CREEPER AND STONE FLY FISHING.
There are not many streams in the North that have a distinct rise of
May Fly or Green Drake, and for that reason the writers have not given
any dressings of that fly, nor do they propose to devote space to a
consideration of May Fly fishing. To make up for the loss of that
beautiful Ephemera there is on most of these rivers the sober-hued Stone
Fly, whose season almost coincides with that of the May Fly.
The flies are very different. The one, elegant and dainty, is to be seen
one moment floating with wings upright upon the surface, then drifting in
the breeze, while the other, dark coloured and of unprepossessing aspect,
merges from the Creeper stage only to scuttle under the stones and remain
quietly in darkness till nightfall, making off once more for obscurity if
by chance its whereabouts is revealed.
The Stone Fly has four wings, which in repose are folded flat over the
back. It passes the greater part of its existence in the Creeper state,
in which it can be found during the latter part of April and throughout
May under the stones in shallow water near the edges of streams. The
Creeper varies in colour from an olive green to a dull dark brown, strong
yellow showing at the junction of the segments of the body. It is of
somewhat repulsive appearance, and measures from half an inch to nearly
an inch in length. It has six legs, two caudal setæ, and two antennæ.
It is often difficult to collect a supply of Creepers; not that they are
particularly active, but the disturbance of the water caused by lifting
the stones is apt to hide them while they wriggle under other stones. It
is stated that if the angler, wishing to secure a supply, stands with
his back to the current of the river and holds his landing net upright
before him with the top of the net resting on the river bed, and then
shuffles his brogues amongst the stones, the Creepers displaced by his
activity will be washed into the waiting net and a plentiful supply be
thus secured. The writers have never been particularly successful in this
device, but that is no reason why others should not try it. The Creepers
obtained are best kept in a tin box, together with a little damp moss.
There is no doubt that the Creeper forms an important item in the trout’s
menu in Spring, as an autopsy of the day’s catch at that time of the year
will reveal; and many is the Creeper that has been grabbed by a watchful
fish as it ventured from out its hiding place, or that has been torn
from beneath the stones by a questing trout. Creepers are very plentiful
in those North Country rivers which have the typical stony bed, but the
season of the Creeper being April and May, the writers do not often fish
it, nor is Creeper fishing generally much followed, as during that time
of the year fly fishing is at its very best. Still, if on occasion the
reader has found his most carefully dressed flies fail to rise a fish—as
they will sometimes even in Spring—he might do worse than collect a few
Creepers, as this method of fishing forms a pleasant variant of the
fisherman’s craft and throws a further light upon the habits and life and
whereabouts of the trout.
The line should be well greased, and the cast (as in fly fishing), three
yards tapered down to finest drawn gut with a form of Pennell tackle at
the end, having the lower hook a size larger than the upper one (this
latter being size No. 3 in the scale before mentioned on page 8). The
bend of one hook should be five-eighths of an inch from the bend of the
other, the hooks to be whipped on with olive green silk for preference.
The fly rod and line complete the outfit.
The end hook of the tackle should be put through the Creeper almost at
the extremity of its tail, where it is toughest, and the other hook in
the unhappy beast’s shoulder, not the head, as the head is liable to tear
off.
The fishing should be done upstream and the Creeper cast gently, with an
avoidance of jerk. The fly fisherman will soon instinctively feel the
amount of power he can put into his casts. The rod point must be raised
slowly as the bait trundles down, so that there is no drag. When the line
stops or draws away, the angler tightens at once; otherwise the fish may
eject the bait.
The most productive places in Creeper fishing are usually the edges of
the streams, but rougher water and the necks of streams will often yield
fish; and all places where trout are known or expected to be should be
tried, particularly about boulders and where a current in the river is
contracted into a narrow run.
