SOME DRY FLY MAXIMS.
IT would ill become a humble follower of the art to enter into a
minute description of the various methods of casting, seeing that the
subject has been so fully thrashed out by Mr. Halford, in his "Dry Fly
Fishing"; mere repetition would be both wearisome and valueless. If
anyone needs instruction on the subject, let him turn to that volume,
and read, mark, and learn. It seems to me, however, that a correct
style can best be obtained by accompanying and watching a really
competent fisherman. No amount of book reading will secure this, and
as in all kindred sports, practice, and intelligent practice, is
absolutely necessary if the tyro would aspire to any excellence. The
art of fishing the floating fly is not one that will admit of any
mediocrity. It requires and demands such accuracy, such co-ordination
of delicacy and strength, that mediocrity is impossible.
A few points may, however, be discussed with advantage. First, and
foremost, do not be ambitious as to the length of line you can cast,
or the amount of water you can cover. Be content, rather, to fish
with just that length of line that you can control with ease and
accuracy. In the actual act of casting never sway the body; keep the
trunk rigidly still, never let your hand, in the backward cast, go
beyond a vertical point above your shoulder; keeping the elbow near
the side, get all the work you can out of the rod; it will do all that
is required of it so long as you do not over-cast with it. Watch the
expert angler; how easily he works his twenty yards of line; there is
an entire absence of all effort; it looks as easy as shelling peas.
The beginner or duffer will invariably put too much effort into his
cast; he will not allow time for the line to extend itself behind him;
he will bring his hand so far back that the fly will be hung up in
the grasses or bushes behind him, and the force of his forward cast
will make the line cut the water like a knife, and the fly will be
delivered in the midst of a series of curls of gut, presenting anything
but an attractive appearance to the fish. The movement of the hand in
an accomplished fisherman is singularly slight; I doubt if it ever
traverses much more than twelve inches from the vertical position.
Rest content with the ordinary overhead cast until you are an absolute
master of it. When this desirable result is accomplished, there are one
or two casts well deserving of care and attention. One in particular
you should seek to accomplish--viz., the cast into the teeth of an
adverse wind. Recollect that, under those circumstances, you can
usually approach much nearer to fish than when the wind is up stream or
non-existent; therefore you can use a shorter line. The cast is called
the "downward" cast, and is really very simple. The backward part is
the same as in ordinary casting, but in the forward delivery the hand
traverses a much greater angle, and at the finish the rod point is near
to the water. At the moment of delivery the elbow is brought up level
with the shoulder, the thumb is depressed, the knuckles being kept
uppermost. The resultant effect is that the line cuts straight into
the wind, and is little affected by it. In a foul wind flies cock and
float more easily than in a down stream wind; so this, at any rate,
is in your favour. Yet one more style of casting should be practised.
I have found it invaluable when awkward trees have been overhanging
my own bank. It is what is called by salmon anglers the "Spey Cast."
Inasmuch as it avoids the necessity of bringing your line behind you,
its value is self-evident. This is the method of the cast: Having got
out as much line as you think you will need, get it out up stream of
you, bring the fly quickly towards you out of the water, allow the fly
just to kiss the water when it is just level with you, the curve of the
line being down stream of you, then, with a similar kind of action to
that advocated for the downward cast, your line will be sent forward
in a series of coils to the desired spot. It is always worth trying
and may secure you a good fish, one perhaps that others have passed by
as unapproachable, and which may thereby have acquired a confidence
that may be misplaced. This form of casting is much easier in salmon
fishing, as you are then fishing down stream, and the water extends
and straightens your line for you. It is, however, quite easy of
accomplishment, with a moderately short line, in up stream fishing.
Mr. Halford, in "Dry Fly Angling," p. 62, describes a cast which
he terms the "Switch Cast," and it is one which, though difficult
of acquisition, will accomplish the same object. He says, "It is
accomplished by drawing the line towards you on the water, and throwing
the fly with a kind of roll outwards on the water--in fact, a sort of
downward cast; the possibility of making the cast depending upon the
fly being in the water at the moment the rod point is brought down,"
&c. Personally, I should prefer the Spey cast, and inasmuch as most
salmon fishermen know something of that peculiar cast, I would urge its
occasional use in dry fly work, more especially having regard to the
fact that fish in such positions have acquired a confidence through
never having been angled for, and therefore there is greater chance
of a somewhat bungling presentment of the dry fly being overlooked.
To describe the Spey cast accurately so as to convey the desired
instruction in such a way that all who run may read, is not by any
means easy; but, as I have before said, it is probably familiar to many
anglers from salmon fishing experiences.
