James Tayler

“ Everything combines to render fly-fishing the most attractive of all branches of the angler's art. The attempt to capture trout, which are seen to rise at natural flies, is in itself an excitement which no other method possesses. Then the smallness of the hook and the fineness of the tackle necessary for success increases the danger of escape, and consequently the excitement and the pleasure of the capture ”

“ 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. ”

“ A knowledge of the habits of trout is very essential, and this knowledge can only be acquired by careful observation. The largest fish are generally to be found where they can obtain the best supply of food—such points as just below sharp bends of the stream, behind large stones or other obstructions, at the head or tail of deep pools, and on the margin of swift currents, or under overhanging banks; and, if you take a good fish at any particular spot, you will probably find, a day or two afterwards, that the next best fish in that locality has taken the place of the one you captured. ”

“ It is impossible to strike too quick, but it is quite possible to strike too hard.
All the above opinions are based on the supposition that a fish has risen. It is not very often that a trout is seen in the act of rising, but should it be, of course sufficient time must be given for it to reach the fly, then strike at once. When you find that you have hooked your fish, be prepared for its rush, and then comes the time when all your patience, experience, and lightness of hand, are called into requisition. ”

“ These cannibalistic old gentlemen, who do more harm than good in a trout stream, do not usually rise at a fly, and can only be caught with a live bait or worm, or by night fishing with a sunk fly, and the end justifies the means. White or brown moths are the favourites. I had some moths made specially large, on strong gut, for late fishing, but found it advisable to use a short line and only one fly, and to get the fish into the landing-net as soon as possible, for it is awkward work to land a big fish after dark, particularly if you are hampered with weeds or bushes. ”

“ Artificial fly-fishing is also the cleanest and most gentlemanly of all the methods of capturing trout. The angler who practises it is saved the trouble of working with worms, of catching, keeping alive, or salting minnows, or searching the river's bank for the natural insect. Armed with a light single-handed rod and a few flies, he may wander from county to county and kill trout wherever they are to be found. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When a trout takes a fly it shuts its mouth, and if the angler strikes then he is almost sure to bring the hook into contact with the closed jaws. We have frequently watched the motions of trout on taking a fly, and when left to do with it as they chose, they very quickly expelled it from their mouths with considerable force; and we think that, if the angler strikes, even when the trout's mouth is open, he will have a much better chance than by leaving it to hook itself. ”

“ Various opinions prevail as to wet and dry fishing, and I think in this matter, if we want to deceive trout, we should follow Nature as closely as possible. On a dry, quiet day the wings of the natural fly are dry, and when it falls on the water it takes some time before they become saturated, and until then it floats on the surface. Imitate this by giving your artificial fly two or three flicks backwards and forwards before you finally throw it. ”

“ Francis Francis says: "If a fish rises, a slight upward turn of the wrist will be sufficient to fix the hook. As for giving any direct rules when to strike, they would be of little avail, as sometimes fish rise quickly, sometimes with more circumspection, and sometimes altogether falsely." Next, Cummins: "When a trout takes your fly do not strike too hard; more fish are lost by anglers striking when using small flies than are secured by such means. The line tightened is sufficient in most cases, particularly in fishing streams." ”

“ In the case of trout, the quantity, quality, and size will very much depend on the quantity and kind of food to be obtained. There should be plenty of weeds, sedge, flags, &c., not only for shelter, but they are the natural breeding places of insects and crustacea, in which trout delight, and if the river is overhung with trees and bushes it not only adds to the security of the fish, but harbours flies and other insects which drop off into the water. ”

“ At Bishopstoke, where there is some splendid trout and grayling fishing, season and day tickets are now being issued by the proprietor of a large estate, who has hitherto preserved very highly, and would scarcely allow his own friends to fish; and several instances have come to my knowledge lately where landed proprietors, only able to obtain a reduced income from their farms, have been glad to supplement it by making a few pounds annually out of their fishing. So that, to the angler as well as the land owner, agricultural distress is not an unmitigated evil. ”

“ I dedicate this little book to you, knowing that you have proved yourself to be one of the most skilful anglers of the present day; while all anglers who have the pleasure of your acquaintance know you to be a most genial and intelligent member of the craft, always ready to promote its interest, and to communicate the result of your great researches and experience to your fellow-fishermen. ”

“ The trout always lies with its head up stream, waiting for the food to come down, and if you approach it from the rear you are not so likely to be seen as when approaching it face to face. Again, the natural fly floats down stream, and by throwing up and letting the artificial float down you imitate [30] the motion of the natural fly, taking care to raise the point of the rod as the fly approaches you, so as not to have any slack line out, for if you have, you cannot strike properly. ”

“ It should only be a slight twitch, given from the wrist, as quick as thought, just enough to drive the hook in beyond the barb, but not enough to tear the flesh out. I have often amused myself by feeding trout, and have noticed that, after they have taken several pieces, say of bread or paste, if I threw in something like it in appearance, such, for instance, as a small white stone, they would seize it, and, finding the substance different, instantly blow it out again. It is reasonable to assume that they would do the same with an artificial fly, particularly those having cork bodies ”

