CATERPILLARS
"Of the caterpillars, spiders, and other creatures which are supposed to
fall from the trees into the water, and into the trout's mouth, and of
the consequent advantage of trees projecting over a stream; of the
sapient advice, both verbal and written, to cultivate vegetation
overhanging the river, because it increases the supply of natural food;
of the statement that fish under trees are invariably in the best
condition, anglers have heard from time immemorial. My advice is,
cultivate your trees, because they are of advantage as giving shelter to
the fish. Not a single example of these tree windfalls has been found in
the hundreds of autopsies which I have made, and all the caterpillars
and spiders that fall from the trees in a mile of water would not
suffice to feed a single pound trout for a single day. They may
therefore be discarded from consideration."--HALFORD'S _Dry-fly
Entomology_, page 138.
I read this passage with extreme surprise, as it absolutely contradicts
my personal experience. After thinking the matter over carefully, and
trying to make out how it was that Mr. Halford, in the hundreds of
autopsies he has made, has never come across a caterpillar, I realised
how dangerous it is to make a dogmatic and sweeping statement with the
evidence of personal experience only to fall back upon.
As recently as June, 1897, when fishing with Dr. Charles R. Watson and
Mr. A. D. Home, I made with them a series of six autopsies of trout
caught consecutively in one morning. The smallest number of caterpillars
found in one of these six autopsies was five, and the greatest, twelve.
These trout were all caught under oak trees overhanging the water, which
were at that time swarming with small caterpillars, most of these
caterpillars being of a brilliant emerald green colour.
In the afternoon of the day on which I am writing this, Colonel Walker
showed me a peculiar sort of knife which he carries when out fishing,
for the purpose of making autopsies on trout. I naturally took advantage
of this occasion to increase my evidence, and asked him if he had ever
found caterpillars in the trout he caught. He told me that in certain
places, in the early part of the summer, he almost always found
caterpillars in the stomachs of the trout he caught under trees
overhanging the water.
This experience of his exactly coincides with my own, though the six
consecutive autopsies described above without my other similar
experiences is a fairly strong piece of evidence. I am therefore
inclined to believe that there is some good to be gained in following
the sapient advice, verbal and written, to cultivate vegetation
overhanging the river, beyond its advantage as giving shelter to the
fish.
I will narrate the circumstances which first led me to use the
caterpillar as a dry fly, as they may, I think, interest my reader.
I was lying on the bank by a large pool on a stream, and saw a little
green caterpillar hanging from the branch of an oak tree, apparently
trying in vain to pull himself up the thread by which he had so
foolishly lowered himself, till he was uncomfortably near the surface of
the water. I watched him, lazily thinking in a dreamy manner how very
unkind it was of the trout to keep on rising, and yet not look at my
fly. They were evidently feeding on something, but what it was I could
not make out. The little green caterpillar was getting gradually nearer
to the water, and I was beginning to think that the poor little chap
would meet with a watery grave, when just as he touched the water a
trout came up and grabbed him.
Little green caterpillars were evidently what the trout were feeding
upon, and that was the reason that I could not catch one with a fly. I
watched the branches of the oak tree overhanging the water for some
time, and saw several caterpillars fall in and meet with the same fate.
The next thing I did was to catch a caterpillar, scrape the fly dressing
off my hook, and put him on it instead. I caught several trout in this
way, but found that it was almost impossible to cast any distance
without shaking off the caterpillar. After much trouble caused by this
difficulty, which was very trying to the temper, as the caterpillars
always seemed to come off the hook at the most critical moment, and
having got a fairly good basket, I found it was time to return. That
night I managed to make some fairly good imitations of the little green
caterpillar to use on the morrow, instead of the natural ones. These
imitations met with success, and since that time I have been able to
improve on the dressings then used.