One more thing deserves to be borne in mind: always imagine that the
plane of the water is some foot or so higher than it really is--that
is to say, cast as if the fish, and the water in which it lies, were a
foot higher than in reality. The result will be that your collar will
fall as lightly as gossamer. One of the most proficient manipulators of
the rod and line I have ever seen can pitch a fly, cocked and floating,
almost anywhere within reasonable limits, but his line invariably cuts
the water from point to fly, straight and accurate enough may be, but
like whip-cord. Consequently, he is not the successful angler that his
qualifications entitle him to be. An ordinary fisherman casting a less
straight, but lighter, line will frequently beat him in catching fish.
Our friend would beat most opponents in a casting tournament, but I
would back many that I know against him in filling a creel.
Keep down out of sight, walk and crawl warily, and above all things
avoid walking near the bank edge and unnecessarily scaring fish that
others following you might otherwise have secured.
When trout are "bulging" (that is to say, as every angler knows, when
they are taking the "nymphæ" just below the surface), it is almost
hopeless to endeavour to secure them with a dry, floating fly. The fish
are intent on another kind of game, and are best left severely alone.
Unfortunately, even experienced anglers are apt to be deceived by such
a fish; the rise is often apparently that of a trout at a surface fly;
a little careful observation will, however, convince you that such is
not the case, for no floating flies are passing near him at the time of
his rise. Don't waste another moment upon him, but try to find another
in a more reasonable frame of mind. If all the fish on your stretch of
water seem to be similarly occupied, and you are not willing to wait
until they have decided to make a change of diet, then a gold ribbed
hare's ear may, if fished wet, entice an odd fish, as it somewhat
resembles a nympha.
It is, however, very chance work, as is that of endeavouring to secure
a "tailing" fish with a down stream fly sunk below the surface, and
jerked about in front of where his nose should be. No keen angler would
call this serious fishing--it is a mere travesty of the real sport; but
it may serve to pass the time, and perchance to wile a trout into your
basket. The angler's patience will, however, be far more severely tried
when fish are "smutting." What prophet is there who can tell us what we
should do then? Those abominable "curses," so well named, appear to be
able to baffle entirely the skill of the ablest of our entomologists,
and the ability of our most capable of fly dressers. No lure has yet
been discovered that can have any reasonable hope of imitating them.
To watch a big trout slowly and majestically sail here and there on
a still, hot day, barely dimpling the surface as he sucks down one
after another of these little insignificant "curses," is quite enough
to satisfy you as to the remoteness of your chance of deceiving him.
Nothing that human hands could tie could simulate them. Place in the
track of one of these fish the smallest gnat in your box, attached to
the finest of undrawn gut, delivered with the lightest and truest cast
of which the human hand is capable and, as you watch the fish fade
slowly down into the depths in disgust at the evident deception, you
will realise the hopelessness of your endeavour.
It is an old accusation against fishermen that they are apt to overload
themselves with multitudinous flies, of which perhaps they never try
half; and in this accusation there is a good deal of truth. I recollect
one occasion in particular, when five men sallied forth to fish, and
on their return all more or less bewailed the shyness of the trout,
and each declared that, though he had tried many changes of fly, he
had only found one to succeed. Oddly enough, each man had pitched on a
different fly: they were the Driffield dun, the pale olive, the hare's
ear and yellow, the ginger quill, and the red quill. In each case the
size was similar, viz., 000; but the fact is, that most men have a
favourite fly to which they pin their faith, and to which they give ten
chances for one to the others. There are occasions, of course, where
one fly and only one will succeed.
I well remember one day, on the Tichbourne water on the Itchen, when
that fine stretch of water was simply alive with olives, coming in
droves and batches over the fish, and when it seemed hopeless for
one's poor imitation to succeed, even when put correctly cocked in
front of a batch, or behind a drove, or by itself. The trout were
rising slowly and methodically, letting many flies pass scatheless,
but now and then picking out one without moving an inch from their
position. I tried vainly to discover the method of their madness, and
at last realised that they were selecting from amongst the myriads
of toothsome _ephemeridæ_ floating over their heads a redder-looking
fly. I could not wade, I could not manage to get one with my landing
net, so I put on at hazard a small red quill, with no response; then
a Hawker's yellow got a rise or two, and even deluded a brace of fish
into my creel, and then the glorious rise was over. Next morning, when
whirling back to town, I found myself in a carriage with four or five
anglers who had been fishing the next beat, and the murder was out.
One fortunate man had ascertained that they were taking the ginger
quills, which were very sparsely scattered amongst the olives, and that
information resulted in his taking nine brace of beautiful fish.