“ Such a rod, with an Acme line suited to it, and the whole adapted to the height and strength of the angler, ought to make good casting. Long casting may be showy, but in practice it is far better to cast lightly and accurately, and this tends to fill the basket much more than being able to get out an extra length. One piece of advice may be relied on: never part with a good rod after you have become accustomed to it. It is not only the pleasurable associations connected with it, but the confidence you have in it, and, through it, in yourself, enables you to kill fish with it. ”

“ If you are fishing a large river or lake with a strong wind behind you, when the line is extended to its utmost limit by the ordinary cast, whisk the fly off the water by an upward and backward movement of the hand; but deliver it forward again, just as the last of the reel line is leaving the surface, by a rapid downward cut with the upper portion of the rod. It is possible in this way to get out four or five yards more line than by the ordinary cast. ”

“ The difference between wet and dry fly-fishing is this: the wet fly is worked gently along some few inches beneath the surface until a fish is found, which, when they are scarce, or not rising, may be a tedious process, and often the first intimation is a sudden tug without any rise, which should be immediately answered by as sudden a twitch from the wrist. ”

“ But on wet or very windy days the natural fly soon becomes wet with rain, or from the broken surface of the water, and at such times let the artificial lure sink a few inches beneath the surface, and if the trout are feeding, fishing in this manner is most deadly. At night I have generally found wet fly-fishing to answer best, even when there has been no rain, and I attribute this to the natural flies becoming damp with dew and thereby sinking. For dry fly-fishing floating flies are now much used. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The dry-fly fisherman walks quietly along by the side of the stream, and if he sees a trout rising, drops his fly lightly a little above it, and preferably also a little on one side, and lets it float down stream on the surface to the fish, gently raising the point of his rod in the meantime. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A trout on seizing an artificial fly is almost instantaneously aware that [34] it is a counterfeit, and never attempts to swallow it; very frequently letting it go before the angler has time to strike, so that it is of the utmost importance to strike immediately, and this is the reason why a quick eye and a ready hand are considered the most necessary qualifications for a fly-fisher. ”

“ There are now about 180 angling societies in and around London, consisting of nearly 5,000 members, besides a large number of anglers who do not belong to any society; consequently fish have been becoming more and more scarce year after year, and the increase of population and pollution of rivers have also tended to drive them away. But, in order to supply to some extent the deficiency, artificial breeding has become very general. The National Piscicultural Society breed and distribute immense numbers of young trout every year. ”

“ I caught a large trout about eight years ago in clear smooth water, where I did not much expect to catch one, and on examining him I found that he had only one eye, and I had got on the blind side and pitched over him. The advantages of fishing up stream appear to me so great that I can hardly believe any good fly-fisher can hold a contrary opinion ”

“ In considering which side of the river to fish, do not, if you can help it, fish from that side whence the sun would cast your shadow on the water, as nothing is more alarming to trout. It is impossible, in a short treatise like the present, to give such instruction in throwing the fly as will make the tyro an adept. It is desirable to practise throwing with both the right and left sweep, as by changing from one to the other you avoid getting into the bad habit of twisting the rod, which would assuredly warp and spoil it ”

“ The rise at the May-fly was bold and decisive, but without undue haste, whilst that at the Palmer was a sudden swish, without giving time to strike. I can only account for this by the circumstance that the natural May-fly is longer on the water than the Palmer before it gets water-logged and sinks, and the fish therefore know that they can take their time about it. The stream was very difficult to fish, and I lost a great many fish as well as flies from getting entangled in the bushes; nevertheless I succeeded in landing twelve brace of trout, besides some returned. ”

“ Without wishing to detract from other sports, I think Walton was quite right in claiming for angling a decided preference. In the present day it is followed by men of all classes, from the nobleman who owns miles of salmon river to the East-end mechanic or apprentice, who trudges off to the Lea river on a Sunday morning with his eighteenpenny roach-rod, and many of whom, but for this angling opportunity, would have no relaxation from the dull, mill-horse round of their daily lives, save some kind, perhaps, far more demoralising ”

“ Flies are commonly made with a loop at the end of the gut, to be passed through a corresponding loop at the end of the casting line. A much neater plan is to cut off the loops, or buy your flies without them, and tie the two ends together as above described.
Flies tied on eyed hooks are a great improvement on the old style. They are more easily packed, not having that awkward coil of gut attached to them, which is always so difficult to manage in a book, and which is almost certain to result in the loss of some flies on a windy day. ”

“ In casting your line, do it always before you, and in such a manner that the fly may fall first on the water. When you throw your line, wave the rod in a small circumference round your head, and never make a return of it before the line has had its full scope, or the fly will snap off. ”

“ Many old anglers say it is of no use in the May-fly season to try any other fly. I generally use a May-fly as stretcher, and a small Soldier-palmer as drop, and out of seventeen-and-a-half brace of trout caught last Whitsuntide in two half-days, one-third of them were caught on the Palmer. Others say it is useless to try a May-fly, except when the natural fly is out ”

“ Scientific papers on the art are occasionally read, and discussions based on them; lectures and smoking concerts are often added to the programme; some of them possess extensive circulating libraries accessible to their members only, while most of their rooms are hung with specimen fish, portraits of prominent anglers, aquatic birds, flies, &c. In winter evenings, when angling is out of the question, the interest in the sport is thus kept up, and plans for the coming season formed, tackle compared, and various other matters arranged. ”