Fly tying

“ The point has been made that even under these conditions it is best to use the dry fly on the ground that, dry or wet, the floating fly is materially, in form and coloration, a better [74] imitation of the natural fly than is the average wet fly. Under like circumstances the natural insect acts in a similar manner, that is, is drawn under the surface in broken water and carried here and there by conflicting currents. ”

“ I have on many occasions watched the behaviour of an Alder when it has fallen on the water. At first it moves its wings rapidly, but soon stops, to begin again, however, when it has rested. This is repeated time after time, but after each succeeding struggle, the interval of rest becomes longer. In many cases, however, the fly hardly struggles at all.
In observing many other flies which had fallen on the water, I have seen the same sequence of events occur, though some flies struggle to raise themselves from the surface much more than others, as in the case of the Blue-bottle. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For clearness {viii} of understanding please note that where a fly is described in this book as having grey wings, or red body, etc., and no particular feather or material is specified, it means that any feather or body material may be used. When a particular feather, body, hackle, tail, etc., must be used it will be so stated.
Each year a steadily increasing number of anglers are learning to tie their own flies. Not many years ago, there were few in America outside of professional tiers who understood the art. ”

“ Though when at rest the wings are flat upon each other, as shown in the illustration of the natural fly in Plate I., they often, when the fly falls on the water, are spread out slightly; so in the imitation it is best to put them in the position shown in the illustration of the artificial fly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On warm bright days without wind, during the absence of the birds, I have frequently seen a company of from half a dozen to a dozen or fifteen of the parasitical fly wheeling about in the air above the nest, hovering and gambolling together, just like house-flies in a room in summer; but always on the appearance of the birds, returning from their feeding-ground, they would instantly drop down and disappear into the nest. ”

“ Leaving aside for later discussion the matter of drag, a state of affairs wherein the artificial fly tends to travel at an unnatural rate due to conflicting currents in the stream which affect line and fly differently, and also passing over for the moment certain other points more or less intimately connected with the advisability of upstream casting, there remains for present consideration the matter of false casting, or drying the fly. ”

“ WINGS: Several styles of wings are used, see Diagram 2, page xi, those on Fig. 1, and are cut from a pair of matched wing quill feathers, like Fig. 7. Those in Fig. 2 are buzz wings taken from a pair of breast feathers {12} (mallard, wood duck, etc.) shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 3 shows hackle tip wings, tips of two hackle feathers, see Fig. 9. Fan wings, Fig. 4, are a matched pair of small breast feathers, see Fig. 10 (white duck, mallard, teal, grouse, etc.) . In fact there is hardly a bird that flies that does not supply some of its plumage to the Fly-Tier. ”

“ On perceiving a fly sitting, he suddenly darts out something from his mouth, perhaps his tongue, very loathsome to behold, and almost like a bird-bolt, with which he catches and eats the flies with such speed, even in the twinkling of an eye, that one can hardly discern the action. ”

“ During the fly season I should think such an occurrence cannot be uncommon. Imagine half a dozen flies disporting themselves in a tickling walk on a man's nose, eyelids and forehead, without his being able to reach them, owing to this huge square wooden collar! ”

“ Without, however, going into narrative detail, it should be sufficiently obvious that, under the conditions named, a very delicately dressed floating fly, in appearance quite similar to the natural ephemeridae common to the stream, attached to a practically invisible leader and riding down buoyantly on the surface, with wings erect, in the exact, jaunty manner of the natural dun, is far more apt to deceive the fish than two or more wet flies, shapeless and draggled, of dubious coloration, pulled across or against the current in a manner never followed by the natural insect. ”

“ The great points are to keep well out of sight, and to imitate the descent of the natural fly on the water, which in the case of the smaller flies is as soft and gentle as a piece of thistle-down; but with the larger ones, such as the drakes and moths, whose bodies are heavy in proportion to the size of their wings, compared with other flies, let them fall with a slight spat on the water, causing a ring to take place on the surface, and letting the fish know it is there. ”

“ There are many flies sold which appear perfectly right and natural while they remain out of the water, but which, when once they are thoroughly wetted, assume an entirely different and most inferior appearance. The loose wool and feather strands, which form the body of the fly, get matted together and the whole mass of them much reduced in size; the wings cease to stand out away from the body and from each other, and the hook, owing to the reduction of the size of the fly generally, which is effected by the tightening influence of the water, is left much too bare and prominent. ”

“ It seizes insects on wing with great agility, snapping its bill like a true Fly-catcher, now and then making little sallies after a group of those diminutive flies that seem as if dancing in the air, and cross each other in their lines of flight, in a thousand various ways. ”

“ It is sharp, quick work, and the blue-bodied fly is always first of all the flies composing the cast to get a rise, until I take off all but the one kind, and then one after another I see them torn, mutilated and destroyed. ”

“ A few fibers from a golden or silver pheasant neck tippet, whisks from a hackle feather, a strip of wing or breast feather, a few hairs, etc., are used for tails. Many of the standard patterns are tied without tails; however, on all of my dry flies, I tie three or four stiff fibers or hairs. They balance the fly and help it to float much better. ”

