Wet fly

“ 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. ”

“ Sporadic experimentation with the dry fly when the wet has failed, although frequently successful in its purpose, is not a true test of the efficacy of the method when followed consistently, for the degree of true sport which the dry fly is capable of affording. ”

“ The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead—
There were no birds to fly. ”

“ He can throw up stream—the line falls soft as silk on the slow eddy below the rock, and the fly is drawn gently towards him across the current. When a natural fly approaches the surface of running water, and flutters along just above it, it encounters a light air, which flows in the same direction as the stream. ”

“ We see that they progress securely on the top 106 of the water, resting upon it as if it were a sheet of ice. Their feet are so adapted that the water only dimples beneath their slight weight, the extent of the depression not being visible to the eye, but clearly outlined in the shadows upon the bottom. In an eddy of air a tiny fly is caught and whirled upon the water, where it struggles vigorously, striving to lift its wings clear of the surface. ”

“ Those happy days when there is a good rise of fly, when the fish are in their stations, heads up, and lying near the top of the water, and the wind is not too contrary, should indeed be gratefully remembered. A short length of water will suffice for the dry fly man—a few hundred yards. ”

“ Observe to Angle with the Artificial Fly in Rivers disturbed somewhat by Rain, or in a Cloudy day, the 102 Wind blowing gently: If the Wind be not so high, but you may well guide your Tackle, in plain Deeps is to be found the best Fish, and best Sport: If small Wind breeze, in swift streams is best Angling: Be sure to keep your Fly in perpetual slow motion; and observe that the Weather suit the Colour of your Fly, as the light Colour’d in a Clear day, the Darkish in a dark, &c. As likewise according to the Waters Complexions, have your Fly suitable. ”

“ No cold or damp can penetrate their thick, close plumage, which looks as it were glazed on the surface, and by which they are enabled, while they have open water, to brave the rigours of the coldest winter. They can take wing from the water, or drop from an eminence, and fly with great swiftness to a considerable distance; but when they happen to alight on the land, are helpless, for they cannot either rise from the flat surface of the ground, or make much progress in walking upon it. ”

“ The evening breeze should be ruffling them gallantly; and see, the fly is getting up. Countless thousands are rising off the grass, and flickering to and fro above the stream. Stand still a moment, and you will hear the air full of the soft rustle of innumerable wings. ”

“ They beat the water with their wings when they rise, showering the spray on either side, for a short distance, and then, ascending on an inclined plane, fly heavily, but with some strength.
At night is their time of journeying, when they come down from the lake or return to it, uttering a weird cry in the darkened atmosphere. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ The pupa-case splits from end to end; and, looking moist and miserable, with crumpled wings, the little fly floats on its previous home, an exquisite canoe of Nature’s own contriving. A breeze of wind sufficient to320 ripple the water is fatal to it now, as shipwreck is inevitable; but if all is calm and conducive to safety, the little fly dries, the wings expand, it inhales the air, and along with it strength and power to 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. ”

“ The Fly just emerging. 2. The Fly nearly free, and forming an arch. 3. The Fly
liberated, and with its body bent, to hasten the drying of the wings.
expand within, and to knock at the door of its sepulchre, the pupa quits the watery element for ever, and betakes itself to the dry land, or to the slip of cork placed in the jar for its use. There, the apparently painful process of its unfolding takes place, and the fly slowly emerges. The envelope bursts asunder, and the head of the lovely, but blood-thirsty damsel, emerges to the light. ”

“ Previous to rain and just when it begins to rain, swallows fly swifter, doubtless to make the most of the insects while opportunity affords. Wheeling and diving high in the sky, the swallow flies to tell me the day will be fair. ”

“ You may select any certain area of water, when duns are emerging constantly from every part of a pool, and watch that certain area with the utmost intentness; the chances are you will not see a single fly actually upon the water although many do, indeed, emerge from the water under observation and fly away. ”

“ High upper clouds crossing the sun, moon, or stars, in a direction different from that of the lower clouds, or the wind then felt below, foretell a change of wind. When sea-birds fly out early, and far to seaward, moderate wind and fair weather may be expected; when they hang about the land, or over it, sometimes flying inland, expect a strong wind with stormy weather. ”

“ Patrick O'Kelly, who is also watching their come and go, declares this to be a sign of rain. "When birds fly low, lady, and when fish swim near the surface, it is well to bring in the clothes off the line." ”

“ They are not said to fly through the air. The choice of a generative medium for flying things, therefore, seemed to lie between water and earth; and, if we take into account the conspicuousness of the great flocks of water-birds and the swarms of winged insects, which appear to arise from water, I think the preference of water becomes intelligible. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They remain a few minutes at the water's edge, walking about and picking up fragments of sand or gravel, and then fly off as they came. In the hot weather, at all events, if not at all seasons, they drink again about four p.m. ”

