BOOK ON

ANGLING

BY

FRANCIS _ FRA,NCIS

Edited wttli Qtt liiirodnciian. hy

Sir HERBERT MAXWELLJi

LIBRARY

WMVCRSITT OP

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A BOOK ON ANGLING

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1-roiitispi

1. The Popham.
3. The Claret Jay.
5. The Dun Wing.

2. The Jock Scott.
4. The Lee Blue.
G. The Butcher.

A BOOK ON

ANGLING

BEING A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE
ART OF ANGLING IN EVERY BRANCH

BY

FRANCIS FRANCIS

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, Bt.

CONTAINING NUMEROUS PLATES IN
COLOUR AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

PHILADELPHIA

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

LONDON: HERBERT JENKINS LTD.

1920

The Mayflower Press. Plymouth. England. William Brenaon & Son Ltd.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

BY SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, Bt.

IT'S a far cry to Loch Awe,* runs the adage with which
the dreaded Campbells, after a successful raid on some
weaker clan, were wont to defy reprisals ; but it is a
much further cry to that distant day in 1867 when I
opened a parcel containing Francis Francis's A Book on
Angling, a gift from the author. Of the intervening half-
century I have spent — serious persons may say wasted — a
considerable section by the waterside, and another section by
the fireside conning some of the vast amount of angling
literature that has flowed from the press during that period ;
but in all these years I have never detected any faUacy in
Francis's precepts for such branches of the fisher craft as I
have practised, neither have I handled any book which gives
such succinct and trustworthy instruction in every form of
freshwater angling. Excellent treatises upon this or that
department of the sport might be named ; but Francis dealt
with them all ; his experience of them was universal, his
knowledge encyclopaedic. There have been changes in practice
since Francis fished and wrote. The art of dry fly-fishing, for
instance, he dismisses, though with approval, in a couple of
paragraphs (pp. iii, 128) ; it is now almost exclusive of any
other method in chalk streams, besides being often adopted
with success on northern and Irish waters.

In the angler's equipment many improvements have been
devised. Just as Izaak Walton had never seen a reel or, as he
calls it, " a wheel about the middle of the rod or near the hand,
which is to be observed better by seeing one of them than by a
large demonstration of words," and advised Venator if he
should hook a great trout to throw the rod into the river to
him, " for so I use always to do when I meet with an over-
grown fish," so Francis had no experience of the charm of a

* Southron readers kindly note that Loch Awe is sounded to rhyme with
" how " not with " haw."

V

036

vi A BOOK ON ANGLING

split-cane trout rod (for salmon fishing commend me still to
sound greenheart), nor of the convenience of a Malloch reel in
minnow fishing, nor of the virtue of adhesive tape which has
rendered ferrule- jointed salmon rods as obsolete for all time
as muzzle-loading shot-guns. To these and other changes I
will venture to call attention in notes ; yet I wonder whether
Francis, almost my earliest preceptor in salmon fishing
(actually the earliest was the butler of a neighbour in Galloway)
would wholly approve of my undertaking to edit his book,
seeing that I have so fallen away from grace as to be numbered
among those infidels whom he lashes (with more sound, I am
convinced, than fury) in the opening paragraphs of Chapter X.

** There are many persons," runs the anathema, " who hold that
half a dozen flies are enough to kill salmon on any river in th^
kingdom, and who will despise the notion of such an extended list
of flies [as the author was about to describe] . To such irreverend
scoffers and heretical unbelievers I have nothing to say. Let them
indulge in their repertoire of a bit of old Turkey carpet and a live
barn-door rooster. They are, to the artists who attain eminence
in the delightful occupation I have endeavoured to illustrate, what
the chalker of pavements is to a Landseer. Equally well, no doubt,
would they land a salmon if they hooked him with a clothes prop,
a jack line and a meat hook " (p. 249).

I suspect that when he penned this fiery passage Francis
had his tongue in his cheek. He was far too close an observer
— far too good a naturahst — far too experienced an angler —
really to believe that it made a ha'porth of difference in the
chances of raising a salmon whether the body of the fly was
clad in crimson silk or azure wool ; whether the wings were
wrought out of the sober plumage of a brown turkey or from
the radiant feathers of half a dozen tropical birds ; whether
the tinsel, an opaque substance passing between the overhead
hght and the fish's eye were silver or gold ; whether, in short,
supposing the angler to have put up a fly (we call them flies for
convenience, but birds, bats, or battle-axes would be equally
appropriate terms of similitude) — supposing, I say, the fly
selected be neither too large to scare the salmon nor too small
to attract its attention, it is possible to divine what particular
colour may suit the fancy of a fish newly arrived from the sea.

I have killed salmon with the fly in thirty-one different
rivers in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Norway, and have
never been able to detect preference on the part of the fish
for any particular colour or shade of light and dark.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION vu

Tom Todd Stoddart, than whom no amateur ever devoted
more time and attention to sahnon fishing, tells how " a
well-known landed proprietor in the north of Scotland, the
possessor on both sides of a noted salmon river," never used
any flies except those dressed entirely of white material ;
" and although occasionally competed with by one of the
ablest craftsmen in the district . . . who actually took
pleasure in using flies of the opposite colour [black], managed
generally to bear off the palm."

The late Lord Percy, a keen and accompUshed salmon
fisher, once told me that it did not much matter what fly
one used in the North Tyne, provided it was not a Blue
Doctor, at which the fish would never look. I turned up my
old fishing book, in which there was fixed a fly of that very
pattern, and written under it — " Seven salmon in North Tyne.
Tied by the porter at Reedsmouth Station." These fish had
been killed in the same stretch of water that Lord Percy
used to fish, namely, the Hargroves beat, just below Reeds-
mouth.

As it is a matter of perfect indifference to me what fly I fish
with for salmon, always provided that it is of the size that
seems suitable for the water and the season, when I am fishing
a river with which I am not acquainted I usually put up, for
the sake of harmony, whatever the gillie or boatman pre-
scribes. But whereas these local experts are sometimes very
dogmatic, desiring the angler, after one fly has been tried with-
out success, to change it for another, my patience is not always
equal to the occasion. Tweed boatmen are apt to be specially
exacting in this respect, probably because there is no salmon
river to which so many inexperienced fishers come as to that
classic stream. I was fishing the Bemersyde water some years
ago ; my attendant was even more tyrannical than the average
of local experts, perpetually prescribing a change of fly and
specially insisting upon a Silver Wilkinson (Plate XVII, Fig. 3),
which at that time was the fashionable fly on Tweedside. I
became so bored by his insistence that, before returning
to that water in the following year, I devised a fly quite
different from the everlasting Wilkinson, and determined to
fish with no other. Without consulting the. boatman, I put up
the new fly, a fiery creature with a body all gold tinsel and a
magenta beard.*

♦ The latest edition of the Wilkinson has been toned down by adding a
sky-blue hackle over the flaring magenta.

viii A BOOK ON ANGLING

" What fly's that ye have on ? " asked the tyrant. " I never
seen the Hke o' that used here."

" Oh, well ! '' I replied with all the nonchalance I could
assume, " it is a fancy of my own I want to try."

" I don't think it's the proper fly at all for this water,"
rejoined the other. " Have ye not got a Wulkinson in your
box ? "

It required all my stock of resolution to persist ; but I did.
We crossed the river, and set to work under the hanging wood
on the west side of the famous Haly Wiel. Not a fin stirred
till after two o'clock ; but we were pretty busy that afternoon.
The new fly accounted for seven fish from eight rises — 22 lb.,
22 lb., 20 lb., 18 lb., 16 lb., 16 lb., and 8 lb. I have used it on
many other rivers since that day, and found it just as good as
any other pattern — and no better ! In justice, however, to the
memory of Francis and to those who hold a contrary opinion
to mine on the subject of salmon flies, I must tell what hap-
pened a few days later in the same water. On this occasion the
Haly Wiel fell to the lot of a brother angler ; my beat being
the far less productive one immediately above, named Crom-
wiel. Here I killed two fish in the forenoon, 26 lb. and 16 lb.,
and then went down to eat a sandwich with my friend below.
Cromwiel having done so handsomely, I made sure that he
must have had much pulhng in the Haly Wiel. To my surprise
he had not moved a fish. I asked what fly he had been using.
He showed me a small Silver Grey. " Wrong metal," said I,
*' try that one " ; and I gave him one of my golden fancy of
the same size. I then started back for Cromwiel ; but had not
gone a couple of hundred yards when I heard a view-halloo,
and, looking back, saw my friend fast in a fish. He landed it
and one other that afternoon, while I moved nothing more in
Cromwiel. Certainly the change of my friend's fly seemed to
indicate the superior attraction of crimson and gold over grey
and silver on that particular afternoon ; and, although the
incident leaves me cold, it did much to establish the reputation
of my fly, which was christened the " Sir Herbert " after its
creator.*

* Although, alas ! Francis had made his last cast long before the genesis of
this fly, I have ventured to give its likeness in Plate XVI, Fig. 2. It is dressed
thus : Tag and body all in one, gold tinsel ribbed with gold twist, orange hackle
over ; tail, a topping. Three turns of scarlet mohair, picked out, next the
\ving, crimson hackle at shoulder. Wing two sHps of dark turkey with white
tips over two tippet feathers ; blue chatterer cheeks or kingfisher, red macaw
horns, black chenille head.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION ix

Howbeit, despite my incredulity about what is not demon-
strable, I admit that I am not insensible to the charm of a
varied assortment of salmon flies. I find it noted in my fishing
book that on 15th October, 1870, I was fully under the spell of
Francis's precepts about a change of fly. Fishing just above
high tide mark in the Water of Luce, I raised a small fish five
times without touching him, changed the fly every time and
killed him, seven pounds, at the sixth rise. I cannpt think that
the result would have been any different had I made no change,
which is the course I should follow now in the unromantic light
of experience.

In one other matter I venture to express dissent from
Francis's doctrine, namely, his belief that salmon feed, in the
sense of taking nourishment, during their sojourn in fresh
water. Here, again, demonstration is difficult, if not impossible,
available evidence being mostly of the negative kind.

" Salmon," says the author," do not perhaps feed very voraciously,
because in salmon rivers, as a general rule, food, and particularly
in the heavy waters salmon inhabit, is not very abundant, and the
salmon is not given to roaming about far from home in search of
food ; but I very much question if anything passes his lair within
eye-shot, which is at all worth his notice, that he does not take
stock or toll of " (p. 245).

To the concluding sentence of this passage I may reply by
describing what I have witnessed in the Linn of Glencaird,
below a fall, or foss as it would be termed in Norway, on the
river Minnick. The water of this httle river is crystal clear,
enabling one, except when it is in spate, to watch the movement
of fish as plainly as in any chalk stream ; the said linn is a
long deep pool with precipitous rocky sides. Lying on the top
of these rocks I have watched salmon in the depths below,
sometimes resting almost motionless, sometimes swimming
leisurely around, from time to time one flinging itself out of
the water for no apparent cause. Besides the salmon a few
small trout, five or six inches long, are poised near the surface,
quite fearless of the great fish below them, snapping at every
fly that floats within reach. I have never seen a salmon pay
any heed to these little fellows. Very different would have
been their expectation of life had the large fish been pike
instead of salmon.

Even those gillies and water-bailiffs who are sensible enough
to perceive that the salmon rivers of Norway and Northern

X A BOOK ON ANGLING

Britain afford no supplies adequate for the sustenance of a
lusty fresh-run salmon — even they are slow to acquit kelt
salmon of preying upon trout and even upon young of their
own kind. A kelt's appearance condemns him ; he looks so
hungry that one thinks he must be after prey. Perhaps in the
interest of science you kill a kelt which you have landed, cut
it open and show your gillie that the stomach is empty. He
may say — it has often been said — that the fish when hooked
has the power of ejecting the contents of its stomach. Wait a
minute. If this fish has been taking food within the preceding
four-and-twenty hours, there will be remains of it in the
intestine. The intestine is void also. If your skill in dissection
serves you, it may be possible to convince your gillie, not only
that the intestine is empty, but that it is actually closed, so
that for an indefinite period previous to the capture of that
kelt no food can have passed that way.

This, however, is no fitting place for airing at length the
views I entertain on the problem ; but whereas it is a perennial
subject of argument among anglers, I venture to suggest two
considerations to be taken into account by those who feel an
interest in the matter. First, let them study the report by the
German ichthyologist. Dr. Mieschen Russ, on the post-mortem
examination of several hundreds of Rhine salmon — clean-run
and kelts. He examined minutely the digestive tract of these
fish ; he found the stomachs of all of them to be empty, but
in two instances he detected traces in the intestine of the
scales of some smaU cyprinoid fish. Second, that if it be
admitted, as surely it must, that the supply of food in a
Highland river is wholly inadequate for the support even
of the very hmited number of salmon which, in these days of
drastic netting, find their way into it, what must have been
the case in primitive times when salmon were free to enter our
rivers in dense shoals such as swarm up the rivers of the
Pacific coast of North America ? although even there the stock
is being steadily depleted by the machinery used at canning
stations.

I should have expected Francis, who knew the Thurso, to
have described a method of fly-fishing for salmon that I learnt
many years ago on that river, which contains long reaches of
sluggish water. To practise it, instead of beginning to cast at
the head of a pool and working down, the angler begins at the
tail of the pool, casting across and working the fly round in
the usual way with as long a line as he can rightly command.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xi

After every cast, just as the fly falls on the water, he takes a
couple of paces backwards — that is, in the direction of the
head of the pool, and so continues till he reaches the top. This
plan is the easiest way to fish a stretch of dead water, for the
backward paces after the cast straighten out the bag in the Hne.
Moreover, even in a brisk stream, a salmon will often move to a
fly brought up from behind him, which he has refused to
notice when shown him in the ordinary way. Times without
number has this happened in my experience. The most
memorable instance of it was on 26th February, 1900. I began
fishing Kilfedder stream on the Helmsdale from the top, water
very high, but in fine colour. I touched three fish going down,
but none of them took hold. Arrived at the tail of the pool I
began backing up ; before reaching the head of it I landed five
clean fish. I then fished down the whole of No. i beat without
seeing anything. The lowest cast on that beat is called the
Flat Pool. I fished it down without moving anything ; turned
and backed it up, and had five more springers by the time I
reached the top. It was now getting dusk ; there was no more
than time for a cast over the head of Salzcraggie, where, fishing
down this time, I landed another salmon, the eleventh in
eleven consecutive rises. One advantage of this mode of
fishing a pool is that, whereas it is easier to guide a salmon
down-stream than to lead him up against the current, there is
less chance when playing him of disturbing water over which
the fly has not yet passed.

Since Francis fished, observed and wrote, considerable
advance has been achieved in our knowledge of the life-
history of the salmon. The systematic marking of both clean
fish and kelts, undertaken and maintained through a long
series of years, first, by the late Mr. Walter Archer, and
subsequently by Mr. W. L. Calderwood, who succeeded him as
Inspector of Salmon Fisheries under the Fishery Board for
Scotland, has elucidated much that was previously obscure in
the seasonal movements and rate of growth of salmon and has
dissipated many errors that prevailed on the subject. Most
notable and unexpected has been the light thrown upon the
period between the first descent of the smolt or yoimg salmon
to the sea and the fish's first return to fresh water. It used to be
generally assumed that all salmon made their first appearance
in the rivers in the form of grilse. But this was conclusively
disproved by the operations conducted by Mr. Calderwood and
Mr. P. D. Malloch in the Tay. In the spring of 1905 a very

xii A BOOK ON ANGLING

large number of smolts were netted on their way to the sea,
and each was marked with a piece of silver wire fixed through
the fore part of the dorsal fin. These smolts had been hatched
in the early months of 1903 ; three of them were recaptured in
June, 1906 weighing from 3 lb. to 4f lb. ; twelve were taken in
July, weighing from 3^ lb. to 7J lb. ; twenty-seven were taken
in August, weighing from 5 lb to io| lb. No more of the fish
marked as smolts were recorded as taken until the nets went on
again in February, 1907, in which month five marked fish were
taken weighing from 7J lb. to 9 lb. These, besides fourteen
others taken in March and April, were part of the run of small
salmon so well known to anglers and net fishers as spring fish.
In that year fifty-seven salmon were taken with the tell-tale
silver wire in their fins, all except two being landed from the
nets before they were taken off on 20th August. The heaviest
of these fish weighed 19 lb., the total weight of the fifty-seven
salmon being 741 J lb. From this it is clear that the only
difference between a grilse and a salmon is that the grilse
returns to the river after a sojourn of from thirteen to six-
teen months in the sea, while others of the species hatched
from ova deposited in the same season defer their return to
fresh water until the second, third, and even fourth year after
going to the sea.

So the old Scots gilHe's definition of a grilse was not wide of
the mark. He was asked how he could tell a salmon from a
grilse, a test which has puzzled many an angler.

" Oh it's easy kent," he rephed. " The same as ye can tell
an auld wife frae a lassie."

Most of the salmon flies chosen for illustration by Mr.
Francis have been reproduced in the present edition from
examples dressed by Mr. Forrest, who presides over the
London branch of the house which has been so long famous
in Kelso. But whereas fashion in salmon flies is as fickle as
in feminine attire, I have asked Mr. Forrest to give two or
three examples of those which have found favour with anglers
since Mr. Francis passed away.

I have to thank Mr. J. Arthur Hutton and Mr. P. D. Mallock
for the photographs of river scenery.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

MONREITH,

March^ 1920.

PREFACE

TO

THE FIRST EDITION

WHEN first infected with the fever of Angling,
more years ago than I care to count up, my
ambition was to catch every species of freshwater
fish, from the minnow up to the salmon, which
inhabits our British waters. That satisfied, my next desire
was to write a work, which should contain within one volume
(as far as might be possible) the fullest and most varied
information upon angling generally, in each branch of the art
which had ever been published ; and with this resolve I com-
menced collecting the matter for the present work nearly
twenty years ago. Taken up and laid aside from time to time,
little by Uttle it has steadily progressed towards completion.
In the course of that period of time I have taken occasion to
visit and to fish nearly every river of note in the kingdom ; my
connection with The Field affording me pecuUar facihties for
obtaining permission to fish very many waters which are
closely locked against the general public ; and I have roamed
England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland over to gather fresh
knowledge, and to put it into a practical -and concentrated
form for the use of my readers.

A modern work on general Angling has long been much
needed. We have works upon fly-fishing, and excellent ones
too ; we have good works upon spinning and trolling ; we have
few modern works upon bottom-fishing at large ; and we have
no modern book upon all of these styles combined, since the
last book of any note of that sort, which is " Ephemera's '*
Handbook, was published twenty years ago, and angling has
made great strides in the last twenty years.

One thing the student may rely on, viz. all that is set down
here is the result of carefully conned experience, often proved.
I have not entered the realms of fancy, and I have not borrowed

xiv A BOOK ON ANGLING

the experience of others as though it were of my own, and of
my own origination. I have endeavoured to borrow as httle
as possible : and where I have been obhged to borrow, I have
striven to make the fullest acknowledgment of my indebted-
ness, and to do that justice to others which I hope to have done
to myself. The branch in which I have been the most com-
pelled to borrow is in the trout flies. The reason of this is
obvious, as the flies on which the trout feed are the same
to-day that they were 500 years ago. Perhaps to Mr. Ronalds'
Fly-fisher's Entomology I am the largest debtor, and a better
authority one could not borrow from, since it is by far the
best work that has ever been written on the subject. But
it must not be forgotten that even Ronalds borrowed these
flies for the most part in his turn. Let the reader turn to the
earhest book pubhshed on fly-fishing, and he will there find
described by Cotton all the best flies taken by the trout in the
present day, and which have been more or less reproduced and
described by every subsequent angling writer up to Ronalds.
There we find the red-brown (February red), the blue and
yellow duns, the house fly, the green drake, the hawthorn, the
black gnat, the ant fly, the whirHng dun, the peacock, the
barm fly, and other flies given by the very names they are now
known by : while most of the remaining flies which the modem
angler uses are also described, though under other names ; but
they can easily be identified by the method of dressing laid
down for each of them. These flies, then, are again reproduced
in Ronalds, who for the first time describes and classifies them
entomologically, thus rendering to the fly-fisher one of the
greatest boons conferred upon the art since Cotton's day, as
the angler is through Ronalds enabled to identify each fly with
nature, and to study its habits and changes. AH that I have
been able to do while following in so well-marked and beaten
a track — and it is all that any other author could do — has been
to make such suggestions upon the dressing of the various flies
as may render them, in my opinion, better imitations of nature
than have yet been made pubUc, and to select and make such
suggestions as to those flies which are the greatest favourites
with the fish, as may simplify matters to the beginner.

In inducting the tyro into the mysteries of the art, I have
endeavoured to make every direction and information as clear
and practical as possible. This work is intended to be a useful
and not merely a decorative one ; thus, the plates are not for
the sake of ornamentation, but for direction, and as an aid to

PREFACE XV

the student of tackle making and fly tying. Each illustration
of tackle is really needed, and the flies shown are not a mere
selection of gorgeous and pretty subjects, or I should have
chosen very differently ; but each fly is a specimen of some
separate class of flies, in which a special peculiarity of manu-
facture is evident.

I have to thank many kind friends for assistance in lending
tackle and flies as subjects for the engravings, and also for
description, as will be found in the body of the work.

I have given much time to this book, but I have given it
willingly, for it was in deed and in truth a labour of love.
Whether the angling public, to whom I dedicate it (desiring no
more potent patron) , will appreciate my labours remains to be
seen, and so, without further apology — if an attempt to supply
a long-felt and obvious want, the existence of which few
persons have been in a position to know and feel so well as
myself, be thought to require an apology — into their hands I
commit it.

FRANCIS FRANCIS.

The Firs, 1867.

PREFACE

TO

THE SECOND EDITION

IN preparing the Second Edition of this work, it has been
my endeavour to rectify the faults and omissions
contained in the First. In collecting and arranging
material coming under so many heads, and where
similarity of method, etc., often runs one department into
another — and especially when many years have been occupied
in the preparation of the work — the difficulties of arrangement
and of avoiding confusion are much greater than would be
supposed. Whatever oversights, therefore, may have occurred
from these causes, I have now endeavoured as far as possible
to correct ; and I have also added, for the greater convenience
of reference, both for the angler and fly tyer, an index of the
fullest possible nature, and I trust it may be found useful.
I have further added between thirty and forty pages to the
work itself ; having, for the purpose of perfecting the fly list
to the various salmon rivers in the kingdom, given new lists of
flies for no less than ten more rivers than were given in the
First Edition, and appended additional information on lake
trout flies, general tackle making, and many other subjects
which appeared to me to be capable of advantageous expansion.
I have now but to convey my thanks to the angling public
for very marked favour extended to the First Edition of this
work, which, I am informed (by those who have been in the
habit of seUing anghng works for very many years), sold more
rapidly than any other angling book produced during the last
quarter of a century, a practical compliment which authors of
all kinds very fully appreciate ; and I can but hope that the
Second Edition may be found even more worthy of favour
than the First.

FRANCIS FRANCIS.

August, 1867.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bt, . . . v
Preface to First Edition ....... xiii

Preface to Second Edition ...... xvi

CHAPTER I

BOTTOM fishing

The Origin of Angling — Pond-Fishing — Punt-Fishing — The Nor-
folk Style— Bank-Fishing— The Gudgeon— The Pope— The
Bleak— The Roach— The Rudd— The Dace— The Chub— The
Barbel .......... i

CHAPTER II

bottom-fishing — continued

Nottingham Angling — Casting from the Reel — Daceing — Light

Corking — ^The Shder, etc. . . . . . .42

CHAPTER III

bottom-fishing — continued

The Bream— The Carp— The Tench— The Eel— The Perch—
Paternostering, etc 51

CHAPTER IV
mid-water fishing

I
I

The Pike — Spinning — ^Trolling with the Dead Gorge — Live Bait-
ing, etc 70

CHAPTER V
artificial fly-fishing

Varieties of Trout — Instructions as to Rods and Tackle — How
to use them — Weather — How to Choose FUes — Dress — Night-
Fishing 99

CHAPTER VI

ARTIFICIAL FLIES

Contrast of Systems — Copying Nature and Copying Nothing —

List of Fies for each Month . . . . . .134

xvu

xviii A BOOK ON ANGLING

CHAPTER VII

ON LAKE-FISHING, ETC.

PAGE

Lake-Fishing — Daping — ^The Creeper — The Beetle — ^The Worm . 184

CHAPTER VIII

SPINNING FOR TROUT

Spinning for Large Trout — Spinning for Trout in Sniall Streams
—■The Par-Tail— The GrayUng 206

CHAPTER IX

THE SALMON

The Rod — ^The Reel and Line-^How to use them — Casting —

Striking — Playing a Salmon — Sea Trout Fishing . . 226

CHAPTER X

SALMON FLIES

List of Salmon FUes — General Fhes — List of Flies for Scotch

Rivers .......... 248

CHAPTER XI

SALMON FLIES— continued
List of FUes for Irish Rivers . . . . . . .289

CHAPTER XII

SALMON FLIES — Continued
List of FHes for Wales and England — List of Sea TrOut Fhes . 311

CHAPTER XIII

TACKLE MAKING AND FLY DRESSING

On making Tackle, Knotting, etc. — How to Dress the Trout Fly

— ^The Method of Dressing the Salmon Fly . . . .324

CHAPTER XIV

CONCLUSION

On Hooks — ^The Bait Table— Recipes and Notabilia . .341

Index .......... 361

ILLUSTRATIONS

2. The Jock Scott
4. The Lee Blue.
6. The Butcher.

Frontispiece —

I. The Popham.
3. The Claret Jay.
5. The Dun Wing.

Landing Nets, etc.

The Slider and Other Floats, etc.

Knots, Hitches, etc.
IV. Spinning Flights, Leads, etc.
V. Spinning Tackles Baited
VL Live-bait Tackles, etc.

PLATE

L

II.
III.

VII.

XIV.

TO FACB PAGE
9

49
66
76
78
93

1. Dry Fly Water on the Test

2. A White Trout Stream, Ballinahinch

VIII. Natural Trout Flies (colour) ....

IX. Tackle for Minnow Spinning, etc.

X. Imitations of Grubs and Beetles (colour) .

XI. I. "The Shot," Floors Castle Water, River Tweed
2. Pitlochry Head, River Tay ....

XII. Birch Grove. A Salmon Cast on the Wye

XIII. The Right Way of Giving the Butt .

Gaffing a Salmon ......

121

134
211
219

227
241

243
249

(From a drawing by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bt.)

XV. Salmon Flies (colour) ....... 263

I. The Beauly Snow Fly 2. The Black Dog.
3. The Purple King.

VI. Salmon Flies (colour) ....... 265

I. The Gordon 2. The Sir Herbert.

3. The Wilkinson. 4. The Mar Lodge.

XVII. Salmon Flies (colour) ....... 269

I. The Brown Akroyd. 2. The Tartan.
3. The Snow Fly. 4. The Shannon.

XX A BOOK ON ANGLING

PLATB TO FACE PAGK

XVIII. Salmon Flies (colour) 275

I. The Black Ranger. 2. The Highlander.

3. The Thunder and Lightning. 4. The Black and Teal

XIX. Salmon Flies (colour) 279

I. The Blue Doctor. 2. The Dusty Miller.

3. The Bittern. 4. Francis' Favourite.

XX. Alderon Stream, River Tay 283

XXI. Trout Fly Dressing, etc. . . . . . .326

XXII. Salmon Fly Dressing 331

XXIII. Francis' Scale of Limerick Hooks . . . -345

A BOOK ON ANGLING

CHAPTER I

BOTTOM -FISHING

The Origin of Angling — Pond-Fishing — Punt-Fishing — The Norfolk Style —
Bank-Fishing — The Gudgeon — The Pope — ^The Bleak — The Roach —
The Rudd— The Dace— The Chub — The Barbel.

THE art of Angling is a very ancient one, and it is
difficult to say when it did not exist. Indeed, man
might even have taken a lesson from Nature herself,
and doubtless has done so. For the Angler or
Fishing-frog (Lophius piscatorius) has for its necessities as
complete a rod, line, and bait appended to its nose, and uses
this apparatus with as much skill in decoying within reach of
its voracious maw the unwary fish, which are deceived by the
shining appearance of the filament forming the bait, as the
deftest fly-fisher employs amongst his human imitators. The
fishing parties of Antony and Cleopatra will be fresh in the
memory of every schoolboy,* while representations of fish and
fishing have been found upon some of the oldest tombs and
most venerable remains extant. In every community in
savage fife, too, are found instruments of anghng ; rude enough,
but sufficiently effective for the wants of those employing
them ; showing the various arts used in fishing to have been
of primitive and universal invention. f
It is not, however, our purpose to give a retrospective

* The story of Antony employing divers to fasten fish on to his hook is,
no doubt, a singular specimen of angling. But the Chinese may be said to
practise the plan habitually. The rocks and stones at the bottom of the sea
on the Chinese coast are covered with small shell-fish. Two men go out to
fish ; one holds a line to which is a baited hook ; the other, a diver, takes
the hook and a hammer and dives to the bottom, and there he begins crack-
ing and knocking to pieces the masses of shell-fish. The fish draw round to
feed. The diver selects his fish, and literally thrusts the hook into its mouth,
and his friend above pulls it up. — F. F.

t ^lian, writing in Greek about 115 a.d., instructs his readers in fly
fishing, and recommends a red tackle. — Ed.

2 A BOOK ON ANGLING

history of angling. Our business lies with the present, and
with a very brief notice we shall dismiss the past.

One of the first treatises in the English language on angling
is that of Dame Juliana Berners, or Barnes, in the Book of
St. Albans. It is entitled The Art of Fysshynge with an Angle,
and was pubhshed in 1496. There were other authors who
added to the stock of angling literature, but the next one of
note was the well-known Izaak Walton, who wrote The Con-
templative Man's Recreation, and first published it in 1653, and
in fifteen years it ran through five editions. Since then, with
the additions by Cotton and Venables, the book has run through
an extraordinary number of editions.*

From that time down to the present the number of writers
upon angling matters has abounded beyond measure, and the
Uterature of angUng is one of the richest branches of Hterature
we have. As the writers have increased, each one adding his
particular notion or two to the common stock, so has the art
progressed towards perfection, and, long ere this, fish would
have become extinct, but that nature has wisely ordained that,
as the fishermen become learned in their art, the fish shall
become learned also, and thus hickory and horsehair, gut and
steel, are robbed of a portion of their destructiveness ; and
although our dear old friend and father Izaak no doubt would
form a most agreeable fishing companion, we question, if he
revisited the scenes of his former exploits, with the same tackle
he used then, whether he would not find rather more difficulty
in " pleasuring some poor body " with the contents of his creel
than he was wont to do.

The art of anghng, as pursued in the present day, must be
divided into three branches — Bottom, Mid-water, and Top or
Surface-fishing. The first comprehends bait and float-fishing of
every kind ; the second spinning, trolling, and live-baiting,
and the last, daping and fishing with the artificial fly. As the
first has by far the greater number of followers, owing to the
greater facilities offered for its pursuit, we shall commence
with that.

Bottom-fishing may be subdivided into still-water and
stream-fishing. Still-water is usually the first essay of the
tyro, and with that we shall commence our instructions.

* Richard Franck (1624- 1708), a jealous rival of Walton, a better naturalist
and fly-fisher, wrote his Northern Memoirs in 1658, but did not find a pub-
lisher till 1694. Those who can put up with absurdly euphuistic phrasing
will find it a singularly interesting treatise on angling for salmon and trout.
It was reprinted in 1821, with an introduction by Sir Walter Scott. — Ed.

POND-FISHING 3

Still-water or Pond-fishing may be practised under
various circumstances, and the tackle used must depend upon
the fish to be fished for. The fish which usually frequent pools
are roach, perch, carp, tench, bream, eels, and jack. The
tackle, as we have said, must depend much upon circumstances :
such as whether the pond be shallow or deep, clear or muddy,
much fished, or the reverse, and also upon the kind of fish the
angler is going after. If he be not particular, as few young
anglers are, we recommend to him a bait and tackle which will
take all pond fish, and even the jack himself at times.

Let him employ a good long bamboo rod, not beyond his
strength. It is always advantageous to have a reel, as big fish
are capricious, and sometimes will prefer the clumsy bait of the
tyro to the neat and trimly impaled worm of Mr. Professor
himself ; a gut bottom of not less than two yards ; a light
cork float (Plate II, Fig. 2, p. 49) carrying four or five No. i
shot, the last of which should be a good foot from the hook ;
his hook should be upon rather finer gut than the line, and the
best general size he will find to be about No. 6, 7, or 8, it does
not matter a great deal which. If there be many roach in the
pond, and he desires to take them chiefly, perhaps the latter
size. If carp, tench, and perch, then the former is best.

Let him plumb the depth accurately, and having fixed upon
a nice spot, near weeds, but quite clear of them at the bottom,
let him fix his float so that the bait may just touch the bottom,
not swim in mid-water. His hook should then be baited with
a well-scoured red worm, and having thrown in a dozen or so
of bits of broken worm round about the spot he is going to fish,
let him drop his bait in softly, and having stuck a forked stick
into the bank for his rod to rest on,* let him lay his rod down,
and keep out of sight, until he has a bite. Pond-fish always bite
slowly, and before they move away with the bait give ample
time to the angler to reach his rod and take it up.

While his rod is, as it were, fishing for itself, he will do well to
look out for another spot near his own ground, to which, by
casting in a few odd broken worms or gentles from time to
time, he can allure the fish, so that when he is tired of his
present pitch, he can go to another already baited. Thus he
will lose no time in his fishing, and will be enabled, by working

* If it be necessary for his rod to extend over the pond, by resting the
part in front of the reel on the fork, and by pressing the part behind the
reel down by means of a hooked stick forced into the ground, th^ rod can
be kept in position and out of the water easily. — F. F,

4 A BOOK ON ANGLING

from spot to spot like this, to fish over a good deal of the
ground advantageously.

The above is the best general plan for the young angler to
adopt. If, however, he intends angling for any particular fish,
he will find the method of doing so described under its special
head in another part of this chapter.

In Bottom-fishing upon streams there are various methods
and tackles employed. In large rivers it is advisable to use a
boat or punt, as there are many places which cannot be
reached by fishing from the bank. Of punt-fishing, however,
we shall treat hereafter. At present we shall confine ourselves
simply to bottom-fishing from the bank.

The first point the angler should settle is the choice of a swim ;
and having once decided upon this, and properly baited it, he
should not be in a hurry to quit it for another. He must select
a spot where there is the best appearance of fish. He may see
the fish sailing about at the bottom, or in mid- water, or jump-
ing about on the surface — in which case he will not have much
difficulty in deciding : but it may happen that the water is
deep and quiet, and he will not have this method of determin-
ing upon his fishing ground. Let him, then, if not too lazy, get
up very early in the morning, and take a walk by the river-
side ; and soon after daybreak, when all is yet quiet, he will
see the fish begin to break the water, and roach, dace, barbel,
bream, and other fish will jump about, or put up their heads,
as if to see what sort of a day it is to be. Let him then note
where these rises are the thickest, and choose that place. The
angler can do the same thing late in the evening ; but the fish
do not as a general rule move nearly so freely then as in the
morning.

If he has no means of obtaining this information, and knows
not whom to a^k which are the recognised swims, let him walk
along the banks of the river and note where the grass is well
worn by the long dweUing or treading of muddy feet ; and let
him look out for traces of clay, bran, or other debris of ground-
baits, which are usually sufficiently visible to point out the
desirable spot. If none of these serve, then he must rely upon
his own judgment, choosing a swim neither too deep nor too
shallow as regards the water, nor too swift nor sluggish for the
stream. The neighbourhood of good overhanging banks or
large bushes, a bank of weeds, or a deep hole, to form harbours
for the fish, is always desirable. The ground should also be|as

BAITING THE SWIM 5

level and free from obstructions along the bottom as possible.
Very much in the choice of a swim depends on the fish to be
angled for. Dace, gudgeon, and barbel like rapid and moder-
ately deep water. Roach, perch, and bream Uke deeper and
quieter water. The shape of the bodies of the fish forms a very
fair criterion to judge from in this respect. Deep, flat-made
fish cannot hold the rapid streams so well as the sharper and
more rounded ones, though good roach-fishing will at times be
had in pretty heavy water.

The angler, having decided upon his pitch, should, if he can
manage it, bait it freely some twenty hours before he intends
to fish — not an hour less. Many a day's sport is spoilt by the
swim being baited the very night before the angler is going to
fish ; and when he comes, on the next morning, some ten hours
after, the chances are that he finds the fish have only just done
feeding upon the bait he threw in the night before. The fish
are then full, quite indisposed to feed, and a tame, faint bite or
two alone rewards him. To coax the fish on, he then puts in
more bait, which extinguishes every shadow of a chance he
might have had of fish on that day, and after an hour or two
with scarcely any sport, he goes away disgusted with his loss
of time and absence of sport and waste of bait, when he ought
only to blame his own lack of judgment. Suppose a swim well
baited at nine overnight, that swim ought not to be fished until
the fish are quite hungry again, and ready to feed, which will
not be until about three or four o'clock on the ensuing after-
noon ; and when the fishing is commenced a very few scraps of
ground-bait will suffice to bring the fish on and to keep them on
the feed. The angler should reflect that his object is not merely
to gorge the fish, but to keep them anxiously expecting food.
On the Thames, for example, more ground-bait is often wasted
and thrown away in one day than, judiciously appHed, would
suffice for a week's sport.

In ground-baiting a pitch overnight the method depends
upon the bait to be employed. If gentles are to be employed,
the best plan is to enclose them in a ball of bran and clay mixed
up. The same may be said of chopped worms. Greaves or
scratchings should be scalded, broken small, and mixed up with
clay, or not, according to the stream. Bran with bread, rice,
boiled wheat, grains, and such baits are best worked up with
the clay while cheese should be made up into small round balls,
not larger than marbles. But for the baiting while fishing it is
best to cast the worms, etc., loose without any clay, merely

6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

throwing them up above the swim, so far that they may find
ground within it ; and here let the angler be very sure that he
does this accurately, as much depends upon it, for it is useless
to fish in one place when the ground-bait is in another. Cheese
may also be so used, and gentles likewise, if the stream will
admit of it, not otherwise. Bread, rice, pearl-barley, barley-
meal, etc., should be worked up into very small balls, about the
size of a plum, upon a small stone, or with such other matter
as shall cause them to hold together until they reach the
bottom. If it be desired to use bran, grains, malt, boiled wheat,
or such baits, they should, if the stream be at all swift, be
worked up together with some of the above baits in order to
give the mass sufficient coherence to carry it unbroken to the
bottom ; meal will serve well for this purpose if it be well
kneaded. On the Norfolk rivers a barley-meal bolus is the bait
for roach, and boiled barley for bream.

The aim while fishing should be to distribute and disperse
the bait as much and as soon as possible, that many may get a
taste, but few a surfeit, which latter they easily do when the
large adhesive clay balls are used.

If it be not convenient to the angler to bait a swim overnight,
he will do well, if possible, to pursue the same plan as is recom-
mended in pond-fishing, viz. of baiting two or three pitches,
stopping in each only so long as the fish continue biting ; then
casting in a little bait and going on to the next, and so each
again in turn, and thus he will most probably get the most sport
possible at the least expenditure of time.

The pitch having been properly baited, the tackle should be
suited to it. The float should be proportioned to the depth and
strength of the stream, and should be also so weighted as to
sail steadily along, carrying the hook just touching the bottom
without the float being sucked under by the whirl of the stream,
and with about from one-half to three-quarters of an inch of the
quill showing above water.

To ascertain the depth of the water and suit the float to it, a
leaden plummet is generally used by Thames fishermen, though
the Nottingham fishers eschew it and have another method of
ascertaining the depth, which I shall notice in the proper place.
In Plate I, Fig. 7, page 9, will be seen cuts of two plummets,
one of rolled sheet and the other of solid lead. Unroll the
rolled one for a turn or two, hook the hook on the bottom edge
of the lead and roll it up so as to secure the hook within, or put
the hook through the ring and hook it ipto a piece of cork fixed

HOW TO STRIKE 7

in the bottom of the solid one. Then having set the float at
what you judge to be about the depth, drop the plummet into
the water to the bottom, keeping a tight line, and Uft it once or
twice to see that all is clear. If the float goes under water, sUp it
up the line. It it does not reach the water but is above it, drop
it down, and so on until it is adjusted, so that the hook shall
just touch the bottom while about an inch of the float is above
the surface. Some fish require the bait to drag a little more
than others, and for them, of course, a longer allowance of
depth on the line must be made. Having ascertained the depth,
take off the cap of the float, take a half-hitch of the Une on the
top to secure it, and replace the cap, which should fit pretty
tightly to prevent any sUpping or coming off. Then bait the
hook, drop the tackle into the water, and let it go with the
stream ; as it goes down follow it with the rod-point, keeping
the point always as directly over the float as possible. If there
be no disturbance of the float but it swims serenely on, let it go
on to the point which you have marked out as the end of the
stream, or as far as the time allows ; and before withdrawing it
in punt-fishing always strike ; for fish will often take the bait
just as it reaches the end of the swim as it begins to rise from
the ground, owing to the tension of the line not permitting it
to go further wliile the stream still carries it on ; and as this is a
sort of running away on the part of the bait, it is often attractive
to fish that have been following it ; or it may be that it
comes more prominently into view. However that may be,
always strike at the end of the swim pretty sharply. But
should the float, in its progress, dip suddenly down under
surface of the water, strike instantly. In punt-fishing this
should be done from the elbow, because there is a good deal of
slack fine between the rod-point and float to be tightened, and
there is a long angle to be brought into a straight Une before
the rod-point can be brought into direct action on the hook,
and the further off the float is down the stream the more acute
this angle is, and the more power is required to reduce things
to a straight line again between the rod-point and the hook ;
and this is the reason why it is necessary to strike harder
towards the end of the swim than when the float is directly
under the rod-point. In bank-fishing, however, there is no
such angle, and the rod is always over the float, so that the
sUghtest jerk of the wrist sufiices to fix the hook in the fish.
If the float only dips sUghtly, strike ; and at any suspicious
behaviour on the part of the float, still strike. Different fish

8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

have very different ways of biting, and even the same fish
seldom bite two days together in the same manner. A wee
bleak or gudgeon will often bob the float down almost out of
sight, so that a novice thinks he has a most important bite,
while a two-pound roach will often barely move the float at all ;
sometimes the float will be thrown up or lifted, sometimes will
sink almost gradually as if the hook had touched the bottom ;
and when this is the style of biting it mostly proceeds from
good fish well on the feed. I like to see it as it nearly always
heralds good sport. But all these peculiarities the novice must
learn from long experience, for no book can teach him. The
great thing to aim at is never to use more force in striking than
is absolutely necessary to fix the hook, lest damage or needless
wear of tackle and hooks be the result. Having hooked a fish, if
possible coax him out of the swim that he may not disturb the
others, and play him at your leisure in the nearest vacant space.
Be not over hasty to land your fish, or you may lose him ;
but, on the other hand, waste no time over him. Experience
again alone will teach what strain your tackle will bear.

In landing a fish you may lift him in by the rod, weigh him
in by the Une, or handle him in by the gills or tail, or use a
landing-net to him, or gaff him. The first method you only
adopt with very small fish, which will not perhaps strain the
rod. The second you employ with fish that are doubtful in this
respect. Having played your fish until it is nearly conquered,
take hold of the line, draw the fish gently up to the bank or
boat, carefully judge the length to see all clear in lifting him in,
so that the fish may not come in contact with bank or boat and
so be knocked off or induced to struggle in mid-air, which is
almost certain loss ; and when the fish is for the moment
supine, Hft him steadily, but quickly and without any jerking,
over the bank or boat side into a place of safety.

HandHng a fish in is more often resorted to when the net or
gaff happens to be left at home by accident, and is usually
employed on large fish, as large trout, big pike, or salmon ; for
example : Bring the fish up to the side, and when he is quiet
slip the hand behind the gulls and grip the fish firmly, lifting
him out at the same time. Some persons put the finger and
thumb into the eyeholes of the pike, and hft him out thus ; but
they should remember the pike's sensations. Tailing a fish out
is more often employed on salmon. The fish is brought to a
shelving bank of gravel, gripped suddenly, but cautiously and
firmly by the root of the tail, and run up over the gravel

PLATE I.

'^u> L

FiM 1

Landing Nets, Etc.

LANDING NET, ETC. 9

before he knows where he is.* And now a word on landing
nets.

In Plate I, Figs, i and 2, page 9, I have given cuts of two
nets or frames, which by folding or compressing can be packed
up and carried about with the rods or in cases. In punt-fishing,
however, a circular fixed frame is all that is required. There
are various methods of attaching landing-nets to the person, so
that they may be ready to the angler's hand when walking
along the banks of a stream, and yet not in his way when
fishing. I find a spring hook fixed on the handle, and hung
over the basket strap on the left-hand side, as good as any ;
but anglers can see various plans at the tackle-makers and
select for themselves. In handling a landing-net, some little
skill is requisite : the netsman should never dash at the fish,
but sinking it in the water, and keeping out of sight as well as
he can, wait till the fish is brought round, and then moving the
net softly, till the fish is within the ring, he should lift him
smartly out.

The gaff is a sharp-pointed steel hook used chiefly for
landing salmon. In very sharp and shallow streams, the
landing net is often rather unwieldy, and the gaff is preferable.
The great thing in using the gaff is to keep as much out of sight
as possible : wait till you are sure of your mark, extend the
gaff beyond the fish, and then strike it suddenly in drawing at
the fish and weighing him up at the same time.f But to
return.

In bank-fishing, the angler should never be without a
clearing ring (see Plate I, Fig. 4, p. 9), or his remissness may
result in his straining his line or losing it. He will do well, too,
to have in his pocket one of those curved hook knives which are
made for screwing into the landing-handle. He may thus upon
occasion cut a weed or twig to which his tackle may be hooked,
and which otherwise might be out of reach and might necessi-
tate a breakage. A drag with a coil of string is also serviceable
(see Plate I, Fig. 5, p. 9). These things are often useful and
take up very httle room in carriage. A small triangular fold-up
camp-stool is a very good thing too, and saves many an angler
from incipient rheumatism ; for though a scrap of waterproof

* If possible wear a glove for this delicate operation. It gives one a far
firmer grip. — Ed.

t In gaffing a salmon from the shore, the gafiE should invariably be laid
over the fish, and drawn firmly home without jerk or violence. In landing a
salmon from a boat, the gaft may be laid ttnder the fish without risk of
fouling the line. — Ed.

10 A BOOK ON ANGLING

will keep off damp, it is no protection from cold. This stool
also goes easily with the rod, and weighs but a trifle.

In bank-fishing perfect quietude is very advisable ; and if
the angler desires to stamp his feet, or run about, or indulge in
any method of quickening his circulation, it is very advisable
that he should retire at least fifteen or twenty yards from the
bank, if he would not frighten and disturb the fish. On his
first approaching the water, he must be very cauti6us, as the
bare sight of his figure suddenly moving about on the bank will
often serve to frighten away every fish within several yards ;
although after a time, and if not too suddenly disturbed at
first, they will become accustomed to and endure his presence
if he remains still and quiet. It is always advisable to keep as
much as possible out of sight, if you desire successful fishing ;
and the angler should bear this in mind, that anything which
comes between the water and the sky frightens the fish
instantly ; whereas if there is a high bank, a tree, a plantation,
or what not, at the angler's back, provided he does not make
too violent motion as as to attract attention, he may almost
see the fish swallow the bait. When on the bank, too, he
should remember to let his motions be as little lateral as
possible.

Punt or boat-fishing differs little from bank-fishing, as
regards the means employed, and much of what has been set
down as regards baiting will also apply to punt-fishing.
A favourite pitch is sought out, and the punt or boat is usually
moored across the stream by means of heavy poles, shod with
sharp irons, being thrust into the bed of the river, and the head
and stern of the punt fastened thereto. Sometimes, however,
and more particularly when the Nottingham style of fishing is
employed, the punt or boat is not moored across the stream,
but is moored in a slanting direction at an angle of about 40°
or 50° with the direction of the current. The boil and bubble
created by the obstruction which the punt causes when moored
across is thus nearly avoided. The Nottingham style will be
explained hereafter.

I have spoken of the Norfolk style of fishing, and it may not
be out of place here to say a few words about it. The punt on
the Norfolk rivers, instead of being moored across the stream
as in the Thames, or in a slanting direction, as is more common
when " traveller " fishing in the Nottingham style is practised,
is moored up and down in a line with the current, so that there
is httle or no disturbance of the water. The swims are usually

BANK-FISHING ii

of considerable depth, often from twelve to sixteen feet or
more. The angler employs two rods, which are longer than the
Thames punt rod, sits sideways, and fishes over the side :
having also a spare rod with a well weighted line with a float,
which acts as a dead hne beside him, while fishing with the
other rod in the usual way. The fish caught are chiefly roach
and bream ; for the first, barley-meal is the ground-bait, and
for the second, boiled barley, the hook-baits being principally
gentles and worms. Large takes are frequently made, and it
is common to estimate the take by the stone weight.

The rods used in bank and punt bottom-fishing with the
float, differ considerably. In punt-fishing the rod should be
light and handy, and from ten to twelve or thirteen feet in
length. If longer than this, the constant striking through a
long day's fishing tires the arm. Still it is always advisable
for the angler to use as long a rod as he can conveniently
manage, as it gives him not only a longer swim but more
power over it. Bamboo cane is the most usual material
employed. Punt rods of solid wood are often rather too heavy,
and the white cane too hght for the work. Many anglers, how-
ever, prefer rods made of solid wood, as they are supposed to
stand heavy work better, though I have not found that they
do so. The best rod to stand work I ever had, was a single
stick of bamboo without joint or ferrule of any kind, with
merely a spliced top lashed to it of some eighteen inches or two
feet in length. I have used this rod for twenty years, and it is
as straight as ever it was. For solid rods hickory is the best
wood.

For bank-fishing the rod should be longer and larger, and it
is seldom the custom to use a rod of less than fifteen or sixteen
feet in length : while on the Lea and elsewhere fishermen use
rods of a prodigious and unwieldy length, sometimes up to
twenty- two or twenty- three feet. These, of course, from their
great length, require to be made of very Hght material, and the
white East India cane is most commonly employed. As a
general rule, the tackle used in bank-fishing is lighter, and the
point of the rod being always just over the float, and usually
scarcely a foot or so from it, there is no long length of loose line
on the water to strike up, as there is in punt-fishing, and the
strike, therefore, when there is a bite, is, as I have said, much
lighter, being a mere twitch ; while it is not necessary, as in
punt fishing, to strike at the end of every swim. The wear and
tear, therefore, is nothing like so much in a bank as in a punt

12 A BOOK ON ANGLING

rod, and a lighter material can be employed. It is astonishing
what a difference in the wear and tear of rod- tops the addition
or subtraction of a dozen or so of shot on the line makes. For
example, suppose your dozen shot weigh only the eighth of an
ounce. Suppose you only strike sixty times in an hour, which
is very far under the mark, and suppose you fish a good day of,
say, twelve hours. The addition or subtraction of these twelve
shot will have given your fragile rod-top eighty-four ounces
more to jerk up in the course of one day. It will be seen, then,
that this point of meting the weight of your tackle as near as
possible to the requirements of the stream is worthy of much
consideration. I have often seen roach and dace-fishers fishing
in an easy stream with great heavy floats, carrying perhaps
near half an ounce of shot, when they could have fished it
with a porcupine quill. The consequence is that the extra shot
make a splash at every strike, and they are so thick and large
that the fish can easily discern them and thus they alarm one-
half and all the best of their fish. I like upright rings to all my
bottom rods, finding them safe and more convenient to the line.
In general bottom-fishing a very fine gut foot fine is prefer-
able to single horsehair. By means of passing the strand of gut
through a machine and so reducing it, tackle makers have been
enabled to bring it down to almost any fineness ; far finer,
indeed, than horsehair. This is called drawn gut, but if the
angler can obtain the gut of sufficient fineness in its natural
state, i.e. without being drawn, it is better in every respect,
being much stronger and infinitely more durable ; as in
drawing it, the hard outside surface which protects the gut is
shaved off, and nothing but the central and pithy part is left.
Drawn gut can easily be distinguished from natural gut at the
first glance. It is dull in colour instead of bright and shining,
and when in the coil is far less springy and hard if bent. It
soon frays away, and a very few times of using rots it, whereas
a really good sound undrawn gut hne, if properly used, will last
for months. It is not possible, however, always to get really
fine undrawn gut lines of first quality, and the drawn gut, which
can be had of any fineness, is certainly far preferable to hair in
point of strength. * Many roach-fishers, however, still use single
hair. Now, hair has this objection, viz. it is so elastic that
whenever you strike a good fish the line will spring to such a
degree that the hook often fails to fix itself properly. Added to
which, from its lack of strength and liabihty to crack at knots,
♦ See note on page 233 about modern substitutes for gut. — Ed.

LINES AND REELS 13

many good fish, hooks, and much time are lost both in playing
the fish and in repairing losses. Still, as I have said, many
excellent fishers (for roach particularly) do employ it, and it
certainly is a very pretty bit of sport to kill a roach of a pound
and a half in a nice eddy with a single hair. Young fishermen
should always go through a course of single-hair fishing.
Nothing contributes to give them such a delicate touch and
such an accurate perception of the exact amount of strain their
rods and tackles will bear as fishing with single hair. And no
bottom-fisher is worth tfie name who cannot [if his fish he well
hooked and tackle sound) kill a two-pound roach in a sharp
stream with a single hair. Gut should be stained sHghtly to
suit the water, and a very pale green and fight amber are the
only colours ever required. It is the custom to stain gut of a
deep ink blue, but this colour is far more discernible in the
water than the plain undyed gut is. Gut is of two sorts, good
and bad. Good gut can be easily told by either the eye or the
touch. Good gut should be round, clear, bright, hard, even
in size, and almost colourless. Bad gut is flat, greasy, dull,
raffy, or rough and frayed, uneven in size, and of a green
tinge ; indeed the greener it is the worse it is. This is the gut
that is chiefly used for drawing purposes. Bad gut may often
be had for a little money, but it is never cheap to the angler.
When not using it, always as much as possible keep your gut
from the light, for damp hardly rots it sooner than sunUght.

The best reels for bottom-fishing are the plain reels with
a fight check. Do not have a multipHer even at a gift. It
is an abomination.* In using hair from a punt, unless you hold
the line loose in your hand, the check will be almost too much,
and a plain winch is preferable. Your winch should hold forty
or fifty yards of fine line. This running or reel line should
be of very fine dressed silk ; undressed, it is apt, when wet, to
cling about the rod and rings, and it also rots sooner. (In
the Nottingham style undressed fines are required.) Never
use any mixture of horsehair in your reel line, as it is so apt to
knot and tangle that it is always catching in something. In
using the long cane rods mentioned above, the Lea fishers do
not often use a reel or running line at all, but simply fasten their
lines to the eye of the rod- top. When a good fish is hooked
they play him for a time with the whole rod, which, from its

* The author might be of a different opinion now. Multiplying reels of
American make are highly praised by those who use them, and are reckoned
indispensable in tarpon fishing. — Ed.

t4 A BOOK ON ANGLING

length, enables them to follow the fish and keep over him
almost anywhere he may choose to go. As he becomes more
tractable they unscrew and drop off a joint or two, until,
having him almost supine, half the rod is thus dropped and the
fish is led in by a small Ught rod of some three or four joints,
and of very manageable dimensions.

Of floats for stream-fishing, I have before said they should
be suited to the water. I may now say that there are several
sorts, but I never use but two. For heavy streams cork
floats of various weights, and tapering gradually both ways
to the ends (the longest taper below), and for light streams
a porcupine quill. These two can be had of any size, to take
fifty shot or five. Floats are also made of quills, tapered and
fastened up in lengths, and heavily varnished, and also of reeds
of various lengths, etc. ; , but although they are very pretty
to look at, they do not stand enough wear and tear for my
money. (For floats various, see Plate II, p. 49.)

Hooks are of many sorts and sizes, and should be suited
to the fish to be angled for. The best size for ordinary roach,
dace, and barbel-fishing, whether from the bank or punt,
is that which will carry one or two gentles well, and that is
from No. 7 to 10. There are a great variety of hooks — the
Limerick, the Kirby, the sneck bend, and the round bend.
The first is sometimes used for bottom-fishing, but more often
for fly-fishing. The barb is so rank, however, that it often
takes some time to unhook the fish. Of the other patterns
it is difficult to decide which is the best. Tastes vary so
much that they all have their supporters. Some Hke the
sneck bend, and some the round bend, and some Hke the
old Kirby — some modifications of one or the other. I generally
use a hook of not quite a round bend, but with the point
deflected to the side a Httle (not too much), and bent inwards
the least trifle in the world ; and, added to this, I do not hold
with the shank being too short. It is a great fault.

Having now given an account of general bottom-fishing,
I shall proceed to treat of the various fish taken by this means
in order, with the plans and baits employed in capturing
them, beginning with the easiest of the angler's pursuits, and
so working my way through all grades until the proud position
of M.A.-ship, or, as the old joke has it, of Senior Angler is
reached.

GUDGEON-FISHING 15

THE GUDGEON (Gohio fluviatilis.)

The gudgeon is gregarious, and swims in large shoals. It
is a lively little fish, and a very sharp biter, and when the
fish are feeding well, it is no very uncommon thing to take
from five to six, or even seven dozen in one pitch. The gudgeon
spawns on the gravel in shallows and rapids in May. The ova
soon hatch, the young fry grow rapidly, and by August they
have usually attained the length of an inch. A gudgeon of
six inches is a good size, of seven of unusual size, but they
seldom attain to eight. Gudgeon bite best in clear water and
warm weather in moderately rapid streams, where the water
ranges from eighteen inches to three feet in depth. In order
to attract them it is necessary to rake up the gravel so as to
cause a thick water. The gudgeon immediately flock to the
spot in order to feed upon the small insects and worms which
are thus exposed. For this purpose a heavy iron rake, with a
long handle, is used. The angler then fishes over the raked
spot, his bait just tripping over the bottom. A light cork
float and a No. 10 hook are advisable : the gudgeon feeds
upon gentles, or any small grubs, and worms ; but nothing
can compare in point of attraction to a small fragment of red
worm, or, as it is called on the Trent, the cockspur. This
they keep on biting at until hardly a scrap is left, and often
ten or a dozen fish may be taken with the same worm. So
bold is the bite that the float plumps down under water, and
the fisherman has Httle more to do than to pull up, no matter
how, to catch the fish, though a sharp upward stroke of the
rod, the wrist and forearm being suddenly jerked up to produce
it, is desirable. The elbow should be kept close to the side,
and the rod held hghtly in the hand. For the reason that the
fish require so little skill to take them, gudgeon-fishing has
always been a favourite pursuit with the fair sex. I feel that I
might be sarcastic here, and draw morals of divers kinds.
But I refrain, for I have enjoyed many a day's gudgeon-
fishing in the fairest of fair company under such circumstances,
and I am grateful even for the recollection ; and let me tell
you, young fisherman, that it is a mighty dangerous occupation
to your peace of mind. To the angler of maturer years
gudgeon-fishing on the bosom of old Thames, with a chosen
friend, who is lively, philosophical, contemplative, or convivial
as the humour changes, a cold pigeon-pie, a bottle of sparkling
»herry, unlimited seltzer cooling in the well, a fine warm day,

l^^nerry, ur

i6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and a case of fragrant Cabanas, is not to be despised by any
means. But abler pens than mine have sung the praises of
gudgeon-fishing ; and who that is an enthusiastic Thames fisher
does not remember the greatest of our modern humorist's
lyric, with its score of rhymes to " Ditton " ? But revenons d
nos goujons. When the fish begin to slacken in their biting,
the rake must be used again, and they will renew their atten-
tions ; sometimes even a third raking will answer if the fish
round the spot are very plentiful, but more often two apphca-
tions of the rake will be found sufficient.

Gudgeon, however, not only multiply in running streams,
they thrive well in ponds. I once threw the contents of my
bait-can into a dirty horse-pond, and the gudgeons bred in
it and did well there, and lived in it for years, furnishing me
with bait upon emergencies. Indeed, the water must be very
foul indeed which a gudgeon will not be able to exist in.

The gudgeon is a most agreeable acquaintance at the
breakfast table. There is a crispness and piquancy about his
discussion, when duly fried and neatly served, which is highly
gratifying.

While fishing for him, the young angler is apt to pull up a
fish somewhat similar in appearance at the first glance, and
this is

THE POPE OR RUFFE (Acerina cernua)

The pope is of the perch family, having the distinctive
sharp spinous dorsal fin of the perch. It spawns in April,
depositing its spawn among the roots and fibres of water
plants. It takes freely the same baits as the gudgeon, and
should there be a deepish slack eddy by the side of your
gudgeon swim, and near weeds or boughs, there you will
most probably take pope. It is hardly worth notice for the
table, but what little flesh there is on it is fully as sweet and
palatable as that of the gudgeon. It bites quite as boldly as
the gudgeon, and forms a desirable prey for the young angler.
It is said to have been quite unknown to the ancients, and was
first discovered in England by the learned Dr. Caius, the
founder of Caius College, Cambridge, who flourished about
the middle of the sixteenth century, being physician to
Edward VI and the Queens Mary and EHzabeth.*

* The pope is an Arctic survival in British waters. In Siberia it attains
a length of 1 8 inches, and a weight of i h lb. — Ed.

BLEAK AND ROACH 17

THE BLEAK (Cyprinus alburnus)

is a lively, gregarious little i&sh, and is very delicate eating
when cooked in the way in which sprats are commonly cooked,
which fish it rather resembles in appearance. It abounds
in many rivers, and, though not much of a quarry for the
angler, may be taken by whipping with a gentle or a small
fly on the top of the water, or by using a light quill float, with
a scrap of worm or a gentle on a small hook, some ten or
fifteen inches under the surface. The neighbourhood of an
outflowing drain is always a favourite spot for bleak, and the
more filth that exudes from it the more attractive it is. Quick
striking must be the order of the day, as they are very sharp
and active. The bleak, from its brightness, makes an attrac-
tive bait to spin with for trout and jack, but it is tender on
the hooks, and soon wears out. The scales formerly fetched
a high price from the artificial pearl-makers, for the nacre
on them. It spawns usually in the month of May. It delights
in warm summer weather, when the surface of the water is
often dotted all over with their risings. In winter bleak do
not show so much, but get nearer the bottom, and are much
less active.

THE ROACH (Alburrus lucidus)

The roach is a gregarious fish, abounding in many of our
rivers, ponds, and lakes. It feeds upon weeds, worms, grubs,
flies, and insects of various kinds, while it will also feed greedily
upon farinaceous matters, as bread, bran, boiled wheat,
grains, etc. Roach spawn about the end of May, after which
they shelter a good deal in deep holes, or in the thick weed,
living upon the weed and the insects found among it, until
the weeds begin to turn sour with the earlier frosts of autumn,
when they take rather more to the open streams. At this
time, when, as it is termed, " the weed is out of them," they
are in their very best condition, the slimy coat they wore
among the weeds being off them, and their scales hard and
bright as silver, and the fins clear and rosy. Roach seldom
much exceed two poimds in weight in any of the waters about
London. They have been taken of three poimds weight in
waters which are not often fished, and Pennant mentions
one of five pounds y but a roach of two and a half pounds
would be held by any London angler — and they are the chief

i8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and best roach-fishers — to be a most unusual prize ; for what
the trout is to the country gentleman the roach is to the
Londoner ; and the Thames, Lea, and Colne are eagerly
sought by shoals of roach-fishers every day in the week from
June to December, and of late years I am sorry to say almost
until June again, and under such wholesale, regular, and
systematic persecution, there is no doubt but that the stock
of good roach must diminish.* The process, however, can
hardly be other than a slow one when we consider the large
roe and the wonderful fecundity of the roach. I am not in
possession of any actual facts proven by experiment as regards
the rate of growth of the roach, but I should conceive a half
pound roach, under a fair proportion of feeding, etc., to be a
fourth year's fish ; and, in the interests of angling, none but
half-pound fish or thereabouts should be taken. Roach-
fishing is very pretty sport, requiring the exercise of much skill,
patience, quickness of apprehension, and ingenuity, com-
bined with a thorough knowledge of the habits of the fish.
No greater mistake can be made than to fancy the roach is a
simple fish. When he is half-starved, and seldom fished for,
he is no doubt easy to capture. When about to spawn or just
spent he loses much of his caution and shyness ; but when
he is well fed, in high condition, and sees many rods, he
becomes amazingly shy of the hook. I am the tenant of a
portion of a river in which thousands of splendid roach may
be seen in great shoals. I have tried them by every con-
ceivable kind of baiting for two or three years, both in fair
and foul weather and fair and foul water, but I have never
succeeded in taking more than three or four at the same time,
and those I took one evening with very fine Nottingham
tackle, striking them at least fifty yards off. I have also had
some of the best roach-fishers in London down to try them,
and they have had no better success. Sometimes in dirty
water late in the winter a few good takes of splendid fish
are made, but at all other times the roach are exceedingly
wary. But this is rather an exceptional case ; and, seated
on a stump, under the shade of an old pollard willow, by
some deep, quiet hole on the Lea or Colne, the fisherman
may enjoy agreeable sport, and while watching his float with
a mundane eye to the main chance, to dream or morahse to

* Since this was written the Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1878, estabUshed a
close time, 15th March till 15th June, both inclusive, for all kinds of fresh-
water fish not of the salmon order, with exception in regard to certain
districts. — Ed.

ROACH-FISHING 19

his heart's content, as did dear old Father Izaak in days of
yore. Here is the eddy he loved, and there the bunch of
water flags, and yonder the honeysuckle hedge, but httle
changed these two hundred years or so.

The means usually pursued in roach-fishing have already
been described in bank and punt-fishing. The rods and
tackles requisite in the sport are such as are there set down.
The hook, if the water be full and the fish biting freely, should
be a No. 9, to carry two gentles. If the water be very clear,
and the fish shy, a No. 10 or 11 hook, to take only one gentle,
will be found preferable. Two dead gentles jammed together
in the fashion in which the hook is usually baited, are not a
common spectacle to the fish when the angler is using gentles
as ground-bait, and they are therefore rather liable to challenge
suspicion than otherwise. In roach-fishing, it is very customary
with some anglers to use the short-shanked hooks I have
spoken of previously ; but they are bad hooks for striking,
and do not strike true on the point of the hook. Let the
angler take one, fix the point of the hook against any substance,
and then pull the gut, and see what ensues. Let him note
the angle formed by the hook and gut, and indirect action of
the point, and he will recognise the justice of my remark. By
lengthening the shank sUghtly, the evil is mitigated.
^' In fishing with gentles, it is very common to find the gentles
blown by the fish up the shank of the hook, and often an
inch or two up the gut. Now, when you are using very fine
gut, to have to tear the gentle off it time after time is cal-
culated to wear and fray the gut, which, as it is often drawn
gut, is especially Uable to such injury ; and when one is using
two gentles, the one blown up is usually comparatively un-
injured, and might be drawn back on the hook with advantage,
the gentle at the point being the only one renewed. A good
deal of trouble in rebaiting is thus often saved, which in
very cold weather, and when the fish are biting rapidly, is
very desirable. To faciUtate the return of the gentle, it is
advisable to take two or three turns of the trying silk on the
gut above the shank, and this also preserves the gut at the
very point it is most Uable to injury. The constant wear and
tear of the binding in roach hooks, renders it necessary that
the tying should be well varnished, and that the hooks should
be prepared some time before use, that the varnish may be
thoroughly dry, hard, and impenetrable. Always use the
very neatest tackle which you can afford for roach^ Let

20 A BOOK ON ANGLING

your gut be of the finest, and delicately stained of a pale
olive-green weed colour, your shot be as unobtrusive, and
the float as light as possible. Some prefer single hair, and
I do not object to it if they do prefer it ; but I think it should
be used where you only expect to take roach, as in dull streams
and eddies, or when bank-fishing. In a sharp stream, and
from a punt, or where you may expect barbel, I do not re-
commend it. It may show sport, but to waste half an hour
over a one-pound barbel, when the roach are well on the
feed, does not suit my views ; while a small fish will often
snap the hair in the strike when aided by the length of Hne,
the weight of tackle, and a sharp stream.

The best hook-baits for roach are, as I have intimated,
first, maggots, or gentles as they are more commonly called
by metropohtan anglers. Those blown on bullock's liver,
which are shiny and yeUow, are the best by far. When using
them, the roach, not being hungry, often want a httle coaxing
or variety. When you think this is the case, instead of two
gentles use one, and point your hook with a chrysalis. But
you must strike lightly when fishing with chrysalis, or you
will have to bait afresh every swim. It will frequently happen,
too, when fishing with gentles, that the roach are shy, and
will keep on biting and nibbling, and a scene of pricking,
losing, scratching, and abortive striking takes place, in which
your two gentles become time after time mere transparent
skins, and your fish do not come to hand. When this is the
case, try a small No. ii hook, just taking enough of the skin
on the hook to attach the gentle to the hook without killing
it (hook on by the thick skin at the butt or thick end of the
gentle), and then let it down the swim twirling about alive,
and you will often get ten or a dozen good fish if you do not
lose one or two — before they find out their mistake ; perhaps
then they will take to pulling your gentle off, or, as before,
squeezing out the intestines, carefully avoiding the hook
meanwhile. Then must you string the gentle on to the hook
bodily, passing the hook into the thick end, and the point
coming out at the small end or head, and thus you may
delude a few more. Oft-times, too, when they find that the
ground-bait is rather a dangerous neighbourhood, or when
perhaps they may see the punt too clearly, they will remain
below the ground-bait, catching the atoms as they sail by.
The best fish nearly always do this, and rest quite at the end
of the swim. Then cast your ground-bait a good way off down

ROACH-FISHING 21

the swim. Let out a few yards extra of line and fish farther
off, and you will often get sport in that way when the fish
will scarcely bite at all close to the boat. All these dodges
and any more which may suggest themselves to the angler,
should be employed when the fish are biting shyly. A change
of bait will often procure a fish or two, and should never be
neglected. In fact, a judicious changing backwards and
forwards in this respect will be found highly necessary to tickle
the jaded appetites of the well-fed aldermanic roach, and
by one means or the other something Hke a take may generally
be made, provided the fish are there* Many of the above
plans, it will be seen, are equally feasible in bank-fishing.

The following plan is an ingenious one ; it was communicated
to me by an old roach-fisher who declared it to be a great patent.
I have never tried it myself, but the angler can do so if he
chooses. It often happens that when the water is clear apd
low the fish are difficult to attract, whereas, if you could dis-
colour the water a Uttle, you would not only coax the fish
to come to your swim, but would induce them to take well.
The readiest means, it would seem, is a rake, but however
attractive this may be to small fry, it does not suit good
roach. Get a tube shaped like a trumpet or a post-horn,
or get a common funnel with a large tube. Then get three
or four lengths of zinc or tin pipe, which will fit into each
other in joints Uke ferrules, of a foot or eighteen inches each
in length ; screw on a sufficient number of these to reach
the bottom of the water ; tie a stone or weight on to the small
end, sufficient to sink it to the bottom, and keep it steady ;
then thrust it overboard to the bottom of the water, the
funnel remaining above the water, and handy to you. Have
a tub near, in which mix up some clay or mould with bran
and plenty of water. Stir it up until it becomes thick slush.
Then take a half-pint mug full of this hquid and pour it into
the funnel. This rises slowly from the lower end of the tube
at the bottom of the water, and thickens it for two or three
minutes, quite sufficiently to attract the fish and set them
biting, while it does not satisfy their hunger Hke ground-bait.
Dropping your hook-bait into the muddy stream, let it follow
it down, and you will be likely to get a bite or two. You can

* Anyone can catch some roach when the big fellows are sucking down
the float quietly at every swim, just under the rod-point, and when you
have nothing to do but to strike and hook a fish ; but the artist in roach-
fishing alone will make a fair bag on an indifferent day. The above hints
are, of course, unnecessary save for the tyro. — F, F.

22 A BOOK ON ANGLING

renew the colouring matter about every quarter of an hour,
and, said my informant, '* no matter how low or bright the
water, you will get sport when none of the boats or fishermen
near you will perhaps be able to get any/'

Among other baits much favoured by roach are creed
malt and boiled wheat ; it must be boiled until it cracks,
which takes a couple of hours. Green wheat in the milky
state is a very good bait in some places ; it lasts but a short
time, however. Pearl barley, which answers the same purpose,
is a favourite bait ; it should be boiled till soft, but not too
soft. It sticks on the hooks nearly as well as gentles. Plain
paste (see bait table) is an excellent bait for roach, and usually
comes into favour as gentles go out. A piece of the size of
a big pea should be put on the hook, and the angler should be
careful not to strike too violently, or he will constantly have
to renew his bait. Some mix a little wool with the paste to
make it stay better on the hook, and it answers the purpose
pretty well. It is best used in eddies and slow streams. The
red worm is a tolerably good bait also for roach, particularly
in thick water, where the fish may have been feeding on
worms, and the large roach will often take the tail of a lob
worm sufficiently ravenously. Caddis bait is also a favourite
bait with roach, but it is a bad substitute for gentles. The
diminutive bloodworm, found in the muddy deposit at the
bottom of stagnant waters, is held to be a great attraction
for roach, but it requires a fine hook and great care to bait
it well.

SINKING AND DRAWING

Sinking and drawing with a large blow-fly on a small hook,
and a single large shot, is a killing way in warm weather.
It is, too, a scientific way, as the angler has to trust a good
deal to the sense of feeling for knowing when he has a bite, as
no float is used and the bait is often several inches under
water. The method is to let out some ten or twelve yards of
light silk line, at the end of which is some six feet of fine gut
with a small hook baited with a large blow-fly or a wasp-grub,
or even a gentle may be used in the same way, and about a
foot above this a shot or two, according to the strength of the
stream. Let the bait sink almost to mid- water by dropping
the point of the rod, and then draw it to the top by raising
the point, and so keep on falUng and raising the point of the

FLY-FISHING FOR ROACH 23

rod alternately, gradually following your bait down-stream :
strike gently but quickly at the least symptom of a bite or a
touch. In this way you also kill dace and sometimes perch,
and occasionally a trout. You may also take roach, and good
ones by fly-fishing. Indeed, in some waters, particularly
where bottom-fishing is difficult to follow by reason of weeds,
shallows, etc., excellent sport may be had with the artificial
fly. An imitation of a bluebottle or a common red or black
palmer, with a pair of wings of starling feather added to it,
is a good fly. Dress it on a No. 8 hook. It will be all the
more attractive if the hook be pointed with a gentle or a little
bit of stringy bacon skin of the size of a gentle. In default
of this, a small piece of white kid or wash-leather does well.
As a rule, roach do not take fly well upon the Thames, though
I have seen them at special times feeding voraciously on flies.
One warm day, in October, i860, the ant fly was swarming in
the air, and the water was thronged with it. I was fishing
at Hampton, and every roach in the river was feeding most
greedily on it, and on enquiry I found that the same thing
had been noticed at Twickenham and elsewhere. As the
method is exceptional there are no rules for the choice of a
fly, but if the roach are rising freely it will be desirable to
find out what they are rising at and to use that fly ; in default
of this, the angler may whip with a gentle if the fish are
inclined to rise well, and he will be pretty sure to get good
sport.

Large roach are often taken also with the lob worm when
barbel-fishing. The ground-baits for roach are as various
as the hook-baits. In still streams and quiet eddies these
should be scattered loosely in, without any admixture of
clay or any sinking matter, but the angler in doing so must
always calculate whereabouts his bait is likely to ground,
and fish there ; for if he baits in one place, and fishes a few
yards off it, his ground-bait will do him more harm than no
bait at all would. Never overhait roach ; a very httle bait
will draw them together, and a few scraps occasionally will
be all that is necessary to keep them on the watch. And
therefore a little bait scattered over a space where all can
get at it is better than a mass where only two or three can
plunge their noses into it and succeed in gorging themselves.
There is no plan so absurd, so literally destructive of sport,
as that pursued by the majority of Thames fishermen, with
their huge piles of puddings of clay, bran, gentles, greaves.

24 A BOOK ON ANGLING

bread, and what not ; an occasional ball or two mixed up with
clay, of about the size of a plum, is useful to keep the ground
baited ; but this is a very different thing from casting in
five or ten at a time, as big as large oranges.

For casting in loose, in eddies, either gentles, scalded
greaves, or chopped worms, may be used ; these baits are
likely to attract barbel to the swim also ; or any of the above-
named hook-baits, as bran (wetted) with ground barley,
boiled wheat, grains, rice boiled, or baker's raspings. Some
anglers use bread, but I cannot bring myself to hke this
plan ; it goes entirely against my grain to take a half-quartern
loaf and cast if to the fishes ; it smacks too much of " taking
the children's bread and casting it to the dogs," and seems
to me too wholesale a waste. When used, it is soaked and
squeezed up with the bran ; but a handful or two of refuse
rice is a much better and handier bait. It is a very good plan
to damp the bran slightly, and mixing with a handful or two
of pollard or meal and a little rice, to squeeze it, and work
it lightly together over a small pebble into balls about the
size of large plums. This can be used instead of the clay bait,
when the stream is only moderately rapid ; it breaks directly
it touches the bottom, and scatters all over the swim ; but as
it is soon swept away, a small ball now and then of clay, as
recommended above, is advisable. If fishing with paste, a
few pellets thrown in now and then near the float, will be
found advisable. Other anglers use bullock's brains as a
ground-bait ; but as it seems that it is necessary to chew
them raw — a process my gorge rises at the thought of — I
have never tried them. In the midland counties, however,
particularly on the Trent, the bait is in great request, and is
called by anglers " pith." But if gentles, greaves, worms,
pearl barley, rice, and paste fail, the angler may very reason-
ably give up fishing. Although roach are not supposed to be
fish-eaters, I have often seen and heard of their running at
and taking a spinning bait ; but I look upon such facts as
mere aberrations.

THE RUDD (Leuciscus Erythrophthalmus)

is a widely distributed fish, being found in many lakes, ponds,
and rivers throughout the kingdom. The Norfolk Broads
contain great quantities of them, as do some of the Irish
lakes. I have taken large numbers in Osterly Park. They are

THE DACE 25

a somewhat similar fish to the roach, though of a more coppery
tinge, and of a rather deeper and shorter make. They seldom
exceed one pound and a half in weight, and are not common
of that size.* For all angHng purposes, the directions given
for roach answer for the rudd equally. In the Thames the
two fish are often caught in the same swim, and confounded
together. " What a short, thick roach ! " the angler will
sometimes observe, as he drops it into the well. They spawn
in April, or early in May, and are said to be a better fish for
the table than roach.

THE DACE (Leuciscus vulgaris)

The dace is an active and prolific Uttle fish, slender and
graceful in its proportions. It seldom exceeds a pound in
weight, and in few rivers in England is it even taken up to
that weight ; in the Thames a dace of half a pound is unusually
large, though I once remember taking thirteen that weighed
seven pounds, my companion having previously taken his
share from the basket (which was the product of our joint
efforts) , which consisted of a like number as fine or finer ;
all these fish were taken with the tail of the lob worm when
we had baited for barbel. Never before or since, through
many long years' experience, have I seen such a take of dace
on the Thames, nor one at all approaching it for average size.
In the Colne, and the Hampshire Avon, and the Usk, however,
I have often seen dace that would weigh full three-quarters
of a pound, and even more. The dace is gregarious, and
spawns in May or June, and gets into fair condition again by
the middle of July. By August they get on the shallows,
where they may be taken in large numbers, by whipping
with almost any small fly, or even with a single gentle ; some
people, to make the fly more attractive, point the hook with
a gentle ; others, as I have recommended in roach-fishing,
use a small shred of kid or wash-leather. I have found the
inner rind of a scrap of stringy bacon answer the purpose
better perhaps than either, being a kind of compromise
between the two ; that is, something to taste, and not Hable
to be whipped off. A short stiff rod (about eight feet long)
is the best for this work. The fine should not be too long,

* I am informed on good authority that rudd are frequently taken at
Slapton weighing 2 lb. " Big rudd," writes Mr. A. W. Hi-11, " won't take fly,
but are taken by keeping well out of sight and casting a bit of breadcrust
like a fly and letting it float." — Ed.

26 A BOOK ON ANGLING

or it is not manageable, as quick striking is the order of the
day with this very nimble fish. The flies should always be
dressed upon as large hooks as the angler can afford to dress
them on, as the fish rising often in very sharp streams are
apt to break off from any slight hold. In the eddies of a
sharpish stream, over a shallow, by the side of a bank of
weeds is a sure find for them. Choose for your sport a day
that is cloudy and warm, and without much wind ; as if
there be much wind you cannot see the rises, and when you
feel them it is too late to strike dace, as they reject the fly
with great quickness ; hence the use of the gentle, or bacon
rind, to make them retain their hold. They are very quick
of sight, and on a too sunny day the angler will experience
the disappointment of seeing fish after fish, and often two or
three at a time, follow his fly for yards without taking it ;
when this is the case, try a smaller fly and finer tackle, and
don't forget the bacon or gentle.

All the methods, and arts, and tackle, recommended for
catching roach, are applicable to dace, and the hooks are of
a similar size, only as the dace is rather more carnivorous,
the angler will find worms, greaves, and geijtles preferable
to farinaceous food ; and although roach and dace for the
most part bite in the same swims, yet, if the angler desires
more particularly to fish for dace, he must choose a rather
swifter and heavier swim ; dace bite rather quicker and
sharper than roach, and the slow suck down, that so often
betrays a good roach, is not so common in dace-fishing. One
good plan of attracting small dace is to rake the bottom, as
in gudgeon-fishing, when little or no ground-bait will be
needed.

When fly-fishing for dace, be cautious and quiet, as they
are easily alarmed, and a slight wave, or unusual ripple on
the water, will instantly stop their rising. There is no bait
so good for taking dace as a red worm, or the tail of a small
lob worm ; next to that, I give the preference to gentles and
greaves.

Dace are a troublesome fish to get into a trout stream,
as their habits and food being similar to that of the trout, they
take much of the food from the trout, and being a restless
hardy fish, and, moreover, in the height of condition when
the trout are spawning, they pick up a vast quantity of the
eggs shed by the trout, and owing to these and other causes
they soon considerably outnumber and override the trout.

THE CHUB 27

The greatest number of dace I ever saw together was in the
pools in the river Usk, a mile or two below Brecon. The
pools were alive with them, and they ran very large ; I saw
some nearly a pound in weight. They were, too, in this water,
but bad risers, and were not much thinned by the fly, and
bait-fishing not being allowed, they had it all their own way,
and the trout evidently suffered in proportion to their increase.

They are a delicate fish to eat when in good order, and
should be broiled dry, a sUce of butter being then allowed to
melt upon them. They make one of the most valuable spinning
baits for jack and trout which the angler can obtain, being
bright and round, and reasonably tough on the hooks.

The metropolitan angler finds excellent dace-fishing, particu-
larly with the fly, on the various shallows between Isle worth
and Tedding ton Lock. It will be found advisable to pay
some attention to the particular fly on the water ; though
small red and black paimers will seldom fail to kill. Still
there are times when other flies will kill better, and it is
advisable to note this. I have had good sport with dims of
all kinds, ant flies, the water-cricket, the cinnamon, etc.

THE CHUB (Leuciscus cephalus)

The chub is a well-shaped, handsome-looking member of
the carp tribe ; but his value for the table much behes his
appearance, his flesh being watery, coarse, and tasteless.
The French are said to call him " un vilain," from the difficulty
they experience in rendering him toothsome, and it seems
reasonable that the fish, which even French cookery rejects
as worthless, should be held by others in the very lowest
estimation ; and yet he may be made eatable. One of the
best recipes for this purpose is the weU-known one in Izaak
Walton. Moreover, small chub of some half-pound weight, if
crimped and fried dry, are by no means so bad as above
represented, and will " pleasure " others than " poor bodies."
But I must reiterate that which he states with respect to chub,
viz. that they must be cooked as soon as caught, for if kept
even for the night they are worthless.
l^pThe chub spawns early in May, and not uncommonly
■^feaches the weight of six or seven pounds, though seldom
taken over that weight. Yarrell says he cannot find one
[■pcorded of over five pounds weight, but I have seen them of

28 A BOOK ON ANGLING

six pounds in the Thames, and have heard of them of seven
or eight pounds. The chub is rather an omnivorous fish, and
may be taken in almost any way ; he will rise freely at a fly,
will run equally at a spinning-bait,* or a live minnow ; at
slugs, worms, snails, frogs, greaves, pastes, and particularly
cheese, he is a perfect glutton.

