Flying fish

“ Then, after another long flight, when just about to enter the water, the gaping jaws of a dolphin emerging from the sea gave it pause, and it rose again, returning almost directly upon its former course. This procedure is so common, that it is a marvel it has not been more widely noticed. A flying-fish of mature size can fly a thousand yards. It does not flap its fins as a bird, but they vibrate, like the wings of an insect, with a distinct hum. ”

“ Though objects of never-ending interest to every one who journeys through the warmer seas, flying fishes do not really fly. They merely skim for long distances through the air, just as the flying squirrel and the flying dragon do; but instead of having a broad parachute-like membrane to buoy them up, they are supported in the air by the pectoral or breast fins, which are very large. These fins do not beat the air, like the wings of a bird. They merely support the body. And the power of the so-called flight is due to a stroke of the tail just as the fish leaves the water. ”

“ And then, in the night watches, when a forlorn little flying-fish struck the mainsail and fell gasping and splattering on the deck, we would rush for it just as eagerly, just as greedily, just as voraciously, as the dolphins and bonitas. For know that flying-fish are most toothsome for breakfast. It is always a wonder to me that such dainty meat does not build dainty tissue in the bodies of the devourers. Perhaps the dolphins and bonitas are coarser-fibred because of the high speed at which they drive their bodies in order to catch their prey. ”

“ For the most part, they only rise a short distance from the water, though often sufficiently high to fall upon the deck. Illustrations of the flying-fish generally depict it as if about to mount up in the air and ascend to the altitude patronized by larks, where, in company with its fellows, it flits to and fro across the disc of the sun like a swift. I like these illustrations; they show a considerable power of imagination and not a little impudence: unfortunately, however, the flying-fish is not quite so amphibious. ”

“ Flying-fish are more frequently observed in rough weather and in a disturbed sea than during calm; they dart out of the water when pursued by their enemies, or frightened by an approaching vessel, but frequently also without any apparent cause, as is also observed in many other fishes; and they rise without regard to the direction of the wind or waves. ”

“ You don't often hear of flying-fish falling on the deck of a modern liner, and in the few cases in which they have, it has been because they happened to come out of the water with a rush against a slant of wind which carried them up twenty or thirty feet. They go with an awful force, and I knew an angler once who was pitched head first overboard by a flying-fish, and was nearly drowned before his boatman could get him aboard. ”

“ When playing at an inconsiderable depth, in their turnings hither and thither, the rays of the sun, reflected from their polished sides, as one or the other is exposed to the light, flash out in sudden gleams, or are interrupted, in a very striking manner. Night and day these interesting creatures are sporting about, apparently insusceptible of weariness. Their motion is very rapid, when their powers are put forth, as in pursuit of the timid little Flying-fish. ”

“ A high point of land covered with bushes shut off my view of a deep pool just around the corner, in which I had many times caught trout. As I came near this bend in the river a most extraordinary thing occurred. I distinctly saw a fish flying through the air over the top of the clump of bushes on the point. A flying fish is not an unheard of thing, indeed I have seen them several times, but not in the mountains, not in these woods, where there are fresh waters only. Flying fish of the kind I know about are met in the Sound and in bays near the ocean. ”

“ It is no wonder that the sight should cause surprise to the most indifferent observer, nor that it should have been long a theme of speculation with the curious, and an interesting subject of investigation to the naturalist.
As flying-fish but rarely make their appearance except in warm latitudes, few people who have not voyaged to the tropics have had an opportunity of seeing them in their flight. Very naturally, therefore, it will be asked what kind of fish, that is, to what species and what genus the flying-fish belong. ”

“ Flight of Fishes.—Some fishes called the flying-fishes sail through the air with a grasshopper-like motion that closely imitates true flight. The long pectoral fins, wing-like in form, cannot, however, be flapped by the fish, the muscles serving only to expand or fold them. These fishes live in the open sea or open channel, swimming in large schools. The small species fly for a few feet only, the large ones for more than an eighth of a mile. ”

“ About six species are known, each of which is probably distributed over all the tropical and sub-tropical seas. Strictly pelagic in their habits, they are most powerful swimmers; they congregate in shoals, and pursue unceasingly the Flying-Fish, which try to escape their enemies by long flying leaps. They attain to a length of six feet, and are eagerly caught by sailors on account of their well-flavoured flesh. The beauty of their, unfortunately fugitive, colours has ever been a subject of admiration. ”