But as a rule, it is far more a question of the correct delivery of the
fly than anything else, provided the size be right. For myself, I never
leave a rising fish that I have not scared, unless I am convinced there
is some objectionable and unavoidable drag; sooner or later you will
get him, possibly with the same fly that has been over his head a dozen
or so of times. We are all too ready to resort to a change of fly, and
to leave a non-responsive fish in disgust, in the hope of finding an
easier quarry. My advice is to stick to your fish unless, or until, he
is scared. Possibly the most annoying fish is the one that drops slowly
down, with his nose in close proximity to the fly, evidently uncertain
as to whether or no it is the Simon Pure, until he gets perilously near
to you. Even his scruples may be overcome if he gets back into position
without being alarmed. One of the most successful anglers I ever knew
on the upper Test, who owned a well-known stretch of water, was wont to
sally forth with two rods put up, one of which he carried, while the
other was carried by his keeper. On one was mounted a hare's ear, on
the other a blue dun; and that these flies answered their purpose his
records could testify.
A difficulty that presents itself to the chalk stream angler is the
tendency of fish when hooked and when scared by seeing the angler
to bury themselves in the heavy masses of weed. This has now been
discounted by the modern method of hand lining--_i.e._, spiking the rod
and taking a good deal of slack line off the reel, and then holding
the line in the hand and using a gentle pressure on the fish in the
direction contrary to that in which he went. He usually responds very
readily, and the rod may then be resumed. Indeed, it is astonishing how
fish can be led and coaxed under this influence--the fact being that,
the upward play of the rod always tending to lift the fish out of his
own element and so drown him, he naturally plays hard to avoid this;
take the upward strain off him and he becomes another creature.
Yet another difficulty encountered by the dry fly fisherman is caused
by fish coming short. What angler is there who has not experienced
this annoyance, and how often, as Mr. Halford in his work on Dry Fly
Fishing has noticed, does the angler find that after the first rush is
over and the hook comes away there is a small scale firmly fixed on
the barb, showing that the fish has been foul-hooked? My observations
on this class of rise would lead me to believe that the fish moved to
the fly in the ordinary manner, but that something arose to excite his
mistrust, and that he closed his mouth while the impetus of his rise
broke the water, making the angler think that it was a real rise, so
that he struck, and on his striking the hook took a light hold on the
outside--a hold seldom effective, though most fishermen have landed
fish hooked in such a way. I have generally found in such cases that
a smaller hook has produced a more confident rise, and my experience
would not lead me to endorse Mr. Halford's view that the use of a 000
hook handicaps the angler very heavily. It may do so with the heavy
Houghton water fish, but I have not found it a severe handicap with the
smaller trout--1 lb. to 2½ lb.--of the upper Test and similar waters.
A very keen and expert dry fly fisherman, the late Mr. Harry Maxwell,
one of the best of friends and anglers, once showed me a method of
taking fish lying with their tails against a wire fencing that crossed
the Test at right-angles, the wire moreover being barbed. I was fishing
in Hurstbourne Park, and he was accompanying me, as he often did,
with his field-glass. Below the "cascade" a four or five-stranded
barbed wire fence went straight across the water. Just above it, in
mid-stream, in the stickle, a plump, transparent-looking Test fish of
about 1½ lb. had taken up his position, and was boldly taking every
dun within reach. My friend told me to catch him, and I said at once I
did not know how to do it without getting hung up. He then explained
his dodge, which may be carried out as follows:--Having waded in below
the fish, take some loose coils of line off the reel in the left hand,
then cast well above, and let the dry well-cocked fly float down to
him. If he accepts it and comes down under the fence slack off the
loose coils, get up to the fence as quickly as possible, pass the rod
under and over, and then you are free to play the trout below you. If,
on the other hand, he refuses the fly, do not attempt to recover the
line in the usual manner or you will inevitably be hung up. Simply
lower your rod point to the water, and then the quiet drag of the
stream will bring your cast and fly slowly up and over the fence, even
although the fly had floated a foot or two down-stream and under the
wire. The action is so slow and even that there is no chance of being
entangled in the wires, and as a fish in such a position thinks he
is in possession of a vantage-point, and is seldom fished for, he is
generally a bold feeder. Having explained the method, my friend made me
try the cast myself, and the first fly floating near enough to tempt
the fish was taken boldly; the whole manoeuvre succeeded, and I was
able to land my trout below me. Since then I have frequently made use
of my experience, and with invariable success. If any anglers who are
not aware of this method care to try the experiment they will see how
sweetly the line travels over the fence without the slightest risk of
entanglement.
