FLIES.
There is no subject on which anglers differ so much as to what
assortment of flies is necessary. Some will carry as many as a hundred
sorts in their book, while a few, following Mr. Cholmondely Pennell, are
content with three nondescripts of quite an unnatural appearance, and
pretend they can catch as many fish as the man who goes prepared with a
larger quantity. Walton names _nine_, beside caterpillars; and Cotton
mentions _sixty-nine_; while Ronald, in his splendid work, describes
very many more to choose from. David Foster speaks of _thirty-one_. My
experience has taught me that about _twenty_ are necessary and
sufficient for all ordinary purposes. In calm weather and smooth water
one fly at a time is enough; but in rain, wind, or broken water, two,
three, or even four flies may be used with advantage, as you give the
fish a variety to choose from, and can thereby find out which kind they
are taking, and adapt your cast to their taste.
The fly nearest the rod is called the "first drop," the next the "second
drop," and so on, and the farthest from the rod the "stretcher." The
last drop should be about 20in. from the stretcher, and the other drops
12in. or 14in. apart. When it is thought desirable to use more than one
fly, bend the loop of your drop fly round one of the knots in the
casting-line, and pass the drop through the loop thus bent and draw it
tight. The drop fly will thus stand at right angles with the
casting-line, and should be about 3in. from it, and the trout will not
be likely to come in contact with the line when seizing the fly.
It does not very often happen that you hook two trout at a time, and
after you have hooked them, the difficulty is to get them both into the
landing-net, as they dart about in divers directions; but I succeeded in
hooking and landing two at a time on three occasions in the summer of
1881. In such cases get the fish on the stretcher into the net first.
Two at a time necessitates good tackle and very careful handling. When
one can accomplish this difficult feat, with two trout of a pound weight
each, he may consider himself a fly-fisher.
Artificial flies should represent, in size, shape, and colour, as nearly
as possible the natural flies which frequent the water you are fishing.
On examining the following selection it will be found that the natural
flies are chiefly represented by three colours--green, yellow, and
brown; and, although Mr. Pennell was so far right, the general
appearance of natural flies must also be imitated, if you would achieve
success. I do not hold it necessary to follow minutely every colour, or
the exact shape of the natural fly, because nine out of every ten fish
caught seize the fly immediately it alights on the water, and sometimes
even before it touches; therefore they cannot have time to study very
particularly every detail of the lure thus suddenly presented to them,
but, seeing something apparently resembling what they are feeding on,
dash at it instantaneously, and find out the mistake when it is too
late. What is of far greater importance than the exact representation of
the natural fly is, that when the artificial falls on the water there
should be nothing else occurring at the same time to scare the fish. The
motion of the arm, the flash of the rod, the bungling of the
casting-line, or pitching the fly on the water in an unnatural manner,
all tend to make trout rise short, or not rise at all.
In determining what colours to use it is desirable to look at both
natural and artificial specimens through water from underneath, as they
then appear quite different to what they do when viewed out of water.
The late John Hammond, of Winchester, designer of the Hammond's Adopted
and Wickham's Fancy, once showed me this through a clear-bottomed
decanter.
The following list of flies will be found in the greater part of the
United Kingdom, although they may be called by different names in
different localities, the chief variation being in size rather than
colour or shape; and it is always desirable to use artificial flies of
the size of the natural ones which are to be found in the locality you
are fishing:--
_Red Spinner_, _March Brown_, _Blue Dun_, _Alder Fly_, _Hofland's
Fancy_, _Stone Fly_, _Grannum_, _Wickham's Fancy_, _Oak Fly_, _Sedge_,
_Green Drake_, _Grey Drake_, _Coachman_, _Black Palmer_, _Red Palmer_,
_Coch-y-bonddhu_, _Red Ant_, _July Dun_, _Black Gnat_, _White Moth_.
I am convinced that, with the above assortment of flies, there are not
many days in the season but that one or other of them will do
execution, and there is seldom a day that trout do not rise at some time
or other in it, unless the water be too thick for them to see the fly.
As I am writing for the average fly-fisher, who need not waste the time
or take the trouble to make his own flies, I will not attempt to
describe the manner of making them, believing that it is much better to
visit a good tackle shop and get what is required; yet I think it
desirable to show of what materials they should be composed, in order
that he may know what are the most killing sorts, and how to distinguish
them in ordering.
+February and March.+
1. _The Red Spinner._--Body, brown silk, ribbed with fine gold twist;
tail, two fibres of a red cock's hackle; wings, of some transparent
brown feather.