I have found many different kinds of caterpillars in the stomachs of
trout, but small green ones of various sorts were decidedly the most
numerous. The species I have most frequently found is, I believe, the
larval form of the _Tortrix viridana_. I have never found a large
caterpillar in a trout, though I have caught trout with imitations of
them used as dry flies. I give the exact dressing of the green
caterpillar; but the other dressings must be left to the discretion of
the fisherman for alterations, as there are so many sorts of small
caterpillars, some of them being extremely rare in one place and common
in another.
Should the fisherman wish to see the sort of caterpillar commonest where
he is fishing, he must seek them himself. Those only are useful which
are on the trees overhanging the water. If there are oak trees the
caterpillars will probably be green, and many kinds of caterpillars will
be found which have rolled themselves up in the leaves of the tree upon
which they live. I have no doubt that this imitation caterpillar will be
looked upon as a poaching implement, but it is or should be used as a
dry fly, and to use it successfully requires as much skill and power of
observation as does the use of any imitation of a fly used in a similar
manner.
_How to make an Artificial Caterpillar._--A small piece of cork 1/32 of
an inch thick, or less, and nearly twice the length of the hook, must
be cut into the shape shown in Fig. 17. Next take a piece of quill
rather longer than, and about the thickness of a large pin, from a tail
or wing feather of a starling. This quill makes the foundation of the
body. Split the thick end of the quill far enough to embrace two-thirds
of the shank of the hook, and then tie it on the hook as shown in Fig.
18. Now fold the piece of cork, with the broad end towards the eye of
the hook, over the shank of the hook and the quill, tying it in as shown
in Fig. 19.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. FIG. 17. FIG. 19.]
This foundation serves for any caterpillar. Tie it at the tail whatever
is to be used for ribbing the body, and the body material if it is not
to be spun on the tying silk. Then wind on the body material, tie it in,
wind on the ribbing, finish off at the head, and cut off the projecting
piece of quill.
The caterpillar when finished should appear as shown in the
illustrations on Plate III.
_Green Caterpillar._--1. Emerald green wool spun on tying-silk, ribbed
with light yellow silk.
2. Emerald green wool spun on tying-silk, ribbed with scarlet silk.
3. Yellowish green wool spun on tying-silk, ribbed with narrow gold
tinsel.
4. Olive green wool spun on tying-silk, ribbed with narrow gold tinsel.
(I have found Nos. 1 and 2 very successful when ribbed also with narrow
gold tinsel, and Nos. 3 and 4 when ribbed with light yellow silk.)
_Other Caterpillars_ made with a reddish-brown body, and ribbed with
yellow or red, are also sometimes very successful, as are those also
ribbed with red or Coch-y-bondhu hackles.
[Illustration:
PLATE III
ARTIFICIAL FLIES
Drawn from flies tied by Mrs. J. R. RICHARDSON, of Kingston-on-Thames
(dressed from the Author's models).
1. SAND-FLY.
2. GRANNOM.
3. CINNAMON-FLY.
4. WELSHMAN'S BUTTON.
5. CAPERER.
6. RED SEDGE.
7, 8. GREEN CATERPILLAR.
9, 10. CORIXA.
11, 12. FRESH-WATER SHRIMP.
Swan Electric Engraving C^o.]
PART II
_WET FLIES_
CHAPTER I
A THEORY[1]
[1] Rewritten from an article in _The Field_ under the heading of "An
Unorthodox View of Wet Fly Fishing."
That a trout or any other fish could possibly mistake a wet fly used in
the regular wet fly way for the natural fly of which it is supposed to
be an imitation, was always to my mind a very doubtful question; but now
it is so no longer. I am sure the fish takes it for something else.
If we consider what would happen to a natural fly which had by some
mishap become submerged, we can come to no other conclusion than that it
would be carried along by the current, without any power of its own of
altering the direction in which it was being moved by the water. Does
this ever happen to the sunk fly? I think not. In fishing across and
down stream it certainly does not; and even in up stream fishing, in
order to keep his line straight, the fisherman must keep a certain
amount of tension on it, and very probably draws it through the water
with much the same sort of movement he would give it if not fishing up
stream.