“ That walking, swimming, and flying represent integral parts of the same problem is proved by the fact that most quadrupeds swim as well as walk, and some even fly; while many marine animals walk as well as swim, and birds and insects walk, swim, and fly indiscriminately. When the land animals, properly so called, are in the habit of taking to the water or the air; or the inhabitants of the water are constantly taking to the land or the air; or the insects and birds which are more peculiarly organized for flight, spend much of their time on the land and in the water ”

“ 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. ”

“ The masses of water, hissing and smoking under the furious pelting of the rain, flung themselves upon the hapless Bluebird, laboring heavily in the trough of the waves, or staggering over their summits. A constant glare lit the heaving, tossing world of waters, and the air became one roar of wind, rain, and thunder. ”

“ The bird can plunge into the deepest water, swim on its surface, or sleep there cradled by the waves, and the wet will not reach it. Neither will cold affect it, for under this outer covering is found a second, designed for resisting inclement weather and made of what is most efficacious for preserving the heat of the body. ”

“ For my own part, I have seen the flying fish fly—deliberately fly, and flutter, and rise again, and change the direction of their flight in mid-air, exactly after the fashion of a big dragonfly. If the other people who have watched them haven't succeeded in seeing them fly, that is their own fault, or at least their own misfortune ”

“ For here the wind not only has free scope, but it also finds another element, fluid but incompressible, to obey its impulse and follow in the course which it takes. If the WIND be like a wild spirit, the WATER is a mighty, irresistible body, endowed with motion by the other, and capable of any work, from the drowning of a sea-gull to the wrecking of a stately ship. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Casting the floating fly divides naturally into two quite distinct phases; first, the actual cast [57] which places the fly, cocked and floating, upon the surface of the stream; second, the subsequent manipulation of the fly in such a manner that its action approximates with all possible fidelity the action of the natural fly—the fly must float in the exact manner of the natural fly under like circumstances. ”

“ They will take the fly best from six or seven o'clock in the morning till nine, and from three in the afternoon till dark, with a good wind blowing up stream. I have hooked them on the very top of a precipice, after surmounting the leap, where they lie to rest in the first deep pool they come to; they generally run down over the rocks or falls of water to the pool beneath, when they often get killed by the rapid descent. ”

“ If the wind has not changed, we ought to be wettest on the left side, since the rain came on that side till we lost our bearings. If it has changed we must be pretty equally wet all round. We must feel and decide. ”

“ With clear water and a clear atmosphere a light-colored fly will show as plainly on the surface as a dark one to the fish below. If we gaze upward during a fall of snow, the flakes appear quite dark, while on a level or below the eye they appear white. ”

“ It is a good thing to try a new fly in a basin of water or shallow pond to see whether it floats, as it should, horizontally, and whether the wings have a life-like motion, as by repeated short movements you play it with your hand. ”

“ And note, that usually the smallest flies are the best; and note also, that the light fly does usually make most sport in a dark day, and the darkest and least fly in a bright or clear day: and lastly note, that you are to repair upon any occasion to your magazine-bag: and upon any occasion, vary and make them lighter or sadder, according to your fancy, or the day. ”

“ Hamilton, recommends a light fly for a light day, a dark fly for a dark day and dark weather; others hold the converse opinion. Every one agrees that the smallness of the flies should be in proportion to the lowness of the water and the advance of summer. ”

“ The bird voices are accompanied by a constant murmur, which rises and falls in volume and varies in quality. A puff of wind raises a gentle rustle amidst the leaves; a gleam of sunshine and the buzz of millions of gauzy insect wings swells into a boom. ”

“ The flies became lively and soon flew away. 261They thus showed the same reaction to the beneficent effects of sunshine as the insects in the above-mentioned experiment of Niels Finsen. The fly is a most objectionable animal, but it possesses one good trait that reconciles me to its existence; and that is that it is so fond of the sunlight that it may thereby serve as an example to those foolish people who do their best to avoid it.
262 CHAPTER XXXI.
On the Advantages of an Open Air Life and of Breathing Exercises. ”

“ The transition from swimming to progression in the air is natural and easy. The method by which the flying-fish rises from the water is similar to that of the albatross, that prince of flying-birds, and, indeed, to perhaps all other birds, when in the act of taking flight upon the water. Momentum is obtained by rushing forward with both feet and wings. ”

“ The best fly for thick water I have found to be the soldier palmer, a red fly with gold twist, but it will not always succeed. A March brown, or a blue upright, or blue palmer with silver twist, may also be useful. Remember that the thicker the water the larger and more gaudy the fly may be. ”

“ Most of us, again, have been caught in the rain. As the watery contents of the clouds slowly but surely percolated through our clothes, as our boots grew heavier and heavier until the water oozed out at every step, we must have envied the birds. ”