2. _March Brown, or Brown Drake._--This, like the other drakes, is a
great favourite with trout in its season, which is during March and
April, and it may also be used in the autumn. Body, orange-coloured silk
or deep straw colour, on which wind fur from a hare's poll; legs, a
honey-dun hackle; wings, to stand erect, of the top of the light or
inner fibres of the feather of the hen pheasant's wing; tail, two fibres
of the same feather. Rib with gold twist for your tail fly, and let the
droppers be without any twist.
The above is "Ephemera's" way of making it, but Mr. Ronalds says: "Body,
fur of the hare's face ribbed over with olive silk and tied with brown
silk; tail, two strands of a partridge's feather; wings, feather of the
pheasant's wing; legs, a feather from the back of a partridge."
3. _Blue Dun._--Body, of the hare's ear, dark and yellow part mixed with
a little yellow mohair, the whole to be spun on yellow silk; wings, from
a feather of the starling's wing stained in onion dye; tail, two
whiskers of a rabbit; legs, to be picked out of the dubbing at the thick
part near the wings.
4. _Alder Fly._--Body, dark claret-coloured fur; upper wings, red fibre
of the landrail's wing, or red tail feather of the partridge; lower
wings, of the starling's wing feather; legs, dark red hackle; horns and
tail, of fibres the colour of the legs, the horns to be shorter than the
body of the fly, but the tail a little longer.
5. _Hofland's Fancy._--Body, reddish dark brown silk; wings, woodcock's
wing; legs, red hackle; tail, two strands of a red hackle.
+April.+
6. _Stone Fly._--Body, fur from hare's ear mixed with yellow worsted and
spun on yellow silk; tail, two strands of partridge feather; wings,
pheasant's quill feather from wings; legs, greenish brown hackle.
7. _Grannum, or Green-Tail._--"Ephemera" says: "The grannum is a
four-winged fly, and as it swims down the water its wings lie flat on
the back. It has a small bunch of eggs of a green colour at the tail end
of the body, which gives it the name of the green-tail fly. As soon as
it alights on the water it drops its eggs." It is dressed as follows:--
Body, fur of hare's face left rough and spun on brown silk. A little
green floss silk may be worked in at the tail, to represent the bunch
of eggs there. Wings, feather from that of the partridge, and made very
full; legs, a pale ginger hen's hackle. Made buzz with a feather from
the back of a partridge's neck, wound upon the above body.
8. _Wickham's Fancy._--Wings, light starling; body, flat gold ribbed
with fine gold wire; hackle and whisk, bright red gamecock. This is one
of the best general flies, and is a standing favourite in the south of
England; and I have it on the authority of the late John Hammond that he
made it under the direction of Dr. Wickham, of Winchester--hence its
name.
+May and June.+
9. _Oak Fly, or Down-Looker._--It is generally found on the trunks of
oak trees by the river-side, with its head pointing downwards, and is a
very useful fly.
"Ephemera" recommends it to be dressed as follows: "Body, yellow mohair,
ribbed regularly with dark brown silk; legs, a honey dun hackle wound
thrice under the wings, which are to lie flat and short, and to be made
of the wing feather of a young partridge or hen pheasant. To be tipped
with pale gold twist."
10. _Sedge._--Wings, wing of landrail; body, white floss silk ribbed
with silver wire; hackle, ginger cock's hackle down the body.
11. _The May-fly, or Green Drake_, is not only a very beautiful fly, but
one of the most captivating that is used, and, as I have stated
elsewhere, it requires special manipulation. On a windy dull day, in the
middle of the May-fly season, when there are not many natural flies out,
it will very soon fill the basket, particularly if the water is
turbulent. "Ephemera" says: "This famous fly is the opprobrium of
fly-makers. Try how they will they cannot, in my opinion, imitate it
well. The wings are their greatest foil. In making the body they succeed
tolerably well. Still, the best imitation is defective, and, except upon
rare occasions, the artificial May-fly is not a deadly bait." My
experience has been the very contrary of this. Whether it is from the
fly-tiers having succeeded in imitating the natural fly since "Ephemera"
wrote, or not, I do not know, but I have before me two specimens tied by
Mrs. Ogden that I make no doubt would bring me ten or a dozen brace of
trout on a good day in the season. May-flies are often made with cork
bodies, but I am not partial to them, for the same objection which
applies generally to floating flies, viz.: that trout find they have
something hard and unnatural in their mouths, and immediately reject it.