About June chub go upon the shallows to clean themselves ;
the tail of a pool, where there is a sharpish stream, is a favourite
place for them. Here they may be taken in some good numbers
with a good rough palmer or alder fly, provided the angler
gives them a rest for every two or three fish which he takes, as
they are a very shy fish, and easily alarmed. Later on, as
the season gets warmer, they retire to deep holes, or under
banks, large stumps, roots, old campshots, or beneath over-
hanging boughs ; these last are usually a sure find, for there
they lie on the watch for any insect that may drop from the
branches above into their ever-ready jaws ; and nothing
Hving that is small enough comes amiss to them, for chub
will take cockchafers, bumblebees, wasps, palmers, and
caterpillars of all kinds — beetles, slugs, and snails most raven-
ously. I know of no pleasanter way of fishing for chub, on a
warm summer evening, than drifting quietly along just within
a long cast of the boughs, having on for a bait a large rough
red or black palmer, or, if they rise not well to these, an
imitation bumblebee, of which a cut may be seen in Plate IX,
Fig. 4. page 211, if the fish are inclined to rise at all, one of
these lures will seldom fail to kill ; the alder, or the cinnamon,
or any large trout fly will also kill well, and casting in as far
under the boughs as may be practicable. When the chub
rises to the fly, the angler must be a bungler indeed who
neglects to stick his hook into his huge leathern portmanteau
of a mouth. He fights well for a minute, but does not last,
for after his first run he is soon subdued. The above is the
pleasantest way of fishing for chub, but not the most kilHng,
particularly for large fish. A better plan is to use a stiff
double-handed fly rod and a single perch hook ; on this stick the
head of a lob worm, or a lump of greaves, or a bunch of gentles,
and cast it hke a fly towards the boughs, bank, or campshot,
and let it sink to mid-water, working it towards you, and at

* I have frequently, when spinning for trout, taken chub of four pounds
weight and upwards, to my considerable disgust and disappointment ; and
how I have anathematised them for taking the salmon fly, just when some
salmon has shown himself on the Wye, where they abound, I hardly like to
recall. — F. F.

DAPING FOR CHUB 29

the slightest symptom of a touch strike smartly ; indeed, the
bait should never be drawn out of the water to repeat the
throw without a strike ; by this means both perch and trout
may often be taken. It is the best way of taking good chub,
combined with exercise and motion, and is pleasanter than
the practice of daping, or float-fishing. With regard to the
former, no better instructions have ever been given than those
of Izaak Walton. My advice on this point is brief. Having
found out the holes and spots where the chub are, and having
decided how they can be fished, let the angler first see that
his rod and line are all in proper trim, and his hook carefully
baited.* The spot must then be approached with the utmost
caution ; he must keep out of sight behind some bush or tree,
on his hands and knees if need be. If he cannot accompUsh
this he must do the best he can, and having reached the spot
he intends to fish from, he must try perfect quiet, and give the
fish time to recover from the alarm he has thrown them into.
Next, protruding his rod at an angle of 45° over the water,
with as little flourish or disturbance as possible, he may allow
the baited hook to fall from the hand in which he has held it,
so that it may hang some six or eight inches from the water ;
gradually and very gently he may move the point of the rod
over the spot where the fish are thickest ; having arrived so
far, he may drop his bait smartly on the surface of the water.
If the chub rises and gobbles it down directly (as, if the angler
has conducted his operations properly, wiU most Ukely be
the case) he must not strike immediately, or the fish will
splash upon the top of the water, and so disturb every chub
within yards of the spot. But he must allow the fish to turn
his head well down, and then give him a gentle pull (not a
sharp strike), and put a strong persuasive drag on in order to
lead him away from the spot, so that he may not by flying
about all over the hole disturb the others, for, if he is permitted
to do so, the angler will barely take another fish in the hole,
whereas by conducting his measures properly he may take
three or four or more. Having landed his fish with as little

* Before the angler ever attempts to fish any special hole, swim, pitch,
or cast, let him study the spot, and settle in his own mind how it can best
be fished to advantage ; how this bough or that obstruction, may be avoided ;
hoW the wind acts with reference to them ; how an eddy may be used or
avoided, and how the spot can be approached best without his being seen
or heard. By so doing, in many cases, he will avoid the disappointment so
often consequent upon hastiness ; and the practice of such consideration
will, in time, so improve his judgment and quickness that this portion of
his art will appear almost like intuition to the less considerate angler. — F. F.

30 A BOOK ON ANGLING

noise as possible, he must bait the hook, and swing it out over
the hole again, and there let it hang for a few minutes previous
to dropping it on the surface, in order that the chub may
thoroughly recover their equanimity. When the fish become
quite disturbed, the angler should leave the spot, casting in a
handful of ground-bait ere he goes. No good will be done
by his continuing to fish it, for the chub will not come on the
feed again unless left to themselves for an hour or more, when
he may come back and renew his attentions with success.

The best baits for daping are cockchafer, bumblebee, grass-
hopper, large flies of various kinds, and the young frog. Flies
should be hooked on sideways through the thorax, and not
from head to tail, and as little line as possible should rest on
the water when daping with them. Fishing with the young
frog is a very kiUing method of fishing for chub. The following
method I have from Mr. Rolfe, the well-known fish artist,
and by this means almost any spot can easily be fished. The
worst things one has to contend with in daping are the branches
and fohage on the wooded spots where this kind of angling
is chiefly followed ;] the difficulty being to get the line and
hook out over the water without entanghng. To do this,
various expedients have been adopted — twisting the line
round the top of the rod, and then poking it through holes
in the bushes over the water, and there untwisting it by turning
the rod round like a mop handle the reverse way to the twist.
But this is tedious, and not always certain. Mr. Rolfe's plan
is far better. Use a long, light, and stiffish rod with upright
rings, a very fine soft silk Nottingham fine ; have a perch
hook on about a foot of fine gut for the line, and a bullet of
sufficient weight made fast at the join between the foot of
gut and the silk line. Take a small lively frog (you can get
any number of them collected by country lads at the right
period of the year). Hook a very little bit of the skin of the
frog's back on the bend of the hook (just enough to secure with-
out damaging him), as Izaak sayeth, " Treat him as if j^ou loved
him," though it may be a queer method of expressing one's
sentiments. Now, having wound all the line up on your reel
until the bullet touches the eye of the rod-top, check the line
so as to keep it there. You have then but the foot of gut with
the hook and frog hanging from the point, and there are very
few holes amongst foliage, where you may desire to fish,
through which this cannot easily be passed without catching
in any twigs. Having passed it through, and the rod-point

VARIOUS BAITS 31

being over the spot you want to fish, release the Une, and the
weight of the bullet will draw it out directly. As the frog
glides down towards the surface, ease the Hne slowly, as it
is not desirous to plump him or the bullet into the water,
but to keep him on the surface, so that not an inch of the Une
should touch the water, but the frog should just rest, as it
were, upon the surface, the bullet being a foot above him and
quite out of the water, of course. The moment the frog touches
the water, he will begin to strike out, and in his ineffective
attempts to swim away he will kick up such an attractive bob-
bery on the top of the water that all the chubs within reasonable
range will come to see what the disturbance is, and to a cer-
tainty they will think it necessary to take the disturber of
the peace into custody.

Tastes differ. Some like frogs, and some cockchafers and
some bumblebees. I have another friend who is a very success-
ful angler for large chub on the Thames, and who vows that
no respectable chub is seen out after the grey of the morning.
He then goes out, and rows very gently up-stream as far away
from the spots he intends to fish as possible, and drops down
the river with the most intense caution, with muffled rowlocks
and carpet sHppers, Hke a housebreaker, grasping his jemmy
or fishing-rod, and with hardly a breath or motion. He knows
the exact spots, calculates his distance nicely, and casts an
artificial cockchafer into the holes, the hook being attractively
garnished with two or three gentles, which give the cockchafer
the savoury appearance of having had his intestines squeezed
out, a state of things which he declares that no chub can resist ;

■and he certainly does catch some very large chub where no
one would expect them. He says, however, that so timid are
the larger chub that at the slightest disturbance they return to
their holes ; the slightest noise or motion is fatal, and that,
if he finds a boat even has gone blundering up the river before

i^- him, he does not think it worth while to go out.
^K One of the most common and general ways of fishing for
chub is with float and ground-bait ; the best baits to use thus
for chub are greaves and cheese. There is a coarse common
kind of cheese made in the north and in Wales for about 2d.
per pound, which is suitable for this purpose.* The greaves
should be broken up and scalded ; the cheese cut to the size

I of gooseberries.
As chub are rather shy, the angler, particularly if he is in a
• It is long since cheese of any kind could be had at that figure ! — Ed.
I

32 A BOOK ON ANGLING

punt or boat, must fish for them some distance from him, and
he must, therefore, when throwing in his bait, calculate
whereabouts it will ground or be dispersed on the bottom
rather nicely, because over that part of the swim he must fish
the most carefully. This should not be nearer to him than ten
yards, and from twelve to twenty will be better. Use Notting-
ham tackle, which will be described presently. The float,
of course, must suit the stream. The hook, if greaves or cheese
be used, should be a small triangle, and the depth plumbed
so that the bait may travel naturally along the bottom without
dragging too much. The Nottingham tackle used in " Hght
corking " will be about the tackle for this purpose. The
tackle dropped in, and the swim commenced, the rod is held
almost upright, the point inclining a little forward. If the
weight of the stream does not take the line out fast enough,
it must be handed off the reel. The great object is not to check
the hne, but to let the bait travel steadily onward. Presently
the float disappears and the angler must strike smartly and
firmly (as he may have a good length of line to Hf t off the water)
back over his right shoulder. If he has hooked his fish, he
then winds steadily on him until he winds him up into the
swim under the point of the rod, when, if he has been brought
up from any distance, he is usually fit for the landing-net.
In this kind of fishing, which is called " traveller " fishing
(the float being the traveller), a long swim is made if the
bottom admits it, and it is common enough to strike fish forty
or even fifty yards off. Many sorts of fish are caught in this
way, as I shall show.

Chub are often, too, caught when float-fishing in the ordinary
roach and dace style, either from punt or bank, mostly,
however, at the extreme end of the swim, and if there be a chub
about, a swim of some five or ten yards extra will often be
rewarded with a good one. Many trout and even salmon
rivers abound in chub, as the Welsh Wye and Irvon, where
they are a positive nuisance to the angler, and take the place
and food of better fish. I once, when fishing the Wye with a
very light eleven-foot trout rod, had two of these brutes on
at the same time of about two pounds each, and no landing-
net. I was fishing a very promising run of trout and grayhng
water, and, to my disgust" they quite spoiled all chance of
sport in it. They are very abundant also in the Kennet, Wind-
rush, and many other excellent trout streams, which suffer
severely by their superabundance.

THE BARBEL 33

The scales of chub, as well as those of bleak, were formerly
valuable for the nacre upon them to the artificial pearl-makers,
but a better substitute has long rendered them valueless.

It is but seldom the angler would either spin or use a Hve
bait for chub, as their taking it is rather the exception than
the rule, though they do take both spinning and Hve baits
at times. Besides cheese and greaves for bottom baits, chub
are very partial to various grubs and caterpillars, to the black
slug, to snails, gentles, and worms. The chub Ukes a large
and fat mouthful, so that the hook may be well covered.

I always look upon the chub with somewhat of veneration ;
for was it not that historical chub, that chub Dagon in fact,
with the white spot on his tail, that was the first fish that
introduced me to old Izaak ? I trow it was, and well do I
remember, although so many years have passed away, how
from that chub I devoured the work to the end. Venator and
Auceps I cared nought for. I care nothing for them now.
They were simple nuisances ; they are excrescences, wens,
which should be cut off. Indeed, I doubt if ever I waded
through their conversations.

THE BARBEL (Barbus vulgaris)

So named from the barbs or wattles that depend from the
sides of the mouth. It is a coarse, watery, flavourless, bony
fish, and of httle value for the table unless it be used as stock
for fish-soup. Albeit I have seen fishermen eat them, first,
however, spHtting them down the back, and taking out the
backbone Barbel spawn in May or June, and get into con-
dition about the end of July, before which time, therefore,
they ought to be spared by the angler. Bottom-fishing
commences on the Thames in June, and numbers of barbel
are often caught in a gravid state. I have seen them captured
at that time, when the spawn and milt was running from
them at the sUghtest pressure. The barbel is gregarious, and
is a widely distributed fish, being found in abundance in many
of the Continental rivers. It abounds also in the Crimea.
With us it is seldom found to reach above sixteen pounds in
weight, and one of twelve pounds, though not very uncommon,
is not taken every day. The barbel, from the size of its fins and
its powerful muscles, affords great sport, the sport being much
enhanced by the very fine tackle which is often employed in
his capture ; and a day's good barbel-fishing witli fine float

34 A BOOK ON ANGLING

tackle, when the barbel are biting freely, is not to be despised,
for you may sometimes have fish of eight, ten, and even twelve
pounds weight upon the finest possible hook and tackle.

There are two means employed for barbel-fishing — by
float-fishing and by a stationary bait kept in its place by
means of a plummet ; and, firstly, I shall treat of float-fishing
for barbel. The barbel's powerful fins enable him to frequent
the strongest and heaviest streams, and in these, if there be
a ledge or a deep hole or eddy in which he can rest, there he
will be found, and usually with many friends in his company.
Having found out his whereabouts, the next thing is to decide
upon the swim, and how to bait and fish it most advantage-
ously. There are many places which barbel affect, and in
which the largest fish will often be found, which, owing to
the turbulence of the water, can only be fished with ledger
tackle ; but for the float choose a moderately sharp part of
the stream as near the supposed hole as may conveniently be.
It should have a fairly level bottom without large stones or
other obstructions, and be of tolerably equable depth, with a
steady current and not too much eddy or boil. If the float on
the first trial be drowned or sucked under, a heavier one, with
a weightier set of tackle, should be chosen. Eight or ten BB
shots as sinkers will fish most streams, but the Hghtest tackle
which the stream will carry is the best, provided the float
swims easily and steadily. It is advisable that the swim
should not be less than four feet in depth, nor for the con-
venience and comfort of the angler should it be more than
from eight to ten, or the tackle will need to be heavy, and the
depth will be unmanageable for comfortable fishing. Of course,
I am here referring to the choice of a swim and to ordinarily
clear water. There are plenty of cases where there is no choice,
and the angler may be obHged at times to fish in fifteen or
twenty feet of water. On the other hand, if the water be
heavy and coloured much with rain, he will sometimes get
good fishing in three or four feet. Having found out where
there are barbel, and selected the swim, all that the angler has
to do is to bait the stream and fish it. If, however, he does not
know where there are barbel he should keep his eyes open,
and mark where he sees a barbel jump ; for, as they are by no
means a solitary fish, he will probably there find more of them.
Barbel are a very restless fish, jumping out of the water all
day long, differing in this from many fish which only show
themselves so in the morning and evening. It is said that they

BARBEL-FISHING 35

jump thus to free themselves from parasites to which they are
very subject.

If the angler cannot fix upon a swim in this way, he should
choose a swim such as I have described, and which ends in,
or runs by the edge of, some deep hole or eddy, or where there
are old piles or roots, sunken boats, or rubbish of any kind
which may afford harbours for the fish. This he should bait
in such fashion that some of the bait shall find its way into
the hole and amongst the rubbish, and so coax the fish from
their holes to look for more, even though a hook should be
concealed in some of it. Failing in all these methods, he must
rove for them, and this, after all, is much the pleasantest way
of fishing. Coming to the river's side, he chooses a swim
which appears suitable, and which he finds is tolerably level.
Here he breaks up two or three worms or other bait, and
throws them loosely into the water, so that they shall find
the bottom all about the swim he designs to fish. Then he
takes half a dozen or a dozen swims. If he catches a fish he
throws in another worm or two. If the fish go on biting he
keeps on fishing, now and then throwing in a worm or two to
draw them together. If the place appears likely to show sport,
he throws in perhaps half a dozen or a dozen worms broken up,
and fishes the swim until the fish are exhausted or go off, when
he seeks another swim. Should he, however, get no fish or
bite in half a dozen swims he continues onward down-stream
until he comes to the next most Ukely swim, when he tries
that "in Uke manner — never stopping longer in one swim
than the fish bite. •

In this method of fishing the angler must make as little
disturbance on the bank as possible, or he will alarm every
fish. Should he, however, know where a good store of barbel
lie, having chosen the swim, he will proceed to bait it with
about 1000 fresh lob or dew- worms, coming to it at least twenty
hours before he intends to fish it. He breaks each worm up
into about four pieces, and casts the whole into the place he
intends to fish. On the Thames, in order to keep the bait
from straying too far, the worms are enclosed in huge balls of
clay, and the fishermen bait the night before fishing ; so that
when they come in the morning, less than twelve hours after,
they find the fish collected together, doubtless, but gorged
with the worms so profusely provided for them, and so close
to the place where the punt-poles are to be driven in, and the
punt or boat fixed, that the fish, startled, even if they are

36 A BOOK ON ANGLING

hungry, get shy of the boat and retire to a distance. On the
Trent they do not put the bait into clay, but let it scatter down
the stream ; and as they fish a long way from the stand or
boat, as the case may be, the barbel are not alarmed by the
proximity of the angler. Whether the angler fishes from a
stand on the shore, or from a boat, the method is the same.
The object is to let the hook-bait travel over the whole distance
along which the ground-bait has been scattered, dragging,
like the ground-bait, slowly along the bottom. (For barbel,
which are a ground-routing fish, the bait should always touch
the bottom.) Coming, then, to the spot which has been baited,
and having determined the depth, so as to let the bait drag
slightly, cast in some ten or a dozen broken worms, in order to
set the fish biting again — taking care, of course, to keep the
bait as much in a fine as possible with the spot which you have
taken the depth of. The float should be of the sort used by the
Nottingham fishers, and described hereafter. The hook should
be a straight round-bend worm-hook, of about No. 5 or 6, and
tied upon fine but round stained gut. The nearest shot should
be at least a foot or fifteen inches from the hook, or, if it be
requisite that the bait should drag much, even more than that
distance. The bait should be the tail of a bright-red well-
scoured lob worm, neatly threaded on the hook, with barely
one-third of an inch of the tail off the point of the hook, which
should always be thoroughly covered and concealed in the bait.
Be sure that your hook-bait is always a part of the best and
liveUest worm you can select. Having baited the hook, drop
it into the water, and allow it to travel onwards as described
in Nottingham fishing.

Barbel are often taken with the Hghter appUances used in
roach-fishing, and excellent sport is thus enjoyed. Should the
angler use greaves or cheese as a bait, no change in the style
of fishing is needed, save that the cheese should drag on the
ground as lightly as possible, or it will come off the hook.

In fishing with a stationary bait, two plans are also adopted.
The first is by the use of the ledger, and the second by the clay
ball. The ledger is composed of a perforated lead, usually a
good-sized bullet, through which the line runs freely ; a shot
being fastened on the line, about two feet above the hook,
to prevent the bullet from sliding farther down towards the
hook. (See Plate I, Fig. 3, p. 9.) In this tackle a flat lead
is shown, but a perforated bullet can be used if preferred.

The hook for ledger-fishing is generally a size or so larger

THE STEWART WORM-TACKLE 37

than that used for float-fishing, and is baited with a clean and
hvely lob worm : though greaves and even gentles are some-
times used for a change, worms are the greatest stand by.
In baiting the hook, some people take off the head of the
worm, if it be large, preferring only to cover the hook well.
As I have said, in baiting a barbel hook generally, only the
smallest portion of the tail of the worm should be allowed
beyond the point of the hook. The tackle is then swung and
pitched forward to the requisite distance — i.e. where the fish
are supposed to be the most plentiful ; and the lead is allowed
to remain upon the bottom, a tight Une being kept on it, so
that the fisherman may just feel the lead, without Ufting it
at all from the bottom. The moment a bite occurs, the angler
will feel it, as the line is not checked at all between the bullet
and the point of the rod. At the first touch he should not
strike, as the barbel nibbles a httle at a stationary bait ; but
when he feels two or three sharp jogs at the rod-point, he may
strike upwards sharply, as he has to strike the lead from the
bottom, as well as to stick the hook into the fish. For the
first half-second he should hold the line firmly, so as to fix
the hook securely in the fish's mouth ; after which he may
let him run, if he be a big one, and play him to the best of his
abiUty. The weight of the lead will help him much in tiring
the fish ; the hold seldom gives if the hook be of good size, as
the mouth of a barbel is very leathery and tough.

I will now recommend a species of tackle for this sort of
fishing, which I deem to be very superior to the single hook
usually employed. One of the greatest annoyances the angler
experiences in ledgering, is the constant occurrence of nibbles
or short bites, at which he is often induced to strike futilely ;
the consequence of which being that the bait is torn or dis-
arranged, and the hook so exposed that it becomes necessary
to draw it up and bait afresh. If the fish are well-fed and
shy, he will get three or four or more nibbles for one bite :
and as the bait is a rather long and large one, and the hook
likewise, it is useless to strike unless the fish has it in his
mouth. Let the angler then adopt the Stewart worm-
tackle, shown in Plate IX, Fig. 2, page 211, consisting
of three small fly-hooks tied on one above the other, at in-
tervals of half an inch or so — (the hooks should be rather
larger and stouter than those used for trout) — and let him
fix his worm on these and strike at every nibble, and the
result will astonish your Thames puntsman considerably.

38 A BOOK ON ANGLING

Indeed, by laying the rod down and stopping the reel, the fish
as often as not will hook themselves. After catching a few
fish, whether by float or ledger, if the fish go off biting a little,
throw in two or three broken worms to set them on the feed
again ; but the angler must beware of overfeeding them
while the fish are biting, as many a day's sport is spoilt by this
foolish habit.

The next stationary way of fishing is by what is called the
clay ball. This plan is used chiefly from a punt or boat, and
is often successful in clear water ; it is employed, too, chiefly
when gentles or greaves are used as a bait, about half a dozen
gentles or a small piece of greaves being stuck on a perch-
hook. About a foot or more above the hook, a little bit of
stick, of about an inch in length, is fastened cross-wise ;
this is for the purpose of holding the ball on the line. A lump
of stiff clay, of the size of an orange, is then taken, and some
gentles being enclosed in it, it is worked up with bran over the
piece of stick on to the line. The gut between the ball and the
hook is then wound round the ball and drawn into the clay,
which is squeezed and worked over it, so that only the hook
shall protrude beyond the proper end of the ball, which is
then dropped to the bottom — the hook with the gentles show-
ing just outside the ball, in the most attractive way (see
Plate 11. Figs. 8 and 9, p. 49). Soon the gentles in the clay
force their way out, and the fish taking them from the ball,
almost invariably take those on the hook also ; the angler
strikes when he feels a bite, which he does almost as easily
as with the ledger, and the strike shakes and breaks off the
clay ball, leaving the line free to play the fish. Some anglers,
to make the lure more deceptive, enclose the hook in the clay
ball and let the fish dig it out, but it is not necessary ; a stoutish
rod and tackle are required. This is a very killing plan, when
the fish are biting shyly ; but it cannot, of course, be practised
far from the punt or boat.

The French fish somewhat in this style, using a short
piece of whalebone or stick, of some eighteen inches long,
instead of a rod, and playing the fish, when hooked, with the
hands. The tackle they use is of course stout. They weld up
horse-dung with the clay ball, which is supposed to render
it more attractive. I have seen a Frenchman make some
very good takes of barbel in this way, with about twelve
feet of water-cord, and the half of an old umbrella rib. The
slightest bite is felt very distinctly with this apparatus.

I

A LONG FIGHT 39

Though cheese is often used in float-fishing, it is more
often so used for chub (which are particularly fond of cheese)
than barbel. The cheese used on the Trent and in the midland
counties is made of skim-milk, and without salt ; it must be
cut into small pieces, of the size of a small gooseberry. As at
every strike or two the bait requires to be renewed, when other
baits can be obtained it is not much in favour. Barbel also
takes greaves well, and likewise gentles ; both may be used
either with float or ledger. Barbel, particularly the larger
ones, may, in the spring of the year, often be taken with a
spinning bait, when the angler is spinning for trout, in weir-
pools and such rough water. I have known many large ones
caught thus, and one of above fifteen pounds was taken years
back by poor old Bill Wisdom, at Hampton Court weir on
the Thames. Still they cannot be called a predaceous fish.
Another bait which answers well for them is a piece of a
lampern ; this is a killing bait in November, when the lamperns
are running — the ground-bait being the head, blood, and
intestines of lamperns. I have, with the ledger, made some
very fine takes with this bait, once taking many heavy fish,
my first four being five, six, eight, and twelve pounds re-
spectively. It is not often used, however, as the barbel
retires to winter-quarters at the first smart frost, and the
lamperns seldom run in any numbers until a frost or two
has occurred.

Fishing for barbel with fine roach tackle is, however,
certainly productive of the most sport, though it is not the
way to make a large bag ; for, if the angler be using fine
roach tackle, and hooks a good fish, he may waste an hour
or an hour and a half over him, and then lose him after
all, as I have done scores of times. I always fished with
single hair formerly, when float-fishing from a punt, and
have killed very many barbel of four and five pounds weight
with it ; but so much time and so many fish were lost at it,
that J have long discontinued it. I once remember, many
years since, hooking an apparently large fish on single hair,
about five o'clock one November afternoon. I played him
for a long time until my arm grew tired, when I handed the
rod to a friend who was with me. He tired, and handed the
rod to Wisdom, who in turn, gave it back to me. They both
despaired of our ever kilhng the fish, and set his weight at a
dozen pounds at least. " He'll take you all night, sir," said
Wisdom. " Then I'll stop with him all night, if he does not

40 A BOOK ON ANGLING

break me, for I never have been able to kill one of these big
ones with a single hair," was my reply. I had often on the
same spot hooked three or four of these monsters in a morning,
but I never could kill one of them. They always got away,
for not far below us was a large deep hole, full of snags, old
roots, and rubbish ; and sooner or later they always remem-
bered their hold there, and dashed into it headlong. Even
stout ledger-tackle would hardly have held them, and that
they were were very shy at, preferring the single hair greatly.
This hole was about fifty yards below us, and I constantly
expected the fish would make for it. However, though he
made constant runs, he never cared to go above half the
distance, but sheered about, now out in the stream and now
in towards the campshot.* It had long been dark, and he
showed no symptoms of tiring, though he had in turn tired
all of us. Pla5dng a fish in the dark is awkward work, so we
hailed some men, several of whom, attracted by the report
of our having hooked " a big un," were standing on the bank,
to bring us a couple of lanthorns and some hot brandy and
water, for it was bitterly cold ; and with the aid of the
lanthorns we at length managed to get the net under the
fish and lifted him out. It was half-past eight when he was
landed, so that I had had him on three and a half hours.
And now what does the reader think he weighed ? I was
disgusted to find that he was only a six and a half pound
fish ; had I known it, I would have broken from him hours
before ; but it turned out that he was hooked by the back-
fin, and his head being perfectly free, of course he played as
heavily as a fish of double the size ; and even now, remem-
bering what the stream was, I wonder how I did succeed in
landing him, as a fish so hooked, having his broadside opposed
to the water, has great power of resistance. Indeed, I consider
that the accomplishment was equal to killing a fish of double
the weight if fairly hooked. The feat may sound incredible
— three hours and a half with only a single horsehair, a fin-
hooked fish, and a heavy stream — nevertheless it is strictly
true. Had the hold been in the mouth instead of the hard,
tough fin, it would probably have cut out in half the time.
Now I give this piece of advice to all anglers who may be
fishing from a punt with roach tackle, and who chance to

* " The campshot," as it is termed on the Thames, is the wooden boarding
and piling that keeps up the bank of the river. In places where it gets old
and broken, it makes a famous harbour for fish. — F. F.

c

tWE WEIGHT OF BARBEL 41

took a big one, and it is a wrinkle worth remembering. Let
the punt go from the poles and get below him if you can,
before he knows what he is about, so as to lead him down-
stream as far from his hold (and big fish always have one)
as possible. For if you continue to play him about the spot
where you hooked him, sooner or later he will make a bolt
to his hold, when you may wish him good-bye. Therefore,
get him, if possible, to travel into a strange country, when,
if the bottom be fairly clear and the hold good, you may
easily reduce it to a question of patience.

There is one more way of catching barbel which is not at
all a general one, but it is perhaps the most sporting way
of any, and certainly in the hands of an adept it is a very
killing way. The plan is somewhat similar to that pursued
by trout fishers with the worm in rather heavy waters. Use
a large hook, or a Stewart's tackle, with three or four swan
shot, or a pistol bullet, cast up-stream, and let the line come
down, the lead and bait travelling naturally along the bottom,
and the angler striking by feeling the bite as in worming for
trout. I have heard of famous sport being gained in this
way with fine tackle, and that in weather when other modes
failed. I have never tried it, however.

The largest barbel I ever took or saw taken weighed a
Uttle over, twelve pounds, and was taken on the ledger with
lampern bait, as noted above. I have seen scores of ten and
even eleven pound fish, but an honest twelve pounder is
decidedly rare in the Thames. One hears of twelve pounders
often, but one does not see them weighed, and Thames water,
from its strong magnifying powers, should be used for micro-
scopes.

CHAPTER II

BOTTOM-FISHIN G—continiied

Nottingham Angling — Casting from the Reel — Daceing — Light Corking —
The Slider, etc.

HAVING spoken of the Nottingham style of fishing,
it may be as well here to give some idea of its
method and the means and apphances required
for it. In the first place, then, as to tackle,
Nottingham reels differ widely from those commonly em-
ployed ; they are usually made of wood and in two pieces,
the barrel of the reel upon which the line is wound turning
on a spindle fixed in the centre of the portion which forms
the immovable part of the reel. This is contrived so that the
barrel shall run with the utmost freedom at the hghtest touch.
These reels were invented chiefly for bank-fishing, where it is
required to cast out a long line. In the fashion pursued by
the fishermen who require to cast a long line on the Thames,
for ledgering or spinning more particularly, the line is drawn
off the reel and laid loosely in coils at the fisherman's feet,
unless he be dexterous enough to gather it up in the palm
of the left hand as some do, and such a practice would not
do where the angler is walking along the bank of a river, or
fishing haply from a withy or reed bed, for his line would be
constantly catching in twigs, thorns, or particles of rubbish,
and a tangle at the rings would be inevitable at every cast.
Added to this, the Nottingham style of float-fishing absolutely
requires the finest and hghtest silk running-hne made, and
the line used for float-fishing is of Derby twist, scarcely coarser
than common netting-silk. This would, if laid in coils, or
gathered in the hand, tangle up into inextricable knots ;
consequently it is required to run off the reel, and with the
utmost exemption from friction — for if there were much
friction it would not run at all. Indeed, such is the freedom
of these reels, that more often than not, in throwing a heavy

42

NOTTINGHAM TACKLE 43

tackle or letting out long line, it is requisite to moderate their
pace. As the right hand is engaged in holding the rod, this
is effected by the pressure of the fore-finger of the left hand
on the edge or circumference of the revolving reel, according
as the pace is required to be regulated, while by increasing
the pressure the run of the line may be stopped altogether.
If this precaution be not taken, the reel, when in full impetus,
turns round so much faster than the line runs out through
the rings, that it is apt to overrun the hne, and a sad tangle
is the result. This part of the operation requires practice —
and a good deal of practice. Indeed, the whole system is
much more difficult than the one in ordinary use on the
Thames ; but to compensate for this it is much neater and
more deadly when once acquired.

The equipment of the Nottingham roach and dace-fisher
will be as follows : Rod, light and springy, more flexible
than a Thames punt-rod, but not so flexible as a fly-rod —
almost midway between the two — about twelve or thirteen
feet long, and not too heavy for one hand, and with small
upright rings ; a wooden reel with seventy or eighty yards
of the finest Derby twist on it ; a tackle of very fine gut
of about four or five feet in length. The hook used is usually
of the straight round-bend pattern, as the worm is more often
used than any other bait ; the size of course will be pro-
portioned to the fish — that for dace, roach, etc., being equal
to a No. 8. The float is composed solely of some eight inches
of a good sound goose-quill, the top of which is painted to
make it watertight, the bottom having a ring whipped on to
it for the line to pass through. The float has no caps, as being
usually attached to the running Hne (instead of to the tackle
as in the Thames fishing) it is fastened on with two half
hitches. This float carries about from four to six BB shot,
the lowest of which is a good foot above the hook, so as to
allow the bait to drag for some inches on the bottom without
catching ; the others are placed at intervals of six inches or
so up the tackle. This is far better and less visible, and the
line swims straighter and less wavily in the water than in the
Thames plan, where the shot are all crowded together at
one spot (some six or eight inches above the hook). With
this tackle Trent anglers fish for roach, dace, perch, gudgeon,
chub, and bream, and in a light or slow water gccasionally for
barbel ; though for regular barbel-fishing in the heavy streams,
■Bhey have a set of heavier apparatus altogether, which is

44 A BOOK ON ANGLING

called " light corking tackle," because they use for it their
lightest cork float ; the one above described being but a quill.
The barbel float has an elongated cork body, more or less
bulky, supplemented over it.

Now, one of the chief objects of a Nottingham fisherman
is, not to let the fish see or hear him, and therefore he fishes
as far from them as he reasonably can. Walking along the
bank of a river, if he has not already selected a swim, he
fixes upon a spot that looks likely to yield sport. He decides
to fish at a certain distance from the shore where the stream
is steady and not too strong, and the water apparently of
the right depth. The first thing is to ascertain how deep it
really is. A London angler would drop in a lump of lead
and work it about up and down all over the swim, thereby
scaring the fish to commence with. But the Nottingham
man avoids this ; he adjusts his float at what he supposes to
be about the right depth, casts his tackle out to the exact
distance from the shore at which he intends to fish, and
allows his float to drift down the stream. If it floats in quite
an upright position without the slightest symptom of dragging,
the line is too short, and the depth below the float must be
increased. If the float bob under, the shots are on the ground,
and the line must be shortened below the float, and so on.
Thus after four or five swims are tried he hits, by judgment,
the right depth, which is for the worm to trip or drag slightly
over the bottom without the shot coming in contact with it,
for if the worm be properly hooked, and the bottom not foul,
the tackle will nearly always carry the worm with it ; should
it hang, the slightest raising of the rod-point will loosen it.

Having found the depth of the water opposite to him, he
proceeds to try it for the whole length of the swim — for a
Nottingham angler's swim is often from a dozen to twenty
yards in length ; sometimes it does not commence until the
float is almost that distance from him, the intermediate
water being a cautionary compliment to the fish's sharpness
of sight and sensation. Of course, having taken up the
position or line of swim, if I may so express it, which he
means his float to travel over, it is expedient to keep in that
line, and it is there his ground-bait will be cast, and a few
feet outside or inside of it will be so far from the fish. Con-
siderable nicety of judgment is required to keep to this.
Having now to try the swim the whole length, and having
pitched his tackle out to the requisite distance, he lowers the

I

NOTTINGHAM ANGLING 45

point of the rod until it slightly incHnes from the thigh towards
the surface of the water, and follows the float (with neither
too free nor too tight a line) with the point of the rod until
the float has all the Une he can give from the rod-point with
it down-stream. Now comes the nicer part of the operation,
and that is to give off Une from the reel so Ughtly and con-
tinuously that it shall run freely through the rings and never
check the swim of the float. This is done by keeping the reel
turning fast or slow in exact accordance with the requirements
of the stream, working it by quick, short touches from a left-
hand finger on the edge or circumference of the wheel.

If, in going down the swim, the angler finds that it deepens
off very much, or that there is too much of a rise or hill, or
that the bottom is foul, he has nothing for it but to choose
another swim.

Supposing that he has at length found a swim sufiiciently
level throughout and to his mind, he then breaks up four or
five worms into very small pieces and throws them in well
above the swim, calculating carefully whereabouts they are
likely to ground ; and here again is a point that requires
practice and judgment, because if thrown in too high up the
stream the bait grounds too soon, and the fish are drawn up
out of the swim. If too low, then the reverse happens. The
great object is to fish over your ground-bait ; and for this
purpose you must observe not only the latitude of the swim,
but the longitude also. There is a great deal more in this
than many suppose ; and many an indifferent day's sport has
no doubt been ascribed to any other cause but the right one,
in consequence of neglect or miscalculation of this important
point. Having ascertained that the bottom of the swim is
tolerably clear of obstruction, and thrown in bait, etc., the
angler commences his swim, but first it may happen that the
swim he has selected is some two rods' lengths from the
shore (roach and dace swims are seldom more, though barbel,
of course, will lie in the heavier streams, more towards the
centre of the river). Now, suppose the angler's swim to be,
let us say, twenty feet from the spot he stands on ; the length
of his rod being twelve or thirteen feet, he may take nine or
ten feet for the rod, or perhaps a little less ; the depth of the
water is five feet ; so that, supposing his bait to hang at the
full length of the rod — which is as much line as he will be
able to swing out, and probably more — his float will be some
half-way up the rod, and there will be but five feet of line to

46 A BOOK ON ANGLING

add to the ten feet allowed for the rod ; but he wants to get
the float five or six feet farther out — how is it to be done ?
The tackle is dace tackle, and is therefore too light to cast
from the reel, for with such a hght weight the reel would not
revolve ; he cannot place any hne on the grass at his feet,
nor allow any to hang loose from the reel, because a hne so
light as the fine Derby twist would inevitably twist up and
tangle, and it would catch at the first ring ; so, to overcome
all these difficulties, he with the left hand takes hold of the
running line above the first rod-ring, draws as much as he
requires off the reel, and holds it away from his left side
(farther from or nearer to his body as the case may require),
thus keeping the spare line that is to run through the rings
straight and tight, so that it cannot tangle. While doing this
he will find it necessary to hold the rod close to the reel, so that
the hand which holds it may be pressed against the reel to
prevent it from turning round and loosening the line. Then
poising the rod clear of his body on the right side, he gives
his bait and tackle the requisite swing towards the point he
desires to reach ; as he makes the swing he relinquishes his
hold on the hne in his left hand, and the spare hne goes clear
and fairly through the rings without tangle or catch. (See
Plate IX, Fig. i, p. 211.) By extending his left hand farther
out and away from his side he can increase the quantity
of spare line up to a certain point. Should he require more
still, he will have to take hold of the line above the second
ring instead of the first, or even if need be the third or fourth,
and so on, and thus he will be able to get out sufficient line
safely to enable him to cast his tackle without catch or tangle
to almost any reasonable distance he may require for roach
and dace-fishing.*

We will suppose that the float is cast to its destination,
which should be a little up-stream from where the angler is
standing, with the point of the rod raised always if possible
above or up-stream of the float, and just so much as to keep a
moderately tight line, not sufficient to hft or check the float
(for if this happens the float is drawn inwards towards the
bank, and probably out of the swim), but sufficiently to
enable the angler to strike the instant he perceives a bite,
and without having any bagged or slack hne. Following the
float with the point of the rod, and lowering the point until

* This style of casting the bait will be found most useful to the trout-
fisher when wading and spinning a minnow or casting a worm. — F. F.

Ifr>:

LIGHT CORKING " 47

1 the line he can give is given, the angler then applies his
left hand to the reel and turns it gently as before described,
giving off line as it is required, but not faster, nor yet so
slowly as to check the float. The instant he sees a bite he
strikes sharply, but not too heavily, up-stream, and, having
hooked his fish, winds on him with the reel until he gets him
well under the rod-point. Faihng in getting a bite, he allows
the float to travel down-stream fifteen, twenty, or even more,
yards until he is sure that he has completely covered the
space where the ground-bait is likely to be — when he strikes,
winds up the spare fine, poises the rod, draws off the requisite
quantity, and repeats his cast. If he has half a dozen full
swims without a bite he usually considers there are no fish
there, and goes on to another spot. But if the place looks
so favourable as to tempt him further he may perhaps try
the experiment of two or three more worms broken up. Usually,
however, he is not induced to commit such extravagance.
If he gets a fish or two, or a bite or two, he then breaks up a
few more worms at the first pause in the biting and keeps to
his swim, only repeating the dose when the fish begin to
slacken in their biting. A dozen worms will often be all the
ground-bait he will use in a pitch which may give him as
many, or even double as many, fish.

The hook-bait in this kind of fishing is usually a small
red worm, though scratching (as they term greaves on the
Trent) is used when worms are not to be had. One great
point the Nottingham angler pays the utmost attention to
is, that all his worms shall be thoroughly sweet and scoured,
and as lively as possible.

Having now described this method of fishing, it will be
seen that a fine line is of the first necessity to it. It does not
sink in the water, but lies Ughtly on the surface, so that the
strike is not impeded in any way. It sucks up very little water,
too, and soon dries ; and beyond this it runs off the reel
much more freely than a thicker line would. So far there is
every advantage in favour of it ; but if it rains, and the line,
rod, and rings get wet, it becomes very diflicult to get the
light line to run, even by the most assiduous wiping ; and
if there be a strong contrary wind, it is difficult to fish satis-
factorily.

If he goes for barbel-fishing the angler generally uses a
rod and tackle a trifle heavier and larger. This is called
** light corking," because the float used is a light cork one.

48 A BOOK ON ANGLING

This will carry sufficient weight to enable the tackle to be
cast off the reel.* It will be evident that the angler has
here no need to draw off Hne in the left hand as in dace-
fishing. In roving for barbel the process is similar to that
for roach and dace, but larger worms are used, and the tail
of a nice hvely lob is placed upon a hook some two or three
sizes larger. Roving for barbel is not often resorted to if
the angler can manage to bait a pitch the day before. Indeed,
in order to increase the chance of sport, it is not unusual to
bait two or three days before and to repeat the baitings at
some twenty or twenty-four hours' interval two or three
times.

It will often happen that the hole or swim to be fished is
some distance from the shore and is deeper than can be con-
veniently cast from the rod — deeper, perhaps, than the
length of the rod. When this is the case a float called " a
slider " is used. The slider, as may be supposed from its
name, is not a fixed float, it has a ring at the top and another
at the bottom, standing out sideways so that the line may
travel freely through them. To use this float, it is shpped
on the line through both rings, and finds its resting-place
upon the uppermost shot of the sinkers. When it is dropped
into the water it floats in its proper position, but the sinkers
carry the bait to the bottom, drawing line enough for that
purpose with them down through the float rings. Now, the
depth having been carefully plumbed previously, is marked
on the line by the tying on of a little fragment of india-rubber
elastic, which offers just enough resistance to prevent the
line running any farther than is requisite through the small
float rings, upon which therefore the bit of india-rubber rests,
keeping the bait at the required depth below. Should a fish
bite, of course the check of the india-rubber allows the float
to be pulled down in the usual way, but it does not offer
sufficient resistance to prevent either its being wound up,

* This cast, however, is by no means easy to acquire. Even the old
Thames spinner or ledger-fisher will find it no certainty, and at the com-
mencement will very often find his float round his head, or his rod, perhaps,
or anywhere but where he wants it to be ; but patience, practice, and perse-
verance do much ; and the chief direction to be borne in mind is, to avoid
anything like a jerk : a smooth regular sweep is that which has to be prac-
tised in the delivery or casting of the tackle. Having gently swung the
tackle backwards, bring it forward again with a steady regular sweep, and
release your hold of the line without any abrupt action, and keep the little
finger close to the circumference of the reel so as to be able to put on pressure
to prevent overrunning of the line or to stop it altogether, as may be desired.

F. F.

PLATE II.

To face Page 49.

The Slider and other Floats.

The Fishiiiij Gazette Float has now taken the place of that represented in Fig^. 7.

THE SLIDER 49

or sent through the rod-rings when cast. The hole to be
fished may be thirty feet deep and twenty feet from the
shore, and the rod but twelve feet long, yet by the aid of
the sHder it can easily be fished. (See Plate II, Fig. i, p. 49.)
The slider is now a good deal used by Thames fishermen
for traveller-fishing in deepish water, because in playing a
good fish with a fixed float, the float often comes up to the
rod-point and prevents any more line from being wound
in, whereas the slider slips down to the uppermost shot if
necessary, and always accommodates itself to the depth of
the water ; besides which, if the bait or tackle hangs for a
moment on the bottom, the raising of the rod-point brings
a direct action on the line and tackle, and clears it without
suddenly checking and altering the position of the float, or
making a splash with it which would startle the sharp-eyed
fish. Indeed, the sUder possesses all the qualifications of
ordinary floats, and some which are peculiarly its own, of
which the others are devoid. In adapting the Nottingham
fashion to Thames punt or traveller-fishing, the slider is not
necessarily used, but a somewhat longer rod than the Notting-
ham bank-fisher employs is used, as the Thames punt-fisher
is closer down to the water and has often a longer stretch of
line to lift off the surface, as he frequently lets out fifty or
sixty yards of line and strikes his fish at times a long way off.
In this kind of fishing the rod is held and the tackle employed
in the way that is described in chub-fishing.*

♦ I have been told, since the first edition of my book was published, that
my drawing and apprehension of the action of the slider as respects the
position of the bait is wrong, that the float is so checked that the bait,
instead of dragging slightly somewhat behind it, acquires precisely the
reverse position, bending just as much in front of the float as I have shown
it behind. Now I do not hesitate to say that this is simply impossible, for
no bait and float could continue to travel so. If the bait touches the bottom
at all, the line must bulge or project slightly over in front of the hook and
bait, however slightly ; and if the float be held back so tightly that the line
is kept back, and the bait travels before the line, then I aver that the bait
must absolutely be swept off the bottom altogether, and that it would be
impossible to keep up such a constant nicety of alternate tension and giving
off of line as should keep the bait to the bottom, and yet before the line
and float. Besides, so much tension would draw the float and bait nearer
to the bank, and therefore out of the swim in most cases. The whole of this
theory is founded upon a considerable misapprehension as to the manner in
which a fish takes a bait. The idea is, that as the line projects rather in front
of the bait, it would come in contact with the fish's nose before the bait did,
and scare him. Now that is supposing that every bait comes straight down
the stream dircctlv upon the fish's nose. Let anyone stand upon a bridge
and look down at fish feeding, and he will see that nine baits out of ten are
taken sideways, the fish making a side dart either to one side or the other.

I

50 A BOOK ON ANGLING

In ground-baiting a pitch, the Nottingham fishermen
seldom use clay or any substance of that kind, but break
up the worms and cast them in alone. The number used
runs from eight to twelve or even fourteen hundred as the
case may require. They are not distributed too widely,
but kept within the limits it is desired to fish, and twenty
hours at least are allowed for the ground-bait to be con-
sumed. Having baited their pitch, if the water be low and
clear, they take care when they approach to fish, not to come
too close to their swim or to make any disturbance, but they
stand well above the place where they expect to find the fish,
often fifteen or twenty yards above it, striking thirty or even
forty yards off. Thus they do not alarm the fish, but often
manage to get good sport in a water and at a time where
and when a Thames angler would seldom think of fishing at all.

The principal baits they use are worms, scratching or
greaves, cheese, and creed-malt. In all float-fishing their
practice is superior to that of the Thames, and this appears
to be so much recognised now, that Nottingham tackle and
that style of fishing are very commonly adopted, but only
in punt-fishing. The much more workmanHke, scientific,
and deadly method pursued by the accompHshed Nottingham
bank-fisher is almost unknown to the generahty of Thames
anglers, yet it is quite high art in float-fishing from the bank,
and is not at all easy to perform well. I strongly recommend
anglers who can afford it to take a turn on the Trent, and put
themselves under the tuition of a Nottingham adept ; it
will be money saved, as they will be thereafter very independent
of punts and puntsmen, and will enjoy the active exertion of
walking the river's bank in preference to the passively
apoplectic operation of sitting in an arm-chair with a pipe
and a bottle of stout as a solatium for want of sport.

as he sees a worm, grub, etc., passing him, and consequently, save once now
and then, his nose would not need to come in contact with the line at all.
The float should be checked so that as little of the line as possible should
touch the bottom, and only the bait should drag to achieve perfection ; but
as to the bait curving down-stream and drifting along the bottom before
the float, it is easier to imagine it than to practise it. — F. F.

CHAPTER III

BOTTOM -FISHIN G— continued

The Bream — The Carp — The Tench — The Eel — ^The Perch — Patemostering,

etc.

THE BREAM (Abramus bratna)

OF this lubberly carp there are two kinds known to
anglers — the carp or golden bream and the bream-
flat or silver bream.* The former is by far the best
fish both for size and quality, the latter being of no
particular value for the table, and not reaching any great size,
seldom exceeding one pound. The bream is very widely dis-
tributed, and is found alike in rivers, ponds, and lakes. In rivers
it prefers quiet, deep holes with a loamy or sandy bottom. The
deepest holes in ponds are likewise those preferred. The
bream spawns about the latter end of May, and takes some
time to recover condition. Bream are gregarious, swimming
in large shoals, and when inclined to feed, vast numbers of
them may be taken, as, although somewhat of a nibbler,
yet if time is given to him, the bream will almost always take
the bait in the end. If the angler does not know, but is desirous
to find out the whereabouts of a bream haunt in a river, let
him watch the likely spots early and late, and he will see one
every now and then prime or rise up like a large roach, but,
from some peculiarity, the bream, when it does this, almost
always leaves a large bubble on the surface, which the roach
does not do. When the angler notes a bubble or two of this
sort left after the priming of large fish, let him watch the spot
narrowly and he may soon perhaps satisfy his doubts as to
whether there be bream there or no.

Bream have very roving habits, often disappearing without
any apparent reason from a haunt they have affected for two
or three years, and taking to some other hole or eddy. In
my river (a part of the Colne) I see this peculiarity often

* They are distinct species, the breamflat being Abramus blicca. — Ed.

5'

52 A BOOK ON ANGLING

exemplified, for they will be in one hole in a large shoal on one
day, and on another perhaps half a mile off.

Having chosen a swim, the angler should ground-bait and
fish it after the same method as that directed for barbel ;
and with bream, as with barbel, worms are the best bait,
though they will take gentles and other grubs. The hook
used should be a size or two smaller than that employed for
barbel, as the bream likes a smaller bait ; but in other respects
the tackle and method are similar. Bream may often by
baiting be drawn out of their deep holes into the more manage-
able barbel-swims, and when this is the case both may be taken
together ; but if the holes can be fished by any means, the
take will be both larger and more certain. To fish them
properly, however, is often difficult, and when ledger-fishing
under these circumstances it is advisable to fasten a hook on
the ledger gut about six inches above the lead, so that there
may be one hook on the bottom for the barbel and one just
off it for the bream, as the latter is scarcely such a ground-
router as the former.

The finer the angler can fish for bream the better. Indeed,
whether for bream or barbel, his tackle never should be a shot
heavier than the stream requires to ride the float well and
steadily. In ponds, or in still quiet eddies, the angler will
often find that the bream will lift and throw the float flat
upon the water. The reason of this, I imagine, is that the
bream is a round-shaped, round-bellied fish, and when it
picks up the bait and then assumes its natural position to
eat it, although the belly of the fish may touch the ground,
the head and tail are some distance off it, and hence the shots
and sinkers are lifted, and the float, instead of being pulled
down, is thrown up. When hooked in still, deep water, the
bream has a disagreeable knack of boring head down, and
rubbing and chafing the fine with its side and tail, so that
the line often comes up for a foot above the hook covered
with slime. When hooked in a stream after the first rush it
soon turns on its side and comes in easily. Bream run to a
good weight, six or seven pounds being not very uncommon,
while occasionally they have been caught of fourteen or
fifteen pounds weight.

In some of our lakes, particularly in Ireland, as Loughs
Neagh, Conn, Corrib, and Erne, especially the latter, the
abundance of bream exceeds all belief, many cartloads being
often taken in one sweep of the nets. Bream bite pretty well

THE CARP 53

^■unng the summer, more particularly in the morning and
evening, but as a rule they take more freely towards autumn.
The carp-bream are eatable. Some anglers say they are really
good fish : perhaps split, salted, and dried is the best way of
eating them.* There is an old proverb among the French to the
effect that " He who hath bream in his pond may bid his friend
welcome." I fancy, " to a day's fishing " should have been
added, as I do not think even French cookery could find any-
thing worth eulogising in a pond-bream, which is for the most
part the bream-flat or silver bream.

Many spots on the Thames, as Walton, Weybridge, Chertsey,
Shepperton, Hampton, Kingston, etc., are or have been
famous for bream, and the Colne abounds in them in parts.
The East India Docks, too, formerly held very fine bream, and
many of the waters around London have abundance of them.
The midland counties' rivers, as the Trent, Ouse, and the
Norfolk streams, are also well stocked with them.

THE CARP (CypHnus carpio)

This cunning member of the carp tribe requires all the
angler's skill to delude him, and it will often happen that even
after the angler has exhausted his patience and ingenuity, our
leathern-mouthed friend will altogether fail to come to hand,
or rather to net. Small carp under and up to two pounds are
not so difficult to take, but when the angler essays his skill upon
the wily old veterans of the pond, it is quite another matter.
It is difficult to get carp to look at the bait at all, and when they
do they will more often nibble and suck at it, and leave only
half of it on the hook, than take it fairly. It is wonderful, too,
how soon even small carp get shy if they are much fished for.
I remember two ponds in which as a boy I always could take
large numbers of carp. In one I once took one of four pounds,
though usually they seldom exceeded two or two and a half
pounds ; but fish of from one to two pounds I could generally
catch in considerable numbers. In the other pond I have taken
in one afternoon four that weighed over twenty-two pounds,
and could easily catch ten or a dozen or more in one afternoon ;
but some years after, when the ponds became more popular and

Mr. Greville Fennell, in the columns of the Field, has corrected me in
s, and says that the carp-bream are held in high estimation on Trent side,
have never eaten them there, and therefore cannot ofifer an opinion ; but
the Thames bream are certainly indifferent fare, and very bony. — F. F.

■■Ti]

1^

54 A BOOK ON ANGLING

fishermen more plentiful, I have visited them and fished them
in vain, although the carp were still in them in abundance, and
might be seen rolling and grubbing all around the hook.

Carp, owing to their caution, often live to reach a very large
size, growing to between twenty and thirty pounds in weight.
A large carp, too, is not only cunning before he takes your bait,
but he quite appreciates the value of large masses of weeds to
help him in getting rid of it, and as the angler is compelled to
fish as finely as possible, and with not too large a hook nor too
coarse gut, the wary old fellow will sometimes give you the
slip even after he has been well hooked.

The usual method of fishing for carp is to employ a small
light float and fine tackle, and to fish in the method recom-
mended for " Pond-fishing generally." The hook should not
be above No. 7, or 6 at the outside ; the shot fine and some
distance from the float, as the mere gravity of the hook, and
worm will carry them to the bottom ; the gut fine, roimdj and
olive or weed-coloured ; and the bait, a small red worm or a
bit of paste. The depth should be plumbed so that the bait
may rest on the bottom. It is not natural to see the bait hanging
in the water barely touching the bottom, and that the carp
know well enough. In this position, too, the gut ascends
directly from the head of the worm, and the unnatural attitude
of the bait challenges the carp's attention to this " new thing
in baits." Mons. Carp then catches sight of the shot, and,
lastly, in all probability, of the float above. All this is of course
strange and unusual, and he proceeds to investigate the bait
with all due care, nibbling and picking at it, like the female
ghoul in the Arabian Nights, who ate rice with a bodkin ; he
cannot make up his mind to take it, and yet he cannot make
up his mind to leave it, so he nibbles and nibbles, and at last
you think he must have got the bait, and you strike. Now, it
is not customary for baits to dash off in that frantic fashion ;
and therefore, while your bait dashes off one way. Master Carp
dashes off the other.

It is best to take your depth the evening before you intend
to fish, so that you need not disturb the spot when you come in
the morning. A longish bamboo rod will be found useful for
this kind of angling, as it is advisable to swing your float as
far off from the shore as possible.

If it be not possible to select and bait your pitch beforehand,
it will be only necessary to follow the directions for pond-
fishing given at the commencement of this work. If, however.

BREAM-FISHING 55

you can manage to bait your pitch, then select say, two places.
Let the bottom be clear of weeds, and the spot be near rushes,
or in some part where you see carp usually feeding. Then, go
in the morning (if there are eels in the pond) and throw in a few
handfuls of broken worms, gentles, or any other ground-bait
you may select ; for if you are fishing with worms and there be
eels in the pond, in all probability (as they are unusually busy
at night) they will gobble up all the worms before the carp can
get a chance ; and this is one of the miseries you have to
endure in carp-fishing when using worms, viz. that when you
expect a bite from some noble carp, which is cruising coyly
round your hook, some wretched little eel comes and takes
your worm, and the hauling of the little brute out is sure to
scare the carp. It is better, perhaps — if they will take paste or
any of the many vegetable or mealy baits recommended for
them in the water you are going to fish — to ground-bait with
them. In some places and at some seasons the worm is pre-
ferred, at others, paste. Having baited your pitch once or
twice, or if you like oftener, come to the water with your rod all
ready, your hook baited (and take care to see that it is well
covered) ; pitch your float as quietly as you can out to the
requisite distance, lay down the rod in the fork mentioned in
Pond-fishing, and flip a few bits of ground-bait in round about
your float. When you see a nibble do not be in a hurry, for at
the best the carp is a slow biter, and the float will often bob and
wriggle about for half a minute or so before the bite is con-
firmed ; get the rod carefully and cautiously in hand without
disturbing the line or float, and when the float goes under and
sails majestically away, and not till then, you may raise the
point smartly, and in all probabiUty a desperate rush (if the
fish is a good one) will answer the strike ; play him as firmly
as the tackle will stand, for the hook seldom breaks out of his
tough mouth, and get him into the net as soon as you can, and
with as little disturbance as possible. Then throw in a handful
of bait and proceed to your other baited patch, and do hkewise,
allowing the disturbance at the first to subside before you
return to it. By working the two pitches alternately in this
way, you may get far more sport from either of them than you
would if you had only one baited.

I have spoken of other baits, and there are an infinite
variety which carp are said to take. For paste, both plain
and honey paste, see ** Bait Table." I iidve heard of anglers

Jplo5dng paste coloured red but have no faith in it ; paste

56 A BOOK ON ANGLING

mixed up with gin or with brandy is also said to be irresistible,
but I cannot say that I have found it so, although assured of
large takes made with it by friends : perhaps the carp I offered
it to had " taken the pledge." A green pea is a noted bait for
carp. One carp-fisher I know of, swears by boiled beans, the
large yellow haricots, or the smaller broad bean for the hook,
ground-baiting with boiled barley. Others get good results
from knobs of potato about the size of a gooseberry. Mr.
Goodwin, of Hampton Court, assured me that he has made some
wonderful takes of very large carp, up to fourteen or fifteen
pounds weight each, with potato, in the canal in the park there.
His method was as follows : Choosing a clear place where
ther were no weeds at the bottom, he would every evening for
some days throw in two or three handfuls of chopped potatoes
(the red potatoes are supposed to be preferable, but that may
be only a whim). Then, when about to fish, he would take, not
a float, but a rod with ledger tackle, with tolerably stout gut,
and baiting the hook with a piece of potato he would throw in
the tackle in the usual way, and allow the lead to rest on the
bottom, slackening the running line. In time a bite would
ensue ; the fish would carry away the potato, and as he went
off for two or three feet, the line would be 3delded to him easily
and without check, and would run freely through the bullet,
when the strike brought matters to an explanation, and, as the
gut was pretty stout, he was not allowed, even though a big
fish, to have everything his own way. The potato should be
parboiled just sufficiently to make it stick well on the hook.
In this way, Mr. Goodwin assured me that he used to take two
or three large carp whenever he went to fish for them, the
evening being the preferable time. Stout tackle can be used
thus, because the gut rests on the bottom, and the carp cannot
see it as he can when it runs directly from the bait up through
the water. It is for this reason that I always recommend, in
carp-fishing, that the bait should rest on the bottom, and some
inches of the line likewise ; for, though the carp will detect the
finest gut, as I have said, when the bait is pendent, yet he will
not notice the coarsest tackle if it rests on the bottom. Indeed,
I once took a seven-pound carp on an eel line with coarse string
snooded hooks, in a pond where no one has ever been able by
ordinary float and line-fishing to catch the carp at all, though
they abound in the pond, and are of large size. In using paste
baits, the angler will find it to his account, if instead of using
a single hook he employs a small brazed triangle, or three hooks

CARP AND TENCH 57

brazed together back to back, such as are used on spinning
tackles. This holds the paste on far more firmly, thus resisting
the carp's power of suction, and gives the angler a better
chance of hooking him. The hooks must be completely buried
in the paste, and the bait should be the size of a moderate
gooseberry.

Some anglers in fishing a pond employ various devices to
hide themselves from the sharp eyes of the fish, and stick in
bushes by the margin, or even hurdles to shelter them. I never
found this particularly desirable, though there can be no harm
in it ; but it is most needful that the angler should move
with perfect caution, and should not stump about on the bank
— a very few steps of an Irish jig, for example, on the bank,
would be fatal to all hopes of sport for an hour or two. The
angler need never be afraid to lay down his rod, as the bite is
always so slow that he has ample time to regain it before striking
time ; but when he takes it up he must take it up carefully and
not jerk the line.

In rivers carp bite more boldly than they do in ponds'; at
any rate, such is the case in the Thames, where they are often
taken when the angler is roach or barbel-fishing in some parts.
The favourite method of fishing for them there is by a very
hght ledger with a pistol-bullet, and a lump of paste. I do not,
however, think the carp is native to the Thames. Some years
ago a good many were turned in at Teddington, and there they
certainly have thriven, and in the eddies by the weir (a some-
what strange place for them to affect) they frequently take the
worm boldly, and show good sport ; no doubt they might
easily be increased in the Thames, and would form an agreeable
diversion if more general.

The worst of the carp is that you must be content with your
sport ; for when you have caught him (in England at any rate,
as far as my experience goes) he is not worth eating, being a
muddy, bony, woolly beast, on whom any sauce or condiment
is simply wasted. In many places carp are tamed so that they
will come and feed out of their keeper's hand, and will even
come to his whistle or any other accustomed signal.

1^^^^ THE TENCH (Tinea vulgaris)

The tench is a better fish for the table than the carp, and if
caught in a tolerably well-kept pond, is not a bad fish to eat,
the skin being thick and glutinous, and the flesh white, firm,

I

58 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and sweet. The method which I have described in fishing for
carp with the worm and float answers equally well for the
tench, save that the bait need not rest quite so much on the
ground, but the depth may be plumbed, so that the bait may
just touch the bottom in the usual way. The tench is a very
curious fish in his habits. You may see a pond which is stocked
with good tench, and look over it narrowly, and even do so
many times, without having the slightest idea that there is a
fish in it. I have known ponds which have been supposed to
be fishless for years, by the merest accident to be discovered to
contain large numbers of fine tench in them. In many places
tench are very peculiar also in their times of feeding ; on some
days they will feed well, while at other times you will not
manage to get a fish in a week ; and though this is not always the
case, they are yet usually more or less capricious. As an
illustration of the above, I may state that I once knew a httle
pond in Hampshire, which was not perhaps more than about
twenty yards square. I had many times seen it, but never saw
a fish in it, when one day the person to whom it belonged,
knowing that I was fond of fishing, asked me if I would not like
to catch some of the tench in the pond. I had no idea there were
any in it, but as he assured me there were, and as I had nothing
else to do one afternoon, I got a bag of worms and walked down
to the pond with my rod. I put up a small light cork float, and
a couple of hooks, one four or five inches above the other,
baited with red worms, threw in some broken worms, and
waited. Presently I caught a little eel ; then another ; then a
little tench of less than half a pound weight ; then one or two
more eels ; and, although I kept on throwing in the broken
worms I did no more, and finally I threw in the rest of my
worms and went away disgusted, not having seen another fish
move. Still the proprietor assured me there were good tench
in the pond, and urged me to i.y again ; and the next after-
noon, being inclined for a lazy hour or two, I took my rod, a
book, and my pipe, and walked down to the pond. I pitched
in my float as usual, and sat down behind a bush, lighted my
pipe, and began to read, when on looking up I found that my
float had disappeared, and was " making tracks " for the
middle of the pond. Thinking it was only a small eel, I got up
lazily, took up the rod and struck, when to my surprise, I found
that I had hold of something a good deal larger than I bargained
for, and after a tolerable tussle, I got out a fine tench of a pound
and a half. The book was at once consigned to oblivion, and

TENCH-FISHING 55

I set to work carefully, and barely was my float settled, when
" wriggle, wriggle, wriggle," it went, and after the usual pre-
liminary gyrations and bobs which the tench generally com-
municates to it, off it went ; I struck again, and got another
fine tench of nearly two pounds : after this the fun grew fast
and furious. Unfortimately, I did not keep score of the fish I
caught, as, finding I was having such great sport, I was afraid
of clearing the pond out, so I put most of them in again, merely
keeping three brace of two-pounders ; but I should imagine
that I must have captured about thirty fine tench, not one of
which would be under a pound and a quarter, and many of
them topped two pounds and a half. Where all these large fish
could have packed themselves in this mite of a pond without
ever attracting notice, I could not imagine. Tired of pulhng
them out, I left off in the evening while the fish were yet biting
freely. I went there again the next day, and caught one tench
of three-quarters of a pound ; but, though I fished there many
times since, / never caught a tench afterwards. Tench at times
feed freely enough all day ; but the favourite feeding-time is
at dusk, and when you can barely see your float — then they
will take if they take at all.

Moderately fine tackle is desirable, but though the tench is
a slow, niggling, tedious biter, he is not so wary as the carp.
Oftentimes, however, he will play with and nibble at the bait,
and will leave it after all. When the biting has been going on
in this fashion I have found it a capital plan to expedite matters
by very gently drawing the worm away a few inches, when Dr.
Tench, thinking that he is going to lose his fee, usually comes
after it and takes it well. This is a pecuhar speciaUty in tench
fishing which the angler will do well to remember, as it will
often stand him in good stead. Two or three shots will be quite
enough to sink the bait, and the hook should be about No. 7,
not larger. Tench will feed on gentles and grubs, but the best
bait by far is the red worm ; broken worms to be used for
ground bait, and a handful or two thrown in for one or two
days before fishing, will no doubt serve as an aid to sport.
Tench are fonder of weedy ponds than carp, and a space of a
few square yards in the middle of banks of weeds is often a
favourite find for them. When once hooked, there is little fear
of losing your tench, though he makes a strong fight for his life.

The tenacity of Ufe in the tench is very remarkable : I once
carried one in the midst of a basket of other fish 100 miles
— it was five hours at least out of water. It was at Christmas

6o A BOOK ON ANGLING

time, and though, at the end of the journey all the other fish
were dead and stiff, the tench was alive ; I put him into a
bucket of water, and he swam about as if he had only just been
taken out of the punt's well. My friends thought him uncanny
and would not eat him, so I determined the next day to make
my supper off him. I took him out of his bucket, gave him a
tap on the head, rolled him up in a handkerchief, and put him
into my portmanteau amidst coats, trousers, etc. I journeyed
home again, and about five hours after I took out my tench to
give him to the cook, when lo ! he gasped ; I put him into
water, and he actually appeared none the worse for all he had
gone through. Thinking then that he had earned his life, I
gave him his liberty, and turned him into a small pond, and a
twelvemonth after, when we were netting it, we got him out,
and he had grown about half a pound. I have seen some tench,
however, that have died in a much shorter time, though
generally they have tough lives.

What truth there may be in the old story of the medical
powers of the tench, I cannot pretend to say. He is rather
slimy as to his skin, and if, like the bream, he can part with his
sUme freely, it might prove efficacious, like " parmacety for an
inward wound " probably ; but I can assume no other way in
which he could be at all serviceable as a member of the finny
faculty.

THE EEL {Anguilla vulgaris)

AngHng for eels can hardly be looked upon as a matter of
any great consequence, as regards sport ; and yet there are
times, such as very hot still days when the trout will not move,
when sniggling an old eel out of his hole in some lock or hatch-
gate is not altogether unamusing, while three or four of these
fish form a by no means unpleasant change in the angler's bill
of fare. And as at times the angler may be glad so to amend
his supper or dinner, I give a brief account of the best way of
taking eels.

Eels are principally caught in traps constructed for the
purpose. These are made mostly at mill weirs and such places,
but often independently of them. Stages are erected, and on
them are set larg'e baskets called " bucks." They are also
taken in smaller baskets, called pots or wheels, which are set
under banks, or in the runs between weeds. In the winter time
they are speared, a spear being thrust into every likely looking
spot in mud banks, where they are thought to be concealed,

SNIGGLING EELS 6i

and occasionally an eel comes up hanging between the teeth,
fished out of the seething flood by a demon prong, like one of
the unhappy peculators in the boiling pitch of Malebolge,
described in the Inferno of Dante. They are also taken on
set night lines. But all these methods have nothing to do with
angUng.

From an angling point of view, they are taken, imprimis,
with the rod and Une, a worm on about a No. 6 or 7 hook being
the favourite bait. It matters little whether a float be used
or not ; the only requisite is to allow the worm to lie upon the
bottom, whence it will be picked up by the eels, and as certainly
devoured. It not unfrequently happens that one will take the
worm in barbel or trout-fishing, when it becomes a very great
nuisance, and if not very speedily unhooked, twists the line
into knots, and covers it with slime. As soon as the eel is
landed, the angler should set his foot firmly upon the body,
and with his penknife sever the vertebrae at the back of the
neck, when its struggles will almost entirely cease.* Eels have
been known not only to run at and take a spinning bait, but
even to rise at and take an artificial fly.

Sniggling is a most amusing method of catching eels. The
tackle required for sniggUng is simply some half-dozen yards of
water cord, with a large darning needle lashed on crosswise by
the middle, at one end of the line. This, of course, is easily
carried in the creel, and when the trout will not rise, and the
angler is at a loss for amusement (if the river presents facilities
for it), he may kill half a dozen pounds or more of eels easily,
and so, as I have said, amend his feed without wasting his time.
He must cut a sniggUng-stick or rod, from eight to ten feet
long, or longer, with a curved or bent top — a hazel, alder, ash,
or other twig will do. Taking then a lob worm, he must thrust
the needle into the worm, until it be hidden within it (see Plate
VI, Figs. 5 and 6, p. 93) ; then sticking the point of the
needle lightly into the end of the stick, and holding one end of
the string in the left hand and the stick in the right, the angler
must " prospect " and look out for some hole in the bank,
under a stone, or the side of lock walls, etc., which may be
likely to hold an eel ; and directing the worm at the point of
the stick towards the hole, it should be thrust as far as practic-
able into it. If an eel be there, he will immediately seize it,

♦ A simpler and more effective way is to lay the eel's tail on a stone or the
thwart of a boat and give it a severe blow with a cudgel or stone. This
paralyses the creature. — Ed.

62 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and pull if from the stick ; when the angler feels the tug, he
should draw the stick gently away from the spot, and give the
eel time to swallow the worm ; when he has reason to think it
has done so, he must give a slight pull, and the needle, which
has gone inside the worm straight down the eel's throat, will
turn across in his gullet, and hook him safely. Now comes the
tug of war. The eel will refuse to quit his hole very likely, and
turning his tail about in its sinuosities, will firmly resist all
efforts to withdraw him ; but the angler has only to be patient,
and keep up a steady strain on the string, and he will in time
tire the eel out, and it will come out of its hole, when it will be
easily captured. Eels of two or three or even more pounds
weight are often thus taken.

Clod-fishing is another way of taking eels. It can hardly
be called angling, though it has a rude resemblance to it. A
large number of lob worms are strung on pieces of worsted, and
these are all tied up into a mass somewhat resembling a small
mop. This is called the " clod," which is attached by means of
a stout line of convenient length to a suitable pole. When the
eels are running or migrating, the angler takes his stand with
a pail half-full of water beside him, and placed almost the
length of the pole from him. He drops the clod into the
water, and allows it to sink to the bottom ; presently an eel
attacks it ; as soon as the angler feels the bite, he raises the
clod with a steady lift from the water, and holds it over the
pail. The eel's teeth being entangled in the worsted, he cannot
easily of himself let go ; but he is shaken off into the pail, and
the clod is once more dipped into the water.

Stichering is yet another method of catching eels. It is, I
think, peculiar to Hampshire, as I never heard of it elsewhere ;
but there is a good deal of fun at times in a stichering party.
The apparatus used is an old sickle, worn short and chipped so
as to be roughly toothed. This is tied on to a light pole some
twelve feet long. Armed with one of these and a bag the
sportsman saUies forth to the water meadows, where the wide
deep drains for irrigative purposes are situated. Peering about,
at the bottom of one of these, he presently espies an eel, or the
head of one, projecting from under a leaf or weed ; he then
gently and cautiously thrusts the hook under the eel's body,
and with a sudden toss pitches him high and dry on the bank,
and puts him in the bag. An unskilful sticherer will sometimes
chop off his neighbour's ear, or poke out his eye, which doubt-
less lends excitement to the sport.

PERCH-FISHING 63

THE PERCH (Perca fluviatilis)

The perch is usually described as a bold biting fish, and so
he may be where he is not much fished for, or where perch
are over-plentiful and small, or when, like other fish, they
have a hungry day ; but if by the above character it be meant
that good perch are deficient in wariness, then I contradict it.
Where they are at all fished — and my remarks apply to
rivers and lakes where they are well and regularly fished for —
there are few fish more capricious or careful in biting than
large perch ; small ones may often be taken in any quantity,
but not so when they gain experience. I have known places
haunted by numbers of good perch — perch of from a pound
and a half to three pounds in weight — and yet, season after
season, there are seldom more than one or two of them caught,
and these nearly always at the starvation part of the year,
i.e. after the heavy winter floods, when the small fish are all
driven up the brooks, and the perch are driven into the few
eddies that exist. Here, while the river is tearing down outside
in a spate, from one to two hundred, and sometimes more,
perch will often be congregated in a space of some ten or
twenty square yards, perhaps. After these fish have battled
with the frosts of winter, on short rations for weeks, what
chance has a minnow among such a host, or what chance even
a hundred minnows ? No wonder, then, that you pull them
up two or three at a time, one for each minnow ; the only
wonder is that they do not, in their eagerness, swallow the
plummet of your paternoster in its descent, by mistake.
In truth and faith, January and February are deadly months
for poor perchy. Cabined, cribbed, confined in a black hole
of an eddy, they are pulled out not in braces, or even scores,
but often to the tune of hundreds. I have seen and helped to
catch ten dozen and over out of one hole, and have heard of
twice ten dozen being taken. But catch Master Perch on a
fine summer's day in this way, if you can. Often have I,
through the crystal clear water, watched the proceedings of a
dozen perch at the worm or a minnow on my hook, some
twelve or thirteen feet below. How they come up to it with
all sail set, their fins extended, their spines erect, as if they
meant to devour it without hesitation ! and how they pause
when they do come up to it, and swim gently round it, as if a
worm or a minnow were an article of vertu, which required
the nicest taste and consideration of a connoisseur to appreciate

k

64 A BOOK ON ANGLING

it properly. At length one of the boldest, taking hold of the
extreme tip of the tail as timidly as a bashful young gentleman
takes hold of the tip of his partner's finger when he leads her
to the festive quadrille, will give it a shake. Now, if you are
curious, watch your float ; see how it bobs down, after a
fashion that would make you think the perch must not only
have swallowed the bait, but half digested it ; whereas, in
fact, they cannot make up their minds about it. Is it a safe
investment or is it not ? Is it real old Chelsea or only a
modern imitation ? And then comes an aldermanic perch,
of nigh two pounds, a warm liveryman of the Fishmonger's
Company, a regular turtle-fed lord mayor elect, with his cheeks
blown up, his eyes staring out of his head, his fins all bristUng
with magisterial importance. " Now then, what is this case ?
Ha, hum ! a worm, eh ? yes. Found hanging about the
streets with no ascertainable occupation, and without any
home, eh ? Ha ! bad case — very bad ! a mysterious and
vagrom character, evidently. Take him away, some of you,
and lock him up — very suspicious indeed — very much so ;
and so his lordship having taken a half turn, and a brief survey
of the wretched trembling culprit, who with policeman hook
stuck into him. Alderman Perch looking at him angrily and
hungrily, and limbo gaping at him from Mr. Alderman's
stomach, is drawn up as useless and thrown on one side ;
while, with a fan of his tail, the alderman scuttles off to a
fresh case, and all his little people scuttle off after him, save,
perhaps, one unhappy little devil who won't take warning.
Anyone who wishes to see this portrayed, should look at poor
Arthur Smith's lithograph of Rolfe's picture, called " the
committee of taste." It is a grand bit of expression, and the
combination of greediness, inquisitiveness, pomposity, and
funk, in the picture, is perfectly delicious. But to my angling.

There are various ways of catching perch. Ilie first, and
most common, is with the live minnow, or, if minnow cannot
be had, any other small fish, or fry of gudgeon, dace, or roach,
will do ; but these should only be used when the angler has
no other alternative, as, although the perch is infinitely the
more* desirable and valuable fish, fry should not be wasted.
There are four ways of using a minnow, all of which will take
perch : viz. with a float and either one or two hooks, or a
paternoster with two or three, with a loose line and roving
minnow, or by spinning.

With the float, the lowest hook (if two are used) should be

I

THE PATERNOSTER 65

two or three inches off the bottom, and the next one should
hang between mid-water and the bottom. The best way of
baiting the minnow is to pass the hook tenderly and carefully
through the gristle of the upper lip ; some choose the back
fin, but a minnow so hooked neither lives so long nor moves
so freely as when hooked by the lip. When a perch takes the
float down, do not strike directly, as the tackle used for this
fishing being usually fine, it is as well to make sure of him,
for, in spite of anything that some sceptical anglers may say
to the contrary, the scratching and losing of one or two perch
does most indubitably very often — I won't say always, because
there may be exceptions, but does very often — drive the shoal
away. I have noticed it scores of times, and have heard many
good and experienced anglers verify the fact. Therefore rather
give him a little time, and even let him leave the bait, or cut it
off, in preference to being too hasty and scratching him.

The paternoster is simply a gut Une, a yard or four feet
long, with hooks about a foot apart, and weighted at the end
with a bullet or pear-shaped plummet. Some anglers use three
hooks, and some two. a necessity which is more often regulated
by the depth of the water to be fished. But the lowest hook,
unless the bottom is unusually foul, should be almost on the
ground, as it is the habit of the minnows to strike up toward
the surface in their efforts to escape, just as it is the habit
of all fish when pursued by an enemy ; fear causes them to
seek the surface, and even to jump out of the water. Therefore
if the minnow be not kept down, it will be much above the head
of such perch as are lying at the bottom ; and, if the water
be at all coloured (as is best for perch-fishing), this will not
only be a fault, but a great one ; whereas, if the hook be
kept close down to the lead, it will catch two or three fish
against either of the other hook's one. The second hook
should be fixed nine inches above, and must hang clear of the
tie of the lower hook. This is the best form of paternoster
made.

Some people make a paternoster by tying their hooks on
;to coarse hog bristles, and these again on to a piece of per-
orated bone, through which the main line runs, a shot above
and below it keeping the bristled hook in its place. This is
done in order to keep the minnows clear of the main line
(bristles being stiffer than gut) and to permit him to swim
freely and unnaturally round and round like a mill-horse — a
very clever contrivance, and very exquisite fooling, but an

66 A BOOK ON ANGLING

abomination of abominations in practice. It is the pater-
noster of tackle makers — made to sell, not to catch fish.
Paternostering properly followed is a very skilful and not
particularly easy branch of angling, and as far as my experience
goes, not one angler in a thousand knows how to make or fish
a paternoster properly. You cannot fish too fine for the perch
in season ; and the finer you fish, the more and better fish you
catch. To put a great coarse hog's bristle, with a cumbrous
paraphernalia of shots and bone, under a perch's nose, is a
downright insult to his common sense of self-preservation ;
and, if he condescends to take your minnow at all, he will take
it probably without the hook.

Now, this is the way I make a paternoster, and this is the
way that some old friends of mine, who are by far the best
paternoster fishers on the Thames or anywhere else that ever
I saw or heard of, taught me to make it. Make a long noose
for the loop on which to fasten your lead, and in this
loop, or immediately above it, tie another loop, by the
simple process of doubling the gut and tying it ; about nine
inches above this repeat the process, and tie another loop,
and at the same distance above that, tie another. This fashion
of making the loops may be thought dangerous to the knot,
but in reaUty it is not so when the gut is wet ; and it has the
advantage of always standing out at right angles, and so
keeping the hook from the line. Into each of these loops
sUp the end of the hook gut, which should have a knot tied
in the extreme end to prevent slipping, and secured by the
hitch shown in Plate III, Fig. 5 ; a hook is thus appended
to each loop, the gut to each hook being about seven inches
long ; the lowest one need not be so long. Persons who have not
a great deal of experience in paternostering will object to the
lower hook being so low down, urging that it is liable to take
hold of weeds, etc. ; practice, however, will change their opinion.
The hooks are of Nos. 6 and 7 and of moderately fine wire,
stoutish in the shank, and roundish bend, and are tied upon
fine round gut, the main Hne being a Httle stouter. The lead
is pear-shaped, and varies in weight to suit the stream ; and
even with this tackle, I do not find that I hook all the perch
that come at it. A sketch of this paternoster may be seen
in Plate II, Fig. 10, page 49. If any other form is wanted
the angler must go to the tackle shops, for no other in my
opinion is worth a straw.

To use the paternoster, first be sure your baits are alive,

PLATE HI.

To face Page 66.

Knots, Hitches, Etc.

HOW TO FISH A PATERNOSTER 67

and then commence at the top of the eddy or stream, and fish
the eye, or first eddy, carefully, for there the best fish lie. Drop
the tackle to the bottom, keeping a tight line, so that the lead
[ touches the bottom, but with no slack line ; let it rest a minute,
and if no bite come, hft it, and move it from left to right, or
vice versa, round about you, until the immediate neighbour-
hood is fished ; then, hfting the tackle out of the water, swing
it out a yard or two farther down stream, let it rest a minute,
and then draw it towards you, a foot or so at a time, until the
tackle comes home, when repeat the cast, lengthening the
distance each time, until the place is fished out, or you have to
move lower down. If you get a bite, do not strike at the first
nibble, but drop the point of the rod so as to yield a Httle fine ;
but when you feel a quick " pluck, pluck, pluck," strike
firmly, but not too heavily, and remember that the heavier
the fish you expect to catch, the more time you must give them,
as they are slow and cautious, and if the hook be not well
in their mouths, you will lose them to a certainty — when
good-bye to sport. I always use a landing-net if the fish is over
half a pound ; if under, I lift him in at once, as it saves so
much time, from the other hooks often getting hung up in
the net. Take care how you handle Master Perch, for he has
sharp spines and gill points, and will frequently resent rough
and unskilful handling by a sharp stab or two.

When two persons are patemostering from a punt, they
should stand side by side in the stem of the punt, fishing
right and left, merely bringing the rod round to the fisherman,
who will take the fish off and rebait ; much depends upon the
puntsman, and his skill in holding and managing the punt, in
ipaternostering. A bungler will be sure to spoil the fishing.

The localities in which to look for perch vary with the
season. Early in the summer the angler will find them in
the streams, as in gudgeon-swims, into which they come when
the ground is raked or disturbed, and here they often take the
angler's gudgeon worm ravenously ; indeed, perch occasion-
ally take a worm almost as well, and in some cases even better
than they do the minnow. They are often taken on the
ledger, and these are frequently the best fish too. Some
time since, I was fishing with a friend on the Thames ; we were
dace-fishing with the float line ; he had a paternoster out on
his side of the boat for perch ; I had a ledger on my side for
barbel ; I had at least a dozen bites, and caught two or three
nice perch, while he never got a touch, with a choice minnow

68 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and a small gudgeon not four or five yards off, and the perch
were feeding all around us. As the summer advances, the
perch seek the deeper and stronger streams, the quiet eddies
and deep holes near piles, lock gates, piers of bridges, corners
of weirs, and by heavy weed banks. At this time they are
well fed and cautious, and will try the angler's skill to make
a good dish of them. As the season advances, and the winter
floods sweep down, they all draw into the great eddies, or still
corners, particularly after a sharp frost, and here they may
be found in great numbers ; and when the water is a Httle
coloured, they may be taken in from three to seven or eight
feet of water, or deeper, in any quantity, as they are then
hungry, though in good condition. As March comes on, they
get heavy in spawn, when they should not be disturbed.
By the middle of April they get amongst the weeds, rushes,
or fibrous roots of trees, in still backwaters, and here they
deposit their spawn in long ropy glutinous masses. It is
astonishing what a vast number of eggs the female perch will
void ; they are very small, and about the size and of the
appearance of little seed pearls. Perch spawn about the end
of April, and get into fair season again by the end of June.

Perch may often be caught with a spinning minnow, but it
is not a very common method of angling for them, though the
best fish are usually so caught ; and I have known good execu-
tion done in lakes by spinning, either with a minnow (real or
artificial) or a spoon. Indeed, I almost think, from my ex-
perience, that I am justified in saying that they take a spoon
better than almost any other spinning bait ; but I have found
them prefer the triangular spinner made of spoon metal
(commonly called the " otter ") to the regular spoon, the only
reason I can give for it being that it spins better and more
evenly than the spoon, which wobbles a good deal, and though
this is liked by pike, and not always objected to by trout,
particularly lake trout, it would seem that it is not a strong
recommendation to perch.

A handful or two of gentles or broken worms will be found
useful as ground-bait, when float-fishing with worms. But
whatever you do, do not take your wife's or sister's gold fish
globe out with a muslin cover on it, and a stock of lively
minnows inside, under the supposition that the perch will
rub their noses against the glass, like cats at a dairy window,
according to the old superstition.

Perch are commonly taken with the fly in some parts of the

SIZE OF PERCH 69

mntry, but this is a less general method of fishing for them
"even than spinning. A showy fly with tinsel on the body is
most to be commended, the fashion being of no great conse-
quence, perch not being very particular in this respect.