This movement through the water which is given to the artificial must be
absolutely unlike any movement of the natural fly when under the
surface; for in the natural fly, if it were not already drowned, the
only possible movement would be that of its legs and wings, which, not
being intended as a means of progression through the water, and being
absolutely unsuitable for that object, would be most unlikely to enable
it to do so.
But here a very natural question arises as to what, if not the natural
fly, the fish takes the imitation to be? In a communication to the
_Field_ in June, 1897, I described, under the heading of "A New Trout
Fly," the imitations of two Corixae. This seems to be a key to the whole
question. The number of insects living in fresh waters, and possessing
the power of moving through it, is enormous.
There are between 220 and 230 different species of Water Beetles in our
waters. There are also very many different sorts of Heteroptera,
including the numerous family Notonectidae. When we add to these the
larvae of flies and water beetles, the Crustaceans, Hydrae and Water
Spiders, we must begin to realise that there are other things than a
drowned natural fly for which the fish might mistake its imitation, with
the materials of which it is made soaked in and drawn through the water.
The movement of many of these creatures through the water is fairly
represented by the movement of the artificial fly in wet fly-fishing;
and, when the shade and colour and size of the fly is the same as one of
these aquatic creatures, I am sure that the fish takes it, not for a
fly, but for one of them. Again, when the enormous number of these
aquatic creatures is considered, it is most probable that one or other
of the flies tried on any water by the fisherman will come very near in
shade, colour, and movement through the water, at any rate, to one of
them.
If this conclusion at which I have arrived is correct, as I believe it
to be, would it not be wiser to try to imitate, not the natural fly, but
some of these numerous aquatic creatures? They are numerous enough, and
a large number of them are easy to imitate; but as yet but little has
been done, except with regard to the spiders, in this direction. I am
also sure that the success of the so-called spider patterns used in wet
fly-fishing has been due to quite a different cause to that which those
who first used them and those who use them now believe, as these
imitations are made from the insect as it appears when out of the water.
The spider goes from its nest to the surface of the water and back again
by a thread stretched between, and so would hardly move through the
water, as its imitation is made to do by the fisherman. Those of the
so-called spider-flies which are supposed to represent some of the
Ephemeridae, are, for the reasons I have given before in speaking of
flies in general, most unlikely to be mistaken for the natural insect by
the trout.
A trout will undoubtedly sometimes take anything moving through the
water which simulates life, if it be of a suitable size. This is shown
by the manner in which they take the fancy flies; although here again,
as one particular pattern of a fancy fly kills better than any other on
one particular water, I think that very often this fancy fly is taken by
the fish for some creature which is particularly numerous there. At any
rate, if the fish only takes the artificial fly because it is apparently
something alive and moving, I am sure that he would seize it with much
more avidity if it represented one of his aquatic neighbours on which he
has been feeding, and if its appearance reminded him of many previous
pleasant meals. (Jan. 15, 1898.)[2]
[2] Since this article appeared in _The Field_, some correspondence on
the subject has taken place in _The Fishing Gazette_ and _St. James's
Gazette_. Many of the arguments brought forward by some of the
correspondents have led me to believe that I cannot have made myself
sufficiently clear in the above article, so I have added some further
explanations.
My readers must not suppose that I intend to apply these remarks to any
particular circumstances; I am only speaking of wet-flies in general.
While it is probable that the natural fly does often sink under the
surface, and may then be taken by the trout, the wet-fly of the
fisherman does not as a rule behave as does the natural fly when under
water. That the trout takes the wet-fly fished up stream, which is
allowed to come down with the current without any drag and close to the
surface, for the natural fly it represents, is also very probable; but
these facts do not in any way tend to disprove my theory. This manner of
wet-fly fishing is very much like dry-fly fishing, and is certainly not
the way in which wet-fly fishing is practised in lakes, and is hardly
the most general way in which it is practised on many rivers.
