restricted--has been covered by your fly while
cocked and floating in an absolutely natural way.
At the same time it is poor business to keep hammering away at a
very particular fish for the simple reason that the more you cast
to him the more shy and finicky he is apt to become--certainly
if the casting is not done with the utmost possible skill and
unobtrusiveness--and eventually you may set him down to stay. It is
best to divide your attentions, fishing the water above or below,
and returning from time to time to make some half-dozen casts over
the reluctant one.
I believe it pays best when fishing all the water to use a
fairly large fly--as dry flies go--say a fly dressed on a No. 10
long-shanked hook. I have had particularly good results from the
floaters tied on these long-shanked hooks and am of the opinion
that for average dry fly fishing under American conditions, when
fishing all the water, they are more successful than the orthodox
patterns. This goes for the larger, deeper streams and, as noted,
for fishing all the water. For small stream fishing smaller flies
are preferable. So far as I know dry fly patterns on No. 10
long-shanked hooks are procurable only from William Mills & Son,
New York.
But when casting to a rising trout, even if you cannot discern
to what fly the fish is rising it is best to discard the fancy
pattern--hare's ear, Wickham, or coachman, which are generally
best to use when fishing all the water for general results--and
to put up an imitation of some one of the duns, olive, iron blue,
whirling blue, and so on, dressed on a No. 12 or 14 hook which
best approximate in size the natural ephemera ordinarily prevalent
on the trout streams. The common-sense of this should not need
argument, and it is best to try the small dun before possibly
setting down the fish with a fancy pattern.
From the above it could be gathered that one of the approximately
exact imitations of the duns might be superior to a so-called
fancy pattern for steady fishing, fishing all the water; and,
indeed, upon occasions, this is certainly the case. In the season
of 1911 I was out one day with a wet fly fisherman on one of the
smaller Berkshire streams, upon which occasion we took eight trout
from a small pool at the foot of a falls. The wet fly man, who, by
the way, has played the game some thirty-five years during which
time he has learned some few things about it, took two fish with
the coachman and then cast for fully half an hour without results.
In the meantime I busied myself with the camera, by no means,
however, failing to note several rises in various parts of the pool.
When the wet fly man had gone on about his nefarious business I
rested the pool while putting up an olive dun dressed on a No. 14
hook. Shortly thereafter I had six good trout for my pains and a
still greater respect for the great little dry fly--in addition to
a good working "bulge" on the veteran. But below the pool I could
do nothing with the little dun and I was eventually compelled to
return to my favorite golden ribbed hare's ear with which I then
killed several good fish.
For straightaway all-water fishing it would seem that a good fancy
pattern, rather large, ordinarily gives the best results, save
over very clear or low water when everything depends upon refining
the tackle. Moreover, when fishing the water it is distinctly
easier to keep a comparatively large fly dry and floating--the very
small patterns when in constant use soon become thoroughly soaked
and difficult to float.