Perch in this country seldom exceed four pounds in weight,
one of three pounds is a rarity, while a two pound perch
is a fine fish. They have been known to reach nine pounds
weight, and in the large lakes of Germany and Scandinavia
they occasionally reach a very large size.* A dish of half-pound
perch, however, is not in our less favoured land to be despised. f
The best day's perch-fishing I ever had was on the Kennet,
a capital perch river. I fished with a friend and we took
home thirty-seven perch which weighed sixty pounds — many
of them weighed two pounds and some were over that weight.
My companion had three large perch on his paternoster at the
same time ; he bagged two of them : one was two pounds, the
other two pounds and a quarter, and the one which got away
was larger than either of them. We lost a great many fine fish
in the course of the day, I in particular losing nearly as many
as I caught. I had another excellent day's sport on the Kennet
last season, though of a mixed character, consisting of pike
and perch, and which I have alluded to in the chapter on the
pike.

* Colonel Thornton in his Sporting Tour, chapter iii., records having
killed a perch " of about seven pounds and a half " in Loch Lomond. — Ed.

t All British freshwater fish except eels, burbot and fish of the salmon
family, are devoid of fat. Continental cooks understand this and supply
the deficiency by skilful dressing ; but in England our people have every-
thing to learn in this matter. — Ed.

CHAPTER IV

M I D - W A T E R FISHING
The Pike — Spinning — Trolling with the Dead Gorge — Live Baiting, etc.

THE PIKE {Esox lucius)

THE pike plays no little part in the literature of
angling ; indeed, he has even been deemed worthy
of a book to himself. Of course I cannot afford
to give to him more than a limited space, and must
treat him with infinitely more brevity than Mr. Cholmondeley
Pennell has done. But if the reader wants to know not only
the various methods of catching the pike, but all about him
— including his birth, parentage, and education — with the
history of his ancestors, etc., then I commend him to that
capital work, The Book of the Pike.

Pike, under favourable circumstances, grow to almost
any size a freshwater fish could be supposed to attain, even
to hundreds of pounds. In this country they have rarely
been known to exceed eighty pounds, but Sir J. Hawkins
speaks, in his notes to the Complete Angler, of one caught at
Lillieshall Lime Works, in 1765, which weighed one hundred
and seventy pounds. (Book of the Pike, p. 15.) Even a
forty-pound fish, however, is not by any means " common
wares " nowadays. I have the head of one that size which
was sent me by my late friend, " The Old Bushman," but
that was killed in Sweden. The largest I ever killed was
twenty- two pounds and a half, though I have, I think, hooked
some of over that size, but it was when spinning, with the
old three or four triangle tackle, which is a very risky method
of taking large fish, and they invariably managed, after a
run or two, to discard the hooks. The story of the Mannheim
pike has so often been referred to that I feel bound not to
pass him by. Mr. Pennell took much pains to investigate
that story. The fish, when caught, was said to be two hundred

70

HABITS OF PIKE 71

and sixty-seven years old. The skeleton was preserved in
the Mannheim Museum, and was nineteen feet in length ; but,
upon being examined by a clever anatomist, it was discovered
that several vertebrae had been supplemented. However
much or little of this story has been exaggerated, the fact
that pike, under favourable circumstances, will reach a very
large size is undoubted, and the rate of growth in the earUer
years, where food is plentiful, and the water suitable, is
astonishingly rapid. Mr. Simeon, in his admirable Stray
Notes on Natural History, cites an instance in which pike had
increased to nearly twenty pounds weight (from two or three)
in eighteen months, or at the rate of almost ten or eleven
pounds a year.

The pike is from his habits a solitary fish, though big ones
are often found in pairs ; and after floods and frosts they
may, Hke perch, be found collected together in numbers, in
any favourable eddy, such as the mouth of a back-water, or
the tail of an island, the ends of old locks, reed or rush beds,
the corners of tumbling bays, etc., all of which are favourite
holds. They spawn from March till May, in ditches and back-
waters, and, after a short rest, they scour themselves in the
streams, and then take up their regular habitation and
hunting-grounds for the season. The pike, when young,
and up to about four pounds weight, has been called a jack,
until by degrees it has often come to be called a jack, no
matter of what size it may be. It is certainly one of the most
omnivorous fish that swims, and, when hungry, nothing
living, and few things dead, come amiss to it. I have known
pike to take plummets and floats when in motion, under the
idea that they were edibles, and retain their hold of them for
some space in spite of strong puUing. Yet, where they are
well fed, and are much fished for, they get tolerably shy and
wideawake ; and a pike that has been run once or twice and
roughly handled, is apt to come at the bait somewhat
cautiously.

In fishing for pike, regard is to be had as to whether you
wish to take them, big or little, indiscriminately, or whether
you desire only to kill those over a certain size, returning all
others to the water. If the latter be your aim, no gorge bait
of any kind should be allowed, and the angler should be
confined to spinning or snap-fishing. If, however, the former
be your wish, you may use any bait or style that suits your
purpose.

k

72 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The most sportsmanlike way of fishing for pike is certainly
by spinning, which is thus practised. The angler takes a
small fish (gudgeon, dace, or bleak are preferable — if these
cannot be obtained, he may use any other small fish which
he can get), he then hooks the fish on to his line by a certain
arrangement of hooks called a flight or set, so that by com-
municating a crook to the body or tail, it may, when drawn
through the water, revolve rapidly on the screw principle.
In order to permit the bait so to revolve without twisting
the line, a tackle called a trace is used. This is about four or
five feet long, and consists of a few strands of stout salmon
gut, or of gut twisted, or even of gimp, linked together with
a couple of swivels at intervals, about eighteen inches apart,
a third swivel being sometimes used, to connect this part of
the tackle with the running or reel line ; a good large loop
being left at the other end of the trace to loop the flight of
hooks on, or for the purpose of changing them at pleasure.
A drawing of a trace may be seen surrounding the spinning
flights in Plate IV. The trace should not be less than from
a yard to four feet long, and not more than five, or it will
be found awkward in casting. Between the swivels the lead
or sinker is to be fastened. In ponds, where the weeds
come very near the surface, a sinker may be dispensed with,
and the bait be allowed to run almost along the surface
of the water. In this instance, the simpler the arrangement
of hooks and the fewer there are of them, the better.

The sinker most usually adopted is the long, round, per-
forated lead, which is shown in Plate IV, Fig. 6, and through
which the gimp is run. Some anglers use large shot ; these
are sometimes squeezed or bitten on to the line, and the gimp
or gut thus so forcibly compressed cannot but be damaged
and weakened. Others use a set of perforated shot with
loops at each end, which is linked on in the middle of the
trace between two swivels ; but perforated shot cut the
gimp in time, while some bite a number of shot on to a loose
piece of gimp or gut, and then lash the set of shot on to the
trace. But all these plans have this objection — the lead
turns with the line, the twist, in spite of any number of swivels,
is communicated to the running Hne and thus, when the
twist gets into it it snarls, and kinks, and tangles, so that it
will not run through the rings, which is very trying to the
temper. Mr. Pennell, in order to prevent this, brought out a
means of fixing the lead to the line, which certainly has the

SPINNING FOR PIKE 73

intended effect. The pipe lead has a wire run through it,
which is attached to the trace by a wire eye at one end and
one or two swivels at the other (see Plate IV, Fig. 7). This
struck me as being a little cumbrous, and I brought out the
" Field " lead (see Plate IV, Fig. 8), which is secured from
shifting by a small plug thrust into the pipe to jamb the line ;
and, from experience, I can say that it answers thoroughly.
With these leads, at least two swivels should be between the
lead and the hooks, as all the twist is in that part of the trace.
According to the depth or swiftness of the water or stream
to be fished, so should the weight of the lead be ; and this is
a point to which considerable attention should be paid, as it
is sometimes necessary to fish deep, and sometimes to fish
shallow. Of the two, I prefer to fish deep, as the less distance
a pike has to come after the bait the better, for pike will not
always come to the top of the water after the bait even if
they see it ; and when they do come, they will see the decep-
tion so much more easily that, if they are not tolerably hungry,
they will often refuse the bait. This is especially the case
with good fish. Many a time have I, when fishing rather high,
seen a good ten or a dozen pounder come up with a dash at
the bait, and after following it for a yard or two, turn tail
and leave it, when, probably, had I been fishing deep, he would
just have put his nose out of the weed and snapped my bait.
But there is a great advantage in fishing high when the fish
are hungry. You cover so much more ground — that is to
say, the fish can see the bait so much farther off. If the
angler will glance at the diagram in Plate VI, page 93, he
will see what I mean. A is one spinning-bait fished high,
B is another fished low. Now, pike at C and D, and all within
that range will easily see A, whereas B will scarcely be seen
farther off than E and F. Still, if the fish are running shyly,
two trolls or throws in the position of B are preferable to one
at A. Of course, if the fish are well on the feed, and are ranging
for food, it will matter little whether the angler fishes high or
low, as within any reasonable distance his bait will be seen
laterally, and probably run at. Whether it be taken or no,
however, of course depends on the opinion the fish forms of
it on nearer inspection. One point the angler should bear in
mind, viz. that (provided the bait turns round fairly, so as
to display itself well and hide the hooks) he cannot spin too
slowly, and if he oi'^r-weights his hne, in order to keep it clear
of the weeds at the bottom, he will be obliged to spin so

74 A BOOK ON ANGLING

quickly, or to draw the bait along so rapidly, that he will
not give the pike a fair chance of biting. Too swift spinning
is a great fault, and it is, indeed, too common a fault in these
fast days. The angler Ukes to be always throwing. " Swish ! "
— out goes thirty or forty yards of line. " There's a throw.
Smith, my boy ! " He likes to see his bait spin like a humming
top. " Look at that, Smith, my boy ! can you make a bait
spin like that ? " Possibly Smith cannot make a bait spin
in that wonderful way, and cannot throw above twenty or
thirty yards of line, but somehow Smith, with a short line,
runs more fish than our fast friend. It has been the popular
myth that a bait traveUing at railway pace, and spinning
like one long line of silver, is the correct thing, because it
imitates a fish in an agony of terror. This argument is sheer
nonsense, as fish do not conduct themselves hke dancing
dervishes or ballet-masters, and perform pirouettes when in
a fright. They run away and turn, perhaps, from side to side,
as the swimmer does, to gain increased power by concen-
trating every effort now to one point, and then, as a relief,
to the other. The long, slow wobble of a badly spinning bait
is much more like the real thing no doubt, but it is necessary
to make the fish turn somewhat rapidly in order that the
pike may not have too much uninterrupted inspection of the
eight or ten hooks that encumber one side of the lure, and in
order to present the silver side, constantly changing and
flashing in the light, to attract the attention of the fish, which
a badly spinning bait will not do ; and it is to be borne in
mind, that unless the bait spins very well indeed when drawn
rapidly through the water, it will, when drawn only moderately
slowly, as is preferable, hardly spin at all ; therefore it is
desirable that the bait should spin well.

The best kind of line for spinning, unless the angler be
fishing with Nottingham tackle, or casting from the reel,
is plaited silk dressed. In choosing the line, see that it be
neither too fine nor too bulky. If it be too fine it will be
constantly kinking in throwing, and it will not stand the
requisite amount of wear and tear attendant on jack-fishing.
If it be too bulky it does not go so freely through the rings,
and much shortens the cast, besides being too visible to the
fish. If very heavy baits be required and large fish be ex-
pected a stouter line must of course be used. Select a line
that is neither too dry nor too sticky as regards the dressing.
If it be too dry the dressing on the line cracks in places and

THE PIKE ROD 75

the line becomes more like a land measuring chain than a
fishing Hne ; and if it be too soft and sticky it is a perpetual
nuisance in casting, causing endless kinking, and the dressing
very soon wears off. It should be fifty or sixty yards long —
not that so much will be often required in fishing, but when
used well at one end it can be turned end for end with advan-
tage and answers all the purpose of a new line.*

The rod used in spinning for jack should be from twelve
to fourteen or fifteen feet in length, with sufficient of spring
in it to cast a bait well and yet with good substance to stand
the strain and plunges of heavy fish should weeds intervene.!
Some anglers prefer the rod made of cane ; but if it be made of
cane, the only kind that should be used for it is bamboo, the
other canes having hardly sufficient substance in them.
Other persons prefer it made of solid wood, and of all woods
hickory is the best, with a strong spliced top. That is the
rod I prefer. But, whichever may be adapted, the rod should
be ringed with good sized stout, upright rings, to allow the
line to run through them with perfect freedom. If the angle
does not require to convey the rod from place to place, but is
in the habit of fishing the same water, and has a convenient
place for it, a single stick of bamboo, with winch fittings and
a short solid spliced top spliced into it, will be found as useful
and effective a rod as can be employed. I used a similar one
for years when I almost lived on the Thames, and never had
reason to complain of it, as it was both light and powerful.
It will be found very advantageous with the ordinary rod to
have two tops, the one a little shorter and stiffer than the
other, for heavy baits and big fish, as the use of heavy baits
with an ordinary top would soon strain and wear it out. Atten-
tion should be paid from time to time to the eye at the top of
the rod whence the line is delivered, as this is apt to wear
into grooves from the constant running friction of the fine,
and if not seen to, these grooves get so sharp that they will
in once or twice using cut all the dressing off even a new line.
A very good plan is to have enclosed in the wire eye a movable
bone or mother-of-pearl ring, which can be turned round at
pleasure so as to shift the place over which the line runs.
Many eyes have been invented for the purpose of delivering
the line with the least amount of friction, and various

♦ The fine, but exceedingly strong, line used in tarpon fishing has largely
supplanted the dressed silk lines in the use of spinning baits — Ed.

t The length of pike rods has been generally reduced in late years, — Ed .

76 A BOOK ON ANGLING

mechanical contrivances have been put into use, but I have
seen none yet worth adopting.*

A plain winch is best with not too heavy a check, so as to
run the line off easily if the fish requires it. A winch that
will hold sixty or seventy yards of medium sized dressed
eight-plait line is desirable, and it should be pretty stout in
the frame, as it will have to stand wear and tear and rough
usage in all sorts of weathers. For this reason the metal
reels will be found preferable to the wooden ones.

The last, and perhaps most important, point to be con-
sidered is the flight of hooks on which the bait is to be fixed ;
and about this there is a great variety of opinions, some
anglers preferring large hooks and some small hooks, some
many hooks and some few, some triangles brazed or unbrazed,
some doubles and some singles ; in fact, almost every possible
combination of hooks and gut or gimp has been tried. The
tackle in most general use is the old-fashioned three triangles
with a shding hp-hook (see Plate IV, Fig. i, p. 76). Some use
four triangles and a lip-hook, some have a double set of hooks
or a triangle or two on either side of the bait ; but I have
never found that the multipl5dng of hooks beyond a certain
point increases the certainty of capture — rather, indeed, the
reverse, for the hooks are apt to entangle and one interferes
with the action of the other. I have seen the hooks which
have been rejected by a pike on several occasions come up
all hooked and tangled together, almost in a ball, and each
hook had evidently been instrumental in dragging the other
from its hold. How much more useful would have been one
single fair-sized hook well stuck in. Added to this, anglers
should remember that it is far more difficult to drive four or
five hooks simultaneously into the jaw of a jack than it is
to drive one. Let the angler take a single hook, place the
point against any substance and give it a pull so as to embed
the barb, and then let him take an ordinary spinning flight
and fix the points of two hooks in each triangle on the same
substance and take a pull at the flight, and I do not think I
am far out in my calculation when I say that it requires five
times the force to bury the barbs of the many that would be
required for the single hook, and of course the more the
number of hooks is increased the less chance there is of the
barbs being buried, and consequently the greater chance
there is of the pike's getting off the tackle. The angler may

* Experienced pike fishers speak well of agate or porcelain eyes. — Ed,

PLATE IV.

To facf Pa^e 76

Spinning Flights. Leads, Etc.

SPINNING TACKLE 77

depend upon it that the simpler the tackle, and the fewer
hooks there are in it (combined with a fair arming of the
bait and a reasonable chance of hooking the fish of course),
the better. A great many pike do continually escape from
spinning tackle, and these are mostly the best fish ; and a
very hard stroke is required to send the hooks home beyond
the barbs if many and good-sized hooks are used. I do not
mean to say this is always so, because it may happen that
only one hook comes in contact with the pike's jaw, but this
is certainly exceptional. Another reason for harder striking
than would at first seem necessary is this : the pike, when
he seizes the bait, takes it across his jaws, that is, the head
and tail protrude on each side of his mouth. Savage perhaps
with hunger and rage he drives his long tusks almost through
the bait. Now, the hooks being also buried in the bait, they
must either be torn out of it, or the bait be dislodged from the
firm grip of the pike's tusks, before the hooks can be stuck
into him. It often happens that the angler will play a good
pike for some minutes solely by the fish having his teeth
stuck deeply into the bait, and not having the sense to open
his mouth, or from his refusing to relinquish his prey. The
first time he comes to the surface of the water he gasps for
breath, his huge mouth gapes, he gives his head a shake and
out tumbles the bait, hooks and all,* not one of them having
had hold. Away then goes pikey, quite satisfied with his
entertainment pro tern., and wondering what that ugly two-
legged monster with the hop-pole in his hand, and who looked
in such a state of perplexity and stew, had to do with the
matter. There is another reason why pike often get off through
the barbs of the hooks not being fleshed in the pike, and that
is, from the bad shape of the hooks, the points being far too
long and the barbs much too rank. I have touched more
fully on this subject in the chapter on hooks.

But, to return to that important point, the flight of hooks.
The tackle with three triangles and a sliding lip-hook has
perhaps the greatest number of admirers of any. Some

♦ Another reason why a pike is often thus held, is owing to the peculiar
shape of his teeth. Let the angler examine the mouth of a pike, and note
how it is made for holding. The tusks curve slightly backwards and inwards
from the lower jaw, while all the upper teeth, particularly the palatel teeth,
are bent directly back towards the throat, therefore the angler will easily
perceive that if those teeth were buried in a bait, and the bait were drawn
firmly forwards, it would not be an easy thing for the pike to disengage
himself by any other method than the one suggested, and which he very
commonly adopts. — F. F.

I

78 A BOOK ON ANGLING

anglers like to add a reverse hook, or a hook tied on the
reverse way, just above the tail triangle, in order to secure
the crooking of the tail ; and this is a very useful addition,
as it keeps the crook in form and protects and holds the bait
together. In the common three triangle pattern too great
space should not be allowed between the tail triangle and
the second one, or the tail will have too much play and the
bait will not spin properly. If the three triangles are short
for the bait more space between the other triangles is preferable.
To bait the three triangle tackle, take a small fish (a dace,
gudgeon, or bleak), stick one of the hooks of the lowest triangle
into the flesh of the tail, bringing the point out on the same
side so that the shanks of the hooks may be in a straight line
along the side of the bait, draw the tail up so as to bend or
crook it, and insert one of the hooks of the second triangle in
the middle of the side, about or a httle below the vent ; stick
one of the hooks of the third triangle into the middle of the
side near the shoulder. It should, if the bait is suited to the
size of the tackle, go in just below the pectoral fins ; then,
having slid the Hp-hook down to the proper distance so as
neither to bend the head of the bait nor allow it to be too
loose, put the lip-hook through both lips of the bait, the
point being upwards. Examine the drawing of the Hp-hook
and it will be seen that the gimp passes two or three times
round the shank in order to secure it from slipping ; by a
httle manipulation the Hp-hook can be sHd up or down so
that the head can be slackened or tightened at will. The
gimp is wound on or unwound from the shank of the Hp-
hook very easily if it be unlooped from the rest of the trace,
by passing the end of the gimp under each turn. It is
difficult to explain either in words or by a drawing this
operation which is very simple if once seen. If the bait be
put on properly, the three triangles will be in a straight line,
along the side of the bait, and there will be no loose gimp
between them (see Plate V, Fig. i). If the gimp be loose
between the hooks, the bait when drawn against the water
" buckles " as it is termed, i.e. bends back as if the backbone
were broken, and this will be found fatal to spinning (see
Plate V, Fig. 3). If, on the other hand, it be too short and
tight, the bait is bent the other way, and will wobble too
much (see Plate V, Fig. 4). The hooks being all firmly fixed,
if the bait appears to hang straight and fairly on them, drop
it into the water and draw it rapidly along ; if it spins to suit

PLATE V.

Tojace Page 78.

Spinnivg Tackles Baited.

BAITING THE TACKLE 79

your mind, proceed to fish with it. If it does not, tighten
or slacken the Up or the shoulder-hooks or both as the case
may seem to require, and try it again. These directions are
to suit a dace or gudgeon or other round-bodied fish. With
a more flat-bodied fish, as a bleak or roach, instead of the
bait hanging quite straight upon the hooks, the head should
be bent a little down towards the tail, and the body on the
side opposite to the hooks should have somewhat of the
curve displayed by the back of the bowl of a spoon (see Plate
V, Fig. 2) . Put on properly thus a bleak or even a roach may
be made to spin quite as well and sometimes better than a
dace or gudgeon. The directions given by many old writers
to compress the body by tying it round and round with white
silk are quite unnecessary. Poor old Tom Rosewell, of Marlow,
was the first man who showed me how a bleak should be
put on, and when he put one on and spun it, you could see
nothing but one long even line of silver. I am particular
in these directions as it has been the fashion hitherto with
many authors to pretend that the putting on of a bait cannot
be explained, but the yoimg hand is directed to go to a Thames
fisherman and to get him to show him how to do it. This is
all very well, and I by no means disparage the advice, for the
Thames fishermen are the best spinners in the world ; but it
is not everybody who can go to a Thames fisherman and take
lessons. Practice alone will enable the young hand to put
a bait on with any certainty of its spinning well, or (as even
old hands cannot always be quite sure of this) will enable
him at once to know how to rectify it if it does not. But I
think by following the above instructions and studying the
cuts given, that, if in time he is not able to succeed, he must
have less appreciation and readiness than a fisherman ought
to have. The same directions will answer to the letter when
I come to touch on spinning for large trout.

If the angler chooses to have tackle with four triangles,
the only difference will be that the triangles will be closer
together, but in inserting the hooks the angler must follow
the instructions already given. He can also have hooks on
the reverse side as well, but as these are supplementary hooks
they have merely to be stuck loosely into the bait so as not to
interfere with the hang of it, this depending entirely on the
main set. I do not recommend them, however, unless the
fish are very large and hungry, the tackle very stout, and very
heavy striking be the order of the day. With these conditions

8o A BOOK ON ANGLING

they are very deadly, for I once used a double set of this kind
made of large mackerel hooks (having no others), and through-
out one whole day / killed every fish I struck, "^ and they were
not few, numbering thirty-six. This took place at For ding-
bridge on the Avon, in Hampshire, many years since ; but
the whilom worthy host of the Star, Mr. Stewart, who wanted
the pike taken out of the stream, as they had almost destroyed
all the trout will, if still alive, well remember the slaughter of
that day ; the strike, however, would almost have broken
ordinary hooks and tackle. I had used a single set of small
brazed triangles the day before and lost a great number of
fish, and so resorted to these in desperation : almost every
stroke took one or two hooks clean through the jaws. Where
pike are at all shy, this tackle would be useless, as there was
visible more of the hooks than of the bait. If the angler
wishes to fish very neatly and without show, he can, if using
the white brazed triangles, wrap the silk lapping over with
stout silver foil. This will protect the silk from the fishes'
teeth, show little or nothing to alarm, and, if anything, lend
an attractive brilliancy to the bait.

Before using any tackle composed of brazed triangles, the
angler should test each hook carefully, more particularly if
they are at all old or have been used and laid by for any length
of time, or if they show any trace of rust, as the brazing often
destroys the tempering of the hooks ; at least, I conclude so,
as I have frequently found hooks in the state I have mentioned,
though apparently stout and well looking, snap at the sHghtest
stroke, and many a good fish have I thus lost from neglecting
this necessary precaution.

The simplest tackle in the way of triangles I have met with
is that used by the Nottingham spinners. It is composed of
only two triangles and a lip-hook. The lip-hook is a fixed one.
The loop of the gimp is passed up through the gill of the fish

* Only twice in my life have I ever achieved this feat when I have had
any large number of fish run. The largest fish was ten pounds ; the rest
about three and four pounds each. The day was very windy and boisterous,
and the fish hungry. Mr. Stewart and myself had as many fish to carry
home as we could manage. The set of hoolcs I used was very large, and
had three triangles on one side and one on the other. I gave the fish plenty
of time, and then struck them as hard as I could with safety to my rod.
Usually, the angler will find that upon a fair average he loses fully one-
third of the runs he has, if he keeps a fair and honest score. On some days
he will lose nearly a half when the fish run badly, on others of course much
less ; this may be modified to some small extent by improved tackle, but
there will alwavs remain a considerable percentage of scratched and lost
fish.— F. F.

FEW HOOKS RECOMMENDED 8i

and out of the mouth, the Up-hook being carefully manoeuvred
through also ; this is then turned and hooked through the lips
in the usual way. The first triangle goes into the shoulder,
and the last is brought up and hooked in over the tail part of
the back, just behind the dorsal fin, the bait being drawn up
so as to communicate a bend or crook to the body, and the
bend is thus given to the middle of the bait instead of the tail
(see Plate V, Fig. 7, p. 78) . The flight is then looped on to the
trace and is ready for use. It is a simple and effective method ;
and a bait thus put on, if it be properly hung, spins very well,
and shows enough arming sufficiently disposed over the main
parts of the body to hook any fish that runs and takes it fairly.
Nottingham fishers more often use a roach for baiting in this
way than any other fish, and certainly a roach thus baited
spins with even less difficulty than it does when baited on a
Thames tackle with the tail crooked as is the custom
there.

Some time since I invented a tackle for Thames trout, which
was also made up by the tackle makers for pike. The object
of that tackle was to obtain fewer but more effective hooks.
It was a modification of Col. Hawker's, or, as Mr. Pennell
reminds us, Salter's tackle, with a single instead of double
strand of gut, a sliding lip-hook, and no lead cap. If the angler
will turn to the chapter on spinning for trout he will find the
circumstances relating to that tackle described, and in Plate
IX, Fig. 7, page 211, he will find an engraving of the tackle.
I originally intended this tackle to be baited by detaching
the two portions and baiting the hook with the assistance of a
bait needle ; but this process was troublesome and the tackle
was abandoned for pike. Lately, however, I have used it in a
different manner, and in the way I now employ it it is, either
for small trout with minnow bait, or for large ones and pike,
with a gudgeon or moderate sized dace, the most effective
tackle by far that I have ever used. The way to bait it is to
draw the lip-hook and triangle up out of the way. Then put
the hook in at the mouth and out at the gills, and in again
at the gills down through the body of the fish close to the spine,
and out at the side about two-thirds down the body ; draw
up the line in the mouth so as to crook or bend the body slightly
somewhat in the shape observable in Plate V, Fig. 7, page 78,
the big hook coming out of the side just below the lower or end
triangle there shown. The Up-hook is then fixed, and the
triangle stuck in, either on the near or the off side. I prefer the

I

82 A BOOK ON ANGLING

off side, as it gives a better chance of hooking the fish. Now
the only difficulty in this tackle is the fixing of the lip-hook,
which, in the form shown in the engraving, would give some
trouble, and that I meet by having only one loop on the lip-
hook instead of two. I only tie one good stout loop on to the
lip-hook at the top of the shank, and when I push the Up-hook
down to the mouth I can without any difficulty turn the main
line, which holds the big hook, three or four times round the
shank of the lip-hook. This secures the lip-hook in its place,
and holds the triangle pretty firmly. This tackle is extremely
simple and exceedingly effective ; I think that without doubt
it combines the maximum of simpHcity and effectiveness
with the minimum of hooks. And having hit upon this plan
of baiting the tackle, and being quite satisfied of its efficiency,
I shall now never use any other. I used it all the last season
and had some capital sport with it, holding and killing more
large fish with it, and losing fewer fish than I have lost for
years. I had on the Kennet perhaps the best half a day's
pike spinning I ever had in my life with this tackle, running
and hooking on ten fish without losing one, the average weight
of the ten fish reaching thirteen pounds each fish. The largest
fish was twenty-two pounds and a half, the next seventeen
and a half, sixteen and a half, and so on, down to about seven
pounds, which was the smallest. The rest of the day I spent
in perch-fishing, taking about two dozen and a half, which
ran from one to two pounds each fish, one or two being a little
above two pounds. I had a friend with me who also caught
a large number of fine perch, but he did not fish for pike at all.
Now, if five hooks are capable of such a day's sport as this,
what need is there for using double the number ? If the pike
has four out of the five hooks inside his mouth, as will probably
be the case, it is ample to give the fisherman a very good
chance of hooking him. The bait does not spin quite so rapidly
with this tackle, but as there are so few hooks about it, there
is less need of it ;^, and few will deny that, if it spins well
enough to realise such a take as I have described, there is not
much to find fault with.

Soon^'after I brought this tackle out, Mr. Cholmondeley
Pennell wrote a little work on spinning for pike, in which he
described a tackle which he had invented, and an excellent
tackle it is (see Plate IV, Fig. 2, p. 76). Mr. Pennell states,
with respect to his tackle, that flying triangles, or triangles
upon separate strands of gimp, are more correct in principle

VARIETIES OF SPINNING TACKLE 83

and kill more fish than if they were fastened on to the single
strand of gimp in the ordinary way, and I am sure that he is
right. The only possible objection I can enter to it is the
pluraHty of strands of gimp he uses (or perhaps I should say
did use), and the amount of lashing which must be rather
conspicuous on the fish's side ; and I should prefer the tail-
hook, too, to be a trifle larger than in his original tackle, a
sketch of which may be seen in Plate IV, Fig. 2, page 76. I
have great faith in a big hook for big fish. Subsequently Mr.
Pennell improved his tackle, enlarged the tail-hook, did away
with much of the lashing, and adopted the shifting triangle
attached to the hp-hook, which I had employed on my tackle,
instead of two attached by single strands to the main strand
of gimp — the shifting triangle being inserted on the reverse
side ; and in this form it makes the best tackle that had so far
been invented (see Plate IV, Fig. 3, p. 76).

Wishing, if possible, still further to improve on the system
of flying triangles, I hit upon the idea a short time since of
employing triangles with loops or eyes, instead of tying them
on to strands of gimp, and having a single hook tied to the
main gimp under each triangle to hook the fish on, leaving
the triangles to stand out free. My belief is that in most
tackles the hooks lie too closely to the bait to take a favourable
hold of the fish, and often hit upon the hard jaw-bone, instead
of catching the more fleshy parts of the mouth. By letting
the triangles stand farther from the bait, the chance of hooking
is greatly increased. In Plate IV, Fig. 4, page 76, the tackle
is represented, but I have had it also made with the shifting
triangle for the reverse side, as is shown in Fig. 3, and it answers
exceedingly well.

There is an immense variety of other spinning tackles, far
more than can be noticed here, but the above are about the
best of them. In the choice of hooks, Mr. Pennell strongly
recommends the sneck-bend for the triangles, as being far
more sure in hooking. I have certainly found that no hooks
do so well or hook so many trout in fly-fishing, where the
question is one of great importance ; and I can see no reason
why the principle which certainly suits best and prevails so
very extensively in trout hooks should not be equally applicable
to pike. Mr. Pennell says that, after a series of experiments,
he has come to the conclusion that the advantage which the
sneck-bend has over the other hooks is something like 100
per cent,, and such being the case — as it cannot matter two

84 A BOOK ON ANGLING

straws to the angler which pattern he selects — by all means
sneck-bend be it.

There are various ingenious inventions for the purpose of
simplifying the art of putting on a spinning bait. Some of
them are more ingenious than useful. The principle of most
of them is to have a piece of flat brass, about the length of the
bait to be used, pointed and barbed at one end. This is thrust
into the mouth of the bait and down beside the spine until
the barbed point is buried in the root of the tail ; another barb
half-way up the metal helps to keep the bait on and in its place.
The other end of the brass has fixed on it a pair of wings or
fans, on the Archimedian screw principle ; these extend on
either side of the mouth of the bait and communicate to it the
spinning action. Above these wings is an eye in the brass from
which a pair of triangles on one side, and a single one on the
other, hang and form the arming of the bait ; one of the hooks
of the upper triangle on one side, and the single one on the
other being hooked into the bait, serve also to keep it to-
gether. But in spite of all this, when there is the constant strain
caused by casting and drawing against stream, the barbs will
at times work loose and allow the fans to come up and away
from the mouth, so that a short interval will appear between
the fan and the head of the bait, which is very undesirable.
To the eye is fixed a swivel to which the trace is fastened in
the usual manner. Some of these artificial spinners are
without the fans, and the spin is given to the bait by simply
bending the tail, brass and all, the brass keeping the tail
properly crooked. Some, again, have the fan at the tail, the
tail being cut off, the spear thrust in at the tail and out at the
mouth, an artificial tail being thus given to the bait. Most of
these aids to spinning are leaded so that the weight is concealed
in the body of the bait ; but although it may be desirable to
hide the lead and to show as little tackle as possible to alarm
the fish, I have always found that the thrusting of a lead into
the fish soon knocks the bait to pieces, and the belly and thorax
are liable to cut out more or less speedily. Again, in these
aids to spinning many of them require the baits to be fitted
with some exactness to the apparatus and the apparatus to
the bait. The best of them all, perhaps, is the Chapman
spinner (see Plate V, Figs. 8 and 9, p. 78). But, however
good they may be in one sense, there are many objections to
them ; and my advice to the young spinner is to learn how to
put a bait properly on an ordinary flight of tackle devoid of

DEAD AND LIVE BAITS 85

aids or makeshifts of any kind, and to practise until he becomes
an expert, when he will certainly decline to be bothered with
any apparatus of the sort.

With respect to baits, pike are tolerably indifferent, and
bleak, dace, gudgeon, or the young of barbel or chub, may
be used for spinning baits indiscriminately, and even a roach
can, as I have pointed out, be made to spin well. Bleak and
dace of course are the most showy, and being for that reason
more quickly seen, are therefore perhaps more attractive. But
whatever be the baits, the angler should always take a good
supply of them, as so many get cut, torn, and spoilt, that a
couple of dozen will not be too many, and sometimes not
enough, for each rod in a moderate day's sport. If the angler
is not certain about procuring bait on the water he is going to
fish, he should never trust to chance ; always make sure in
this respect, and thus many an hour often vexatiously lost
will be saved, and many an indifferent day turned into a good
one. Never mind what your companion may say about being
able to catch bait, or the probability that Jack, Bob, or Tom
may be able to spare you some. Catching bait is always a very
doubtful occupation, and although if you did not want them
you might be able to pull out dace and gudgeon by the score,
yet when you do want them particularly, they seem to have an
instinctive knowledge of the fate awaiting them, and to be
resolved to defeat your object. At the best, valuable time is
wasted ; while, as for the hypothesis affecting Jack, Bob, or
Tom, it never comes true when you most want it to do so ;

less, therefore, you are quite sure of a good supply of bait,
ake what you require.

If you are going to live-bait, a large can will be requisite to
convey the fish ahve to the river (see Plate I, Fig. 6, p. 9, for
illustration of a live-bait can), and if it be a long journey and
warm weather, there will be much difficulty in keeping them
alive.* A small pair of bellows will greatly aid this, for by
putting the nozzle to the bottom of the water, and blowing
it two or three times, the water is aerated afresh, to the great
reviving of the fish. If, however, spinning be the object, you
may much simplify matters by getting a supply of dead baits.
These may be preserved in various ways, by being either salted

* In cold winter weather baits will travel by rail a long distance without
requiring much attention. Mr. Wright, the tackle maker in the Strand,
brought out a useful little apparatus lately, in the shape of a compressible
india-rubber ball and a gutta-percha tube, for aerating the water in a bait-caij.
— F. F,

i€

86 A BOOK ON ANGLING

or, if the weather be cool, simply put into a box of bran if they
are not required to be kept too long, or by painting them over
with glycerine, or by putting a number into a widish-mounted
bottle full of spirits of some kind.* The last-named method
keeps the baits well, and their colour is as brilliant as in their
natural condition, while they are rendered so tough that they
will stand much more wear and tear. Take out of the bottle
as many as may be required for the day, and if they are not
used they can be returned to the bottle again. The angler
should keep up his stock by adding fresh baits occasionally.

We will now suppose that the weighty matters of choosing
a tackle, fixing and baiting it, are concluded. Let the angler,
if standing on the bank of a river or pond, see that the ground
at his feet is clear of fragments of stick, etc., which may en-
tangle in his line and spoil his cast ; then let him draw off as
much line as he requires from the reel, and let it lie in loose
coils at his feet. Of course I am supposing here that he is about
to fish in the Thames style, which is that most generally
adopted, and is certainly the best and most attractive.
Only on very foul ground is the Nottingham style of
spinning at all preferable, and even here Thames fishers of
experience will often greatly counteract this advantage by
the knack which they have of gathering up the line in the palm
of the hand by an up and down motion, something like that
of a weaver with a shuttle.

Supposing, then, the line to be ready : it will be best to
commence with a short hne for practice, say ten or fifteen
yards ; this can be increased progressively, by pulling some
two or three yards extra off the reel between each cast, and
just after the angler has made his cast, when all the line is out.
Holding the rod above the reel firmly in his right hand, with
which he clasps the line to the rod, and with his left handt
taking hold below the reel — the point of the rod being elevated
in the air at an angle of about forty degrees, and the bait hang-
ing downwards some five or six feet from the rod-point — let
him wave the bait gently backwards, either to the right or

* Salting and other methods of preserving baits have been completely
superseded by bottling them in a solution of formalin. — Ed.

t Some anglers hold the rod only with the right hand, the hip forming a
rest and a pivot, the line being held in the left ; this is awkward and lacks
the capability of precision, which is desirable whether in casting, working,
or striking. It also gives the right arm too much to do, and in a long day's
spinning with a fourteen or fifteen feet rod this will be found a consideration.
— F. F.

I

CASTING THE SPINNING BAIT 87

across his body to the left, so as to get the swing ; and when
the bait has reached the full extent of the swing let him sweep
his rod forward rapidly, feeling the weight of the bait and
lifting it slightly as he delivers it, opening or loosening his
right hand, when he has reached about two-thirds length of
the sweep, so as to release the line just as he gives the lift
spoken of, and directing at the same time the point of the rod
towards the spot he desires to reach — the line will thus run
freely through the rings, the bait will fly through the air, and
if the strength and the lift be properly given, and the rod
pointed aright, his bait will hardly fail to reach the point
aimed at. To do this well and effectively will require some
little practice. The bait should not be lifted too high or it will
make too much splash when it falls ; but practice alone will
enable the angler to judge of this. When the bait falls in the
water, he must allow it to sink to the depth he requires, and
then he must bring the rod down parallel with the surface,
resting the butt against his right hip or thigh. If the water is
deep, and the angler desires to fish deep, he may let the point
of the rod almost touch the surface of the water. Then,
gripping the line again to the rod with his right hand, he must
commence drawing it in with his left, loosing the grip of the
right hand at every draw, and lifting the rod-point and working
the bait in shoots, as it were, after each draw. Thus, he must
keep on drawing the line in, letting it fall in free coils at his
feet as before, until he has brought all the line once more
to the shore. If these directions be properly carried out, the
bait win come traversing the water about mid-water, spinning
and shooting in a way very attractive to the pike. By raising
the point of the rod he may, of course, work the bait nearer
to the surface if required.

The length of cast which an angler will find it convenient
to make is that which he can not only cast but fish best.
Some anglers can cast from thirty-five to forty-five yards ;
but for fishing purposes twenty to thirty yards is long enough,
imless a special case occurs to require more. The question
of how much can be cast is doubtful. I am sure that I have
seen fully fifty yards if not more cast with a heavy live bait
and float. I can manage forty-five yards with an ordinary
tackle, and bait weighing from one and a quarter to one and a
half ounces. Long casts are often useful when it is required
to get a live bait well out in a lake or pond.

With respect to the pace at which it is desirable to spin, as

88 A BOOK ON ANGLING

I have before said, I prefer slow spinning, as it gives the fish
more time to see the bait ; but it must not be so slow as to
spoil the spinning. I do not know that I can give the reader
a better idea of how to regulate this than to quote Mr. Pennell's
words on the subject. He says : " The draws or pulls and the
corresponding movements of the rod must of course be varied
in length and rapidity according to the depth of the water,
size of bait, and other circumstances ; but a good medium
speed, when the left hand is carried well back, is about forty
draws per minute." This, as Mr. Pennell says, is a medium
pace.

To fish a stream properly, that method is the best which
enables you to cover the most water with the greatest ease
and the shortest time, and the best way is to cast across and
rather down-stream, and to repeat it three or four yards
farther down and nearer to you until you have fished all the
water you can cover — when move on. Always fish your cast
out and do not be in a hurry to withdraw the bait, as pike often
follow it and take it close to the boat or the bank. Greville F.
tells a story in the Field of one following the bait with such
good will that, missing it, he ran his head against a post and
stunned himself, and was thus lifted out in the landing-net
without more ado. Some anglers prefer to cast up-stream
where there is not much current, and draw down, under the
impression that the fish has thus a better chance of seeing the
bait ; but straight casts up or down should be avoided as much
as possible, as the fish sees too much of the line.

If the angler feels a check or stoppage of the line while he
is drawing it home, he has to decide whether it is a fish or a weed
or other obstruction. Usually if it be a fish he will feel the
tug ; or, if he drops the point of the rod, the line will move
off ; but if he feels nothing of this, let him tighten the line by
raising the point slightly, when he will be able to decide the
question at once. If he has reason to believe that the check
proceeds from a fish, he must strike directly and straight back
and firmly, holding his fish rather tightly for the first few
seconds, so as to embed the hooks in the pike's hard mouth
before letting him work his wicked will ; he can then ease him
a little and play him to the best of his ability. Some anglers,
when they feel a run, give the fish a few seconds. This is
quite optional ; but it is not necessary, as a pike seldom
misses his grip if he means to take the bait, and as he holds it
crosswise in his jaws, he has as much of the bait in his mouth

I

ON STRIKING 89

the instant he is felt as he will have until he pouches. The
angler should never strike upwards over his own head if he
can avoid it, but sideways and downwards — parallel with the
water as it were — and for this reason : if he strikes up, the
hooks come into contact with the hard horny roof of the
pike's mouth, and this is one mass of teeth, into which it is
almost impossible to drive a hook deeply ; whereas, if he strikes
sideways, he has a better chance of getting hold of the softer
and more fleshy lower jaw.

Mr. Pennell recommends striking twice, so as to be sure of
driving the hooks in. It is, however, quite possible to lose a
fish by striking twice — the first strike sending the hook in,
and the second striking it out again. But there is this much
to be said in that case, viz. that the hold must be rather a
slight one, and that there would be every possibility of the
fish breaking from it whether or no ; whereas if the points
only without the barbs are buried in the pike's jaw the second
strike will certainly make assurance doubly sure by sending
the barbs home. Therefore I leave the angler to adopt which-
ever course he pleases. I never strike twice ; but then I am
bound to say that sometimes when using a tackle with many
triangles I certainly do lose a good many fish, and the more
triangles the angler employs the harder he must strike to be
on the safe side.

If a pike runs deep when struck, hold a firm hand upon
him, so as to keep his head up out of the weeds ; and always,
if possible, particularly if he is a big one, keep the point of the
rod behind him so as to pull the hooks into his mouth instead
of out of it. If the fish be straight down-stream below you,
rather drop to him than pull against him, for if when you are
so pulling he happens to open his mouth and give his head a
shake or two, it is a hundred to one that he shakes himself
free, unless your hold is very good indeed. If a pike comes to
the top of the water, standing on his tail as it were (as if you
were weighing him), and with open mouth " grins ghastly "
at you, shaking his head to and fro savagely, you are in no
little danger of losing him. I have lost scores in this way.
The only thing to do is to drop the point of the rod and let
him have nothing to struggle against, when he will speedily
recover his horizontal ; for if you hang on to him, you are
unusually lucky if you kill him. Get the point of the rod down
to the surface of the water if he shows symptoms of coming
to the top, so that the weight of line may aid in deterring him.

90 A BOOK ON ANGLING

If you lose a fish after playing him for a turn or two, let not
a moment pass before throwing again to the spot where you
lost him, and he will possibly take the bait again ; for pikey
is very hkely looking all round him in desperation at losing
his prey ,and does not feel his scratches more than a wounded
tiger or shark does, while his rage is kindled against the in-
significant being which has scratched him and then run away.
Of course, however, if you give him time to cool and reflect
your chance is small of seeing him again.

Sometimes a pike will jump out of water like a salmon,
when hooked. Always drop the point and slacken line to him
when he does so, until he is well in his native element again,
when you can resume your command of him. It is not a
common trick, but I have seen it happen two or three times.

A pike is never safe with spinning tackle until he is in the
landing-net.* Get him there as speedily as possible. He is
always in danger of getting off just as you are about to land
him, because if you use a landing-net you have to bring him
near the surface. f Never let your man make a dash at the
fish, or he may chance to catch your hooks in the net and lose
your fish — which is by no means the object you have in view.
Let him sink the net well, and as you bring the fish round sweep
him into it tail first. If he goes in head first your hooks catch
the net, the fish sometimes gives a spring, and you have to
sit down and mend your tackle — at least occasionally you
have to do so. J

Having landed your pike, the next thing is to unhook him ;
and ware fingers here, for he has woundy sharp teeth. A
disgorger (see Plate VI, Fig. 7, p. 93), as it is termed, will be
found a useful aid. It is a piece of metal or bone with a notch
in the end, and by pushing it against any hook that is fast it

* And even when in the net I have known them jump out. I was once
fishing at Hampton Court with my old acquaintance Mr. Frank Matthews,
the well-known comedian. He hooked a fish of about seven pounds ; Wisdom,
our fisherman, attempted to land it while it was some distance off, and as
he held the net extended it jumped out again into the water and escaped ;
ten minutes afterwards I caught the same fish again. I have, too, known a
fish go through the bottom of an old net, and playing a heavy fish in this
predicament offers both variety, novelty, and excitement. — F. F.

t The gaff is a most useful auxiliary here, for big fish particularly.- — F. F.

X I lost a ten-pound fish in this way in the Kennet some time since : I
was perch-fishing and the net was much too small for him. I had no assistant.
The bank was too rotten to finger him ; a dozen times I got his tail in the net,
but he always contrived to slip out at the critical moment. At last I slipped
it over his head, determining to fetch him out with a swing, but at the instant
of reaching the bank he jumped out again and into the water, leaving the
paternoster hooks fast in the net. — F. F.

GORGE-BAITING gi

may be unhooked. To keep the fish's mouth safely open during
the operation is not an easy task. Mr. Rolfe, fish artist,
invented a machine for this purpose hke to a pair of scissors
with a rack. By opening these in the fish's mouth and setting
the rack, the angler can poke out the hooks at leisure. When
he is quite free, knock him on the head with a short bludgeon
hke a ship's trenail or a boat's rowlock, and put him in the
creel. i « >

There are many other ways of taking pike besides spinning.
Trolling with a dead gorge bait comes next, but it is not so
much practised now as formerly, as there is Uttle which can
be done with it which cannot be done better with the spinning
bait. The only advantage it presents is that you can fish
amongst weeds which could not be fished with a spinning bait.
In Plate V, Figs. 5 and 6, page 78, will be found representa-
tions of a gorge hook baited and unbaited. The dead gorge
hook consists of two hooks fastened back to back ; the shanks
are then heavily laded, and are strengthened ad lib. by means
of a piece of stoutish twisted brass wire, made of various lengths
to suit various baits. The process of baiting is as follows :
Choose a bait — a dace or gudgeon is the best — cut off the
tail, and then shp the loop of the tackle into the eye of the
baiting needle (see Plate VI, Fig. 8, p. 93).* Put the needle
in at the mouth of the bait, push it through the centre of the
fish and out at the tail, and draw the lead down into the gullet
and stomach of the fish until the hooks are arrested at the
mouth and he upon each side of it. Tie the tail tightly to
the gimp with thread, hook the eye of the gimp on to the line
by a swivel, and all is ready for action. It is worked thus :
Cast it into a hole, and let it sink ; then hft the point of the
rod and lower it constantly as the bait is drawn home : this
causes it to shoot along through the water more like a five
fish than even a spinning bait does. When a pike seizes it,
or a check is felt, fine is given out and the fish carries it where
he pleases. As soon as he remains quiet he may be considered
to have commenced pouching — that is, gorging or swallowing
the fish. The angler does not lay down his rod, take out his
watch, and wait five or even ten minutes to steady his excited

* I invented some years since a little leathern machine for carrying
baiting needles and disgorgers ; as these implements are so easily mislaid
and difficult to find, that they are always missing when wanted. It was
simply buttoned on to one of the breast-buttons of the angler's coat, and
was thus always at hand. Mr. Bernard, of Piccadilly, took up the idea and
made several. — F. F.

92 A BOOK ON ANGLING

nerves, as recommended by old authors — if he does, he de-
serves to get into difficulties — but he waits until he thinks the
fish has gorged the bait, keeping the line all clear for a run
in case the fish moves. In about five minutes, if he does not
move, he will have pouched or gorged, when the angler can
gather in all the loose line and give him a persuasive tug.
As he will probably be tugging at the poor wretch's vitals he
need not pull very hard. If the fish moves soon, the angler
must use his own discretion as to whether it may be worth
while waiting to see if he will seek another hold or whether
he has bolted the bait at short notice. Savants — telegraph
clerks probably — pretend that they can tell by certain tremb-
lings of the line whether a fish has pouched or not ; I am not so
well up in piscatorial electricity as to be able to do so. As a
general rule, a pike moves as soon as he has pouched ; when
he does, stick the hooks into him at once. If by chance he
does not, but appears desirous of making a time bargain of it,
the angler must, as I have said, use his own discretion as to
the time when he shall think it desirable to foreclose the
mortgage which Mr. Pike has taken of him. If the fish be a
large one, perhaps half the above time, or three minutes, will
be enough for him ; if a small one, the shorter time the better,
because he may get off without being killed, which the gorge
bait necessitates to every fish indiscriminately. As I have
said, it is not a nice way of fishing ; the fish is very apt to
reject the bait on feeUng the lead within it, or from not being
very hungry, and the waiting is tedious, and the whole affair
is so unsatisfactory and savage that let those follow it who
list, for 111 none of it. Nobbes, who is called " the father of
trolling," gives very special and particular directions with
respect to it. To those who desire to know more of it, I say,
read Nobbes.

Live baiting is the next method for discussion, and the only
way in which this should be pursued is by means of the live
snap. Gorge baits of all kinds, which were invented by the
father of cruelty, should not be permitted on any excuse where
pike are preserved, because no matter what the size of the fish
may be, they kill him. The five snap is usually composed of a
triangle, of which one hook is small and two are large. The
small one is whipped on high up at the top of the shanks of the
two larger ones, and it is on this small one the fish is fixed by
the back fin, the two large ones hanging down the side. A
better plan by far is to use a largish triangle, a single hook

PLATE VI.

-«^ ■ '.\

To face Page 93.

Live-bait Tackles, Etc.

^

LIVE-BAITING 93

being whipped on the gimp a little above it, the triangle
hanging down loose by the fish's side (see Plate VI, Figs. 11
and 12, p. 93). As soon as the angler perceives a bite, giving
the fish half a minute or a minute to get the hooks well into his
mouth, but not time enough to pouch, he strikes. A float is
used with this tackle. Some anglers like a large pear-shaped
one (as shown in Plate II, Fig. 7, p. 49) — I do not, as it is apt
to catch in any obstruction, and so lose you your fish — a large
carrot-shaped or cucumber-shaped one is better. A single hook
thrust through the nose of the bait is often used ; but unless
the bait be of small size, as in paternostering, this is rather a
gorge bait, and time must be given for the fish to pouch to be
sure of getting the hook in his mouth. Others use a double
hook, or two hooks set back to back and tied on gimp. A
baiting needle is then hooked on to the loop of the gimp and the
point is introduced under the skin just behind the pectoral
fins of the bait, and the needle is run along towards the tail and
brought out above the vent, or a Uttle nearer to the tail, and the
gimp is drawn through, so that part of the gimp and the
shanks of the hooks are hidden under the skin (see Plate VI,
Figs. 9 and 10, p. 93). This plan is only adopted when very
long throws requiring a good deal of force are required, as, if
any other mode of baiting is practised, the bait is apt to be
thrown off the hook by the force employed. It is a very cruel
plan, however. When such plans as there are adopted, as is
often the case by pot-hunting anglers with two or three or more
rods, I would ask what difference there is between them and
trimmer-fishing.* One can scarcely be held to savour more of
poaching than the other.

A very killing plan, also much adopted, more particularly
by the Thames anglers, is to use a paternoster with a couple of
gimp hooks, and a bait on each. By this means every inch of
water can be thoroughly searched, but as, when the pike runs,
the lead or the spear hook and bait is apt at times to catch in a
stone or weed, the fish have a fairer chance of getting off than
with the float. Small baits and short law must, of course, be
the order of the day. Some people set their faces altogether
against the use of a live bait ; but when the snap style is used,
with a single bait, I do not think it is so objectionable, as I am
sure that if the fish are in the humour far more fish are actually

♦ In fact, the above is trimmer-fishing in disguise, the rod being a sort of
neutral introduced to conceal enemies' goods, which are certainly contraband
of fishing thus employed. — F. F.

94 A BOOK^N ANGLING

hooked in spinning than by any other means. I have often
seen one angler spinning, and another hve baiting, and I have
seen the spinner take at the rate of five fish for the Hve baiter's
one. Where, then, is the objection ? It certainly is not a
pretty way of fishing, and I dislike it because it is not so
pleasant or lively a way as spinning ; and it never can or will
be so popular. The truth is that sometimes the fish prefer a
live bait to a spinning bait, but more often the case is reversed ;
and if spinning is (as I know it to be) more deadly in respect to
numbers than live baiting, upon what ground is it objected to ?
I rarely use the live bait, and certainly do not advocate it from
any preference. But " live and let live." I do not wish to
interfere with those who do, being well assured that I am more
likely to spoil their sport than they are mine. Another reason
why some persons prefer live baiting, is that a larger bait can
be used, and there is far less likelihood of losing a large fish
when once hooked, in Hve baiting, than spinning ; and there is
some reason for this belief.

There are various other baits used for pike-fishing, when
fish are scarce ; but it is needless to say that none of them are
equal to fish in point of attractiveness. Perhaps a good yellow
lively frog ranks next in the estimation of the pike. The way
to bait a frog is to use one large long-shanked hook, pass it
through the under lip and draw the hook down under the belly
until the bend lies beside the thigh of the hind leg, to which it
should be tied with a lap or two of silk : then work him after
the fashion of a live bait. Mice, water-rats, and dead birds,
will be taken at times, and an artificial rat may be made from
a slice of the skin of a cow's tail, which is said to answer the
purpose well ; as I never used it, however, I cannot speak to
its efficacy ; but if an artificial bait be used, a good large spoon
bait is perhaps as attractive as any. Mr. Pennell recommends
a supplementary triangle to be added to the side of a spoon, as
fish often run and miss the end hooks, and it is a good plan.
Spoon baits are certainly excellent lures ; they may be had of
all sorts, sizes, fashions, and colours at the tackle makers', and
as people have so many whims on this point, I leave the angler
to choose for himself. Sir S. Baker, the great African traveller
and Nile explorer, formerly a correspondent of the Field, once
called my attention to a bait he had used with great success in
Turkey. It was made out of a daguerreotype of an old lady ;
and the " old lady," as he called it, beat the spoon hollow. He
took the plate (which was silvered on one face and coppered on

I

VARIOUS BAITS FOR PIKE 95

the reverse), cut a rude resemblance of a fish out of it, turned
the lobes of the tail reverse ways to make the bait spin, armed it
well, and it succeeded admirably, never giving the spoon a
chance. The otter (previously referred to in perch-fishing) is
also a useful lure at times. And Mr. Hearder's plano-convex
bait is an excellent one for general spinning either in fresh or
salt water, and any fish which will take a spinning bait may be
taken by the plano-convex. It is made of various sizes to suit
the sort of fish angled for, and is contrived upon much the
same principle as the other just alluded to. As regards the
imitations of fish used for artificial baits, they are so numerous
that it is quite impossible to catalogue them ; made of every
metal, from tin to silver, and of all sorts of substances, from
bone or horn and glass to indiarubber and leather, the angler
must be difficult to please if he cannot select one to suit him
from the stock usually displayed in our fishing-tackle shops.
Perhaps as easily made and as effective a bait as any, is formed
in the following way : Take a thin bar or strip of lead, of
suitable length and expanded at the latter end into a tail, lash a
wire eye on to the upper end ; wrap this over and over, round
and round, with worsted or wool, moulded so as to shape a
body ; then get two strips of kid glove, one olive for the back
of the bait, and one white for the belly — these must be stretched
tightly on the wool body and sewn on to it il the leather
should be well varnished, and the tail twisted as usual. I
recommend this bait to the notice of economic anglers. If
they like to put a strip of silver leaf along either side, under
the varnish, and define a head and eyes, they may render it a
Httle more attractive ; but it will be found quite kilHng enough
without it — indeed, I doubt if any better artificial bait than
this is made. It will stand a good deal of wear and tear, and has
the advantage of being soft to the fish's teeth. In an artificial
bait I certainly prefer a soft one to a hard one ; when it is soft
a pike will hold it in his mouth as long as he will a natural
bait ; when it is hard, of course he speedily rejects it.*

Pike are also taken in some waters with an artificial fly,
and it is not a very uncommon thing for the angler to hook
one on his salmon fly, nor to lose fly and all in consequence.
The kind of fly most commonly employed is one of large size,
with a pair of big outspreading hooks, the body being com-
posed of divers coloured pig's wool, blue, yellow, and green, is

* The phantom minnow had not been invented when Francis wrote, else
he would have assuredly recommended it. — Ed.

96 A BOOK ON ANGLING

as thick as a man's little finger ; it has a large heron's or other
hackle for legs ; for the wings, two eyes from a peacock's tail,
with a few showy hackles ; wide gold or silver foil ; a tail of
various coloured hackles ; and at the head, two glass beads are
strung on to represent eyes. This apparatus, which is more
Hke a good-sized hummingbird than anything else, is cast and
worked like a salmon fly, and when pike are inclined to take it,
it is the most sporting and agreeable way of fishing for them.
In shallow pools, where there is very little water above the
weeds it will be found the most serviceable. There are many
such places which are full of jack, and which it would be found
very difiicult perhaps to fish in any other way. But it need
not be used exclusively in such spots, as it kills well at times
even in deep water if the fish are on the feed.

In some places, particularly in the Hampshire Avon, a
rather primitive way of trolling is still indulged in : the tail
and the head of a small eel are cut off and joined together, and
one large hook being run down through the centre, so as to
bend the tail sufficiently, it becomes a by no means ineffective
spinning bait, though somewhat of the rudest. I have seen it
used on a long horsehair knotted line, with a yard of fine
whipcord, one coarse swivel, and a small bullet. The line is
coiled round the arm, and no rod being used, the bullet is swung
round and then jerked out into the water, being drawn in hand
over hand. When a run ensues, the fish is struck and played
by hand. This is perhaps the rudest fashion of spinning for
pike extant, and must be a relic of the barbarous ages, I should
imagine.

It is no uncommon thing for a pike to take a worm ; I once
captured four in one evening with a small red worm and roach
tackle, losing two others, which managed to cut the hook off ;
and, on subsequent occasions, I took seven or eight more, one
or two a day, in the same piece of water. They will also run at
anything moving. I was tench-fishing on the same water
towards dusk on one of these days, when a fish ran at and took
my float as I was drawing it slowly towards me along the
surface ; he got his teeth into the cork and could not get rid of
it at first, and I played him for a minute or so until he managed
to get quit of it.

Having now told the young angler how to prepare and bait
his tackle, and what tackle may be used, with the methods of
using them, how to hook, play, and land his pike, I shall tell
him where to fish for him. When I say where to fish for him,

HAUNTS OF THE PIKE 97

I do not mean in what localities ; for if I knew any good
localities, I should keep them to myself, as my own experience
tells me that good pike-fishing is far more scarce than good
salmon-fishing, and is much more easily spoiled. I think this
is owing to the practice among anglers of killing small fish.
If we kill the small fish, it is evident that they cannot grow into
large ones. Had I the management of a good pike water, I
would allow nothing but spinning, and no fish under four
pounds to be killed. Be satisfied, O angler, with landing the
three-pounder ; you have had your sport from him, let him go
to grow bigger, that your sport may grow with him, and your
horn be exalted some day at killing a twenty-pounder. Some
time since, I turned seven fish of under a pound and a half each
(part of my day's take) into a cunning corner in the Thames ;
the very next day a pot-hunter came and took four of them,
and carried them away.

Confound all pot-hunters,
Frustrate these knave punters, etc.

say I ; for they are the curse of most waters and of all fair
fishers, while unfortunately their name is legion.

In ponds or lakes, the angler should attend more particularly
to the shallow portions, where the water does not exceed from
seven to eight feet in depth ; and even in less than this he will
find the best sport. Pike prefer the shallower waters, especially
when feeding, as there bait is the most plentiful. If there be a
shallow margin, and then a sudden deepening of the water, the
fish are fond of lying just on the edge, between the two — at
least that is where they more often take the bait, and a bait
pitched off the shore into the deepish water, and spun rapidly
towards the shallow, as if seeking to escape in that direction,
will be pretty sure to " get a bid." The angler should always
take care to pay especial attention to the neighbourhood of
weeds, reeds, or flags ; the last-named are very favourite
lairs with pike, and when they exist to any extent, the angler
will find his account in sending a boat or a Newfoundland dog
into them, to beat the fish out, half an hour before he begins to
fish. It may seem a strange direction to give, but it must be
evident that if the pike be yards deep in a reed or weed bed
they will hardly catch sight of the bait outside. If the weed bed
has occasional holes and open spaces in it, it will be advisable,
before having recourse to the clearing-out system recom-
mended, to try them with the dead gorge. In such a place you

98 A BOOK ON ANGLING

are more safe to kill with it than with a dead snap, as you can
hang on to your fish with more safety ; and should he make a
twenty-yard's run in the midst of a thick weed-bed, threading
innumerable rushy needles with the assistance of your line, he
will be the less Hkely to leave you behind with nothing but half
a hundredweight of weed on your hook and line. In lakes, try
the sheltered shallow bays, where the bottom is well covered
with lily leaves and roots, also the outsides of reed beds, and all
such places. In rivers very much depends upon the time of the
year. In the spring the fish are spawning. In the summer they
lie in the open reaches, or the eddies and holes by weirs, and
under boughs or mill aprons, by lock gates, etc. ; often feeding
in the heavier streams. With the autumn floods, they get into
the weed beds, or the large still spots where a back-water
debouches, or below an island. In such places they will
be often found gathered together in large numbers, on some
favourite spot of ground but a few yards square. Always try
such spots carefully, or you may miss the fish altogether, and
yet if you take one, you may, by sticking to the same locality,
catch a dozen or more. I once caught twenty-four in two days
from under the apron of Hampton Court weir.

I

CHAPTER V

ARTIFICIAL FLY-FISHING

Varieties of Trout — Instructions as to Rods and Tackle — How to use them —
Weather — How to choose Flies — Dress — Night-Fishing,

THE TROUT (Salmo fario)

PROBABLY of all the fish that inhabit the fresh
waters, there is none which afford so wide-spread
and great an amount of sport to the angler as the
trout, and this is partly owing to the natiu-e of the
fish itself, and partly to the exceedingly wide area of its distri-
bution, for it is found in almost all temperate and cold climates.
But if the localities in which it is found are various, scarcely less
so are the characteristics of the fish itself. Indeed, it is difficult to
behevethat the strongly marked differences found to exist do not
almost constitute separate species. I do not allude to the mere
question of size, though that is sufficiently striking at times to
raise a doubt as to their identity in the angler's mind ; for who
that looks upon the noble Thames trout of fourteen or fifteen
pounds weight, in all its panoply of silver, could, when placing
it beside the little dark-coloured, smutty-looking troutling of
three or four ounces, hooked out from under some overhanging
bank in a moss burn, hold that they were brothers of the same
family ? But there are often actual differences in their
anatomy, in so far as relates to the number of their fin rays
and vertebrae. Indeed, in examining two trout from different
streams, even though one may be a tributary of the other, not
only will a marked difference often be observed, but that
difference will hardly ever be found to be absent. This point is
one which it is difficult to account for, and we can but speculate
upon it. The markings also vary greatly. Some trout are
almost without the red spots, others are as distinctly parr
marked as any salmon fry, while their brothers in the same
water will be destitute of such markings altogether. In fact,
the varieties are endless, for every stream has its particular

99

100 A BOOK ON ANGLING

breed of trout, and hardly ever will any two be found to agree
in all points.

I am, however, writing rather upon anghng than natural
history, and therefore I recur at once to the legitimate purpose
of my work, merely throwing out a hint which may often find
amusement for the speculative naturalist, who may be an
angler also. But if trout are various in their forms and shapes,
no less various are the means employed to take them, there
being hardly any of the numerous plans adopted for wiUng
fish from their watery domains which may not be successfully
applied to the capture of trout (for the trout feeds equally at
the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of the water), while
the baits and lines employed to take them are far more
numerous than those used for any other fish — fly-fishing with
live and artificial fly, spinning with every kind of real and
artificial bait, and bottom-fishing in a hundred various ways,
being all more or less in vogue with the adepts in trout-fishing.

The salmon-fisher rejoices in the vigour and size of his
quarry, and exercises his patience and skill in the capture of
the noble twenty-pounder, which gives him half an hour's wild
excitement and pleasure ; but his skill and patience will often
be taxed to the uttermost, and vainly, many a time and oft, in
the attempt to hook some wily old four or five-pound brook
trout, who may be feeding rapidly and constantly under his
very flies which, tied on almost imperceptible gut, fall like
gossamer above him, and float fruitlessly down o'er his head as
like the real thing as human cunning can contrive. Nay, you
shall even float the Uve fly, drake, stone, or what-not, over him
so deftly that nothing in your deception seems to you wanting.
You shall offer him worm, minnow, and cad bait, or drop the
all but irresistible cockroach or cricket within his ken, while
you remain concealed. He may wave his fan-like tail coyly, and
take a nearer glance askance at your bait, but proves a very
St. Anthony to your temptation. He will perhaps come to it
like a bulldog, making your heart jump into your mouth, but
he will even then " pull up sharp on the post," as turfites say,
and refuse it. Do what you will, 999 times out of a thousand
his virtue is ancient Spartan, and his cunning modern Spartan ;
but haply on the thousandth, in some sheltering flood, a fair
deceiver, which proves to be the " worst devil of all " to him,
in the shape of a fat worm or minnow, tempts him — he gobbles
it down, and dies the death. Happy you if it be your worm or
minnow. There is far greater skill, caution, patience, and

FLY-FISHING FOR TROUT loi

cunning required to delude such a fish than is thought of in the
landing of the noblest twenty-pound salmon that ever sailed up
Tweed or Tay. A good trout-fisher will easily become an
expert at salmon-fishing, but a very respectable practitioner
with the salmon rod will often have all his schooHng to do
afresh, should he descend to trout-fishing, before he can take
rank as a master of the art.

As fly-fishing is at once the most popular and most sports-
manlike method of fishing for trout, I will take that branch
first. It is the custom in many rivers, particularly in the more
southern counties, as in Devonshire, for example, to com-
mence fly-fishing for trout as early as the months of February
and March. No doubt the trout being hungry feed better then,
but they can hardly be said to be in such condition as the angler
loves to see. In Devon, the trout do not, to my thinking, get
into anything like good fettle until they have had a gorge upon
that excellent and valuable insect the March brown. In many
rivers the trout are hardly in fair condition in May, and often
not until June, when they have fed upon the May fly. After this
they are in the primest order, and require all the angler's
skill to take them ; but they will then repay Mm for his
trouble.

To commence at the beginning, I will suppose that the
angler is a novice, and intends to try his hand with a single-
handed rod. This should not be less than eleven, nor more than
thirteen feet in length ; between these extremes he may suit his
requirements and strength.* I say strength, because the angler
should never over-burden himself : an ounce or two too much
in a rod is apparently no great matter, but when the same set
of muscles have to lift that ounce some two feet from five
hundred to a thousand times in the day, it will be seen that it

1^ must tell heavily.
^P The angler will, perhaps, be surprised to hear how little
difference there is usually in the weight of single-handed trout
rods. Here are the dimensions and weights of four, by four
different makers, which I selected at random from my stock :
Gould. — A hollow cane rod, with ash butt, 12 ft. 8 in. long ;
weight, 13 oz. 12 dr.

Cheek. — A common hickory rod, of the usual make, rather

* Present day fly-fishers will rub their eyes on reading this. Nine feet is
the maximum length of a modern single-handed fly rod, the materials of
which it is made, whether green-heart or split cane, being alike heavier and
more powerful than those specified by Francis. — Ed.

k

102 A BOOK ON ANGLING

stout in the butt, but very handy and well balanced, ii ft. 6 in.
long ; weight, 14 oz. 6 dr.

Bowness. — Ordinary hickory rod, rather light and whippy,
II ft. 8 in. long ; weight, 13 oz. 4 dr.

Aldred. — ^This is one of the glued triangular spliced rods,
that is, the joints consist of three long pieces of bamboo
cane, carefully fitted, glued up, and tied every inch and a
half. This rod, though a beautiful specimen of workmanship,
is rather tiring to the arm, being a little top-heavy, and lacking
the free spring of the last two, though it has great power of
resistance with a heavy fish. Length, 12 ft. 4I in. ; weight,
13 oz. 8 dr.*

That the reader may get an accurate comparative view
of these, I put them together :

oz.

dr.

ft.

in.

I Gould

• 13

12

12

8

2 Cheek

. 14

6

II

7

3 Bowness

. 13

4

II

8

4 Alfred

. 13

8

12

4i

So that, after all, it reduces itself to a question of drams.
Well, if a horsehair can pull down the strength of a great
fish, a dram or two (no pun intended) may well pull down
the strength of the human arm. The great thing I deduce
from the above is, not to have a single-handed rod the least
top-heavy. The rod which figures as the heaviest by ten
drams in the above list is lighter to the feel and easier to fish
with than either of those numbered i and 4, and yet it is
ten drams heavier than one, and fourteen drams, or nearly
an ounce, heavier than the other ; and this I hold to be a
significant fact, because the introduction of greenheart and
Castle Connel rods has been working an entire revolution in
this respect, and top-heavy rods are the order of the day. There
is no doubt that you can with these rods heave out more line,
but if the stream I desired to fish required long throws and
more power, I would not sacrifice comfort in fishing, but would
simply prefer a double-handed rod at once. The above-
named rods, which are a good deal used now, are so small in
the butt, and so top-heavy, that they are to me entirely
detestable, and I would not fish with one of them if it would

* This is the earliest mention which I have met with in angUng literature
of the split cane rod. The reader will note that it is of very different con-
struction from the complex article, with or without steel centre, now in
vogue. — Ed.

TROUT RODS 103

throw one hundred yards of line. I like plenty of substance
in the butt to grasp, and then I am sure that any weight in
reason which may be thrown into the upper joints will be
carried comfortably.

To get at a fair medium size for a single-handed rod, I
would say that probably a rod of twelve feet, or thereabouts,
will suit the generality of anglers sufficiently well. Then
comes the question of pHabiHty. Some anglers prefer a very
phable rod, others a very stiff one ; some a heavy rod and
some a light one. For very light flies, dehcate casting, and
horsehair points, or casting lines, it is better to err on the side
of pHabihty than the reverse, but when the trout run above
half a pound in weight, and the stream is rough or otherwise
dangerous, it will be as well to eschew horsehair. The novice
certainly should commence with gut, if he would save himself
endless breakages, losses of fish and flies, and interminable
vexations. When he is au fait with that, if he chooses he can
come to hair. A very stiff rod is useful under some circum-
stances, but is very apt to snap off flies, and, though desirable
in windy weather, in moderate weather it will not cast so
long or light a line as a fairly pliable rod. I like a rod which
is neither too stiff nor too whippy, but of moderate pHabiUty,
so that it will cast comfortably a midge fly for a long throw
without danger of flicking it off, or will Uft a pound trout over
a run of weeds when you want to get out of difficulties. It

IK must be remembered here that the play of a rod is acted upon
Bi^ore or less by the weight of the line, and a stiff rod may be
made more pliable by a heavier line ; as a rule, however,
these two important articles should be carefully adapted
to each other, for no rod will carry a hne which bends it
too much for any length of time without straining and warping

1^ irretrievably.
H I have, however, after long experience, given up using
single-hand rods altogether, for there is nothing which you
can do with the single-hand rod which you cannot do with
a double-hand one, and there are many things which you can
do with the double-hand rod which you cannot do with the
single. In the first place, you have much greater power in a
double rod, and if you get hold of a large fish you can kill
him with more certainty and less loss of time. You can also
play a fish with more ease and lift your line over distant weeds,
or bushes on the bank, which would often be fatal to the
single rod. When the grass and weeds are high, or, as is often

104 A BOOK ON ANGLING

the case, there is a hedge within reach behind you, they can
be avoided far better with an extra eighteen inches or so in
the length of the rod, and when fishing with a single rod
just before haymaking, the annoyance of catching hold of
a long spear of grass behind you every now and then is very
considerable. And beyond all this, to fish a whole day with a
single-hand rod is very trying to the forearm, and more
particularly to the grasp of the right hand. Many a time has
my hand and arm ached so after a long spell of casting that I
have been compelled to leave off to rest them ; and when the
arm and grasp get tired there is not that certainty and precision
in the cast that is advisable. For all these reasons, and many
more which it is needless to enumerate, I hold that a double-
hand trout rod is far preferable to a single one, and I am sure
that any fisherman who gives them a fair trial will come to
the same conclusion that I have. I have made many converts
by inducing single-hand rod fishers to try one of my doubles
for a day.

^^The ordinary length of a double rod is from about 14 ft.
to 14 ft. 6 in. I, however, like a long rod, and I usually prefer
one of 14 ft. 6 in. Such a rod should be tolerably pliable, while
the selection of the wood may be left to the tackle-maker.

I will, however, describe two rods which I use, and with
which I am quite content. The rod I generally fish with is
three jointed, the two lower joints being of bamboo and the
top of a single splinter of greenheart ; it has upright rings.
This rod, however, is rather stiff in the two lower joints, but
as there is plenty of flexibility in the top, a little care enables
me to throw not only a very long line, but small flies without
much danger. I had it made to pattern by Ogden, of Chelten-
ham ; and originally the top was spliced, and was some three
or four inches shorter, and the reason for this was as follows.
A season on the Border had shown me that when fishing the
streams in that part of the kingdom the angler cannot tell
when he starts, whether before the day is over he may have to
use fly, worm, or minnow ; and to carry a rod with a spare
top for these purposes, and to be changing the top now and
then is inconvenient, and therefore I had a rod made which
might answer without alteration for all these purposes, and I
found that it answered very well indeed ; but not requiring
it for that work, and needing it more particularly for a fly rod,
I discarded the spliced tops, finding that as all the work in
fly-fishing rested with the top, the splices suffered, and I had

TROUT RODS 105

the greenheart top above-mentioned made, and of an extra
length of some three or four inches, to give increased play.
This rod I always fish with in small streams and it works
admirably. It is very light and handy, possesses great power,
for I can pull a pound and a half trout though weeds on an
emergence with it without the sHghtest injury to the top —
thanks to the noble quahties of the greenheart — and I can
cast a midge fly with it as well as with a single-hand rod.
As I am used to it I would not change it for any other. I
leave other anglers to please themselves, as they may not
approve of the manufacture. My other double rod is of
hickory, and was made by Carter, of Pentonville ; it is 15 ft.
2 in. long, and is of course somewhat heavier than the last
rod. It is a splendid rod for large fish, possessing great power ;
for flies of moderate size it is perfection, but it is only fair to
say that it is rather severe upon midge flies, and sometimes
leaves the stretcher reposing on the grass. I had it made for
large trout and sea trout, with the chance now and then of a
grilse ; but it answers exceedingly well even on small streams,
when the smallest sized flies are not needed ; and with a
trout of from three to seven pounds weight, it is delightful to
hold such a weapon. I killed four fish with a large palmer fly
at Alton during two evenings in the first season I used it that
weighed together twenty-two pounds, and the proprietor of
the water was so pleased with it that he had one made to the
same pattern. Previous to that time he had always used a
single-hand rod, but as the fish run very large, even up to
nine or ten pounds in his water, he often had great difficulty
in landing them. These are the only two double-hand trout
rods I ever use, and if my old bamboo ever wears out in my
hands I shall certainly order another to match it.

As hardly anybody makes his own rod nowadays, the
best direction I can give is to go to a first-class rod maker,
pay him a good price, tell him the sort of rod you want, if
you are not equal to choosing one for yourself, and leave it
in his hands, and nineteen times in twenty you will have no
reason to regret it.

The gut for the casting fine, lash, or point as it is some-
times called, should taper from the loop down to the first
drop fly, after which it should be as fine as can be obtained.
If no drop flies are used, it may taper to within two feet of
the fly, whence the gut should be fine. If these directions
are properly attended to, they will facilitate straight, light,

io6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and even throwing. When two flies are used, the one at the
extreme end of the cast is called the stretcher ; the one
which is fastened two feet or so above it is called the drop or
bob fly ; if three or more be used, the uppermost fly is called
the first dropper, the next the second and so on. In putting
flies on to the casting line, always put the heaviest fly on as
the stretcher, for if this practice be reversed, the heaviest fly
receiving the greatest momentum goes first, and is apt to
double over the lighter one, and thus the drop will fall over
the stretcher, and a foul will be the consequence ; or to
avoid this so much force will need to be used that the flies will
ahght in anything but gossamer fashion. It is almost un-
necessary to say what will be the result of either of these
contingencies if you happen to be casting over a good fish.
Probably you will see a wave on the water as he dashes away
to his lair, but that is all. You will have spoilt him for hours,
and the fish that would have come up and sucked in your fly
with the most confident greediness and innocence will re-
member the bungle that scared him perhaps for the rest of
the day. I cannot too much impress upon the young angler
the necessity for neat and light casting in trout-fishing. Old
anglers sometimes may take liberties in this respect, and lose
nothing by it, but then they know when to take them and
how, which the novice does not.

The casting line should vary sHghtly in length with the
water and weather. In June weather, and shallow clear
water, not less than three yards should be used, three and a
half is even better, and four if the angler can throw it neatly
and well — which few can, for the longer the casting line, the
more difficult it is to throw and place neatly.* In rough,
windy weather, or in heavy, thick water, a shorter line may
suffice. In windy weather particularly, a long casting fine
becomes troublesome.

In fixing drop flies on a casting line, loops are so clumsy
as to be objectionable. I have tried all sorts of plans, and
I find the following decidedly the best. At the knots in the
cast line, about which I wish to tie my droppers, in cutting
off the ends of the gut after tying the knot, I leave about a
quarter or a sixth of an inch of the upper end, or that above
the knot, uncut. This I secure to the fine by a fine silk lashing,

* The tendency of late has been to reduce the length of casting line. One
of the two best dry fly-fishers of my acquaintance uses one not exceeding
six feet in length. — Ed.

LINES AND KNOTS 107

well varnished. On this I tie my dropper. It serves two
purposes — stops the knot and saves chafing, and strengthens

I^Bjthe line at the very point where it is weakest when a fish
flakes the dropper. I then cut the gut of my drop fly to about
five inches long, well wet the end, and tie a single knot in the
extreme end. I then take a single tie (the gut being still
moist), the knot being upwards or away from the knot on the
cast line, and draw the two tight over the dressed space above
the knot, and it will never sHp, at least I have never found it
do so. This knot is shown in Plate III, Fig. i, page 66. If
you cannot open the knot with a pin point when you wish to
take the dropper off, just slip the knot off with a penknife,
and a pull will release the fly, while the loss of gut will not be
a quarter of an inch. Several knots may thus be tied ; and
before you get the gut too short for use, the fly will probably
be worn out. If you want to be very secure, hold the knot
against the knot in the cast line, the fly pointing upwards
and from it, and tie a single tie, and then another, between
the tie and the end knot, and it is impossible to have any
slip ; but in this instance you will most likely find it necessary
to cut the whole of the tie off, and will lose more than half an
inch of gut. Where the droppers are not required to be
removed, I have seen the flies dressed upon long strands of
gut, and the gut tied into the casting line as a part of it some
four inches above the fly, but I do not like the plan. Some
persons, again, adopt the plan of forming a slip loop in the
casting line, by tying each end of a strand round the gut of
the other strand, slipping the knotted end of the dropper
between, and then drawing the knots home tightly, as shown
in Plate III, Fig. 2, page 66 ; but this is troublesome to open,
it frays the gut at a critical point, and is not to my mind the
_^nost secure way of putting on a dropper.
Hi The running or reel line should be of hair and silk mixed.*
^ome anglers prefer plaited dressed silk, but I do not like
such lines for single-hand rods ; they want lightness and
elasticity. Some, again, say that they should be all hair,
but this is as bad as the other, as a hair fine is apt to kink
and hang in the rings. Some aver that silk and hair do not
mix well — that one gives while the other does not, and so
forth. I have occasionally in plaited lines found, after a heavy

* It is remarkable that the author, after having experience of a silk line,
should have gone back to one of hair and silk, which most, if not all, present-
day anglers regard as an abomination. — Ed.

io8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

strain caused by the hanging up of a fly in some distant
obstruction, and the strong pull required to loosen it, that
strands of hair have broken into minute particles ; but I am
inclined to think that the hair used in such cases was not at
first of the best quality. I think there is greater ease and
comfort in fishing with a plaited, tapered, mixed Hne, well
made and of good material, than with either of the others.
The line should be bought to suit the rod ; and here is a
point anglers almost alwaj^s lose sight of, though it is of
great importance. Thirty or forty yards of trout line — ^that
is what they require. It may be tolerably fine, or very fine, or
perhaps moderately stout. Now, it may chance that the rod
will not throw a very fine line, being somewhat stiff, and then
ensues no end of poppings and crackings, as if the rod were a
cart whip and the trout a team of Suffolk punches ; and flies
go to grass, or supposing they do not go quite so far, the
gut at the head of the fly gets so broken and damaged that
the first good fish which comes at it takes it away. Perhaps,
to avoid the incessant popping, the angler gives a little more
time behind, when he makes constant and exasperating
acquaintance with thistles, or a more than ordinarily long
blade of grass, with a nice knobby unbreakable head to it,
up to which the fly slides and jambs as neatly as if it were
made for it. Mayhap, in one of these drawbacks, smash
goes the top of his rod just above the brazing, and this will of
course be well home in the ferrule, as it always is when you
would just as soon that it was not, and you accordingly find
that there is perhaps Httle or nothing to catch hold of to pull
out the fragment by. You damage a favourite grinder or so
in trying to twist it out with your teeth, and finally the aid
of science, a penknife and picker, is invoked to worm out the
stoppage. You are lucky indeed if the best half of the day
is not lost in this interesting occupation, the trout meanwhile
rising right under your nose, as if they knew all about it, and
were determined to make the best of their time ; and when
at last the spare top or the old one, by the assistance of a bit
of wet paper and some lashing, is once more set up, the rise
is over, and not a trout is to be seen. This is the pleasant est
aspect, but at the worst (and this is something awful to con-
template) the refractory brazing resists all efforts to release
it, and the angler has to put his rod over his shoulder and
stalk gloomily home from two or three to ten or a dozen
mortal miles, and all because he has neglected to suit his line

SUIT THE LINE TO THE ROD log

to his rod.* Now, this is no fancy, and these are no imaginary
cases. I have known them happen half a dozen times and
more ; on the other hand, perhaps, the rod being rather
Umber, will not support a heavy line, and the angler goes on
threshing the water, coming down on the surface with a
splash sufficient to frighten away every fish within fifty
yards, all the while straining and warping his top all to pieces,
as it keeps bending and groaning under the infliction, and
perhaps actually in the end does smash from pure weariness,
and then, " Oh, the wood is rotten ! " and " Confound that
rogue of a rod maker ! " and the poor tackle maker gets a
bad name through the fisherman's ignorance and carelessness.
And I have seen this happen too, over and over again. A
too heavy line in a month will wear a rod out more than
years of fair angling. If in throwing the line when it goes
back, and is about to be urged forwards, it feels in the least
degree heavy, it is too heavy for the rod. If none of the above
contingencies occur in their worst phases, then a still worse
one happens in another, viz. to avoid the consequences here
set down, the angler has to employ some particular knack
or method of getting his hne out, which inevitably gets him
into a bad style, and a false form of fishing, out of which he
will never after get as long as he Uves. I cannot here give
any exact directions whereby such errors in choice may be
avoided, but if the angler will request his tackle maker to
choose him a line suitable to his rod, he will seldom go far
wrong. If this does not suit him, and he is unable to choose
well for himself, then he must risk the consequences.

The running hne, like the casting line should be carefully
tapered and should end in a neat loop.f If a knot be used
and a tie be resorted to to fix the casting line to it, this knot
will often, when taken apart, to save time be broken off, and
the fine little by httle is reduced in length until much of the
fine tapering is lost to it, and the thickness of the running line

♦ The author here describes graphically a mishap with which both salmon
and trout anglers were painfully familiar fifty years ago. But the invention,
first of the bayonet fastening to replace the slip ferrule in trout rods, and next
of adhesive tape for lapping the splices of salmon rods, has redeemed the
situation. — Ed.

t This may prove harmless in fishing a wet fly down-stream ; but in
casting up-stream, wet or dry, a loop is very objectionable. So long ago as
1857 W. C. Stewart wrote in The Practical Angler: "Loops make such a
show in the water that we never have one in any part of our line."
Experienced salmon and trout fishers almost invariably attach the cast to
the reel line by a figure of eight knot. — Ed.