In dealing with this subject fully and to carry my theory to its
necessary conclusion, it is of course necessary to find a probable
explanation of what every form of wet-fly, fancy or supposed imitation
of a natural fly, is taken for by the fish. This naturally leads us to
believe that such a theory, if it approaches the truth, should include
an explanation of why the salmon takes the fly.
We know but little of the world as it appears to the eye of the fish,
but from the little that is known something may be deduced which carries
this theory a little further. In the sea many and very various effects
may be produced upon objects moving through the water when passing
between the eye and the surface, by light, by the reflecting powers of
the bottom of the water, and by the relative clearness of the water, all
of which factors of the effect produced vary to an almost incalculable
extent.
Given a bright sun, a light sandy bottom and clear water, a small
crustacean swimming between the eye of the observer and the surface
often will not appear to be like the creature when it is seen out of the
water. The outline will be indistinct, and the whole will frequently
appear to be brilliantly coloured. Not only is the body thus brilliantly
coloured, but equally gaudy rays will be seen round it, probably
produced by the moving legs and by refraction.
In this case the circumstances are all in favour of the production of an
effect of brilliant colouration; but going to the other extreme, with a
dull light, a dark bottom and cloudy water, we have the dullest-coloured
fly accounted for, as the first conditions accounted for that which was
most gaudy. This also explains the fact that the flies which go in
various gradations of colour between these extremes are most suitable
for various conditions of the weather, water, and locality.
In the case of the Salmon-fly, probably the salmon remembers, when he
has reached fresh water, many an appetising morsel in the shape of a
crustacean or small fish, and takes the fly for one of these.
In the case of the trout we know that crustaceans are very acceptable to
them, and though probably fresh water will not produce the brilliant
effect which is produced by salt water as I have described above, still,
as fancy Trout-flies do not run to such gaudy colours as do
Salmon-flies, still the effect should be sufficient to account for a
fair amount of brilliant colour under similar conditions. No doubt some
of the fancy Trout-flies are also taken for small fish.
In many waters, however, the effect could hardly be made brilliant, as
shallow water, shade produced by weeds, &c., and muddy or dark bottoms
would all militate against its being so, and in these waters probably
only lures that imitate the actual colours of the object they represent
would be of any use.
In fresh water and in the case of trout, as I have pointed out, there
are many aquatic creatures which serve as food which have the power of
swimming through the water.
My theory, stated briefly and more explicitly, I hope, than was the case
in my article in _The Field_, is that under circumstances in which the
wet-fly behaves more as does some creature having the power of swimming
through the water, it is better to imitate this creature than any
natural fly on the water, which cannot in any case behave in such a
manner; and what I wish to advocate is, that imitations of these aquatic
creatures should be made and used.
CHAPTER II
CORIXAE[3]
[3] Rewritten from an article in _The Field_ under the heading of "A New
Trout Fly."
While fishing in a water where the trout are very numerous in the spring
of 1897, I found that I could hardly catch a single trout in the day
with the fly. The weather was cold and windy, and showed no signs of
mending. At last, one day, I opened a trout, one of the few that I had
caught during my visit, and found the stomach full of some insects
belonging to the family of Corixae. These insects are very commonly
called Water Beetles, or Water Boatmen. They, however, are not beetles
but bugs (Heteroptera), and are not the same as the true water-boatmen,
the _Notonecta glauca_, though they somewhat resemble it in appearance.
On finding these insects in the trout I took some of them home, and made
imitations of them. With these the next day I caught a number of trout,
though the weather was just as unfavourable. Since then I have improved
somewhat upon the imitations I then used, and in waters which are
inhabited by Corixae. These imitations have met, both in my hands and in
the hands of others, with greater success than any other form of wet
fly.
It is an extraordinary thing, considering the number of men who have
written on trout fishing, that it has apparently never occurred to one
of them to describe an imitation of one of this large family of insects.
Mr. Halford, in his _Dry-fly Entomology_, indeed states that he has
frequently found them in the stomachs of trout, but he does not even
suggest that an imitation of them might be made.