“ Thus, to return to our imaginary illustration of the flying-fish, it does not seem probable that fishes capable of true flight would have been developed under many subordinate forms, for taking prey of many kinds in many ways, on the land and in the water, until their organs of flight had come to a high stage of perfection, so as to have given them a decided advantage over other animals in the battle for life. ”

“ TAHITIAN ANGLING. that the ends of the pole are capable of being lowered or elevated by a rope, which proceeds from the fork. A man sits in the high stern, holding this rope in his hand, and watching the capture of the fishes. From the end of each projecting arm depends the line, with the pearl-hook fashioned to resemble the Flying-fish. To increase the deception, bunches of feathers are fastened to the tips of the arms, to represent those aquatic birds which habitually follow the Flying-fish in its course, to seize it in the air. ”

“ When these three sorts of fish find in the water any of these flying fish, immediately they make them come out of the water, and they fly more than a cross bow-shot, as long as their wings are wet; and whilst these fishes fly the other three run after them under the water, seeing the shadow of those that fly: and the moment they fall into the water they are seized upon and eaten by the others which pursue them, which is a thing marvellous and agreeable to see. ”

“ More than one passenger has been struck by a flying fish, and our landlady tells us of a tourist who went out for an evening ride in the motor boat to return with a black eye from the blow of a frightened flying fish. Flying fish is delicious eating, and our catch is divided up among the passengers. ”

“ He was very fond of flying fish as they were his principal friends on the ocean. He was sorry for the birds, especially the small delicate dark terns that were always flying and looking and almost never finding, and he thought, "The birds have a harder life than we do except for the robber birds and the heavy strong ones. Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel? She is kind and very beautiful. ”

“ Nothing shows more plainly the freedom of their movements than the fact that, when the surface of the sea is swelling into billows, the flying-fishes may hug its inequalities very closely and do not move in a regular curve, first ascending from and then descending again to the level of the water. ”

“ Flying-fishes often fall on board of vessels, but this never happens during a calm, or from the lee side, but during a breeze only, and from the weather side. In daytime they avoid a ship, flying away from it ”

“ The flying-fishes live the most unhappy lives of all others, as they are persecuted in the water by the dolphins, bonitoes, and albicores, and when they endeavour to escape from their enemies in the water, by rising up in flight, they are assailed by ravenous fowls in the air, somewhat like our kites, which hover over the water in waiting for their appearance in the other element. ”

“ They inhabit both the sea and fresh water, and this group is found to include Fishes of the most importance as human food, such as the Herring, the Cod, Salmon, Carp, Pike, and many others.
This family is usually divided into three groups: The Eels—which have already been described with the Lampreys—the 260various flat Fishes, like the Flounders, Turbot, Plaice, Sole, Halibut, etc., and third, the Fishes already mentioned as the favorites for food, with curious specimens of Flying-fish, etc. ”

“ During the night two porpoise came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing. He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female.
"They are good," he said. "They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish." ”

“ 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 ”

“ On the other hand the wet fly-fisher, wading down stream or up stream, brings to his aid his knowledge of the habits and haunts of the trout, and casts his flies over every likely spot where his experience leads him to think a fish may lie. It is this eager expectancy, or fond anticipation, with every cast, that makes up much of the real pleasure of angling, and which is utterly lost to the dry fly-fisher, who waits and watches on the bank, like a kingfisher on his perch. ”

“ In flight it is eminently wandering; it circles round and round, or describes a figure of eight, at a varying elevation above the water, in quest of herrings, pilchards, or other fish whose habit is to swim near the surface. When it has discovered a prey, it suddenly arrests its flight, partially closes its wings, and descends head foremost with a force sufficient to make a jet d'eau visible two or three miles off, and to carry itself many feet downwards. When successful, it brings its prize to the surface, and devours it without troubling itself about mastication. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These large artificial flies kill pike or jack best on windy days with rain; they will not rise at the fly on fine days, except there is a strong ripple on the water. You humour the fly on the surface as you would move a salmon one, using a strong rod, reel, and line. If he is a large fish, he will rush off with the fly when hooked; but, if a small one, lift him out when he makes a double quick shake on the top of the water. I would advise the fisher to strike a jack quickly, for he often throws the fly out of his mouth when he finds the deception. ”

“ Moreover, the dry fly man works largely, although not exclusively, on the still pools and quiet reaches, where only the best of tackle, handled with a more than moderate degree of skill and care, can produce consistent results.
Furthermore, no little skill must be exercised by the angler in order properly to manipulate, or fish, the single "floater" when the cast has been made and the fly is upon the water, it must be allowed to float naturally downstream in the manner of the natural fly under like circumstances. ”

“ 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. ”