116 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and the fineness of the cast make a very unequal junction,
so' that the running Hne goes before the casting hne, and it
requires a sharp switch or cut to get the casting hne fairly
forward. This makes the fly fall heavily and overworks the
rod-top. rs

A plain chck winch is the best. For trout it should be not
too heavy in the click or the line will not pay out as fast as
it is required should a good fish make a run ; neither should
it be so light as to overrun or leave loose line on the barrel.
It should be capable of taking thirty or forty yards of line
of medium size easily ; should be broad in the plate and not
too wide between the plates. Avoid all multiplying abomina-
tions as you would swearing, for the one will be sure to produce
the other by getting out of order at the most critical moment.
Having chosen rod, line, and casting line, the next thing to
settle upon will be flies. In his choice of these the angler
must be guided by the time of year and the character of the
water. I have appended a list of flies selected from the best
authors and my own experience. This list is a long one, and,
for all general purposes, perhaps nearly half of the flies therein
mentioned are unnecessary ; many of them are tried favourites
upon some waters and cannot safely be discarded. Those
without any star affixed to them, in the condensed list, are
such as I myself have found to be good general killers, and,
with a fair selection of them, with a slight variety as to size
and colour for various waters, the angler need never fear to
attack any river in the kingdom, and sure I am that if he
cannot find a killer among them his hopes of sport are very small.

Before proceeding to fish, the angler had better pick out
a selection of those flies which he is most likely to want, and
arrange them in the handiest places in his book. One never
can tell exactly what one may require, but there are always
several flies which are probable, and a few of these will be
more than likely, and from them he will select his first cast.
He should then always set up a spare cast of flies, so that if
he meets with an accident or requires to change, he can do so
at once with little or no delay, as when the fish are rising well,
delays of any kind are intolerable, and to have at such times
to be hunting your book through for a fly or two which should
be ready to hand, is sure to be productive of three great and
alliterative losses — loss of time, loss of tackle, and loss of
temper. He must of course judge for himself whether in
setting up his spare cast it is desirable merely to repeat the

I

CASTING THE FLY ill

one he has on or to vary it. I find it most convenient to wind
my cast round my hat, as it makes a larger coil and does not
require soaking to take the turns out, and I find the fly hat-
band, which I invented some years since and gave to Mr.
Farlow, of great service, as spare and stray flies can be looped
on and safely stuck into it without damage to gut or hook-
point, and when it is not wanted the band can be taken off
and put away.

Having selected his flies and affixed them to his casting
line, we will suppose the angler at the river side : approaching
the bank with caution, let him choose the most likely spot to
commence operations. Before commencing, however, he
should be sure to see that his casting fine is thoroughly straight
and even with no bends or turns in it, as these will cause an
unnatural glitter on the line, and displacement of the water.
Now, there are two ways of fly-fishing, viz. with the dry
fly and with the wet fly. Some fishermen always use one plan,
others almost as pertinaciously use the other. To use either
of them invariably is wrong. Sometimes the one will be
found to kill best and sometimes the other. In fine waters,
particularly in the southern counties, where fly-fishing for
trout is certainly more of a systematic art that it is in the
north, the dry fly is greatly used, and with very deadly effect
at times. In very calm, bright, and still weather, when a wet
fly will often be useless, the dry fly will be taken most con-
fidingly. In rough, windy weather the wet fly is preferable,
but I shall return to this subject presently. At present, as
the angler is supposed to be a novice, he will hardly commence
with the dry fly as it is rather more difficult to fish with than
the wet. We will suppose that he has soaked his gut by
allowing it to remain some minutes in the water. Old or used
gut will soak much quicker than new — indeed, the angler
will often find a good deal of trouble in getting new gut
properly soaked. In this case, having wet it, he should draw
it through his fingers, but not too roughly lest he fray the
gut, then wet it again, and repeat the drawing and wetting
until it becomes pliable.

Standing with his face rather up-stream, he must let off
about as much or a little more line than his rod's length,
and poising the rod in his right hand in almost an upright
position with a slight forward slant, and holding the stretcher-
fly between his left finger and thumb a little wide of his body
^ so as to clear it, wave the rod gently back over his right

112 A BOOK ON ANGLING

shoulder, releasing the fly as he does so ; when he has reason
to suppose that the fly line is fairly extended behind him, he
must bring it forward again with a slight outward sweep so
that the fly may not double too sharply back or crack. If he
does not give sufficient time for the line to extend itself, and
if he makes the return too directly, he will probably hear a
slight pop behind ; if he does so a trifle more quickly and
directly, the pop will become a crack, and then he will know
that his fly is reposing peacefully in the long grass behind him,
while his line, guiltless of a lure, is extended on the surface
of the water. Some people who make the return very directly
always pop their flies. The sound is a most unpleasant one
to a neat fisherman, as at every pop the gut at the head of
the fly is more or less cracked and broken, until at last the
fly bangs by a sort of pulp, the hard surface of the gut being
altogether destroyed. The angler may make the curve or
sweep I have spoken of either on the inside or outside. The
outside is the easiest to the novice, and the throw will be the
more neatly made. To the experienced hand, the one is as
easy as the other. By the outside sweep, I mean that the
rod is waved backwards, say, six inches or so from the ear,
and is then brought forward some six inches farther from it ;
in the inside sweep this is of course reversed, the line being
cast back about fourteen or fifteen inches from the ear and
returned forward at about six or eight inches. In Plate VI,
Fig. 4, page 93, the diagram shows the direction the rod-
point is supposed to travel over, as regards the head of the
angler, which may be seen beside it. Now, in bringing the fly
forward, the angler should fix his eye upon the spot he desires
to cast towards, and endeavour to make the hand second
the eye by urging the point of the rod towards it ; there
should be no jerking ; the forward motion should be a little
swifter than the backward one. When the point of the rod
has reached an angle of about 45°, the motion should be
checked or eased, so as to gradually check the fine and let it
fall lightly on the water. If this be not done, or a sort of
forward cut be made, as though the angler were chopping at
the opposite bank with his rod, the line is cast clean and hard
down into the water and the flies make a splash. This may
be requisite in very windy weather, particularly if the wind be
adverse, but in such circumstances light throwing is of less
consequence, as the water will probably be rough, and the
only object is to get the line out at all. If the angler follows

m

m

I

LONG CASTING NOT RECOMMENDED 113

these directions properly, his hne will fall neatly and well in
e water. He should let it rest a second or so, then commence
raising the point of his rod gradually until it almost reaches
the position he started from, when he must, with a swift drag,
raise the line sharply and neatly from the water, fetching
the line back over his shoulder, and repeat his cast as already
shown.

When by practice he can manage this throw neatly and
well, he may let out a little more line, and so go on increasing
the length of his throws, until he gets about twice the length
of his rod out. For a first lesson he will find this sufficient ;
with this he had better practise until he can throw lightly and
well towards his mark. Subsequent practice will no doubt
enable him to cast three times the length of the rod, and
every yard which he becomes able to cast over that is good
work, but he should remember that long casting is one thing,
but to fish a long cast properly is quite another. Many anglers
may throw sixteen or seventeen or even more yards of line
who cannot fish it. It is only the thoroughly experienced
fly-fisher who can fish these long casts properly. A green
hand may by dint of raising his hand to the level of the crown
of his hat and slashing away at the imminent risk of tackle
and everything else, be able to get it out somehow. But what
a spectacle he becomes when, faihng to get such a length of
line off the water properly, he finds one of the flies in his
whiskers and the other perhaps fast in his creel or an adjacent
bush. Let the young angler he content with doing what he does
do well : increasing his range of practice by little and slow
degrees, and making sure fishing of every extra foot he gains.
I consider from eighteen to twenty yards a very long throw
with a single-handed rod, and there is not an angler in a
thousand that can throw it ; while, of those who can throw
it (properly), not one in a hundred can fish it. I may add
that I measure length of a cast from the reel. In long throws,
the difficulty lies in getting the line quickly and neatly off
the water, and for this purpose, of course, the draw should
be made much sooner than in short throws. All casts with
e single-handed rod should be made with the forearm.
The upper arm should never come into play ; the elbow
should be kept not quite close to the side, but near it, and
always down ; and, in casting, the top joint should be allowed
to do its full work. If this be judiciously attended to, the
angler will find that even for long throws very little more

114 A BOOK ON ANGLING

force than usual is required ; indeed, the less force used the
better. The great proportion of anglers use double the force
that would be needed to cast a much longer and lighter line
than they do cast.

I will now suppose the angler to have acquired the art of
casting tolerably well. Having cast his line out into the
stream, so as to have it all clear and straight, he should make
his first cast up-stream, parallel and as close as he conveniently
can to the bank on his own side of the stream, as here the best
fish are lying in wait. The line will come floating down towards
him with the stream, and he should never draw it faster than
the stream, or it will travel faster than the natural flies which
are coming down with it, and this will beget suspicion on the
part of the fish, besides making an unnecessary disturbance
in the water. All that he has to do is to keep steadily raising
his rod so as to keep the fly near the top of the water, and
to have as little slack line in the water as possible. Some
people work their flies ; but unless the fly be sunk rather
deeply in the water (when it is mistaken rather for some
quick darting water larva than a fly), this is bad, and often
destructive of sport. Watch the flies upon the water how
they come floating down. They do not dart and spring and
shoot about — that is, the great majority of them do not.
There are one or two, as the stone fly and certain spider flies,
that do so. If fishing with these, motion may be given to them,
but with three-fourths of the flies it is worse than unnecessary.
Let the fly come properly home and then make another cast
about a yard farther from the bank, and so go on covering
fresh water at every throw, until you have fished the entire
water, each throw representing a radius to the quarter of a
circle, when you can take a step or two farther up the stream
and repeat the process.

Now, this is the way to fish a stream thoroughly when you
are, as it were, searching for fish and do not know the stream
or where they may come up, but if the fish are rising fairly
it is a needless waste of time. Cast, then, over the rising fish,
and fish over the likely spots, and don't dwell upon barren
water. In casting over a rising fish be careful not to put the
line across him, as the sight of the whole of the casting line
coming down immediately over his head will not increase his
confidence. Throw beside and above him, and allow him to
see as much as he likes of the fly and as little as possible of the
fine. In Plate VI, page 93, the Fig. 3 is the right way and

UP-STREAM OR DOWN-STREAM ? 115

Fig. 2 the wrong. If a fish rises, a shght upward or down-
ward turn of the wrist will be sufficient to fix the hook, and
here, as in spinning, the downward strike is preferable, but
beware of striking too hard, the lightest twitch is not only
sufiicient but far the best. As to giving any direct rules when
to strike, they would be of little avail, as sometimes fish rise
quickly and take quickly ; sometimes with more circumspec-
tion, and sometimes altogether falsely — practice alone will
teach the angler what to do, and how and when to do it.

And now a word or two about the much discussed point as
to fishing up-stream or down, though what there is to discuss
in it, or how any difference of opinion can exist, I cannot
understand. The angler should never fish down-stream if
he can by any possibility fish up. The fish lie with their heads
up-stream. They see the flies coming down towards them
and they rise to meet them. The angler is far behind them,
and of course they are not so likely to see him. If a fish takes the
fly fairly then the angler will, if he strikes properly, hardly
ever miss his fish, because he pulls the fly towards, and as it
were into, the fish's mouth, whereas in fishing down he will
perpetually pull it out of his mouth ; added to this, in fishing
down every fish for twenty yards can see him coming, and
the best will cease rising and take shelter under some weed.
Again, if he hooks a good fish that requires play he must
take it down over unfished ground disturbing every fish for
some distance, or create much disturbance of the water and
risk breaking the hold or the tackle. If the wind or the
rapidity of the stream prevent the angler from casting directly
■^ up-stream, he should cast across and as well up as he can, and
IB s^^^^ ^^* ^^^ ^y ^^^^ down until it becomes a tight fine extended
straight below him down-stream. But even then he should
work up-stream if possible. But to cast down-stream and work
the fly up against it is not /^/-fishing. I do not, however, deny
that plenty of fish may be killed so, but the number and size
will be heavily in favour of up or cross-stream fishing. If the
angler must fish down-stream he should still cast across and
let the fly drift down, and if he must cast straight down let
him cast rather short, keeping the rod pretty upright when
the line is delivered, and as soon as the fly ahghts on the water,
he can, by dropping the point as low as is convenient, still
allow his fly to drop down-stream. If, however, he will cast
down and draw up he will find it pay better, if having made his
cast he lets the fly sink some inches under water, even to mid-

ii6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

water if he pleases, and then works it by gently rising and
falling the top of the rod. It will then be taken for a larva,
spider, or some other water insect, and he will thus improve
his chance of sport. Indeed, I have known very good fishermen
fish so and take very good fish.

Here is another wrinkle. To fish a stream to the best ad-
vantage in this way the angler should pick out a tolerably
rapid one, get above it, and cast into the head of it, sinking
and working his fly, and as he does so he should gradually
foot by foot let out line, and in this way, without moving,
he may fish down a run thirty or forty yards in length, and
probably some very good fish will reward his efforts, but he
will have to work them up against the stream and not let
them go down, and he must strike at the slightest touch, for
he will not see his rises. In fishing down, as the line is always
tight, the angler must be very careful not to strike too hard.
The lightest touch is enough, and a sharp stroke will part the
tackle to a certainty, particularly if the gut he dry and has been
used much before*

At night, however, the angler should always fish down,
or rather across and down, or he will miss three-fourths of his
rises owing to the slack line not giving him sufficiently quick
intimation of the rise. Added to this, unless he makes too
much disturbance, the fish will let him come within two or
three yards of them, and the fish being usually on the watch
for any insect that moves, no matter how or what, will take his
fly boldly. But I shall recur to night-fishing hereafter. The
question of fishing up or down, therefore, is, to a certain extent,
a divided question, but the angler should always give the
preference to fishing up. But in whatever style he fishes, as
his art is one of clever deception, he should attend to and
imitate nature as closely as possible.

In very windy weather, or in difficult places, 'midst trees
and bushes, the angler will often have to employ other ways
of casting. When the wind is blowing heavily down-stream
or he has trees at his back, he will have to switch his line.!

♦ It is surprising that the author should not have warned the beginner in
fly-fishing for trout against holding a finger on the reel line. To do so in
fishing with fine tackle, whether with wet or dry fly, is to render occasional
fracture of the gut inevitable. On the other hand, in salmon fishing, the
tackle being stronger and the hook larger, more force is required to bury the
barb, and this is ensured by keeping a finger on the reel line. — Ed.

t This plan is more often adopted in salmon-fishing with the double-
handed rod than in trouting, though in the latter it may at times be used
with advantage. — F. F,

I

SWITCHING 117

Raising the point of the rod high in the air, so as to lift as much
of his Hne as possible clear of the water without Hfting the fly
altogether off the surface, he must make a sharp forward and
downward cut, and the fly without going behind him at all
will rise from the water and describe a large arc of a circle
in the air towards the point he wishes. A wind at the back
will much facilitate the making of this cast effectually. Occa-
sionally he will meet with a piece of water where the trees are
not only close at his back but where their branches stretch
out over the water, often just above his head. This is usually
tabooed ground, as not one fisher in a thousand can cast a
fly in it. Here, however, " recubans sub tegmine," the largest
trout lie, and therefore it is as well that the angler should take
some trouble to learn how to fish such a spot. Now, suppose
the branches to be some five feet only above the surface of the
stream, and the banks well bushed. The angler must stoop
down on one knee, extend the rod over the water, parallel to it,
some eighteen inches above it — probably he will find it easier
to fish it down-stream if at all rapid — and letting a line out
about half as long again as the rod with the fingers of the hand
which grasps the rod turned downwards towards the water's
surface, the back of the hand being upwards — he must be
particular about this, as the whole virtue of the cast lies in
the peculiar position and the reversal of the hand — he must
twitch the line sharply off the water and directly up the stream,
being careful not to bring the point of the rod too far round,
or the fly will catch the bushes on the bank on his own side,
nor higher than suffices to fetch the line off the water, or he
will take hold of the branches above it. When the hne is
fairly extended up-stream he may make his cast by bringing
his hand back again over the same distance it has just travelled,
but as he does so he must reverse the position of the fingers
of his hand, these being brought upwards while the back of the
hand is brought under towards the water. The whole secret
of the cast lies in this turning over of the hand. If this be
done properly, the angler can fish such spots safely, and can
pitch his fly fairly and lightly across the stream, while in no
other way that he can devise will he be able to do more than
to cast it directly down the stream, or if it ever chances to go
across, it will go with such a splash as will render the cast
worse than useless, while he will be perpetually fouling in the
branches above or catching on the surface of the water behind
or up-stream. This cast is difficult to learn and requires much

Ii8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

practice, but when once mastered the angler will find it of the
greatest advantage, and he will be able to drop his fly just where
he chooses. For this casting a stiff rod is decidedly requisite,
or the angler will not be able to get his line quickly and cleanly
enough off the surface when about to make his cast, for he
does not raise it directly off the water, as in ordinary casting,
but rather pulls it through it, and if the rod gave too much
it would be brought so far round before the line was got off
the water that the fly would catch in the bank.

I have now told the young fly-fisher how to suit himself
with rod and tackle and how to fish a stream, and I will add a
few general directions which have been gathered by long
experience, watchfulness, and by thinking nothing which
occurs on the water, or in connection with it, unworthy of
notice or consideration. And, firstly, as to the weather when
the angler should go fly-fishing, and these remarks very much
apply to all other kinds of fishing. Most of us are aware of the
old rhyme : —

When the wind blows from the west,
It blows the hook to the fish's nest ;
When the wind blows from the south.
It blows the hook to the fish's mouth ;
When from the north and east it blows.
Seldom the angler fishing goes.

My dear friends and pupils, don't beUeve it : if you possess
a copy of this bit of ancient doggerel, let it be anything but a
rule for your conduct. You may have sport in all winds and
in all weathers, or you may not ; as long as the wind is not
too heavy and is up-stream, be sure that you have the best
wind that can blow. I have had some of the best days I ever
had in my life with a north or east wind, and some of the worst
with a south or west one. Some will say, choose a cloudy day
with the wind here or there, and some a rainy day with the
wind nowhere ; some say, never fish in thundery weather,
whereas I have caught fish again and again, and known them
caught, in all possible sorts of weather, even with the thunder
cracking all round — nay, directly overhead. I do not believe
there is any rule whatever that can be relied upon. I have
had first-rate sport in a snow-storm ere now. The influences
which cause fish to feed, or the reverse, are as much a mystery
to us as they were to our forefathers. Fishes' appetites are
doubtless somewhat like our own, they feed best when they
are hungry, and when they can do so with the least fear. Fish

FISH RISE IN ALL WEATHERS 119

feed at some time in the twenty-four hours, and be sure if
they are not rising it is because there are no flies to tempt them.
They are not starving by way of amusement, rely upon it, but
have " metal more attractive " down below, in the shape of
grubs, worms, larvae, etc. No one perhaps would willingly
select a bright hot day, with no wind and a low water, yet I
have at times had excellent, nay the best of sport even, on
such days. And few would choose a steely bright day with a
cutting easterly wind, and little or no fly on the water ; but
on two such days running I once, in Derbyshire, killed in the
brightest possible water forty-six brace of capital trout each
day. I could have killed more on the second day, but did not
care to carry them, and I have often had good sport on similar
days ; some of the best days I have had this season (1867)
were on bitterly cold days with a north-east wind, and little or
no fly on ; and some of the worst on warm cloudy days with a
south and south-west wind and plenty of fly. Upon the other
hand, how often will the angler go out upon a day which he
would have picked out from the whole year, had he the choice,
and do little or nothing. There are some days, nice, brisk,
cloudy days, with a steady breeze, and not too much fly, and
the water in good order, which the angler may pretty well
count upon as being good days, and be seldom deceived,
though he may sometimes even then ; but as to picking out a
day when he can be sure that the fish will not feed, it is beyond
his skill. He may of course chance to be right and he may
chance to be wrong, and the longer he is a fisherman the more
he will discover that he does not know how a day may turn out
until he turns out his creel at night. It not unfrequently
happens that some very slight and unexpected change will
take place, some new fly will begin to hatch out, or some other
insect will put in an appearance, which sets all the fish feeding
suddenly, and will thus afford him an hour or two's capital
sport, turning a bad day into a good one. My advice to the
young angler is, always carry your mackintosh, be patient
and persevering, and leave the weather to take care of itself.
As regards a bright, hot, still day, although I do not say that
I should prefer such a day, yet I would not go far out of my
way to avoid it if the water be in fair order ; on a similar day
last year I caught in the Kennet (which is one of the hardest
streams to kill a dish of -trout in that I know) six and a half
brace of trout, several of them up to two pounds, and one of
nearly four — they were caught with a good-sized alder ; and

120 A BOOK ON ANGLING

often in just the same weather have I had capital sport with
the cocktail in the Wandle, and that is by no means an easy
stream either to kill fish on in such weather. And if the fish
do not rise well in the hot day, they generally make up for it
in the evening. Yet, so uncertain is anghng, that even here
the angler may reckon without his host, for after such a day a
fog may get up when (and this is almost the only tolerably
certain rule that I know of in respect to weather) the trout
almost invariably cease feeding. I have tried hard to account
for this, and I think it may be that the fog is caused by evapora-
tion induced by the sudden cold upon the water warmed by
the hot sun ; * that this sudden chill, evidenced by the evapora-
tion, checks the hatching and development of the flies, and
the fish are stopped from rising in consequence of the absence
of fly. I have reason to believe, however, that the change by
no means prevents their feeding on the bottom, and at such
time ground food will not be refused. Fish will not feed either
in a rapidly falling water, and if there be mills on the stream
they will often spoil the best evening's sport by drawing down
the water ; at such a time the only chance an angler will have
of a fish will be in some snug corner, under an overhanging
bank — in the open stream his efforts will be fruitless.

There are, however, many extraneous circumstances which
have much to do with the feeding of our fish and which the
angler will have to take into consideration, and which affect
rather disastrously many of our best streams, as sheep-washing,
mine water, drainage, etc., and by which the likeliest day, nay,
the likeliest week, may be seriously damaged. Last season I
had two splendid days at the May fly spoilt by sheep-washing,
and this season I had my best day spoilt. All that can be said
upon weather as a guide is but of a very general and imperfect
nature. One or two points may be accepted which are more
often to be relied on than not, which is all that can be said of
them ; for example : Fish will not rise, or if rising will not
take well, when heavy clouds are coming up or when heavy
rain portends, or a flood threatens. They seem to have some
instinctive notion that much water is coming, and that there

* The cause of evening fog upon a river in summer is the reverse of what is
here suggested. The air, warmed by the day's sunshine, is charged with
vapour derived from evaporation and carried in an invisible state till the air
meets the chill from the water, when the vapour is suddenly condensed into
minute particles of water, each of which reflects light, rendering the air opaque.
A similar effect is created by grinding a piece of clear glass into opaque white
powder. — Ed,

PLATE VII

Dry Fly Water on the Test.

To face Page 121

A White Trout Stream, Ballinahinch,

THE HAUNTS OF TROUT 121

is a grand feast preparing and they reserve themselves for it.
Dead low water is not, as a rule, desirable. Sudden and violent
changes of weather are not favourable to good takes, neither
are extremes of weather favourable, as excessive wind, rain,
heat, or cold. Frost will not always deter them if there be
warm gUmpses of weather at mid-day ; but with frost, even-
ings and mornings are not to be reUed on. The angler should
never go out on the day after a flood ; a flood always brings
down much food, and the fish are generally gorged and lazy.
If the water clears well the day after may be a good day ;
If it clears slowly, the day after that will be found even better.
Fish do not always lie in the same spots when feeding ;
much depends upon the weather. The angler should remember
that the fish always — particularly in larger streams — follow
the food ; * according, therefore, to the weather let him study
which part of a run or stream is likely to contain the most food,
for here he will assuredly find the most and best fish. In a flood,
the fish will be all over the river feeding, and he will take fish
in spots which it would be utterly useless to fish when the river
is down to its natural level again. The neck of every httle nm
between two stones or weeds, the eye or eddy in each stream,
will then have its feeding fish. The eye of the stream, I may
take occasion to say, is always the most favourable spot for
fish. By the eye I mean the first good eddy on the inside of
any stream after it commences its shoot. Into this almost
every straw or insect is swept in its downward course, to be
delivered up to the stream again after it has made a revolution
or two, perhaps a yard or so lower down, and here the fish
are on the watch for food. In hot bright weather, the fish
will be at the tails of the pools, on the gravelly shallows, more
often sunning themselves than feeding, however. Still the
angler, by letting his fly work down from the head of the stream
to the end, may perhaps pick up a fish, but the hooking of
^^ft one fish will be the signal for all the rest to rush up into safety
and deep water. In hot weather, too, the best fish may be
observed under the deep shades of overhanging boughs, lying
within an inch or two of the surface, and merely lifting their

1^ noses very quietly to the top, as fly, beetle, or grub comes
^■floating to them. Whenever the angler sees a fish rising in

* In small brooks a good trout takes up his berth, which is generally a
likely one for the run of the food, and does not wander far from it. The
stream is his purveyor. In larger rivers they are more of wanderers and
have to follow the food, while every flood will alter the currents and runs. —

I

122 A BOOK ON ANGLING

such a spot, do not let him be deluded by the very slight
disturbance it makes in rising into the belief that it is a small
fish ; nine times in ten it is a good fish, and often a superior
one and worth all the caution and skill he can use, and in such
spots, if the angler can get his bait properly to the fish, he will
mostly take. In windy weather, always fish the bank towards
which the flies are blown, for close to, almost touching, the
bank the big trouts will be often picking the struggling flies
off the sedges or grass as they try to escape. You cannot then
fish too close to the bank.

In fishing a stream when the fish are rising under the opposite
bank, if the angler can make his fly touch the bank, or even
rest upon it, so that it will drop lightly or rather be swept ofi
into the water, it will be found a very killing method ; but
this requires to be done with great caution, lest the fly take
hold of anything. Short grass, earthy banks, or rocks are the
most preferable substances on which to practise this feat.
Should the angler, when throwing close to bushes, hang his
fly up to a branch or spray, let him not use any violence
in trying to get it off again ; a very gentle pull will often cause
the fly to come off|and even to unwind itself from any twig it
may have lapped;! round and to drop into the water safely
(when haply a rise and a good fish may reward the angler's
gentleness), whereas a sharp tug would probably have fixed
the fly in the obstruction inextricably, and a breakage have
ensued. Try a steady pull but not a hard one ; if this fails,
a short sharp stroke will sometimes save the tackle, but always
try gentleness first, for " persuasion is better than force."
Some trees the angler can venture, and with comparative
safety, to throw closer to than others, the smooth hanging
shape of the leaves and brittleness of the twigs being less
dangerous ; but beware of oak or hawthorn, a fixture in either
is all but a certain smash. He may venture to throw close to
flags, almost with impunity, for if the hook take hold they will
generally split from bottom to top ; some rushes are also
tolerably safe, but a flowering rush or reed hath knots in it
through which no hook will go. When a breakage is necessary,
do not strain the rod ; but wind up all the line you possibly
can, and then take an almost straight pull on it.

The fisherman should look behind him from time to time as
he works along the banks of a stream ; should he neglect
this and get hung up in some tall tree behind him, he will be
more likely to get fixed than when throwing across, because

HOW TO DEAL WITH WEEDS 123

of the heavy drag given to the fly in the forward motion. To
provide against mischances of this nature, it is as well to carry
a coil of stoutish cord in the pocket or basket ; this takes up
little or no room, and by tying a stone on to one end of it and
throwing over the offending branch, and then twisting the
depending stone round and round the length held in the hand,
the bough may generally be pulled down or even broken off.
Some anglers carry one of those little hook-shaped knives
which have a barbed gaff hook on the reverse side, and which
can be screwed into the butt of the landing-handle. These are
useful in cutting free a weed or twig which may be within
reach ; but it often happens that the handle is not long enough
to reach high up into a tree, and therefore the coil of cord is
to my mind preferable — at any rate it is a useful adjunct.

When the angler hooks a fish in a very weedy place, the best
policy is a bold one. Let him at once, before the fish is aware
of what has happened to him, put on a heavy drag, and pull
him through or over the weeds into safe water. I assure the
angler that this is much easier and safer than it either sounds
or looks. It is one thing for the angler to take a fish through
weeds, but quite another thing for the fish to take himself
through them. In the one case he does not see where he is
going and yields to the impulse, while his fins offer no resistance ;
in the other, these circumstances are reversed, and he holds
the weeds by his outspread fins and often also by his mouth.
This last season I was frequently obliged to exert my per-
suasive powers in this respect, as I was fishing a good deal in a
very weedy river ; and one day, to the great astonishment of
the keeper, I hauled four fish, one after the other, out of very
dangerous holes through heavy weeds into safe water, and
landed them ; three of them weighed one pound and three-
quarters each, and the fourth two pounds. " Never see any-
one so lucky as you be, sir, wi' big fish, don't seem to care
'bout the weeds, not a mossel," said the keeper ; and certainly
some of the places were as nasty-looking places to hook a
good fish in as anyone could desire to see ; but prompt mea-
sures succeeded where a timid and hesitating hand on the rod
would have been sure, sooner or later, to have ended in the
fish bolting into a weed of his own accord. Should a fish run up
under a weed, in his efforts to escape, it is manifest, if the angler
pulls against the stream and the lay of the weed, or even en-
deavours to pull the fish up through the weed, or sideways
out of it, that he will fail. The only way to extricate such a

124 A BOOK ON ANGLING

fish when he has succeeded in hanging your tackle up, is to
get well below him, let out a longish line, sink the point of the
rod to the level of the water, and put a steady strain on
straight down-stream. The fish may perhaps for a time be
able to resist this strain, but patience and perseverance will
fetch him out at last ; even if he has gripped the weed in his
mouth, as fish will do, he must open his mouth eventually,
particularly as he has the fly in it straining and pulling at him.
I do not say that this plan is always successful, but it more
often is than not, while to attempt to pull the fish against or
across the weed is almost certain destruction ; a gentle sawing
motion may at times be used with excellent effect, if the angler
has reason to suppose that the weed hangs at all on the line.
Poking or stoning a fish out is a very uncertain remedy, and,
unless you can see and manage the weed very well, cutting or
hooking it up is unsafe, and sometimes results in cutting the
line. There is one thing the angler must remember in fishing
weedy water, and that is to eschew the use of a dropper ; for
if his trout takes to weed, towing a stretcher or dropper fly
after him, the angler's chance is of the smallest.

As in bait-fishing so in fly-fishing, the angler should always
make a mental note of any good fish he may see, and take
careful stock of his lying-ground, and any obstruction, bushes,
etc. ; and study how he may best be fished for, in order that
he may know, without being obliged again to look at him,
or even to come within sight of him, how to fish when he again
passes his lair. If he does so, he can then approach without ex-
posing himself in any way to the watchful fish, knowing at the
same time exactly when and how to cast. In casting, he should
also bear in mind that the first time a fly passes over a fish is
far more likely to be successful than any subsequent cast
which he can make, and consequently he cannot use too much
care or caution in making it neat and effective. Let him be
sure, therefore, by a wide cast or two away from the fish, that
his line and fly are in good order, and then let him make his
cast with all the care and skill he is capable of ; and nine times
in ten the cast will be lucky.

I always Hke to illustrate my advice if I can from actual
experience, and I will do so now. Some years ago I was
fishing the Duke of Rutland's water on the Lathkill : I was
approaching a bridge, when the keeper came up, and as we
were conversing, he pointed to a fish rising just at the mouth
of the bridge-arch. " Now, sir," said he, " there is a fish

A NEAT CATCH ON THE LATHKILL 125

that's worth catching. He's a sort of a pet of mine ; scores
of people have tried for that fish, but he's too artful for them.
Give him a try, sir." I looked at the spot ; the fish was rising
regularly, sucking in every fly that came down ; but I had no
doubt that he could see us perfectly where we stood, as the
water was entirely open, and the fish could not be approached
from below, without one's being seen. It was evident that he
always was thus fished for ; and as, when he rose, he could see
everything for thirty yards or more away, the instant a line
fell on the water of course he was up under the bridge out of
harm's way. I shook my head, and declined to make a spec-
tacle of myself for the keeper's amusement ; but I took a
look at the place, both above and below bridge, and told the
keeper, perhaps half in bravado, that I would catch his fish
as I returned. The keeper grinned mighty incredulously, and,
having pocketed his tip, wished me good morning. Now,
just above the bridge, and certainly not above five or six feet
or so above it, there was a fall or dam of some two or three
feet, and as I looked at it, it struck me that I might, by manage-
ment, get my fly over the fish without his seeing me. On my
return, therefore, I stopped wide of the bridge, and above it ;
and after measuring the distance carefully by one of two
preliminary casts, I cast as far as possible over towards the
farther side of the arch, in the space between the fall and the
bridge, and giving all the fine I could, I let it sweep round
under the arch, chancing the fact of the trout being at home, ~
as I did not dare to look. Sure enough he was at home, and
just as my fly was sweeping down towards a straight line I felt
a gentle touch, which I answered with a turn of the wrist, and
a nice time I had of it, for up he bolted into the fall, and a
pretty jiggering match he gave me. Finding that I was not
to be trifled with, he rushed down under the arch, but it was
of no use, for in due time I basketed him, and I had hardly
done so and moved onwards, when the keeper came towards
me again. I saw him glance at the place where the fish usually
rose : " Ah," I said, " it's of no use for you to look there for
him, keeper ; you'll never see him make circles there any more.
I told you I'd catch him, and here he is." The keeper looked
at the fish, and his bump of veneration, I could see, was
greatly enlarged. Evidently he thought me a dangerous
customer, and well he might, for I made his finny charges ^
stand and dehver to a very considerable amount before I fdj ^Q^
them. I never told him how I had circi vented his pet,

126 A BOOK ON ANGLING

but I found out that my suspicions as to how it had always
been fished for were correct.

Yes ; there is nothing pays better with good fish than a
httle careful prehminary study of their territory. Never fish
them rashly or without due consideration, or you do more
harm than good. If a good fish rises at the fly and refuses it,
you should not cast again immediately ; give him a few
minutes' rest to recover himself, and take advantage of any
cloud or puff of wind that may occur when you throw again.
If he again comes short, give him another rest, and try a dry
fly over him ; it that fails let the fly sink well six or eight
inches, or even more, under water, and if that does not succeed,
either change the fly or leave him — the latter for choice.

If fish are rising short, roUing over the fly, or flapping at it
with their tails to drown it, oblige them at once by letting it
sink, and your attention to their wishes will often be rewarded.
To show the advantage at times of sinking the fly, I will relate
a circumstance.

Fishing in Hampshire some time since, on the Earl of
Portsmouth's water, I had had very indifferent sport all the
morning, for although there was a good breeze on, and a fair
show of fly (yellow dun), the fish appeared to take very badly,
though they rose well enough. I had cast my fly into the
water, and having to light my pipe, I allowed the fly to sink to
the bottom ; when I recommenced, I raised the point of the
rod to withdraw the tackle, but the line was too long and
dragged, and I fancied it had taken hold of a weed. I then took
the fine in by hand, and found that, instead of being caught in
a weed, the fly had been picked up by a good fish. I struck him
with the hand and eventually killed him. The hint was not
lost on me : I had thrown over a good fish some seven yards
above, not five minutes before, and he had risen and refused ;
I now cast over him again, and allowed the fly to sink to mid-
water, when he took it directly, and I killed him. I then tried
some other fish, which I had previously been fishing over
futilely ; and, following the same plan, I rose and hooked six
brace of capital fish of from one and a quarter to two pounds
each, kiUing four brace of them, and losing two brace owing to
my hook having sprung in striking a good fish on some bony
part of the mouth. I had only killed two small fish during the
whole of the morning previously. The fish were evidently
feeding either upon drowned flies (though these would hardly
sink I fancy) or upon larvae.

LOOK TO YOUR HOOK ! 127

I may state here, that in deep pools or mill heads, no plan is
so kiUing as to suffer the fly to sink to the bottom, and then to
work it with short sharp shoots up to the surface. Whether
the fish mistake it for the larva of some fly, or some other
water-insect, or a fly striving to get to the surface, or what they
may suppose it to be I cannot say. I only know that this is a
very killing plan ; and many a good dish of fish have I picked
up thus, when I could not coax a single fish to come up to the
surface. In calm or hot weather it is a capital dodge.* If there
is too much stream, bite a shot on the gut at the head of the
fly, and, if it savour not too much of taking a mean advantage
put a gentle on the hook ; and if the proprietor of the
water does not look upon it as poaching — as " aibhns " he may
— you will perhaps not regret the addition.

When the angler strikes a good fish at all heavily, and loses
it, he should always look at his hook. Had I done so, when
fishing as above, I should have saved two brace of good fish.
The hook will sometimes be found to have lost the fine point
and sometimes to be bent outwards ; and this is usually caused
by its hitting obHquely on a bone. When the first occurrence
takes place, a touch from a fine needle file will put a fresh point
on ; but in the second case the fly is useless, and no bending
the hook back to its place will render it either serviceable or
reliable. Off with it, and put on another, and lest it may
chance by any oversight to be put on again, break the fly off
and throw it away, or, if the pattern be needed, break the hook.

* I had somewhat disheartening proof of this some years ago when I was
one of six anglers who rented the Avington water of the Itchen. I took the
late Mr. Ashley Dodd to fish with me one day (the rules of our association
allowed a member to introduce a friend after ist September). We took
separate beats, agreeing to meet for luncheon at a place which those who
know that delectable part of the river will recognise under the name of the
Aquarium. I managed with much difficulty to secure a brace of trout on a
red quill ; when we met Mr. Dodd produced either two or three brace, I
forget which, of fine fish. I asked what fly they had taken. " Oh,"
said he, " I soon gave up the floating fly. I did them with this," holding out
a huge red palmer with two hooks in it. Quoth I, " You've been raking the
hatch holes." He assured me he had not, but had caught his fish on the open
river.

Just opposite where we were sitting there was a good trout, not rising, but
poised in a likely attitude. I had floated the quill over him twenty times or
more, without exciting the faintest response. I bade my friend try him with
his furry monster. He put out a long line, flung the thing in some yards
above the fish, let it sink and brought it past him with a jerking motion.
The trout turned, dashed at the lure, missed it and returned to his poise.
A second cast, and he was hooked and landed, one pound and three-
quarters. I am bound to say that the performance put me somewhat out of

128 A BOOK ON ANGLING

I have mentioned fishing with the dry fly, and it is at times
an invaluable method. With the dry fly, fish may be killed on
fine bright days, when the wet fly will be almost useless. If the
angler on a bright calm day will notice the class of flies called
duns, he will see how, when first hatched, they come floating
down with wings upright and unsoiled, sitting lightly and
cockily on the water — tempting morsels to the greedy fish.
Few flies are then to be found in a wet, half -drowned condition,
and therefore, if the angler sends one thus to the fish, it is
frequently neglected. Taking, then, two or three turns of the
fly in the air instead of one, so as to dry the tackle, let him
deliver the fly straightly and well a yard above the fish, and
merely raising his rod, as the line comes home, allow the fly,
sustained by the dry hackle and wing and by the dry gut, to
float down on the surface like the natural fly, without motion.
If the gut be delivered in a wavy manner, the bends and turns
in it will show a glitter and startle the fish ; if the angler
attempts to draw the fly towards him, it will " make snakes,"
and the dry gut will appear like a huge centipede crawling c .
the water. Perfect quiescence is required. It is quite wonder-
ful at times what can be done under apparently adverse
circumstances with a dry fly, no weather and no water being
proof against it.*

The judicious and perfect application of dry, wet, and mid-
water fly-fishing stamps the finished fly-fisher with the hall-
mark of efficiency. Generally, anglers pin their faith to the
entire practice of either one or the other plan, and argue dry
versus wet, just as they do up-stream versus down, when all are
right at times, and per contra, all wrong at times. It requires
the reasoning faculties to be used to know these times and their
application. As a rule rough weather is the more favourable to
a sunk or wet fly, while bright and calm weather favours the
dry one. Indeed, if there be much ripple on, a dry fly can
hardly be maintained.

It often happens that a fish will lie in some hole or corner
under overhanging bushes, where it would be impossible for
the angler to put the fly over the fish by casting it directly to
him ; but let him not be discouraged and pass the fish by.

* Since this was written dry-fly fishing has become practically the ex-
clusive method on chalk streams, and is frequently practised on northern
waters only. The fly is usually anointed with paraffin from a phial attached
to a button of the angler's coat ; but a far more convenient plan is to anoint
the flies before going out. The oil dries very quicklj'- on them and the flies
remain permanently waterproof. — Ed.

STALKING TROUT 129

A trout usually rests where the hang and eddy of the stream
will give him the best chance of the greatest amount of
provender with the least amount of trouble, and very often the
angler will see, by carefully studying the spot, that by pitching
a fly (dry perhaps is best) well above the fish, and letting the
stream take it where it will, the eddy will do for it what the
angler could not, and will at any rate bring it within sight.
A fly thus brought to a fish is almost certain to be taken,
provided you do nothing glaringly wrong, because, in the first
place, the fish usually takes every fly that comes, and, secondly,
he seldom or never sees an artificial fly in that spot. I know of
nothing so agreeable in fly-fishing as the outwitting one of these
cunning old stay-at-homes, who, having gotten to themselves
good fat places — archidiaconal stalls, with only archidiaconal
functions attached to them — fancy they have a vested interest
in them, and that they are to be safe sinecures for ever. I once
took five such fish in one morning on the Arrow, and they were
all extra good fish, and not one of them would many anglers
have thought it worth while trying for. It was a bit of fishing
which I have always felt rather proud of. Indeed, nineteen
times in twenty, a fish feeding in his lair or under a branch will
rise and take better than a fish in the open water in mid-stream.
It is quite needless to say that the angler should avoid
showing himself to the fish as much as possible, and should
always take advantage of any bush or tree which may easily
afford him a screen ; when the banks are too open to the river,
he should even go down upon one knee — nay, I have known
good service done by an angler lying prone upon his stomach.
In many places and streams it is quite impossible for anyone
to approach within casting distance of the stream in an erect
position without seeing every trout for some distance rushing
off to his hiding-place. In places of this description, the angler
will find much service in sticking a loose bush or two into the
ground in a favourable spot, should he design to come there
again the next day ; and he should always bear this in mind,
that the higher up in the air he is the more likely the trout is to
see him. Shy fish will often take alarm at the angler as he
comes along the bank, even while he is twenty or thirty yards
away ; but if he could get down on a level with the water, with
the bank at his back, so that his head did not appear above the
sky line, they would not appear to see him at all, and would
take the fly without hesitation, provided no sudden or violent
motion were made to attract attention. Height, therefore, is

130 A BOOK ON ANGLING

not an advantage, and wading up-stream (provided no disturb-
ance be made in the water) is.

With regard to dress, some people are incHned to ridicule
the idea of there being any necessity for attending to it at all.
I am very sure, however, that excellent grounds exist for
not being too conspicuous in this respect. The trout is a very
gentlemanly fish, and does not like loud dressing ; positive
black and white, too, or anything which glitters or is unusual,
should be carefully eschewed, particularly on the upper and
more conspicuous part of the person. A tall black hat, or one
of the genus called " shiner " I do not recommend ; and
though I would rather fish in the Bishop of Winchester's stream
than in his lordship's company when in full canonicals, I should
equally consider Mr. Chadband in his cerements an objection-
able party for successful t routing on a shy or well-fished stream;
while a stage coachman in a white top-coat and shiny hat would
be fully as unacceptable. I even dislike a highly varnished
rod. Who has not seen the flash of a rod waving in the air
when half a mile distant ? and surely so unusual and startHng
a phenomenon cannot but be calculated to disturb the
equanimity of so sharp-eyed a creature as the trout. The
angler must not always consider, because the spot where a trout
lies is apparently out of the direct range of his vision, that there-
fore he is invisible to the trout ; because, owing to the refrac-
tion of the rays of hght consequent on their passing from the
rarer medium of air into the denser medium of water, the direct
line of vision becomes broken on reaching the water, and takes
a much more perpendicular direction. The reader will under-
stand this by placing a coin in an empty pan, so far out of the
line of sight as to be hidden by the side of the vessel, and then
filling the pan with water, when the coin previously hidden will
be plainly visible. The same thing of course takes place
inversely with respect to the fish seeing the fisher, with this
remarkable difference, that the fine is still farther diverted
from the direct line of vision, and therefore the fish can see at a
greater angle of divergence than the fisherman, and conse-
quently a fish lying under a bank between the angler and
himself can often see his enemy, when by no possibiUty could
the angler see him.

It is as well that the angler should bear this little bit of
science in mind, as it will often account for a fish not rising,
when every other reason fails. Owing to this peculiarity, a fish
can to a certain extent see behind him as it were, and can take

NIGHT-FISHING 131

in a much wider scope of objects than a cursory consideration
would give him credit for, and the more so as his eye is
pecuHarly adapted to his element in this respect, as affording
him increased facilities for seeing his way to a living in the
world. The organ of sight is the chief one upon which fish rely,
and is much more keenly developed than any other. Feeling is
probably the next sense in proportionate development, as the
nervous organisation of fish is usually rather full and perfect,
and the slightest vibration in the water is felt by them appar-
ently instantaneously. Taste and smell are no doubt also
tolerably acute, but I do not think hearing is of so much
consequence to them as some of the other senses ; though the
angler will not find a loud or unusual noise in any way advan-
tageous to him.

The size of flies to be used must be regarded by the water to
be fished to some extent, but it is as common a fault to fish
with too small flies as it is to use too large ones. On very well
preserved and much-fished streams, as the Wandle, for example,
very small flies are the favourite cast, but I have often seen a
coarser one, with larger flies, beat it hollow ; particularly if a
little wind prevails. The angler should, if he finds his small
flies useless, try a size or two larger, and sink them a few inches.

I will now give a few simple and useful directions as to night-
fishing, but I may premise that I wish night-fishing were
generally abandoned, for I beheve it materially injures the day-
fishing, by rendering the fish much more shy than they would
naturally be if only fished for in the day-time. There ought to
be some period during the twenty-four hours when the trout
can feed safely without disturbance or the fear of a hook before
them ; but as fly-fishing is now conducted there is not ; and
this naturally makes the fish suspicious of every lure, while big
trout get so shy that they seldom, in small streams, get into
really good condition at all. Unfortunately where night-
fishing has been practised it is useless, after June, to fish until
late in the evening, unless in very favourable weather indeed.

For night-fishing, the fewer flies the angler uses the better.
He should never use more than two under any circumstances,
and even one is better, as the slightest hitch or tangle, which
in the dayhght would be of no consequence, becomes fatal in the
dark. It is desirable always to put up two casts, a spare one
for a change being round the hat. These casts need not be long,
a yard and a half of gut for one fly, and two yards for two, is
quite long enough ; any gut does, and it is as well to use it

132 A BOOK ON ANGLING

reasonably stout and coarse, as very little play or law should
be given to the fish at night, as the angler cannot see obstruc-
tions. If a change of flies be desired, let them be so placed on
the angler's hat that he can with certainty pick out the iiy he
requires without the necessity for examining it ; and as it
is almost impossible to undo loops in the dark, the fly should
be dressed on a plain strand of gut, and the end of the casting-
line left unlooped, so that the fly can be knotted on at once,
this being a process which you manage pretty well by feeling.
When the fly is to come off it must be broken off, and the fresh
one tied on in its place.

As I have said, always fish with a tight line, that is, rather
down-stream in the dark. If the angler fishes up-stream there
is every chance of a slack line, when he will not feel the rise.
All must be done by feehng ; for though occasionally, if the
fish takes boldly, a rise may be seen, it generally happens that
the best rises, or rather those of the best fish, are very un-
obtrusive affairs, and the notice given to the rod point is so
slight that the angler may, if he fancies it is the touch of a fish
at all, set it down to some trumpery three-ounce flibbertigibbet
instead of that noble three-pounder he gazed at for an hour off
the bridge, with such a desire for a nearer acquaintance. Fish,
therefore, rather across, and let the fine go steadily down until
it is extended, striking at every touch. Good large flies are
usually required at night, though this is not always the case,
if a strong rise of some smaU insect be on ; but more often than
not, one of the moths or the alder, cinnamon, sedge, or some
good sized fly will be used, and as the hook will be a largish one,
a firm stroke and a sharp course of treatment are desirable, as
the less " bobbery " made, and the less time wasted, the
better. Pop them into the basket ; and though I advise no
hurry, yet let no time be wasted. If the angler has any doubt
about the state of his flies, he should never fish a moment in
doubt, but run the cast through his hand. A short cast is the
best ; too long a fine is unmanageable and uncertain at night,
and there is no need for it, as the fish will, if you conduct your-
self quietly, rise close to you — indeed, I have often, when
wading, seen them rise within a yard or so of my legs. The fish
which are most likely to take well are those which get in close
under the banks. They are old soldiers, and pick a bellyful of
insects almost off the long grass, scarcely rising at all ; while
the fish which rise in the mid-stream and make such a pother
are for the most part but middling or little ones, Fish the

NIGHT-FISHING 133

banks, therefore, carefully, for even if you do not see or hear a
rise anywhere, there is always hope under the bank. At night,
a fly drawn against the stream will be taken almost as readily
as one floating down — which of course is not the case by day.
It is seldom so dark but that the angler can see a Uttle ; and,
although he will not detect perhaps the exact rise, yet he will
see a shght ripple, which will be sufficient to guide his fly to the
right spot. If, however, he cannot see the rise, let him listen
carefully, and now and then he will hear a faint tinkle like the
falling of a big water-drop ; that is the rise of a trout, and his
ear must then guide him to the right spot. He will often hear
a " suck," like a slobbery kiss ; that is not a trout feeding but
an eel. How to get the exact distance of line required I cannot
lay down any rule for, but judgment and practice alone will
help him. One thing it is very advisable not to do, and that is,
when he has got out a length of hne which he works well, to
lengthen or shorten it. In some places now they go to the
length of fishing with a dry fly at night-time. This, I confess,
evidences a civilisation and progress on the part of the trout
which I cannot understand at all.

CHAPTER VI

ARTIFICIAL FLIES

Contrast of Systems — Copying Nature and Cop3dng Nothing— List of Flies

for each Month.

BEFORE entering upon the description of the neces-
sary flies for the angler's use, I shall give a reference
to the numbers of the flies in Plate VIII ; as in my
first edition some difficulty was experienced by anglers
and tackle makers in the way of identifying each fly.

1. Is the Green Drake or May Fly (p. i6i).

2. The Grey Drake or transformation of the Green Drake
(p. i66).

3. The March Brown or Cob Fly of Wales (p. 146).

4 . The Blue Dun, known by a great variety of names, given in
its description (p. 143).

5. The Red Spinner, the transformation of the Blue Dun
(p. 144).

6. The Yellow Dun (p. 151).

7. The Iron Blue Dun (p. 152).

8. The Evening Dun (p. 160).

9. The Little Blue Dun, Sky Blue, etc. (p. 160).

10. The August Dun (p. 172).

11. The Stone Fly (p. 158).

12. The February Red, Red Fly (p. 143).

13. The Willow Fly (p. 174).

14. The Sand Fly (p. 157).

15. The Alder or Orl Fl> (p. 160).

16. The Cinnamon (p. 173).

17. The Gravel Bed, Spider Fly, etc. (p. 156).

18. The Hawthorn Fly (p. 156).

19. The Silver Horns (p. 172).

20. The Coch v bondu, etc. (p. 167).

21. The Fern Fly, Soldier Fly, etc. (p. 167).

22. The Wren Tail, Brown Bent, etc. (p. 170).

In giving a hst of artificial flies I shall as much as possible
eschew all flies which I do not know from experience to be

134

PI, ATE vni.

y^_/,„. /',,,;. /,-y.

Natural Trout Flies.

I

REALISM V. IDEALISM 135

useful to the angler. There are scores of flies which are set
down in Usts, and which are perpetuated from list to Ust,
being copied from one to the other — like the celebrated
" Hampstead Eye " butterfly, of which there is only a legend
of a solitary specimen — but which are by no means to be
generally relied upon. Such flies I shall have nothing to do
with.

There are two conflicting systems, in support of which we
find warm partisans and good anglers on either side, viz. the
entomological and what may be termed the colorological
system, or those who study and imitate nature as closely as
I)ossible and those who say " the day is bright and the water
clear, or the day is cloudy and the water coloured, and there-
fore such and such colours ought to kill." I shall touch upon
their respective merits and claims. Throughout the kingdom
thousands of trout flies are in use, and almost any fly or insect
which can fall upon the water will at times, if it be httle fished,
be taken by the trout. On the other hand, the reverse of this
is more often true, and the trout are picksome and hard to
please. It will often, too, occur, when trout are feeding strongly
upon a particular fly, that they will take something entirely
different in preference to a bad imitation of the insect they are
feeding on, or even a fair imitation put over them in a some-
what different way from those which are passing over them,
because the one does not challenge comparison while the other
does, from which the colorologists argue that it is not necessary
to trouble your head with considerations of what is on the
water. But there are times, again, when the fish will be rising
furiously, and the angler may exhaust his tackle book over
them without getting a rise if he has not the exact fly. I could
cite hundreds of instances of this. I mention only one, the most
recent I can call to mind.

Last season I was fishing the Itchin, at Bishopstoke ; it was
getting towards dusk, the fish came on to rise very rapidly, fly
after fly did I try, in the very thickest of the boils, covering
: half a dozen fish at every cast ; every likely fly I could think of
was tried and rejected, and not a single rise could I get ; the
fly they were rising at was a very small one, but, small as it was,
they knew perfectly well the difference between it and others
of the same size, even though it was evening. By great
difficulty I got one of the flies, and saw it was a red spinner.
I was able to find a red spinner without much trouble, and in
less than twenty minutes I had two and a half brace of fine fish,

136 A BOOK ON ANGLING

when the rise was over. The general principles so much
favoured by our friends in the north, in their selection of flies,
would have been utterly useless here. There is no doubt that a
general selection of a dozen flies (upon the principles advocated
by the author of The Practical Angler, Mr. Stewart) for the
entire season, makes very easy work of it, and the angler is not
much puzzled as to selection. Such a system may suit the
northern rivers, but, upon our well-whipped southern streams,
where the trout are exceedingly wary and well-educated, the
fish like a little more attention paid to their fancies ; and we
are obliged, too, to pay that attention, because we have not
generally those resources in minnow, worm, and larva fishing
to fall back upon, when we fail with the fly, which our brothers
over the border practise, for upon our best streams they are not
allowed, and we are restricted to artificial fly-fishing. I do not
doubt for one moment that Mr. Stewart's flies — I select Mr.
Stewart, not as the originator perhaps, but as the exponent of a
system — I say I. do not doubt that Mr. Stewart's flies kill well
at times, because the best of them very strongly resemble some
of the best flies that are found on pretty well every river in the
kingdom as duns, spinners, midges, and those very general
favourites, the sand and cinnamon flies. Then Mr. Stewart has
two imitations, called the red and black spider, and there are
two water insects, a red and black spider, which I have
often caught in my entomological wanderings, which are
widely distributed, and which these imitations also resemble.
Now, I apprehend that it is only because these combinations of
fur and feather in some sort resemble the flies which the fish are
in the habit of seeing on the water, that the fish take them at
all. This must be conceded ; if it be not, why does the fly-
fisher adhere to the form, colour, and size of those flies at all ?
Why have they wings and legs and bodies like flies ? Why are
they of the same size ? Why does he not fish with a bunch of
feathers of any colour, and tied on anyhow ? Why should he
have any choice in the matter ? Why even have a dozen flies ?
and why should one kill one day and not another ? It is clear
that he has a choice and a variety because the fish have, and
he finds it necessary to " pander to their base tastes and
fancies " to some extent. His art is unquestionably a decep-
tion, and he must allow that he is deceiving the fish with
the imitation of a fly. Then I do not see how he can get out of
the sequence that the better the imitation the more likely it is
to deceive, and if he is obliged to consult the fishes' tastes at all,

"|WHAT FLY IS UP ? " 137

the more sedulously he consults them the more Ukely he is to
please them, and this is all that we Southerns do. This is a
position which I do not think it is possible to upset. Nor do I
see what can be said beyond it. If it be urged that colorology
is easier, demands less study, consideration, or variety, that
appears to me to be a lazy argument, apphcable to every
science, and cuts away one of the most interesting branches
of the fisher's amusement. The trout in the north are more
plentiful than they are in our streams in the south. The
season for feeding is much shorter. The rivers for the most
part do not so abound in food as ours, often flowing as they
do over hard gravel and rocky beds and through barren moor-
land districts, and the fish have harder work to pick up a living,
and are therefore possibly less inclined to be closely critical
when they are feeding, and if the fly be somewhat near the
colour and size they cannot afford to reject it. A Scotchman
measures his takes by dozens, we by braces ; and it is more
difficult to take the brace upon one of our well-thrashed
streams, than it is the dozen on the other side of the border,
and consequently we are obhged to be more careful in our
deceptions, and to watch nature more closely.

Our system is, however, little by Uttle creeping north. On
Tweed a considerable advance has been made of late years
towards the studying of the fly that is " up," and the imitation
thereof ; and one hears now amongst the best anglers there,
of blue and yellow duns, March browns, willow flies, and
several other names for flies, many of which are perhaps local,
but which nevertheless indicate the flies actually on the water.
" What fly is up ? " is becoming nearly as common a question
as it is " down south ; " and if anghng progresses steadily
in the way it is doing, many a stream where no study is now
paid to what may be on the water will, in a few years, if fish
are to be killed, call for a much closer attention to this peculi-
arity than is at present exercised. One thing I can certainly
say, viz. that by following the system I advocate, of study-
ing nature as closely as possible, I have never come upon a
stream in the kingdom (and I have fished much the greater
part of it, where the colorological practice prevails), on which,
after a sufficient acquaintance to make me tolerably familiar
with the water, I could not, with my southern book of imita-
tions, kill trout quite as well and often better than many of
the habitues of the water could with their piscatory heirlooms
and rehcs. This, however, does not apply to all lakes. On

138 A BOOK ON ANGLING

many of these, whether it be owing to the depth of water or
what not, fancy has a good deal to do with the trouts' notions,
though on others I have found entomology exceedingly suc-
cessful. Of course here and there one meets some old fellow
who knows every stone and eddy, and whose local knowledge
must give him a great advantage ; but, as a rule, I have
always found a close imitation of the natural fly to do better
than all the blacks, or browns, or reds, or blues, or hare-lugs,
and all the colours of the rainbow, which the Celtic practitioner
regards as sacred traditions. I never wanted yet to ask what
fly was taking, if there were any fly at all on, knowing at a
glance, from experience, pretty well what the fly was ; for a
blue dun, or a yellow dun, or red spinner, or a March brown,
are the same flies, and should be dressed in the same way on
the north of Tweed as on the south.

Although there are many kinds of flies which do kill, the
chief ones which the angler must rely upon are those which
are best known to the trout, and these are the flies bom of
the water, or which from their habits and location are most
likely to be blown on to it. Of these, though there are a con-
siderable number in the aggregate, yet the best of them, and
those which are most abundant, are found on every stream,
and are, as I have said, the same on all of them, and they are
not so numerous but that any angler may with a little trouble
become tolerably well acquainted with them. Of course
there are partial and local exceptions — flies which are found
in some waters and not in others — ^but even these he will
become acquainted with in time. Do not listen therefore,
dearly beloved pupil, to delusive talk of hares' ears and yellow,
or hare's ear and purple, or green, or what not, or bloas of all
sorts of shades, or fancy flies of endless hue. Some of these
certainly kill, but it is rather a fluke if they do, while the odds
are that they don't. I will give a list of the best of them,
firstly, because, as I said, they do kill sometimes, and, secondly,
because my book would certainly be held incomplete by many
anglers without it ; but always first try the fly that is on,
or has been on, or which you think ought to be on, before you
venture upon these fancies, and be sure that, wherever you
go, you will find your March browns, stone flies and drakes, or
your willow flies, alders, sand flies and cinnamons, your duns
and spinners, etc., feeding the trout more or less. These are
your ground-tackle, your holdfast, and if you once master
enough of a fly-fisher's entomology to get a fair knowledge

THE PRINCIPAL TROUT FLIES 139

of the ordinary succession of flies which usually throng the
water in the generality of rivers, you need not venture upon
the uncertain realms of fancy at all — you may go anywhere,
east, west, north or south, and never trouble a professional
to tell you what is on his water, or what will kill best, for you
will know what flies should be in season, and if you have any
doubt, a glance will tell you.

The following list is partly the result of my own experience,
and partly that of others. The flies fed on by trout have
been the same from all ages, unless we pin our faith on The
Vestiges of Creation, and therefore one has nothing to do
but to take them from those who have gone before, selecting
the best favoured by the fish, and leaving the worst, and to
make such suggestions on dressing them, etc., as experience
may dictate.

The principal flies which, as I have said, the angler rehes
upon, are those bom of the water. The most useful of these
are divided into two great orders, viz. the Neuroptera, or
nerve-winged (from pevpov, a nerve, and irrepov, a wing —
these are the flies which have smooth wings, veined to and
fro like the drakes, the stone and the alder flies), and the
Trichoptera, or hairy-winged (from Opl^, gen. rpixo?, hair,
and irrepov, a wing).* Among these are our sand flies, cinna-
mons, mushroom flies, silver horns, etc. There is an enormous
variety of these flies, something Uke two hundred British
species having been discovered. The wings are soft, and
somewhat in appearance hke those of moths. They are not
upright, like those of the drakes and duns, nor flat like those
of the stone and willow flies, but come up to an angle, like
the roof of a house somewhat ; as it is termed, they are
deflected. These two orders are subdivided. Among the
Neuroptera are the Ephemeridae, as the May flies, duns, and
spinners ; the PerUdae, as the stone and willow flies ; and
e Sialidae, of which we have but one sample, though that
a host in itself, viz. the alder fly. The Trichoptera, used for
e most part, include only the family of Phryganidae, if we
except the silver horns.

The other orders in most use by the fly-fisher are, the
Coleoptera, or sheath-winged (from KoXeog, a sheath), insects
having two pairs of wings, the upper of which are hard and
horny, and are called elytra, and form the sheath for the

I

* In modem classification the Trichaptera are placed as a family of the
order Neuroptera. — Ed.

140 A BOOK ON ANGLING

under ones, when at rest, as the coch y bondu or Marlow
buzz, the fern fly, the peacock, and others ; and the Diptera,
or two-winged (from Svo, two), as the cow-dung, hawthorn,
black gnat, gravel bed, etc. The majority of the insects used
in the two last orders, however, are land insects.

The two families upon which the main hopes of the angler
rest, are the Ephemeridae and the Phryganidse, since some of
the species of one or the other, or both of these families, are
sure to be on the water if any fly at all is. As much confusion
prevails amongst anglers as to their history, it may not be
out of place here to devote a few lines to it. An error which
still largely prevails amongst fishermen is, that the May flies
or drakes come from the caddis, or case grubs, found in abun-
dance in many waters at the bottom ; and according to the
plenty or scarcity of these, so they estimate the plenty or
scarcity of the May fly, in the season. This is a great mistake,
as the caddis has nothing whatever to do with the Ephemeridae ;
it is the home of the Phryganidae exclusively, and their plenty
will determine the abundance of sand, grannom, sedge, cinna-
mon, and other flies of that class.

To trace the Ephemeridae through their various transfor-
mations, we will commence with the egg, which is dropped on
the water by the imago, or perfect fly, and which finds its way
to the bottom, where it awaits the period of hatching. When
hatched, it becomes a very active predaceous larva (the word
larva signifying a mask,* as in this form it is the mask of the
perfect insect), with six legs, and extremely strong hook-
shaped mandibles, the tail having three whisks, which are the
rudiments of the tail of the imago. Along the sides of the
larva is a series of small filamentary appendages, serving as
fins, and by the aid of which the creature is supposed to
breathe under water ; these are somewhat akin to the fila-
ments or fringes of which the gills of fishes are composed, and
extract from the water in a similar manner the oxygen necessary
for the larva's existence. Another error of anglers is thus
disposed of, viz. that owing to spring floods, the larvae of
the May fly have been drowned when there is a bad fly year.
The process of drowning an insect which lives in the water

* While it has been ascertained that the larvse of some of the Ephemeridae
feed upon small forms of animal life, all authorities, from Swammerdum and
Pictet down to our own time, seem agreed that the larva of the British May fiy
{Ephemera danica) so far from being actively predaceous, subsists entirely
by swallowing mud, and derives nutriment from such particles of organic
matter, animal or vegetable, as it may contain. — Ed.

EPHEMERID.E AND PHRYGANIDiE 141

must be an uncommon one, to say the least of it. These
larvae make themselves holes in the bed or banks of the river,
or reside under stones, etc., so as to be safe from the attacks
of the many animals which prey on them. After a time,
the larva changes into a pupa (the word pupa signifying a
puppet, or doll, from the swathed and swaddled appearance
of the grub, with its wings, etc., bandaged about as it were) ;
the change in form is slight, but an important change has,
nevertheless, taken place. Hitherto the creature has possessed
no sign of wings ; changing into the pupa state, it throws
off its skin, and another one is developed, and on the shoulders
are seen twa excrescences, which are the rudiments of the
future wings. The pupa is also larger than the larva. The
time which the larva and pupa dwell under water varies in
the different species from one to three years, it is supposed.
At length, however, the insect approaches to the change
into the fly state, when it rises to the surface, or creeps to
the bank, and there, sphtting off another case, at once emerges
a fly. But even now it is not a perfect insect, and is incapable
of procreating its species ; its colours are dim and duU, its
motions heavy, it dwells much on the surface of the water,
and is an easy and welcome prey to the eager fish. In this
form it is said to be semi-completa, or only a half complete
insect, and is termed the pseudimago, or false image : in the
May fly it is the green drake, and in the smaller species is the
dun of the angler. After a short time, however, the fly throws
off another complete casing, and emerges the perfect insect,
larger, brighter in colour, with tail greatly elongated, stronger
and far more active — a perfect insect, the imago or image.
The green drake has now become the grey drake ; the last
offices of the insect's life are performed, it consummates its
existence, drops its eggs upon the water, to the number of many
hundreds, and dies.

The Phryganidae go through much the same process, with
the notable exception that they spring from the pupa state
into the perfect fly or imago at once, not having to pass
through the pseudimago phase of existence. When the eggs
of the Phryganidae are hatched, they take the form of a httle
soft grub, resembUng a maggot in appearance, with a hard
homy head, and with six feet upon the future thorax. This
is the larva form, and as the skin is very tender and soft, and
susceptible of injury, it proceeds, by means of a kind of gluten
it possesses, to form for itself a dweUing, and attaches itself

142 A BOOK ON ANGLING

to small fragments of stick, sand, stone, and shells, until it
has constructed a small, rough, hard tubular case, within
which it can shroud itself completely. One end of the case is
left entirely open, and from this the animal at times, when
it desires to shift its position, protrudes its head and feet,
and travels along, drawing the case after it ; the other end
is in many species partially closed, leaving only a round air-
hole, which fulfils a curious purpose in insect economy. It
is in the power of the larva to raise itself to the surface of the
wai/er by secreting within the tail end of the case a small
portion of air sufficient to buoy up the weight of itself and
its habitation, and by means of this it may often be seen
hanging, as it were, from the surface of the water, apparently
basking with its tail upwards ; but at the least alarm or the
sHghtest touch the air-bubble is expelled through the round
hole alluded to, and the creature drops at once to the bottom.
When it is about to change into the pupa form, the larva
closes up the tube, and thus in a sort of cocoon becomes a
pupa, the wing cases, etc., being developed, as in the Ephe-
meridae, but rather more perfectly. When about to change
into the imago, some of the species tear open the closed-up
entrance and crawl to the bank of the river, and there abandon
their case, and become the imago. Some of the smaller
species, however, by the power above mentioned, rise to
the surface, and take wing from their cases, using them as
a sort of raft. These cases are beautifully smooth and
polished on the inside, and well adapted to the creature's
habits. The rest of its existence is similar to that already
described for the Ephemeridae, save that it is somewhat more
prolonged.

As I am not writing a work upon entomology, it is not worth
while to occupy further space by describing the history of the
other various orders. It will suffice to say, that they all more
or less go through somewhat similar transformations — egg,
larva, pupa, imago being the progress of their existence, which
is carried out either in the earth, or in animal or vegetable
matters, in the droppings of cattle or the bark of trees. Nor
should I have ventured to dip even thus far into the science
of entomology, save to dispel errors of belief and judgment,
which often produce in practice results unfavourable to the
angler's interests. I trust, however, that these explanations
may be found so far interesting to the angler as to call for no
further apology for their introduction.

MARCH FLIES 143

March is quite early enough to begin fly-fishing ; * for though
they do begin in Devonshire in February, yet, as the ghost of
Giles Scroggins said to Molly, when she objected to go with
him because she was not dead, " That's no rule." One of the
first flies found abroad, particularly in the midland counties*
streams, is

The February Red. — For a representation of the natural
fly, see Plate VIII, Fig. 12, page 134. I have the dressing of
this fly from Mr. Ackers, the president of the Leintwardine
Club, as it is much in favour in that part of the country. It
belongs to the Perlidae, and is a member of the same family
as the great stone fly, the smaller willow fly, and the still
smaller needle brown. Their wings, of which they have two
sets, are hard, horny, and shining, and are folded flat on the
back in a very small space ; and, though comparatively small-
looking insects when at rest, when on the wing their appear-
ance is greatly increased by the double allowance of wings.
Body, two turns of dirty claret — red mohair at the tail, and
medium brown mohair, with a strand or two of hare's ear and
claret thrown in for the rest of the body.f Hackle, dark
grizzled blue dun (cock's) ; wing, a shp from the back of the
peahen ; hook. No. 9 or 10, or larger for rough weather.

The Blue Du7i (see Plate VIII, Fig. 4, p. 134). — This is perhaps
one of the best known and most generally used flies in the
kingdom. It is known equally as the early dark dun, the
hare's ear, and the cock-tail. In Lancashire, Cumberland,
and that district, it is the blue and olive bloa ; in Yorkshire,
the blue drake ; in Devonshire, the hare's pluck, the hare's
fleck, and the blue upright ; in fact, its names are as endless

I as those of the salmon fry, and it is a common favourite upon
tevery river from Caithness to Cornwall. It varies slightly in
colour according to the temperature and season. If the day
be cold and bleak, it has a darker tinge than in warmer and
more genial weather. Grizzled fibres pulled from the hare's

I^ear are favourite materials for the body, and these are warped
fin sometimes with yellow silk and sometimes with oHve silk^
so that the colour may be seen which gives the variety required.
This makes rather a rougher body than I like ; I prefer silk
IB^ more natural, as the body of the fly is unquestionably

* I should like to read May in this sentence instead of March. There are
very few waters indeed where large trout are in decent condition before May.
Smjill fish pick up condition more quickly, but ist May is quite early enough
for the Hampshire trout streams. — Ed.

t On the Tweed it is called May fly. — Ed.

I

144 A BOOK ON ANGLING

smooth and not hairy. So much, however, do the duns, blue
and yellow, vary in shade, that with perhaps a dozen different
shades in my book, I have at times been unable satisfactorily to
hit the exact hue ; and as colour is more to the fish than any-
thing else, I cannot recommend too strongly to the angler the
desirability of having a good and complete selection of duns of
various shades. Such a selection I find invaluable, and I
always endeavour to keep the stock up to working order,
as one or the other is nearly always in the water. To show
how confusion may arise by giving names to the various
shades of this fly, instead of simply treating them as varied
shades of the same fly, I may cite, for example, that " Ephe-
mera," in his March flies, reproduces this fly under four
different names — the early dark dun, the olive fly, the dark
hare's ear, and the hare's ear and yellow ; a little variety
in the shade is all the real difference that exists between them.

For th2 Early Blue Dun, or olive dun, hare's ear body wound
on with olive silk ; two turns of a medium blue dun hackle,
just dipped in onion dye* to give it a faint olive tinge. Some
use no hackle, but pick out the hare's ear at the breast for
legs. A darkish bit of the feather from the starhng's wing,
stained in the same manner, and dressed rather upright, for
a wing, with a couple of fibres of the hackle for the tail (not
too long), is said to give a reasonably good imitation of the
fly. As I have said, I think the body too rough, and I prefer to
dress it with an olive-coloured silk body, with a fine thread of
yellow silk for ribbing. This may be hit off of the right hue by
well waxing a bit of light yellow sewing silk with cobbler's
wax, and then untwisting it, so that a portion of the interior
or unwaxed part may come to light. By winding this on with
some care, a very good alternation of olive and pale yellow
rings may be made, and no better blue dun body can well be
conceived. By less waxing and more display of the unwaxed
silk, the shade may be easily lightened. For years I used no
other, and I killed with it all over the kingdom. In all these
flies avoid over hackling them ; it is a grave fault. Hooks,
Nos. 9 and lo, or smaller if for very fine water. After a short
existence, this fly changes into

The Red Spinner (see Plate VIII, Fig. 5, p. 134), or red-
tailed spinner of Jackson, and orange drake of Theakstone.
This is the imago of which the blue dun is the pseudimago,
and after its transformation it comes forth a brilliant and

♦ Made by steeping the peelings of onions in water. — F.F.

MARCH FLIES 145

much more beautiful insect. Its wings, body, and tail are
longer, more slender, and more lustrous, its colour being
entirely changed ; the body being of brown-red, the legs red,
and the wings of a bright steely hue. It is a very lively and
strong flying insect, and though it occasionally comes on the
water in the day-time, yet it more often comes out in the cool
of the evening, when it may be seen dancing up and down,
rising and falhng again in a very peculiar and striking manner,
in thousands. A slight shower of rain then will fill your creel
rapidly. As the blue and yellow duns vary in hue, so do the
spinners from a dark burnt sienna colour (almost red) to a
very Hght brown, the wings ranging also from a steel hue,
to an almost transparent white, like glass. The spinners
are only second in the estimation of the trout to the duns,
and a good stock and variety of them should always be kept
by the angler. The usually so-called red spinner has various
costumes assigned to it ; few of them are alike, probably
because there are many spinners varying but slightly. " Ephe-
mera " gives one dressing of the red spinner ; Ronalds,
another ; Wade, in Halcyon, three others ; Jackson, another ;
and Theakstone, another, and hardly any of them are alike.
Body, dark red-brown silk, ringed with fine gold thread ;
legs, a red hackle ; tail, three wisps of the same ; wing, a dark
shiny brown feather, the more brilUant and transparent the
better. This is nearer to " Ephemera's " directions than any
others. The body and legs are all pretty plain saiHng, but the
great difficulty in the fly rests in the wings. There are various
feathers used for the wing of this fly, none of which, to my
mind, at all accurately represent it, for the wings are so
brilliant, sparkling, and transparent, that a mere mass of
dull feathers would seem a hopeless imitation indeed ; the
darker feather from a starling's, or rather from a hen black-
bird's, wing is often used. The inside part of the brown tinged
feather in a jay's wing, brown owl, drake, and many others
are employed ; but the best imitation in feathers, to my mind,
is conveyed by the dark shining tips of a blue cock's hackle —
those which are grizzled or freckled with a golden tinge at
the point, hitting off the resemblance almost exactly, the open
fibrous nature of the hackle giving the glassy transparency so
much required, and which cannot be conveyed by any other
feather, the springiness and play of the cock's hackle being
required here also. Hooks, Nos. 9 and 10. I always have my
spinners dressed with the above wing and they answer admirably.

146 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The March Brown, or cob-fly of Wales ; brown drake,
Yorkshire (see Plate VIII, Fig. 3, p. 134). — This is another very
celebrated fly, and when on, it is a great and deserved favourite.
It comes on in March, and lasts, with its metamorphosis, the
great red spinner, until May. It can be used at times through-
out the season, but its advent is in March, when some waters
positively swarm with it. It varies slightly in size, and the
male and female differ a Uttle in shade of colour, the female
having a greenish tinge, and being of a somewhat lighter
colour. It is a largish fly, and should be dressed usually on a
No. 8 hook, though on fine waters it is dressed smaller. Body,
of a dark brown fur, hare's ear or face, ribbed with tawny
yellow silk (some use straw-colour) ; legs, hackle from a
partridge's back ; tail, two strands of the same ; wings,
the dark mottled and blurred feather from a cock pheasant's
wing (some use partridge tail, or a mottled woodcock feather,
or the speckled feather from a game hen's rump, but the
pheasant's wing is the best imitation). For the female, the
legs may be from the partridge breast, the tail of the same,
and a few shreds of any olive fur may be introduced amongst
the hare's ear, and the wing may be a shade lighter than that
used for the male. If the fly be on strongly, the angler will
find his account in having both male and female on his cast.
This is also an indispensable fly to the angler. As I have said,
this fly changes into the great red spinner. Some people have
a high opinion of the great red spinner. I have never done a
great deal of business with it, though it is, no doubt, a good
evening fly throughout the season, as, indeed, is any other
largish brown fly. It is a strong active fly, and not easily
driven on the water against its will, and the trout, therefore,
have less opportunity of cultivating its acquaintance than
they have of its original, the March brown. I do not consider
it an indispensable fly, but as some do fancy it, it should be
dressed of the same size as the March brown, or a size larger,
with a red squirrel's fur body, ribbed with gold twist ; amber-
red cock's hackle for legs ; two long strands of the same for
the tail ; wing, the bright glassy golden feather from the
wing of a thrush. It is a very elegant fly, if the fishes be
discriminators of beauty.

The Cow-dung or Lion Fly. — This is one of the most useful
of the land flies, particularly on windy days, such as the
angler may expect in March and April. Wherever there be
meads and cows, there the angler may be sure, particularly in

I

MARCH FLIES I47

the spring, to find the cow-dung fly, and a large number may
always be observed, thanks to the wind's agency, upon the
water, where, maugre their savoury origin, they afford much
delectation to the hungry trout. Hook, No. 8 or 9 ; body,
full and fat, of tawny orange crewel, with a few sprigs of
squirrel's fur worked into the body, as it is a hairy fly ; legs,
yellowish-red hackle, say, from Cochin China cock — some use
a darker red ; wings, dressed close and flat, of the landrail,
one of the lighter shade being chosen. The angler need not
cast this fly hke a zephyr. Naturally, when blown into the
water, it flops in like a beetle, but it immediately recovers
its presence of mind, and sits on the water, though some-
what stupidly in appearance, quite as if it was used to it ;
its hairiness prevents it from being drowned easily. It is not
indispensable, but sometimes it is a useful fly.

The Needle Brown. — This Uttle fly, which, as I have already
said, belongs to the Perlidae, is only partially treated of by
angling writers. It is the smallest of the willow flies. Wade
mentions it in Halcyon as the Spanish needle, but without
comment. Theakstone, in his capital little work on the
streams about Ripon, gives a full account of it. Jackson
mentions it as the Uttle brown ; but Ronalds, " Ephemera,"
and Blaine say nought about it, which, considering how
widely the fly is dispersed, is somewhat strange ; possibly
the difficulty of imitating it successfully has something to do
with it : as an old friend of mine used to say of it, who was a
great frequenter of Tweed, where it abounds, " A nasty little
nuisance ! you can neither do with it nor without it.'* It
is a great favourite, however, with the trout ; and as it makes
its appearance early, and is to be found more or less through-
out the season, it cannot be other than a useful fly. On fine
sunny days the angler may often notice it on the stones,
piles, posts, etc., by the river side — a little insect of some
half an inch or more in length, resembling in appearance a
thin fragment of stick or straw, of a steely brown colour
(hence the name it is sometimes known by — the Spanish
needle) ; sometimes it is perfectly still and quiet, but when
disturbed it shows great activity, running over the stones and
hiding itself in cracks. On fine warm days, and later in the
season, it is often very abundant. On catching and examining
the insect, the angler will observe that the wings, which are
closely folded over the body, overlap at the tail, are of a fine
shining brown, similar in colour and texture to the wings of

148 A BOOK ON ANGLING

the well-known alder fly. These, however, are only the upper
wings ; under them, and joining the body about a third of
its length down, is another pair of wings. The extension of
these two pair of wings when the insect is in the act of flight
gives this species, as I have said, rather a considerable appear-
ance ; but the moment it perches, its pretentious appearance
vanishes and it becomes a fine shred again. There are a good
many varieties of this fly, and they vary in shade and size as
the season advances. The body is best imitated with a fine
shred from the yellowish quill from a thrush's wing ; for
legs a grizzled blue dun cock's hackle ; the under wings
starHng's feather (not too much of it), and above them two
fine slips of hen blackbird's wing. I consider this a useful fly,
if well and carefully dressed, throughout the season, and
though it can hardly be considered an indispensable one, I
have seen the trout feeding upon it almost to the exclusion
of every other fly. Owing to the peculiar arrangement of
the wings, it is very difficult to dress, however, and possibly
if dressed buzz or hackle-wise with about one-half of the
hackle fibres on the under or breast side snipped off (as indeed
all buzz dressed flies, except the actual palmers, should be
served), it would be found to kill better. Hooks, Nos. ii and 12.
The Red and Black Hackles, or Palmers as they are termed,
are especial favourites and quite a piece de resistance with many
anglers, more particularly the red one. I rarely use them, save
for dace and chub, but many anglers as rarely fish without one
or the other of them. As respects the palmer theory, it appears
to me to invade the realms of fancy, and Mr. Ronalds' beautiful
drawings of the caterpillars of the Arctia caja, or Lasiocampa
rubi moths, etc., are ingenious, but, I fear, misapplied. The
only palmer at all answering to the received notion is the
caterpillar of the tiger-moth, Arctia caja, an insect of an inch
and a half in length and almost as thick as a pencil. I do not
deny that, for chub, palmers are dressed of that size nearly,
but how often in the course of a season does the angler come
across a tiger-moth or his caterpillar either ? Unless he goes
out to hunt for them he may not see a dozen. But suppose he
sees double or treble that number — in which case he would
write to the Field, probably to note the great and unusual
abundance of tiger-moths in his locality — how many of them,
at a fair calculation, will obhge the trout by seeking out the
river side (for the water does not produce them), and having
laboriously ascended one of the trees on the bank, and then

MARCH FLIES 149

with careful judgment and nice discrimination having selected
the boughs most fitted for the purpose as overhanging the
water, rehnquish their hold (a pretty firm one, by the way) for
the sole purpose of dropping into the water that they may be
gobbled up by the trout below. This is the only way they can
get into the water, for a heavy insect like this is not blown about
like a fly. I do not mean to say that a variety of caterpillars,
as well as beetles and other insects, do not drop from the trees
into the water. There are many of them which particularly
affect such places and the kind of trees which grow there, but
I do not think the Arctia caja caterpillar is one of them,
gardens being its favourite locahty, so much so that the moth
is called " the garden tiger." The percentage of these palmers,
therefore, which find their way into the rivers thus must
necessarily be very small — so small, indeed, as to offer very
few opportunities to the trout of ascertaining their flavour ; and
it is a very great question if more than one trout in a hundred
ever has in his lifetime an opportunity of becoming acquainted
with it. I can only say that in all my experience, and that is
not short or little, I never remember but once or twice to have
seen this caterpillar drifting on the water, and then — why then
I threw it there myself to experimentahse.

As regards the taste of a chub for them, all that can be said
is, that there is no small animal or large insect of any kind, or
imitation thereof, which you can throw to him which he will
not seize and devour with avidity ; and I equally believe that
there is nothing that can be dressed with fur and feathers in
the shape of insect or fly which some trout or other will not
be rash enough to dash at, at times. What is more common
than for a trout to lay hold of a salmon fly half as big as him-
self ? What does he mistake that for ? For the tiger-moth
itself possibly, upon which he is so in the habit of feeding.
Granting even the palmer theory, can the trout mistake the
small insect dressed with some three turns of a red hackle and
half a strand of herl for a huge hairy caterpillar of more than
a dozen times its size ? Is this reasonable, or is it not simple
nonsense ? Then, it is often called the coch y bondu, when
dressed with a hackle with a black centre. Now, if this really
be meant for an imitation of the coch y bondu, it is a very bad
one. The coch y bondu, which is identical with the bracken
clock, the Marlow buzz, the shorn fly, the fern webb, etc. etc.,
is not a fly or palmer but a winged beetle, like unto a very
small cockchafer, and which makes its appearance in some

150 A BOOK ON ANGLING

localities (for it is very local and abounding sometimes on one
or two miles of a river and absent from the next one or two) in
the balmy airs of June. Yet we use this fly even in February,
and it takes. We use it, moreover, as the cochy bondu on rivers
where the natural insect is never seen, and still it takes well at
times. It is more than probable that the fish mistake it either
for a water spider or the larva of some beetle or fly which it
may possibly resemble. There are many spiders, as I have
already pointed out, which lead an aquatic existence, and I am
very much of Mr. Stewart's opinion that the angler does not
sufficiently take these useful aids to his art under his considera-
tion. But although I can speak tolerably positively as to what
it is not mistaken for, I do not pretend to speak nearly so
positively as to what it is mistaken for. Spider, beetle, or
larva, it is a very useful insect to the angler, and though, as I
have said, I use it more for dace and chub than trout, many
anglers hold a different opinion of it, and dressed with a full
body of peacock herl on a No. 8, 9, or 10 hook, and three or four
turns of a fine blood-red cock's hackle, it will do some execu-
tion from March till October.* If the angler hkes the coch y
bondu theory he can dress it with a hackle with a black centre
to it, when it will kill equally well, sometimes better. A further
description of the coch y bondu will be found subsequently.