There is but little doubt that the fly that is kept going catches most
fish. On a seemingly hopeless day an odd fish here and there can be
picked up if really sought for; and on these days the rise, if any, is
so inconstant and so short-lived that it may easily be missed. On such
a day, on the wide shallows of the Longparish water of the Test, three
of us were struggling with the adverse conditions of a lowish river, a
bright sun, and a great lack of duns. We had agreed to meet at luncheon
at about 1 p.m. in the hut on the river's bank. I had found a seat upon
the upturned stump of a tree in mid-stream. There were fish all round
me in the shallows, but all on the bottom, apparently asleep. I knew
that if I left my place and waded ashore I should move them all. I was
enjoying my pipe, and so sat on. The whistles and calls from the hut
passed unheeded, for I had noticed that my friends the trout showed
more signs of animation. An olive or two came down, and gradually the
fish seemed to rise from the bottom and take up their positions. More
calls from the shore. I shouted back to them not to wait, and at length
they gave me up as a bad job.
Soon a fish on my left front took an obvious olive, a pale one, and I
had a pale olive on my cast. Still I waited, and soon the first few
olives were followed by quite a little procession. I then cast over my
fish, and at the first offer he took it. I got him down below me, and
soon netted him out, wading up again most carefully and slowly to my
seat; and from that position, in about twenty minutes, got seven fish
in succession, all taken with the same fly and from the same spot.
They were none of them very big, it is true, but they were all over a
pound in weight. By this time my friends had finished their luncheon,
and came out of the hut just as I was netting my seventh fish. Hastily
getting their rods, they were just in time to get a fish apiece from
the bankside, and the rise was over. Moreover, it was the only rise
vouchsafed to us that morning or afternoon. So that the moral is that
you can never tell when the psychological moment may arrive, and may
easily miss it when it does come if you are lying on your back reading
a novel, or with your eyes anywhere but on the water. One must lunch,
no doubt, but it can generally be best enjoyed in the outer air, where
you can watch the water and the fish whilst enjoying your luncheon and
your rest. And on such inauspicious days do not relax your precautions
in approaching the water, or from nonchalance or weariness allow
yourself to cast carelessly. Your field glasses will often reveal to
you a more likely fish--at the tail of the weed, maybe, or under the
thorn bush on the opposite bank--and it may be worth while to float a
fly over him and give him a trial. If he accepts the offer he is worth
to you several got out under more favourable conditions.
When fish are really smutting, and the water is almost boiling with
rises, the angler's patience is most sorely tried. Nothing seems to
tempt them; the smallest gnats ever tied are far too big. Who will
tell us what to do in such a case? In truth, I know not. All I can say
is that they are in a peculiarly aggravating humour. How vexatious,
too, are the tailing fish, boring their heads into the weeds and
breaking the water with their broad tails--and their tails always look
particularly broad at such times. I have at times caught them with a
big alder, fished wet, and jerked past them when they have finished
for the moment their diving operations, and their heads are up. It is
chance work, and, if not productive of much use of the landing-net,
will serve to pass the time and amuse you; for if you don't succeed in
hooking many you will certainly get an occasional one to run at your
fly, his back fin breaking the water and making as big a wave as if
he were twice the size. In the quick water by the hatch holes on such
a day you may find a rising fish, though when hooked he will probably
prove unsizeable.
Never despair or give it up, unless you are one of the fortunate
individuals who live by their water side, and who can therefore pick
and choose. Where all days are yours it would be folly to persevere on
really bad ones; but most of us are not so favourably situated, and we
have to make the most of the odd chances we get. Therefore my counsel
is to examine and watch the water, and be ever on the alert.
Where Sunday fishing is not permitted, the day of rest always seems
to be the best angling day of the week, and you are tempted to be
annoyed and objurgate Dame Fortune. Even then, if you are a wise man,
you can turn such a day to your advantage by stalking up the water as
carefully as if you were fishing, and by making mental notes that will
very materially assist you on the following day. And if Sunday fishing
is allowed, do not give umbrage to many of the parishioners going to
church by making a parade of your waders and fishing rod. Either get
to your water before church time or else wait till the church bells
are over before you walk along the village street. Busy City men get
scant leisure for sport, and may fairly be excused for utilising their
week-end holiday to the full. Much latitude may be allowed to them in
this respect, provided they are careful not to outrage the religious
feelings of others. A walk along the river bank, enjoying and drinking
in to the full the beauties of Nature and of God's creation, may be as
productive of good to yourself as an indifferent sermon. It depends
upon your temperament and the power that the beauties of Nature have
over your mind. They can preach as eloquent a sermon as was ever
delivered from the pulpit, and may produce in you a frame of mind that
may be of real and lasting benefit to you. No man should be judged
hastily by narrow-minded bigots, or be termed a Sabbath-breaker for so
acting.
[Illustration]