There are many species of Corixae which inhabit our waters, but the
commoner sorts are so similar in appearance that many of the species are
very difficult to distinguish even by an expert, and but little work has
been done with regard to them. Therefore I have come to the conclusion
that a similar dressing on different sized hooks will be quite
sufficient to deceive the unscientific eye of the trout. This conclusion
is corroborated by the fact that I have several times had an imitation
Corixa seized by a trout when it was sinking, and before I began to draw
it through the water, which is, I take it, a fairly severe test as to
the accuracy of the imitation. Colonel Walker and Mr. Herbert Ash have
also had the same thing happen to them when fishing with my imitation
Corixae.
Corixae vary much in size, the largest and one of the commonest species
being the _Corixa geoffroyi_, which is about half an inch long. In all
Corixae, the head is wide and is attached but slightly to the body. It is
convex in front and concave behind, so as to fit the end of the thorax,
and is as wide as the wings when folded and at rest. These insects
possess four wings, which they frequently use, though they are somewhat
clumsy in starting from the surface of the water. I have sometimes,
however, seen them fly considerable distances. The anterior wings
resemble the wing-cases of a beetle; they are hard and shiny, brown in
colour, with dark mottled markings upon them. The posterior pair are
transparent. The abdomen is light yellow and fringed with hairs, and
there are transverse lines on the dorsal surface of the thorax. As,
however, these markings on the thorax and wings are hardly visible to
the naked eye, they give the Corixa a generally brownish and shiny
appearance. Of the legs, six in number, the hind pair are most used in
swimming. They are somewhat flattened at their extremities to a paddle
shape, and are fringed with hairs. I have seen the hind legs of the
Corixae when the insects have been suspended motionless in mid-water,
standing out at right angles on each side of the body; and as in the
imitation I am about to describe, the legs take this position when the
fly is at rest or sinking in the water; this explains the fact of the
trout taking them in the way I have mentioned above.
The _Corixa sahlbergi_, which is almost as common as the _Corixa
geoffroyi_, is about half its size, but is otherwise very similar in
appearance, as are nearly all the other smaller species.
The Corixa frequently comes to the surface to breathe, and a number of
small air bubbles attach themselves to its body. These, when the insect
is swimming under water, give its body a brilliant silvery appearance,
with the yellow showing through in places. This effect is accurately
reproduced by ribbing the body with silver tinsel.
The size of the hooks used must depend upon the size of the species of
Corixae inhabiting the water to be fished, and varies from No. 1 to 3,
new size.
The Corixae in any particular water may easily be found in order to
observe the size. They congregate in great numbers among the weeds, &c.,
on the bottom of the water. They are very numerous in most millponds,
pools, back-waters, sluggish waters and ponds.
The body is made with light yellow Berlin wool, teazed up with fur from
the hare's face, and ribbed with silver tinsel. A good space of shank
should be left above the body.
The only legs which make any show in the water are the hind legs, and
they are the only ones it is absolutely necessary to imitate; should,
however, the fisherman wish to imitate the others, one turn of a ginger
hackle may be used.
When I described the Corixa in the _Field_ I directed that the hind legs
should be made with a strand of peacock herle. I have however found a
better imitation of these legs since then, in the end of a quill feather
from a starling's wing. This keeps up its spring even when soaked for a
long period in the water, while the peacock herle legs after a time
adhered to the body of the fly, and did not stand out on each side when
the fly was at rest. The tip of the feather should be completely cleared
of fibres on one side, and nearly so on the other, leaving however a few
short stumps at the end, as shown in illustrations of imitation in Plate
III., to represent the paddle-shape of the legs. These legs are then
tied in at right angles to the body. I have found the best way of
accomplishing this is to tie the legs in straight to the side, with the
buts pointing towards the tail of the fly. Then bend them down, and put
enough turns of the tying silk round the shank of the hook to keep them
in the position shown in the illustration of the imitation.