The black hackle is tied in the same way and of the same
size with a black cock's hackle and peacock's herl mixed with
black ostrich, but it is a less useful fly ; indeed, I seldom
employ it at all on our southern rivers.

There are other flies recommended for March by various
writers which may be adopted if the angler thinks fit. Mr.
Ronalds recommends the peacock fly, which is rather a small-
winged beetle than a fly. It is somewhat local in its character
but is pretty plentiful where it is found. Body, bronze pea-
cock's herl dressed with mulberry silk ; wing, the darkest part
of a starHng's wing ; legs, a hackle stained dark purple,
appearing black, but when held up to the light having a dark
tortoise-shell hue : hook. No. 11 or 12. The angler will usually
find, however, that for March he need not go far beyond one or
two shades of the blue dun, the March brown, the red spinner,
the cow-dung, and the coch y bondu. The rest he may have,
these he must.

April. — For this month the best flies are those which I have

* For chub the palmers are dressed upon No. 6 and 7 hooks and often
have as many as two hackles laid on to make them very bushy. — F. F.

APRIL FLIES 151

named for the last one, all of which may still be depended on.
But there are many other excellent flies which make their
appearance this month. Chief amongst them is

The Yellow Dun, yellow-legged bloa of Jackson, hare's ear
and yellow, etc. (see Plate VIII, Fig. 6, p. 134). — I am almost
inclined to think that the yellow dun is but a modification or
sort of second crop of the blue dun ; at any rate it bears a very
close relationship to it. It seems to prefer warmer weather than
the blue dun, and comes on more during the middle of the day
than at morning or evening. It should be dressed of the same
size as the blue dun. The body is of an oHve-yellow. Take a
shred of yellow silk, wax it lightly with a bit of the light wax
(see white wax receipt), and then unravel it, and wind it on the
hook for the body. The centre of the silk which has not been
touched by the wax will, as I have shown in the blue dun,
show a brighter coil here and there, which will give the brighter
yellow rings or joints of the body. Contrive, if possible, when
thus laying it on, to make the yellowest portions show on the
belly, and the darker or more olive hue caused by the wax more
visible upon the back, as the back of the fly is of a darker tinge
than the belly. If this be neatly and properly done, it gives a
capital imitation of the body. Some writers recommend
mohair and crewels, but this cannot be a good imitation,
because the body is smooth and shiny, and not in the least
rough, added to which, crewels and such materials should never
be used for these flies if they can be avoided, as they suck up a
good deal of water, and make the fly lumpy and heavy. The
legs should be made of a delicate honey dun hen's hackle. This
hackle has a dull, pale, smoky bluish centre and golden tips,
which show more plainly when held up to the light. It is rather
a scarce feather to obtain, and the owners of hens which
produce it in perfection are rather choice over them, and there-
fore if the angler cannot get it, he may use the hackle of a light
buff Cochin China hen, which practically does almost as well.
To vary the shade, if the body be at all dark, use a pale blue dun
hackle. The wing should be taken from the wing of a young
starling, being a lighter colour and having a finer texture than
that of an old one. The tail is short and limp, and is best
imitated by leaving about half an inch of a couple of the un-
twisted strands of the silk of which the body is composed, or the
angler may use two strands of the buff Cochin hackle. Hooks
No. 9 and 10 or smaller. This fly, which is also indispensable
to the angler, after a few days changes its coat and becomes

152 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The Brown Spinner. — This is another capital fly. It is very
similar to the red spinner, and may be dressed very like it,
save that the body should be made of not so red but of lighter
and browner silk, ribbed with fine gold wire. The hackle
should be of a hghter red, not such a blood-red as the red
spinner, and the wing should also be of a shade or two lighter
hue. It will be found more plentiful towards the afternoon and
evening. The angler will find his account in using the red
spinner when the blue dun has been on in the day, and the
brown one when the yellow dun has prevailed. There is
also

A Larger Yellow Dun. — I call it a yellow dun because it
very much resembles the fly I have mentioned above, and not
because it is the same fly, for I doubt if it belongs to the same
family. In some places it is called the large blue. It would
more appropriately be termed the large yellow. It should be
dressed of one or perhaps two sizes larger than the yellow dun,
and with a more prevalent olive tinge ; in other respects, the
dressing given above may be tolerably closely observed. Mr.
Ronalds, in speaking of this fly, does not appear to estimate it
very highly, but it is a capital fly nevertheless, and may be used
throughout the season with great advantage, as I have seen it
favourably noticed upon the water even in the month of
September.

The next best fly to my mind — and it is a great favourite of
mine when it comes on — is the

Little Iron-blue Dun (see Plate VIII, Fig. 7, p. 134). — The
iron-blue dun of Ronalds ; the iron-blue drake of Theakstone ;
little iron-blue, etc. etc., of Wade (who has more than a dozen
different dressings and names for this fly) ; little dark bloa of
Jackson, little dark dun, etc. etc. "Ephemera" does not mention
this fly at all, unless a whirHng dun, given in April, is meant for
it. Jackson does not give this fly till June, though all other
authors introduce it in April. Nevertheless, he does give its
transformation or imago in May. It comes on whenever there
is a glint of sunshine on the cold and windy days towards the
end of April, and the trout appear very averse to let any of
them escape. The angler may be wondering at the dullness of
the fish. All perhaps has been quiet ; he has hardly taken a
fish or seen a rise for half an hour. Suddenly he hears a
" plop," then another. He looks about and discovers an iron-
blue or two on the stream. They are the advanced guard.
Anon the main army comes on, and down the water they sail

APRIL FLIES 153

in scores, sitting lightly and saucily on the surface, the neatest,
cleanest, and most bloodthirsty-looking Uttle fellows. On they
come, whirling about on the eddying current, now head up-
stream and now down. Plop, plop, plop, the trout are rising
in all directions ; the fun grows fast and furious. Well betide
the angler then if he has a stock of them well and neatly tied
upon the finest weed-coloured gut, for in the next half-hour
many a fin shall flap and tail shall wag beneath his bending rod,
which never shall wag more. Useless then your blue and
yellow duns ; unless all your March browns and spinners — the
trout will not look at them. Essay a cast of them over yonder
fine fellow that has risen a score of times under the bank there,
while you have been changing flies in vain (not having our little
barb friend in your store). There, you cover him with the bob
fly, and up he comes. You need not strike, for no answering
twitch follows the sudden rise. He merely took an iron-blue
within an inch of your bob. And there, as I live, ere the
stretcher is well over him, he has taken another ! How they
are rising to be sure ! and how desperately provoking it is that
not one of them all will look at you. Suddenly, as if by magic,
all is still. Every trout has left off rising. Who would believe,
to look at the bosom of that placid stream now undimpled by a
rise or a ripple, that but a bare half-minute since it was all in a
break and turmoil with the splash and rising of ravenous
monsters ? To look at the stream now no one would think
there is a trout in it. You know better though ; and now
if you have the skill and the patience, sit down in some
sheltered nook, pull out your fly book, choose your finest hooks
and gut (hook. No. 11 or 12), and set to work. Have you an
old fly with a mole's fur body, or any silk for that colour, or
even a shade lighter, as the fly varies from light lead colour to
mole's fur ? Good ! on with it ; not too fast nor too thick,
however. The shank of your hook will be almost sufficient for
the tail end of the body, and will be almost of the right colour.
Now, two turns of a dark slate-blue dun hackle, and now,
almost upright, a wing composed of very fine dark smoky blue,
or lead-coloured feather. Wade recommends the small feather
in the cormorant's wing or the tomtit's tail ; Ronalds,
cormorant, tomtit wing, or breast of water-hen ; Theakstone,
breast of water-hen ; and Jackson, wing of water-hen ; so the
tyer can take his choice. The fact is, the wing varies in dark-
ness or lightness, as does both the body and hackle. Tail, did
70U say ? True, we had forgotten the tail, but it is not of

you sa

154 A BOOK ON ANGLING

much consequence, and I as often use it without as with, as
the tail in the Hving insect is stuck upwards from the water, and,
I am incHned to think, is unnoticed by the trout. However, as
it is well to have your fly perfect if you wish it, tie in at the end
of the whipping a couple of strands of a Hghter hackle than the
one you use. The natural insect has rather a prominent head,
and eyes of a bright brown colour, and if you like to take half
a turn of reddish squirrel fur at the extreme shoulder it will
improve the fly. The iron-blue comes out on bleak days early
in the season, when there is a glint of sunshine ; but there is
another little dark dun which much resembles the iron-blue,
but is not so dark, being a shade or two lighter throughout, and
the body should be Hghtly ribbed with fine straw-coloured silk.
This fly, often taken for the iron-blue, comes on severalUimes later
in the season. It is quite possible that it may be a reproduction
of the iron-blue, as the iron-blues themselves vary in depth of
colour slightly, being lighter on one river than another. It is a
valuable lure, and the angler should have two or three shades of
it, for I have often been puzzled, though having different
shades, in hitting the exact hue, and colour is, as I have before
said, a great point with the trout.

And now look sharp, for half an hour has passed while you
have been rummaging out your materials and tying your fly ;
and see, a fresh detachment of the iron-blues are sailing down
the water, and the surface of the water, quiet enough but a
few minutes since, is again alive with fish ; and, as I hve, there
is your fat friend, who so contemptuously left your cast
unnoticed a while agone, as busy as ever. Now for it — deftly,
deftly ! Well cast and lightly. Ha ! again he rises, and this
time you are revenged for his previous contempt, for you have
him fast under *' a severe course of steel " that shall speedily
tame his rampant energy. So : safe at last ! A beauty, and
two honest pounds in weight, as I am a living angler and a
sinner. Bravo ! he will grace your basket right worthily ; but
lose no time in looking at him, you will have time for that
anon, when the fish have ceased rising again. Always make
hay as fast as you can while the sun shines and the iron-blues
are coming, swirling thick and fast, and luck be with you,
brother angler. Three cheers for your iron-blue ! may it be
the True Blue ! This is also an indispensable servant of the
angler's.

After a few days the iron-blue casts his coat, and you may
find yours, perhaps, on some warm evening, covered with the

APRIL FLIES 155

small flecks of their whitish exuviae,* and swarms of a beautiful
httle insect are careering round you. This is the dehcate httle
Jenny Spinner or Spinning Jenny. — Curiously enough,
while Jackson does not give the iron-blue, he gives its imago,
under the name of the little white spinner, and he places it
early in May. By Theakstone it is called the pearl-drake.
" Ephemera" does not mention it. Wade calls it the evening
bloa. It is not at all an easy insect to imitate, so transparent
are its colours and so slender its proportions. It is almost as
great a favourite with the trout, however, as in its earlier form.
Imprimis, the tail is to be made of two strands of a light blue
dun hackle. The body is pecuUar : at the head and tail it is of a
bright brown colour ; the middle part, however, is of a hmpid
watery white. This is generally very badly imitated by a
few turns of dead white floss silk, which is about as Hke it as a
drumhead is to a window-pane. A clear horsehair or a shred of
fine gut wound round, may bear some resemblance to it. But
the head and tail parts must be of bright orange-brown silk :
about two turns of finest sewing silk, just enough to show
clearly. The wings — ah ! the wings ! What shall we do to
imitate their clear, delicate, watery transparency ? The tips of
two very pale fight blue hackles might perhaps come near it.
The usual way, however, is — as both Theakstone and Mr.
Ronalds recommend — to dress the fly hackle fashion, or buzz,
as it is termed, with the lightest, silveriest dun hackle to be got.
If this fly could be well imitated (which it cannot), it would be a
valuable one, but hitherto our imitations are but sorry affairs,
and the fish appear to know it too, for although rising greedily
at the natural fly, they do not greatly favour the imitation,

* This more particularly occurs with the later broods of the iron-blue,
which come on in June and early in July. Mr. Ronalds says upon this point :
" A little dark dun with a brown head, not exactly similar to, but very
much like the Iron Blue, is found in August, and then a spinner like the
Jenny Spinner has an orange-coloured head, and the extremity of its body a
lighter colour.

" There is also upon some waters a rather smaller ephemeral fly, similar
in colour to the Jenny Spinner, whose metamorphosis does not change much,
in tint, from the original. It ^s to be found in some seasons upon the Blythe,
in Staffordshire ; but upon lake Tal-y-llyn, in North Wales, this insect is
so numerous, on warm evenings, as to form clouds, settling upon the dress
of a person passing by the lake (or upon any other object), where, in five or
ten minutes, it changes its coat, leaving the old one upon the dress, etc.,
which, if of a dark colour, becomes spangled with seemingly white spots.
The tail increases to quite four times its original length when this change
takes place."

I have seen this strikingly exemplified on the upper waters of the Test,
where it is a great favourite with the fish. I have seen the river covered
ith rises when it is on, and have tried every fly I could think of in vain.

I

156 A BOOK ON ANGLING

even at the best, as they will do that of flies more easily
imitated.

The Black Gnat. — This would be another very useful fly,
but is also difficult to imitate from its exceeding diminutive-
ness. This fly has been called " the fisherman's curse,"
because when the fish are rising at it well, they are said to
seldom take the imitation or any other fly. Still I have had a
good deal of sport with it, when hut a few, or indeed none of
them, have been on the water ; I confess, however, when they are
on very thickly, and the trout have been taking them freely or
almost exclusively, that I have found my imitation though not
altogether useless, yet greatly at a discount. Nevertheless, as
I have said, it is occasionally a useful fly, when it dwells rather
in the trout's memory than in his eye, and I know good anglers
who are even very partial to the use of it, and who as often
put it into their cast as any other fly. Choose your smallest
hooks, take a black ostrich herl with the shortest fibre you can
find — ^if not short enough, clip the body when tied up with a
fine pair of scissors ; two turns of a very small black hackle for
legs ; some eschew legs altogether — it certainly makes the fly
less bulky. Wings, two very fine clear slips of a starling's
feather, and dressed as low and fiat as you can conveniently
fix them. The fly is hardly abundant till the warmer suns of
May bring it forth, but then it sometimes is very thickly on.

On a hook three sizes larger put the same dressing, the body
being, of course, comparatively stouter, with wings and legs to
match, or you may use a dark lead-blue dun hackle, and you
have

The Hawthorn Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. i8, p. 134). — A land
fly, but at times by no means a useless ally of the angler's
where hedges abound. Both the above flies are found more
plentifully towards the end of the month.

The Gravel Bed or Spider Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 17, p. 134).
— This is rather a local fly, and is not found upon every river,
but when it is found it is a great favourite with the fish ; but
it is capricious even in these places on dark, cold days, scarcely
showing at all. But let an hour of warm sunshine break forth,
and they come creeping from their holes to the great delight
of the hungry trout. They abound on the Usk in South Wales,
and on many of the Derbyshire streams they are found, but
less plentifully. On sedgy rivers, flowing over a loamy or
muddy bed they are not found. Hook No. 10 ; body fine, of
dark slate or lead-coloured floss silk ; legs very long, almost as

APRIL FLIES 157

long as the hook, a black cock's hackle, but not too much of it —
two turns are fully sufficient ; wings, two fine slips from the
woodcock's wing, dressed cold and fiat.

All of the last three flies belong to the order of Diptera, the
last two of the family of Tipulidae or crane flies, of which the
Daddy or Harry Longlegs is a prominent member. This
family have but two wings, which are either expanded, as in the
longlegs, or incumbent, that is, resting partly on the body, as
in the two specimens depicted, and they are devoid of the two
small supplementary wings called poisers, which may be seen
in all the Ephemeridae.

The Sand Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 14, p. 134). — This is a fly
which has found many patrons. It is one of the numerous
class of Phryganidae, the natural history and characteristics of
which I have already sufficiently described. The sand fly is a
pretty taking looking fly ; it is a general favourite, being a
native of most streams. Some anglers never try it, and, though
I often use it, I never find it very deadly. There are flies of the
same class which I like better ; and so many other flies are on
at this time of the year, that one need not use it, unless a
special fancy for it be indulged in. Dress it on a No. 10 hook
of reddish fur from a hare's poll, mix well with buff fur, to give
it the sandy tinge ; legs, hackle from buff Cochin hen ; wings,
two scraps of starling, with two larger slips of landrail's reddish
wing feather over the starling.

The Grannom or Greentail. — This is another member of the
Phryganidse. It has, like the last, a great name with some
anglers, and on some streams it is very abundant., though
its duration is rather limited. I must confess that I have not
that faith in it which it may probably deserve. Size, same
as the last fly, or one size smaller ; body, hare's ear and
water-rat fur mixed, the former prevailing ; at the tail a
turn of two of green floss silk to finish off and give the
green tail, which is, in reality, a mass of eggs about to be
deposited by the insect, and which have that tinge ; legs,
a grizzled blue dun hackle wing, from the rump of a brown
speckled game hen. This fly lasts but for some ten days
or a fortnight in the earUer part of April, though others of
a similar species, with the green pecuharity at the tail, appear
later in the season ; I have seen them on thickly as late as
July. Hook, No. 11.

The Sedge Fly. — This is a capital fly for all the southern and
mid-county rivers throughout the summer, and kills better

158 A BOOK ON ANGLING

later on than now ; on the Itchen, Test, Darent, and Kennet,
it will kill well. It much resembles the sand fly, but is larger.
The body is of light buff crewel ; the hackle which runs from
tail to head is a pale red — and a fine gold wire is usually run up
over the hackle the reverse way ; the wings are full, and are a
starling under wing and landrail upper wing. Hooks, Nos. 8
and 9. It is occasionally dressed both smaller and larger
however.

The Quill Gnat — spent gnat in Hampshire — makes its
appearance late in April and runs on into May, and a very
pretty, useful little insect it is. It may be seen sailing up and
down in small flocks of a dozen or two, as the days grow milder
and the spring grows general, steadied in its flight by its long
tail, which is very long for the size of the insect. The hook
should be No. 10 or 11 ; the body composed of a strip of the
quill from a starling's feather neatly rolled on ; legs, dark
blue dun cock's hackle ; wing, bright starling's wing. Pull
the tail off and the fly will pass muster fairly for many other
small flies, which it somewhat resembles, throughout the
season.

The flies which I consider indispensable for April, in con-
junction with those of March, are the yellow dun, brown
spinner, iron-blue (two shades) ; the black and quill gnats ;
the sand fly or the sedge, the latter preferred ; and, where
they are abundant, the gravel bed and grannom cannot be
omitted.

May. — The Stone Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 11, p. 134) is now
out in considerable numbers where it is found. A few may
be found towards the end of April, but early in May is the most
favourite period for its full appearance. It is used naturally by
daping or dibbing principally, but on windy days the artificial
fly will often be found useful. This fly runs upon the water as
easily and nimbly as on the land, and with its double wings up
may often be seen half fluttering, half running, making its way
at a rapid pace across the stream, seldom remaining quiescent
as do so many other flies when sitting on the water's surface ;
essaying a flight, for which its heavy body is not very favour-
able, down it plumps on the water, and away it scuttles at a
great pace to the nearest bank. The angler may therefore
freely work his imitation, the liveHness he thus imparts to it
being perfectly natural and just.

On some rivers it is called the May fly, but the green drake
has a prior claim to the title, though possibly not a better one,

FLIES FOR MAY i59

as the green drake seldom appears in large numbers until June
has commenced.* The female stone fly is much larger than the
male, and is the one principally used by anglers. The hook
should be No. 7, or No. 6 may even be used. Body, large and
full of mixed hare's ear and water-rat with a few strands of
dirty yellow mohair worked in, the tail part being exclusively
of a somewhat brighter yellow ribbed distinctly with yellow
silk ; legs, a grizzled dark blue dun cock's hackle ; tail, two
strands of a brown mallard's feather ; wing, hen pheasant's
wing. The horns or feelers on the stone fly are very marked,
and if it be thought desirable to have them, may be dressed
upright of two rabbit's whiskers. The larva of this fly is used
for fishing even more than the fly ; it is called the crab or
creeper. (See Creeper-fishing.)

The Oak Fly, called also the cannon fly, the down-hill or
down-hooker, etc., from its habits of always sitting with its
head downwards towards the ground. It is amusing to see
with what certainty this fly will assume this particular posture ;
no matter in what way it perches on post or tree, it immediately
wheels round until it has taken up its favourite position, in
which it remains until disturbed.

This fly has a very high character from some anglers. * ' Ephe-
mera " especially appears to have been very fond of it, and in
windy weather it may prove an attractive lure ; on fine still
days, however, as it is not strictly a water fly, it is not found so
plentifully upon the water. Being a largish fly it may be used
advantageously for daping perhaps ; I have often tried the
imitation, but never did much with it, even when the
natural fly was abundant on the grass and bushes by the
river side. However, as it certainly has a high reputation, I
suppose somehow and in some places it must have earned it,
so I give it for its legendary worth, which shows the value of
character, for from my own experience I should certainly
omit it. Hook, No. 9 or 10 ; body, orange floss silk. The
legs should be composed of a furnace hackle, i.e. a dark red
hackle with a streak of black up the centre ; this should be
tied in at the tail and wound up to the shoulders, the hackle
should then be snipped off short all up the body, leaving visible
but spiral rings of the short black stubs. Enough of the hackle

* It received the name of May fly when under the old style (Julian) calendar,
the ist of June represented what is now, under the new style (Gregorian)
calendar, the i8th of May. Allowance has to be made for this change in
connection with all ancient weather saws, such as St. Swithin's day, " a
green yule." etc. — Ed.

i6o A BOOK ON ANGLING

should be left on at the shoulders to form the legs. Wings,
from the woodcock or hen pheasant's wing.

The Little Blue, Sky Blue, etc. (see Plate VIII, Fig. g, p. 134) . —
This is a small dun which comes on this month ; the fish are
very fond of it, and it would be a very valuable fly to the
angler if it were more possible to imitate it properly, which
is a most difficult matter from its diminutiveness and extreme
delicacy and transparency. The best way to dress it is on a
No. 12 or 13 hook : for the body, pale buff mohair wound on
very closely and neatly, a strand or two being left out for the
legs ; tail, two strands of a buff hackle ; wings of the finest
and brightest pale blue feather that can be got — the tern or
sea-swallow is chiefly used, but I think fine blue hackle points
would be preferable. Perhaps the best way is to dress it
hackle fashion or buzz, and to take off nearly all the breast
portion of the feather, leaving the upper part to do duty for
wings, and the mohair for legs. A pale blue dotterel hackle
will be found as good a feather for the purpose as can be
used. I have been rather particular with this fly as it appears —
or others very similar to it do — at intervals until the end of
the season. When it comes on the trout will often take it for
some time to the exclusion of many other flies which may be
coming down the water simultaneously.

The Alder or OH Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 15).— This is
one of the best flies that comes upon the water ; it varies
considerably in size, and while some specimens may be found
small enough to be dressed on a No. 9 hook, others may be
met with large enough for a No. 6 ; 7 or 8 will be therefore
the best medium sizes. Body, large and full, of a coppery
peacock herl ; legs, a dark grizzled blue dun or rusty black
cock's hackle ; wings, from the brown speckled feather from
the rump of a brown game hen. The natural insect may be
used in daping. From the middle of May till the end of June it
will be found, particularly towards evening, a very useful fly,
and when it first makes its appearance few flies are in more
request, and dace and chub as well as trout take it very freely.
It was with this fly I achieved the day's sport mentioned at
p. 119, on the Kennet, using one of Ogden's patterns, which
are the best I know of.

The Pale Evening Dun (see Plate VIII, Fig. 8, p. 134) is a
rather light yellow dun, with a prevaihng pale olive tinge
given by a dip in onion dye. The spinner of this fly is of a
very pale watery brown, legs light buff, and the wing white

a.

I

THE MAY FLY i6i

and transparent, and neat and rounded in shape. It comes
on thickly on some streams at dusk. On the Teme, for example,
I have seen it heavily on. As it comes on at dusk it is difficult
to see this fly on the surface, so deUcate and imperceptible is it,
and yet, to the angler's annoyance, the trout will be rising
heavily without his being able to discover at what. There
are many night flies which rarely show at all by day, both
amongst the Ephermeidae and the Phryganidae, and this is one of
them. It is dressed thus : body, a dirty yellowish buff,
ribbed with light lemon silk hackle, light blue dun-grey in
tail. Tail, two whisks of the same ; wings, light starling
dipped in onion dye. Hook, No. lo or ii.

The Little Yellow May Fly. — This miniature May fly which
usually precedes the real May fly about a week or ten days,
changes in a few days into a spinner of a pale-golden hue.
It should be dressed on a No. 8 or 9 hook ; the body of buff-
coloured crewel, ribbed with bright yellow silk ; tail, two
strands of buff hackle ; wings, similar to those of the green
drake, or mallard's grey speckled feather stained pale oUve-
yellow ; legs, a honey dun hackle. I have had good sport
with this fly. It sometimes also makes a very useful fly for
evening fishing for trout.

The needful flies for May are the alder and the little blue.
The stone and the pale evening dun and the little yellow May
fly are not general, but are useful where they prevail. The
list is short because most of the flies for last month are the best
for this.

June. — The May Fly or Green Drake, called in Wales the
Cadow (see Plate VIII. Fig. i, p. 134). — This famous fly usually
makes its first appearance in the last week in May, but is most
abundant during the first fortnight of June. The swarms of
May fly which are found in some rivers in favourable seasons
are perfectly marvellous. Fish, birds, and other animals prey
n them incessantly from their birth, and yet their numbers
seem inexhaustible, and after a warm sunny day the quiet
comers and still eddies may be seen smothered with them to
such an excess that the angler might, if he chose, sweep them up
by teaboards full at a time. It is most abundant just before
its disappearance, and on the last two days what is called the
" great rise " takes place, when they come out more thickly
than ever, and after this but a few stragglers are seen ; and
the trout, for some days gorged and glutted with the unwonted
excess, are torpid and disinclined to move. In this nature

i62 A BOOK ON ANGLING

seems to assist them, as very feV flies come on the water im-
mediately after the May fly.

The green drake is, as I have said, an imperfect insect, the
female becoming the grey drake and the male fly the black,
or, as it is sometimes called, the death drake, this term being
used from a foolish behef that it kills the female or grey drake.
Many anglers hold it to be next to useless to attempt to use
the artificial fly when the May fly is well on ; but this belief is
very erroneous, and is more often used to excuse themselves
for fishing with a blow-line or the live May fly than because
it is really the fact. The green drake is no doubt a very
difficult fly to imitate well, but I have seen many good baskets
of trout made with the imitation, even in the finest and
warmest weather. The best times to use the imitation are of
course before the trout are thoroughly acquainted with it,
and daily before the regular rise is fully established and the
fish are settled down into feeding, and after the rise slackens
towards evening, when the imitation of the grey drake may
be used with some success ; and if the angler is industrious
and up to his work, he may manage at these times to pick up
several brace of good fish. In the middle of the day if it does
not answer, the angler can try some other fly, when it will
often happen that from caprice or for a change, the trout will
often take an imitation of some other fly though they may
refuse your imitation green drake. At such times I have often
killed several brace of fine fish with the alder, sedge fly, or
some of the duns or spinners which may chance to be on the
water, and that, too, even when the May fly is on at the
thickest of the rise.* The angler should bear in mind that while
fish are rising there is always hope for him, and it by no
means follows that because one fish refuses another will, or
because half a dozen or even a score of fish refuse that all will,
or because they are feeding on the May fly like an alderman
on turtle, that they will refuse a sedge or alder any more than
the said alderman will pepper or punch. Sitting on the bank
and watching the fish rise is not the way to catch them, and
perseverance even in the teeth of great apparent difficulties
often rewards the angler with fish which nothing else would
have given him.

When the May fly is only moderately on, the angler may

♦ The heaviest trout I ever killed on dry fly was in the Test at Broadlands.
It weighed exactly 6 lb. The May fly was on thick, but I was fishing with a
sedge. — Ed.

I

THE MAY FLY 163

often get capital sport with the artificial May fly. Of course
if the day be blustrous and rough his chance is all the better,
but even on a calm day if he can manage to keep his fly floating
on the top he may take a good many fish. For this purpose
it is of course imperatively necessary to fish with a dry fly,
and between every cast the angler will have to make several
false casts, or casts in which the fly does not touch the water,
to shake the wet from the fly and to get it as dry as possible.*
To make the fly float has been the great desideratum with
fly dressers. The floating May flies of Mr. Ogden, one of the
best dressers of trout flies in England, have been widely
circulated, and they are, as are all his trout flies, beautiful
specimens of skill and neatness. They certainly do attract a
great number of fish to rise, and when the fish run large so
that in opening their mouths they take the whole fly in a
gulp they are most valuable flies, but where the trout are
small, as half or three-quarter pounders, there is this objection
to them — they are so bushy that when a small trout attempts
to seize them he is very apt to run his nose against some of the
feathers which stand out from the fly and to drive the hook
before him instead of seizing it in his mouth, and thus the fish
is often missed and scared entirely, when he really rises fairly
to the fly. Their floating capabilities are undeniably excellent ;
when they get thoroughly wet, however, they take some time
to dry. The angler, in using Mr. Ogden's green drakes, should
therefore have two or three ready at the same time, so that
one may dry while the other is fishing ; with respect to the
dressing of the fly, it must be borne in mind that the colours
and size of many flies vary much in different waters, so much
so, that they might almost be supposed to belong to different
species, t

The bodies of May flies have been dressed of all kinds of
materials — India-rubber, crewel, silk, quill, goldbeater's skin,
plain gut, stained gut, cork, etc. I shall give two or three bodies
which I think are the best. The simplest is of buff or ginger-
coloured crewel or silk ribbed with brown silk. At the tail

i

♦ This irksome process is quite unnecessary if the fly has been dipped
in parafin the day before and the oil allowed to dry, which renders it quite
waterproof. — Ed.

t In 1897, as an experiment on the colour sense of fish, I had some May-
flies dyed bright scarlet and sky-blue. On 2nd June I landed thirty-one
trout and two chub in the Gade at Cassiobury with these unorthodox flies.
Only one of these trout weighed less than i lb. On 5th June, using similar
flies, I landed eleven trout in the Beane at Woodhall Park, Hertford. I kept
four brace of these fish weighing i6f lb. — Ed.

i64 A BOOK ON ANGLING

end two or three turns of brown silk (some use peacock herl)
should be taken as there is a brown patch at the tail. Over
a silk body ribbed thus Mr. Blackler, according to " Ephemera/'
recommends a strip of goldbeater's skin to be tightly wound.
This permits the body colours to be seen distinctly through,
gives the glassy shine to the body, and also prevents the body
from becoming heavily saturated with water, of course thereby
increasing its buoyancy. I can quite imagine that this is a
good plan, and I therefore give it ; of course the ribbing silk
should go over the skin. Of all the composition bodies I think
those of cork are the best, but they are not usually dressed to
my fancy. The cork itself is not quite the right colour of the
fly, and it is usual to tie the strip of cork round the shank of
the hook by ribbing it with brown sewing silk. I recommend a
better plan. Take a strand of fine floss silk of buff or ginger
colour, and lay it on tightly and thinly in open rings, allowing
the hght brown of the cork to show between as the ribbing.
I think this makes as good a body as I know of. The tail
should be three strands of brown mallard feather or the same
of a brown-red cock's hackle ; the legs may be of the light
mallard feather stained ginger, some say of the same colour
as the wings, but both body and legs are always more ginger
or buff-coloured and less of olive-green than the wings ; a
smallish mallard feather should be selected, one not too long
in the fibre, and it should be dressed on the hook hacklewise ;
the hackle of a grey-speckled hen may be thus stained and
used if it be preferred. A plain ginger hackle is often used,
or the hackle of a Cochin hen ; I have even seen a light brown-
red hackle used, and all may be right and all may be wrong
at times, according to the locality.

And now for the wings — these are the fly maker's hete noir.
The feather most generally used is the grey-barred breast
feather of the mallard, dyed more or less of a pale olive-green ;
another feather is the similar feather of the summer duck or
wood duck, undyed or of the natural hue, and this suits also
on some waters, and this is my fancy. Some think the barred
feather of the silver pheasant's tail preferable, and in some
of the Irish lakes I have been assured by old practitioners that
nothing can equal it ; but I think it rather too strongly
marked for our English rivers, though it has the advantage
of having a fine glossy shine upon it. Taking, however, the
feather of the mallard or wood-duck, whichever we may choose
—or whichever we may be able to get, rather — have it dyed

ARTIFICIAL MAY FLIES 165

of the shade you prefer : it should be, as I have said, of a pale
olive-green. The great object is to keep your fly floating ;
the feathers should therefore be tied, not in a mass, but two
single feathers of the requisite size being selected they should
be tied on back to back with the curve natural to the feathers
expanding outwards ; the wings will thus, if dry, support the
fly on the surface. The angler will always do well to have
one or two different patterns in his box (for they should not
be squeezed up flat in a book or their floating properties will
soon be destroyed). He should, moreover, have them of one
or two different sizes, the hooks varying from Nos. 3 or 4 to 6,
an-d being always of the lightest and finest wire, and dressed
on good fine round olive-green gut.*

Among the ordinary flies that are sold there are not many
floating patterns better for work than that sold by Hammond,
of Winchester. The body is a hght lemon-coloured fur, or a
short fibred ostrich herl, stained of the proper colour, and
laid on thinly. This is ribbed with fine gold wire or lightish
red hackle, dressed from shoulder to tail. The tail, three
whisks of a dark blue (almost black) hackle. Wings, two
small mallard feathers stained of a darkish oHve, or two
brownish wood-duck feathers, and set on back to back over
the shoulder a couple of turns of a grey partridge hackle ;
but as this is rather too white, I generally dip it in strong tea
for a few minutes, which takes off the whiteness. This is a
capital fly, and I have killed many good baskets of fish with it.
There is no better pattern for the Hampshire streams.

On many lakes, particularly in Ireland, the May fly season
is the only one when really good sport is to be had with the fly.
The green drake I chiefly use is one which is of my own fancy.
I employ the cork body, with floss silk rings previously men-
tioned. Instead of silk or herl I touch the tail part with shel-
lac varnish, as being a much bjiter imitation of the brown
patch than either of the others. Tail, two whisks of brown
mallard ; legs, ginger or buff Cochin hackle ; and wings,
four hackle points, two long and two short, for the superior
and inferior wings or poisers, dressed well outwards, so as to
support the fly on the water. These hackles should be the
grizzled and blue dun hackle found on the Andalusian cock ;
those which have a brilhant transparent point, on being held
up to the light, being preferred for the superior wings. They
should be stained a pale yellow, and this on the blue ground

Flies for dry fisl^ing are now invariably dressed on eyed hooks. — Ed.

I

i66 A BOOK ON ANGLING

gives the exact tinge of the May fly wing. The darker the
original feather, the more green it will be, and the Hghter the
more yellow, and thus it can be varied to suit the river, as
the flies vary much in colour. I do not think this particular
hue is to be got so well in any other way. The hackle point
being held up to the light gives a transparency which no close
or solid feather will. To my mind, it is a capital imitation,
and I am very sure, after four years' experience of it, that the
fish think so too, for I have killed many a good basket of fish
with it when I could not get them to take any other patterns
which I had in my book. I had several very striking evidences
of its superiority even during the past season, killing a large
quantity of fine fish with it. In one instance, on the Kennett,
I had killed many fish with one. It was rather worn, and after
lunch I was about to change it, when the proprietor of the
water, a very good fisherman, who knew his own water exceed-
ingly well, advised me to try in preference another fly of a
different pattern, as better suited to his fish. I took his advice,
and fished for half an hour without a rise, coming over many
rising fish in vain. At length I bethought me of giving my old
favourite another turn, and I changed back again, and begun
to kill fish with it immediately, continuing to do so for the
rest of the day. On another river I killed in one afternoon
seven and a half brace of splendid fish with it, while my com-
panion, who was fishing with another pattern, took but a brace
of small fish. I lent him one of mine, and he lost it in a good
fish. Unfortunately, I was so short in my stock that I could
not supply him further. These are facts which others can
testify to, and therefore I mention them. It does not float
so well as the mallard wing, and it is a very difiicult fly to get
properly dressed. It consumes so many hackles, of a rather
scarce colour, that tackle makers often get it a bad name by
putting in any feathers that come to hand. It is also a very
troublesome fly to make, and the dressers don't care about
dressing it, and I believe often bless me heartily for inventing it.
The Grey Drake (Plate VIII, Fig. 2, p. 134) is, as I have said,
the transformation of the female green drake, and towards
evening its capabilities are of more value than during the day.
It is dressed, as regards the body and legs, much after the
fashion of the green drake, but several shades lighter. The
wing feathers, however, should be of their natural colour, and
undyed. The legs are often dressed with the same feather.
It is not, however, nearly §q ya,liiable a fly as the green drake.

JUNE FLIES 167

though, as I have said, useful for evening fishing. I never
did a great deal of good with it, preferring to use the green
drake even in the evening.

The Coch y hondu, Shorn Fly, Hazel Fly, Marlow Buzz,
Fernwebb, Bracken clock, etc. (see Plate VIII, Fig. 20, p. 134),
by all of which names this little beetle is known as a great
favourite with the trout. It comes in with the warm June
weather, though used as early as March, as regards its supposed
imitation. It is advantageously used in daping. It resembles
a very diminutive cockchafer, and may be seen in great
numbers, winging its heavy but rapid flight through the sun-
shine, or settled on the leaves and grass near the river side.
The ordinary way to dress it is to make a fat body of dark
copper-coloured peacock's herl, mixed equally with black
ostrich. It is customary to dress it buzz, as to the wings and
legs, with a dark red hackle, with a black streak up the centre.
Dressed in this way, it will kill on most rivers, more or less,
throughout the season, though it is needless to say that it is
not out save for a somewhat Hmited period in the month of
June. As I have stated elsewhere, it may kill thus in conse-
quence of its bearing a resemblance to other insects.

The Fern Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 21, p. 134). — This is
another winged beetle. There are two kinds, the one having
reddish-orange wing cases, and the other blue. They are
well known to children, from this circumstance, as " soldiers
and sailors." They may be found creeping up the stems of
the grass and other plants overhanging the water. A shake ^Jk/sJ
dislodges them, and they fall helplessly into the water, where
they are devoured by the fish. Although dull in its move-
ments, and slow in taking to flight, yet when it has expanded
its wing cases, and unfolded its wings (a very circumspect and
deliberate operation with it), it flies strongly, and makes a much
braver and larger appearance than it does when it plumps up
against your coat or hat or a spray of grass, and folding up its
wings (always with a little bit of the under wing visible at the
tail end of the wing cases, under which it at length is gathered,
and gradually disappears) resumes its scarabean appearance .
I have had fair sport with this fly. The red one is the one
chiefly imitated by anglers. Hook, No. 9 or 10 ; body, orange-
yellow or orange crewel ; legs, red hackle ; wings, hen phea-
sant's wing feather. Some prefer dark starling, and some
dress the hackle over the wing, and this serves both for legs and
the wing cases and is perhaps the best imitation.

i68 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The Yellow Sally should be mentioned here, as it has a place
in all angUng works, and a high character with some anglers.
I have no faith in it, however, and never took fish with it but
once, and although I have often seen swarms of it rising, I
have very seldom seen the trout much enamoured of it. A
straggler will be taken now and then ; and once, as I have
said, I found the trout taking it well, and others tell me that
they have done so likewise. I give the dressing, and the angler
can please himself. Body, pale yellow crewel, ribbed with light
tawny brown silk ; legs, pale lemon-coloured hackle ; wings,
some light transparent feather, stained of the palest watery
yellow. A keeper once told me, as a reason for the fish refusing
this fly, that " they was too bitter altogether." Hook, No. lo.

The Barm Fly. — This fly, which is of the trichopterous
order, and belonging to the Phryganidse, is an evening fly.
I find no mention of it in any book but Jackson's. It is a
capital fly, and a very general favourite in the southern and
midland counties. I can speak to its slaughterous propen-
sities, having killed well with it on the Wandle, the Darenth,
and the Colne, where it has a local repute, under the name of
*' the nobbier," and on the Itchen, where it is wrongly called
a sedge, and is dressed with a dark wing for the evening. It
seldom comes out till dusk and thus has no doubt escaped more
particular notice.* Body, fat and large, of fur of a light
creamy brown hue ; hackle red ; wing, dark speckled cock
pheasant ; hooks, Nos. 7 and 8.

The Foetid Brown, or mushroom fly, is one of the same order
and genus as the last. It has its name from its emitting a
faint foetid odour when handled. It is not very much appreci-
ated by anglers generally. On warm evenings, towards the
end of May, and throughout June and July, it may be seen
in small whisks or swarms, skipping up and down over the
water — now amongst the willows low upon the water, now
high in the air, seldom settling, but constantly hovering over
the water. It is a fine, fat, and tempting bait, and late in the
afternoon, or early in the evening, may be seen thickly on the
water. Dress it on a No. 8 or 9 hook ; body full, of mixed
hare's ear and water-rat fur ; a few strands of hare's ear

* A curious fact with respect to this fly is that it appears to take to and
quit certain localities for years. On the Colne, when I first became ac-
quainted with it, it was plentiful and a first-rate killer for three or four
years. It then disappeared for two years, and the trout altogether refused
the imitation. This last season, however, it has reappeared, and now takes
there as well as ever. — F. F.

JULY FLIES ™™* 169

picked out for the legs on a grizzled blue dun hackle may be
used ; wings also full and Httle — stariing for the under wing,
and corncrake over it.

The Cap ever is another fly of the same class as the last. It is
a large fly, and comes out towards evening, its motions as it
flits up and down, from the bank to the water, justifying its
name. There is a smaller fly of the same kind called the skip-
jack. It is dressed upon a No. 7 or 8 hook, some using it of
even larger size. Two turns of gold twist at the tail ; body,
brownish rusty red mohair ; legs, red cock's hackle, not too
dark ; wings, the marbled portion of the hen pheasant's wing
feather. It is in great request in the midland counties, especi-
ally on the Kennett, and I am sure would make a capital lake
trout fly.

The flies necessary for June are the green and grey drakes,
the sedge and alder being great holdfasts. Duns and spinners,
already noted, abound, and must not be neglected. The foetid
brown and caperer should have a place in the book as a change
with the alder and sedge for evenings. The coch y bondu, of
course, and the fern fly sometimes will be useful. Midges must
have a place ; though seldom very useful now, they do later on.

July. — The Red and Black Ants are very favourite flies
during July : they are of course more plentiful on some waters,
and during some seasons, than others.

The Red Ant should be tied on a No. 8, 9, or 10 hook. The
body of peacock herl, left au naturel as regards the lower or
tail half, and tied in at the waist with copper-coloured silk ;
the legs, a red cock's hackle, and wings of the light shining
part of a starhng's feather.

The Black Ant should be tied similarly, save that the body
should be composed of black ostrich and peacock herl mixed
and tied in at the waist, with black silk ; legs black cock's
hackle, and wings of the darker portion of the starling's feather.

The House Fly. — There is a fly very similar in appearance
to the house fly, but I do not think it is the same — being less
neat and more ragged in its appearance than the house fly,
looking rather, if I may use the expression, like a dissipated
house fly out of luck — which is found in the fields, and a good
deal by the river side, and on the water during the warm
months. It may at times be used with great advantage, when
other flies fail ; and I have had good sport with it. It is so
similar to the house fly, that one dressing will serve both.
Hook, No. 9, body fat, and of two or three strands of any

170 A BOOK ON ANGLING

rusty dark bluish feather from the heron's back, wound on as
though it were herl. Tied in on each side, at the tail, are two
fine shreds of buff-coloured silk ; these are brought up the
sides and tied in when the body is finished off, to represent the
whitish streaks along the sides of the natural fly. Legs, black
cock's hackle ; wings, the dark part of a stariing's wing —
these should be dressed as flatly as may be convenient.

The house flies are more abundant, and kill better on the
water towards the end of the season, however, as they are then
getting weak and bhnd.

,. Hammond's Adopted. — A fly of the foetid brown kind, but
with lightish spots or markings on the wings, is often to be seen
sporting like the foetid brown, and even with it on many rivers ;
it is the hrown skipjack of some localities. I do not find it
noticed much in any tackle book, unless it be the hght pied
dun of Theakstone. I should not dress it precisely as he does,
however, preferring dark hare's ear and mole's fur for the
body, a grizzled blue dun hackle for legs, and hen pheasant's
wing for the wings ; hook No. 8. I beheve this is the same fly
as is used at Winchester, and on the Itchin, under the name
of Hammond's Adopted, after Mr. Hammond, the tackle maker
there, who does considerable execution with it ; and I have
found his dressing capital for the evening, both on the Itchin
and elsewhere. He employs a medium brown crewel body, a
rusty brown red hackle, dressed from tail to head, and a hen
pheasant's or woodcock's wing feather for the wing. It answers
also for the tribe of small brown moths which come out at
night.

The Wrentail, Brown Bent, Froghopper, Jumper, etc. (see
Plate VIII, Fig. 22, p. 134). — This little insect, of which there
are two or three varieties, may be seen in the fine sunny
weather sunning itself on the long spires of grass ; when
disturbed it hops away, making a prodigious leap for so small
a creature ; as it is abundant on the river side, its wings
constantly leave it on the surface of the water, where the fish
eagerly snap it up. It is not an easy fly to imitate ; the best
way is to dress it buzz on a No. 12 or 13 hook. On a body of
yellow silk whirl a tomtit's or a wren's tail feather, or for a
change a golden plover hackle. If it does not kill very well,
the time when the angler is obliged to use it may have some-
thing to do with the reason, as it is chiefly a warm weather fly,
and is little seen save in sunshine.

With the warm evenings the moths come into play, and

I

I

JULY FLIES T^MP 171

though occasionally they may kill in June, yet July is soon
enough to resort to them. The best of them is

The White Moth.-^lt may be dressed either small, or medium,
or large. If large, take a No. 5 or 6 hook ; body, of white
crewel or white ostrich herl ; legs, white hen's hackle ; and
wings, either a couple of sUps of white goose feather, or a bit
of the soft under wing of the grey owl. Small size : dress on a
No. 8 hook, body as before ; legs, a light ginger hackle ; two
feathers from about the eye of the grey owl make the prettiest
wing — in default, however, use goose. I have seen these small
moths taken by the trout in the daytime, and I once saw a
trout chase one that was fluttering some inches above the water
for several yards, and end by throwing himself out of the water
and catching it in the air.

The Brown Moth. — Body, yellowish-brown crewel ; wings,
speckled brown owl ; legs, light brown hackle.

There are many other moths, of course, which get upon
the water in the evening, but these are the best and most
likely ones to take fish with.

About the end of June, or beginning of July, various midges
come upon the water, and on them, early on fine warm evenings,
the trout are wont to feed ravenously. They are so difficult to
imitate, however, as to be nearly impracticable. One very
favourite one is

The Green Midge, a very delicate little insect. It should
be dressed onjy on the finest possible hooks and gut, with a
small floss silk body of a delicate apple-green colour, the
wings and legs being dressed buzz, with a very fine soft pale
silvery blue hen's hackle.

The Blue Midge should be dressed like the green midge,
save that the body should be of a pale slate hue. It is a useful
afternoon fly.

Several duns find their way to the surface during this month.
I think they are but repetitions, or, at any rate, very
near relations, of earher flies, as they very closely resemble
them.

The Ashy Dun is a lightish blue dun, a size or two smaller
than the original blue dun. Body, silvery grey, the colour of
ash bark ; wings, light starling ; hackle, pale blue dun.

There are so many flies on in July, that it is hard to say
which are the best, many of the May and June flies being still
as good as any that can be employed. Of the new flies, the
ant flies where they are much found cannot be done without.

172 A BOOK ON ANGLING

moths, and the July and ashy dun ; and the Phryganidae
mentioned are particularly valuable.

The July Dun very closely resembles the little iron-blue.
It is perhaps one shade lighter and one size larger.

The Large Yellow Dun (p. 152) also comes on tolerably
thickly at times.

The Black Silver Horns (see Plate VIII, Fig. ig, p. 134). —
This is a curious-looking trichopterous fly, which may be seen
in great numbers upon piers, bridges, and such places. It
looks like a small black shred. The horns, from which it
derives its name, are very remarkable, being much longer
than the body, and ringed alternately in black and white.
It is a favourite with the fish, particularly in the north of
France. Dress it on a No. 9 or 10 hook, with dark lead-
coloured silk body, ribbed with yellow ; wings, of any fine-
grained shiny black feather, dressed rather close ; legs, a
short-fibred dark slate-coloured hackle, not too much of it ;
and, if the angler likes to add the horns, two strands of a bright
speckled mallard's feather will be a capital imitation. There
is another which is perhaps a greater favourite still with the
fish, and that is

The Brown Silver Horns. — The following is the dressing
of one which I took not long since on the Itchin, when the
fish were taking it well. Body, of rusty black ostrich herl,
short in the fibre, and spun on brown silk. Along the sides
of the fly are two bright buff stripes ; these I leave to the
angler to imitate or not. Two strips of straw would produce
the exact effect, but would make the fly bulky. Hackle,
dark grizzled dun ; wings (under), dark starling, (over) land-
rail, dressed as closely to the body as may be.

August. — Not many new flies come on the water during
this month. Many of the old ones, however, may be used.
The principal fly that makes its appearance is

The August Dun, August Brown, etc, (see Plate VIII, Fig. 10,
p. 134). — A capital and very general fly, somewhat resembling
the March brown but smaller. Dress it upon a No. 9 or 10
hook. Mr. Ronalds' pattern is pretty good — brown floss silk
(he should have added " light ") ribbed with yellow for body ;
tail, two rabbit's whiskers (this is a mistake, rabbit's whiskers
are too stiff for this purpose, use strands of the hackle) ;
wings, from a brown hen's wing ; legs, red hackle, stained
brown. Here is Jackson's plan, rather different, but between
the two the angler may hit the fly off : Wing, from a young

AUGUST FLIES 173

partridge's back or bright hen pheasant's quill (? wing) or
grey goose breast ; body, light brown silk, or hare's face
certainly not, it is a smooth-bodied fly) ribbed with pale yellow
silk ; grizzled hackle ; tail, three strands of the same. Mr.
Ronalds adds that, to dress it buzz, a grouse hackle should be
wound on the body. The red spinner, which it changes to,
is very hke that of the blue dun.

The Cinnamon (see Plate VIII, Fig. 16, p. 134). — This well-
known fly is one more of the Phryganidae, and by no means
the worst of them. It is something hke the sedge fly and
strongly resembles the sand fly ; it is, however, a size larger,
and rather more ruddy. Body of dark straw-coloured silk ;
legs, a hght or dirty brown hen's hackle with a darkish centre
— wing, any reddish cinnamon-coloured feather, or yellowish
hen landrail or owl, says Jackson ; the yellow-brown hen's
wing, says Ronalds. It is a capital fly, particularly for the
evening. There is another very large fly of this species which
seldom comes out till almost dark, when it may be found
running rapidly about on bridges and such places. It should
be dressed like the sand fly on a No. 6 hook. For lake-fishing
it will be found excellent. The wings should be large and full,
the tips of two partridge tail feathers or any whole small
feather of the same colour being used. The late blue and
yellow duns with their spinners, mentioned m the last month,
are still found in abundance, and will form the principal
attractions for the fish.

The Cow-dung Fly (p. 146) dressed small also kills well.

The Needle Brown (p. 147) is now very plentiful, and on
many rivers is a first-rate favourite.

Very diminutive and pale yellow and blue duns, almost
impossible to imitate from their smallness and delicacy, are
greatly favoured by the fish.

The Large Yellow Dun (p. 152) may also be found in small
numbers.

The angler will have to rely upon many of the flies previously
noted for August. The only new ones that are indispensable
are the August dun, the cinnamon, and, where it is found, the
needle-brown.

September. — There are not many new flies this month,
though there are a great abundance and variety at times on
the water.

The Whirling Dun is a very noted fly, and I have found
it kill well in the evening. As the way in which I have seen

174 A BOOK ON ANGLING

it dressed in Hampshire, where I have chiefly used it, differs
from both Ronalds and " Ephemera," and they differ some-
what from each other, I shall give the three dressings.
Ronalds : Squirrel's red-brown fur mixed with yellow mohair,
and tied with yellow silk well waxed ; tail, two strands of
ginger hackle ; wings, darkish starling ; legs, ginger hackle.
" Ephemera " substitutes water-rat fur for the body, and
dun hackle for the tail and legs. In Hampshire, the body is
made of the dirty blue feather of the heron's hackle or wing
used as a herl, or some other feather of that hue, and warped
with yellow silk ; legs, dun hackle with a grizzled dark-
brown tinge, or, if this cannot be got, a brown-red ; tail, the
same ; and this is the dressing which I prefer ; hooks, Nos. lo
and II. The spinner of this fly resembles the common red
•spinner.

The Willow Fly (see Plate VIII, Fig. 13, p. 134) much re-
sembles the needle brown, and like it belongs to the neurop-
terous flies of the family Perlidae. It is seen on warm days at
intervals through the winter. Mr. Ronalds recommends
it to be dressed buzz. Body, mole's fur spun on yellow silk ;
wings and legs, a dark dun cock's hackle, strongly tinged of a
copper colour ; hook. No. 10 or 11. In Devonshire, it is
called the " old besom," elsewhere it is almost universally
known as the willow fly.

Many small and delicate duns come on during this month,
but the angler will have good imitations in his book from the
list already given ; and though his best sport will still be had
in the evening, yet an occasional raw and gusty day may
come to the angler's aid, and, with a gentle tinge of colour
from rain on the water, aid him in making up a decent bag.
September is usually a better month for the fly-fisher than
August — the fish seem to rise better ; but for the evening the
sedge, cinnamon, barm fly (or nobbier), Hammond's adopted,
and flies of that class, with the moths, will be found the chief bill
of fare. Earlier in the evening various spinners and duns —
particularly the whirling — and on a windy dull day, the willow,
with any special fancy of the angler's, must suflice for his
repertoire from now to the end of the season.

There are many other flies given by good authorities, but
to describe them all would be an endless task. I have there-
fore only added a few general flies which are tried and well-
deserved favourites, which may resemble something on or
in the waters, but what that something is one can hardly

VARIETY RECOMMENDED

probably they resemble various insects, larvae of beetles,
or flies, spiders, etc., to some extent, and hence their favour
with the fishes. These flies will kill more or less throughout
the season. The angler who cannot kill fish with the hst I
have furnished will, I fear, find angling unprofitable. Any
good angler would kill with half of them. I doubt if I use
more than a score of flies in the season. The flies most in
favour with me, and which are by far the best of all for the
angler to place his hopes upon, are the duns and their changes
the spinners. I do not think there is any stream where from one
end of the season to the other some of these deHcate little
flies will not be found to kill, therefore the angler should always
he provided with a good stock and variety of them. There is a
great number of them, of various shades and sizes, but the
angler will greatly simpHfy matters if he will act according
to the following advice : —

Have two sizes of each fly — let the largest be dressed on a
No. 10 hook, and the smallest on a No. 12 or smaller if required.
Of blue duns he should have four shades — very dark for the
iron-blue ; a shade lighter for the later swarms of that fly ;
next, the ordinary blue dun, and lastly, a hght pale blue dun,
almost silvery. The three darkest of these shades should be
ribbed with fine yellow glovers' silk ; the hght one need not bei
The wings and hackles should keep pace with the bodies in
shade. Of yellow duns the angler should have one size only
of the large yellow dun previously mentioned ; the common
yellow dun, one size ; a fighter buff-coloured, two sizes ; a
lighter still of almost a grey silk, two sizes ; and one with an
apple-green body. If he chooses further to vary these shades
by running one into the other or by even medium tints of
olive, yellow, and green, so much the better. The ohves vary
a good deal, and most of these have darkish wings and yellowish
legs. One or two of these flies have very clear wings, particu-
larly the fighter ones, and should be dressed buzz. Of spinners
the angler should have, of the red, two sizes ; the brown, two
sizes; a lighter brown, two sizes. As I have already said, next
to these are the Phryganidae, a small selection of which must
not be neglected.

With these flies in his book he need not fear to venture on
almost any stream ; of course there are times when other
flies, which are prime favourites when they come on, will
kill better. I shall presently give a short fist of flies, as they
are requisite to a tolerably complete equipment.

176 A BOOK ON ANGLING

GENERAL FLIES

Of the general flies which are most useful to the angler, and
which he will find it very advisable to have a stock of, there
are, first.

The Francis Fly. — It may seem egotism in me to place
this fly first on the list ; but since its invention, from the
accounts I have had of its qualifications, from all parts of Great
Britain, from various parts of Europe,- and indeed from all
quarters of the globe where Salmonidae are found, it certainly
appears to have gained, as I hope, a well-earned reputation.
I first found it kill well on the Welsh rivers, where I tested it
severely against the far-famed coch y bondu ; and in what-
ever position it was placed, whether as stretcher or dropper,
it killed above three fish for one killed by the coch y bondu.
I therefore brought it into pubHc notice, and it was greatly
favoured ; but, neglecting it for a season, I did not use it much ;
by accident, however, I tried it subsequently in other quarters
with the greatest success, and since that time, wherever I
have gone, I have found it an unfailing resource when many
other favourites failed. It should be dressed, of course, to
suit the water : small for light waters, and large for heavy
waters or for evening fishing. I have killed well with it dressed
on a No. ii or 12 hook, and equally well (where it was suitable)
on a 7, 8, or 9. The body is composed of copper-coloured
peacock's herl, ribbed distinctly with copper-red silk ; hackle,
medium blue dun ; wings, two hackle points of a grizzly
blue dun cock's hackle (not a hen's), set well up. It is an
excellent evening and night fly dressed on a No. 7 or 8 hook,
owing to the lively and attractive play of the hackle point
wings. Dressed large it kills sea trout well, and it has even
slaughtered many a lordly salmon ; while I have seen large
numbers of it, dressed like some huge moth, sent out to India
to kill mahseer amongst the Himalayas.

The Coachman. — This is one of the best evening and night
flies, particularly in the midland and southern rivers, that I
know of ; and even in the daytime it kills well on some streams.
Hook, No. 9, 10, or II ; body, peacock herl ; legs, red cock's
hackle ; wings, any small white feather, or shp of the same. I
suppose that the contrast of the dark body and white wings
renders it easily perceived by the fish, hence its attractiveness
from May till the end of the season.

GENERAL FLIES 177

Hofland's Fancy. — This is another very useful fly, and
should be dressed of two sizes, Nos. 10 and 12. Body, dark
brown-red silk ; wings, hen pheasant or woodcock's wing ;
legs, red cock's hackle ; tail, two strands of the same. It is
very useful on fine waters, having a partial resemblance to
several small flies.

The Governor. — This is a very useful fly on many waters,
particularly in the metropoHtan district, where its use is
almost general. I usually have three sizes of this fly by me ;
it is dressed of all sizes, from a No. 7 to a No. 10 or 11 hook.
It is useful by day tied small, and as an evening fly, on a No. 7
hook. Body, peacock's herl, dressed full and finished off at the
tail with two or three turns of bright orange-yellow floss silk.
It is sometimes an improvement to add some gold twist, and I
have done good work with it with a fine ribbing of gold twist ;
legs, red cock's hackle ; wing, hen pheasant's wing ; with a
grey drake wing it makes a capital late evening fly. The
original is, I believe, not a fly, but a beetle.

The Edmead. — This is a fly which is a good deal used about
the midland districts. Originally it was dressed, I believe,
with a bluish body, but the red body has been found to kill
best. It is a red-spinner body and hackle, with a grey drake
wing, dressed on about 10 or 11 hook.

In the north they have a fly called

GreenwelVs Glory.* — It kills well on all the northern streams,
and I am greatly mistaken if it will not kill equally well in the
south. Hook, No. 12 or 13 ; body, dark olive silk, thickly
ribbed with very fine gold wire ; legs, a small dark coch-y-
bondu hackle (red with black centre and tips) ; wings, wood-
cock's wing. Dressed on the smallest possible hook, it kills
well in the hottest weather.

The Grouse Hackle. — A capital hot-weather fly dressed
hacklewise on a No. 11 or 12 hook, with a smalls hen grouse
hackle, and a yellow silk body with one turn of ^ gold tinsel
at the tail.

The Partridge Hackle. — Dressed similarly to the last fly,
but with a grey partridge hackle and a lemon silk body.

The last two flies, with the next one, and a black gnat,
perhaps, will fill a basket on any mountain beck or trout
bum in heather districts. They may be used a size or two
larger if necessary.

* Designed by the late Canon Greenwell, of Durham, who is also the
eponymus of the Greenwell salmon fly, a favourite on the Tweed. — Ed.

178 A BOOK ON ANGLING

Soldier Palmer. — A capital fly in warm weather, particularly
when the water is a httle coloured. Hook, No. 9, 10, or 11 ;
body, bright red crewel, ribbed with gold thread ; legs and
wings, a bright red cock's hackle, struck from tail to head. I
usually have two sizes of this fly in my book ; it is always
well worth a trial if the angler is at a loss towards evening,
and if there be a scarcity of fly.

I cannot pass over this branch of my subject without
noticing the flies used by Mr. Stewart. He principally employs
six, three of which are termed spiders, and three winged flies.
Their sizes are from No. 12 to 15 of the Kendal or round bend
hooks ; and they are dressed sparely, with very little body
and not too much hackle. The spiders are merely hackle or
buzz flies, and are of three kinds.

1. The Black Spider. — This is made with the small feather of the
cock starling, dressed with brown silk.

2. The Red Spider is made with the small feather taken from the
outside of the landrail's wing, dressed with yellow silk.

3. The Dun Spider is made from the small soft dun or ash-coloured
feather taken from the outside of the dotterel's wing, faihng that
from the inside wing of the starling.

The winged flies are as follows : —

1. A woodcock wing, with a single turn of red hackle or landrail,
dressed with yellow silk freely exposed in the body. For coloured
water it may be dressed with scarlet thread.

2. Hare lug body, with a corn bunting or chaffinch wing ; a
woodcock wing may be put to the same body, but should be made
from the small light-coloured feather from the inside of the wing.

3. Woodcock wing with a single turn of a soft black hen hackle,
or a small feather taken from the shoulders of the starUng, dressed
with dark-coloured silk.

Mr. Stewart adds that, by varying the wings and body,
a great number of killing flies may be made, but he pins his
faith upon the above six patterns ; and certainly with these
flies varied in size, and with the assistance of worm, minnow,
and larva, there are few more successful anglers in the south
of Scotland or on the Border than Mr. Stewart.

I here subjoin, to simphfy matters for the young angler,
a list of flies which I find sufficient usually for all general
purposes, and which I do not like to be without : —

LAKE TROUT FLIES

179

Duns and spinners, as before-
mentioned, of various shades.

The March brown.

The cow-dung.

*The gravel bed (this is only
indispensable where it is found).

The black grat and quill gnat.

The alder.

Green and *grey drakes.

The coch-y-bondu.

The sedge fly.

♦The blue and green midges.

The red and black ants.

The August dun.

The cinnamon.

*The needle brown.

The willow fly.

♦The barm fly.

The white and ♦brown moths.

The Francis.

The governor.

The coachman.

Hammond's adopted.

The Hcfiand's fancy.

The soldier palmer.

The grouse and partridge hackles.

The flies with a star against them are those which the
angler may best venture to omit if he finds even this Hst too
long. The remainder I look on as indispensable for general
work. Of course, if the angler knows and fishes any particular
river, he may get through the season well enough perhaps with
a bare dozen of flies. If he wanders at all, he will do well to
have all the above flies, and specially and particularly the
duns and spinners. Most people have preferences, and I
have mine, and if I were to choose the two flies which I do most
with in the course of a year, I would select the alder and the
yellow dun in various shades, and next to them the blue dun
sedge, soldier palmer, and the governor.

LAKE TROUT FLIES

These flies are legion, each lake and each professor on that
lake having his own varieties, which are not governed by any
rules but those of fancy, and being imitations of nothing in
nature, the patterns are endless. I shall give a few which
I know to be general killers — more particularly in Scotland,
though no doubt equally good all over the kingdom.

The most favourite wings are dark mallard and the barred
feather of the teal ; to these may be wedded almost any body
and legs and they will kill more or less.

The size very much depends on the depth of the water,
but from 5 or 6 to 8 or 9 hooks will be about the range, though
smaller are often used.

I. Teal wing ; red cock's hackle from head to tail ; a dirty rusty
black silk body, with or without gold thread.

i8o A BOOK ON ANGLING

2. Teal wing ; black silk body, black cock's hackle from head to
tail, and silver thread. An excellent fly.

3. The same with mallard wing.

4. Mallard wing ; claret mohair body ; claret hackle (a shade or
two lighter) ; gold thread. This may be varied slightly and ad-
vantageously with a red or a black cock's hackle.

5. Mallard wing ; fiery brown mohair body ; black hackle and
gold twist.

If there be salmon about the last four flies of sea trout size will
often rise them.

6. Teal wing ; orange crewel or floss body ; red hackle, gold
thread.

7. Wing from jay's wing, of pale bluish tinge and darkish towards
the butt ; body and hackle as in No. i.

8. Wing as in the last fly ; body, dark blue silk ; fine silver twist,
and black hackle. May be varied with an orange-yellow silk body,
and gold twist. A good sea trout fly.

9. Wing as before ; body, hare's ear and water-rat fur mixed —
hare's ear predominating, and picked out for legs.

10. Body, olive mohair, with fine gold wire ribbing ; golden
olive hackle — that is, greenish olive to appearance, but golden
when held up to the light ; wing, a Hghtish bit of jay's wing. This
is a celebrated fly in Ireland, where it is known as the " Golden
olive." It may be varied with a black hackle or a teal wing.

I have no special beHef in these fancy flies — they may kill
or they may not. The soldier palmer is about the only fancy
fly I ever use on lakes, and that I rarely fish without. But I
generally find a March brown, a blue dun, a red spinner, an
August dun, a red fly, a caperer, very often a small green
or grey drake, and the white moth, or some well-known and
marked fly, kill on almost any lake as well as the best and
most favourite local monstrosities that can be selected ; and
I have fished on a great many wild lakes in Ireland, Scotland,
and Wales, and could nearly always do as well as my neigh-
bours, and often better. I generally commence with a March
brown and a soldier palmer and seldom want to change. If a
change be needed, orange and grouse, or blue dun, or black and
teal should do the business.

Since the first edition of this work was published, the
Rev. H. Ainslie has written to me enclosing patterns of six
lake flies for use upon any large rough lake. These flies are
admirable in appearance, and are evidently the handiwork
of a master ; they have been well tested on many of the larger
Scotch lakes. From this gentleman's remarks I extract the
following : —

■

REV. H. AINSLIE'S FLIES i8i

Dear Sir, —

First, I wish to endorse what you say on p. 232 of
your new work, viz., that fish may be taken on the Scotch
lakes with most of the usual English river flies. Of these
I prefer the yellow dun, the red spinner (great), the soldier,
black gnat, black palmer, and alder (I take these from Ronalds),
and I have used these with great success in perfectly still
water, or with the shghtest curl. But for rougher water —
and the Scotch lakes are ordinarily rough enough — I use larger
flies, and I enclose you patterns of my especial favourites.

Nos. I, 2, 3 are irresistible ; 4, 5, 6 are nearly as deadly.

Referring to the ten flies described by you on pp. 232, 233,
I find your No. 4 somewhat similar to my No. 2, of which I
should say the body ought to be a bright red ; it is much
more deadly, as I have often proved, but I have not one in my
possession quite to my liking. My No. i is your alternative
of No. 10. I have used both dressings, and can affirm that teal
wing kills six to one of the Ught jay. It is true to nature, for
I have often caught the natural fly, of which it is a good
representation. My No. 3 is excellent, especially in cold
rough weather and rain. I use it two sizes larger on Loch
Awe, and find it most persuasive. No. 4 is a very useful fly,
and I sometimes use it with a brighter and lighter yellow
body with gold twist. It is admirable on fine clear water.
No. 5 is more kiUing in rough, but not cold weather ; and No. 6
is local, only suited to some lochs high up on the moors.

I don't know whether the woodcock wing feather or the
teal's is the more kilhng. I can only say that with these
flies I can reckon on six dozen per diem, and have killed as
many as ten dozen in half a day. I wish when you have an
opportunity you would give them a trial.

Very faithfully yours,

H. AiNSLIE.

The following is the dressing of each of these flies : —

1. Body, medium green crewel, fine gold thread ; hackle, a rusty
coch-y-bondu, with very little red showing ; teal wing ; tail, two
fibres of the golden pheasant sword feather.

2. Body, dark red crewel ; black hackle ; teal wing ; a turn of
gold tinsel at tail ; tail, fibres of gold pheasant ruff.

3. Body, dirty reddish brown (about the colour of tolerably used
leather), well ribbed up with gold thread ; hackle, a brownish red,

i82 A BOOK ON ANGLING

with a little black at the head ; tail, two fibres of sword feather ;
wing, woodcock's wing.

4. Body, a lightish yellow rather thinly laid on ; hackle, a sandy
red ; tail, two fibres of red parrot ; a turn of gold tinsel at tail ;
wing, woodcock.

5. Body, lower half lightish yellow, upper scarlet, ribbed with
gold thread ; hackle, a brown red with dark centre ; tail, two
fibres of sword feather ; wing, woodcock.

6. Body, bright medium blue well ribbed with fine gold tinsel ;
tail, two fibres of red hackle ; dressed buzz, with the small blue
barred feathers of the jay ; wing, with most fibres on the wing,
those on the breast being clipped slightly.

In Nos. I, 2, 4 and 5, the wool is picked out a little.

All the hooks are of the round bend, and the numbers run from 5
to 7, but the shanks are shorter than they are in my scale by a full
quarter of an inch or more.

Here are half a dozen patterns for Welsh lakes. They are
the pets of Llyn Ogwen, and were sent me by an artist of
note who dwells on the banks ; they are beautifully tied, and
will be useful on any of the Welsh lakes.

1. Orange mohair, gold tinsel and grouse hackle (buzz).

2. Black ostrich heil, silver tinsel ; black hackle ; sUps of a
clearly specked grouse feather for the wing.

3. Copper-coloured peacock herl ; red hackle, stained orange,
with a black butt or bottom to it (buzz).

4. Copper-coloured peacock herl ; black hackle ; light starhng
wing.

5. Black ostrich herl and silver thread ; black hackle ; medium
starhng wing.

6. Body and tinsel as in No. 5 ; hackle stained bright red of a
lake colour ; wing, dark starling or blackbird.

These flies are small, and are dressed on No. 11 and 12
hooks, but they can be enlarged to suit the taste and fancy
of the angler or the fish.

With the Hst I have given, and the following list for the
west of Ireland lakes and streams, more particularly in Kerry,
and which were sent me by Haynes of Cork, and are beautifully
tied, the lake angler may consider his quiver full even to
repletion. I describe the flies as I find them in the parcel : —

1. Is neither more nor less than the common blue dun. Blue
dun body ; ditto hackle ; and starhng wing, two whisks for tail.

2. Is a small March brown.

3. Is the August dun.

4. Medium orange floss body and gold thread ; black hackle ;
medium starling wing ; mallard whisks for tail.

IRISH LAKE FLIES

183

5. Body, tail, tinsel, as in No. 4 ; light blue dun hackle, and
light starling wing.

6. Body and tail as before, but with no tinsel ; dark brown
hackle, and wing from speckled feather of partridge's tail.

7. Black floss body, and fine silver thread ; black hackle ; dark
starling wing ; two whisks of grey mallard for tail.

8. A turn of gold tinsel at tail ; tail, two brown mallard whisks ;
body, rufous (red hair colour) ; red hackle, and medium starling
wing.

9. Tinsel and tail as before ; cinnamon silk body ; medium brown
hackle, dressed buzz rather long and spidery.

10. Tail and tinsel as before ; body, lemon-yellow floss ; hackle
as in No. 9, with fibres from the speckled feather of a partridge's
tail for wing.

11. Blue dun body, tail, and hackle, with silver thread over body,
and fibres from grouse or woodcock hackle for wing.

12. Tail and tinsel as before ; body, soft brown fur, watei -rat's
probably, left rough for legs ; starling wing.

These flies are on No. 10, 11, and 12 hooks.

CHAPTER VII

ON LAKE-FISHING
Lake-Fishing — Daping — The Creeper — ^The Beetle — ^The Worm

IN lake-fishing, the modus operandi will depend very much
upon whether the angler fishes from a boat or from the
shore. In the first event, his task is a comparatively easy
one, as he will drift along with very little use from the
paddles more than is required to keep the boat straight and the
proper distance from the shore. He will rarely paddle himself ;
but if he should, he will need to know something of the shores
of the loch and where the trout frequent. If he has a boatman,
the boatman will probably know the best spots to go to, and
the lay of the trout.

It is always desirable, in a boat, to cast in towards the shore.
The distance the boat must be kept from the shore will be
entirely determined by the weeds, and by the precipitous
nature or otherwise of the shores of the lake. The most
advantageous depths at which the trout will be found to He,
run from two to five or six feet ; beyond this the water will be
probably too deep for the trout to see conveniently, and to rise
from at the fly. On a calm evening, however, the best trout
will often be found lying close in to the shore with their backs
almost out of the water, and here they will take fly after fly,
with scarcely more motion than a trout of a quarter of a pound
would be supposed to make ; but in these calm evenings don't
be deceived, brother piscator, by the very little disturbance they
make when rising close in shore. Approach softly and cast
deftly, your quarry may be but a three or four-inch fry, but it
may be a rattling two-pounder, and if you go carelessly, all you
will see of him will be a severe wave bowHng off and widening
away into the middle of the loch, and '' Confound it 1 what a
whopper ! " if you be an ordinary kind of angler, or " Dear me !
what a remarkably fine fish ! how very unfortunate ! " if you
be particular in language, will be your farewell to him, whereas

184

NEVER FISH WHEN LAZY 185

Ith caution he might have been tempted to carry your hook

ith him.

Some people think that it matters not in lake-fishing how
rou cast, for that it is a lazy careless sort of sport, to be
carried out anyhow ; but remember this, friend student, if a
thing be worth doing at all it is worth doing well, and if a little
extra care will put you a brace or two of unusually fine fish
above the careless angler who has simply scared a brace or two
of big ones by bungling casting, rowing, or walking, you will own
that the triumph is not only deserved but worth reaping. When
you feel tired, careless, and bored, leave off, smoke your pipe,
eat your lunch, and contemplate the scenery until you see some
good fish move and you become keen and eager again. If you
do not, it is a hundred to one that you regret it, for somehow
it is always when you are thus lazy and careless that the big
ones seem to find it out, and to take advantage of you ; and
just as you are thinking least of fish and fishing, and have
mechanically cast your fly out to its full extent, when the point
of the rod is well down, up he comes, perhaps with a splash that
frightens you out of your wits. You strike hurriedly and five
times as hard as you ought to do, and all the harder because the
stroke comes from the butt instead of from the top. A heavy
fish and light tackle, with a hard strike tells its story ; and
away goes your pet fly, and you have no other of the same
pattern within five miles —

The waters wild close o'er the child,
And you are left lamenting.

And serve you right, too. Oh, yes, put up another fly in a
hurry, and fish away as hard as you can, of course, for the next
half-hour ; he is sure to come to you again, isn't he ? And
then you come home and find that Jones, who isn't half as
good a fisherman as you are, and is only patient and pains-
taking, has a couple of much better fish than any you have.
" Ah ! if you'd only — but no matter, you won't be had in that
way again." Perhaps not. Nous verrons. I hate a .lazy
fisherman.

If the weather be calm do not neglect the windward shore,
as in the very curl of the small wave you will often get a pull
from the very best fish. If there be a streak of foam, as there
usually is on brisk days, pitch your fly into it and you will often
be rewarded, as many flies get entangled in the froth and
cannot get out of it : the fish know this well. (I forget where

i86 A BOOK ON ANGLING

I have read this advice — I fancy it is Stoddart's — but it is good
advice).* If, however, the weather be rough, you will be com-
pelled to fish the leeward shores. Avoid the places where the
rocks are precipitous and the shores steep, and choose the little
sandy bays and pebbly strands ; fish the edges of weeds or
reeds very carefully — they are favourite harbours for the best
fish. Wherever you see little islets of rocks or cairns, by no
means pass them without a trial. If trees border the loch,
under them will be found the scaly prey waiting for whatever
heaven or the wind may send them by shaking the leaves.
Where streams and rivulets enter the lake, you should be
particularly sedulous in your attentions, as here you will be
sure to find sport of the best. If, when in a boat, you hook a
good fish, remember that the first thing he will inevitably do is
to dart off the shallow into the deeper water ; take care that in
doing so he does not dart under the boat, as not unfrequently
happens. Nothing is so absurd as to see a stalwart angler with
his rod perfectly upright and the fish gone under his feet. You
have not the least power over a fish that has served you so ; and
if the boat be, as the boat of the Celt too often is, ragged as to
her bottom, with rusty nails, a broken sheathing, etc., your
line will probably be cut, or if only hung up, what with poking
it clear and other expedients, the line will be so frayed as to be
useless. If the boat does not catch it something else may, and
probably when you get all clear again you will find that the
errant fish has left your stretcher, and possibly the dropper too,
fast in a lump of tough mossy weed fathoms below, and is him-
self " Liber et exultans ardet piscis in aquis." Always contrive,
if possible, to keep the fish under the point of the rod, and
never, as far as it can possibly be avoided, under the butt. The
rod must be nearly upright when the fish is gaffed or netted,
but that is the only time when it should be so. Take care, too,
when the fish is gaffed or netted and dropped into the boat, to
loosen your fine or drop the point or the sudden call on the
top may snap it. Knock the fish on the head at once
for many reasons, and waste no time in admiration, for
when they are ** in the humour " is the time to " take
them.''

In lake-fishing I have found the greatest advantage at times

in making the drop fly skim and dib along the surface of the

water as it comes towards you. This you cannot well manage

on a stream, but on a lake in still water it will often be found

♦ It is in chapter iv of Stoddart's Angler's Companion. — Ed.

K

BEWARE OF FIRE ! 187

" very successful." Indeed, on a dropper worked thus, I have
often taken three or four fish for one to the stretcher. In
fishing from the shore, say outside a piece of weed, look out
sharply when the dropper trips up thus towards the edge of the
weed, and it will often prove irresistible to the best fish.
Remember that, though you have no stream in a lake, you have
wind, with which the flies will drift just as naturally as they will
in a stream ; and it is not advisable, if you can avoid it, to draw
your flies against it, as it is unnatural, and will challenge
attention and often scare the best fish, though small ones may
not mind it.

In fishing from the shore, you will often have to wade. If
the wind be blowing sharply along the shore you fish, get it at
your back and walk cautiously on, a step at a time, casting
outwards first, and then in the segment of a circle, the last cast
terminating almost on the shore. Then take another step, or
perhaps two, and repeat the process, making as little disturb-
ance as you can ; but always look well to your footing, and feel
your way onward, or a big, round, or slippery stone will bring
you suddenly to grief.

If you be a smoker, brother angler, take care (and this will
apply equally perhaps to river-fishing) to knock the fire quite
out of your pipe before you pocket it, or you may chance to do
as I did once when wading along the strand on that prince of
lakes. Lough Melvin. I was having great sport, and fancying
my pipe was out, popped it hastily into my pocket without
consideration. After a time I smelt an unpleasant smell of
burning. At first I thought it but the smoke from something
burning on the land, and paid no attention to it. Presently my
thigh warned me of a sensation of heat ; I thrust my hand into
my pocket — it was on fire. I hastily turned out the contents.
My pocket was in large holes ; the coat even was singed
through, my handkerchief destroyed, and, worse than all, the
extreme edge of my tackle-book singed smartly. When I came
to inspect it, "0 dies miser ahilis ! " ten or a dozen beautiful
exquisitely fine new casting-lines, of a delicate amber colour,
done up in coils of eight or ten inches circumference (which I
had laid in for my campaign, but three days previously, at
Farlow's), were just burnt through — only just — in one spot,
thus reducing the whole of them to irreparable and useless
fragments. Oh, the trouble I had in picking those lines ! for
I am very particular and choice in my trout-casts. I sent for
more, but I could not replace those I had lost ; and to this

i88 A BOOK ON ANGLING

day, of course, I believe that there never were any others equal
to them.

Some lakes are what are called " free rising lakes " ; others
are but moderately so, the fish being more capricious and
apparently shyer, and sport, though sometimes good, is less
certain in them. These lakes often have better fish than the
" free risers." Some, again, are termed " sulky lakes," and are
very hard to get fish from at all, though occasionally, but
rarely, splendid sport will be had on them. I have dealt rather
fully upon the rationale of this in my former work upon Fish
Culture, and I make no doubt but the reasons I have there
given are the correct ones. It is a question altogether of food
and the depth of the water. On many lakes there is but one
time in the year when you get anything Uke sport, and that is
when the May fly is on. The Westmeath lakes. Lough Erne,
and Lough Arrow, in Sligo, are excellent examples of this latter
pecuharity. In the former, particularly, sport to any extent,
except at this time, is exceptional. When the May fly is on,
the sport is often splendid, the fish running very large. At
other times the fish do not seem to think it worth while to
come to the surface at all, the flies they find there probably
not being sufiicient in size and number to tempt them up.
When these large flies, however, are rising, the fish follow them
up to the surface, and are kept there by the plenty they find
there. At other times, such is the abundance and choice of
food in the depths of the lakes that they can fill their bellies
with very little trouble, and without the necessity for leaving
the bottom. Thus they grow fat, lazy, and large. As an
instance of this, I will quote a fact mentioned by Colonel Whyte
some time ago in the Field. The colonel stated that he had a
small lake which formerly held a quantity of nice fish. They
were not very large, but very free in rising, and he could take
a good number of them almost whenever he chose to go a-fish-
ing. Wishing to try whether the introduction of fresh food
would improve their size and condition, he turned into the lake
a good quantity of the small freshwater snails and other small
molluscs which are found in many waters, but hitherto had not
been present in this lake. These molluscs took well to the lake,
and multiplied rapidly. As they did so, the fish increased in
size and improved wonderfully in condition, becoming from
slim genteel trout perfect miniature pigs with fine pink flesh ;
but mark the consequence — as they improved in size and
condition, they gradually left off rising to flies, so that where he

SULKY LAKES 189

was able formerly to bag his couple of dozen with the fly, he
now finds it difficult even to bag one. Now, here is a hint as
regards lakes, which proprietors might act on if they choose, for
other species of food might be thus introduced besides molluscs,
and without spoiling the rising of the fish. But as I have dealt
with all this elsewhere, I only refer to it here to point out that
when the fish are thus shy it is because they find too much food
at the bottom to trouble their heads with what goes on at the
surface. In the moderate lakes this is only partially the case,
and there is yet some species of fly or insect perhaps of sufficient
size and attraction to tempt them to the surface occasionally.
What it may be of course has all to be discovered. So far these
matters are almost a closed book to us.

Now, if the trout are too much engaged on the bottom to
come or even look at the top, manifestly the only chance the
angler has is to seek them on their own terms at the bottom,
and he must either fish with a float and worm or minnow, as
recommended by Stoddart, or I recommend him to try the
plan which I have already mentioned for deep still holes and
mill heads, where the trout are equally indisposed to come to
the surface ; he must select a tolerably large fly (the choice
must be left to his own judgment), bite a good-sized split shot
on the gut just above the head of the fly, where it will look like
a natural head and neck, then cast his line, and let it sink as
near to the bottom as he can judge, without hanging in the
weeds, etc., and then draw it towards him, and upwards, by
short pulls and jerks, and he will probably get a tremendous
pull for his pains, when he will do his best to pull too. A single
gentle, or maggot, or caddis added to his lure by sticking one
on the bend of the hook, will increase its temptations ; or if he
likes to abjure a body and have nothing but hackle and wings,
and to put two gentles on in place of it, he will probably get
some good fish if he perseveres with his " sinking and draw-
ing." Of course, if he makes half a dozen or a dozen casts, and
then gets tired of it, throws it up, and says, " It is of no use," it
will be of no use. It must be tried fairly ; for big trout, even
in sulky lakes, are not to be found over every yard of the
bottom, and still less disposed to feed at any or every hour of
the day. In many sulky lakes the trout only rise well after
dark, when admirable sport may often be had.

L

190 A BOOK ON ANGLING

ON DIBBING OR DAPING

Fishing with the natural fly, or, as it is termed, dibbing or
daping, ranks next to fishing with the artificial fly. It is a
much simpler process, but requires a great deal of nicety. The
easiest style in which to use the natural fly is with the blow-
line, but the blow-line is hardly fair fly-fishing ; indeed,
dibbing, more especially with the May fly, is so destructive
when worked by an adept, that it is more then a question
whether it should be held fair fishing at all. However, as many
clubs and good anglers do follow and profess it, and as in many
lakes it yields almost the only sport got from them, I will e'en
treat of it.

