I know not how to apologise for submitting a Second Edition of this
little Book to the notice of the Angling few, after the appearance of so
many by clever writers, except the many calls I had for it, and a
sincere desire of improving farther upon a craft that has not hitherto
been clearly promulgated by a real practitioner; consequently my great
object is to benefit and amuse my readers, by giving them something
practical, which at the present time may be particularly wanted by those
who love to make their own flies, whose wants, without doubt, will be
found sufficiently supplied in this book; the tyro will appreciate it
as valuable to him, and the senior angler who may, perchance, be in
possession of it, and who may be singularly fond of making his flies,
and amusing himself dyeing the hackles and colours, &c., will, I am
persuaded, consider it a treasure.
My endeavours have been unceasing for many years past, in striving to
please the great Salmon Fishers and Trout Fishers of this Country, and I
must confess that my labours have not been in vain; they have generously
conferred upon me their very kind patronage and good will, benefits for
which I hold them in very great estimation. Under these circumstances, I
have taken much pains to write the book in a befitting manner to suit
their tastes and purposes, although my inability in many instances has
been an obstacle, nevertheless with all my faults I claim the title of
Fisherman, an humble and unimportuned name which no reasonable
dispensation can deprive me of.
From my boyhood, I took great delight in ranging along the banks of the
beautiful and romantic streams of my native land, Ireland; and having
also been for many years a skilful Fly Fisher of no little commendation,
in both Great Britain and Hibernia, it is my desire to impart to the
world, plainly and easily, the knowledge I have acquired, that all those
who wish to become masters of the art, may, by patience and practice,
and a close adherence to the instructions I shall lay down, derive the
fullest benefit from my experience.
I have endeavoured in the following treatise on Fly-making, to divest
the subject, as far as possible, of all technicalities and
superfluities; at the same time, I have entered into such full details
in the construction of the Fly, that by adopting the process I have
pointed out, and following the instructions I have given, the aspirants
to the art of Fly-making may speedily become proficients.
In this little book there will be found nothing imaginary, but it is
purely written from the practice of angling, so that I may without
scruple, justly entitle it THE ART OF FLY-MAKING, ANGLING, AND DYEING
OF COLOURS. It is also interspersed with many useful remarks that will
no doubt agreeably entertain my readers.
No man has taken such pains to improve upon the angler's craft as I; on
every article in the whole range of fishing tackle I have made some
improvement on rods, flies, lines, reels, and tackle of every sort; and
in these pages have left a lasting memorial of my handicraft to the
fly-fisher, from whom I have hidden nothing that might retard him in his
progress, and who will appreciate it for the great deal of matter
propounded in little compass to prevent incumbrance; that the lovers of
fly fishing, which has superior claims, may have an opportunity of
keeping it in their side pocket,--to be convenient and handy when on
their piscatory excursions, the exercise and variety of which will be
found advantageous to the health, and the calming of the mind--things
not to be purchased; enjoying at the same time the harmonious notes of
the warblers of the grove, and musing upon the diversity of the
prospects around, while straying along the beautiful streams and vallies
of this delightful country.
The list of flies I have given, will be found very valuable, and the
tyro will take great delight in imitating these flies necessary for use,
and suiting the colours exactly to each, keeping to their symmetrical
forms as they appear with his light materials. This beautiful branch of
fly-making, peculiarly my own, cannot fail to perfect the angler who is
scientific and ingenious, the result of which will be never-failing
success.
I have added to the art of fly-making full instructions, and the most
approved receipts for dyeing mohair, pighair, feathers, and other
materials most useful and appropriate for imitating the natural flies
and stuffs the most killing for Trout and Salmon; and which will retain
their brilliancy through all the vicissitudes to which they may be
exposed.
To bring the Engravings of the flies to the greatest perfection, I have
stood at the elbow of the artist who executed this part of the work,
that they might be turned out exact to my own models, which renders them
and the descriptions more intelligible, as the shade in the fibre of
each feather is shown in the plate, in the clearest and finest manner
imaginable, that it may be properly seen how these artificial flies are
constructed,--the resemblance of those beautiful ones, the productions
of the Great Author of Nature, that Trout and Salmon do love to feed
upon.
I have also given the principal rivers of England, Ireland, Scotland,
and Wales, with the flies best adapted to each, which will enable the
fisher to have all things in readiness on his arrival at their
localities, and sally out on the finny tribe fearless of disappointment;
and for the younger branch of anglers, I have shown the various sorts of
fish, with the tackle and baits best adapted to catch them.