The wings are made from the quill feathers of the woodcock, laid flat on
the body one over the other, as described in the directions for tying
Perlidae, which have their wings lying one over the other. The head must
be made large, and the whole fly when finished appear as shown in the
illustration.
When used, this fly should be allowed to sink. The depth to which it
must sink varying according to circumstances, and then drawn through the
water in little jerks. Each of these movements through the water causes
the legs, which stand out on each side of the body, to bend back; but at
the end of the jerk, when the fly is momentarily stationary, these legs
resume their original position. Thus the movement of the legs of the
natural insect when swimming is accurately imitated. (June 12, 1897.)
* * * * *
This imitation _Corixa_ has met with a very general condemnation as not
being a lure which should be allowed on waters where the use of the fly
only is permitted. As this child of my fancy has cost me many hours of
careful thought and labour, I am inclined, with all due deference to
these opinions, expressed by men of much greater experience than mine,
to say a few words in its defence.
_Corixae_ are insects which live in the water and are eaten by trout.
They possess wings which they use frequently, sometimes flying a
considerable distance, and I have seen trout take them just as they were
trying to leave the surface of the water. The efficacy of the imitation,
therefore, depends upon the skill of the fisherman, who must make it
simulate in its movements the movements of the natural insect. Mr. G. A.
B. Dewar, in his _Book of the Dry Fly_, in speaking of "tailing" trout,
which are probably feeding on "food of the shrimp and snail order,"
advises that they should be fished for "with a long line down stream,
and the fly worked with a series of little jerks, somewhat as in
salmon-fishing. The fly should be cast just above where the head of the
trout is adjudged to be, and worked into the angler's bank, and it must
never be kept still, otherwise the fish will at once perceive the
deception and at once decline it." Mr. Dewar then mentions a dry-fly
angler of great skill who is very successful in fishing in this manner
with a big Alder. It is more than probable that in these cases the Alder
is taken for a _Corixa_, or something very like it, as the colour, size,
and movements are somewhat similar.
The Marquis of Granby, in the preface to Mr. Dewar's book, also speaks
highly of a sunk alder for "tailing" trout.
"To kill 'tailers' in broad daylight and in low water is quite an art in
itself," is another quotation from _The Book of the Dry Fly_ upon this
mode of fishing, and though the author points out that this is not true
dry-fly fishing, still if the fisherman's conscience allows him to use a
sunk Alder down stream and worked in this manner, I think it should also
allow him to use an imitation _Corixa_ under similar circumstances.
I should not have dragged the writings of others into such a question
as this, had not the criticisms upon my flies been an indirect attack
upon myself, as what has been said about them practically means that
they ought not to be used by any one who calls himself a sportsman. If
this is true of the flies, what could not be said of their inventor? For
this reason I take the best means I can find to defend myself, and what
better defence could there be than the published practices of two men
whose sportsmanlike qualities have never been doubted?
What is legitimate trout-fly has, I believe, never been clearly defined;
but I hope I shall not be presuming too much in saying, that if the lure
in question is the imitation of an insect which can and does fly, made
of the ordinary materials used in fly-making upon one hook, this lure
has a perfect right to be called a _legitimate trout-fly_.
It will be found that my _Corixa_ fulfils these conditions.
There is one thing that I wish particularly to impress upon my reader,
and this is that, in using the imitations of _Corixae_ and Fresh-water
Shrimps, he should find out whether these creatures inhabit the water he
is fishing. If he does not do this and fishes with the imitations of
either of them where they do not exist, he will probably meet with
failure and disappointment.
CHAPTER III
FRESH-WATER SHRIMP (_Gammarus pulex_)[4]
[4] Rewritten from an article in _The Field_, April 16, 1898, under the
heading of "The Fresh-water Shrimp as a Wet Fly."