The blow-line is thus employed. The line is composed of
the lightest, loosest, and airiest floss silk — so web-hke that
the least puff of wind will drive it before it. Light and loose as
it is, it has abundant strength. The rod used generally
resembles the mast of a fishing-smack, being of the Ughtest
cane, but as long as it can be obtained or worked. It generally
runs to nineteen or twenty feet, and often beyond that. As a
foot-line or cast, there is some two feet or more of very fine gut,
and a hook to match. On this hook is impaled a live May fly.
Put the hook into the thorax about the throat, and bring it out
again just below the wings. Some anglers use two flies, and
two hooks are then employed, tied, not back to back, but side
to side, and then opened wide enough to get the two flies on
comfortably ; I do not commend the plan as it makes too bulky
a bait. The angler then chooses that bank of the stream whence
the wind is blowing, and walks up the bank ; when he sees a
good fish rise, he turns his back to the wind, faces the fish, lets
out line enough just to clear the ground — holds the rod per-
fectly upright, and allows the wind to take the fine out over the
river, which, if but a very moderate breeze is on, it will do
easily. When it is bellied out half-way or three-parts across
the stream, judging his distance carefully, the angler slowly
lowers the point of the rod, so that if he has measured his
distance pretty rightly the fly will light where or whereabouts
the fish is rising, and a little above it of course, and as the fly
can be lowered on to the water au naturel like thistledown, and
by the skilful working of the rod-point can be made even to skip
and flutter up and down on the surface like the natural insect
in the enjoyment of the most rabid and demonstrative liberty,
and as no line need be visible, and nothing need touch the

■■

I

FISHING WITH NATURAL FLY 191

water but the fly, if a fish be taking (as most fish are when
the May fly is on) and the angler be anything but a bungler,
a rise should be almost a certainty. When a fish rises at a fly
give him time enough to get the fly into his mouth before you
strike ; as the May fly is a largish fly, the trout will possibly not
take the entire fly quite in his mouth at the first gulp, but sucks
it in slowly, and a strike then may eventuate in the hook coming
away without the fly, and a scared fish. I have often known
this to be the case, and were it not for the misses the fish would
have a bad chance against the blow-line ; but a miss or two of
this kind soon renders them wide-awake, and I have seen a
blow-line worked over a mile of stream where lots of fine fish
were rising at the May fly without hooking a fish. Of course
the angler must do his best to keep out of sight of the sharp-
eyed fish, or even the best- worked blow-line will fail in its
effect, and as the length of rod and line employed is rather
limited, this is not always easy. In fishing a lake the boat is
allowed to drift with the wind, and the rises are fished in much
the same way as in a river.

By far the more skilful, and the more diflicult plan of using
the live fly, however, is to employ only the ordinary fly-rod,
and with about three yards of the very finest gut, and a fine
wire, No. 7 straight bend, short-shanked hook, to cast the fly
as though it were but an imitation. In the action of casting a
good deal of care and practice are required, or the fly will whip
off to a certainty. Then in guiding the fly down over the
stream, it is necessary not to check it, or it immediately
becomes entirely immersed ; and after this has happened two
or three times the wings will most likely become wet and the
fly will be useless.

Having baited the hook as in blow-line fishing, let out
rather more line than the length of the rod (the angler will
soon find out how much he can manage), take the line about
ix or eight inches above the hook between the finger and thumb
of the left hand, wave the rod and the bagged line backwards
and forwards once or twice to g^t the spring, and, if possible,
to wait for a shght air or puff of wind (it is needless to say that
it is very desirable to get the wind in your favour in this kind
of fishing), then, as you intend to cast, raise both hands before
you as though casting the fly with both hands, as it were,
towards its destination ; at the proper moment, when the
impulse is given (and this exact moment nothing but experi-
ence will tell) let go of the line and cast softly, and without jerk

192 A BOOK ON ANGLING

or violence of any kind, towards the point aimed at (say a yard
above a rising fish), and if the cast be deftly made the fly will
fall Hke nature itself on the surface, and the light fine gut will
also be extended upon it. No motion of drawing towards the
rod or angler must be made, or the line will make " centipedes "
on the water, and the fly be drowned. The stream must bear it
along the surface without check or motion, the angler following
the fly down with the point of the rod and a loose line. When a
fish rises give him time to turn his head, and then strike firmly
but not heavily, and get on terms with your fish as soon as you
can. When the swim is over you can pull out and cast again,
and be sure and get the fly off the water as expeditiously as
possible, but without violence — of course there is no necessity
to take the line 'twixt finger and thumb again. Cast as in
artificial fly-fishing, but with less force and abruptness, and
cause the line to describe more of a circle behind you, as the
slightest " flick '' or " crack *' will necessitate putting on a new
fly. At every cast you may let out a foot or two of line, until
you get out as much as you can cast. I have seen anglers who
could cast near a dozen yards of line with a live fly at the end,
with the slightest air or wind behind them. A long, light, and
especially a pliable rod (more particularly at the top) is required
for this kind of fishing ; and though it is very deadly, it is not
equal, of course, to the blow-line, while it affords as much sport
as, and requires more skill than, casting with the artificial fly ;
but it has its drawbacks. It is " finicking,** fidgetty work. The
constant renewing of the flies, and the great care required in
casting, the necessity for avoiding carefully every leaf and twig,
make it a troublesome business at the best, though it is almost
always in suitable weather, when practised by an adept,
productive of a good basket. In May fly fishing, of course, one
of the requisites is a good supply of fine fresh green May flies —
the greener or yellower the better. Eschew as much as possible
the black and shiny transformation, as the fish greatly prefer
the freshly-hatched insect ; these it is most desirable to have
caught on the morning of fishing if possible. They should be
kept in a small basket made for the purpose, and sold at many
tackle-makers' ; this is semicircular in form, like a soldier's
canteen, in fact, and has a lid and an aperture whence the flies
can be taken as they are required. The basket is strapped to
the waist by a leathern strap, and thus can be arranged
wherever it may be found most convenient to the hand.
There are many other natural flies and insects that can

I

DAPING 193

be used in daping, as the stone fly, the alder fly, the blue-
bottle, the daddy longlegs, the coch-y-bondu, the cinnamon,
etc., in fact, almost any fly that is large enough to be stuck
upon a hook will answer the purpose. For the smaller flies it
is customary to use a smaller hook, and to put two flies upon
it ; but with such flies it is more customary to use a longish
rod, and to dib in over bushes or from behind some sheltering
tree, or any other cover where the angler can conceal himself.
Here, haply, where overhanging branches cast a shadow on the
water in the hottest weather, the big fellows lie close in to the
bank under which

.... beneath the tangled roots

Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook

has his abiding-place : you see him, as it were, standing at his
front door in the receipt of custom, and rising gently at every
fly, grub, or insect-security that may pass him. It is your
business, oh angler ! to take in this greedy discounter of insect
acceptances.

Behoves you then to ply your finest art.

Prospect the place, look for an open space through the boughs
and fohage, just over some good fish. You must approach
the spot with great caution, poking your rod with the line
wound round it before you ; now you are opposite to the spot,
and concealed from the fish by an intervening bush. Upon a
No. 8 hook of fine wire stick your two flies ; if you have not
flies, why a couple of gentles, a grasshopper, a bumblebee, or a
beetle, perhaps, or any other insect will haply serve you. A
couple of yards will be as much line as you require ; wind it
loosely round your rod-point, the baited hook hanging down
close to the rod ; now, cautiously and gradually, and with as
little motion or disturbance as possible, poke the point of the
rod through the hole in the fohage, and begin turning the rod
round to let the fine unwind ; presently it is all out, and the
bait hangs free outside of the bushes ; being sure that you are
over the right spot, gently drop the bait on the surface ; there is
a slight dimple in the water below, a sound in the dead stillness,
as if a drop of water had fallen into a well, followed by a con-
siderable splashing and a rush under the bank if you do not
prevent it, and you must play and get your fish out in the best
way you can. If he is a very good one, your chance to lose him
is considerable. Daping is in some places called " shade-
fishing." It is as great a stretch of a permission for a day's

194 A BOOK ON ANGLING

^j'-fishing as any gentleman could be guilty of — more this
deponent sayeth not. It would be thought that where worm-
fishing is prohibited, every other species of bait-fishing would
be also prohibited, yet is this not the case, for on many waters
dibbing with the natural fly — which is, perhaps, the most
deadly style of fishing of any in experienced hands — is per-
mitted, while minnow and worm are excluded, and even called
poaching. I have noticed that the piscatorial mind has a
strange way of looking upon the word poaching. With many
people " poaching " means fishing in any other way than that
favoured by the appellant. It, in fact, as Hudibras has it.

Compounds for sins they are inclined to.
By damning those they have no mind to.

Had I my will I would never allow a trout to be caught with
anything but the artificial fly, and should, under such circum-
stances, look upon all bait-fishing as poaching, no matter how
employed. But as men are constituted, each has his favourite
mode of fishing, and all must be served. The only things I
resolutely bar and will not hold admissible under any circum-
stances are salmon roe and wasp-grub. The first because it is
illegal and destructive of the salmon (for to bait your hook
with three or four salmon to catch one trout is very bad
economy) ; while the second spoils the sport of others, for
where wasp-grub has been used to any extent, sport ceases.
In all other respects, if worm, minnow, and natural fly are
allowed, what should be prohibited ? It is the common
practice in many places to fish gentles for trout, precisely as
though you were fishing for roach, using a fine quill float, and
throwing in a few gentles from time to time ; but I never could
abide fishing for trout with a float — it is an insult to the prince
of bold-biting fish — still it is practised in the quiet eddies and
holes with great effect, too, and Mr. Stoddart, who is a great
authority upon worm-fishing, as I have said, recommends the
use of a float on small lakes and pools. With respect to what
methods of fishing are fair and what not, the most satisfactory
and safe plan to go on would appear to be guided by the
custom ; if a person confines himself to the custom of the place
he cannot be far wrong. But if he is told that he is to confine
himself to any special kind of fishing — for instance, if he has a
day's fishing granted to him on condition that it is fair fly-
fishing— and he " just slips on a worm because they don't rise
very well," then he is not only a poacher but an unmitigated
" cad," who ought to be kicked off the premises.

HOW TO USE THE CREEPER 195

ON CRAB OR CREEPER-FISHING

Here, again, is a method of bait-fishing very widely indulged
in, which is really very deadly in skilful hands, and which might
be held poaching if any bait-fishing is, nevertheless it is not. The
crab or creeper is the larva of the stone fly, and may be found
running about amongst the stones on the wet strands of rivers
where the stone fly is plentiful, during the month of April and on
through much of May, according to the season, a week or two
sooner or later. In appearance it resembles strongly a black
insect which we used to call in my early youth the " Devil's
coach horses," an insect which perhaps will be recognised by
its habit of erecting its tail, or the latter half of its body, in the
air, when disturbed. I believe its proper name is the rose
beetle. Like to it is the creeper, save that it has horns or
feelers on the head, and somewhat similar appendages to the
tail. It is not a prepossessing looking insect. It is very active,
and not so very easy to catch. However, the laddies by the
river-side will always collect the angler a good stock of them
for a consideration if they are to be obtained.

The method of using the creeper very much resembles that
used in lob worm fishing in the larger brooks and rivers, but
with this remarkable difference, that whereas the lob worm
is most deadly when the water is coloured slightly, the creeper
is most deadly when it is low and bright. The later the creeper
can be fished in the season the better the chance is with trout.
The method of using it is as follows : The gut should, of course,
be of the finest, some two or three yards ; the hook a straight-
bend No. 7, with a longish shank. Some people prefer two
smaller hooks, one above the other, the lower hook hooked
crosswise through the tail, and the upper through the thorax ;
and doubtless with a tender bait like this, this plan is worth
consideration. I generally, however, when I have used it,
employed but one hook, as above ; but to prevent the fly
sUpping down to the bend of the hook, I lash into the shank of
the hook a short bristle, leaving about a quarter of an inch of it
pointing out and upwards towards the gut, and this prevents
the bait from slipping down, while it forms no resistance
whatever to baiting. Choose the creeper with the most yellow
about it (as we believe do the trout) for preference. This, I
fancy, is the female, and trout favour the feminine gender with
more flies than the stone fly. Take the hook and insert the
point at the top of the thorax, threading the bait upon the

196 A BOOK ON ANGLING

hook, as it were, until the point comes out about the middle
of the belly, and the insect hangs pretty straight upon the
hook, the shank buried in the body, and but the point visible.
Great care is required in casting, as the bait is very tender,
and therefore the line should not greatly exceed the length of
the rod, unless the angler be very skilful. No shot is necessary
unless the water be heavy. In ordinary streams it will sink
to mid-water easily enough, where it will for the most part
be taken. If the water be heavy, however, a single large shot
will do. Bite it on a foot above the hook. It is almost im-
possible to fish creepers properly without wading. Enter the
stream, stooping cautiously if the water happen to be very
open and thin, and cast upwards and outwards, letting the
bait come down almost level with the place where you stand,
lifting the bait by raising the point of the rod slightly now
and then, if you have reason to suppose that it is getting
near the bottom, taking a careful step, or even two, upwards,
at every cast or so. Try the edges of streams just out of the
rough water, the turn of an eddy, the eye of the stream, and
where it commences to turn off under overhanging banks or
trees with a fair stream under them, the tails of rough pools —
anywhere where good fish may be on the watch, save still water,
where it is next to useless to try it. The eye should detect
the bite before the hand does. If you wait for the hand to
denote to you the " jog, jog " a good trout gives when he takes
a bait, ten to one you will be too late. As the bait never does,
or never ought to, touch the bottom (as, being so tender, it is
very soon destroyed), the instant the line checks as it comes
down-stream towards you don't wait to wonder what it may
be, but strike. The loss or damage of your bait is certain in
either case, whether you have a bait and miss it, or whether
you take hold of a stick, weed, or stone, so you may as well
strike and chance it. Do not strike too hard. Strike quickly,
lightly, and firmly ; and as the best fish come at the creeper,
get them down to you as soon as possible, and with as little ado,
so as not to disturb the others above. The greatest nuisance
of this fishing is that you are so perpetually called upon to renew
your bait, for every run, every stroke, and every hitch destroys
it. Perhaps the most deadly time of any to use the creeper
is about the period when the chief transition from creeper to
fly is going on ; and he is a muff who with a fair chance in his
favour cannot fill a basket with good trout then.
A tiny fly-box, of funnel shape, with a small exit, is the best

I

BEETLE-FISHING 197

thing to keep them in ; and there are few tackle shops but sell
such boxes. The creeper may be kept either in water or with-
out. If you wish to keep a number of them, probably a large
box with perforated zinc top, and a layer of large pebbles at
the bottom, only half submerged in water, so that the insects
may suit their own convenience, would be preferable. For a
day's fishing, they may be carried in a dry box.

BEETLE-FISHING

Various beetles, both land and water, may be used in pre-
cisely the same way as the creeper. Anglers do not, as a rule,
pay half enough attention to the various species of Coleoptera
on which the trout feed. Yet the importance of this kind of
food, not only to trout but to many other sorts of fish, may be
seen by cutting open a trout when they are perhaps rising
badly, when a large proportion of the contents of the fish's
stomach will be found to be beetles ; and a good basket may
often be made either with the natural or artificial beetle when
the fish are not rising to the fly. In mentioning the real
beetle, of course its use would be confined only to those waters
where bait-fishing is legitimate. The best land-beetles to use
are the coch-y-bondu, Marlow buzz, or fern-webb, of which
I have already spoken. It may be found plentifully in many
places in June and July. Similar to it is the cowdung-beetle,
found under cowdung of some days' standing ; but there are
many others which may be used on an emergency, and which
will be found to kill well. Water-beetles are very numerous,
and will, of course, also be found valuable aids to the fisherman.
The method of using them is similar to that described in creeper-
fishing. The artificial beetle will be found very useful at times,
and I recommend it as much the pleasantest way of fishing
beetle ; and as much skill and quickness, and perhaps even
more, will be required than is necessary in the manipulation
of the artificial fly, because the angler will not have the ad-
vantage of seeing a rise, but will have to judge from his sense
of feeling and the motion of the line. If the line stops suddenly
he should strike at once, not waiting for the tug at the rod-top ;
but in all cases he should strike Hghtly, or he may destroy his
bait even if there should be no bite. The artificial beetle should
be made by tying three strands of gut, stained almost black,
firmly crosswise to the hook shank. Then tie a bunch of some
long strands of any brown or mottled feather which will best

198 A BOOK ON ANGLING

imitate the wing cases, on at the tail of the hook. Next tie on
peacock or ostrich herl at the same place, and wind the silk up
to the bend ; in doing so two strips of lead may be bound on
to the shank to give it weight. Then wind on the herl for the
body, and tie it off neatly ; bring the brown strands up to the
bend tightly, to form the back, and tie it off ; then tie a bit of
silk tightly round over all to separate the body and form the
thorax. Cuts of two artificial beetles may be seen at Plate X,
Figs. 5 and 6, page 219.

ON WORM-FISHING

There are two methods of worm-fishing — one which I am
excessively partial to, and one which I care nothing about.
The first and simplest is the dolce far niente of trout fishing ;
and I know nothing more pleasant than wandering dreamily
away up amongst the hills by the side of some tiny beck, new
to the angler, with no sound but the plover, or the curlew, or
the distant tinkle of the drowsy bell-wether ; no encumbrance
but a light rod ; no bother about what flies will or will not
suit ; no tackle beyond a yard of gut and two or three hooks
in a piece of brown paper ; a small bag of moss with well-
scoured worms within ; a sandwich or a cold mutton chop —
the latter for preference — ^in one pocket, and a flask of the dew
" that shines in the starlight when kings dinna ken '* in the
other. Far, far beyond all care ; away from rates, taxes, and
telegrams ; where there are neither division lists, nor
law Hsts, nor stock lists, nor share lists, nor price lists,
nor betting lists, nor any list whatever ; where no news-
paper can come to worry or unsettle you, and where
you don't care a straw how the world wags ; where your
chents are trouts, your patients worms, your congregation
mountain black-faces, water-ousels, and dabchicks ; your
court, hospital, or church the pre- Adamite hills with the eternal
sky above them ; your inspiration the pure breeze of heaven,
far, far above all earthly corruption. Here, in delightful
solitude, sauntering or scrambUng on, and on, and on, and on,
upwards and upwards, from wee pooHe to fern-clad cascade ;
casting or dropping the worm into either, or guiding it deftly
under each hollow bank and past each rugged stone, pulHng
out a trout here and a trout there in the fair summer weather,
V. th now a whiff of wild, thyme or fragrant gorse, and now a

WORM-FISHING FOR TROUT 199

shaugh of the pipe, and an amazed and charmed gaze at the
mountain crags above, and the ever-changing scenery of the
hills as the clouds flit over them, with just sport enough to
give amusement without enchaining the attention so much as
to prevent us drinking in all the delights that nature spreads
for us — this, this is to my mind the true dehght of angling.
This was my first experience, my first angling love, and will
be my last. What though you never get a fish over half a
pound ? Why, the half-pounder is as much the hero of your
day as the two-pounder is of your more pretentious friend,
who spent the day up to his middle in the main river, and
never noticed a thing all day but blue duns and fluttering
willow-fiies. And you do not indulge in such a ramble for the
sake of showing your fish against all comers, but for solitude
and self-communion among scenes that tell no lies and brook
none.

There is not much to learn, apparently, in this kind of fishing,
and yet it is astonishing what queer and unlikely places an
adept will pull the little speckled fellows out of, which a tyro
would deem hopeless. A hook of Nos. 5, 6, or 7, or of the
straight round CarUsle bend, is all that you need, with some
four feet of moderately fine gut ; no shot or sinkers — the
gravity of the worm itself is sufficient. Any kind of worms
do, but the toughest are the best ; and very small dew or lob
worms answer the purpose, if you can get enough of them,
better than others. Put the hook in at the head (not, as some
prefer it, at the side) ; string the worm on down till there is
but half an inch of tail left beyond the point. Now you are
ready. Yonder is a small cascade some two feet in width ;
drop the worm into it, and let the stream take it where it will.
Soh ! No sooner is it clear of the down draught, and near
the edge of the little basin, than there is a " pluck, pluck " at
the hne. Drop the point of the rod for a brief second to let
him get the worm in his mouth ; then give a short sharp stroke,
and a lift of the rod-point, and you pull the little rascal out
flopping on the bank, a noble quarter-of-a-pounder. Never
mind ; on with another worm and try again. Let it run close
imder that bank. " Dab ! " your line goes under it with a
shoot. Ah ! you did not drop the point quick enough ; he
felt the check, and has left it. Don't worry him — leave him,
and he may take in a few minutes, but not if you show him
the worm too often. Now try by the side of that stone, and
steer nicely through that little channel, cut between the rocks.

200 A BOOK ON ANGLING

See, the line stops again ; lift it gently, 'tis but a stick or a
piece of weed. Now it stops once more, and by the tremulous
motion of the line it is a fish — pull him out ; " and so on."
The great object in this kind of fishing is to let the worm roll
along naturally, and to steer the line clear of all obstacles, so
that no check may occur while working the worm through
and round every likely hole, stone, or hanging bank. You
never need try even the hkeliest looking place more than
twice, for usually the bait will be taken even at the first swim,
if it is taken at all. Of course the angler must make himself
as invisible as he can ; and when an open or clear shallow bit
occurs, he must cast up-stream and fish it down towards
himself if he wants to catch fish in it. When the angler has a
bite, he must drop the point of the rod for a second or two,
and then strike ; and when he strikes, if the fish do not prove
too heavy, he must lift him out smartly with the point of the
rod and drop him upon the bank. In this manner of fishing in
some of the little becks in Cornwall when a boy I have pulled
out five and six dozen of bright little trout in a day's fishing,
not one of which would perhaps reach half a pound. The
angler can, of course, if he likes, use Mr. Stewart's tackle,
when he can strike at the slightest touch without waiting, but
as there are three hooks, although he will perhaps catch more
fish, he will much more often experience the annoyance of
being hung up in the thousand and one obstructions that
abound in such becks. Added to this, he does not want to
skin the stream, but to have a pleasant fishing ramble and to
leave some fish for another day.

In larger brooks or in rivers, worm-fishing becomes alto-
gether a different affair. It is more often adopted when the
rain has swelled and thickened the streams than at any other
times. Many of the best worm-fishers, however, follow it
with great success when the water is low and clear. To succeed
well, however, at such times, it is necessary to fish with very
fine tackle, and to use the best precautions not to be seen by
the fish. When the water is thick this is needless. In electing
to fish worm in thick water, always choose the day when the
water is first rising and thickening if possible, as that is the
time when all the fish in the river will be abroad and on the
watch for food. If you put off going out till the next day you
may find them gorged with the food the flood has brought
down, and on the next day, if the flood holds, you will be sure
to, and your chance is even worse still, and you must give

I

I

WORM TACKLE 201

them a day or two to recover from their surfeit before they
will take well. At such times, however, the in-shore eddies and
thin water close to the banks will always give a few fish to the
fly or the minnow.

The length of your rod for worm-fishing must always
depend somewhat upon the size of the river and nature of the
water you are going to fish. It should not be less than from
thirteen to fourteen feet long, and may be as much longer as
you can conveniently handle. It should be of the lightest cane,
moderately stiff, but not too stiff, with some extra play in the
top- joint, as you often have to cast worm like a fly ; and you
will find it of some advantage to have a good-sized ring at the
top of the rod, and to see that your sinkers or leads, if you use
them, are so arranged that they will pass freely through the
top rings. Many a line and hook have I saved from destruction
by just drawing the line through the rings when I got hung
up in a bit of stick, stone, or a snag, until by thrusting the rod
point down under water till the top ring reached the hook,
I managed to clear it. There is nothing so annoying as to
break your line and to have to sit down and rig up a fresh one,
when the fish are well on the feed. Every moment lost is a
fish lost. A little care and attention at the outset will obviate
all this. The line should be light, and of fine dressed eight-
plait silk (dressed twist will do almost as well) ; the gut cast'
suited to the water. In thick water it may be tolerably stout.
The weights should be small rolled pieces of thin sheet lead,
such as roll-plummets are made of, as these can be taken off,
and put on, and reduced with an ease which split shot does
not permit of ; added to this, they do not bruise the line like
split shot, nor do they take such hold of obstructions on the
P bottom. The tackle to be used may be either the single hook
before mentioned, or a size or so larger, on which a well-scoured,
good-sized dew worm, or two brandlings, etc., may be impaled ;
or three small single fly-hooks, tied at short intervals on the
gut, and pointing in opposite directions, may be employed.
This tackle which I have already once or twice referred to,
previously, is a very successful one indeed, and is used a good
deal in the North and on the Border. It is called Stewart's
tackle, because Mr. Stewart is supposed to have invented it,
or, at any rate, to have introduced it to the pubUc. When the
fish are coming shyly at the worm, this tackle will kill three fish
for one taken by the single hook, and its superiority becomes
most clear and manifest.

202 A BOOK ON ANGLING

To bait a single hook with two brandlings, put the point of
the hook in at the head of the worm, and bring it out about
the middle ; pull the barb through, and draw the worm up
the shank of the hook out of the way ; * then take the second
worm, put the point into the middle of the worm, and thread
it on the hook up towards the head, leaving about half an inch
of head beyond the point of the hook ; draw down the first
worm until it meets the second, and the hook is baited.

To fish, however, with small worms, as brandlings or red
worms, requires a neat touch and a light hand, as the slightest
snap from a trout, such as none but a very practised worm-
fisher would detect, is sufficient to tear and spoil the worm ;
and the young hand had better graduate at tough dew-worms
until he acquires skill.

To bait Stewart's tackle, take a worm (or even two if needed),
and stick the small hooks through it in various places, taking
a turn of the worm round the gut between each hook, as shown
in Plate IX, Figs. 2 and 3, page 211.

When the big hook is used, the trout often takes the bend
or only the shank in its mouth, and either feels the steel within
or the drag upon the worm, and quickly rejects it, and as the
point is not in his mouth, a strike merely alarms him without
hooking him ; but it is next to impossible for a fish to take
any part of the worm in his mouth with Stewart's tackle with-
out having one or two of the hooks in his mouth.

In worm-fishing, it is often indispensable to wade. Indeed,
in nine times out of ten, particularly in fine water fishing, the
angler will have to wade more or less. In thick water he may
avoid this somewhat. He must, of course, wade up-stream,
casting into every likely spot as far as he can above him, allow-
ing the bait to roll down-stream until it travels down level
with him. The side of a big stone or rock, the edge of sharp
streams, narrow runs between weeds or stones, the gravelly
tails of pools or just before a rapid, under bridges or by bridge
piers, by over-hanging banks, and at times even in deep holes,
are all places to be fished carefully. In what I have called
** the eye " of a stream (i.e. the first eddy off the commence-
ment of a rapid or stream on the side towards which the stream
bends), the experienced worm-fisher will always look for a
bite, if he has one in the stream at all, as here the trout always

* In baiting a worm, a small bag of sand to dip the worm into will greatly
facilitate the operation by enabUng the thumb and finger to take a firm
hold.— F. F.

FISHING WITH WORM 203

lie watching for the first chance of the food that comes down.
If the young angler will note carefully, he will see that small
sticks, straws, flies, and whatever may come down, usually
take a turn round this eddy before they are swept down-
stream. As the rapid narrows where it makes its shoot, all
food is brought together in a small compass, and is also swept
into this eye, where the best trout lie expecting it.

In casting a worm, it is advisable to commence with a line
no longer than the rod, and this may be increased while throw-
ing in the usual way. In bringing out the line behind over
the shoulder, the return must not be made so abruptly as it
is with the fly, or the worm will speedily be whipped off or torn,
but while bringing the rod to the forward motion a much
wider and rounder sweep must be made. The line must be
perfectly extended, with the worm at the extreme end of it,
and, if I may so express it, " at rest," before the return is made.
The worm will consequently fall so low that it touches the
surface of the water before it is again impelled forward, and,
if a good worm-fisher is watched when at work, this will be
seen constantly to take place. To get into the regular swing,
to do it neatly, and to cast accurately, require a good deal of
practice ; and an expert worm-fisher can cast a good long line
with a worm at the end neatly and effectively. If the water
be coloured, a line a trifle longer than the rod is sufficient, and
the underhand lift or throw will answer all purposes ; but
clear water requires a longer line and more careful manipula-
tion.

In fishing with the worm, more particularly with the single
hook, when you are not mid-water fishing but are letting the
bait ground, you should always cast so far up-stream as to
permit the worm to reach the bottom just above the point
where you expect fish, so that it may come trundling along
over the favourite feeding-ground like the natural and free
bait. In this style of fishing, when the worm enters the water,
sink the point of the rod towards the surface, to allow it freely
to find the bottom ; but when you have reason to believe
that it has reached it, or nearly so, gradually raise the point
as the line comes home towards you ; but you are to remark
that this must only be done so as to draw up the slack fine,
not pulling upon the worm in any way. Indeed, the progress
of the worm should neither be hastened nor retarded in the
least by any act of the angler's, but it should be allowed to
come down as if it had neither line nor hook attached to it.

I

204 A BOOK ON ANGLING

When the line stops in its downward career, an experienced
angler can for the most part tell at once whether the stoppage
is caused by the bite of a fish, or whether the sinkers or worm
have lodged in a weed, stick, or stone. There is an abruptness,
a tremulous motion, sometimes a slight movement of the line,
which tells the angler at once, without any " tug, tug," or
feel by the hand, that it is a fish. When you see this, drop
the point of the rod for a second or two, as if the fish feels
any restraint on the worm, he will, unless very hungry indeed,
at once reject it, and you will certainly lose your fish. Having
given a second or two, strike firmly, play boldly, and land as
soon as possible.

This is what you must do if you are fishing with the large
single hook. If you are fishing, however, with Mr. Stewart's
tackle, you need give no time, as this is used for the most part
with light sinkers in mid-water, or at any rate clear of the
bottom, and the instant the line stops you strike. This is a
great advantage over the old plan, in which when the line
stopped, if you were not certain that it was a fish, you either
had to " feel " him or to strike at once.

Feehng the fish is dangerous work. It consists in raising
the point of the rod so as to tighten the line sufficiently to
enable you to feel the " tug, tug, tug " made by the fish in
detaining the worm ; but this, as I have said, is not safe,
being merely the herald of a rejection of the worm, and when
you strike you find the fish has left you. If, on the other hand,
you strike at once on suspicion, one or two things may happen,
viz. either the fish will not have got the large hook sufficiently
into his mouth, or, failing in its being a fish at all, you will
take such fast hold of root, stick, or stone, that the greatest
difficulty in dislodging the hold without a breakage will
ensue.

Although worm-fishing is not very clean and delicate when
compared with artificial fly-fishing, it requires no little skill,
and the fish has many more chances in his favour, particularly
when the single hook is used, than the angler who is unac-
quainted with it would be disposed to imagine, for the moder-
ately skilful angler will certainly not kill one fish for every two
bites which he gets, and often not for every three, even when
the fish are inchned to take worm, which is not every day ;
while the unskilful angler will feel tug after tug, and, unless
the fish are savagely hungry, will not kill one in six. I am of
course speaking of localities where the trout are accustomed

FISHING WITH WORM 20^

to be fished for with a worm, not in unsophisticated preserves
where we may say of a worm —

Oh, no ! we never mention it.
Its name is never heard ;

and the majority, certainly, of south-country fishermen' will
be disposed to add, " and a good job too." Still there are
districts where its use is universal, and where to stop its use
would be to stop the sport of hundreds, and to interdict fishing
for at least one half of the fishing days in the season.

CHAPTER VIII

SPINNING FOR TROUT

Spinning for Large Trout — Spinning for Trout in Small Streams — ^The
Par-Tail — The Grayling

I NOW come to spinning for trout. The very best spinners
for large trout in the world are Thames fishermen. It is
a sight worth seeing to watch a well-practised hand
standing on a weir beam, and working his bait in every
eddy, behind piles, and under the apron or sheathing ; now
sending it far away down the stream by a light swing of the
arm, now pitching it dexterously under the broken water
of the fall, and skimming along from bay to bay, so that not
one inch of hkely water remains unfished ; all the while
gathering the line up in the palm of his left hand and giving it
out thence, so that no slack hangs about anywhere.

The way of casting a spinning-bait Thames fashion has
already been described in jack-fishing, and need not be repeated
here, as the modus operandi is the same for trout as for pike.
The rod should be a little longer than that used for jack-
fishing, but not so stout. Thames trout-rods are usually of
bamboo, the favourite length from fourteen to fifteen feet.
The line is of well-dressed fine eight-plait silk. The commonest
kind of tackle in use among the Thames trout-fishers precisely
resembles that used for jack-fishing, shown in Plate IV, Fig. i,
p. 76. It is very seldom indeed that more than three triangles
and a lip-hook are used, and, of course, the flight of hooks
is tied upon gut, and not gimp ; and, being intended to take
a smaller bait, the hooks are smaller and tied on closer to-
gether. Some people occasionally use a reverse hook to
secure the bend next to the last triangle, but, though useful,
it is not indispensable. Some, again, use a single hook at the
tail. This hook, being a size or two larger, is hooked into the
tail, so as to make the bend of the hook form the crook. I

206

SPINNING FOR THAMES TROUT 207

prefer this plan, as it strengthens the hold on the tail and
makes the bait last longer. The great difficulty, however,
which I have always experienced in fishing for Thames trout
has been that the hooks are all so small that they take a bad
hold on the bait and a worse one on the fish ; and nine trout
out of every ten get off after being hooked, solely because
we have fished for a fish as large and powerful as a salmon,
and often in water as rough and heavy as that which salmon
are found in, but with roach hooks to hold him when hooked.
Can anything be more absurd ? The fish runs, is hooked, gives
one turn over in the stream, or perhaps is hauled about for
five minutes or more, and then off he goes, with a very strong
reminder that a bait which conducts itself in the fashion which
a spinning-bait does is not safe feeding. I could almost venture
to assert that there is not a trout of seven or eight pounds and
upwards in the Thames but has been served in this way half a
dozen times ; and then we marvel that Thames trout should
be such shy fish and so difficult to catch, whereas the only
wonder is that they ever run at a spinning bait at all, so
" well educated " as they are. It was, as I have said, to
remedy this that I invented my tackle, and subsequently
improved upon it by borrowing Mr. Pennell's tail-hook. The
only difference which I make between this tackle and that
which I use for pike is, that I employ only one triangle of
fair-sized hooks at the side of the bait above the big tail-
hook instead of two, and this is attached to the Hp-hook as in
the minnow tackle, shown in Plate IX, Fig. 7, p. 211.*
There are few tackles which hold the bait better together,
which keep it in spinning order longer (owing to the big grip
which the large hook takes on the tail of the bait), or which
are so little conspicuous to the gaze of so shy a fish as the
Thames trout ; and, added to this, if the angler hooks his fish
he may play him with vigour, as he ought to be played. These
I hold to be qualities which are certainly desirable in a tackle
where the fish are shy or the streams rough and heavy.

tSome Thames fishers, who like ten or a dozen hooks to
eir tackles, may say that there are not enough hooks in this
give a sufficient chance of hooking these fish. To this I

♦ Instead of the plain single tail-hook shown in the engraving, one of
Mr. Pennell's double reverse hooks should be used for large trout ; or the
angler can, if he prefers it, use this tackle exactly as it is figured, by employing
it and baiting it as prescribed for the pike at page 84. It is an admirable

kle either way.

I

2o8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

say, that, if the trout runs well and takes the bait fairly, there
are quite enough hooks to bring him to basket ; but, if he
runs badly, I would rather not hook him at all, as a sUght
hold followed by a scramble and a lose will certainly be the
result, and the trout is shy for weeks, if not for the season.
This is what I complain of in those many but small-hooked
tackles.

The trace to be employed in spinning for the Thames trout
should be as long as can be conveniently managed ; and
there should be from two to three feet of good round sound
trout-gut at least below the lead, which should be a " Field "
lead or one on a similar principle, to prevent kinking, with at
least two swivels below the lead. If three are used, they should
be doubled or joined, as recommended by Mr. Pennell ; this
gives great play to the bait. A large swivel at the head of the
trace, to connect the running-line, is all that is needed above
the lead if it be on the " Field " principle, as all the spinning
takes place below it. The trace above the lead should consist
of one strand of stouter single gut, one of double twisted, and
two of treble twisted. This makes up a very useful trace.

In spinning for these large trout, the brighter and more
attractive the bait is the better. A small dace or a small
bleak I always prefer to any other bait, as a gudgeon or loach.
It is desirable that they should spin evenly and well, if only to
prevent the quick-eyed trout from seeing the hooks about the
bait. All that I have said about putting a bait on jack tackle
will apply equally to trout ; the same rules must be observed
if the bait be required to spin well.

In the early part of the season the trout will be found in the
open streams ; but as the season advances, and the nights
get warm, and the water low and clear, they appear to draw
more up to the weirs. Perhaps bait is more plentiful there at
such times. Although it is the custom to fish for them with
a neat little bait about three and a half inches long, yet I have
known the best fish hooked with a large jack-bait and gimp-
tackle after they had been fished over with the usual small
baits for weeks in vain. Probably the larger bait tempted
them ; and, indeed, if the angler should see a Thames trout
feeding, he will more often see him chasing a large bait than
a small one.

Owing to their shyness of the spinning-bait., it has become
greatly the practice of late years to fish for them with a live
bait, sinking and drawing with but a couple of shot and a

WARINESS OF THAMES TROUT 209

single hook, or a triangle hooked through the nose, and a
long and Hght Une out. It is a mighty kiUing plan if the fish
be well on the feed, but is not so sportsmanhke a method as
spinning. Some even go the length of fishing the weirs with a
combination of paternoster and large float ; but this certainly
savours more of hot-hunting than sportsmanship, so I say no
more of it than that the practice does prevail.

The great art and mystery of Thames trout-fishing is
unwearied perseverance. If the angler can make up his mind,
when he has " spotted " a fish, to sit and spin over him for
hours, and keep up his expectation of a run for every minute
in the twenty-four, perhaps for a week or more, he may, if he
has luck, get a fish in the course of a week or two ; but even
then it is no certainty. His best chance is early in the morning,
before the fish have been disturbed by boats and barges or by
other anglers. More trout are killed when they come on the
feed for the first time in the day than in all the twenty-four
hours besides, because they have had a long rest, and are sure
to be more sharp set and less suspicious.

In fishing a weir, I have often seen anglers standing upright
on the beam fishing the edge of the apron almost at their feet,
in the expectation of running a trout. If they would consider
the fine statuesque reUef against the clear sky behind, which
they present to the wary and astonished eyes of the fish,
by so exposing themselves to view, they would better under-
stand why they do sit and stand for hours and hours on such
places without getting a run. Is a Thames trout such a fool
as to take a suspicious looking bait, with the angler staring
down his throat in the most conspicuous place possible, and
within five yards or less of him ? Why, a trumpery little half-
pound trout, that has never tasted steel or seen a bunch of
feathers in his life, would not stand that ; and how can anglers
expect the shyest fish that swims to do so ? The proper plan
is to take the punt up above the weir, to let it fall against the
uprights and lie there ; then, by pushing the rod between
the handles of the paddles and the rymers, to fish not only the
white water close up to the apron, but the apron itself. Many
a good trout is hooked upon the apron, where he rests (as
good trout will) close to the fall, picking up quietly whatever
comes down it that is edible ; but which good trout will
inevitably dash off the apron into the depths below the instant
the angler sets his foot upon the weir beam. The angler
should send the fisherman below the weir with the net. Let

210 A BOOK ON ANGLING

him get a spare boat, if it is required, and lie on the shore
close up, while his master jfishes the weir across, gently pushing
the punt on from bay to bay, and never showing himself to
the fish. If a fish is hooked the fisherman rows out and lands
him, rebaits the hooks, and retires, while his master finishes
the weir.

Unfortunately there is little chance for these precautions
nowadays, for, whenever you go near a weir, you are sure
to see one if not two fishermen perched, like Caryatides, at
each corner, lazily staring out of countenance every fish that
moves. And the worst of it is that they are always fishing,
whether they have a customer or not. The consequence is
that gentlemen are gradually, but surely, leaving the Thames
trout-fishing altogether to the fishermen ; and the fishermen
are beginning to experience the evil effects of their attempt
" to eat their cake and have it too." Another practice common
among Thames trout fishers, too, is to fish with very stout
salmon gut, which is not only quite unnecessary, but greatly
increases the chances against them.

So much for the Thames trout-fishing. I have, though
formerly most patient and persevering, always found it a
highly unsatisfactory pursuit. Of late years, however, many
very good fish have been taken with the fly, and, as the Thames
fishermen are not generally up to this, these have been chiefly,
if not altogether, taken by gentlemen. The flies they affect
are the stone fly, red palmer. May fly, alder and cinnamon,
dressed large, or a fly with a silver twist body and a bunch of
peacock herl for the wing, which they have a great fancy for ;
but whether they mistake it for a fly or a minnow I do not
pretend to say. Trout of seven and eight pounds weight
have not unfrequently thus been taken ; and, if there was a
larger stock of big flies, like the stone and May fly, in the
river, so as to tempt the fish to look after that kind of food, it
cannot be doubted that many more fish would thus be taken.
I have heard of many good fish also being taken with grilse
flies.

SPINNING FOR TROUT IN SMALL STREAMS

We now come to spinning for the smaller trout in lesser
rivers and in brooks. The rod for this must be lighter than
the Thames rod, so as to be wielded easily with one hand.

PLATE IX.

To face Page 211.

Tackle For Minnow Spinning, Etc.

SPINNING TACKLE 211

It must be also more slender, and with more play, as both
bait and sinkers are of smaller size and lighter weight, and
therefore require rather more spring to cast them easily.
No better rod for minnow spinning can be made than the three-
jointed bamboo rod, which I have described as a double hand
fly rod, the top being made suitable to the requirements, and it
does equally well as I have stated for worm-fishing. Some
anglers, however, might fancy it over long, and they can
shorten it if they please. A good many friends of mine took a
strong fancy to it, and had patterns of it made.

But to go back to our tackle. The Une should be of the
finest dressed eight-plait, or even fine dressed Derby twist
will answer, so that it may run as freely as possible. The
spinning trace should be of fine gut below the lead, and of
moderately fine above it ; that is, if the angler uses a lead,
as I advise him to, in order to avoid the twisting and kinking
of his hne, which will surely happen, to his annoyance, if he uses
the common plan of biting three or four large shot on his trace.
Indeed, save that the lead should be about half the weight, I
recommend the same plan and pattern as that recommended
for the Thames — a small " Field " lead, will prevent all kinking,
and answers the purpose well. The bait should be about
two and a half feet below the lead ; as much gut as the angler
chooses may be used above it. Two swivels should be used
below the lead, and one to fasten the trace to the running
line.

For the form of hooks to be employed, I recommend the
set shown in the adjoining Plate IX, Fig. 5 ; the mode
in which it is baited is shown at Fig. 6. This is something
upon Colonel Hawker's principle, whose tackle, Mr. Pennell
reminds us, was invented by Salter. I again record the fact,
not that I think there is much to be proud of, as it is a very
clumsy affair. The tackle I have given occurred to me from
finding that the tackle shown in Plate IX, Fig. 4 (which is
commonly used in the north), though simple enough, missed
a great many runs. No doubt a great many anglers, having
experienced the same thing before, may have used the same
method to remedy this that I did. I never saw it previously,
however, though I have since. This tackle gets rid of the
double strand of gut in Hawker's and Salter's tackle, which
I look on as exceedingly objectionable";} indeed I would

I almost as soon have gimp tackle at once. It also disposes of
the leaden cap, which is the worst substitute for sinkers and
i

212 A BOOK ON ANGLING

lip-hooks that could possibly be devised — deforming the
minnow into a tadpole, pressing it down the gut by its weight
until it can hardly help describing a semicircle, and serving
to destroy the bait, which rather requires to be kept by a hp-
hook in its place to give it proper spinning power. If a fish
runs at the head he is missed for the want of a lip-hook, and if
a flying triangle be wished for, in addition to the tackle I
recommend, the dotted Hne in Fig. 5 shows how it may be
obtained.

All these three tackles — that is, including Hawker's or
Salter's — are baited in the same way. The bait generally
is a minnow. The point of the large hook is put in at the
mouth of the minnow, and is kept as close as possible to the
spine until the minnow is worked on to the hook ; the point
is brought out at the tail. A sufficient crook is then left for
the tail on the bend of the hook ; and in the first and last
patterns th? hp-hook is shpped through the Up. In Fig. 5
the triangle is fixed at the shoulder, and the angler can try
how he likes it on the reverse side to the big hook. If it does
not allow the bait to spin well (as it does not sometimes), it
can be easily shifted to the near side ; if the bait spins well,
however, it increases the chance of hooking a fish when he
runs at the off side. The lip-hook never sUdes, because with a
Uttle humouring almost any reasonable minnow can be got on
the hook and made to spin ; but if the angler wants a shding
Hp-hook, he has only to adopt the tackle at Fig. 7.

These are the best, and indeed the only large hook tackles
worth notice. Some anglers, however, prefer two or three
small triangles and a Hp-hook on a reduced Thames scale ;
but there is no small hook tackle that can be named in the
same day with the large ones for effectiveness. Some use
small double hooks instead of triangles ; two or three doubles,
and a Hp-hook. It is a matter of choice ; I prefer the larger
hook myself, as not being nearly so Hkely to lose the fish when
hooked. If, however, triangle or double hook tackles be used,
the rules given for Thames trouting or pike spinning with
these tackles on a larger scale will equally apply. To make
it spin well, however, a minnow should be bent rather more
than a dace or gudgeon. If the reader will glance at the
engraving of the baited tackle in Plate IX, Fig. 6, page 211,
he win form a better idea of the method than any mere
directions can afford him.

There is another tackle used by some anglers, sometimes

MINNOW-FISHING 213

called the bead or drop minnow. The tackle is made and
is used much after the same system as that shown in Plate V,
Fig. 7, page 78, as being employed by the Nottingham
spinners. From the junction of the lip-hook depends a pear-
shaped pellet of lead, secured to the tackle by a small ring.
The tackle is not reeved through the gill as in the Nottingham
plan, but the bead of lead is forced into the minnow's mouth,
which is then closed by means of the lip-hook, the first triangle
being hooked in just behind the back fin, so as to give the bait
a bend, the second triangle hanging loose just beyond the tail.
It is by no means a bad tackle for a small hooked pattern, but
I do not Hke the plan of putting lead inside the minnow ;
baits thus treated very soon wear out and cut through at
the gills and throat ; the bait too, is rather apt to wobble
in this method of baiting. This form of tackle is much com-
mended by Mr. Pennell in his Book of the Pike.

Before using minnow tackle, the angler should always
soak it well, as everything works and spins better after a soak-
ing than when stiff and hard. All the swivels, too, should be
looked to that they may work in the freest possible manner
and without a hitch ; and if any swivel does not work well,
and cannot by oiUng or greasing and working be got into good
order, it is better to discard it and use another, as in practice
it will be found useless.

The minnows may be carried in a small tin box, strapped
to the left side, as in the natural May fly-fishing ; and as at
times there may be a good deal of wading, and the angler
may have to bait while wading, which is an awkward job
unless he walks out of the water to the bank, which is not
always desirable, the angler should have buttoned to his hip
a leather socket to fit the butt of his rod. You will find, brother
angler, a wonderful comfort in this ; for example, when land-
ing your fish, put the butt in the socket, and hold your rod by
the left hand ; you then have perfect command over your
fish without any strain on the arm, and you have your right
hand perfectly free to work the net and lift the fish out ; when
you have lifted him out and disposed of your net, the rod
rests in the hollow of the arm, and both hands can be employed
upon the fish and the hooks.

And now as to casting. Unless you are casting long casts
from the bank, you do not adopt the Thames style, but with
a long rod, and rather more line out than the length of the rod,
' ^ou swing the bait upwards by the underhand swing. This is

214 A BOOK ON ANGLING

the general plan, but I adopt a much better one, and get out
more line than can be got out in this way, by adopting the
method described at page 45 in Nottingham dace-fishing.
By this plan the angler can get out nearly twice the length
of his rod ; and that is enough to work pleasantly with.

Some fishermen fish up-stream and some down ; but though
drawing down-stream has some advantages, yet in doing so
the angler must spin faster than is quite advisable. To throw
slantwise across and downwards when the water is at all
coloured, and upwards, perhaps, when it is clear, if it be found
desirable from the shyness of the fish, may be considered the
best plan generally. I do not like spinning the minnow either
directly up or down-stream. If the angler is wading, he can
either wade down or up, according to the above rule, casting
upon either hand as he goes, and drawing the bait round into
the stream below with a steady and moderately fast sweep.
While the bait is making the bend round into the stream is,
in nine times out of ten, the moment when the fish takes it.
Do not spin too fast, or you run away from the fish, but spin
just fast enough to make the bait spin well, which it should
do easily. If a fish makes a dash in the water at the bait,
but misses it, spin steadily on as though he had not done so,
and he may come again. For although a trout may once in a
way take a bait when it is checked (and I have known them
even to pick it off the bottom), yet a sudden stoppage is more
likely to alarm than reassure the already shy fish. There
are only certain parts of a stream where fish take the minnow
well : for instance, in the rough water at the head of the
stream for a few yards, and again, though not so well, at the
extreme tail ; the body of the stream seldom gives many fish.
I do not mean to say that the angler will not get one now and
then, particularly if the fish are plentiful ; but by far the best
place for the minnow is the first few yards of each stream.*
Dull pools, as a matter of course, are not commended for
minnow, though at times any water will give fish to the minnow
if they are there ; but sharp ratthng or swiftly ghding water
is far preferable.

When a fish runs, some anglers hit him hard, and some
raise the point of the rod and tighten the Une, and hold on to

* This, of course, applies chiefly to streams where minnow is habitually
used. In streams where it is not commonly used the trout will take it almost
anywhere, even in almost still water for a time ; but they soon become
aware of it. — F. F,

PRESERVED BAITS 215

him for a second. I think a strike is preferable. If a fish will
stand striking tolerably sharply you know that the hook is
home. If he will not, it is better to be quit of him at once than
to disturb the water by playing him, and then to lose him after
all. I am sure that many good fish are lost by not striking, or
rather not striking sharp enough ; but do not on any account
strike until you feel the tug of the fish — if you do you will often
scare him. The best time for the minnow is at the commence-
ment of a flood, when the water is rising, as the fish are then all
over the water in search of the food that is beginning to come
down.

The same plan may be used for preserving minnows as I
have recommended for large trout and jack-baits, namely, of
preserving them in spirits of wine.* It is a far better one than
the common plan of salting, as salting the minnows renders
them soft, so that every run will be hkely to cost you a fresh
bait whether you get a fish or no, while the colour and brilHancy
are much impaired. One thing, however, I have remarked,
and I have heard other anglers remark the same thing, though
it may only be a fancy difficult to prove, viz. that trout seem
to like the flavour of a salted minnow, and, after missing it,
often dash at it more savagely than they do at a fresh one.
I may say, too, that the very best trout I ever caught in my
life, weighing twelve pounds and a quarter, and which I have
now in a case (it was beautifully set up by Cooper, that prince
of fish stuffers) , was caught with a salted dace ; and the fish
took it so greedily that he almost swallowed it, some of the
hooks being nearly in his throat. There may be something in
this, or there may be nothing beyond the trout being hungry ;
but, as I have said, I have heard other anglers make the same
remark, and I see no reason why a fish should not indulge
in a taste.

With regard to spinning a minnow in small trout rivers,
I have only this advice to give : do not do it if it be a fair
fly-fishing stream, and the stream be in at all fly-fishing order ;
you spoil the sport, probably, of many others who may be

(fly-fishing after you, for a slight increase of sport for your-
self— a very selfish consideration, and very exasperating to the
others. Indeed, were I the owner of a good trout stream, I
would allow neither minnow, worm, live-fly, nor night-fishing ;
when the trout will not take the fly fairly before dark, they

I should have the benefit of their knowledge. Large bags would
* See first footnote on p. 86. — Ed,

2i6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

not be made thus, but moderate sport in fair weather would
be got through the season. In some rivers much of the water
is heavy and not very favourable mayhap for fly-fishing, and
spinning is therefore allowed ; but I say, never mind the heavy
waters, they will form reservoirs or depots whence the shallower
fly-fishing portions can be kept stocked, for the good fish will
come on to the shallows at times to feed, and one good fish
caught with the fly is worth three caught with minnow, in
point of sport. If, however, it be held indispensable that
minnow should be allowed, do not let it clash with the fly,
but prohibit it until the latter end of the season, when it may
be used for a limited time when the fly becomes only doubtfully
attractive.

Very few words are suflicient for par-tail fishing, as the
method is precisely similar to minnow spinning. The tackle
almost invariably used is that shown in Plate IX, Fig. 5,
page 211. To cut a par-tail bait : take a sharp knife and slice
the Httle fish through from the fore part of the dorsal fin to
midway between the anal and ventral fins, cut off the fins,
thread the big hook down through the bait, beginning at the
tail, and bending the fine end of the cut on the bend of the
hook to give the twist, hook on the lip-hook, and let the tri-
angle hang loose. N.B. Take particular care the water-
bailiff does not note your operations, or you will very probably
be fined for killing salmon fry ; for this reason I say little
about the par-tail, but I feel bound to notice it, as it is a style
which has prevailed, chiefly in the north, for many years.

In spinning in lakes, the style of tackle recommended for
Thames trout should be used. It should be pretty heavily
weighted, the line paid out some forty or fifty yards behind
the boat, the rod depending over either quarter of the stern.
The water between deep and shallow will be found the favourite
lay for good fish ; then row slowly and steadily along, trailing
the bait behind. In all other matters, much that I have
already said as to lake-fishing will apply.

THE GRAYLING (Thymallus vulgaris)

I have a very high opinion of this fish. If the trout be
the gentleman of the streams, the grayUng is certainly the
lady, and I think it in some respects little inferior to the
trout, andJn;^others superior to him ; for example, grayling

HABITS OF THE GRAYLING 217

seldom become so shy as trout do. There are many well-
whipped streams where, after the middle of July, unless
specially favoured by the water and weather, you have little
or no hope of getting a trout of any size to move until dusk
or almost dark ; yet come upon a bit of grayHng water in such
streams, and you are almost as Hkely to take a brace of gray-
ling in August as you are in May. The grayling suppUes, too,
capital fly-fishing from the time the trout goes out almost until
he comes in again. The worst point of comparison is in his
play, and in this he is certainly inferior to the trout, for
although when hooked he requires much more tender treat-
ment, and is far more Hable to part company with you than the
trout, his play after a very short time is too often composed of
a series of rolls and tumbles, which are less graceful and pleasing
than the rapid motion and sharp resistance of the trout ; in
fact, though now and then one would fight very boldly and
well, too often they behave as a trout might be imagined to
do if he had been drinking success to the May fly rather too
freely.

Grayling should not be fished for till August ; they are
not worth eating before that, and not very good then. A
September fish is better than an August fish, October better
than September, and November best of all. All through the
winter, on a warm, sunny midday, you may get sport ; and
even if it be not a warm sunny day, you need hardly despair
as the fish are in condition in winter, and must needs feed at
some time, though certainly a gUmpse of sunshine serves to
bring out the flies, and to bring up the fish wonderfully. vj^

Another good point in the grayling, too, is, that he is not
like the trout in his method of feeding. When a trout is feeding
at the bottom, as a rule, he will not look at the top, and when
the rise of the fly is over on very many trout rivers, there is an
end of your trout-fishing, pro tern. ; on others, if you see no
trout moving, it is useless to whip the water. When fly is
rising, trout take up a position favourable to rising at the fly,
and favourable to their securing it with the least trouble, and
in the least possible depth of water, which they can con-
veniently rise through. But whether it be that the huge dorsal
fin in the grayling permits him to rise much more rapidly
through deeper water than the trout or no, I cannot say ; but
these conditions do not always exercise the same control over
the rising of the grayhng. It is (barring bad weather, when
nothing could be expected to move) always a favourable time

2i8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

for him. He has always one of his Httle lozenge-shaped eyes on
the top of the water as well as at the bottom, and no matter
whether there be fly on the water or not, whether you see a
fish break the surface or no, you have still a chance with the
grayling ; and my advice to the young hand at grayhng-
fishing is — fish away, never mind^two straws what the water
may be, fish the whole of it, and fish it out, and never neglect
the deep still reaches, as grayhng lie and take better in them
(particularly early in the season) than trout do ; if fish are not
moving, search the banks well, and you always have a chance
with the grayhng. Of course I am not assuming that you will
always be certain of sport, but I have often had the best sport
when I have not seen a fish rise save at my own fly.

A grayling rises very quickly, and also refuses quickly, and
when he does rise you can hardly strike too soon ; but as,
more particularly in deepish water, he has to rise from some
depth, you should not hurry the fly in casting, but make your
cast rather drag. For this reason, fishing up-stream and
drawing down is not the best method of fishing, because you do
not give the fish time, and all experienced grayling fishers cast
directly across stream as close as possible to the opposite bank,
where the best fish of course lie, and let it drag slowly round
down-stream, bringing it round by so directing the point of the
rod even to your own bank. For the same reason, a little bit of
tinsel is often used in grayhng flies, which in all other respects
do not differ from those used for trout. Grayling are very
partial to the little blue and yellow duns and spinners, and
these always prove the great piece de resistance in the choice of
flies for grayling. A grayling, though he is not diflicult, unless
very much whipped over, to rise to your fly, is scarcely so easy
to basket. It is not at all uncommon for him to rise four or five
times, sometimes refusing altogether, and sometimes taking
after all. A trout seldom rises fairly above twice, and if he
refuses twice you may leave him, as you do more harm than
good in casting over him. Not so with a grayling : after three
or four rises, give him a minute, and then come over him again
either with the same or a fresh fly, and he will as often as not
fasten.

When you have hooked a grayling, your next job is to land
him ; and here though his play, as I have said, is by no means
so lively and varied as that of the trout, yet is the kind of
resistance he makes more dangerous to the hold you have of
him than the running to and fro of the trout, for your grayling

PLATE X.

e^

FyZ.

Fi^

\V

F\q 4.

^

Fis6.

\'.^

\0.

A

To face Page 219

Imitations of Grubs and Beetles,

BAITS FOR GRAYLING 219

tries the hold of the hook in every possible way, and from every
opposite point and direction of that hold, and usually hangs all
his weight on the Hne at the same time. Having a very soft and
dehcate mouth, it is common enough for them to break away ;
and the bigger the fish the more tenderly you must treat them.
There are twice or three times the number of grayling lost after
hooking that there are of trout.

Of course, the grayhng rises best in the morning and evening
when the flies are about thickest, that is, during the summer
and autumn, but he will none the less, as I have said, rise all
day to some extent. In winter, the middle day fishing is the
best ; evening, save under very favourable circumstances
indeed, being comparatively useless.

There are various ways of taking the grayling — by the
grasshopper, by the gentle or maggot, by the caddis bait,
or by worm, but I hesitate to notice them, as the grayhng is
such a sporting fish, and so free to rise to all comers, that it is
a disgrace and a shame to treat him like a poacher, with worms
and such abominations. Still, as in an angUng book one has to
consult everybody's tastes but one's own, I suppose I must
give the information, or it would be considered an " hiatus,"
though not perhaps " valde defiendus."

The most slaughtering way of fishing for grayling is with the
grasshopper. The grasshopper, so-called, is not a grasshopper
at all, and though actually an artificial bait, in nowise resembles
a grasshopper : why it should have been called a grasshopper
any more than a gooseberry, which it much more resembles, I
cannot conceive. No matter ; this is the grasshopper. Take
a No. 5 or 6 trout-hook ; lap round the shank some lead,
enough to sink it pretty quickly ; over this wind Berhn wool of
various colours, chiefly green, with a few turns of yellow
or red, or both, until you have a thing resembling Fig. 2,
in Plate X. Mr. Wheatley, an angler of great experience
in this kind of fishing, and whose illustrations I have
borrowed, recommends Fig. i, and its advantage is evident.
Fig. 3, on the same plate, gives an illustration of a wasp-grub
imitation, made of a very light buff or dirty white wool, in the
same way as the grasshopper, which is almost equally killing
for grayling and trout.

With as much line as you can conveniently cast and work,
pitch your bait into every likely place, particularly into every
deep eddy and swirly hole, working it up and down, sinking
and drawing with constant short jerks of the wrist, never

I

220 A BOOK ON ANGLING

allowing it to remain still an instant, until the whole of the
water be thoroughly searched ; at every touch strike pretty
smartly, but not violently, and disturb the water as little as
possible in landing your fish, as in October and November,
when this deadly lure is chiefly used, the fish are often congre-
gated in good numbers in any favourite hole, and with caution
many may be caught before the rest are scared. Wheatley
recommends a float as an addendum to this process — out on it !
and he also recommends the point of the hook to be tipped with
a bait of worm or a maggot, to flavour it.

To give some idea of the deadly nature of these baits on
some streams, I have known instances where by the use of
it, large twenty-five or thirty pounds baskets have been
filled and emptied three times over in one day's fishing by
a single rod, and they are always the best and largest fish.
It is quite incomprehensible, as on other rivers they take
no more notice of the bait than they would of a turnip ; its
use being confined chiefly to the Worcester and Shropshire
streams — the tributaries of the Severn, in fact. It has often
been tried in Hampshire, and has not yet succeeded, as far
as I know. I dare say it would do in the Derbyshire Wye, but
only fly is allowed there fortunately. At Leintwardine, on the
Teme, it was allowed for a short time, and the slaughter made
of the grayling was positively dreadful, and it was again
prohibited, save for about four days in the year, that is, two
days before and two after the annual dinner at Leintwardine,
as a sort of bonne bouche for those who go down to the dinner.
Tremendous bags are made then, but it is found that its use
spoils the fly-fishing, as does the minnow with trout ; and it
has been clearly proved there that when it is not used the big
grayling rise much more freely to the fly. It is certainly an
artificial bait, and that is all that can be said for it ; if it be
used, some restriction should be placed on it.

Grayling are also fond of the maggot or gentle, and may be
whipped for with them, the bait sinking even to mid-water at
times, or a very light quill-float, with about three shots — a
tripping bait — a few gentles being thrown in now and then as
ground-bait. A Nottingham line and reel may be employed.
A red worm may also be used either in the same way or with a
free line, as for trout, and that certainly is the more sportsman-
like plan of the two. All these plans, though possible, are not
to my mind legitimate, as there is scarcely any reasonable
water or weather when grayhng will altogether refuse the fly ;

WHEN GRAYLING ARE IN SEASON 221

and though, in a book in which it is my desire to give the
fullest information upon every style of anghng, I feel bound
to mention these methods, I do not feel disposed to enlarge
much upon them, as I certainly never would resort to them
myself. Sometimes a grayUng may be taken with the minnow,
but it is rather an accident than otherwise. In Uke manner
barbel and chub take a minnow or small gudgeon, but no one
would fish thus for them. It is needless to say fish fine for
grayling, as if you do not you will soon learn to. A wee silver
dun with a tinsel body, and the lightest blue hackle, is a prime
favourite everywhere.

As I have said, grayling are in the best season in the autumn
and winter. Indeed, they should not be taken till August, and
all caught before that period should be returned ; but un-
fortunately a grayling, more particularly the female grayUng,*
always, even directly after spawning, looks so bright and clean,
and so plump, that it is not until it is cooked the novice
discovers he has a very indifferent fish before him. In truth, at
this time, and for long after, the fish is scarcely eatable, and
until August at least is not worth a rush. Cut a grayling in
June, and cut one in November, and the difference is most
remarkable. Although in June he may be a handsome-shaped
and bright-looking fish, his play is unusually dull, and his flesh
like that of an indifferent roach, soft, spongy, and flavourless.
In November he has a blue bloom on him hke a rich plum ;
he has a pecuhar and strong fragrance when handled, which is
said to be hke thyme, and is so to some little extent, and his
black spots contrast brilUantly with the dazzling silver of his
belly ; and as for his flesh, it is as hard, firm, and flaky as a
trout's when in the best condition.

Throw him in again, then, brother fisherman, till at least
the middle of July be turned. Whereas, if you do take him in
May or June, listen to my solemn anathema, and let it lie heavy
on your soul. May your rod top smash at the ferrule, and the
brazing stick in tight at the commencement of your " crack
day of the season," and may you be unable to beg, borrow, or
steal another rod within twenty miles. May you travel
hundreds of miles into a strange country, find the river in
splendid ply, and then discover that you have left your reel at
home. May you bait a pet pitch for a week in order to have a
stunning day with your dear old pal, Jorkins, and when you

The male is often ugly, long-headed, lead-coloured, and black-bellied,
er spawning, the female hardly ever. — F. F.

f

222 A BOOK ON ANGLING

step out in the grey of the morning, with everything in readi-
ness for a slaughtering day, find your hatred and detestation,
that — anathematised — Tomkins fishing it, and having no end
of sport, such, indeed, as you have never had, and hardly hope
to have ever again ; and now go and catch your grayling in
May and June, and much good may they do you. I hope
you'll eat 'em — all of 'em — that's aU ; and that your wife
will have locked up the brandy, and gone out for a day or two ;
and please send for Dr. Francis to administer consolation.
Ha ! ha ! ho ! I hate a man who slaughters kelts and ill-
conditioned fish more than any other species of poacher going.
What good does it do him ? He has had his sport. Let him be
satisfied ; and let the poor beast live to grow fat and healthy,
and don't take a mean advantage of starvation and
illness.

Grayling are supposed not to have been indigenous to
England, but to have been transplanted hither by the monks ;
but we have no direct proof of this, and the collateral evidence
is worth nothing.* First, it is assumed that they were so
introduced by the monks because on or near every river
containing grayling there are the remains of monastic institu-
tions. I am not quite sure that this is invariably so, but if it
were, one might easily ask whether in the first place the monks
came to the grayling with that perspicacity they are so remark-
able for, or whether the grayling came to them. Again, it
might be asked, how many rivers of any note are there in the
country on or near which, in some sort, institutions of
monastic origin have always been absent? I am not at all
convinced, clever though the monks were in fish matters, that
they introduced grayling, and I am rather inclined to think
that if they had introduced them, the introduction would
scarcely be so partial as it is. Grayling abound in many of the
Scandinavian rivers and lakes, and are found in very many of

* Grayling are undoubtedly indigenous in the rivers of the English east
coast from the Yare of Norfolk to the Humber, including the Trent and all
its tributaries. Its presence there dates from a remote period when these
rivers were tributaries of the Rhine as it flowed through the great plain now
covered by the North Sea. That the grayling is not indigenous to the Thames
(where it has been introduced in recent years) seems either to imply that
some obstruction prevented its access to that river from the Rhine, or to
confirm the theory of Sir Andrew Ramsay (1814-1891), sometime President
of the Geological Society, that the Thames originally flowed from east to
west into the Severn Valley, and that its course v/as reversed in consequence
of the depression which formed the North Sea and an eastward tilt of the
chalk and eocene beds through which the Thames flows. — Ed.

GRAYLING v. TROUT 223

the German and Swiss rivers ; and that they should also be
found in some of the English rivers is perhaps not much more
surprising than that the trout or other fish common ahke to
England and the Continent should be found in both. However,
it is not a matter of much consequence to us. The matter that
is of consequence is, that the fish suits many of our streams,
and would suit many more if it were introduced to them. It is
found in the Teme, the Lugg, the Wye, and their tributaries,
wherever they are found to suit it. It is found in many of the
Yorkshire rivers, the Ure and the Swale especially. It is found
in the Derbyshire streams, as the Wye, the Derwent, and the
Dove. It is found in the Hampshire rivers, the Avon, Itchen,
and Test ; but here we know that it has been introduced, and
has succeeded fairly. It has been brought also into the Clyde,
where it has thriven well. But there are very many other
rivers, as several of the tributaries of the Thames, where it
could be easily naturahsed, as the two Colnes, the Windrush,
parts of the Mole, the Darent, the Wey, the Brent, and others,
for it is not every river which will suit the grayling ; whereas
almost any river, if not already overrun with coarse fish, will
suit the trout, if there are any shallows at all for it to spawn on.
Grayling love deep eddies and quiet reaches, but they also
like sharp and rapid shallows — a weedy shallow which ends in
a deep safe eddy, with a gravelly bottom, and loamy hollowed-
out banks, being the especial abiding-place of grayling ; and
where these alternate with sharp bends, full of nooks and
corners of refuge, the stream will suit grayling to admira-
tion.

I must touch on one other point before I have done with
grayling. It is said that they diminish the trout. I doubt
much if they diminish the trout more than the trout them-
selves do. They will eat trout spawn, and so will a hungry
trout, and that to any extent. But I have fished some of the
best grayling streams, and trout, both large and small, were
fairly abundant, store-fish being by no means wanting. The
grayling, of course, deprives the trout of a large portion of the
food he would have if left to himself, and it is a curious fact
that in good grayling streams the trout are seldom of so good
quaUty or condition as they are in pure trout streams. Whether
this be at all owing to the grayling or no, it is difficult to say.
I do not think that any number of grayling diminish the trout
more than the same number of trout would, and the more
particularly as grayling do not habitually feed on the fry, or

224 A BOOK ON ANGLING

on their own offspring, while trout do greedily ; and for this
reason alone grayling will increase faster than trout, as this
source of destruction (a very large one in mere trout streams) is
wanting as regards the grayling. Grayling certainly are more
of burrowers and ground feeders than trout, and if it be thought
that the grayling do really diminish the trout, a little artificial
breeding would easily keep up the balance. But I conceive
that when grayhng are introduced into fairly stocked pure
trout streams, the following change takes place : as the gray-
ling increase, the trout must either fall off in condition or
diminish in number somehow, for a stream will only support
a certain number of fish up to a certain size and condition ; and
if, for example, it holds five thousand trout you cannot put
five thousand grayling into it as well, and still keep up the
number and condition of your trout. But if, for the sake of
extending your sport for many months, or for the variety, you
are satisfied with a slight diminution in the weight of your
baskets of trout, then you can do well enough ; or, if this does
not suit, then you must resort to a large system of artificial
feeding. To what extent we can or could carry this point of
the question in an open stream, is a calculation which experi-
ments in fish culture, to be carried out in the future, alone can
assure us of. Everybody can understand that if a field of
turnips will support fifty sheep for a month, and you turn
twenty cows into it as well, the field will not support the
additional call made on it for the same period ; but if you
choose on this space to draw cart-loads of turnips, then you can
support any reasonable quantity of stock as long as you like,
and even fatten them like pigs or prize cattle, the increase being
regulated by the quantity of turnips you draw on. A stream is
in this sense a field of turnips, and you must till it and stock it
accordingly ; but you must not be surprised, if you starve
your cattle, at their being in poor condition, or even at their
eating each other's tails off, or even at their dying out. Gray-
ling do not eat trout fry, or but a very few of them, but trout
do devour grayling fry ; so I am inclined to give the balance
of destruction in reality to the trout, which is without excep-
tion the most voracious and omnivorous of all fish. Grayling
are not so easy to transplant from one river to another as trout,
as the ova are much more tender than those of trout, and if the
weather should happen to set in warm in April and May, they
become very difficult to hatch and rear, and very liable to go
off wholesale. In rivers where these fish do take, however, they

GRAYLING INJURIOUS TO TROUT

225

soon thrive and make their way rapidly, often in a few years
outnumbering the trout which may have tenanted the river
before them.*

* Probably most persons interested in or owning tine trout streams would
gladly get rid of grayling altogether, were that possible. Grayling spawn in
spring, when there is the maximum of insect life to keep trout busy ; but
trout spawn in late autumn when flies are scarce, and grayling, in the height
of condition at that season, feed sumptuously upon trout spawn. — Ed.

CHAPTER IX

THE SALMON

The Rod — The Reel and Line — How to use them — Casting — Striking-
Playing a Salmon — Sea Trout Fishing

I HAVE now brought the student on through all the
various grades of angUng, from the first and earliesi
efforts of the tyro amongst the smallest and most
insignificant quarries of the angler's art, up to what h
usually considered the last and highest walk of his skill — the
capture of the lordly salmon. If I have been somewhat lengthy,
the angler must remember that he has reached, in the short
space of 225 pages, the point which it took me — as it does many
others — nearly twenty years to reach.

It has been well said that salmon-fishing is sport for kings.
Fox-hunting is a noble pastime, and the first burst from the
covert side full of joyous excitement. Drawing a bead on the
wild red deer after hours of careful stalking, is no doubt an
anxious and exciting second. But the bold rise and the first
wild rush of a twenty-pound salmon thrills through the frame
as nothing else in the nature of sport does ; and I have never
known a man who has in him the true essence of a sportsman,
and who has for the first time felt and seen the play of a fresh
run salmon in his native river, who has not been a salmon-
fisher for ever. I have known and heard of scenes and instances
where other sports have been given up for salmon-fishing, but
never heard I of one (when sport was on) where salmon-fishing
was given up for any other : and many a sceptic has been
convinced of the truth of all this by having eighteen feet oi
hickory and a hundred yards of line put into his hands, with a
salmon freshly hooked at one end of the line.

There is a story told of a pawky old Scot whose wife was
very ill, but who, tempted by the fine ply in which the rivei
was, had just sHpped away and stepped down to " tak a cast o'
her." He had just risen and hooked a splendid fish which was

226

PLATE XI.

'The Shot," Floors Castle Water, River Tweed.

To face Page 227.

Pitlochry Head, River Tay.

INCREASED DEMAND FOR SALMON-FISHING 227

showing him magnificent sport, when one came running to him
wringing his hands and crying, " Laird, laird, the mistress is
deein — deein — deein ! " "Ah mon ! ye dinna say sae ! Rin
awa' bock thin, Donald, and tell her joost to hing on till a've
kiU't the fusshe." The words were hardly out of his mouth,
when, as if to punish him for his inhumanity, the salmon gave
a great spring and broke away. " Was ever the likes o' that ? —
it's joost a judgment ! " was the exclamation, as handing the
rod to his retainer, he hurried off to his wife's bedside, and
duly received her last breath, and cheered her last moments.
Great and sincere was his grief, and he mourned her deeply.
Old friends and neighbours came to console him. His old
crony, Rab M'AlUster, mingled his sympathy with praises of
the virtues of the departed. " She was aye a gude wife, laird."
The laird assented with a sad shake of the head. " But we're a*
dust, laird." " We're that ; oh, we're that ; dinna doot it,"
was the melancholy response. " And ye've tint her, laird."
At this the laird brightened up. " It's varra true, Rab ; but
did ye hear o' the big fusshe the news o't tint me i' the morn ?
Hey, mon, that was a fusshe ! "

Perhaps of all the branches of angUng none have made such
strides in popularity as salmon-fishing. Formerly it was
confined to the favoured few — to those who could afford to
devote a fortnight to travel into Scotland or the wilds of
Ireland, and the same time to come back, with all the attendant
expense and trouble. But, as in grouse-shooting, all this is
greatly altered. In some instances, rivers are still held by their
aristocratic proprietors. In many more, however, Manchester
and Liverpool, with burly John Bright at their head, have
invaded the once sacred soil, bundled out the whilom occupiers,
and taken possession, and our oldest and best rods have taken
yacht and are gone to Norway, and for a time make a close
borough of that once piscatorial Goshen. But a while ago
Norway was a pleasant spot for a fisherman. The few fisher-
men to be met with there were (they are not now) fond of
telling of their sport ; but they were gentlemen and sportsmen
of the old school for the most part, on whose time business had
no claims. The natives were civil, easily satisfied, and fishing
was easy to come at. But within a very few years business men
came in to compete for the prizes. Civis Londinensis sum ; and
so the natives become grasping, and salmon-fishing is, save at
high prices and long leases, not to be had. Seek the tourist track
anywhere and it will be found the same. Still, to a great exten ^,

228 A BOOK ON ANGLING

the old rods do many of them manage as yet to hold their own in
Norway, and they always must do so to some extent, for you
cannot be whirled by rail to the Arctic circle in twenty-four
hours, and the more distant rivers consume more time to go to
and to come from than the great bulk of salmon-fishers of the
present day can afford to give to the journey. Another
unfortunate feature, however, now largely prevails. Salmon
can, by the aid of huge stores of ice which are easily secured,
be sent to England profitably, and large quantities are thus
sent from the more approachable rivers, and netting is rapidly
increasing to an injurious extent.

There are fifty salmon-fishers now for one of twenty years
ago. The fisherman who had killed salmon was then looked
upon as a tremendous creature. It was something as excep-
tional as shooting a gorilla, was this killing of a salmon with a
fishing-rod. Now the exception is all the other way.

But I ought not to find fault with the increasing popularity
of my favourite sport ; and, with this civil growl de piscatoriis
rebus, I proceed to explain the mysteries of the art. So travel
a little farther with me, young trout-fisher, and it shall not be
my fault if you do not know all that I know about it.

THE ROD*

The first consideration for the would-be salmon-fisher is the
rod. This should be proportioned to his height and strength.
Nothing looks so absurd as a little ambitious individual
labouring under a huge threshing-machine as big as a sloop's
mast, which he is manifestly unequal to the wielding of easily ;
and not only does it look badly, but it works badly. A rod
two or three ounces heavier or inches longer than is comfortable
to the angler, tells dreadfully between the shoulders and on the
loins in a long day's fishing ; and it is useless to suppose that
practice will make it come much easier : a man who is over-
weighted is overweighted, and all the practice in the world
will only serve to do harm instead of good, to strain instead
of to strengthen. Even a rod that seems at the first grasp

♦ Francis's advice about rods would have been greatly modified had he
lived to see the great improvement that has taken place in this part of the
angler's equipment during the last thirty years. The use of adhesive tape for
binding splices has restored the spliced rod to the position it held before the
slip ferrule came into use ; while for those that prefer (and care to pay for)
a split cane rod, the bayonet fastening obviates all the inconvenience of
ferruled joints. — Ed.

A FLYER IN LOCH MORE 229

light and short will become heavy enough, and long enough
too, in a long day's work. My advice, therefore, to the young
salmon-angler is, not to overweight himself in his choice of a
rod at the outset, but to work up to a heavier and longer
weapon, which practice and time may eventually enable him
to manage. Something, too, depends upon the kind of fishing
he is going to undertake. If it be boat-fishing upon a lake, a
fifteen-foot rod is quite long enough, so that there be plenty of
stuff in the butt and the lower part of the next joint, for lake
fish often run and pull tremendously.

The most sporting fish I ever hooked in the whole course of
my Hfe was a fish of twelve pounds, which I hooked from the
shore on Loch More at Thurso. I never saw such a fish ; he
was a regular flyer, and was more out of the water than in.
Plunging and leaping from the water, as dolphins are always
depicted as doing, particularly on signboards, he took out
clear, without stopping for a second, over one hundred yards
of line ; and, had I not chanced to have one hundred and
twenty on my reel, he would certainly have broken me. The
late Sir F. Sykes, a first-rate rod, was rim out and broken,
with one hundred yards, on the same spot but a few days
before. At about one hundred and ten yards I got on terms
with him ; and, to see this twelve-poimd fish leaping out of
the water, at such a distance from me that he did not look
larger than a good-sized trout, it was difficult to imagine that
there was any connecting Hnk between us. I had no boat,
and wading was out of the question. Another ten yards and
he would have bid me good-bye. But the tackle was new and
sound, the rod well set up in the lower joints, and for the last
twenty or thirty yards I let him have it heavily ; and this,
with the weight of the line, stopped him. So that, in lake-
fishing, if your rod be short it must not be weak.

In boat-fishing on a river also a long rod is not desirable.
Where a long rod is of advantage is upon a good-sized sporting
river, fishable from the shore, where you have broken ground
and water, and where you must often run with your fish ;
where, perhaps, wading is frequently indispensable ; and
where an extra foot of rod will at times enable you to carry
your line over some big stone, rock, or bush, which would,
perhaps, cause you inevitable grief with a shorter rod ; and
where long casting is required, or where there are high or awk-
ward banks behind you, with rugged stones and roots to
smash your hook on. Under such circumstances the angler

^^M^U |>^l^|l|ir V^llfK^C

:f short

- half to

for a

nd a

-^--enor

I have

iIt r?d some

le:- rjch rods

i^-antages.

: the rod ;

a saner of taste

■■K a very stifi

lis choice

ie fishes.

rerhaps,

WK§ -ither

a In: ther

: iiands at

wp ix any lost

Be productions

^ of LoDdoQ makers

X ite vadananship

I kovc ooe by me

ad k Itese ten years,

gU ifc is ^«y fittle

'iriA anglers

lod. If die angler

s ^ces,

» BO cxxiqnmon-

for not only

Jse v«ikiiess which

and wood;

ie top joint oat of

:^ fs&BBL one to two

tlie same weight.

fe> t» and mitie your

lEii»e; tesiiing string

etci. m» nuisance is

•i rod— with which.

RODS FIFV YEARS AGO

i^»^--^sr-si-

T
:. Bamboo i

The rcKl "ow in f.vo;« - " ;^

Scotch rivers u »,Jr^."; _„ -_,

^d a splice <?',l^J^'/jrS?ti.«0P «•

because i goo

in order that

may be promptly

is controlled by "^

and well, and

And, certa.i.ly

what unpleasant toMDOK
With n

I have two
and the

a iour-i

of whirl i>ui - »v. **^ ^TZJ! - -^ * **^ ^^

regard a^ . grike-nxi tft C^ V l7t^ -

smaU river it is ampiv lam "nie QtM^ «?«•,? ~^t> 4.
and Chevalier ; it 1 "^tSZTi i^d dMi

a very powerful r..'. g^JS^,^ »*• ?"^

good de.1 of ^» gj^ «J»J^ tf. •iW

a st3r^ tbi. ^tsrirtiSiSi

.Icoiant to h«BdW •«!«. i ■-» iW Itel

cspect to the waAol "M^"^* -firf Wk

wd*t of «ch •••ofcw- » rT!^^ mM«

rods are hickory. -r—.— .,.^ ^

this wood and grcenbean, MD|€tt »• ^•■^» « ■— ••^

weighed at Fariow's : —

No. i,i»leet.grecnh<-:»." •' ^-d - ^ ik^lti^

No. 2, igfect.hickop. • be r«t gf •^•hf«rt

f crrulcd ^» , ; • ^ ^ •*•

No. 3, i9{txt,hickor\ . *;fMkMfft Mffwi S*-

No.4,2ofect.allKrcc&bftiiAfidfviload . . I^tjia.

So that a >phced rod . 'tie

two feet '*"' whii^ * i.koiy bott
one-fifth . xth in lhe.*ei^t .

And now ior the reel an 1^ The wmdk fkatkt kt ttit

* Since wnting thia, I ynmomti ttt ■iflv m^t^tm •• • AhS^m m^
Md be told me tbftt thty M iMMi ftelnA «i«i ^ i^ mI IMI
•light rtactioD ia krow of Ivni M km tt* mb* «-F. f

232 A BOOK ON ANGLING

common click or check winch. I Hke one to be capable of
holding 120 or 130 yards of line. Some people think a little
more than half that quantity sufficient. Twice or three times
in my life I should certainly have been broken if I had not had
more than one hundred yards, and on each occasion I have been
lucky enough to slay my fish. I grant it does not happen once
in a hundred times in ordinary salmon-fishing that one parts
with more than, or even as much as one hundred yards, but
the weight of a score or two of extra yards of line is so insig-
nificant a matter, and the confidence and satisfaction there is
when playing a large fish, in knowing that you have ample
for all hazards, incline me to hold to my opinion ; besides, a
line of that length can easily be turned end for end when at all
worn, and will serve as two good lines, which is a matter of
economy, whereas in a sixty or seventy yards line turned thus
you would soon get into the weak part in a good run that you
would always be in danger, because the pull would come just
at the distance where a fish is at his strongest — at the end of
a forty or fifty yards run.*

Formerly salmon lines were twisted and made of horse-hair
alone, or of horse-hair and silk ; but eight-plait dressed silk
lines having been introduced, the others are now not often
used, as the eight-plait silk line which has been carefully and
well dressed runs through the rings so much more smoothly,
is less liable to kink or catch, and does not hold so much water,
besides throwing better against the wind. Tapered lines, or
lines which are gradually reduced to a smaller size towards the
end, are usually much preferred. Their cost is greater, but
they have this advantage : they cast more evenly, and do
not sink so deeply in the water towards the point, and are
therefore fetched off it more easily, and, as already stated, as
the length of the cast is governed by the quantity which can
be easily and quickly withdrawn from the surface, it will
at once be seen that there is a considerable advantage in a
well-tapered line. It must be remembered that heavy rods
and heavy waters require heavy lines ; but unless the angler
wishes to strain his top joint, and open the spUces, he should
never use a heavy line to a hght rod. It is inconceivable what
an amount of mischief in wear and tear, and what a lot of bad

* Here again present-day anglers enjoy a convenience unknown to Francis.
Of a reel line 1 50 yards in length, not more than 40 or 50 yards need be of
the weight necessary for casting, the rest consisting of tarpon " backing,"
which, being very fine and as strong as an eight-plait dressed silk line, enables
one to use a much smaller and lighter reel. — Ed.

THE CASTING LINE 233

casting, and what a bad style of casting is fostered by want of
attention to this point. Rod and Une should match each
other, and a line either too light or too heavy is a nuisance
and an evil.