“ Many of my readers are well acquainted with that fly which in the latter part of summer is seen to be so annoying to the horse, buzzing about him, and every now and then dashing itself with some degree of violence against his sides and legs. This motion, to all appearance, is without design; but a closer study of the habits of the insect will show that, far from being the effect of chance, it is one of paramount importance to the existence of the fly, as on it depends the continuation of its species. ”

“ Flies tied on eyed hooks with cocked or upright wings, in imitation of the natural fly when floating down a stream, are coming into use more and more, and apparently will supersede those tied on gut, and with flat wings. ”

“ Even in its death the fly renders a most substantial service. It forms the food of innumerable song-birds, which, apart from the fly, would never be found in our land at all. How dull and lifeless would the months of the summer be without the swallow, the willow-warbler, and the fly-catcher. ”

“ In a few days we would cut pliant tips of the willow, smear them with bird-lime, and by means of slits cut in the branch would arrange the besmeared twigs high enough that when the bird alighted the limed twigs stuck to his breast feathers and swung around underneath, sticking the wing fast to his side so that the bird could not move. Invariably it would fall to the ground, unable in the case of the smaller birds either to walk or fly, and thus became an easy prey. ”

“ 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 ”

“ From the shape of the wings in the butterfly or moth we can tell more or less how the insect flies. Long and narrow wings give a swift and rapid flight, broad round wings a slow and leisured flight.
The wings of insects are moved by only a few muscles, but with wonderful rapidity. It has been calculated that the common fly makes with its wings three hundred strokes per second, the bee one hundred and ninety. ”

“ Ordinarily when drag occurs the conditions are rather more subtle and complicated than in the foregoing example. Conversely to the above, when the fly falls upon swift water and the line upon slow, the natural downstream course of the fly is retarded. ”

“ The fly clings to rough surfaces by means of the claws and to smooth surfaces by a combined action of the claws and pads. The fly’s pads are covered with thousands of minute short hairs sticky at the end. There is no suction—merely adhesion. [260] All his grown-up life, the fly has to manage with sticky feet. These are constantly becoming clogged with adhering substances, and this contamination the fly must assiduously remove if his feet are to act properly in supporting him on slippery places. ”

“ The size of the wing curves and air waves bear a fixed relation to each other, and both are dependent on the rapidity with which the wing is made to vibrate. This is proved by the fact that insects, in order to fly, require, as a rule, to drive their small wings with immense velocity. ”

“ The blue-bottle can withstand temperatures a few degrees colder than can those flies to which she is nearest akin; and she seems capable somehow of sheltering herself better. Even as late as the middle of winter, sometimes, a dead bird may be found to be fly-blown under circumstances which indicate that the eggs must have been laid in frosty weather, when flies are not seen at large. ”

“ THE BOASTFUL FLY. A FLY that had lodged on a crumbling wall, seeing other flies swarming around it, began to boast about their numbers, saying:
“Look at us! Multitudes in this little space! We are everywhere—in the garden among the flowers, in the field amid the clover, in the woods darting in and out of the sunbeams that fall between the branches.”
Here a humming-bird lighted in a trumpet-vine that grew over the wall. ”

“ Flies swallow the germs of typhoid in countless millions while feeding on excreta. They spread a thousand times more typhoid germs in their excreta than on their feet.
As soon as the fly comes out of his shell he is full grown and starts out in the world to make a living, and if your home is not clean, he knows it; for the fly can discern an unclean odor for miles. A pleasant-smelling substance—the fragrance of flowers, geraniums, mignonette, lavender, or any perfumery—will drive them away. ”

“ As autumn draws to its close, the fly changes his habits. He ceases to gambol in the air, for although his attacks upon human beings become more persistent and annoying than before, the quickness and the cunning are gone, and an obstinate, blundering stupidity has taken their place, and the fly in turn becomes the victim. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Drag occurs when the artificial fly travels at a rate different from that of the natural fly in the same position—either faster or slower or with a tendency to move across or contrary to the current. It is caused by conflicting currents which exert dissimilar forces upon fly and line. ”

“ The natural fly delights in hovering over the stream, and performs it with that ease and beauty, which cannot be attained with the artificial, but the former often drowns when tired of making its airy evolutions, and it is then the latter best resembles it, and as a drowned fly is the artificial one taken by the fish, no art being able to make that play upon the water like the living one. ”

“ Early in the morning and late in the evening, are the best times in the heat of summer. I had a fly sent me some years past, by McPherson Grant, about the size of C or drake size, with which he killed a salmon, twenty pounds weight, in the Spey. The body of the fly was made of yellow silk, red cock's hackle, toucan tail ribbed with gold, jay at the shoulder, a neat gaudily mixed wing, feelers of blue and yellow macaw, and a small black head. ”

“ If the bird or birds had got young in the water-spout hard by, or in the hole often left by builders missing a brick at the end of a row of houses, in ivy, or in the thick foliage of the Virginia creeper, the young birds get the ‘catch.’ Besides this fly-catching, I have noticed for the last few weeks the sparrows working in every evergreen bush, also in jessamines, in lilac-trees, and especially in the crevices of old walls, in search of spiders, earwigs, green-fly, daddy long-legs, etc. ”