Of all the forms of food partaken of by the trout the Crustacea are the
best. When I say the best, I mean that trout fed upon Crustacea seem to
thrive better than trout fed on anything else. In this case, at any
rate, the most wholesome form of food seems also to be the most welcome;
for though I have tried feeding trout with almost every form of food, I
have never come across another form which they have taken with anything
approaching the voracity with which they take Crustacea.
Fortunately, I can bring forward a case to show how trout thrive when
fed upon Crustacea. In April, 1897, Colonel Walker presented some trout
to the Brighton Aquarium. I myself caught some of these trout, which
were put in a rearing pond to await their being transferred by rail to
the Aquarium. As I also assisted in the operation of taking them from
the rearing pond and putting them into the tanks in which they were to
travel, I can vouch for their size at that time. They were all in rather
bad condition, and, even had the largest been in good condition, it
could not have weighed more than three-quarters of a pound. These trout
have been fed entirely on Crustacea since they were introduced into the
tank they now occupy; and at the time I am writing (January, 1898), the
largest of these trout must be quite two pounds or more in weight, and
there are others which are nearly as large.
The voracity with which these trout seize the Sandhoppers and Shrimps
upon which they are fed is a perfect revelation. I have seen them leap
out of the water to catch the Shrimps thrown to them before they reached
the surface.
I have also found that young trout in rearing ponds take Fresh-water
Shrimps with the same greediness; and on considering these facts, I am
surprised that there have not been more attempts to imitate the
Fresh-water Shrimp.
The _Gammarus pulex_ may be found in almost all streams, especially
where there is much vegetation. An illustration of it is given on
Plate I. I have however found them abundant in streams where there were
no weeds. They hide under stones at the bottom of the water and among
the weeds, especially among watercress and starwort. Though they will
live in still water, I have found them most numerous in streams; and
notwithstanding that they are generally supposed only to inhabit
somewhat sluggish streams, I have found them in fairly rapid ones, with
a stony bed. The Shrimp is very prolific, and if protected increase very
rapidly; thus it is a most excellent plan for those who breed and rear
trout to cultivate them, as they are one of the most valuable forms of
food.
These animals are very similar in shape to their well-known relation,
the common Sandhopper. In colour they vary very much according to the
water they inhabit. I have seen them a pale yellow colour in some
streams, while in others they are almost black. The commonest colour is
however a reddish-yellow.
I find that the general idea is that these Shrimps travel through the
water in quick leaps by bending up their bodies and straightening them
out again. I have however never seen them do this, though I have kept
them in an aquarium and watched them very carefully.
What I have seen is, that they use their legs to swim with, moving them
as though they were walking very rapidly. They cannot, however, walk
when they are taken out of the water, but lie perfectly helpless upon
their sides. In a stream where the Fresh-water Shrimp swims, it seems
unable to progress up stream, or at any rate, if it does it moves very
slowly; when they wish to go up stream they crawl along the bottom. They
can, however, as a rule, maintain the same position against the current.
I have found the following to be the best way to dress an imitation of
the Fresh-water Shrimp:--Choose a light ginger tackle, cut the tip off,
and tie the tip on a hook (No. 1 or 2, new size), so that the fibres
will project for between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch at the tail. Tie in a
thin strip of india-rubber and a piece of narrow silver tinsel.
The strip of india-rubber must be taken from a piece of the natural
rubber, and cut so thin that when stretched it is transparent. When
stretched it should be quite a sixteenth of an inch broad. A little
piece of india-rubber tapered at each end and half as long as the shank
of the hook, must now be fastened to the shank near the head of the fly,
placing the piece of rubber on the shank and tying it in with the tying
silk. Now bring back the tying silk to the tail of the fly, and spin the
wool, of which the body is to be made, on to the tying silk and wind it
on the shank. The wool may vary in colour, according to the colour of
the Shrimps in the stream to be fished, from light yellow or
reddish-yellow to a very dark brown. When the wool body is finished off,
wind on the strip of india-rubber, so that the edge of one lap meets the
edge of the other, thus covering the body entirely; tie in and cut off
the remainder, and then rib the body with the tinsel.