The casting-line or gut bottom is the next point of considera-
tion. For my own part, I always Hke about three lengths of
treble twisted gut, and two of good double gut, and then the
single gut — in all close upon four yards. Let it be good sound,
round, rehable gut, not mere makeshift rubbish.* The gut
should be stained either amber or green for peat or limestone
waters. Coffee lees give the first, boiled green baize or walnut
shucks steeped, the second. No other colour is admissible.
Some, as I have already said, use ink ; this might do if one
rented pools on the Styx, but elsewhere it is a bad and un-
natural dye, and shows plainly in any water. Better no dye
at all than this, for though a pool may look dark and black to
the eye it is usually only the result of the rocky bed, the depth,
or overshadowing rocks ; it does not look so to the fish from
below. Whether the angler uses one, or two, or even three
flies on his cast, must be decided by the water he is going to
fish. In some waters more than one fly is dangerous, in others
it answers well enough. In lake-fishing, for example, two
and even three flies may often be used with advantage ; and
on the Tay and such broad heavy waters also, three flies are
used habitually. The salmon fly should always be tied upon a
hook with a loop eye at the head. Whether this loop be formed
as part of the hook itself, or be lashed on, matters not here.
Supposing it to exist, pick out a nice round, lengthy strand of
gut, if the fly be used as a single fly or as a stretcher ; if a
dropper, it may be shorter, say of four or five inches when
attached. Tie a sound loop in the upper end wherewith to loop
it to the casting-Hne, then put the other point through the
eye, take a turn of the gut round the eye until the point is on

♦ Various substitutes for ut have been introduced of late years, and per-
sonally I have quite abandoned gut in spring salmon-lishing, using only the
material sold as " Demos." Its strength is much greater than that of the
best gut — it costs about sixpence a yard and is supplied in 40 yard lengths.
But it requires care in handUng. A figure-of-eight knot at the head of the
fly is quite safe ; but if, as often happens in windy weather, a knot forms
accidentally in the cast, a very slight jerk will snap it. That is the only draw-
back I know to Demos. Its merits are that it has no glitter, the casting line
is in one piece, it is of extraordinary strength and absurdly cheap. Fishing
with a friend in the Spey one March, he had the misfortune to lose his casting
line through the reel line breaking. It was a new' cast for which he gave
fifteen shillings. A similar accident to myself would have cost me just one
shilling ! — Ed.

I

^34 A BOOK ON ANGLING

the same side as the gut first came through the eye, then return
it through the eye again, and you have it looped on to the eye
of the hook. The end, however, is still loose, and it is evident
that at any strain it would slip back again through the eye.
Then take the fly in your left hand, take hold of the fag end,
and make a complete turn round the gut, and put the end
through the tie or opening thus formed — in fact, make a
regular tie knot, and draw it tight, after the style of tying
shown in Plate III, Fig. i, page 66. Repeat the operation so
as to make two knots lyings side by side, as closely as possible.
Pull the knots home as tightly as you can, by taking the fag
end between your teeth or pliers, then pull the gut and slide
the knots down to the eye, cut off the end, and your fly is
ready to be looped on to the cast.

And now we will suppose that the angler is suited with rod,
line, cast, and flies. We will assume that he knows something
of fly-fishing, has at least used a single-handed trout rod.
The motions gone through with the rod point are precisely
similar with a single and a double-handed rod, save that a
somewhat wider sweep is made with the latter. The left hand
holds the rod below the reel, and the right grasps it at a
convenient spot above ; sufficient Une is let off the reel for the
cast ; the point of the rod is waved backwards over the right
shoulder ; the right hand comes almost to the level of the
shoulder (in long casts a trifle above it) . Give the line time to
extend itself backwards, making a sweep round with the point
of the rod, still feeling the line as you do so ; direct it towards
the mark as in trout-fishing. You can either make the curve
(or the cast rather) towards the ear or away from the ear. The
first will be found most suitable when fishing with a short line,
but the latter is indispensable when fishing with a long one,
as in no other way can the Une be got off the water so quickly
or neatly. This is the right shoulder cast. To ease the muscles
and to suit a particular airt of wind, or the direction or bank
of the stream, it is often advantageous to cast from the left
shoulder instead of the right. To do this reverse the hands —
the right below, the left above the reel — and bring the rod to
the left shoulder instead of the right. The other motions are
the same as in the right shoulder cast, save that in the left
hand cast it will be found easier to make the sweep towards
or nearer to the ear.

The length of your cast must be governed by your ability,
but always, when actually fishing, cast well within yourself —

THE ART OF CASTING 235

that is, so that you can fish the cast well and thoroughly, and
have perfect command over your rod top and line. A greater
mistake cannot be made than to overcast either your throw
or yourself. Some anglers are so fond of making long casts
just to show off, that they will risk cutting a fly to pieces rather
than move a few yards ; others will so overcast their throw,
that by the time the fly reaches the salmon's home, if a fish
should rise, the rod is too upright or far back to allow them to
make a clean firm stroke — the fish is only half hooked, and a
bungle is pretty sure to ensure. Begin with about twice the
length of the rod, not more, and when you can get that out well,
increase the length.

It is impossible on paper to teach the tyro how to cast a
salmon fly. Nothing but practice will do it. Even actual
showing and demonstration are not of much use until he can
command the rod to some extent. Let him note how it is done,
and then flail away to the best of his ability for a day or two
until he can pitch the hne out somehow. Then let him get
some adept to instruct him how to get it out properly, and to
correct any fault in his manipulation. After that, practice,
practice, practice, and watching a performer now and then
at work will do the rest.

Another rule of great importance I would here emphatically
lay down, and that is, never use more strength or vigour in
making a cast than is absolutely necessary, for all beyond that
is not only downright waste of power, but positively defeats
the end the fisher has in view. Let him study, not how much
strength he can put into the cast, but how little ; not how much
noise he can make by " swooshing " his rod through the air,
but whether he cannot avoid making any at all. And if any
old angler, who has been accustomed to adopt the former plan,
will only try the latter a few times, I am confident that the
result will positively amaze him. It is astonishing how hard it
is at times, with all your force, to send a fly against or through
the wind truly and fairly, and how easy it really is to do with
Uttle or no force at all. When I hear an angler's rod *' swoosh-
ing " through the air on a windy day, as one often may hear
it seventy or eighty yards away, I think it very extraordinary
that he should never by accident have discovered that all that
force and noise is not only superfluous, but mischievous ; and
how that without it he would cast an infinitely better line, and
not strain his rod as he is doing. In very long throws, of course,
a good deal of force must be employed ; but in ordinary ones,

236 A BOOK ON ANGLING

no matter what the weather or wind, or which way it blows,
it is absolutely unnecessary. I have often surprised myself
by seeing how beautifully straight the fly goes, without
doubling or bagging, through the wind, by merely letting the
top do the work it was intended for. The angler should con-
sider that he does not cast with the butt or main joints of his
rod, and need not therefore try to bring them into play.
The part of the rod which sends the fly home is the most
pliable part ; why not, then, let that do its duty, instead of
trying to make the less pHable parts take its place, which they
cannot and do not do ?

And now as to long casting. Thirty yards from the reel to
the fly is good casting, and every yard beyond that very good
casting; and whenever you hear a person bragging of long
casting, ask him whether he measured the cast, and how he
measured it, as fishermen do not always carry a yard measure,
and are apt to measure too much by computation and too
kindly to themselves. The longest cast I ever measured was
within a foot of thirty-eight and a half yards from the reel,
and that was cast by the late Sir F. Sykes, who was a tall and
powerful man, and who was fishing with a twenty-foot rod,
which I could hardly manage. I may have seen longer casts,
and I think I have, but I did not have the opportunity of
measuring them. The most I could ever manage was thirty-
four and a half yards from the reel, and this I did on one
or two occasions with two different rods, one eighteen and the
other nineteen feet long — the former a ferruled, and the latter
a spliced rod ; but it was from a boat, and consequently there
was no hazard of smashing the fly if it touched behind. Pat
Heams, of Ballina, has, I beheve, cast forty-two yards. I do
not know whether it was measured from the point or the reel ;
but as it was for a wager, and many gentlemen were looking on,
the fact is indisputable.

There is a very good dodge which is practised when a very
long cast is required to be fished. Having as much line as you
can cast out, draw a yard or two off the reel and let it hang
down between the hand and reel as in spinning ; when you have
made the forward impulse, and the fly is rushing towards the
point sought to be reached, open the hand that clasps the rod
and line, and the impetus and weight of the line will take with
it some of the loose line, and when it touches the water the
hang or drag of the stream will carry out the rest. Before
fetching the line off the water for a new cast, the part so

THE SPEY CAST 237

let out must be drawn in and allowed to hang loose as
before.

In making a long cast the difficulty is to take all the time
possible to allow the line to straighten behind without allowing
the fly to touch the ground. For long throwing, the best wind is
no wind ; because, although it may be supposed that a wind
at your iDack may help the fly forwards, it does not help it
backwards, and the quantity you can send forward is, as I have
said, determined by the quantity you can extend fairly back-
wards. But for ordinary fishing the performer who can fish some
six or seven-and-twenty yards, and fish it well (for there is all
the difference in the world between casting and fishing), is a
very excellent performer.

I have mentioned switching* in trout -fishing, but it is
chiefly used in salmon-fishing. It is a species of cast that is
made when there are high banks or rocks at the angler's back,
so that he cannot send his line behind him. And it is one that
requires some practice to make from the right shoulder, and a
good deal more to accomplish neatly from the left. In switch-
ing, if the angler can contrive to wade in a yard or two, he
will be able to switch with far less danger to his fly, and more
ease to himself, than when standing on the shore, as the object
is to deposit the fly on the water previous to casting. If the
fisher fetches his fly home only a yard farther than it ought to
come, he either smashes it or hooks some obstruction.

Having got a certain length of line out, somehow or anyhow,
and being desirous of making a new cast, he raises his hands
well up and carries the rod up to his shoulder pretty smartly ;
but he does not send the fly back over the shoulder, but rather
fetches it in towards his feet, and he must take care that in
doing so it does not come too high above the surface of the
water, or it will not catch the water again at the right spot.
About two or three yards above him to his right hand, and a
little in front of him, the fly must touch the water, but must
go no further. This action brings the line into the form of a
great bow or arc, to which the rod is the chord. The instant
the fly touches the water (and the angler must keep his eye
upon it, for if he misses it and touches the bank at all he must
not make his cast), a sharp downward turn and cut is made,
not towards the spot you wish the line to go to, but to estabUsh

♦ This cast is called by various names ; sometimes " the Welsh or Spey
cast," or according to the name of some other river where it is practised.

F. F,

238 A BOOK ON ANGLING

a sort of centrifugal action (somewhat after the fashion that a
juggler spins a hat or plate with a stick), and the hne f^ies
towards the point required ; in fact, the cast is the result of
the laws of centrifugal force, the line forms the tangent to an
arc of a circle described sharply with the rod point, and the
angle at which the tangent flies off is controlled by the practice
and experience of the angler. It is not an easy cast to make,
and requires a good deal of practice. It is hardly possible to
describe it, and must be seen and studied to be understood
clearly. Fig. 15, Plate XXI, page 326, will show the position
of the Hne and the attitude of the fisherman at the most
critical moment of the cast.

It is impossible to lay down any rule as to how a salmon
cast should be fished, further than that it should be fished
in the way which suits it best, and this the old salmon-fisher
will know from long experience, and the young one from his
attendant, who knows the cast and its pecuharities well, and
without whom the tyro will be very foolish to try his luck.
Some people who know very little of salmon-fishing lay down
diagrams of instructions, etc., which are so much waste paper.
The only point to be observed in salmon-fishing is, that whereas
in trout fishing you often fish up-stream, in salmon-fishing you
more often fish down. True, you may occasionally, with an
obstinate salmon that won't be persuaded, try a cast up-stream
and drag down, and may even once in a way get him up to it,
but as a rule you fish down and work up-stream. Even when
casting across you work as much against the stream as you can.
Of course this does not apply to dead water or large eddies,
where the fish lie anyhow. Some anglers, and some writers,
lay great stress upon working your fly, and how you are to
humour it into the stream, and make it work so that all the
fibres like pinions open and shut like a living thing, etc. ; but
it is all chips and porridge. I know two first-rate professional
fishermen who live but a few miles apart on the same river.
One always works his fly, the other swears by a steady draw
and an even keel, and yet one is as good as t'other, and they
both kill their fair share of salmon. Hear what Mr. Colquhon,
a very old sportsman and no mean fly-fisher, says.* When
he has tried a pool in vain, he makes his cast and merely
winds the line home ; this he calls winding over, and it often
rises a fish when other means have failed. Of course when a
salmon is shy you try all sorts of ways to make him come up :

* In The Moor and the Loch.

FISHINGJJA CAST 239

first a gentle undulation of the rod point ; then an even draw ;
then a regular frantic witches' dance, bobbing, and jerking,
and working as though your fly were possessed of St. Vitus or
a tarantula bite ; then you sink the fly, and perhaps none of
them avail, and then what is to be said of it ? Perhaps he
does come up to one or the other. If so, that is the kilUng style
for the time ; for salmon, like maidens, are sometimes capri-
cious. Sometimes they like a quiet partner in a corner all to
themselves, and sometimes nothing but a regular frantic
deux temps will suit them. Depend upon it, brother angler,
that there is no dogmatic rule to be laid down either for
maidens or fish. Take the word of one who hath had ex-
perience of both. You can't diagram them ; you must study
their humours as well as you can, and suit your arts to your
customer as near as may be. If that fails, try perseverance.
VersatiUty is good, but perseverance will often carry the day
against all comers. How often have I seen a salmon regularly
buUied into rising by an obstinate customer who wouldn't
take no for an answer, but who kept flogging on till the favour-
able moment arrived, when — " Ah ! there he is at last : and
hooked too, by jingo ! " just as often as I have seen a girl take
at last a suitor to whom she has said " No " half a score of
times — ay, and meant it too at the time, you know, only she
happened at last to change her mind, and he happened to be
present when she changed it. So " c'est I'amour, I'amour,
I'amour." Is it ? It may be very often ; but then again very
often it is something else. So, having said so much, I will for
the benefit of the embryo salmon-fisher give the generally
accepted plan. It is a tolerably safe one ; and as he grows
experienced, he can vary it to suit his own views.

Having cast your fly — say across and a httle downwards,
let it sweep round into the stream. You needn't " humour it,"
as poor dear " Ephemera " used to call it ; it will find its place
without it, and will not require any humouring on your part
beyond free permission to do as it likes ; and be sure and keep
an eye upon it just as it sweeps round into the stream, for
that is a very fatal moment, and it is odds, if there's " a
fusshe aboot," if you don't at that last fatal curve see a boil,
ay, and feel a pluck too, if you are not in too great haste,
which will send your blood spinning with excitement. And
when you do see the boil and feel the pluck, what then ?
Now, don't be in a hurry ; that is what you should never be
in striking a salmon — pause, and I will tell you why presently.

240 A BOOK ON ANGLING

Meanwhile, when your fly is sweeping round, lower the point
of the rod gradually, giving Hne to the fly to cover as much
ground as possible ; and when it enters on the straight run
home, or when the fly is in the stream, and the line tight and
straight, raise and fall the point of the rod sHghtly as you
work the fly up-stream, raising and drawing at the same time,
until you have the fly far enough up-stream. Never work it
too far so as to lose full and strong command over it ; if you
do, it may hap that a salmon will rise when you have very
little power or room left to strike him.

ON STRIKING

Well, " when you see the boil and feel the pluck," what
then|? Why, when you do so, you are all right, and may
raise your rod smartly, with a fair tug, over your shoulder.
If you see the boil only, and don't feel him, don't be too hasty ;
he may be only making an offer — coming up to inspect —
and if (as most young and nervous salmon-fishers out of
practice do) you strike and pull the fly away from him, he
goes down disgusted with the rudeness of the gentleman who
has asked him to dinner and then snatched his dinner out of
his mouth ;| and you might almost as well have assaulted him
with a fork, or, in other words, have pricked him. Ten times
more fish are lost from striking too quickly than by striking
too slowly. It is hard to wait when you see a fish coming :
still, you must wait, or lose your fish. Some people say
that when you see the boil of a salmon, if he means to have it,
he has already got it. But this is a fanciful theory. He
comes up to see what it is that has attracted his attention.
If he is not very eager, he first looks and then decides, and you
see the boil whether or^no. Sometimes the decision is adverse,
and he does not take ;; sometimes, pleased with the nearer
inspection, he does. Either way, eight times out of ten there
is either the least pause in the world or a very long one, and
nothing is gained by pulling away the fly. Sometimes, when
very sharp set indeed, he makes no bones of it, but comes
straight at it like a lion. That is when you see the boil, and feel
the pluck at the same instant. There is not much consideration
required with such fish ; you can hardly miss them.

But some salmon-fishers say you " should not strike."
Yes, I know that ; but what they mean by striking is, you
shouldn't hit a salmon as if the roof of his mouth were a

DANGERS IN THE CHANNEL 241

paving stone, or you were punching a whole flight of spinning
tackle into a bony old pike, with a mouth like a quartz-crush-
ing machine. But we will effect a compromise, and there-
fore you should do what they say and I have described, and
which they call " letting him hook himself,'* but I call " strik-
ing." To hit a salmon violently as you would a pike, is in
some respects certainly not advisable, as you may force him
into his most violent and dangerous action when he is best
prepared for it, and when possibly the ground is not the most
suitable ; whereas, by a gentler mode, not calculated to
alarm quite so forcibly, the sharp edge of the steel may often
be taken out of him, and you may negotiate your exchanges
upon terms of more equality, in case the hooking place is
broken water, dangerous with sunken rocks or other obstruc-
tions, as it sometimes is.

One of the most important points for the angler to master
is a knowledge of the hidden dangers, the under-water rocks,
etc., with which he will have to contend. A person who
possesses this knowledge has, of course, a great advantage
in playing his fish over another who has it not. Usually you
depend on your attendant to tell you, and warn you of all
such dangers. I recollect an absurd but vexatious incident
happening to a friend once on the river Wye, near Builth. for
the lack of such knowledge. The river was very low, and ran
within a narrow but very abrupt rocky channel, a mere broad
groove, as it were, in the centre of its natural bed. At the
tail of some white water, my friend hooked a good fish, which
immediately dashed up into the white water, and came down
again close alongside of the near side wall of the channel,
which was very abrupt there. Presently my friend observed
the salmon, which was still pulling hard, struggHiig just under
his feet, whereas the line was pointing, if anything, rather
up-stream ; before he could do anything his line was cut,
and the fish away with his cast and some six or eight yards of
line. On going to the spot towards which the line had pointed,
he found a large stone under water, reclining against the near
wall of the channel, but leaving a nice little triangular hole
below, of which the stone formed the hypotenuse ; through
this the salmon had popped on his down-course, threading
the eye of the needle with my friend's line in the most dexterous
manner. Of course a little knowledge here would have saved
everything and captured the fish.

k

242 A BOOK ON ANGLING

ON PLAYING A SALMON

Having hooked your fish, the next point to consider is the
playing of him, and in this important point, during the first
half of the battle, the angler will be guided very much by the
fish ; in the latter half the positions will probably be reversed.
What can the angler do when he hooks a heavy determined
fish ? All that he can do is just to let him take his own way,
merely persuading him strongly against the folly of his conduct
when he evinces a disposition to run into needless danger,
endeavouring to keep the hook in him, diplomatically if
possible, until he is amenable to reason. To be sure, in taking
him down-stream, if an awkward rock lies far out, and rather
in the way, by the above gentle persuasion he may point
his head so as to drive clear of it. If he goes on the far side,
and the rod is not long enough to lift the line over it, the
connection between the fish and the angler will probably
cease. In taking a fish, or rather being taken by a fish down-
stream— which is always the best course that can be taken —
the angler should keep up with the fish if possible. Indeed a
salmon should never be allowed to have a yard more of line
out than is positively necessary. The fisherman should never
spare his legs at the expense of his line. If he does, the fish
may, and often does, suddenly turn and dart in the opposite
direction, drowning the Une, which it is impossible that the
angler can get in as quickly as the fish swims, and thus all
power over the fish is for a time lost, and the bagged fine is
liable to take hold of any sunken obstruction that may occur,
and, as in " all such cases," obstructions appear to be specially
" made and provided," a drowned line is too often a lost fish.

If a fish shows a determination to go to a fall, or rapid, or
other undesirable spot where you cannot follow nor stop him,
you must butt him. Some writers describe this by recommend-
ing you to throw the end of the butt well forward, presenting
it to the fish as it were, and putting the rod well to or over
your shoulder. But this is not butting the fish ; it is middle-
jointing him, and if you want to strain your middle joint
beyond redemption the very best way to do it is to follow this
plan. If it becomes necessary to butt a fish, the less circular
the position taken by the rod the more the strain falls on the
butt. Only try, by lifting a weight, in which way the rod will
carry most. Let the angler place the butt of the rod against his
stomach, and hold the rod pointing out and away from him.

WHEN A SALMON SULKS 243

at an angle of 45° as nearly as possible. If the resistance
becomes very strong, he may raise it a few degrees, but it
should never, unless he wishes to strain the middle of his
rod, reach the perpendicular, far less go beyond it.*

The artifices of salmon are multifarious, and can only be
combatted according to circumstances. " Sulking " is a
common one, particularly with heavy fish, and a fish will
often take up his position at the bottom of a deep pool behind
some big stone, and there b: will remain without moving,
quietly resisting every effort to stir him, sometimes for a
considerable space. A fish of this kind, or a sluggish fish,
may sometimes be induced to work by getting behind him,
letting out a longish line, so as to get a straight down-stream
pull at his head on him. Here let the angler put on a steady
heavy strain, accompanying it, if this does not succeed, with
a sawing action. The effect of this is to turn the head of the
fish a little broadside to the stream, when the force of the
stream and the line will cause him perhaps to make an effort
to keep his position, and the effort may lead him to forget his
sulky tactics and aggravate him to rush forth to the battle
again. If, however, this has no effect, a few stones judiciously
thrown may startle him out of his propriety, and if your
gillie can manage dexterously to hit the line just where it enters
the water with a sharp, heavy flint, he will certainly spare you
all further trouble. Sometimes a fish takes up his position
at the side of a river, and can be dislodged by the aid of the
gaff handle or a pole. But if the fish still remains obstinate
and is unapproachable, the aid of a bit of lead which can
be bent on round the line in a circle, or a common clearing
ring, such as is used sometimes by trout or bottom-fishers
to clear a hook from weeds, is recommended by some fisher-
men. Clasp the ring, if you happen to have one, round the
line ; hold the line as upright as possible, and let it slide
down " rap " on to the salmon's nose. If this unexpected
visitation does not send him flying here, there, and every-
where, it certainly ought to, and two or three jerks up and
down of the line will be pretty sure to effect the purpose,
when the ring can at once be drawn well up the line out of
harm's way until an opportunity occurs to unclasp it. A
clearing ring and hne does not take up much room, and is so
useful in a variety of ways to almost every class of angler

* The true position of the rod in " giving the butt " is shown in Plate
XIII.— Ed,

244 A BOOK ON ANGLING

at times, that I often think it worth while to shp one into my
pocket.*

I always like to see a salmon show himself, and the often er
he jumps out of water the better I am pleased. In the first
place, the play of a fish that does so is sure to be the more
brilliant and exciting, and in the next, every leap takes so
much more out of him than a mei^e dart through his native
element. It is manifest when a salmon springs from the water
that, if you keep the point of the rod up and maintain a tight
line, the fish in falling on the water with a splash will manage
to dash the hook out of his mouth ; consequently whenever
a salmon leaps you must keep a slack Hne by lowering the
point of the rod to the water's surface and giving as much
line as you can on the spur of the moment, by extending the
point as much towards the fish as possible. The instant the
fish is in the water again, however, the point must be raised,
and a tight line at once recovered.

When a fish " jiggers " or keeps up a constant "jag, jag,
jag," at the line, it is a very unpleasant and trying symptom,
and it is extremely difficult to say what to do. Some anglers
think it advisable to hold him hardish, and to chance the
hook taking a fresh hold should he be lightly hooked ; others
say play him lightly, as it is a sign of his being lightly hooked.
This I am not at all sure of. I think it is a sign that the salmon
is a fish of experience, and is trying to shake the hook out by
twisting and shaking his head about and turning it in all
directions ; and as this is trying the hold of the hook in every
possible way, it is not very surprising if such a proceeding
frees the fish more often than any other. I have lost many a
" ]iggG™g *' fish, and, on the other hand, I certainly have
caught many such ; but I know of no feeling so unpleasant
as the sharp twitch which the process of jiggering communi-
cates, with a thrill of apprehension to send it home, right up
to the very shoulder.

I have heard of a hard running fish, when danger is ahead,
being stopped in his run by the sudden taking off of the
strain on him ; the fisherman casting off plenty of loose line,
and the fish finding that he is no longer pulled one way,
recognises no necessity for running in another, and so stops. I
cannot vouch for the truth of this. It is possible, of course,

* I have never tried this plan, and merely mention it upon the authority
of others. Some anglers, however, declare against it, and say that it is
rarely feasible. — F. F.

VARIOUS BAITS FOR SALMON 245

but it sounds like a risk one would not like to try, and I only
mention it for what it is worth.

Salmon are often caught by worm, minnow, prawn, and
artificial bait. The worm is employed by means of a large
hook capable of holding two or three lob worms. These
should be threaded on the hook so that their tails may hang
down from the hook, and form a good big bunch or mass of
worm-meat. Three or four heavy swan shot or a sinker,
equal to the weight of the stream, should be used ; the worm
pitched well above the " lie " of the fish, and allowed to
travel freely along the bottom. When you have a bite, be
not in too great a hurry, as the salmon does not bolt his prey
instantly, but give him time, and when you think he has had
time to get the bait in his mouth, a sharp, steady, but not
too violent, tug wiU put you en rafport with him. Then look
out for squalls, and do the best you can with him. The min-
now, par-tail, and artificial baits are used, in much the same way
as I have already pointed out, for trout. And the natural
or artificial prawn, baited on one large hook, and cast and
worked by sinking and drawing, is a deadly bait on very many
rivers. I once hooked a good fish in the Gal way river with the
Archimedean minnow, being induced to try it by seeing the
small fry flying from the water as though a pike were after
them. Usually, however, I do not care to use anything but
the fly. On this occasion, however, I had tried it all day
futilely, and unquestionably the salmon were feeding on some
small fry as I saw them " fly " again and again.

While on this subject I may also say that I have seen salmon
feed greedily on the little eels which during " eel fare " run
up rivers. These facts, combined with their taking both
worms and minnow, when they can ^et it, quite assure me
that the notion that salmon do not feed when in fresh water,
which so generally prevails, is extremely incorrect. Salmon
do not perhaps feed very voraciously, because in salmon
rivers, as a general rule, food, and particularly in the heavy
waters salmon inhabit, is not very abundant, and the salmon
is not given to roaming about far from home in search of
food ; but I very much question if anything passes his lair
within eye-shot, which is at all worth his notice, that he does
not take stock or toll of.

The spoon is also a capital artificial lure for salmon, and,
in trolling upon lakes, is often employed with great success.
Otters and crosslines are both means of taking salmon. In

246 A BOOK ON ANGLING

England one is licensed and in Ireland the other, but they are
little better than poaching, and the legislature is much to
blame for not utterly prohibiting them under severe penalties,
as they are hardly inferior to downright leistering in their
destructiveness.

SEA TROUT FISHING

Sea trout are of two species : the white trout of Ireland,
salmon trout or Salmo trutta of England and science, and the
grey trout or bull trout of Tweed, Coquet, and elsewhere, or
Salmo eriox. The bull trout, when it reaches any size, is a
bad riser, save when in the condition of a kelt, at which time
starvation and emaciation makes him greedy enough. They
say there is a time of year, according to tradition, when the
bull trout is a very welcome accessory to the table. I will not
dispute this, but rest contented by saying that I have not yet
discovered the exact day. Yet it is held in high estimation
by the French, who pay as much for it as they do for salmon ;*
but as they eat kelts with a relish and call them salmon, one
need not be surprised at anything they do in that way. Bull
trout are sometimes caught with- trout flies, and now and then
by minnow and worm. There is a disputed point as regards
the bull trout, whether or no he is the veritable " whitling "
of the Border when in his grilse state. This I cannot of course
decide beyond question, but I am quite sure that I have in
the same river caught both the grilse bull trout, and the ordin-
ary white or salmon trout, each of about a pound or a pound
and a half in weight, and that the natives called them both
whitling, so which is really entitled to the name I do not
pretend to say. The flies for both these fish on the Border
rivers are the same, and are called whitling flies : they are
similar to the ordinary sea-trout and white trout flies used
elsewhere. As to the style of fishing there is nothing peculiar
or decided in it, for one almost as often catches sea trout with
the common trout fly, when fronting, as with the small-sized
salmon fly when salmon fishing, or with both as the regular
orthodox sea-trout fly.

The white trout is one of the gamest fish that swim. Like
a champion of the Ught-weights, he is all activity : when
hooked he is here, there, and everywhere, now up, now down,

* And so do the English, for that matter ; for I have often seen large
bull trout sold in the London shops for prime Scotch salmon. — F. F.

TACKLE FOR SEA TROUT 247

now in the water and now out ; indeed, an hour or two's
white trout fishing, when the fish are in the humour, is about
as Hvely and pleasant a sport as the angler can desire ; and
as salmon trout often take the fly well up to six and seven
pounds weight, where they are found of that size, the sport
is little inferior to the best grilse-fishing.

As to where they are to be sought, that experience alone
will determine, as they abound in many lakes to profusion
and take nobly in them. I have myself caught a hundred-
weight of them in a day in a lake. They are found in most
salmon rivers, and in smaller streams which are too shallow
for salmon. The smallest mountain beck will often when in
spate give good sport. They also take in salt water, and are
quite as likely to be found in the mouth of the river as they
are in the highest pool up amongst the mountains, for they are
great and pertinacious travellers. You may catch them in
salmon pools, in dull eddies, and in sharp streamsj so I can
give no advice which would be of any value on that score.

A double-handed trout rod or a light grilsing weapon will
be found the most advisable rod for sport.* The gut should be
single, round and sound, and not too coarse, but stouter'^than
you would use for ordinary trouting, and two flies may well
be used, as you will often have a fish at each when luck attends
you. They take bait as freely as fly, and are the most sporting
and game fish which the angler meets with. I append a list
of sea-trout flies to the list of salmon flies.

* Right for fishing a river ; but in smaller streams or fishing a lake from
a boat a single-handed trout rod is quite effective and less tiring. — Ed.

CHAPTER X

SALMON FLIES
List of Salmon Flies — General Flies — List of Flies for Scotch Rivers

ONE of the most difficult things in tying flies from
description is to hit off the right shade of colour. I
have done my best to overcome this difficulty in
point of description, but, more or less, it must
always exist, and the fly tyer must not be angry with me if
I find it unable, out of twenty shades of green, for example,
to describe in words any particular shade beyond the possibility
of a mistake.

The component parts of a salmon fly are variously named
by different writers, and I have therefore, to avoid mistakes,
at Plate IX, Fig. 8, page 211, given a figure of a salmon fly,
in which each part is lettered and named according to the
part indicated, as follows : — a the tag ; h the tail ; c the butt ;
d the tinsel ; e the body ; / the hackle ; g the shoulder hackle ;
h the under wing ; i the upper wing ; j the cheek ; k the head ;
I loop.

I have been many years collecting this list of flies, of the
majority of which I have brought patterns away from the
rivers themselves, so that they are descriptions of the actual
flies used on the rivers by the habitues thereof. W^en these
have been collected long since, I have verified them sub-
sequently by reference to old friends and persons still living
on the rivers. When I have been able to get them, I have
obtained other patterns from well-known flj^ tyers or professors
of the art who dwell on the banks of their favourite streams.
Many acts of kindness and liberality have I to be thankful
for in this respect, and to all those gentlemen who have lent
me any assistance I desire here to offer my very sincerest
and warmest thanks. They have assisted in a good and use-
ful work, as the description of the various flies employed for
each separate river of any note in the United Kingdom has

348

I

GENERAL SALMON FLIES 249

never been brought together in any work before, and indeed
I may say never could be by anyone who has not enjoyed
the pecuUar and favourable facilities which I have for obtain-
ing access to the most strictly preserved waters. There are
many persons who hold that half a dozen flies are enough to
kill salmon on any river in the kingdom, and who will despise
the notion of such an extended Ust of flies. To such irreverent
scoffers and heretical imbeHevers I have nothing to say. Let
them indulge in their re-pertoire of a bit of old Turkey carpet
and a Hve barn-door rooster. They are, to the artists who
attain eminence in the dehghtful occupation I have en-
deavoured to illustrate, what the chalker of pavements
is to a Landseer. Equally well, no doubt, would they land a
salmon if they hooked him with a clothes prop, a jack line,
and a meat hook.*

Hooks are varied so much in size, not only by different
makers but even by the same makers, and the numbering and
lettering becomes so troublesome and complicated, that I
have given a scale of Limerick hooks of sizes numbered for
reference, as the easiest and simplest mode of expression.!

I have described a number of general flies which are more or
less used upon several rivers with success ; and these will
always, when the angler is unacquainted with the special and
pet varieties for the fish of the river he is bent on plundering,
form an efficient corps de reserve, and amongst them a killer
or two will certainly be found.

The Doctor. — ^This is a very general and deserved^ favourite.
Commeiicing, then, at the bend of the hook, tie on as a tag
three or four turns of fine gold twist. Tail, a single gold
pheasant topping, over this a turn of scarlet crewel ; body,
pale blue floss silk, with hackle a shade or two darker, wound
on from tail to^^head (this is varied at times with blue jay's
feather) ; silveri^tinsel (in large fUes of all kinds the tinsel may
be rendered more conspicuous by the^addition of some twist
wound on beside it). At the shoulder a brown grouse, part-
ridge, or bustard hackle may be wound on ; a blue jay is some-
times used over the blue hackle. The wing is a mixed wing,
containing fibres of bustard, dark turkey, argus pheasant, and
claret, blue, and yellow fibres of stained swan feathers, the
latter predominating. In smaller flies mallard and pintail are

* Reference to the above paragraph has been made in the introduction to
this edition. — Ed.

t Unluckily Mr. Francis's scale has never been adopted as the standard ;
so the scale followed by Messrs. Alcock is given on Plate XXIII. — Ed.

«0 A BOOK ON ANGLING

introduced. The head is of scarlet crewel. This fly is dressed
upon any sized hook, from about No. 6 to No. lo, to suit the
water. (Plate XIX, Fig. i.)f. :-19.

The Silver Doctor is also a good standardafly. Tag, silver
tinsel ; tail, gold pheasant topping, a turn of red crewel over
the stump of it for the butt ; body, silver tinsel ; hackle blue,
as before, with a brown hackle at the shoulder, and a small
speckled gallina over it ; wing, chiefly of pintail, with a few
red and blue fibres, and two toppings over it ; red crewel head.
And a very pretty showy fly it makes. Size as before.

Having finished with the medical profession, we now turn
to the army, and produce

The Colonel. — ^There are two uniforms which the Colonel
rejoices in ; the one a bright gold or yellow, and the other
a red gold, or orange. Tag, gold twist and two turns of bright
yellow floss ; tail, red and yellow sprigs mixed with gaUina,
and a topping ; no butt ; body, yellow floss half-way up, and
then orange pig's wool ; over this is ribbed side by side, gold
twist and tinsel and black floss (a bit of unravelled coarse sew-
ing silk does better) — first the twist, then the tinsel, then the
black silk ; yellow hackle from tail to head, bustard hackle at
shoulder; under wing gold pheasant tippet, two feathers
shortish ; on either side of these strips of bustard and argus
pheasant (the dark small speckled feather) ; fibres of yellow
thrown in here and there, and over all a topping with blue
macaw ribs ; black head. For the orange variety read orange
for yeUow. Size various, from about No. 4 to 8.

The Major. — Tag, silver twist and ruby floss ; tail, fiores of
bustard hackle, tippet and a topping ; body composite, viz.
two turns of medium blue, ditto of dark orange, about four or
five of bright claret, and two more of blue pig's wool, over this
silver tinsel and gold twist side by side ; a red claret hackle,
commencing from the orange wool ; the blue wool picked out in
longish fibres at the shoulder, over this a bustard hackle, then
the wing, and over that a yellow hackle. The wing is com-
posed of a white ribbed snipe's feather, with longish tippet on
either side, over this bustard and gold pheasant tail in strips,
with red, blue, and greenish yellow fibres, and over all topping ;
black head. It is a capital fly, but I think some of the dressing
is rather overdone and might be dispensed with. Size same as
the last.

Following up the miUtary lead, we come to the Rangers.

The Black Ranger. — Tag, silver twist and golden floss ; tail,

GENERAL SALMON FLIES 251

the bright red breast feather of Indian crow and a topping ;
butt, two turns of black ostrich ; body, two or three turns of
golden floss, ditto of bright fiery-red pig's wool, and the
remainder of the body of black ; silver tinsel and twist ;] very
dark blue hackle, extending from the red mohair ; black
hackle at shoulder ; wing, a pair of long jungle cock feathers,
a trifle longer than the hook ; doubled* tippet feathers over
them ; topping over all, blue macaw ribs, and kingfisher at the
cheeks. Plate XVIII, Fig. i.)

The Blue Ranger. — Tag, silver twist and gold-coloured floss ;
tail as before; butt, black ostrich; body, gold-coloured floss
and fiery-red wool as before ; light blue pig wool for the rest of
the body ; blue hackle, a shade darker from almost the middle
of the wool to the shoulder, gallina hackle over ; silver tinsel
and twist ; wing, a pair of tippets ; double jungle cock over
them ;] topping over all ; black head. Both these flies, as
regards size, to follow the colonel's lead. We will now leave
the military and go into the church.

The Parson. — This is a very showy fly, and is used chiefly
on the Erne, but it is a capital fly anywhere where a showy fly
is required. It is on the Erne rather a generic name for a
series of flies than for any special one, as we have there, green
parsons, and blue parsons, and golden parsons, and so on. The
parson being merely significant of plenty of toppings in the
wing. The Golden Parson, however, is my idea of the fly, and
this I will describe.

Tag, silver tinsel and mauve floss ; tail, two toppings, a
few sprigs of tippet and a kingfisher ; body, two turns of golden
floss silk, then golden pig's wool, merging into orange ; golden
orange hackle over the wool, red orange hackle over that, and
two or three or more short toppings tied in at the breast,
instead of shoulder hackle ; wing, a tippet feather with a cock
of the rock (not the squared feather) on either side, and one
above, strips of pintail or wood duck on either side, and as
many toppings as you can pile on — seven or eight or more if
you like. These are often tied on with the turn bent inwards at
Ballyshannon, and it gives them more play in the water.
Kingfisher's feathers on either cheek, and blue macaw ribs ;
black head. This, however, is decidedly a topping parson, a
sort of bishop or archbishop parson, in fact, and not for every-
day use ; we only bring him out when the feeUngs of the

♦ Doubled feathers mean where a short feather is laid on over and beside
a long one of the same kind. — F. F.

252 A BOOK OK ANGLING

salmon, having resisted all ordinary persuasiveness, require
to be very strongly appealed to. But if you substitute a
golden olive hackle, with a medium claret above that, and blue
jay at shoulder, and reduce the number of toppings, and tie
into the wing a couple of gold pheasant saddle feathers over
the tippet feather, a capital working parson, a sort of curate, is
produced, fit for hard every-day work.

We now come to the bourgeois, and begin with one whose
very name is ensanguined.

The Butcher (Farlow's) . — This is a very general favourite ;
it kills almost wherever there are salmon. In the Awe, the
Orchy, the Brora, the Naver, the Thurso, the Helmsdale, the
Annan, and the Taw and Torridge, it is a prime favourite.
Tag, gold twist and dark orange floss ; tail, one topping ;
butt, black ostrich herl ; body, two or three turns of claret,
ditto of medium blue, ditto of red, and the rest of dark blue
pig's wool ; broad silver tinsel ; medium red claret hackle,
galUna on shoulder ; under wing, a tippet and gold pheasant
rump feather, over them strips of brown mallard, bustard,
peacock, wood duck, and blue and yellow swan strips ; black
head. (Frontispiece, Fig. 6.)

Here is another plan of dressing the fly sent me by a friend,
who is a very skilful brother of the craft, being no less than
the gentleman who writes those pleasant chatty articles in
Bell's Life, under the nom de plume of " Fin." I give his own
directions. Mixed wing, rich long jungle cock feathers over ;
body, claret, blue, and orange pig's wool ; three turns of broad
silver twist ; dark claret hackle at shoulder, Hght claret to the
tail ; small kingfisher feather on each shoulder ; tail, topping
and wood duck ; and he adds, "I've killed lots of fish with
this fly." As poor Pat McKay used to say, " Av coorse ye
have, megorra ! why wouldn't ye ? "

The Baker (Farlow's) is another good general fly ',] dressed
small it is a standard fly on the Dovey. Tag, gold twist and
lightish blue floss ; tail, a topping ; butt, black herl ; body,
three turns of golden-coloured floss, dark orange, hght blue,
and red pig's wool, broadish gold tinsel ; medium red claret
hackle, gallina at shoulder, with light blue over it ; under wing,
two tippet feathers, sprigs of gold pheasant tail, bustard, pea-
cock, red, bright green, and blue and yellow sprigs of swan over ;
blue macaw ribs ; black head.

Having given the butcher and baker, the trades will not be
complete without

I

GENERAL SALMON FLIES 253

The Candlestick Maker. — ^This is a fly to light the sahnon to
bed with. I dressed one as a whim some years since, and sent
it to a friend, who reported favom^ably of it to me ; since then
it has done useful service. The body, for the lower half, is black
silk ; the upper, black pig's wool, very bushy towards the
shoulder, and picked out at the breast ; hackle, golden-ohve,
with claret at the shoulder ; tinsel, broad silver ; tail, scarlet
ibis, and wood duck ; wing, five or six toppings with doubled
jungle cock on either side. At dusk, this fly will often show the
salmon the way upstairs, when others will fail.

The Childers (Farlow's). — This is another excellent general
fly. It is a slaughterer on the Thurso, the Naver, the Helms-
dale, and the Brora. Tag, gold twist and golden-coloured floss ;
tail, a topping, some teal, and tippet ; body, yellow, orange,
and dark red (somewhat of a lake) pig's wool, broad gold
tinsel ; hackle, dark red claret and light blue on the shoulder ;
wing, a good lump of whitish tipped dark turkey, and strips of
bustard, and gold pheasant tail over it, mixed with sUces of
blue, pale red, orange, and yellow swan ; head, black.

The last four flies are dressed of various sizes to suit the
water.

The Claret* — ^Tag, gold twist and gold floss ; tail, a topping,
and sUps of blue and red macaw ; butt," black ostrich, two
turns ; body, three of orange floss, medium reddish claret pig's
wool, stoutish gold thread, a hght reddish claret hackle, com-
mencing about half-way down the body, with a couple of turns
of black hackle at shoulder ; under wing, a tippet feather, and
over it mixed fibres of gold pheasant tail, turkey, bustard, and
peacock, fibres of green and red parrot thrown in, ribs, blue
macaw, and one topping over all ; black head. This fly may
be varied by varying the shade of the claret, which may be from
hght red to dark purple claret, the wing being sobered down
as the fly is made darker. It is a very useful fly, and a general
favourite. It may be made of almost any size from 4 to 10, or
II even. It is good for sea trout.

The Guinea Hen. — ^This is a specimen of a trimmed fly;
i.e. the hackle is trimmed or cHpped on the breast, whilst
it is left long and full on the back in order to form a
part of the wing. In the illustration it might with ad-

♦ I call this a claret. I hardly know what would be the proper term.
Some might call it a fiery brown, but having the fate of Martin Kelly before
me, I eschew Fiery Browns. To my view of the case there are two clarets,
one in which the red tinge, and the other in which the blue or purple pre-
dominate. I shall endeavour to distinguish them thus. — F. F.

254 A BOOK ON ANGLING

vantage be trimmed a little closer on the breast. Tag,
orange floss ; tail, a topping ; body, medium blue floss ;
hackle, guinea hen (small speckled), laid on pretty thick and
trimmed off on the breast : silver twist ; wings, gold pheasant
tail, and tippet, mixed fibres with guinea hen and teal and
yellow fibres ; blue macaw ribs ; head, peacock herl. Size,
6, 7, and 8. A useful fly ; varies nicely by dyeing the hackle
yellow.

Black and Teal. — Tag, silver twist and golden floss ;, tail,
one topping ; butt, black herl ; body, two turns of orange floss,
the rest black (either floss, horsehair, mohair, or unlaid sewing
silk), in large flies fur is often used ; broadish silver tinsel ;
black^hackle over three parts of the body ; galUna (the dark
feather with the large round spots, not the small speckled grey)
on the shoulder ■; wing, double jungle cock with topping over
them, and two good-sized teal, or the small feather of the black
partridge, one on either shoulder to form a body to the wing ;
head, gold thread. This is my own pattern of dressing this fly,
and a very good one I consider it to be. The fly is a first-
rate general fly, and should be kept of all sizes, as it will kill
large lake and river trout or sea trout, as well as salmon, if
regulated in size. The smaller patterns may be made with
single jungle cock feathers, a trifle more teal being added. It
is one of the best flies that can be used on the Spey. Some
persons, however, dress it purely with a teal wing?; it is good
anyhow. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 4.)

The Namsen. — There is not a prettier body^^made than the
Namsen boasts of. It is a great favourite of mine. Tag, silver
twist ; tail, one topping, some red parrot, and pintail sprigs ;
body roughish, two turns of bright yellow pig's wool merged
into deep orange, and that into medium red claret, and that
again into bright medium (or incHning to darkish) blue ; the
upper part of the claret and the blue tied in roughly for picking
out, the blue the longest, of course ; silver tinsel with gold
thread beside it ; longish black hackle on shoulder ; wing, shps
of dark turkey, bright bustard, EngHsh bustard, red, blue, and
greenish-yellow dyed swan ; head black. Size from 4 or 5 to 9
or 10.

The Popham, — ^This is a peculiar species of fly, and in the
interest of the fly tyer, I have given a cut of it (Frontispiece,
Fig. i). It kills upon two or three rivers in the North, I
believe, on the Ness and the Brora, and occasionally elsewhere.
It never was a great favourite of mine, being a very troublesome

W yell

TWEED SALMON FLIES 255

fly to tie. It is, however, an established favourite with some
anglers, and therefore I^describe it. Tag, gold twist ; tail, a
topping, two turns of peacock herl over it. The body is in
three joints ; the lowest is yellow, the middle one blue, and the
upper one orange floss. At every joint there is a turn or two of
peacock herl, and tied in instead of a hackle, and pointing
downwards hke a hackle are three or four of the small red
feathers in the breast of the Indian crow. Fine gold twist ;
blue jay, hackled at shoulder ; mixed wing, fibres of gold
pheasant tail and tippet, bustard, teal, blue, yellow, and
claret- dyed sawn, and a topping over all ; peacock herl head.
Size, from 7 to 11.

The Britannia. — ^This is a very rich fly, but it is a tried
accepted favourite upon many rivers. It kills well on the
Thurso, to which river, by the way, I first introduced it
several years ago. I had very good sport with it there. The
tag, gold twist ; tail, a good-sized topping, a bit of scarlet ibis
and fibres of bright bastard bustard ; body, two or three turns
of bright golden floss, and then bright orange pig's wool, gold
tinsel, and silver twist ; bright red claret hackle ; bustard or
wood duck hackle over that, and dark blue or green hackle on
shoulder, or rather as a ruff over the v/ing ; under wing, a
couple of shovel duck feathers, with from three to five toppings
over it ; two short jungle cock on either shoulder, and two
shorter still kingfisher just below them at cheek ; head, gold
thread. A very warm gorgeous-looking fly. By using a dark
orange or a red-brown hackle, the warmth of the fly may be
toned down. The green shoulder-hackled fly is my favourite.
Size, 4, 5, or 6.

The Goldfinch. — This fly is the handsomest and neatest speci-
men of a showy salmon fly I know of. Tag, gold tinsel and black
floss ; tail, a topping ; body, gold coloured floss, hackle pale
ow, blue jay at shoulder ; gold tinsel ; wing, composed
entirely of toppings ; red macaw ribs, and black head. Size 5
to 7.

TWEED FLIES

I

"Few rivers are so varied in their character as the Tweed,
which comprises in its length every kind of water — rapid,
dub, stream, fall, etc. The lower part of the salmon-fishing is
mostly boat-fishing ; higher up it can be fished a good deal
from the shore. The waters or holdings are not generally

256 A BOOK ON ANGLING

extensive, being very valuable, and fetching high rents. The
flies are not large, and the sport runs from May to November.
For closer information see a capital little work by Younger,
published by Rutherford, of Kelso, wherein every water and
cast on the Tweed is named and described.

The Durham Ranger. — ^This is a favourite pattern on the
Tweed, but it is like most of the Tweed flies, good anywhere.
Tag, silver tinsel and gold floss ; tail, one topping ; butt, two
turns of black herl ; body, two turns of light orange floss, then
two of dark orange, of claret, and black pig's wool, respectively
— according to the size of the fly the turns may of course be
increased or lessened ; the black wool to be picked out at the
breast. Over the whole of the wool a coch y bondu hackle (red
with black centre), stained a bright red-orange, two turns of
black hackle over it, and a light blue hackle on the shoulder ;
wing, a pair of longish jungle cock in centre, doubled tippets on
either side, one topping over all \\ blue macaw ribs and a king-
fisher feather on either cheek.

Jock Scott. — Another good Tweed pattern, which is very
useful elsewhere. Tag, gold twist ; tail, one topping and one
Indian crow feather ; body, in two joints, gold-coloured floss
the lowest, and black floss the upper ; from the joint is tied,
after the fashion of the Popham, two or three short toucan
points, and over the butts of them, at the joint, two turns of
black herl ; silver twist, a black hackle over the black joint,
and speckled gallina at shoulder ; wing mixed, a white tip
turkey slip in the middle, fibres of pintail, or teal, bustard,
brown mallard, yellow, red, and green parrot, one topping over
all, blue macaw ribs, a kingfisher on either cheek. Any size to
suit the water, from 6 to lo or ii. (Frontispiece, Fig. 2.)

The Dun Wing. — Another capital Tweed favourite, which
is a pretty general one also. Tail, one topping and sprigs of
tippet ; body, light orange, red-claret, darkish blue and black
pig's wool in about equal portions merging into each other ;
broadish silver tinsel ; black hackle down to the red wool, a
few fibres of the blue wool picked out at the breast ; wings,
two strips from the dun brown feather sometimes found in the
tail of a turkey. This fly is a special favourite on the Kirkcud-
brightshire Dee, the Annan, and Nith ; and, dressed on a long
large hook, it is good on the Tay and many other streams
besides. Size from 5 or 6 to 9 or 10. (Frontispiece, Fig. 5.)

The Drake Wing. — ^This is another good Tweed fly, and a
fair general favoiirite also. Tail, tippet sprigs, and a yellow

I

TWEED SALMON FLIES 257

toucan feather ; body, orange, red, and black pig's wool, the
red being about two-j&fths and the black three-fifths of the
body ; broadish silver tinsel ; hackle, a coch y bondu hackle,
stained a dark orange-red, the black part being left on for the
shoulders, and over this a lavender hackle ; wing, two strips of
pintail. Any size from 6 to 11.

The small edition of this, used in the summer, is called the
Teal Wing.

White Wing. — This fly I have never seen save on the Tweed.
It is a capital fly for the evening there, however, and kills well.
Tail, one topping, and a bit of tippet ; body, one turn of yellow,
one of orange, two of claret, and the rest of black pig's wool ;
broad silver tinsel ; black hackle from tail to head ; Ught blue
hackle on shoulders ; two slips of white swan for wings. Size,
4>'5, or 6.

The White Tip. — ^This fly is hke the last in every particular,
save that there is no orange in the body, and the wings are two
slips of the feather from a wild duck's wing with white tip and
butt, and black in the middle. Size from 5 to 8.

The Toppy. — A noted old Tweed fly, and a perfect speci-
men of the simplest form of salmon fly. Tag, ruby floss ; tail,
a tuft of yellow mohair ; body, black pig's wool ; fine silver
tinsel ; two turns of red hackle next the tail, black hackle
for the rest of the fly ; wings, two strips of dark turkey tipped
with white ; head, red mohair. Size from 5 to 8.

Kate. — This is a comparatively new fly on the Tweed,
but it kills well there. I have not seen it tried elsewhere,
but I think the pattern is so likely that I see no reason why
it should not do well on other waters. Tag, silver tinsel and
light yellow floss ; tail, a topping with short kingfisher feather ;
body, ruby floss, two or three turns, and darkish red pig's wool
picked out at breast ; orange hackle at shoulder, silver twist ;
light mixed wing, tippet sprigs, black partridge (or pintail, if
the fibres be not long enough), bustard, wood ducl^, mallard,
blue, red, green and yellow sprigs, one topping over all, jungle
cock at shoulders, bluefmacaw ribs^;-! black head. Size from
about 7 to II.

The Blue Doctor (p. 249) is also a favourite fly on the Tweed ;
so is the Silver Doctor, but they vary the dressing, giving it a
black head and butt instead of red ; a silver-grey cuckoo dun
hackle instead of blue, with teal at the shoulder. * The wing is

* Tweed fishers have reverted to the red head and butt, and the blue
hackle. — Ed.

258 A BOOK ON ANGLING

made somewhat greyer by an admixture of mallard, wood-
duck, and bustard, and fa few sprigs of gold pheasant tail.
Size from 6 to lo.

The Black and Yellow is another capital fly, a first-rate
general evening fly too anywhere. Tag, silver twist and
orange floss ; tail, a topping or two according to size of fly ;
black ostrich butt ; black silk body ; black hackle ; silver
tinsel (if large fly twist with it) ; Ught blue hackle on shoulder ;
wing, red feather of gold pheasant rump, the remainder of the
wing composed of toppings according to the size and require-
ment of the fly, from three to seven or eight probably, king-
fisher cheeks and blue macaw ribs ; black head. Sizeprom 6
to 10 or II.

The Golden Mallard (I never heard a name for this fly, so
I have christened it). — It is a capital fly, and will kill elsewhere
than the Tweed. Tag, gold twist ; tail, one topping and king-
fisher ; body, gold tinsel, gold twist ribbed over it ; stained
blood-red coch y bondu hackle at shoulder ; and brown mallard
wings, blue macaw ribs ; black head. Size as in the last.

Some of the Tay flies, particularly the Wasps dressed small,
will kill well in the Tweed. The above patterns are nearly
all from the repertoire of my old acquaintance, James Wright,
of Sprouston, a first-rate artist. Beloe, of Coldstream, and
Forrest, of Kelso, are also excellent furnishers of anghng
requisites. Forrest has a high name as a salmon-rod maker,*
and Beloe is celebrated for his trout flies. For a salmon fly,
however, James has deservedly *' the call *' on Tweedside, and,
in fact, for all the south of Scotland, f Tweed flies range in size
from medium-sized salmon down to sea trout size. The latter
are tied on double hooks, which are very effective.

THE KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE DEE

The Cree flies given below will also kill on the Dee, as will
the dun wing Tweed flies ; but the favourite fly given to
me by Mr. Laurie, of Laurieston, an old resident and renter
of fishing in that river, is : tail, a small topping ; body, two
turns of yellow, and the rest of black pig's wool ; silver tinsel,
black hackle, and two slips of good red gled for wings. The
flies are not large, the ordinary grilse size and smaller.

Mr. Herbert Maxwell, of Monreith, has, since the pubUca-
tion of the last edition, sent me an account of the Galloway

* And retains it to this day. — Ed.

t James Wright is now no more, alas ! — Ed.

THE GALLOWAY RIVERS 259

rivers, with patterns of flies, and his remarks are so clear and
to the purpose that I append them.

THE CREE AND ITS TRIBUTARY THE MINNICK

" These are both good spring rivers (this week last year, in
one day, Captain Colvin Stewart had nine clean fish — four
rods eighteen fish).

" Flies :—

"No. L Tail a small topping and tuft of red parrot ; body,
yellow-orange merging into scarlet and claret for half the body ;
the upper half black pig's wool, dressed roughish ; hackle
brown-red, with plenty of black hackle on shoulder ; thin gold
tinsel doubled ; wing, turkey dun with light tips.

" No. 2. Tail and body and tinsel as before ; lower hackle as
before, shoulder hackle lightish medium blue ; wing, sUps of
brown mallard.

" No. 3. Tail and tinsel as before ; body dark cinnamon-
brown (darker than cinnamon) ; hackle the same shade,
shoulder hackle black ; wing brown mallard.

" These are the standard flies, sizes from 8 to 12 in your
Limerick scale. They are varied, and, I think, improved
by a topping over, or small tippet feather under the wing.
The fish are numerous but small, most weigh about ten pounds.
The Butchers and Doctors kill well, and small dark clarets.

THE BLADENOCH

" A fair spring river, but at no season so good as the Cree,
as the fish are very shy. The same flies will kill well-dressed
larger, but the favourite is the dun wing, as dressed by Wright,
of Sprouston (see Tweed, p. 256). Sizes from 4 to 6 in spring
down to 9 or 10 in summer. The Butcher (p. 252) is a prime
favourite also for spring.

THE LUCE

" This is a late river, but the fish run far heavier than in
either of the others, a twenty-pound fish being by no means a
rarity. My favourite fly is dressed as follows.

" Tag, gold tinsel, tail red parrot, teal, and yellow macaw ;
body, yellow, orange, scarlet and claret pig's wool, dressed
spare ; gold thread double ; grouse hackle on shoulder ; wings,
red wild turkey, one topping over, hook 6 to 10.

" Another good one is a claret body, with blue hackle on
shoulder, grey mallard wing, or teal for small sizes.

26o A BOOK ON ANGLING

" The following eccentricity is reckoned excellent as a
change, and I know it does good work.

" Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, topping ; body, half yellow, half
pea-green pig's wool, dressed spare ; gold tinsel ; green hackle
over green pig's wool ; grouse at shoulder ; wings, brown
mallard ; between which a bright blue hackle ; over them one
topping ; head, black ostrich. Hook 8 to 9. About as ugly a fly
as you will find.

" The upper waters of the Cree and the Minnick are pro-
tected, but the lower and better part is netted. The Bladenoch
is preserved by an association, but the Luce is terribly netted ;
the j&sh slaps are sometimes built up, and in short a general
state of neglect and ignorance of what is law prevails. As to
the stake netting in the Solway, into which these rivers
debouch, I need not tell you that the Scotch shore fairly bristle
with nets ; it is a marvel fish get through and up at all.

" There are other streams in Ayrshire and up the West coast,
which have their peculiar flies, but were you to notice all the
rivers, your book would swell to two or three volumes on
salmon alone, which I presume is not your intention.

"^Herbert Maxwell."

Mr. Maxwell very kindly subsequently sent me the follow-
ing :—

" Add to the Minnick flies for a low bright water the follow-
ing, known as the " Dusty Miller."

" Tag, silver tinsel, dark olive floss ; tail, one topping ; butt,
black ostrich ; body, embossed silver timsel, gold thread ;
dark olive hackle, gallina at shoulder ; wing, gold pheasant
tail, mallard, teal, green parrot and lavender swan, jungle cock
at cheek; head black. Hook 9 to 11. (Plate XIX, Fig. 2.)

THE AYRSHIRE STINCHAR

" Is a fine water ; if the nets were off, I doubt not it would be
the best in the West. The nets are, I believe, to be regulated in
future, by the proprietor. Lord Stair, a keen fisher. I have
never fished it, but he told me the other day he had four fish,
weight seventy-six pounds. Large Dee flies are used there,
and a curious dun turkey, with a second pair of wings half-way
down the body."*

* The plan is common on the Tay, and is employed when very long hooks
are used, and when the fly dresser has not any feathers by him long enough
in the fibre to make the wing. He then takes two short fibres, and by allow-
ing one to overlap the other the requisite effect is produced. — F. F.

DUMFRIESHIRE RIVERS 261

Mr. J. Dalrymple Hay also sent me patterns and descrip-
tions of flies in the Luce, but the only one which Mr. Maxwell
had not already sent, is thus described : —

Drake wing * (light), red and black body, with brown hackle,
and Mr. Hay adds, " I have seen a jungle cock feather do well
in heavy water late in the season."

THE ANNAN AND NITH

The following four patterns for the Annan were sent me
since the first edition of this work was published, by Mr.
Rowell, the fishing-tackle maker of St. Alban's Row, Carhsle,
who is the purveyor of all angling requisites for that district.
They are nicely tied, and look decidedly bloodthirsty.

No. I Tag, silver twist ; tail, some sprigs from the saddle
feathers of gold pheasant ; body very rough pig's wool, a sort
of orange-brown at tail, merging into more and more brown,
until it is dark bear's-brown at shoulder ; coch y bondu hackle,
with plenty of black at the butt ; for the shoulder medium gold
tinsel ; wings, two slips of grey drake under, and two of light
dun turkey over.

No. 2 is very much the same, only the body is a trifle yellower
at the tail ; the tail is made of tippet sprigs, and the body is
not so deep a brown at the shoulders. The under wing is of
peacock, not too bright, and the upper of dark dun turkey.

No. 3. Tail and hackle, as in No. i ; body, bright medium
brown throughout ; wing, peacock brownish at the butt. All
these flies are rough, and well picked out with medium fine
gold twist, the hooks being 7 and 8.

No. 4 is a floss silk body ; tag, gold tinsel ; tail, black par-
tridge or teal, and some saddle feather ; butt, black ostrich ;
body lower half yellow, incUning to orange, upper half dark
medium blue ; hackle coch y bondu, blue jay at shoulder ;
silver tinsel ; wing mixed pintail and teal ; tippet (dyed red)
a sword feather, slips of claret and orange swan, with a good
deal of golden pheasant tail over all. Hook No. 5. No heads
to these flies.

And I had a note from Mr. Maxwell with respect to the
Annan and Nith, from which I extract the following : —

" Captain Stewart tells me that he always uses the different
varieties of dun and white tip turkey and brown mallard as
dressed by Jamie Wright, of Sprouston (see Tweed flies), that

♦ Pintail, or the lighter mallard feathers. — F. F.

262 A BOOK ON ANGLING

prince of dressers for Scottish waters. Also the Butcher
(P- 252), and a fly dressed as follows : — ^Tag, silver tinsel ;
tail, onr topping and red Indian crow, or tuft of floss silk ;
body, li;i)f U.mon yellow, luilf black inobair or pig's wool,
according to size of fly; cocb y bondn liackle, willi black at
shoulder ; mix(xl wing, of mallard, t(;al, ycjllow and hi,vcnder
swan, and plenty of red macaw, with or without small tippet
under, and topping over wing ; be;id, binck lierl.

" But the speciality of both th(;s(; waters is the dun wing,
size from 6 to 12, according to the season."

THE AHERnEENSHIRE DEE

There are many Dees in the kingdom, two noted ones in
Scotland, and one famous river in Enghind Jind Wales. That
which I here refer to is the chief one, or Wui Ab(;rdecnshire
Dec. It is almost a pattern river for the skilful salmon-fisher,
but will not admit of being fished by a muff ; in fact, it is by
no means an easy river to fish. The lower reaches, as on the
Conon, are not good rising ground, as the snlmon nm through
and rise badly while resting- the Aboyne water p(!i l)aj)s b(;ing
the cream of the Dee.* The casts are rapid rough streams and
often heavy, but it is perhaps one of Ihe chjan^st streams in
Scotl.ind. The flies used are peculiar, and the local ones are
of litlle us(^ c)fi any otlier river in Scotland, save, fx'rliaps, a
small size of the (iled Wing, or the Tartan, which may be used
for the Don. The flies are tisually large,t but slenderly dressed,
being incnnt lo c:.\\< li llu salmon's rye, T prestune, in <he de(*p
rough walrr, whi( li ■\ mill (ly would nol, and not to frighli'U
him, which loogm ( /".sy!) an imi)osilion perhaps might do.
Some of the flies iis< d, .1:. Ihe ICagle (local " aigle " ; and Uvjv
I may say that the Aberdec^nshire dialect is the worst and mosl
noUHinderslandablf* In 1 hiiigcr of any in Scotland; for,
thongh tolerably <'xpt I KIM <«l, I ru^ver conhl understand hall
my gilii' III when they were conversationally inclined during
my vi' ii iIm k ) I ay, the " aigle " is little more marvellous
as a fly III. Ill Mm Ii .Let is as a dialect, and if we might liken
»om«! Ill* lo liiiiii|. ind prawns, and others to butterflies and

♦ TliifMlofi iio( ;i);h (' Willi in V ox|KM i«Mi( r. If I IkkI my <:lu>i(;(M)f ihe wlioln
rlvnr, I would (i>l<i Hu' ( fiiniloii or llir Woodfiifj'" W{iI<m, uikI i'xrrllfni Hj)ort
In oflcMi IwKJ lowri <Iowm «ui (he l*Mik niid DunJH waloiH. Htit ih(i l)(5c in a
louK livf'i mid iiiiioli dnppiidM uprm wluMo ilic ofirly fi«li rrst lirBt after leaving
the sea, ICi).

t For Hprlng llHhing ; but in Hummer exceedingly Hmall llioii aroused. —

PLATK XV.

To face Page 363

SALMON FLIES.

1. The Brauly Snow Fly.

2. The Black Dog.

3. The Purple King.

THE ABERDEENSHIRE DEE 263

dragon-flies, the Eagle completely knocks all such possibilities
on the head, as it is like nothing on, over, or under the earth.
The Dee flies are dressed upon hooks specially made for them :
these are very long in the shank, with the Limerick bend. The
large class of flies run from about No. 2 in the given scale,
down to No. 6, but with this condition : the shank of the hook
which represents the No. 2 size of bend is just an inch longer
for the Dee flies, while that of No. 6 is an inch and a half, the
intermediate ones being of proportionate length. For smaller
flies, ordinary Limerick hooks are used, even down to an
ordinary No. 7. or 8 hook.

The Gled Wing or Red Wing, as it is termed, is perhaps the
most useful of the local flies. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, gold
pheasant saddle ; body, one-third orange-yellow, and two-
thirds claret, or light purple claret mohair, dressed very
sparely ; broadish silver tinsel laid on rather thinly and in
long spirals ; black heron's hackle of the largest size, or two
if one will not go far enough, dressed down to the yellow
mohair. They must be of the longest fibre, the longer the
better ; teal hackle on the shoulder, without which no Dee
fly is thought complete ; wings, two good strips of swallow-
tailed gled of the largest fibre, or of red dun turkey of the like
colour. Of course, these feathers must be of thin substance
and fine in the fibre, to give them play, and they are to be
set apart — a rather nice operation to do neatly, the strips
requiring to be carefully prepared first by tying in at the
extreme butt ; no head, as it is thought to cause a ripple, while
the sharp head of the regular Dee fly cuts the water with a
smooth even gUding motion, opening and shutting its large
fibres with most life-like appearance.

The Tartan (Plate XVII, Fig. 2, p. 269) is a strange-looking
fly and is rather a troublesome fly to dress. Tag, gold tinsel ;
tail, gold pheasant rump ; body, half orange and half scarlet-
red mohair laid on sparely, of course ; broadish gold tinsel
also spare ; hackle, first a stripped sandy-red cock's hackle
(that is, only one side of it to be used, the other being stripped
off), and on top of this, the large blue-grey hackle or feather
from the heron's back and rump ; the larger the better, they
cannot be too large, as when the hackle is laid on, the fibres
are expected to extend from the very head to the farthest bend
of the hook. It is an awkward feather to lay on, as are all
heron's hackles, being very delicate. It should be tied in, to
commence from as low down as it can be conveniently tied.

264 A BOOK ON ANGLING

so as to leave enough for a good thick brush from the head.
If in winding on the hackle, any of the red hackle fibres under
it be wound in, they must be picked out afterwards with the
needle, and put in their proper position. At the shoulder, a
teal hackle of course. Wings, two strips of silver-grey mottled
turkey (the small mottled feather) ; these feathers are not
easy to get. When this fiy is finished, and before it is properly
pressed down into shape, it looks like an enormous spider, or
daddy longlegs ; it certainly is a monstrosity, though, after all,
not such a monstrosity as

The Eagle. — ^There are two Eagles, the grey and yellow.
The yellow is simply the same feather as the grey, only dyed
of a bright canary yellow ; indeed, I believe, in the evening,
the " yalley aigle '* is the favourite, and is the more effective
fly of the two. The tail, body, etc., are precisely similar to
those of the gled wing ; a quantity of the down or fluffy part
of the golden eagle's feather — the part on and above the thigh
is, I fancy, the best — is then wound on like a hackle, till the fly
looks like the butt end of a largish eagle's feather itself ; on
the shoulder is of course the invariable teal hackle ; wings,
two broadish strips of silver grey turkey ; the large mottled
or broad striped and banded feather being selected.

The above are local flies, but a claret body and hackle, with
mixed wings of long brown turkey, argus, and bustard feathers,
with a gold pheasant sword feather in the midst, does well also,
as does the black body and silver tinsel, with gallina shoulder
and mixed wing.

Most of these flies are from Mr. Brown's patterns, the well-
known tackle maker of Aberdeen, the inventor of the phantom
minnow. He dresses them as few others can.

THE DON

The Don debouches a very short distance from the Dee,
but no two rivers can well be more dissimilar. The Dee running
through the wildest moorland and mountain scenery, and hav-
ing no trout in it worth notice, and the Don running through
beautiful pastoral and well tilled districts, and looking more
like a Hampshire than a Highland salmon stream, and con-
taining perhaps as fine trout as any river in Scotland. Yet the
salmon seem to like very similar flies ; a small reduction in
point of size being made. The Don flies are not so large as
those for the Aberdeen Dee, though after the same fashion.

PLATE XV

Fij4.

To/ace Page 265.

SALMON FLIES.
\. The Gordon. 2 The Sir Herbert.

3. The Wilkinson. 4. The Mar Lodge.

THE DON AND THE DEVERON 265

Indeed, smallish Dee flies are fair sized Don flies ; and, as on
the Dee, the Gled Wings and Tartans are standard flies on Don,
and are varied by using brown or grey mallard wings. Beyond
these are —

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a few fibres of gold pheasant's
rump and a small tuft of yellow crewel ; butt, black ostrich
herl ; body, black pig's wool ; silver twist ; hackle, black with
bule jay on shoulder ; wings, gled or dun turkey strips. Size
7 to 10.

No. 2. Tag, tail, and butt as before; body, about two-fifths
dark red and three-fifths dark blue pig ; hackle (only at
shoulder) light blue, and over it a short grouse hackle ; wings,
strips of the red of dun turkey feather speckled with black.
Size 7 to 10.

No. 3. Tag gold tinsel ; tail, a tuft of orange crewel ; body,
two-thirds orange and one-third black pig ; narrow gold tinsel ;
hackle (only half-way down), a large coch y bondu hackle, with
well marked centre ; wings, strips of grey mallard with
brownish points. Size 9 to 11.

No. 4. Tail, a few fibres of gold pheasant rump ; body half
yellow and half medium red pig's wool ; gold twist ; hackle
only half-way down, a small black heron's hackle, just long
enough in the fibre to cover the point, and barb ; wings, grey
mallard as before, with a trifle more brown at the tip. Size
9 to II.

No. 5. Tail, a small topping ; body, purple claret pig's wool ;
silver twist ; hackle, black heron dressed spare, and only on
the shoulder, but longer in the fibre than the bend of the hook ;
wings, two strips of gled or red turkey.

No. 6. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a small bit of topping ; body,
brown-orange mohair ; gold tinsel ; blue heron's hackle,
fibres to extend to about the bend of the hook ; wings, two
strips of bright speckled grey turkey. Size 9 to 11. Patterns
from Mr. Brown, of Aberdeen.

THE DEVERON

Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Don flies last described are standard
patterns also for the Deveron. Patterns from Mr. Brown.

THE NESS

The Ness is a large and heavy river issuing from a very
large lake. Loch Ness, which is fed by several good salmon
streams, of which the Garry is perhaps the most noteworthy.

266 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The Garry is an excellent early spring river, whereas the Ness,
through which all the Garry fish run, is but an indifferent one.
The Ness is a fair summer river, and also gives plenty of grilse
and large sea trout to the rod — later on, the salmon run of the
largest size. The streams and pools on the Ness are remarkably
fine and bold. The casts are mostly fished from a boat, though,
in places, they can be fished from the shore.

For so large a river as the Ness, the flies used are very small.
One of the best killers, which I found to answer on the Ness
better than any fly I could dress or obtain, was an old Thurso
pattern which I obtained from Mr. Dunbar years ago. I had
three of them, and they had lain in my book for years without
being used ; but if you keep a fly long enough, it is sure to come
in useful at last. Johnnie Macdonald " joost hked the look
o' 'em," and I joost took Johnnie's " adveece," and I did well
with them when I distinctly failed with other flies. They had
been dressed small, I conclude for very young and late patterns,
if they were meant for the Thurso.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, a topping
and tippet sprigs ; but, pale blue ostrich herl ; body, two
turns of light blue-green floss ; yellowish olive-green pig's
wool, with a bit of orange at shoulder ; silver tinsel ; bright
claret hackle ; wing, a tippet and saddle feather, gold pheasant
tail, and a good bit of wood-duck on either side.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel, lemon floss ; tail, one topping ;
body, yellow one- third, the rest dark red (almost claret) pig's
wool ; silver tinsel ; medium blue mohair tied on in locks at
the shoulder for hackle, grouse hackle over it ; under wing,
a small tippet feather, over, strips of bustard, peacock, pintail,
and dark orange-yellow swan. A very good fly.

No. 3. The Denison is said to kill well at times there, and as
the Speaker's brother, who is the godfather to it, is a very
successful fisherman there, we may conclude that the informa-
tion is pretty accurate. Tag, one turn of silver twist, ditto of
claret, and ditto of yellow floss ; tail, one topping, and a slip
of wood-duck ; butt, black ostrich ; body, one half silver
thread, and the other fight blue floss ; silver twist ; hackle,
light blue (only down to the silver), blue jay at the shoulder.
So far the fly is a compromise between the two Doctors. The
wing, however, is peculiar, having a greasy look from the two
gold pheasant rump feathers in it. Imprimis, two tippet
feathers, with a jungle cock on either side as long as the hook,
over these again two gold pheasant rump feathers (same size

I

NESS FLIES 267

as the tippet), one topping over all ; blue macaw ribs and
black head. It is a showy fly, but I would banish the rump
feathers, and use doubled jungle cock instead. I think it
would be quite as attractive, and would lose that greasy look,
which I do not admire.

No. 4. This is also a capital fly on the Ness or anywhere
else ; it is a nice warm fly and a favourite of mine. Tag, gold
tinsel and yellow floss ; tail, one topping ; body, orange-yellow,
merging into distinct orange, and that again into a red-brown
or burnt sienna at the shoulder, some of it to be picked out at
the breast ; grouse hackle only on shoulder ; wing, sprigs of
pintail, bustard, peacock, and tippet, one topping over.

No. 5. Tag, silver tinsel and blue floss ; tail, one topping ;
butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of gold-coloured floss,
the rest bright yellow pig's wool ; silver tinsel ; orange-yellow
hackle over the wool only, with a light purple claret at shoulder;
mixed wing of gold pheasant tail, pintail, galhna fibres, red,
yellow and orange swan fibres, kingfisher cheeks, and blue
macaw ribs.

No. 6. Tail, one topping ; body half yellow and half lightish
medium blue pig's wool ; silver twist medium blue hackle
(only over blue wool), grouse hackle on shoulder ; wing, one
tippet feather and strips of gold pheasant tail, bustard and
pintail over it ; a few sprigs of gold pheasant sword feather
for ribs. This is also a capital general fly ; the body is some-
what like one of the Conon bodies. The same fly, with pea-
green pig's wool and hackle makes a good change.

No. 7. Tag, silver tinsel, and one turn of ruby floss ; tail,
one topping ; body, orange merging to brown, and that into
blue pig's wool, dressed roughish ; hackle, darkish medium
blue only at shoulder ; silver tinsel ; wing, a tippet feather,
and slips of brown mallard and pintail over it, two short pea-
green parrot feathers over the butts of these feathers; blue
macaw ribs.

No. 8. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; butt, black ostrich ;
body, gold coloured floss three turns, black mohair ; silver
tinsel ; black hackle, blue jay on shoulder ; wing, slices of
yellow and orange swan, brown and grey mallard and gold
pheasant tail, a few sprigs of tippet, one topping over all ;
blue macaw ribs ; kingfisher at either cheek. This is also a
capital fly for the Shin.

The above patterns, with an exception or two, are from the
selection of my worthy gossip Snowie, of Inverness.

268 ' A BOOK ON ANGLING

No. 9. The Highlander. — I have included this fly in the list
of Ness flies, though I think it is better for the Carron and some
of the Rosshire rivers than the Ness. It is the best fly you can
put on the Carron. Tag, silver twist and gold floss ; tail, a
topping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, gold-coloured floss, nearly
half up the body for a small fly ; if large, a few turns of silk
and thin yellow pig's wool, above this dirty olive-green mo-
hair ; silver tinsel ; pea-green hackle from tail to head, blue
jay at shoulder ; wings, sprigs of tippet gold pheasant tail
and mallard, with pintail over, doubled jungle cock on either
side, and over all a topping ; black head. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 2.)

The two Doctors and the Popham are often used with
advantage, and the Claret and the Highlander may be found
useful at times.

The Ness flies are usually small, not larger than grilse flies,
and even in heavy water a very moderate sized fly is sufficient.
They run from 6 or 7 to 10 or 11.

THE CONON

The Conon is a large river which has some capital tributaries,
the best of which, perhaps, is the Blackwater, which for its
length is usually very well stocked with fish. The upper parts
of the Conon are very pretty and tempting, containing fine
streams and good pools, but the lower reaches are heavy and
dull. The fish for the most part run through them without
resting long, and while they do rest rise but indifferently.

Here are three flies for the Conon, all of which are first-rate
general flies and will kill anywhere.

No. I. Tag, two turns of silver tinsel ; tail, one topping and
some sprigs of tippet ; body, one turn of bright orange-brown
pig's wool, continued with yellow half-way up, and the re-
maining half with medium (inclining to light) blue, body,
rough and well picked out ; broadish silver tinsel ; black
hackle, pretty thick, but only laid on at the shoulder ; wing,
bright mottled peacock, with a shortish jungle cock on either
side, rather better than half the length of the wing.

No. 2. Tag, tail, and body as before, merely changing
black pig's wool for the blue. The hackle is the same, but
is dressed over the whole of the black wool (or half the body) ;
wing, one tippet, with bright peacock over it, short jungle
cock on either side as before.

No. 3. Tag and tail as before. Body, oHve-yellow changing

PLATE XVII.

FcsZ

To face Pag^e 269.

SALMON FLIES.
1. The Brown Ackroyd. 2. The Tartan.

3. The Snow Fly. 4. The Shannon,

THE LOCHY AND THE THURSO 269

into dirty orange, and that again into a purple claret at the
shoulder ; silver tinsel ; black hackle from tail to head ;
peacock wing.

The size of these flies for the Conon will vary from medium
salmon down to small grilse size, or from 5 to 8 or 9.

THE LOCHY

I give now four flies for the Lochy. The Lochy flies should
be dressed smaller even than the Ness, not much above sea
trout size. These patterns are from Mr. Farlow, of 191 Strand.

No. 1. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping and three or four
sprigs of red parrot ; body, two turns of yellow, ditto of red,
and the rest of black crewel ; gold tinsel ; a black hackle only
at the shoulder, with a blue jay over it ; under wing, tippet
with slips of brown mallard over, mixed wood-duck and gallina
outside of that ; blue macaw ribs.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist and orange floss ; tail, one topping,
a few sprigs of tippet and wood-duck mixed ; butt, peacock
herl ; body, pale blue silk ; fine silver thread doubled ; lightish
red claret hackle from butt to head, two turns of blue jay on
shoulder ; wing, gold pheasant tail and tippet sprigs mixed
Ughtish mallard and gallina over ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, silver twist and ruby silk ; tail, sprigs of tippet
black partridge, or, faihng in that, a bit of dark teal and gallina
mixed ; butt, black ostrich herl ; body, two turns of blue, and
two of ruby floss, the rest of a dirty orange, or olive-yellow
floss ; gold thread doubled ; olive hackle (down to ruby
floss), grouse hackle on shoulder ; wing, a strip of dark, almost
black turkey, with light tippet over that, sprigs off tippet,
bustard, bright red and yellow gallina over that, and mallard
above that ; blue macaw ribs and black head.

No. 4. Tag, silver twist and orange floss ; tail, a yellow
toucan feather ; body, dark mulberry floss ; gold tinsel ;
brown claret hackle, grouse hackle on shoulder ; wing, same
as No. 3 ; head black.

THE THURSO

The Thurso is one of the best early spring rivers in Scotland,
and seldom fails in yielding sport. It is not a large river, but
is fed by several small lakes. It is extremely prolific, but
rather a dull dead stream, is perfectly open, devoid of high
banks, and easy to fish. For all these reasons it is a capital

i^7o A BOOK ON ANGLING

river to enter a green hand on, or for those who are not equal
to much fatigue, or to whom wading is tabooed. The flies for
it should be dressed on good-sized hooks ; the middle sizes,
not so large as Dee and Tay hooks, nor so small as Ness flies,
being preferable. These patterns are also from Farlow's ; the
fish having undergone a complete change^in their tastes since
I was there ; for when I was there they preferred a sober
coloured fly, but of late years they prefer more showy ones.*,

The Dhoon Fly. — ^This was originally a Mahseer fly used
in the Himalayas. How it came to be adopted here I cannot
say, but it kills on one or two other rivers, particularly in spring
on the Welsh Wye, where it is called the Canary. Tag, gold
tinsel and ruby floss ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich herl ;
body, in four joints, of bright yellow floss ; at every joint a
large wad of bright yellow wool is tied in for a hackle, and
left very long and bushy ; j in the two lower joints it is yellow
wool, the upper two bright orange-yellow pig's wool, very long
and bushy ;< gold twist ;l hackle at shoulder yellow, and over
it an orange hackle ;] wings, two big strips of bright orange
(dyed swan) feather, two good long^kingfisher or chatterer
feathers at the cheeks ; head black.

The Duke of Sutherland. — ^Tag, silver twist and gold-
coloured floss'^;j tail, one topping, some tippet sprigs with
green and red parrot ; butt, black ostrich herl ; body, burnt
sienna floss and bright medium green f (two turns of each),
the rest of pig's wool of the same colour ; hackle, ditto, ditto,
with orange-yellow hackle on the shoulder ; gold twist and
silver tinsel ; under wing, two tippet feathers, upper wing,
strips of bustard and gold pheasant tail, over them sprigs of
yellow-green swan, one topping, with Himalayan pheasant
back feather (that with the white spot on it) on either cheek ;
blue macaw ribs ; and black head.

Sir Francis Sykes. — ^Tag, silver twist and blue floss ; tail,
one topping and sprigs of teal and blue macaw ; body, dark
cinnamon-brown ; hackle of the same colour ; silver twist
doubled ; wing, mixed of gold pheasant tail, bustard, tippet,
wood-duck, blue, red, yellow, and green swan sprigs ; red head.

The Priest. — This is a good general fly, kilUng well in many
parts of Ireland. Tag, gold twist and dark blue floss ; tail,
a topping and pale red ibis or flamingo ; butt, black obtrich ;

* At least the fishers do 1 — Ed.

t By medium I mean that it is neither a decidedly yellow nor a decidedly
blue-green, but strictly medium. — F. F.

THE LAXFORD 271

body, three turns of orange floss, the rest dirty olive-brown
mohair ; gold tinsel and silver twist ; hackle, golden oHve,
medium blue at shoulders ; wing, dark turkey, or cock pheasant
tail, over that fibres of bustard, and bright bastard bustard,
brown mallard and a plentiful admixture of green swan sprigs ;
head red.

Switching Sandy. — ^Tag, silver^tinsel and Hght orange-red
floss; tail, a topping and tippet sprigs; butt, black ostrich
herl ; body, three turns of dark blue floss, two of yellow-green
floss, the rest of rather a blue-green wool ; gold tinsel ; Ught
yellow-green hackle with a darker blue-green on shoulder ;
wing, gold pheasant tail, the same dyed pinkish, shreds of
brown mallard, wood-duck and bastard bustard, blue and
yellow green swan sprigs ; black head. The body and hackle
of this fly are so Uke the Highlander, that it will be found
to kill on the Ness, the Carron, the Blackwater, the Garry,
and many other Ross and Sutherlandshire rivers ; on many
of these rivers, greens are in favour ; other very favourite
flies for Thurso are, the Britannia, the Childers, the Namsen,
the Butcher, and Major. Sizes from 4 to 9 or 10.

THE LAXFORD

Patterns also from Farlow's.

The Lascelles. — Tag, silver twist, and lemon-yellow floss ;
tail, a topping, teal and mauve macaw sprigs; butt, black
ostrich herl ; body, half lemon-yellow floss, and half pig's
wool of the same colour ; silver twist, with black silk beside it,
as in the Colonel ; hackle, brown claret (this is what I con-
sider fiery brown, only, as I have said, I fear the fate of Martin
Kelly, if I attempt to decide this awful shade of mystery),
speckled gaUina on shoulder ; wing, a gold pheasant rump
and a saddle feather, sprigs of gold pheasant tail, and bastard
bustard, yellow and blue sprigs, with a few fibres of gold
pheasant sword feather, over all a good slice of gallina ; head
black. Size 9 and 10.