On a dry bright day use it as a dry fly, but on a very wet or windy day
fish with it a few inches under the surface, and, as Walton says, you
will have "store of trouts." On one occasion last season I caught ten
brace of trout with one May-fly obtained of Messrs. Alfred and Son, and
have it by me now, but there is not a vestige of wing left, all having
been bitten off. Mr. Ronalds recommends it to be dressed as follows:
"Body, the middle part of a pale straw-coloured floss silk, ribbed with
silver twist; extremities (head and tail), brown peacock's harl, tied
with light brown silk thread; tail, three rabbit's whiskers; wings and
legs, made buzz with a mottled feather of the mallard, stained olive."
Instead of the bodies being made of straw-coloured silk they are now
frequently made of strips of wheat straw.
12. _Grey Drake._--This is said to be a metamorphosis of the green
drake, or female changing to a male. Dress it thus: Body, the middle
part of white floss silk, ribbed over neatly with silver twist;
extremities, brown peacock's harl; wings and legs made buzz with a
mottled feather of the mallard, stained a faint purple; legs, three
rabbit's whiskers.
13. _The Coachman._--Body, peacock's harl, full and short; wings, fibres
of any small white feather; legs, a turn or two of a red hackle. Mr.
Blaine remarks: "Throughout the summer months, as an early evening fly,
and until twilight, it proves most valuable in the midland counties, and
the bordering ones within eighty miles of London. On the Colne, and
throughout its course, in the Hampshire, Dorsetshire, and Devonshire
waters, where we have been for many years in the habit of using it, in
our opinion there is no fly to at all equal it."
14. _Black Palmer._--Body, black ostrich harl, ribbed with gold twist,
black cock's hackle wound over the whole.
15. _Red Palmer._--Body, dark red-coloured mohair, with a richly-tinted
red fur intermixed, to be ribbed with gold or silver twist; legs, a
blood-red cock's hackle. Or, body, a peacock harl with a red cock's
hackle wrapped over it, and tied with dark brown silk thread.
I have used the Red Palmer in all weathers and seasons for nearly fifty
years, and believe it to be the best general fly there is, although,
strictly speaking, not a fly, but an imitation of the caterpillar, or
larva of the tiger moth. Having had such success with it I have adopted
its name as my _nom de plume_, and as the title of this little book.
+July.+
16. _Coch-y-bonddhu._--Body, black ostrich harl, twisted with peacock's
harl, and made with red silk thread; the wings and legs made buzz with a
dark furnace hackle.
17. _Red Ant._--Body, copper coloured peacock's harl, full near the
wings and tail; wings, a lark's wing feather; legs, red cock's hackle.
18. _July Dun._--Body, mole's fur and pale yellow mohair mixed, and spun
on yellow silk; wings, dark part of a feather from the starling's wing,
stained dark in strong onion dye; legs, dark dun hackle; tail, the two
flies of the hackle.
+August.+
19. _Black Gnat._--Body, one of the smallest feathers of the green
plover's top-knot, or of a black harl, to be dressed short; wings, the
darkest fibres of an old starling's wing feather.
20. _White Moth._--Wings, white pigeon's feather; body, white crewel;
legs, white hen's hackle.
Although I have classified these flies under the different months, it
does not follow by any means that they will kill only in the months
named; on the contrary, some of them may be used month after month,
particularly the hackle flies, which may be used almost through the
season.
I exhibited samples of the above kinds in my lecture to the Gresham and
Islington Angling Societies, showing the relative sizes and colours.
These samples were selected from the stock of Messrs. Alfred and Son, of
Moorgate Street, where I generally obtain what I require, and find their
flies are to be depended on. As with gut, so with flies, it is false
economy to buy the cheapest. It requires a deal of patience at times
before you can hook a fish; and, after you have been so fortunate, it is
terribly annoying to find the gut draw, and leave the fly in its mouth.
To guard against this, _burn all your old flies at the end of the
season_, except one or two of a sort for patterns, and this is another
reason why you should not have a heavy stock; and take care, in buying
your new stock at the spring of the year, that you get new, and not
those of the previous year.
In tying gut to the hook, a little varnish generally touches the gut,
and at this most critical point the varnish hardens the gut and causes
it to snap. This, of course, does not occur with eyed hooks, but even
with them it is better to have new flies than old, as the colours are
fresher and the tying more secure.
Messrs. Ogden and Scotford, the well-known firm of Cheltenham, have
lately sent me a few samples of their flies, tied by Mrs. Ogden, who has
long enjoyed a very high reputation for her tying. They are beautifully
made, and I have no doubt will prove good killers; but, as the season is
now over, have had no opportunity of trying them.