In putting on the hackle, which is light ginger, it is necessary that
some of the fibres should be made to project forwards, so the tying silk
should be finished off behind these. When the fly is complete it should
appear as shown in illustrations of imitation on Plate III.
In fishing this fly must be allowed to sink to mid-water, and then
allowed to travel across and down stream in short stages; but should not
be drawn towards the fisherman in any marked way, or it will not
represent the movements of the natural Shrimp.
Whether any particular stream is inhabited by these Crustacea may be
easily discovered. If the stream has a stony bottom they will be found
under almost every large stone which is turned over. If, however, there
be _debris_ or mud at the bottom, they may easily be captured with a
stout gauze net, mounted on a strong ring and handle. If this net be
passed along the bottom, and some of the weeds and _debris_ brought up,
the Shrimps will be found among the contents of the net. I should
strongly advise any one possessing a trout stream which is not inhabited
by the Fresh-water Shrimp to introduce them, for they are, as I have
pointed out, one of the very best forms of trout food. I have been very
successful with the imitation shrimp on waters which contain the
fresh-water shrimp.
* * * * *
This imitation has also met with general condemnation of an even more
decided character than that of the Corixa. In neither case, however,
have any reasons been given for the condemnation.
As undoubtedly some of the hackle flies used wet must be very like a
shrimp, and if the imitation shrimp is condemned, so also should these
hackle flies.
LARVAE OF WATER-INSECTS, which have the power of swimming in the water,
are best imitated by making a very taper body, with a large head. They
are many of them small, and these should not be tied on a hook larger
than No. 1, new size. There are, however, many larvae which are larger,
but not many of these swim about much in the water. Some are
brownish-yellow, and some nearly black. Some should have a tail made of
two or three strands of hackle the same colour as the body. Some have
appendages on the sides of the body, and in the imitations of these the
hackle must be tied in at the tail, carried up over the body, and a
couple of turns given at the shoulder. They may be made in various
shades, from brownish-yellow to black. I have not yet had time to work
out any proper scheme of imitations, but only write this as a
suggestion.
SOME HINTS ON DRY FLY-FISHING
_On Casting_
The fly must not be thrown directly on to the water, but should be
allowed to drop there by gravitation. Thus the line should extend itself
in a perfectly straight line in the air, at least a foot above the
surface of the water, and then the fly will drop naturally upon it.
_On Keeping the Line Floating_
Unless the line be floating it is almost impossible to avoid a "drag,"
which is, as a rule, absolutely fatal. The best way to make the line
float is to rub the last twenty-five yards with vaseline, then go over
the line with a lump of beeswax, and finish up by rubbing very gently
with a rag with vaseline upon it. A rag should be carried when out
fishing, with a small piece of beeswax in it. A small tin of vaseline
must also be taken and then, when the line shows any signs of sinking,
it must be rubbed with the rag which has been previously dipped in the
vaseline. The small piece of beeswax should touch the line as it is
being rubbed with the rag, and the wax will become soft on the surface
as it mixes with the vaseline.
_On Making the Fly Float_
Many fishermen use odourless paraffin; but it takes some time for the
paraffin to float off, and when a quick change of flies is necessary,
this is a great disadvantage. If the finger be dipped very slightly in
the tin of vaseline, so that there is just a suspicion of it on the
skin, and the hackle of the fly be rubbed with it, the fly will float as
well as it does with the odourless paraffin, and the vaseline will not
float off. Personally I prefer not to use anything. This entails a small
amount of extra labour in drying the fly; but the tints of the fly are
not altered, as they often are if any form of grease is used to make the
fly float.
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER NOTES:
Punctuation has been normalized without note.
Footnotes have been moved closer to their reference point in
the text.
Page 10: "biassed" changed to "biased" (I must be naturally biased).
Page 100: "teased" changed to "teazed" for consistency (teazed up
with fur).
End of Project Gutenberg's Old Flies in New Dresses, by Charles Edward Walker