About the last week in May the Creepers will be found to be quitting the
water and fastening themselves to the rocks and stones on the river’s
brim, to the buttresses of bridges, and to those rocks which stand
out above the water. Here it is possible at times to watch the Stone
Fly emerge through the slit in the back of the Creeper, leaving the
perfectly-shaped skin rigid behind it, although in general Stone Flies
hatch during the night.
Once the Fly is hatching in numbers, the carnival begins, although very
few are to be seen unless they are searched for. An odd fly may be
seen occasionally being carried down the stream or paddling across a
shallow, but for the most part the Stone Flies lie very close in their
hiding places beneath the stones near the water. Consequently the ideal
conditions for Stone Fly fishing are when a fresh of a few inches comes
suddenly down the river and washes them out of their hiding places.
The large females with the long wings are usually preferred by both
fishermen and trout; the fishermen find them easy to see on the water,
and the trout no doubt find them a satisfying mouthful. The males vary in
size, although they are smaller than the females and have shorter wings;
the smallest males are difficult to see when cast on the water and soon
become water-logged; the larger males are almost as good as the females.
The males are called “Jacks.” If males are used, the hooks of the tackle
should be nearer together than the hooks in the tackle usually used in
Stone Fly fishing.
It is not as a rule difficult to collect a supply of Stone Flies, but the
males greatly outnumber the females. As they are picked up they can be
placed in one of the Stone Fly boxes sold for the purpose, a transparent
one for preference. The tackle and rod line and cast for Stone Fly
fishing are exactly the same as those described for Creeper fishing, and
the fly should be put on the hooks in the same manner as the Creeper.
The fishing should again be upstream and the Stone Fly be cast as in
Creeper fishing; but, whereas the Creeper is fished under the water,
the Stone Fly is fished on the surface, as it loses much of its
attractiveness when water-logged. It will stand a fair amount of knocking
about, but jerks should be avoided, as tending to throw the fly off the
hooks.
The Stone Fly accounts for some large fish, and sometimes those old
warriors that have passed the regular fly-taking stage, and have become
wily and big, succumb to its charms. Therefore it is well to remember
that all places which harbour a trout will often yield one under proper
conditions; and, although the streams fish about as well with Stone Fly
as with anything else, it should not be forgotten that trout, when on
the feed, very often leave the streams for shallow water, and for any
vantage point where the current concentrates all the flotsam and jetsam
from yards above into one narrow channel, and that they love to haunt the
neighbourhood of rocks and boulders.
The Stone Fly will kill many fish which are not strictly on the feed,
but which cannot resist the temptation to make the most of the Stone Fly
season when a great juicy female fly floats overhead. If the reader bears
this fact in mind he will seize the opportunity in the early summer to
get the big one which has so often waved a vanishing tail at his flies.
The size of the fly is against its being sucked in as easily as the
usual artificial, and it is of advantage to give a moment’s grace before
striking when a fish rises. Never to be forgotten is the disappointment
of a too hasty strike one lovely early June morning. The angler was
out before the sun topped the fell, and a few brace were already in the
creel, when he reached a perfect eddy at the side of the main stream. The
Stone Fly was cast _secundum artem_ (would that the further proceedings
had been on the same plane!). It had hardly alighted when a big fish came
up like a porpoise. Alas! quick as light the eager one tightened without
allowing the moment’s grace, down went the fish and played strongly,
facing the current and giving heartrending jars to the line. Confidence
was beginning to take the place of fear of a light hold, when up the
beauty came, headed into the stream and came down with all the force of
its waters thrown into the scale. He was just opposite the angler when
the rod flew up, and that sorrowful angler saw no more of what would
undoubtedly have been his big fish of the season.
The charm of Stone Fly fishing is truly enhanced by the season of its
use. What could be finer than the river side in the latter days of May
and early June; and a turn before breakfast at that time of the year is a
delight to be remembered the winter through. Besides, a good creel when
fish are not so terribly difficult to kill is like all success honestly
come by, a delight to the heart and a pleasure to one’s friends.