Fly (fly fishing)

“ No man knows, or ever will know, the art of fly-fishing in its entirety, and the present writer is far from claiming omniscience in the matter. Wherefore the fact may well be emphasized that the following pages are not intended for the expert—the seasoned angler skilled in wet, dry, and mid-water fly-fishing—but, rather, for the beginner at the sport of fishing with floating flies and for the novice who may take up fly-fishing with the purpose of ultimately employing the dry fly. ”

“ The correct fundamental theory of fly-fishing for trout, with either wet or dry flies, consists in the closest possible simulation, by means of an artificial fly, of the form, coloration, and action of some natural insect then upon the water and upon which the trout are feeding. In England this theory has always been very closely followed by expert fly-fishermen, although over there, as in this country, various fancy flies—not dressed to counterfeit any certain natural fly—have long been in successful use. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thus, when the fly is so cast that it falls upon still or slow water while the line is allowed to rest upon swift water, the artificial fly will at once drag rapidly across or over the still place in an utterly unnatural manner. The natural fly would rest quietly upon such a place, or, if there were a slight current, float slowly downstream. ”

“ If the fishes are to be killed for our use, there is no way in which they are put to so little pain as in fly-fishing. The fish rises, takes your fly as though it were his ordinary food; the hook fixes in the hard gristly jaw, where there is little or no sensation. After a few struggles he is hauled on shore, and a tap on the head terminates his life; and so slight is the pain or alarm that he feels from the hook, that I have over and over caught a trout, with the fly still in his mouth which he has broken off in his struggles an hour or even half an hour previously. ”

“ The crystal waters of the lake tempt us to cast a fly, and a suitable place having been secured, we proceed to business. After making several casts in a manner more or less scientific but without success, my former unbelief came creeping over me, and, as my arm became tired and almost refused to do its duty, a sense of despondency overcame me, which I am sure sensibly affected the beauty if not the efficacy of my casts. But suddenly I am awakened to the realization of the fact that a big fish has seized the fly and is making the reel hum in its frantic endeavors to secure its liberty. ”

“ Fly fishing is the most expert and scientific method of angling. It is the poetry of fishing. The fly fisherman usually wades in the brook or stream where he is fishing, although it is sometimes possible to cast a fly from the bank or a boat. It is useless to go fly fishing while there is snow water in the brooks but just as soon as the first warm days of spring come, then fishing is at its best.
The whole idea of casting a fly is to drop it in the most likely-looking places and to strike the fish just as soon as he seizes the hook. ”

“ Not infrequently the downstream wet fly fisherman covers several miles of water in a day's fishing—I know, because I have done it innumerable times myself, and I do not say that there is not much charm, good exercise, and generally a few fish to be found in this sort of fishing. But anything of the kind is strictly incompatible with properly fishing the dry fly. The wet fly man who takes up the dry fly method should understand at the outset that the cast-once-and-walk-a-mile sort of fly-fishing is simply out of the question. ”

“ Choose your May flies with wings made large and standing up, full bodies and long tails; and use no flies that are not made on Limerick hooks, which double your chance of hooking fish.
In all fly-fishing matches with which I am acquainted, and in some of which I have been myself engaged, each competitor has fished with a different kind of fly, and neither with a fly resembling that actually on the water. The success of each has been, generally, nearly equal, the winner gaining the match by a very few ”

“ This, certainly, is not at all the state of mind with which to take up dry fly fishing, or, for that matter, angling of any sort. In fact, the dry fly man should be a student of causes as well as of effects, for the simple reason that only in comparatively rare instances can the desired effect be produced unless the angler knows the underlying cause and proceeds to utilize it practically. This is particularly true of the selection and manipulation of the floating fly and, in a lesser but quite considerable degree, of casting the fly. ”

“ As a rule, small and fine is the fly-fisher’s maxim. In clear, bright water it is almost useless to use any thick-bodied fly. The smallest and thinnest-bodied flies are preferable in clear, bright water, and the larger in thick water, or on a windy day. You may successfully use any of the flies I have enumerated: small for clear, bright water, and larger for thick water or a blustering day.
The weather has an extraordinary effect on fish: I mean on their disposition to feed. In an easterly wind trout will not rise freely; thunder-storms they abominate ”

“ I have seen, in days when the fish are not in the humour of taking, a fly tied neatly near the tint, somewhat gaudy, will unquestionably entice them to rise, and will decidedly be more advantageous than fishing without plan. ”

“ And yet these feed almost entirely on flies. "And if the trout had not discovered what a savoury morsel the fly is that dances on the stream, what a very dull, stupid amusement would fishing be! Many a schoolboy would lose the greatest treat of a summer holiday if there were no flies, and no trout that appreciated them."
The niche filled by the fly is therefore a very important one. It neither lives a useless life nor dies a useless death. ”

“ But many precious minutes have been wasted; the fly has got itself fixed in one of the knots in your landing net. Never mind, break it off; you must get to sterner business. So you take some few more minutes in threading the eye of a small, dark sedge fly, as the fish by now must be at work upon the larger flies. Flop! flop! on the opposite side, under the shadow of the reeds. See that your fly is dry and cocks well; keep out of sight—an absolute essential in evening fishing—and go for that uppermost fish. That was a good rise; was it at your fly? It is hard to see by the waning light. ”