The catechism of fly making which I have introduced will be found very
curious and instructive to the young beginner, and will afford him every
opportunity of retaining the whole process, that when rehearsed in the
mind, and perfectly understood, he may apply, with more certain
facility, the hand to both material and hook.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,
WILLIAM BLACKER,
_At 54, Dean Street, Soho,
1855._
[Illustration]
List of Plates.
Plate Page
1. Blacker Fly-fishing Frontispiece.
2. Titlepage.
3. An easy method to make the Trout-fly _opposite_ 3
4. An easy method of making a Salmon-fly 8
5. The best method of making a Trout-fly 13
6. To make the Palmer's _to face_ 20
7. How to make the Salmon-fly 23
8. Process of making the Gaudy Salmon-fly _opposite_ 30
9. The plate of Feathers _to face_ 34
10. To make the Winged Larva 42
11. Plate of Six Flies Catechism 46
12. Plate of 15 Trout-flies _opposite flies for March_ 57
13. Plate of 16 Flies _opposite_ 65
14. Plate of Larvas and Green Drakes _opposite_ 78
15. Plate of Gaudy Flies, Nos. 1, 2, 3, _opposite_ 105
16. Plate of three Salmon-flies, Nos. 4, 5, 6, _opposite_ 108
17. Plate of four Flies, Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10 110
18. Large Spring Salmon-fly 116
19. Plate of 7 Flies and Salmon _to face_ 145
20. Plate of Minnow tackle, &c. _to face_ 216
21. Plate of Pike tackle, &c. 221
22. Paternoster and Barbel tackle 230
[Illustration]
_An Extract of a Review of William Blacker's Art
of Fly Making, &c. &c. &c., taken from "Bell's
Life in London," April 8th, 1855._
"THE ART OF FLY MAKING, ANGLING & DYEING OF COLOURS. BY W. BLACKER,--Mr.
Blacker has been a celebrated trout and salmon angler from early
boyhood, and he is known to be the best maker of trout and salmon flies
alive. We have never seen such flies as his, for naturalness of shape,
appropriateness of colour and for beauty and solidity of finish. In
making flies he has "caught a grace beyond the reach of art," and this
he exhibits in the _Sanspareil_ work before us. It contains no fewer
than seventeen engravings on steel and copper, of trout and salmon
flies, in every stage of fabrication, from the whipping of hook and gut
together to the finishing of the head. These engravings, every plate
crowded with figures, are executed after his own models and under his
own _Surveillance_, and carefully and beautifully coloured, he standing,
as he says, "by the artist's elbow." They contain coloured
representations of hackles, wing-feathers, fur, silk, tinsel, in their
natural state, and prepared for forming the artificial insect. His
profusely illustrated instructions for making salmon-flies are entirely
original there being nothing at all like them in any work extant, and he
must be a dull scholar indeed, who shall not, after brief study of them,
become his own salmon fly dresser. Mr. Blacker withholds no secret and
spares no pains in developing by the aid of pen and pencil his own
method, and we consider it the best, of making artificial flies for
every variety of trout and salmon. He gives numerous, well-tried recipes
for dying feathers and all other materials, the colours necessary for
the successful operations of the fly-maker. He points out how rods are
best made, the best sort of winches, lines and hooks, and proves himself
a safe guide to the purchaser. He teaches how the rod, and line and
flies, are to be used--the art of casting with them, how a river is to
be fished, and how a fish, whether trout or salmon, is to be struck,
hooked and landed. He describes the best trout and salmon rivers in the
empire, the right season for fishing them, and gives an illustrated list
of the flies, stating the materials of what they are to be made, that
kill best on them. On flies, favourites of his from experience, he
dwells with pleased and pleasing minuteness, and for the first time
discloses how the "winged larva," a deadly invention of his own, is to
be constructed. Never, was a book more honestly and conscientiously
written. It glows with deep-felt enthusiasm for his art, and with a
generous desire of revealing everything that pertains to the perfect
acquisition of it in all its branches. It is a work of great labour and
long pains-taking, unique at all points, and no one could have written
it but a practical angler of long, passionate, and devoted experience in
the capture of salmon and salmonidae, and of _ne plus ultra_ perfection
in the art of making artificial flies, and concomitant fishing tackle.
The work is published by himself, at 54, Dean Street, Soho, and we
recommend it more earnestly than we have ever done any other work of the
sort."