“ To this end, when the fly and line become wet, they are waved to and fro from the rod-point in the air to make them become dry again. The fly should always be allowed to float down stream, as natural flies do, and should not be jerked or "played," as it is termed, unless the angler is fishing down stream and drawing his fly against it, when he will allow it to sink under water, and in that position it may be supposed to represent some quick darting larva. ”

“ Good luck, that synonym for all the virtues, does not depend so much upon the kind of flies as the skill in casting, and a poor fly lightly cast into the right spot will do better execution than the best fly roughly cast into the wrong place. The lure must be put where the fish habit, often before their very noses, or they will not take it; and when they lie, as they generally do in running streams, in the deep holes under the banks, where the bushes are closest and cause the densest shade, it requires some skill to cast properly into the exact spot. ”

“ The commonly accepted definition of fly-fishing is the casting—with a light, strong, elastic, pliant rod—of two, three or four artificial flies, on a delicate leader attached to a fine tapered silk line over the surface of waters inhabited by the lordly, silver-coated salmon; that aristocratic beauty, the speckled trout, or the more sombre-colored but gamy black bass. ”

“ In fly fishing, the best plan is to cast your line athwart the stream, by pulling it against it; your flies probably show to more advantage, yet you will not take so many fish, as by throwing up or across the stream, the reason is obvious, the current somewhat retards the progress of the fish in the act of rising, and thus it happens that they so frequently come short of the hook. ”

“ In view of the fine tackle, the finesse, and the fidelity to nature afforded by the dry fly method it would seem that no angler could for a moment doubt the efficacy of the floating fly under such circumstances. On the [76] other hand, I believe—although practical experimentation has never yet been possible—that a skilfully fished wet fly, on a stream where dry fly fishing has become the rule, might, on occasion, by the very novelty of the thing, be made to do wonders. ”

“ That the fascination of dry fly fishing is such that many fly-fishermen elect to practice no other method under any and all conditions goes without saying, but the fact remains that under average American fly-fishing conditions the floating fly is sometimes at a disadvantage and the average American angler may well accept this fact with good grace, using the dry or sunken fly turn and turn about as the occasion determines. ”

“ Constant care of the belongings of his art, be he fly or bait fisher, is characteristic of the faithful angler, and only simple justice to the tackle maker. There is nothing sadder or more dejected-looking than a crippled rod and a neglected “kit” full of snarled lines, rusty hooks, and moth-eaten flies.
In the matter of winter angling, the fly-fisherman has a decided advantage over him who uses bait alone. The art for him has more side issues. He may, if he can, learn to tie flies or contrive and construct newfangled fly-books. ”

“ It is easier to wade with the current, and as you cast your flies you can let them float naturally for just an instant, without their being drawn under the surface. This instant is the time that, in a great majority of cases, you get your rise. Every one who has fished much with a fly knows how often he has whipped every inch of a pool and failed to get a rise where he was sure his flies could be seen from any part of it, and at last, when he placed his flies in one particular spot, his hopes were realized in an instant.
Why did not the trout rise before? ”

“ In general, dry fly-fishing as done in America naturally divides into fishing the water and fishing the rise. The dry fly caster when fishing [89] all the water should proceed much after the manner of the wet fly fisherman: the angler who has been accustomed to fish upstream with the wet fly need not alter his general methods in the least, save as regards floating the fly and avoiding drag. As a rule, it is best to follow or wade along the left bank, looking upstream, as this will give you an unobstructed right-handed horizontal cast. ”

“ Any flies will catch fish, cast in any manner, if the fish are plenty and in humor to be caught. A few feathers torn from the nearest and least suspicious chicken, and tied on an ordinary hook with a piece of thread, will constitute a fly in the imagination of a trout, provided he follows, as he sometimes appears to do, the advice of young folks—shuts his eyes and opens his mouth. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While fly-fishing, wet or dry, is unquestionably the highest branch of angling, and far preferable to bait-fishing for trout, it does not follow that fishing with the dry fly, or floating fly, is a superior art to fishing with the wet or sunken fly, as claimed by some of the dry fly-fishers of England. ”

“ If you slacken your line, the chances are he will spit out the hook, or shake it out of the hole it has made for itself in his jaw, and then you are done with him. Keep a steady hand on him; bring him up sharp and quick if he jumps out, for that is a dangerous trick, and guide him at a favorable turn, and when you have a good head of speed on him, to his landing-place.
For fly-fishing, which is the finest after all, you want a gut casting-line, and some more in reserve in your pocket-book or about your hat, and an assortment of flies suited to the season. ”

“ They seem to recognize but little difference between a single strand of gut and a clothes-line. The main things requisite are strong leaders and large-sized hooks, for when fish are so plentiful and valueless the fisherman is apt to try and see how many he can land within a given period. With regard to flies, almost any of the more common ones will answer a good purpose. My choice for channel bass, cavalli, sea trout and bone fish is a large-sized gaudy fly with a large-sized hook. ”

“ In the early days of the season, when the stream is apt to be in flood and the water very cold and more or less discolored, the wet or sunken fly is plainly indicated. Until, with the progress of spring, air and water have grown warm, and the bright sunshine brings on the natural ephemeridae, the fish are usually ground-feeding, or feeding in mid-water, and will rise only infrequently to the fly fished upon the surface. ”

“ The wet fly, or wet fly methods, should be followed wherever the water is of the latter description. The writer's own custom when fishing a stream wherein smooth and white water alternate constantly is to use a single dry fly, a coachman or Wickham's fancy, casting dry or wet as the nature of the stream may seem to render expedient. ”