* * * * *
_An Extract from "Bell's Life," April 29th, 1855._
"I shall copy a few of Mr. Blacker's patterns as given in his
recently-published and very valuable work, entitled _Art of Fly Making,
&c._ He is by far the best flymaker I have ever known, and his opinions
on flies and fly-fishing deserve the attention of us all. In the book
just named he says of the Yellow Sally:--"This is the forerunner of the
green drake or May-fly. The trout take this little fly freely if made
after this description:--
"Body, buff-coloured fur and a small yellow hackle
for legs round the head; wings of the
buff-coloured feather inside the wing of the
thrush. Hook, 13."
"Several ways of imitating the May-fly. First,
Blacker's, as given in his Art of Fly Making:--The
body of this beautiful fly is made of yellow green
mohair, the colour of a gosling newly hatched, and
ribbed with yellow-brown silk, a shade of light
brown mohair at the tail, and a tuft of the same
at the shoulder, picked out between the hackle,
the whisks of the tail three black hairs,
three-quarters of an inch long; the hackle to be
dyed a greenish buff (dye, according to my recipe,
a silver dun hackle with bars across it, called a
cuckoo,) or a light ginger hackle bordering on
yellow. The wings, which should be made full, and
to stand upright, are made of mallard's feathers
dyed of a greenish buff, or yellowish shade; a
brown head of peacock harl tied neatly above the
wings on a No. 6 hook. The wings may be made of
the tops of two large dyed mallard's feathers,
with fibres stripped off at the butts of the
stems, tied back to back. These feathers stand up
well and appear very naturally in the water.
Large-sized ones kill well in lakes, with bright
yellow mohair bodies ribbed with gold twist.
"Second way, from A Handbook of Angling.--Body,
bright yellow mohair, or floss silk, ribbed
sparingly with light bronze peacock harl; wings,
mottled feather of the mallard dyed a pale yellow
green. They are to stand nearly erect, and to be
slightly divided. Legs, a couple of turns of a
red-ginger hackle; tail, three hairs from the
rabbit's whisker. Hook, 5, 6, and 7.--Another way:
Body, yellow-brown mohair; wings, mallard's
feather dyed yellow, and black head; legs,
yellowish hackle; tail and hooks as before. During
the season of the May-fly, should the weather be
gloomy, with a strong warm wind, I would angle
with three flies on the casting-line of different
sizes, and of colours slightly differing, buff,
yellow, and yellow-green, and one of them made
buzz. The largest fly should be used as the
stretcher; the smallest the upper bob."
_An Extract from "Bell's Life," April 1st, 1855 "The Ondine" in the Book
of the Salmon, by "Ephemera,"_
"Gold tip; tail, small, brilliant topping, light
blue tag; body, blue peacock harl, closely ribbed
with fine gold twist; two joints of green trogan
feather, and one of red orange hackle under the
wings, and over their butts blue jay; wings, a
careful mixture of fibres of bustard, silver
pheasant, yellow and blue macaw teal, guinea-hen
and golden pheasant tail and neck-feathers,
surmounted by a topping; feelers, blue and yellow
macaw, and bright peacock harl, head. Hook, No. 7
and 8. This waterwitch, sculptured originally by
Blacker, is properly called "Ondine." The first
time I saw it I nearly lost my senses, and was
upon the point of becoming its victim.
"The May-fly and Phelim Rhu are best made by
Blacker, of Dean Street, Soho; Phelim is one of
his many good inventions. Dressed on the smallest
sized grilse hook, it will on dark days and
evenings, and in full water kill sea trout and
large common trout in every locality. See a
celebrated claret fly plate No. 4, page 108."
* * * * *
_Prince Albert's Letter to the Author, enclosing_ L10.
Nearly eleven years have rolled by, since I sent a
copy of the first edition of this work to His
Royal Highness Prince Albert, who conferred upon
me much honor by a favourable reply to it, at that
time I took great pains to illustrate it with
specimens of the most costly and beautifully
executed salmon and trout flies imaginable, many
of which were worth a guinea a piece. In this new
edition for 1855 I have given numerous
copperplates of these excellent killing flies
superbly painted to suit the rivers of Ireland,
Scotland, England, and Wales; such choice
specimens are they that I think salmon and trout
will not refuse them in any river in Britain, they
are models of gracefulness, and will prove very
attractive to the finny tribe, they are all
general favourite flies of mine, and of the great
salmon and trout fly fishers of the present day.
The angler should never fail to try them wherever
he roamed in rivers known or unknown to him, and
succesful experience has given me an opportunity
of recommending them with the greatest confidence,
they have killed fish when they have been half
gnawed away, and as a fisherman I look upon them
with admiration although they are the work of my
own fingers, I think I will not say amiss if I
predestinate that the real enthusiastic fly
fishers, nine out of ten, will be in love with
them.