The next fly has no name, and as that is a very inconvenient
hiatus, particularly as it would be a capital general fly, I call it.

The Laxford, — Tag, gold twist ; tail, one topping ; body,
gold-coloured floss silk ; hackle, bright yellow ; silver tinsel
and gold twist ; darkish blue hackle at shoulder ; wing, a
lump of peacock, over it sprigs of bustard and bastard bustard,
topping over all, and blue macaw ribs ; black head. Size 9
and 10.

272 A BOOK ON ANGLING

THE AWE AND THE ORCHY

The same flies are used on both these rivers. I wrote and
asked a friend to obtain patterns for me if possible, and he got
them for me from Colonel Campbell, of Skipness, whose reputa-
tion as a sportsman is only second to his fame as an author ;
for few, if any, modern books of sporting adventures can com-
pare in point of general interest and sportsmanlike handhng
with the Old Forest Ranger and My Indian Journal,
both of which are the productions of Colonel Campbell's pen.
He sends four flies.

No. I is almost identical with No. i in the Conon patterns ;
see page 268. It is a common favourite, and a regular trial
horse in most of the Highland rivers. The only difference I
can discern is, that the turn of orange-brown pig's wool, which
commences the tail end of the fly, is transferred to the shoulder
and the colours run yellow, blue, and orange. The jungle
cock is also wanting, but these are matters of no moment.
The Colonel says of this fly, this is " the old legitimate Orchy
and Awe fly, and is considered a ' great medicine ' by the
natives, who ignore all others. It is a good fly, and is used of
various sizes, according to the state of the water, the enclosed
pattern being rather above the medium size (the enclosed
pattern was what I should call a largish 8 hook) ; but I have
found the three following more deadly " : —

No. 2. The Indian Crow. — ^This fly is a slight variation of the
Popham, the lower joint being orange-yellow, the next two
light blue ; the hackle light blue instead of jay ; silver thread,
the joints being separated by black ostrich instead of peacock
herl. The Colonel says of this fly : " So-called from the feathers
of the Indian crow in the body. I tried this fly for the first
time about five years ago, and have killed with it and the
Butcher, No. 3, more and larger fish than with any other —
a deadly fly in any river on which I have tried it."

No. 3 is the Butcher ; but no two tyers dress the Butcher
alike, and in this one the claret is changed to bright red, the
blue is medium, the claret hackle is a brown olive, with a turn
of jay at the breast, and the wing is mixed of tippet and gold
pheasant tail, a good deal of bustard, a little gallina, blue,
red, and yellow swan, a topping over all, and a pair of short
jungle cock feathers at sides. The Colonel says : " Good either
on the Awe or the Orchy " ; and he adds, " the water being

THE AWE AND THE ORCHY 273

very clear both in the Awe and Orchy, single gut must always
be used."

No. 4. The Canary. — This fly is more often called the
" Goldfinch," and I mention the fact, as another fly has already
been saddled with the same appellation. I have given one
Goldfinch dressing, but as there is some variety in this, I give
the Colonel's as well.

Tag, gold tinsel and gold-coloured floss ; tail, a topping, and
short yellow toucan feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body, gold
tinsel, in two joints, divided by two turns of black ostrich
herl, with short yellow toucan feathers, tied in at the joints
for hackles, as in the fashion of the Popham. Those at the
breast increase a size larger of course ; head, black ostrich ;
wings, five or six toppings, with blue macaw ribs. Of this,
the Colonel says : " Good either for Awe or Orchy, particularly
when the water is low " ; and he concludes, " the above four
flies are the only ones I ever use, and I find that I kill as many
fish as my neighbours, sometimes more ; when they fail to
start a fish you may go home."

I have also half a dozen patterns of flies for the Awe from
Malcolm Macnicol, of Dalmally, who is the tyer of flies for all
that part of the country. Malcolm is a first-rate hand either
with rod and gaff or dubbing and feather. They are all sober
flies, in black and grey coats.

No. I. Tag, silver thread, and one turn of orange floss ;
tail, a small topping ; body, black mohair ; black hackle ;
medium silver tinsel ; wings, strips of silver-grey mottled
turkey, or in default a bit of good bright peacock might do.

No. 2 is similar, save that at the tail end of the body there
is one turn of light yellow mohair, and the wings are strips of
bluish black from a heron's wing.

No. 3 consists of a Blue Doctor, with a good-sized Indian
crow feather for tail ; body and hackle darkish shade of blue,
and a silver-grey mottled turkey or peacock wing.

No. 4 is very much of a Highlander body and hackle. The
tag is silver thread and blue floss ; tail, tippet and some fibres
from a claret hackle ; body, two turns of yellow pig's wool,
the rest of darkish pea-green floss ; hackle, lightish yellow-
green ; silver tinsel ; wing, speckled brown turkey, grey
towards the tips.

No. 5. Tag, silver thread ; tail, a bit of orange mohair
and teal ; body, two turns of medium pea-green floss, and the
rest of bright medium blue mohair, a few fibres of light claret

274 A BOOK ON ANGLING

mohair being thrown in at the shoulder ; silver tinsel ; hackle,
light claret ; wings, slips of black heron.

No. 6. Tag, silver thread ; tail, a good-sized Indian crow
feather ; body, two turns of yellow pig's wool, the rest darkish
blue mohair, with a pinch of fiery red pig's wool thrown in at
the shoulder ; silver tinsel ; black hackle ; wing, silver grey
mottled turkey or'peacock. Hooks,^Nos. y\nd^S.

THE GARRY OF LOCH NESS

This is a spring river, and requires large flies — Nos. 3 and 4.
These three flies are sent me by Mr. Snowie of Inverness,
who is the best authority for flies upon the rivers in Inverness,
Nairn, Elgin, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and lemon floss ; tail, a topping
and some black partridge; butt, black ostrich herl; body,
orange floss, three or four turns, dark orange pig's wool
(almost red) one-third, a lighter and browner orange for the
rest of the body, dressed roughish, and picked out ; broad silver
tinsel and gold twist ; hackle, bright orange, light blue on the
shoulders, with gallina over it ; under wing, a tippet and strips
of bustard, peacock and gold pheasant tail over it, a sword
feather over that, and topping over aU ; blue macaw ribs ; a
jungle cock feather at either shoulder ; head, black. Dressed
large on straight hook.

No. 2. Tag, gold tinsel and mulberry and gold-coloured floss ;
tail, a topping, and some sprigs of tippet and wood-duck ;
butt, black ostrich herl ; body, gold-coloured floss silk, three
or four turns, and mixed medium green and yellow pig's wool,
the green predominating ; broad silver tinsel and gold twist ;
black hackle, gallina (pretty thick) on the shoulder ; under
wing, a tippet feather and a sword feather, with strips of orange,
yellow, and dark claret-red swan, strips of gold pheasant tail,
brown mallard, bustard over it f teal on either shoulder,
topping over all ; blue macaw ribs ; blackhead. ' ':

No. 3. Tag, silver tinsel and gold-coloured floss ; tail, a
topping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, one- third gold-coloured
floss, the rest darkish pig's wool ; silver tinsel ; hackle, black,
bhie jay on shoulder ; wing, a slice or two of "gold pheasant
tippet, two or three slices orange swan, strips of grey mallard
and'fgold pheasant tail, doubled"^' jungle cock on" either side ;
blue macaw ribs ; blackfhead.^^ There is another capital fly
for the Garry in early spring, called

r

PLATE XVIII.

Tofaix Page 27S.

SALMON FLIES.
1. The Black Ranger. 2. The Highlander.

3. The Thunder and Lightning. 4. The Black and Teal.

THE SHIN 275

The Snow Fly. — Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, ibis, wood-duck,
and small topping ; butt, a turn or two of black wool ; the
body is in four joints, and is composed of stout silver twist,
at every joint a wad of pig's wool is tied in and picked out ;
this at the first joint is light blue, at the second, medium
claret, at the third, orange, and the head of the fourth on the
shoulder is yellow, this is picked out to answer for a hackle :
over this is a short orange hackle, the main fibre of which
is well covered by the butt of the wing and the head, which latter
is of blue wool ; the wing is three or four good shoes of dark,
almost black turkey, with light (not quite white) tips, and one
topping over all. It will be seen, if examined, that there is
nothing in the composition of this fly which can be cut. The
butt is of wool or crewel, as is also the head ; the body is almost
solid ; the pig's wool at the joints may be chewed, but cannot
be destroyed. The only hackle is at the shoulder, and that,
as I have said, is well protected. The kelts may do their
worst with it. It is almost, if not quite, impervious. It kills
well also on the Helmsdale. I had the pattern of Farlow.
As it is only for heaw spring vraters it is dressed large. (Plate,
XVII, Fig. 3.)

THE SHIN

Is a very fine river, often showing excellent sport. In the
spring the salmon are seldom found above the falls, but as the
summer gets on, the higher reaches become better stocked.
This river was for many years in the hands of my poor old
friend Andrew Young, whose name is so well known in the
history of the salmon. Since his death it has been let out in
rods.

Patterns from Snowie.

No. I. Tag, gold tinsel and orange floss ; tail, one topping ;
butt, black ostrich herl; body, two or three turns of gold-
coloured floss, half yellow and half bright claret-red pig's
wool ; black hackle, light claret at shoulder ; under wing, a
tippet, strips of peacock, gold pheasant tail, mallard, peacock
stained pale yellow over ; blue macaw ribs ; topping over all.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel and gold floss ; tail, a topping ;
butt, black ostrich; body, one-third gold floss, the rest light
oHve-green mohair ; silver tinsel ; black hackle ; blue jay on
shoulder ; under wing, two short gold pheasant saddle feathers,
over this strips of gold pheasant and common hen pheasant
tail, a good slice of bustard and pintail on either side, with a

276 A BOOK ON ANGLING

few fibres of tippet, kingfisher on either cheek, blue macaw
ribs, and one topping over all ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, silver tinsel and mulberry floss ; tail, a topping
and some wood-duck ; butt, black ostrich ; body, gold floss
two turns, one-third yellow, the rest very dark olive pig'?
wool ; hackle, black, blue jay on shoulder ; under wing, a
tippet feather, over it, gold pheasant tail, pintail, mallard, a
gold pheasant rump feather, a topping over all, blue macaw
ribs. Medium hooks in spring, smaller for summer, 6 and 7,
8, 9 and 10. See also No. 8 of the Ness flies ; also the High-
lander.

THE OYKEL

Patterns from Farlow.

No. I. Tag, silver twist and pale yello^y floss ; tail, a top-
ping and kingfisher ; body, black floss, over this spirals of
si ver twist, bright red floss, and silver tinsel (the floss in the
middle), all these together almost equal in breadth to the
black floss. A whisp of red mohair at breast ; over this a few
strands of gallina and blue jay, about one turn of each, over
all black heron's hackle, not too thick, but reaching to the
bend ; wing, gold pheasant tail and tippet fibres, over it some
teal, bustard and gallina, yellow macaw ribs ; orange-yellow
crewel head.

No. 2. Tag, gold twist and orange-yellow floss ; tail, a
topping ; body, copper-red floss ; medium silver tinsel ;
hackle, medium olive, bustard hackle at shoulder ; wing,
florican and galling, with dirty red and yel'ow fibres, brown
mallard over and a few gallina fibres over that, blue macaw
ribs ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, gold twist, burnt sienna floss ; tail, tippet and
gallina fibres, thin ; butt, black ostrich ; body, one quarter
medium orange floss, three quarters black floss ; silver tinsel
and greenish olive hackle, one turn of yellowish olive at
shoulder ; wing, orange-yellow and dirty red fibres, with a
few blue macaw, slips of bustard, a bit of silver mottled turkey
or peacock in the middle, blue macaw ribs ; black head ;
hooks from 6 to 8.

THE BRORA

The Brora is a river which has for many years remained in
the same hands, and as little is known about it by the public,

THE BRORA AND THE HELMSDALE 277

no doubt the renters have a pretty good thing, and are wise
enough to keep the knowledge of their sport to themselves.

Patterns from Snowie.

No. I. Tag, silver twist, and gold-coloured floss ; tail, one
topping ; body, gold-coloured floss, two turns, medium brown
mohair ; silver tinsel ; longish fibred black hackle (only on
shoulder) ; wing, a strip of peacock stained yellow, gold
pheasant tail, sprigs of tippet, strips of teal on either side, a
topping over all.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, a topping ;
butt, black ostrich; body, half orange floss and half black
mohair ; hackle, gallina only at shoulder ; under wing, a bit
of tippet (longish), orange-yellow and claret strips of swan,
gold pheasant tail, mallard, pintail, a topping over all, blue
macaw ribs ; short jungle cock on either cheek ; black head.

No. 3. John Scott. — This is a very tasty-looking fly, being
decorated with what is called in Ireland a mane, which is made
by tying in on the back small locks of mohair of different
colours ; tag, silver tinsel and gold-coloured floss ; tail, a
topping ; butt, blue ostrich herl ; body, half gold-coloured
floss and half medium blue. The mane is composed of locks of
yellow-orange, purple claret and medium blue mohair ; silver
tinsel ; hackle, medium blue, longish in the fibre, and only on
shoulder ; wing, fibres of tippet, strips of black partridge and
bustard on either side, a topping over all ; the mane very much
supphes the wing ; kingfisher on either cheek ; black head.

The Butcher and Childers are also capital flies on the Brora,
and the Popham is also said to kill wdl at times. Flies from
6 or 7 to 9 or 10.*

THE HELMSDALE

Is a smaU river, rather dependent on rain;t and though it
often yields good sport in the spring, it is often for some period
too low for fishing as the summer comes on.
Patterns from Snowie.

* My acquaintance with the Brora is hmited to three consecutive days in
March, 1909, when my gilUe prescribed the Green Highlander (Plate XVIII,
Fig. 2), as the only true medicine. Nor had I cause to complain, for I had
thirteen fish in the three days. — Ed.

t The Helmsdale is considerably larger than the Brora. Since Francis's
day its salmon anghng has been developed in a degree without parallel in
any other river except the Wye. Not only have all the river and sea nets
been removed, but by raising the level of the lochs at the head of the river, a
steady flow of water is secured throughout the summer months, and angling
is carried on all the time. — Ed,

278 A BOOK ON ANGLING

No. I. Tag, silver twist and orange floss ; tail, one topping ;
butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of orange floss, the rest
of medium brown pig's wool ; silver tinsel ; small black hackle,
grouse hackle on shoulder ; wing, a slice of tippet, strips of
bustard, pintail, gold pheasant tail, galHna, and yellow swan,
a topping over all ; blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich
herl ; body, gold-coloured floss one-third, the rest pea-green
pig's wool (roughish and picked out) ; silver twist ; grouse
hackle (thickish) on shoulder ; wing, a bit of tippet, strips of
gold pheasant tail and teal, plenty of orange sprigs, a topping
over all ; two short jungle cock at cheeks.

No. 3. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, a topping ;
butt, blue ostrich herl ; body, ruby floss three turns, olive and
then medium blue mohair in equal parts (roughish and picked
out), silver twist ; grouse hackle at shoulder ; wing as before,
with the addition of a sUce of gallina (the round spotted)!;
head, black.

Add to these the Butcher, Childers, and the Snow Fly, noted
above. The Helmsdale is not a large river, and the flies are
dressed on hooks from 7 to 10.*

THE BEAULY

Is a fine large river, and belongs chiefly to Lord Lovat. The
weir is a hard one to get up, and in the weir pool great numbers
of fish are often congregated. Here, two or three years since,
the Master of Lovat had in three days perhaps the most extra-
ordinary sport ever had in Great Britain.

Patterns from Snowie.

There is a singular fly used on the Beauly, which is there
termed the Snow Fly, and as long as there is any snow water
on the river that fly kills well ; far better indeed than any
other. It is dressed on a big long-shanked round-head hook
like the Tay flies.

Beauly Snow Fly (Plate, XV, Fig. i). — It boasts neither tag
nor tail ; the body is of lightish blue pig's wool, rather
sparely dressed ; silver tinsel and gold twist ; black heron's
hackle, as long in the fibre or longer than the hook ; wings,
a large bunch of bronze-coloured peacock herl ; round the
shoulder over this is tied hackle-wise a ruff of bright orange
mohair, which gives a brilliant and unusual look to the fly.

* Early in the season I have killed fish in Helmsdale on a 3 J in. fly. — Ed.

PLATE XIX.

Flq 3.

r '.v.\

Tojace Page 279.

SALMON FLIES.

1. The Blue Doctor. 2. The Dusty Miller.

3. The Bittern. 4. Francis' Favourite.

THE FINDHORN 279

No. 2. Tag, silver twist and gold coloured floss ; tail, a
topping, ; butt, black ostrich herl ; body, two turns of gold-
coloured floss, half yellow and half black mohair ; hackle,
black (over the black mohair only), at the shoulder darkish
blue (sparely) with blue jay over it ; wing, a couple of strips
of tippet, gold pheasant tail, brown mallard, gallina, yellow,
red, and orange sprigs, a topping over all, and blue macaw
ribs ; black head.

No. 3. Tail, a topping and mallard ; body, medium blue ;
ditto., hackle ; gold tinsel ; gallina hackle at shoulder, blue
jay over it ;^ wings, strips of bustard, dark and Ught turkey,
and some peacock herls, and a topping over all. FHes, 5 and 6
for spring, 7 and 8 for summer.

THE FINDHORN

The Findhom is a very fine and lovely river, and the pools
and streams perfection. At one time there was no river in
Scotland that gave such sport to the rod, but nets near the
mouth, and incessant netting of the lower pools thin the fish,
and injure the sport greatly.

It can be fished from the shore, but some of the casts require
deepish wading. It is a long river, with mountainous sources,
and heavy rains may be going on back in the moimtains,
which the angler has no idea of, and the river will come down
sometimes suddenly with a bore or a wave six feet high. The
banks are high and rocky, and often inaccessible, and woe be
to the angler if he is caught between them. The late Sir A. P.
Gordon Gumming showed me one spot where he had had a very
narrow escape. He had walked across a part of the river bed
over which a little stream ran not higher than his ankles, to a
cast about one hundred yards up the river. He was fishing
the cast,^when suddenly he fancied the water was thickening
in colour. It was a brilliant day, without a sign of rain. He
looked over his shoulder up the river, and about one hundred
and fifty or two hundred yards off he saw a big red wave, about
five or six feet high, coming down like a race horse : not a
moment'^was to be lost, and he bolted for the landing-place as
hard as his legs would carry him, and he only just reached it,
for the little stream, which was not over his ankles five minutes
before, was up to his waist before he got out of it, and in another
half -minute an elephant would have been carried away in it.
I was nearly caught once in the same way on the upper part

28o A BOOK ON ANGLING

of the Coquet. I mention these facts, that anglers may be
aware of them when they are fishing Highland rivers.

The accompanying patterns I obtained from Sir A. P.
Gordon Gumming,* one of the best amateur tyers in the North.
They are all old well-used favourites, and are the result of
twenty years' experience. The Findhorn spring flies are rather
large and showy — not so large as the Dee flies, perhaps, but
full large, some of the flies (the largest) being dressed on the
ordinary Limerick hook, from No. 2 to No. 5. In low bright
water they may be used smaller than this.

No. I. Tag, gold thread and puce floss ; tail, a good sized
topping, some tippet, and a kingfisher feather; butt, black
ostrich ; body, lightish claret floss ; silver tinsel and gold
twist (not together, but equidistant) ; hackle, light claret,
blue jay at shoulder ; wing, two large tippet feathers, almost
the full length of the wing, over it sprigs of gold pheasant tail,
a good many sprigs of both red and blue macaw, slips of brown
gled and dark bustard ; on either shoulder, nearly half the
length of the wing, the tips of two blue macaw feathers ; the
head is composed of orange mohair, set on like a hackle, and
forming a ruff. Most of the Findhorn flies are mounted in this
way, and it makes them very conspicuous. In some Sir
Alexander used the soft silky Pinna marina, and it has a very
striking effect. The hook of this fly is a No. 2 or 3. The size
sent is between the two.

No. 2. Tag, silver thread and yellow floss ; tail, a good-
sized topping ; some tippet, and gallina, butt, black ostrich ;
body, copper-coloured floss ; broad silver tinsel and narrow
gold ditto side by side ; hackle, medium claret, blue jay at
shoulder ; wing, as before, the tippets not quite so long, a
little English bustard, brown mallard, and brown speckled
turkey instead of gled, and bright bustard, red macaw and
pale green swan sprigs, no blue macaw at all ; hook, a size
smaller than the last.

No. 3. Tag, silver thread and ruby floss ; tail, a good-sized

* Since the above was printed I have had the news of poor Sir Alexander's
death. But a short year since I enjoyed the pleasure of his hospitality in
his beautiful residence on the banks of the lovely Findhorn ; we fished, tied
flies, and held sweet converse upon matters piscatorial, day by day, and I
have seldom enjoyed a week more thoroughly than that I spent at Altyre ;
he was then apparently in the pride of his strength and the prime of man-
hood. How beautifully he tied the salmon fly, blending its colours into one
harmonious combination, and with what a workmanlike and skilful hand
he hurled it across the waters ; but alas and in truth it will be long ere I
shall " look upon his like again ! " — F. F.

THE FINDHORN 281

topping and tippet ; butt, black ostrich ; body orange-yellow
flossf; broad gold tinsel ; rather light blue hackle, blue jay
at shoulder ; wing, one medium-sized tippet, two good slices
of brown speckled turkey, sprigs of gold pheasant tail, a few
of red and blue macaw ; bright red mohair head and collar ;
blue macaw horns tied in above this ; hook, same as last.

No. 4. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, one good topping ; body,
three turns of ruby floss, the rest of Ught apple-green floss ;
silver and gold tinsel, equidistant ; hackle, bright medium
green, inclining to a blue-green, black heron hackle on shoulder,
the fibre reaching the barb of the hook ; wing, a bunch of
emerald-green peacock herl (taken from the scimitar-shaped
feather), shoes of brown speckled turkey, bright peacock, a
little bustard, red and blue macaw and green swan ; collar,
blue mohair ; hook, a size smaller than the last.

No. 5. Tag, silver thread and a small bunch of red mohair ;
tail, topping and tippet, sprigs of gold pheasant sword feather,
blue macaw and pale yellow-green parrot ; butt, black ostrich ;
body, same as before, only a shade or so lighter ; gold and
silver tinsel side by side ; hackle, coch y bondu, stained brown,
black heron on shoulder, reaching to point of hook ; wing,
strips of bustard and bright peacock, sprigs of blue and red
macaw and yellow-green swan ; collar, bright orange mohairj
hook, same as last.

No. 6. Tag, silver thread and yellow floss^; tail, a longish
topping tippet, and a red toucan feather ; butt, black ostrich ;
body, black floss ; broad silver tinsel and gold thread side by
side ; hackle, the dark chocolate brown cock's feather used in
the Spey flies, black heron at shoulder, and gallina over it ;
wing, two tippet feathers (two-thirds the length of wing),
mixed peacock and gold pheasant tail, with fibres of red and
blue macaw ; olive-yellow mohair collar ; hook. No. 4.

No. 7. Tag, gold thread ; tail, a topping, and some galHna ;
body, one turn of orange-yellow pig's wool, then two light
clarety red, two of medium blue, three of clarety red, and the
same of orange-yellow ; broadish gold tinsel ; dark purple
hackle, black hackle at shoulder, blue jay over it ; wing, one
tippet (half the length of wing), mixed gold pheasant tail,
mallard, a little gallina, a little bright bustard, a few sprigs
of long tippet, and of yellow and claret swan, and several blue
macaw sprigs ; black head, no collar ; hook. No. 5.

No. 8. Tag, silver thread and darkish blue floss ; tail, a
good topping ; but, black ostrich ; body, one-third orange-

282 A BOOK ON ANGLING

yellow floss, the rest dark chocolate floss ; hackle, a brown
claret, black heron on shoulder (shortish) ; wing, a tippet
(long), the tip of a black partridge feather, a bit of dark brown
mallard, and the tip of a green parrot feather, over this sprigs
of brown turkey, gold pheasant tail, two or three copper-
coloured peacock herls, red and blue macaw, kingfisher on
either cheek ; mohair collar not too heavy, the colour of which
is not orange nor pink, but a sort of madder. Hook, a trifle
shorter than the last.

Sir Alexander gave some directions for varying the flies,
and I cannot do better than append his letter.

"Altyre, Forres, N.B., July 30, 1865.

** My dear Sir, — I have selected eight of the flies which I
have found most kilhng on the Findhorn, during twenty
years' work. These may be successfully varied by changing
the colour of the bodies and heads ; red for orange, black for
yellow heads, and bodies made black for claret or green, and
vice versa. These eight patterns I generally adhere to through-
out the year, by dressing them one, two, and three sizes smaller.
Blue bodies may be substituted in the case of the black and
two clarets, with advantage to the angler and detriment to
the fish. The wings of two are far too long, but this you need
not mind. All should have one or two toppings (shortish)
for tails, and if the wing is dressed thinner it is an immense
improvement, where economy is no object, to put two long
toppings on the wing.

"|Yours truly,

" A. P. Gordon Gumming."

THE TAY

The Tay is a splendid river. The water is heavy, but some of
the pools and streams are magnificent. The fishing on the lower
part of the river is mostly from a boat, and the style is called
" harling." Three rods are used, and the boat is rowed to and fro
over the casts. Two of the rods usually have a couple of flies
on each, and the third a phantom minnow, and it is not an un-
common thing for two of the rods to have a fish on at the same
moment, and I have even heard an instance or two of all three of
them being at work simultaneously. A few of the casts, however,
can be fished from the shore, and where this is the case, the
sport is of a very superior kind ; for, owing to the size of the

J

THE TAY 283

river and weight of the stream, Tay fish nearly always show
great sport. The Tay has been rendered famous by poor
Leech, as it was on one of the best known parts ^jof the river
that the immortal Briggs killed the great salmon. A magnifi-
cent piece of water it is, and is known by the euphonious
title of Hell Hole. The system of letting fishing on the Tay
is a capital one, as it provides fishing for a large number of
persons at a moderate outlay, while the total of rents is con-
siderable. It is customary to take a certain water for one
special day per week throughout the season, five other persons
taking the other disposable five days, each lessee fishing it
in turn. It is best in summer and autumn ; gives a few fish
in the spring, but the best sport is in the autumn.

The spring flies for the Tay are of the largest size. Like
those of the Dee they are tied upon very long shanked hooks,
but the round bend is perferred to the Limerick.

The Black Dog. — Tail, a tuft of olive-yellow pig's wool ;
body, black mohair ; gold and silver tinsel with orange silk
between ; two or three black hackles ; gallina at shoulder ;
wing, grey [speckled turkey, two long slips. The hook is
3 J ins. long and J of an inch wide, and the succeeding flies
run down to 2 ins. or even smaller. (Plate XV, Fig. 2.)

The Tartan (Tay). — Tag, silver twist ; tail, a sHce of tippet
and orange-yellow pig's wool ; butt, peacock herl ; body,
pig's wool as follows, orange, yellow, bright pea-green, red,
and blue grey, dressed rough and picked out ; broad silver
tinsel gaUina at shoulder ; wing, sUps of grey andglight-
brown turkey, sprigs of yellow, red, and lavender swan with
a bunch of peacock herl over all ; peacock head.

The Nicholson. — This is a very gay affair. Tag, silver
twist ; tail, a topping, a bit of red parrot, and a wisp of red
mohair ; over this, as a butt, is wound on a blue jay hackle,
and over that black ostrich herl. The fly is then separated by
hackles into three divisions, and each of these divisions is in
two joints of different coloured floss. The lower joint is
scarlet and black, above this is another jay hackle and black
herl. The second joint is lemon and scarlet, and above this
is a scarlet hackle and black herl. The third joint is orange
and medium blue floss, over this medium blue hackle, and
above that a darkish orange coch y bondu hackle. Wing,
large cock of the rock or two orange hackles, strips of bustard,
argus, lightish turkey, lavender, yellow, and red swan, one
topping over all, jungle cock at cheeks ; peacock herl head.

284 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The Murray. — Tag, silver twist ; tail, yellow pig's wool ;
butt, black ostrich ; body, darkish red claret ; hackle the same ;
silver tinsel ; gallina at shoulder ; speckled dun turkey wings
two strips (that with the light edge to the extreme tip of the
feather being preferred).

The patterns of the above four flies were furnished to me
by Mr. Paton of Perth, the great obeah-man of angling
mysteries in that district, and a first-rate artificer of all
sporting requisites. Any angler going to the Tay will scarcely
fail to look in on him for a chat and advice.

The Wasp (Blue). — Tag, silver twist ; tail, tippet and red
mohair ; butt, black ostrich ; body, about two-fifths yellow
pig's wool and three-fifths darkish blue pig's wool ; silver
tinsel ; medium blue hackle (only over blue wool), black
hackle at shoulder ; peacock head ; wing, two strips of dun
(speckled) turkey. It is sometimes the fashion, when the
fibres cannot be obtained long enough for the required wing,
to tie double wings of shortish fibre, that is, there is the usual
pair at the shoulder and another pair tied on half-way down
the back, as previously noted by Mr. Maxwell. They have
also another dodge on the Tay to make a long-fibred wing.
They take a strand of gut of the required length, strip the
fibres off feathers, and lap them neatly along on the gut so
that the gut shall form a sort of artificial quill. Gallina looks
very well so, and answers for the small silver-grey mottled
turkey, which is scarce.

The Wasp (Claret). — Tag, silver twist ; tail, galHna and
mallard ; butt, black ostrich ; body, olive-yellow pig's wool
one-third, two turns of medium claret ditto, and the rest of
medium blue ditto ; silver tinsel ; hackle, medium red claret ;
gaUina at shoulder ; silver grey speckled turkey wing ; pea-
cock head. There is another pattern of wasp with black
upper half to the body, mixed wing, and peacock's breast
feather for shoulder hackle.

I have here given half a dozen of the best known Tay flies,
but the variety is endless, almost any arrangement of wool,
hackle, and tinsel doing for the bodies at times, in which blue,
claret, and yellow are the principal admixtures. The wings
are of various shades of turkey for the most part, the Hghtly
speckled reddish brown, with the faint white tip, as I have
said, being the favourite.

I add a few patterns sent me by my friend Mr. WiUiam
James Davidson of Glasgow, many years a frequenter of the

H^

THE TAY 285

Tay. The first fly has no name ; and as most of the flies on
the Tay have a name, I give it the very suitable one of

The Policeman, blue being his prevailing tinge, and taking
of prisoners his occupation. Tag, silver tinsel and red-orange
floss ; tail, hght brown speckled turkey and yellow swan ;
body, rough darkish medium blue pig's wool ; hackle one
shade darker, dark reddish brown hackle at shoulder ; broad
silver tinsel ; a few sprigs of medium claret and orange pig's
wool thrown in just under the shoulder hackle ; wing, light
brown speckled turkey, with a bunch of bronze peacock's herl
over it. Hooks 3^ ins. to 2 ins. This fly, made of the largest
Tay size, does well for high spring water. Mr. Davidson has
a high opinion of it, and he has reason to have, as he says,
" I have found this fly the best on the Tay until the second
week in May ; with the identical specimen I enclose, I killed
in a few hours on the Stobhall water four clean run fish in the
beginning of May."

The Waterwitch. — There are two specimens of this fly, one
with a rough pig's wool body, and this is the larger fly, and one
of floss, but the colours are similar. Tag, silver tinsel and
golden floss ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, one-
third yellow, two-thirds hghtish blue ; hackle, jay (only over the
blue) ; wing, a (round spot) gallina feather, over this mixed
wing, gold pheasant tail, brown and grey turkey, fibres of
tippet and sword feathers, and blue macaw ribs. Of these
Mr. Davidson adds : " They are my favourites, and I will
back them against any others for the Tay, the Tummel, the

arry, and the Orchy, from the month of May to the close of

e season." Barring the gallina feather in the wing, the
attem is a wonderfully general favourite throughout Scotland.

ooks from 2\ ins. to if in.

The Lion. — Tag, embossed silver tinsel and ruby floss ;
ail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, embossed silver
insel, showing a few thin rings of pale green floss between ;
hackle (at shoulder) longish black heron ; wing, fibres of
peacock, brown mallard, pinkish stained grey mallard, tippet,
and gaUina, two toppings set on apart Hke wings, with blue
macaw ribs.

Mr. Davidson thus concludes : " The blue body and pea-

ck's wing (Policeman) for spring ; the Waterwitch for
summer and autumn, and the Lion at the close of the season,
are what I chiefly depend on ; and, armed with a proper
assortment of these, the angler requires no other lure."

I

286 A BOOK ON ANGLING

THE TUMMEL, GARRY, ISLA

and all the other tributaries of the Tay, are fished with flies
of precisely the same pattern as those used for the Tay, regard
being had to the size of the water, and the fly being suitably
rediTced thereto.

THE SPEY

The Spey is another magnificent river, which often gives
grand sport ; and as the river is large and the anghng is
mostly from the bank,* and the banks are frequently high,
while the stream is not only heavy but often tremendously
rapid and rough as is the bottom, an indifferent fisherman
cannot expect much sport on the Spey. It is a very long
river, having many mountainous tributaries, and thus it often
keeps up and out of condition for fishing for a much longer
time than is agreeable to the angler. This is frequently the
case in spring, when the snows on the mountains are melting,
and when sport to any extent cannot well be relied on. After
the great bulk of the snow is gone, in the early summer, when
the river is settling steadily down and the grilse are beginning
to come up, is perhaps the best time for the Spey.

The Spey flies are very curious productions to look at,
it being customary to dress them the reverse way of the
hackle, and to send the twist or tinsel the opposite way to
the hackle.

The Spey Dog. — This is usually dressed large for the
spring, the long shanked Dee hooks being preferred. Body,
black pig's wool ; up this is then wound some broad
silver tinsel in widish rings ; over the tinsel is laid on a
large black feather (it can hardly be called hackle) with a
lightish dun tip, taken from the side of a Scotch cock's tail.
The feather is dressed the wrong way, so that the hackle
stands out abruptly, and it is carried round the opposite
way to the tinsel, as some of the tinsel crosses it ; over this
hackle is wound some gold tinsel, not side by side with the
silver, but quite independent of it. This aids the glitter of the
fly, and strengthens and keeps the hackle secure. At the
shoulder a teal hackle ; wing, a good wad of gold pheasant
tail, with two long strips of grey mallard with brownish points
over it. The fly can be varied by using a brown hackle and

* True, if " bank fishing " be held to include deep and difficult wading in
this swift river. — Ed,

THE SPEY 287

turkey instead of gold pheasant tail, add also orange silk
between the tinsels.

The hook used in these flies is 3 ins. long in the shank, and
the bend is that given as No. 3 in the scale, but which is barely
2^ ins. long in the shank.

The Purple King. — Body, a light purple mohair ; hackle,
brownish black with hght blue dun tip ; tinsel, gold and silver
and silver twist over hackle as before ; teal shoulder, and two
strips of grey mallard wing with brown tips. (Plate XV, Fig. 3.)

The Green King. — Body, orange and olive-yellow mixed
mohair ; hackle, brown with grey tips ; the rest of the fly
as before.

For these last two patterns I am indebted to my friend
Mr. C. Grant of Aberlour. Mr. Grant very kindly furnished
me with minute particulars as to the dressing, dyeing, etc.,
and I cannot put his directions in a better form than he has
put them himself, and therefore I append his letter. In it
he describes two other flies I had not the patterns of, viz.
" the Green Dog " and " Purpy." They are well-known
standard flies on the Spey, and may be dressed down to the
smallest size for midsummer ; the " Black and teal " already
described will be found very hard to beat on the Spey.

''Dear Sir,

Agreeably to my promise, I now send you the pattern
Spey flies, viz. two Purple Kings and one Green King, which
you will easily distinguish. The hackles are got from the com-
mon Scotch cock, and lie on each side of the tail, at the tip of
the wings. The cock is rarely to be met with except with
Spey fishers, who breed them for the sake of their feathers.
The dubbing or " grounds " of the Purple King are composed
of purple (Berlin wool), stone red, dyed from the moss on stones,
and scarlet wool. The dubbing of Green King is composed
of green BerUn wool, stone red, yellow, a httle orange, and
scarlet.

In spring the Purple King is of a less red colour than one
used at present. The Green King at that period is more
gree?i, but, as the season advances, more red is used in both,
and redder feathers. I enclose some dubbing of each to fit
the present season.

Without having any prejudice against gaudy flies, I would
prefer Purple and Green Kings with their numerous offspring,
provided I could get proper hackles to tie them, to any flies

288 A BOOK ON ANGLING

that can be used on the Spey. The flies which I have sent
you will be in size next month (July), and I have no doubt but
that they will kill upon any river in Scotland.

The dubbing of Green Dog is the same as Green King,
feather a little lighter, with gold-colour spate and pea-green
thread at equal distances on the body of the hook or fly. The
Purple, or ' Purpy,' a thirty-second cousin of the Purple King,
has a hackle somewhat redder than that of his progenitor ;
dubbing, dark blue and stone red, with gold spate and purple
thread on body of fly at equal distances."

CHAPTER XI

SALMON F 1. 1 E S— continued
List of Flies for Irish Rivers
"^ THE ERNE, BALLYSHANNON

THESE patterns were poor Pat McKay's, than whom
no better artificer ever turned fly out of hand.
No. I. The Parson has been already described
amongst the general flies ; but, since I described it,
I have received some patterns with a letter of explanation from
my friend Dr. Sheil, the courteous and liberal proprietor of the
Erne, to whom I owe many kindnesses and some good fishing
on one of the finest rivers it has ever been my lot to cast a
fly. For the Erne is the beau-ideal of a salmon river, contain-
ing every kind of water that is found in salmon rivers, and all
in perfection. Here we have falls, rapids, broken pools, rocky
torrents, and swift glassy currents, and even heavy reaches
for boat fishing. The fish run large and nearly always show the
finest sport. The sport is best in the months of May and July,
if the river is low enough, for it is much more apt to be too
high than too low, running as it does from such a very large
lake as Lough Erne, which, indeed, is rather two large lakes
than one. The river is very rarely too low for sport, and even
in the hottest and brightest weather sport is possible. As
Dr. Sheil's letter gives the history of the Parson, I trust he
will excuse me for making the information upon such an
interesting point pubhc.

My dear Sir,

I send four Parsons I have borrowed from Mr. Hobson,
and I will send you a couple made with summer duck in the
wing. The first " Parson," and called from him, was used by
the Rev. Arthur Meyrick, of Romsbury; it was two large
toppings, a yellow body, yellow hackle, very thin twist run

289

290 A BOOK ON ANGLING

close together up the body — I mean half as close as in any of
those flies I send. He said he got it from Lord Bolingbroke
at Christ church. He changed the body to orange ; both were
silk bodies.

The late Mr. William Larket, of Derby, put cock of the
rock in the wing. I think I put the first fur body to the fly —
it was orange pig's wool. Mr. Larket and then Mr. Hobson
altered the fur to a mixture of red and yellow. Mr. Hobson
added to this the purple and fiery brown under the wing,
which Pat McKay borrowed and adopted, and nothing has
beaten this pattern. Yours,

S. Sheil.

The flies sent are all very similar to the patterns already
described, save that some of them have in the wing strips of
summer or wood duck, as it is more commonly termed, instead
of pintail. Some have merely the toppings and two cock of
the rock feathers in the wing. Most of them have longish
kingfisher feathers at the cheek. Some have and some have
not the bit of tippet for an under wing. Some, instead of jay,
have a medium blue hackle at shoulder, and some a claret
hackle. In these latter cases, the hackle is dressed outside or
over the wing, the ribs put on over that ; these are macaw
where the blue feather changes to red at the points. The
tags vary a little, some being puce, some orange, and some
yellow silk. The bodies vary sUghtly from yellow pig to yellow
with Httle or more orange. One of them has a brown body,
but I do not much Hke it. The hackles run from golden to
golden-olive and orange. It will thus be seen that a Parson
may be as varied as his creeds are : he may be a gorgeous
Russo-Greek ritualist or a plain parson Adams.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist and medium blue floss ; tail, a
topping, and some tippet ; butt, black ostrich ; body, medium
claret floss, three turns, the rest medium orange floss ; silver
tinsel ; orange hackle, blue jay (sparish) at shoulder ; wing,
mixed gold pheasant tail, gaUina, and tippet, one topping,
red macaw-ribs ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, silver twist, medium blue floss ; tail, a top-
ping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of fight orange
floss, the rest of light purple (lake*) ; silver twist ; hackle,

* This is a difficult colour to des?ribe, as it is neither claret, nor red, nor
purple, nor puce, nor mulberry, nor mauve : it is more the old-fashioned
colour called " lake." — F. F.

THE ERNE AND LOUGH MELVIN 291

same colour as body, blue jay at shoulder ; wing, as in No. 2,
the gold pheasant tail perhaps predominating more and with
blue ribs.

No. 4. Tag, silver twist and puce floss ; tail, a topping and
some tippet ; butt, black ostrich ; body, two-thirds Ught
orange floss, one-third dark fiery orange-red floss ; silver
tinsel ; medium claret hackle, grouse hackle at shoulder ;
wing, the same as in No. 3, with a slight increase of gallina ;
head, black.

No. 5. Tag, silver twist and puce floss ; tail, a topping
and some tippet ; butt, black ostrich ; body, gold-coloured
floss, three turns, the rest of dark orange pig's wool, silver
twist ; Ught red claret hackle, grouse ditto at shoulder ; wing,
three toppings, two strips of bright well-marked bittern wing,
and some tippet sprigs, a couple of good long kingfisher, one
on either shoulder, and blue macaw ribs ; a very pretty,
taking-looking fly.

No. 6. Tag, silver tinsel and mulberry floss ; tail, a topping,
and tippet sprigs ; butt, black ostrich ; body, two-thirds a
greenish-yellow mohair, and one-third dirty oUve mohair ;
broad gold tinsel ; hackle, brown when held down, but golden-
oUve when held up to the Hght, with grouse on shoulder ;
under wing some tippet and tail sprigs with gaUina, and a
brown mallard wing over, kingfisher on shoulder, and blue
macaw ribs.

No. 7. The H.I.S. — This fly will be found noticed in the
letter of a friend under " Owenmore and Ballycroy." Tag,
silver tinsel ; tail, a topping, and some tippet ; body, orange-
yellow floss, gold tinsel ; coch y bondu hackle ; a few turns
of longish black heron at the shoulder give it a spider-like
look ; wing, brown mallard, two or three fibres of blue macaw,
blue jay hackled over the wing. A capital killer.

The size of the hooks for the above flies is from 5 to 8.

LOUGH MELVIN

On this fine lough, which is some seven miles in length,
and contains salmon, grilse, charr, lake, gillaroo, and other
trout in abundance, and is not far from the Erne, the flies
used are as sober as those of the Erne are often gaudy.

No. I. The O'Donoghue. — This is a prime favourite. Tag,
gold tinsel and orange floss; tail, a topping; butt, black
ostrich ; body, olive-yellow pig's wool, merging into briglit

292 A BOOK ON ANGLING

fiery claret, and that again into black, gold twist ; body,
roughish ; dark claret hackle, with blue jay on shoulder ;
wing, a tippet feather, with brown mallard wing over, and blue
macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist and pale blue floss ; tail, a top-
ping ; body, half orange pig's wool and half black, silver
twist ; black hackle (over black wool only) ; blue jay on
shoulder ; wing (mixed) gold pheasant tail and tippet, bittern
wing, mallard and gallina, yellow, green, and claret sprigs,
kingfisher on shoulder ; blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, silver twist and orange floss ; tail, a topping ;
body, mulberry pig's wool ; hackle the same, with blue jay
at shoulder ; silver twist ; wing, a tippet feather with mallard
wing over ; blue macaw ribs.

No. 4. The same as the last, save that the body and hackle
are of a lightish olive.

I obtained the above from the fishermen at Lough Melvin,
when fishing it some years since. Hooks from 7 to 10.

LOUGH GILL

Another large lough near Sligo. There is a very favourite
fly used there which sometimes kills on Lough Melvin ; it
is called the Lough Gill fly. Tag, silver twist and orange floss ;
tail, a topping, and some mallard ; body, black mohair, with
a broad ring in the centre of dark dirty red, a few fibres of the
same warped into the breast as a hackle ; blue jay hackle on
shoulder ; wing, a tippet feather and brown mallard wing ;
hook No. 9.

THE MOY

The Moy is a large and rather open river, resembling, above
the weirs, some of the streamy upper reaches of the Thames,
where rush-beds abound ; it flows from Lough Conn, a very
large lough. Much of the fishing, particularly below the
weir, up to which the tide flows, is carried on from boats or
cots. The opening of the weir has much improved the fishing
in the upper portions, and has undoubtedly tended to bring
larger fish into the river than were formerly found in it. It is a
capital river for young hands to commence on, as the work is
easy, and the numbers of fish keep the attention fixed on the
sport.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel; tail, a topping; butt purple,
herl ; body, three turns of orange floss, the rest of darkish
blue floss, silver tinsel and twist ; dark blue hackle ; tippet

THE MOY 293

tied on as a hackle at shoulder ; wing, five or six toppings ;
blue macaw ribs ; black head. This is of course a high water
fly ; hook No. 9.

No. 2. The Thunder and Lightning. — Tag, gold tinsel ;
tail, a topping; butt, black ostrich; body, three turns of
Hghtish orange floss, the rest of black floss ; gold tinsel ;
light orange hackle, with a httle jay at shoulder ; wing, dark
brown mallard, one topping over it ; blue macaw ribs ; dark
purple head ; hooks from 7 to 10. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 3.)

No. 3. The Orange and Grouse. — Tag, silver tinsel ; tail,
a topping and kingfisher feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body,
three turns of lake floss, and the rest of light orange floss ;
silver tinsel ; hackle, longish grouse, trimmed on the breast,
not on the back, three or four toppings over it for wing ; blue
jay (sparely) at shoulder ; blue macaw ribs ; and black head.
The grouse fibres help the wing. This and the last are good
general flies, and most of the Moy flies are more or less generally
useful patterns ; hooks 10 to 12.

No. 4. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a topping ; body, two
turns of buff floss, the rest of lake floss ; silver tinsel ; medium
orange hackle, blue jay at shoulder ; wing, a tippet and two
thin cock or rock feathers, fine strips of black partridge and
gold pheasant tail, a topping, and blue macaw ribs ; purple
head ; hooks 8 to 10.

No. 5. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich ;
body, two turns of buff floss, the rest of copper-coloured floss ;
gold tinsel ; gallina hackle, trimmed on the breast, not on
back ; blue jay at shoulder (moderate) ; wing, two or three
thin cock of rock and reddish toucan feathers, sprigs of tippet
and gold pheasant tail, and brown maUard, one topping, and
blue macaw ribs ; purple head ; hooks 9 and 10.

No. 6. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping, and kingfisher
feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of orange
floss, the rest of black ditto, or of black horsehair, which gives
a brighter and more durable body ; gold tinsel ; gallina
hackle, trimmed on breast, not on back ; wing, brown mallard
one topping, and blue macaw ribs ; black head ; hooks 7 to 11.
The above are all patterns I obtained from Pat Hearns,
of Ballina, some years since : they are standards. For so
large a river the Moy flies are small. The fish are mostly
grilse, and only grilse flies, and those, at times, of small size,
are needed. In the spring, when larger fish are now taken,
they may be used two or three sizes larger. Writing to Hearns

294 A BOOK ON ANGLING

lately for patterns, he sent me all the old patterns above, and
with this addition ; it is a beautiful fly to the eye, so I give it.
No. 7. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, two toppings ; butt, white
ostrich ; body, three turns of orange floss, the rest of violet
floss ; gold tinsel ; dark purple hackle (rather of a lavender
tint when held up to the Hght), some tippet tied as a hackle at
the shoulders, blue jay over ; wing, six or seven toppings, with
a blue chatterer on en croupe ; blue macaw ribs ; black head ;
hooks 7 and 8.

LOUGH CONN

Patterns also from Hearns. The Erris flies are curious
specimens of art, and by no means easy to tie. They are
mostly jointed flies, many of them having also manes from
the back of each joint, and some with a turn or two of hackle,
also at the joint.

No. I. Tag, gold thread; tail, a topping; butt, black
ostrich, five joints, four of them being composed of black
floss, each divided by three turns of gold thread, the top or
shoulder joint being of yellow floss ; at the third joint from
the tail three turns of an olive hackle are laid on ; from each
joint springs a mane or tuft of mohair ; the lowest one is dirty
red, the next light claret, the next dirty red again, the next
darkish purple-claret, and the top one just under the wing
orange ; the hackle at the shoulder is a dark red stained brown,
with blue jay over it ; the wing, mallard and gold pheasant
tail, blue macaw ribs, kingfisher at cheeks ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a topping and a small jungle
cock ; butt, black ostrich ; body, five joints, yellow and black
floss alternately, divided by silver thread, and above this one
turn of a red hackle, stained light olive ; manes of mohair,
from the back of each joint, the first darkish claret, second
dark red, third darker claret, fourth darker red, fifth a mixture
of yellow, brown and red ; just under, as a support to each
mane, is tied in a feather from the breast of the Indian crow,
increasing in length (as do the manes) as they progress up
towards the wing ; hackle, on shoulder, olive ; red rump
feather of gold pheasant, tied in on the shoulder as a hackle,
over that again a turn or two of blue jay ; wing, tippet fibres
gold pheasant tail, and brown mallard, one topping, and blue
macaw ribs ; black head.
■ No. 3. This is No. 6 of the Moy flies.

These flies do equally well for the Owenmore and Ballycroy.
Hooks from 5 to 9.

IRISH FLIES 295

THE OWENMORE AND BALLYCROY RIVERS

Patterns from Heams. These two rivers run very near to
each other. The Ballycroy is the river described by Maxwell
in his Wild Sports of the West. V'

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a small topping, a sHp of
black partridge, a kingfisher, and an Indian crow breast
feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of orange floss,
the rest of black floss, silver tinsel ; hackle, gallina stained
yellow, cHpped at breast, not on the back, tippet feather tied
on as hackle at breast, blue jay over ; wing, a red hackle and a
yellow hackle, a red rump feather of gold pheasant, sprigs of
tippet, slips of gold pheasant tail and peacock, a large blue
chatterer feather over all en croupe or on the back, Indian crow
at the cheeks, blue macaw ribs ; black head. This fly can be
varied by using lake floss instead of black.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist; tail, a topping; butt, one turn
of orange floss ; body, black floss in five joints, at each joint
two turns of fine silver thread, then from the back comes the
mane, and then for the two middle joints, side by side with the
silver thread, is taken a turn of orange floss, so that the
termination of the three lowest joints is one turn of orange
floss ; the two lowest manes are a dirty clarety red, the next
two are a mixture of yellow, olive, and light claret ; the hackle
is at the shoulder only, and is brown olive, and over it a little
blue jay ; the wing, a slip of tippet, over it slips of mallard and
of peacock, blue macaw ribs, and black head.

No. 3 is The Claret, already described at page 253, as to
the body and hackle, save that there is no orange floss at the
lower end ; substitute a little blue jay at shoulder for black
hackle, and make the wings of fine dark mallard, with blue ribs,
and you have a fly that will kill not only in Erris, but all over
Ireland. Hooks from 6 to 10, and in low summer water sea-
trout size.

There are a great variety of these jointed bodies used in
Erris ; some have blue and yellow, or blue, yellow, and black
joints alternately, with black or coloured herls or hackles at
each joint. They are considered indispensable enchantments
by those who admire them, and as they are a peculiar class of
fly, I have gone into them, though my own faith is by no means
imphcit. My friend, Mr. S., and his cousin rented the Ballycroy
river for some years, and I wrote to him to ask for a cast from
his experience, as, although I fished the Owenmore several

296 A BOOK ON ANGLING

times, I only fished the Ballycroy once. Herewith I give his
letter to me, from which it will be seen that he has no faith
whatever in the jointed and maned flies which are supposed to
emanate from and flourish particularly in Erris : —

" Dear F. — The flies on the Owenmore and Owenduff rivers
some years ago were always what is called ' jointed,' and were
made in two ways ; the first had the joints made of hackles
of divers colours, tied as in the pattern I send you, but of
course on a smaller hook. The enclosed is a specimen from the
Dee, in Aberdeenshire, to which river it was transported by
Mr. Gordon, from Ballycroy, and has since been naturahsed.*
The other jointed fly is made thus : topping for tail, then three
different colours of floss silk for body, with three rings of twist
at the end of each, and standing out from these joints three
long tags of different coloured mohair, ordinary mixed wing,
and hackle at shoulder. It is a very diflicult fly to tie, and not
worth a rush when tied, except that in its dry state it looks
very pretty, when in the water, on the contrary, it all bags
together, and I never did much good with it. The fly, on the
contrary, with the plain turkey wing was an invention of our
own, and killed 48 salmon and 137 white trout in one week,
on the Owenduff. The fly with the mallard wing and fiery
body also kills right well on both rivers, and so do the BaUina
flies, more especially one of Pat Hearns', called the Thunder
and Lightning. An equally great pet is the enclosed, with the
frayed gut. He is confoundedly ugly, sir, having been com-
posed by your humble servant ; but treat him with respect,
for this very year that identical specimen has slain six Salmo
salar in the river Erne that thou knowest of. I enclose four
or five more of what MacGowan calls Ballycroy flies, but they
are awful impostors (on second thought I don't, for they are no
use at all). The fish, in fact, like plain, sober mallard and
turkey, and furnace hackles, with either orange or brown
bodies/and a jay about the shoulders.

H. I. S."

Mr. S. enclosed me several patterns, some with orange and
green joints, others of all the colours in the rainbow, and with
manes of all sorts of colours. I will not fatigue the reader and

* I never could understand how the Nicholson, which was a regular Erris
notion, got on to the Tay, but the course of its introduction becomes pretty
clear from the above. The fly referred to strongly resembles the Nicholson.

F. F.

GALWAY^ RIVERS 297

burden my fly list with their description, but will merely
describe the plain flies referred to in the above letter.

No. 4. This is the fly that killed the 48 salmon and 137 white
trout in a week. N.B. The white trout at Ballycroy run up to
six or seven pounds weight, and average from two to three
pounds. Tag, gold thread ; tail, a slip of mottled brown
turkey, and tuft of orange mohair ; butt, black ostrich ; body,
half orange mohair (inchning to darkish) and half black mohair ;
black hackle (over brown mohair only), gold thread over the
orange, and gold tinsel over the black part of body ; wing, rich
brown mottled turkey ; black head.

No. 5. Tag, silver thread and orange floss ; tail, a topping ;
body, two-fifths dark dirty orange-yellow pig's wool, three-fifths
darkish claret, broadish gold tinsel ; medium claret hackle at
shoulder ; blue jay over brown mallard wing, and black head,
hooks 9 and 10.

The fly which is lauded for the Erne will be found under
that river as the H. I. S.

GALWAY AND CONNEMARA

(Costello, Ballynahinch, and Co.) — These patterns are sent
me by Nicholson, of Galway, who ties for the district. Two or
three of them are old acquaintances renewed.

The Costello I do not know from experience, but the Bally-
nahinch rivers and lakes I have fished. The river is short and
not very large, but what there is of it, above the weir, is pretty.
The lakes for scenery are lovely, and the sport at times is good,
more particularly with white trout, and a good take of salmon
may be got at times, wind, weather, and water permitting.

No. I. Tag, gold tinsel and orange floss ; tail, a topping ;
body, a regular Lee body of silver-grey fur, with cuckoo dun
hackle to match ; silver twist ; blue jay on shoulder ; wing, a
long tippet (nearly full length of wing), some peacock, also a
few sprigs of green peacock herl, red, blue, and yellow macaw
sprigs — the red most plentiful ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, gold tinsel and orange floss ; tail, gallina ; body,
two-thirds medium blue floss, the upper third medium orange ;
silver tinsel ; hackle, a bright brown-oUve, blue jay on shoulder
wing, gold pheasant tail, cock pheasant ditto, peacock, and
gallina, blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich ;
body, three-fifths medium orange floss, the upper two-fifths
darkish blue floss ; gold tinsel ; darkish claret hackle ; wing a

■

298 A BOOK ON ANGLING

largish tippet feather, brown speckled turkey, gold pheasant
tail, blue, green, and yellow swan, and blue macaw ribs ; black
bead.

No. 4. This is a weird-looking fly ; the contrast between the
dark blue body and light yellow hackle is so strong. Tag, gold
tinsel and light orange floss ; tail, a topping ; body, dark blue
floss ; silver tinsel ; hackle, light yellow, blue jay on shoulder ;
wing, brown mallard (streaked), gold pheasant tail, and some
sword feather ; blue macaw ribs.

No. 5. Tag, gold twist and yellow floss ; tail, teal, mallard,
green parrot and flamingo ; but, black ostrich ; body, two-
thirds ruby floss and one-third medium blue ; hackle, darkish
blue, flamingo feather as hackle at shoulder, clipped at breast ;
wing, a rump feather of gold pheasant, light yellow-green
parrot, a little pintail and brown mallard over all ; blue macaw
ribs, black head. Vary this fly Vv^ith a black hackle and all ruby
body, no blue.

No. 6. Tag, silver thread and light blue floss ; tail, a topping ;
butt, black ostrich; body, light orange floss; silver thread;
black hackle, blue jay on shoulder ; wing, mottled argus, sprigs
of tippet, green parrot, and gold pheasant tail, well mixed ;
black head.

These flies vary pretty much in the order in which they are
described, from 7 to 11.

THE INCHIQUIN FLY

This is a fly used, as its name implies, chiefly on the Inchi-
quin lake ; but it is a standard pattern throughout the West of
Ireland. Tail, brown mallard, and some purple fibres from the
peacock's breast ; body, fiery red pig's wool (like to the dark
red hair or whiskers of a thorough bog-trotter), gold thread ; a
red hackle at shoulder ; brown mallard wing, well backed with
strands from the peacock's breast. Both body and hackle may
be made darker at pleasure. Hooks 10 to 11.

THE LENNAN AND LOCH FERN IN DONEGAL

The Lennan is a dull river, and with the exception of close
to the weir, is not of much use for salmon-fishing ; but Loch
Fern, from which it runs, gives fair sport at times. Loch Fern
is not a large lake, and is weedy and shallow ; it is hardly worth
going to, unless the angler chances to be going to or from
Gweedore, via Rathmelton.

THE SHANNON 299

The Inchiquin fly does there, and it will do better if, instead
of mallard and peacock breast wing, plain brown turkey, or
gold pheasant tail are used. The body and hackle can also be
varied by being made more or less sandy. Pig's wool, from the
natural white to the above red, hackles of lighter or darker red
to match, and wings of brown turkey or gold pheasant tail, are
the correct thing. The flies should be rough and well picked
out. Hooks 8 to 10.

THE SHANNON

The Shannon is a very large and heavy river. The water in
places is very rapid, broken, and dangerous to the angler's
hopes, as it often occurs that the place where a fish is hooked
is so infested witli hidden and awkward rocks that the angler
is obliged to hold on and not give a yard of line if he can avoid
it. The water at Castle Connell has long been celebrated as a
first-class sporting water, and here the salmon-fisher fre-
quently has magnificent sport. At Killaloe the water is more
open and easy. Lough Derg, an expansion of the Shannon,
gives splendid large trout-fishing, and when the fish are in the
humour, great numbers are taken with the cross line. As on
the Moy, much of the fishing is done from cots.

The large heavy water Shannon flies are very showy affairs.
Here is one dressed for me by poor Blacker, years ago. It is
quite a work of art.

No. I. The Shannon (Plate XVII, Fig. 4).— Tag, gold
tinsel and lemon-yellow floss ; tail, two toppings, scarlet
ibis and blue macaw ; butt, black ostrich ; body, of floss silk,
in joints of various colour, pale blue, orange, puce, and pea-
green, every joint being mounted by a turn of ostrich herl of
the same colour as the joint and over this a hackle of the
same tint ; at the shoulder one or two gold pheasant rump
feathers are used as hackles ; gold thread warped on each
joint separately ; wing, two bright yellow macaw feathers,
with black streak down the centre, a strip of dark-specked
argus on either side, and sprigs of tippet ditto, two or three
slips of ibis at shoulder, and over them, on either cheek, a
small feather of purple lory, two or three large toppings over
all ; blue macaw ribs, and black head ; hook No. 2. I do not
think the jointed body by any means necessary, nor is it used
generally on the Shannon. The wing given is, I know, pretty
much used, when the feathers can be obtained, but the yellow
macaw feathers of the right size are not easy to obtain, and

I

300 A BOOK ON ANGLING

make the fly expensive to dress. Probably an orange body
would answer all requisites, as orange is in favour on the
Shannon.

The next three flies are dressed by Stephen ElHs, of Killaloe,
one of the best practitioners on the Shannon in that part, and
they are considered the best patterns which can be put on the
river.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, one large
topping ; body, darkish blue floss, silver tinsel ; blue jay
hackle half-way down the body ; wing, a deep red-orange
feather (cock of the rock might do) about the length of the
hook, on either side of this two shorter orange-yellow macaw
feathers, and a smallish tippet outside of them, over these an
orange hackle, and over this four or five large toppings, over
these some gold pheasant tail and gaUina sprigs (loose),
blue macaw ribs ; medium orange ruff of mohair ; hook
No. 4.

No. 3. Tag, silver tinsel and medium green floss ; tail two
orange-yellow toucan feathers (short) ; body, brightish orange
floss, silver tinsel ; brown olive hackle, a turn or two of blue
jay at shoulder ; wing, a short cock of the rock, and two short
orange-yellow macaw or toucan feathers, these not quite so
long as the hook, over them mixed sprigs of gaUina stained
yellow, blue, and red macaw ; head black ; hook No. 9.

No. 4 is a fly with a similar body, tinsel, and hackle, with
a couple of small yellow toucan feathers for tail, and a wing of
mixed yellow stained mallard, tippet, gaUina, and red and
lavender macaw ; black head ; hook No. 10.

These two flies are rather grilse flies ; but a size or two
larger, they do equally well for salmon. The list is rather a
short one, but Mr. Hurley, of Killaloe, who forwards me the
patterns, says that —

*' They answer for all the stations where fish are killed in
any quantity, say Limerick, Castle Connel, and Killaloe. The
large fly is only adapted for heavy water, in the very com-
mencement of the season, and up to May i. The medium size
orange body is in use from that date until June i, according to
the height of the water ; the small blue body then comes in for
both peal and salmon until the close time."

I also wrote to Mr. Brady, the inspector of fisheries for
Ireland, to ask him for some Shannon patterns, and he sent
me several, as the handiwork of Captain C. Dunne, a first-rate
angler, and, if I may judge of his productions, a first-rate fly

KILLARNEY 301

tyer also. The flies he sends are capital general flies, and would
kill anywhere.

No. I. Tag, silver twist and light orange floss ; tail, sprigs
of green, hue, yellow, and red ; body, ruby floss, silver twist ;
hackle, medium claret, jay at shoulder ; wing, mixed fibres,
red, green, and blue, and gaUina, with a small bunch of tippet
in the middle, two slices of brown mallard over, red macaw
ribs, black head.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist and ruby floss ; tail, red, yellow,
and green, and tippet sprigs ; body, orange-yellow floss ;
tinsel, hackles, wing and head as before.

No. 3 is The Claret, with the addition of a few dark blue
fibres thrown in amongst the claret body, which has a very
pretty effect, and a jay hackle at shoulder, instead of black.
The wing, too, is dressed very much as in the last two flies.

No. /\ is A Claret, without the blue fibres, and with ruby
floss instead of orange, at the tail end of the body ; jay at the
shoulder ; and wing, as in the last, with the addition of two or
three fibres of green peacock herl.

No. 5. Tag, silver twist and ruby floss ; tail, one topping ;
body, black floss ; hackle, medium claret, jay at shoulder,
silver twist ; wing, as above, with a little more blue in it.
Reduced in size, this is a capital Connemara white trout fly.

No. 6. Tag, as in the last ; tail, mixed fibres as above ;
body, greenish olive-yellow floss, silver thread ; hackle, brown
oUve, jay at shoulder ; wing, as in No. i ; black head, as have
all these flies. Hooks 7, 8, and 9.

KILLARNEY AND THE FLESK

The far-famed lakes of Killamey often hold a good many
salmon, but the nets and cross lines make single-rod fishing
rather a precarious sport. The Flesk, which runs into the
head of the lakes, is a pretty little river, but wants water to
show any sport. A day or two's rain, however, brings it down,
when the fish move up out of the lakes, and a brace or two may
then be taken if the opportunity is seized, but it runs down
almost as quickly as it rises. The Killarney lakes give very
early fish.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, tippet and a kingfisher
feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body, darkish medium blue
floss ; hackle, blue jay all the way up, orange at shoulder ;
wing, brown turkey, blue macaw ribs.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping and bit of mallard

I

302 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and kingfisher feather ; butt, red wool ; body, darkish medium
blue floss ; hackle, blue jay all the way up, orange at shoulder ;
wing, brown turkey, blue macaw ribs.

No. 3. Tag, ruby silk ; tail, mallard and tippet ; butt, black
ostrich ; body, pale oUve-green floss, gold tinsel ; hackle,
medium blue, brown-olive at shoulder ; wing, mixed brown
turkey, argus, and gold pheasant tail ; head, blue ostrich.

No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel and lemon-yellow wool ; tail, fibres
of mallard, gallina, a topping and kingfisher feather ; body,
copper-coloured mohair ; hackle, medium blue ; wing, brown
turkey and gold pheasant mixed, with fibres of blue macaw ;
black head. The bodies are sparely dressed. Hooks Nos. 6, 7,
and 8.

THE LAUNE

The salmon enter Killarney through the Laune, in the
upper part ofjwhich good sport is often had. The Laune is a
fine wide river, rather heavy down towards Killorglin, but
streamy and likely in the upper reaches. The fish do not rest
long in it in the early part of the season, when they make at
once for the lakes. Later on, however, good sport may be
got in it.

No. I. Tag, orange floss; tail, tippet sprigs; butt, black
ostrich ; body, half bright medium green, and half fight
orange floss, gold tinsel (narrow) ; medium blue hackle ;
brown hackle (not too long in fibre) at shoulder ; wing, brown
turkey, with a few fibres of tippet and blue macaw thrown in.

No. 2. This fly resembles the last, save that the body is in
four joints : ruby, red, and orange alternately. The main
hackle is blue jay, and there is a topping on the tail.

No. 3. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, tippet sprigs and kingfisher
feather; butt, black ostrich; body, medium orange floss,
gold tinsel (narrow) : hackle, grouse, clipped all round ; light
orange hackle at shoulder (short) ; wing, a tippet feather, gold
pheasant tail au naturel, and a small portion stained claret ;
head, black.

All the Laune bodies must be dressed as spare as possible,
the hackles are short in fibre, and of the same size as in the
Killarney and Flesk flies ; and a peculiarity of the fishermen
in this part of the world is, that they use a hook some two sizes
larger in the bend than would commonly be used for the same
fly, breaking off a piece of the shank of the hook to get the fly
to the right size.

THE LEE, CORK 303

The flies for Killamey, the Flesk, and Laune, were tied for
me by the fishermen there, when I was fishing in that quarter
some years ago.

THE LEE, CORK

The Lee is in parts rather a quiet placid river ; in many
places, however, it breaks out into fine bold pools and streams,
which form the very beau-ideal of the angler. It is not a very
early river, though occasionally giving a spring fish or two to the
persevering angler ; but it gives capital sport later on. In
parts it is a good deal cross lined.

No. I. The Yellow Anthony. — Tag, silver twist ; tail, a
topping ; butt, a scrap of yellow mohair ; body, bluish silver-
grey wool or fur ; fine silver twist ; silver grey dun hackle ;
dirty yellow hackle on shoulder ; wing, a bit of peacock with
mallard over it, blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. The Orange Anthony. — Tag and tail as before; butt,
a scrap of orange mohair ; body, three turns of darkish blue
mohair ; the rest bluish silver-grey as before, a darkish blue
hackle over the blue part, and silver-grey cuckoo dun over the
grey part ; medium orange hackle on shoulder ; wing, as
before with kingfisher on either cheek.

No. 3 is similar to No. 2, save that for orange butt and hackle,
medium claret is to be substituted, and a few tippet sprigs let
into the wing and no kingfisher.

No. 4 is similar to No. i, save that it has blue jay ^hackle
for yellow, some tippet sprigs in the wing, and kingfisher at the
cheeks.

No. 5. Tag, silver twist; tail, a topping; butt, claret
mohair ; body, two-thirds bluish silver-grey fur, cuckoo dun
hackle over it to match, clipped, the rest of body darkish blue
mohair with medium blue hackle over ; silver twist ; brown
claret hackle at shoulder ; wing, strips of gold pheasant tail,
brown mallard and peacock, a few tippet and black partridge
fibres, blue macaw ribs, kingfisher at cheeks ; black head.

No. 6. Tag, gold twist ; tail, a topping ; body, dark brown
claret pig's wool ; gold twist ; hackle very dark blue, blue jay
at shoulder ; wing, a few fibres of tippet and bastard bustard
with dark brown mallard wing over ; blue macaw ribs, largish
kingfisher at cheeks ; black head.

Blacker used to dress some of these flies in distinct joints,
with a short hackle at either joint, as in his " spirit flies " as
he called them, but this does not make any addition to their

I

304 A BOOK ON ANGLING

attractiveness, and it certainly is no slight addition in the
trouble of trying. The above are patterns I bought of Hackett,
of Cork, when fishing the rivers in that neighbourhood some
years since. Hooks from 5 or 6 to 9.

THE BLACKWATER (MALLOW)

Nos. I, 2, and 3 of the Lee flies one size smaller will do for
the Blackwater. The Blue Doctor, dressed with medium floss
body, blue jay hackle and an orange-yellow hackle at shoulder,
with a sober wing of tippet and green parrot sprigs and brown
mallard over, and black head, does well. The Orange and
Grouse (see Moy flies) with a sober tail and wing of gold
pheasant tail, brown mallard, green and red parrot sprigs, and
minus the puce floss, with a blue jay hackle at shoulder, is also
a favourite.

The following three flies I got with others lately from
Haynes, of Patrick Street, Cork. His flies are beautifully tied,
and show all the marks of a first-rate artist.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, black
partridge, tippet and mallard sprigs ; butt, black ostrich ;
body grey fur (same colour as in the Lee flies) for one-third of
the body, the remaining two-thirds of medium yellowish-green
mohair ; hackles to match, silver-grey cuckoo dun (clipped)
over the grey, and green of the same shade over the green,
orange hackle at shoulder ; narrow gold tinsel ; wing slips
from the streaked feather of the gold pheasant's tail, brown
mallard over, sprigs of red and green parrot ; blue macaw
ribs ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping, and some tippet ;
butt, black ostrich ; body, darkish blue, claret and grey fur,
with blue claret and grey hackles to match, the lower (or blue
one) clipped, yellow hackle at shoulder, with a turn or so of
black hackle over it ; wing, sprigs of bustard, brown turkey,
tippet, green parrot, and brown mallard over ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, silver, tinsel and orange floss; tail, sprigs of
tippet ; mallard, green mohair, and gallina stained pale blue ;
body, apple-green floss, fine gold twist, blue jay hackle all up,
orange hackle on shoulder ; wing, gold pheasant tail (streaked),
bustard, green parrot, mallard over ; black head.

The orange and grouse and apple-green may be dressed
smaller for summer wear.

CARAGH AND LOUGH CURRANE 305

THE CARAGH AND LOUGH CURRANE (WATERVILLE)

The upper part of the Caragh is rather dull and heavy. The
lower part, however, improves and gives some good pools and
streams. It yields some sport, but would give very fine sport
if the fish had but fair play ; but what with the weir, the nets,
and the crosslines, they are woefully harried. Lough Currane is
a fine sheet of water. The river, however, is short ; it yields
very fine white trout and a salmon or two on any tolerable
day.

The same flies kill both on Lough Currane and the Caragh,
and they are for the most part of much the same character as
those for the Lee and Blackwater, greys, blues, and clarets
running more or less through them.

No. I is like No. i in the Lee flies, save that it has a medium
blue instead of a yellow hackle at the shoulder, and tippet
instead of peacock in the wing. It is dressed of large sea trout
size for summer or Nos. 10 or 11.

No. 2 resembles No. 3 in the Lee flies, save that the grey and
claret are reversed in position, and the hackle at the shoulder
is medium blue. Hook No. 7.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel and orange floss ; tail, one topping ;
body and hackles, dark blue and dark claret (half and half) ;
gaUina stained pale blue hackled on the shoulder ; fine gold
twist ; wing (streaked), gold pheasant tail, some tippet, brown
mallard over, kingfisher at cheek ; black head ; hook 7 or 8.

No. 4. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, tippet and
mallard ; body, dark blue mohair ; silver twist ; hackle, very
dark blue, blue jay on shoulder ; wing, tippet, peacock, red
parrot, and mallard over ; black head ; hook 10 or 11.

No. 5. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, brown
mallard and tippet ; body, dirty dark brown-oUve ; hackle
the same, Hght orange hackle on shoulder ; fine gold twist ;
wing, tippet, bastard bustard, and brown mallard over, blue
macaw ribs ; black head ; hook 10 or 11.

No. 6. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, tippet, a
topping, green parrot and mallard ; body, dirty oHve-yellow
pig's wool ; gold twist ; hackle, medium blue, Hght orange on
shoulder ; wing, tippet, gold pheasant tail, green parrot and
brown mallard over ; hook 8 and 9. Years ago, I had this
pattern of Blacker, when starting up to Thurso, and I never
could make out what part of the country it hailed from, for I
never could kill with it though much Hking the look of the fly,

I

3o6 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and often trying it. Mr. Haynes has solved the mystery for me.
Finding the root of a fly is more interesting to me than finding
Greek roots used to be.

All the above patterns are from Haynes, as are those for the
Kerry Blackwater which follow.

THE KERRY BLACKWATER

The same character of flies prevails here.

No. I is like the Lee No. i, without the yellow hackle at
the shoulder, and with a little claret mohair as a tag to counter-
poise, and a strip of red parrot in the wing.
r" No. 2 is an Orange Anthony (Lee No. 2) without the king-
fisher.

No. 3 is No. 2 in the Cork Blackwater. The colours running
blue, grey in the middle, and claret, with a yellow hackle on
the shoulder, and blue jay over it ; wing, tippet, hen pheasant,
red and green parrot, and brown mallard over.

No. 4 is a dark Blue Doctor for the lower two-thirds of its
body, the upper third being an orange floss ; blue jay hackle,
and orange at shoulder ; wing, tippet and mallard ; blue
macaw ribs, and black head.

^ No. 5 is a plain Yellow Anthony, with a bit of apple-green
floss in the tag.

No. 6. Silver tinsel tag ; tail, mallard, tippet, and lavender
macaw ; butt, black ostrich ; body, medium orange floss, fine
gold thread ; greenish-olive hackle, blue jay on shoulder ;
wing, peacock, red parrot, yellow swan, and brown mallard
over ; blue macaw ribs ; black head. These flies vary from
7 or 8 to 10 or 11.

THE sum
To obtain patterns of the Suir and Nore, I wrote to Mr.
Brady, and he most kindly forwarded me the following
patterns, with a note from a resident on the river, Mr. Staples,
an extract from which note I append.

" I have not fished either Nore or Suir for two years. There
has not been a fish up the Nore past Kilkenny this year, after
all our trouble and expense, owing to the perfect system of
poaching estabhshed on that unfortunate river ; I have, there-
fore, only a few old patterns to send you. The two flies marked,
* My own pattern best kind/ I found to beat every other fly on

THE sum 307

the Suir, tied to suit the water, large or small, and with the silk
body either blue, with blue hackle, or yellow or dark orange
over dark purple or dark mauve-coloured silk ; in this manner
it can be varied to suit any taste ; you must use argus pheasant
hackle round the shoulders. Both these flies are tied by my-
self, and have killed many fish.

" The Httle grey fly is also famous to the Suir, and the other
flies I have found very good on the Nore."

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and orange-yellow floss ; tail, sprigs
of bastard bustard and ibis ; butt, black ostrich ; body, red
plum-coloured floss ; silver twist ; light orange hackle, argus
pheasant hackle at shoulder ; wing, a good bunch of green
peacock herl, with strips of brown turkey with dun points
mixed, one topping over all ; black head ; hook No. 5.

No. 2 has a similar body and hackles ; a topping for tail,
and lemon tag ; a small tippet feather for under wing, a little
green peacock, some brown mallard, and a strand or two of
gallina and grey mallard, stained yellow, with blue macaw ribs.
See, for the varying of these two flies, Mr. Staples' letter. Hook
No. 10.

No. 3. The grey fly referred to is not much bigger than a
trout fly; tag, silver tinsel; tail, a topping; butt, black
ostrich ; body, a turn of orange floss, and the rest silver-grey
fur ; very pale yellow hackle at shoulder only ; wing, a few
1^ sprigs of small tippet, brown mallard over it, and yellow galUna
If over that (wing rather thin) ; black head. The size of the flies
must be varied to suit the water.

Subsequently I received other flies through Mr. Brady,

IH for the early spring fishing ; I select two. In spring, the

■^ bodies are tied roughly of pig's wool ; silk bodies come in

later, and comprise either orange, yellow, or green, with a red

hackle.

1^ No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel, and bright yellow pig's wool ; tail,
K a strand or two of bustard, gold pheasant tail, red parrot and
mallard; body, medium blue pig's wool (dressed large and
rough) ; silver tinsel ; blue jay hackle at shoulder ; wing,
peacock herl (the blue eye of the feather forming the butt end
of the wing) ; head, rough, and of yellow pig's wool.

No. 5. Tag, silver tinsel, and black pig's wool ; tail, green
peacock herl, some tippet and blue macaw ; body, one-third
dirty brown red, better than another third of dirty olive-
IB y^^^^^ P^S'^ wool, the rest black ; gold tinsel ; wing, peacock

I

3o8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

herl, with the eye at the butt as before ; head, rough, of red pig's
wool. Hooks respectively 3 and 4.

THE NORE

The patterns for the Nore are also from Mr. Staples.

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and olive-yellow pig's wool ; tail,
bustard, red parrot, and a topping ; body, very dark purple-
blue pig's wool (rather rough) ; blue jay hackle at shoulder,
moderate, and not too much of it ; silver tinsel ; wing, a
bunch of green peacock herl, with brown mallard over, inter-
spersed with a httle grey mallard, stained light yellow or buff,
and one topping ; head, olive-yellow pig's wool.

No. 2. Tag, gold tinsel, and medium blue pig's wool ; tail,
blue macaw ; body, oUve-yellow pig's wool, rough, and picked
out at the breast ; hackle, a golden olive (or rather orange)
with a vivid black centre, at the shoulder ; gold tinsel ; wing,
a bunch of copper-coloured peacock herl, and a good slip or two
of blue macaw over it. This is a striking-looking fly, owing to
the hackle chiefly.

No. 3, Tag, gold tinsel and lightish blue pig's wool ; tail,
Indian jay, and fibres of a buff hackle ; body, dark red (tending
to claret) pig's wool, rough and picked out ; gold tinsel ;
lightish blue hackle at shoulder ; wing, as in the last fly, with a
slip of red parrot or macaw added.

No. 4 is a small Galway pattern ; tag, gold twist and orange
floss ; tail, a topping ; body, lake floss ; hackle, gallina
trimmed on the breast ; fine silver tinsel ; a turn or two of
blue jay on shoulder ; wing, mixed gold pheasant tail, gallina,
tippet, bustard, mallard, green sprigs ; blue macaw ribs, and a
short kingfisher feather ; black head. The flies run from No. 7
to 12.

The Nore is more of a summer river than the Suir, and the
above pattern will kill well late in the season.

THE BUSH

Is a smallish and not very interesting river, being dull and

heavy, and wanting in that briskness of stream and broken

water which the experienced salmon-fisher loves to see ; but

like many other rivers of the same nature, it often holds a

large quantity of fish, and in suitable weather gives good takes

to the rod.*

* It is a very early river, good sport being sometimes had in February ;
whereas in the Bann, a river six times the size of the Bush, flowing into the
sea only six miles to the west of that Uttle river, no salmon run until near
midsummer. — Ed,

THE BUSH 309

The following four flies were also made for me, through the
agency of my friend Mr. Brady, by Wm. Doherty and Son, fly
tyers, of Bushmills, whose handiwork is of a very neat and
masterly description, and who are the best authorities upon all
flies for the North of Ireland.

No. I is called the Butcher Fly, though it is not the fly
known elsewhere as the Butcher. Tag, silver thread and
light orange floss ; tail, two or three fibres of tippet, blue
macaw and mallard ; butt, black ostrich ; body, dark red
claret mohair ; narrow silver tinsel ; hackle, the same colour
as the body, Ughtish blue hackle at shoulder ; wing, brown
mallard, blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. The Judge. — Tag, silver thread and light orange
floss ; tail, one topping ; butt, peacock herl ; body, silver tinsel;
hackle, a golden-olive or yellow-orange (the colour is something
between these two), red orange at shoulder, blue jay over it ;
wing, mixed of peacock, bustard with a few fibres of tippet, two
toppings over, and blue macaw ribs ; peacock herl head.
A very tasty fly.

No. 3. The McGildowny. — Tag, as before ; tail, same as
No. I ; butt, peacock herl ; body, two turns of light orange floss,
the rest yellow mohair ; narrow silver tinsel ; hackle, a dirty
medium brickdust red (dressed only two-thirds down), blue jay
at shoulder ; wing, mixed bustard, mallard, tippet (pretty
plentiful), and a little peacock ; head, peacock herl.

No. 4. The Early. — This is the same as No. i, save that the
butt is yellow mohair ; the body and hackle are some two
shades lighter, and there is a tippet feather for the under
wing ; hooks Nos. 6 and 7.

The following two flies are from Farlow's : —

No. I. Powell's Fancy. — Tag, gold tinsel and orange floss ;
tail, a topping ; butt, peacock herl ; body, two turns of orange
floss, the rest orange pig's wool (lighter towards tail, dark
towards shoulder), gold tinsel, just above and beside it, a
narrow thread of red, almost scarlet floss ; hackle, bright
red -orange, blue jay on shoulder; wing, gold pheasant
tail, bastard bustard, brown mallard, some tippet, grey
mallard stained yellow, wood-duck, red macaw ribs ; black
head.

No. 2. The Grace. — Tag, gold tinsel and yellow floss ; tail, a
topping ; butt, black ostrich ; body, dark rich ruby floss ;
thick gold twist ; hackle, bright reddish claret, medium orange
hackle at shoulder, with blue jay over it ; wings, peacock, gold

I

310 A BOOK ON ANGLING

pheasant tail, bustard, and wood duck, one topping ; blue
macaw ribs ; and black head ; hooks Nos. 6 to 8.

THE BANN

The following four flies are also by WiUiam Doherty and
Son : —

No. I. The Garibaldi Fly. — This is an invention of Doherty 's,
and a showy-looking fly it is. It is tied in three joints ; tag,
silver thread and lemon floss; tail, a topping; butt, green
peacock herl ; first joint yellow-orange, three turns of silver
thread at joint, then yellowish-olive hackle and green peacock
herl above it ; second joint a shade redder orange, hackle, etc.,
as before, the hackle a ruddier tinge in the olive ; third joint
same as last, with light claret hackle, blue jay at shoulder ;
under wing, two good-sized full-length tippet feathers, slips of
brown jay on either side, a topping over all ; red and blue
macaw ribs ; head, green peacock herl.

No. 2. The Golden-olive Fly. — This is a Ballyshannon
pattern ; at least a fly very much resembling it is used there.
Tag, silver thread, and medium blue floss ; tail, a topping ;
butt, black ostrich ; body, golden-yellow floss ; gold tinsel and
gold thread side by side ; hackle, golden-olive, blue jay at
shoulder ; wing, mixed bustard, grey mallard, and peacock, a
few fibres of tippet and red parrot, one topping, red and blue
macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 3. The Blue Jay. — This is the Blue Doctor dressed with
jay, instead of blue hackle, with a mixed wing as before, and
one topping.

No. 4. The Green Grouse. — Tag, gold thread and reddish
orange floss; tail, a topping; butt, brown ostrich; body,
pea-green floss, narrow gold tinsel ; hackle, grouse, yellow-
oHve at shoulder ; wing, mixed bustard, grey mallard and
tippet, one topping and blue macaw ribs ; head, black ostrich ;
hooks from 4 to 7.

r

CHAPTER XII

SALMON FLIE S— continued
List of Flies for Wales and England — List of Sea Trout Flics

THE USK

NO. I. The Llanover. — This fly being the production
of the late Lord Llanover, I have distinguished it
by his name. It is one of the best killers on the
Usk. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping. The
body is a Namsen body (see Namsen, p. 254) ; hackle at
shoulder, a dirty smudgy coch y bondu hackle ; wing, mixed
brown (mottled) turkey, bastard bustard, pintail, blue, yellow,
and claret swan (the first most plentiful), a topping over all,
blue macaw ribs ; and peacock herl head.

No. 2. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping ; body, one half
orange and yellow pig's wool mixed, the other half lemon pig's
wool ; hackle, light orange ; the hackles in all Usk and Wye
flies are long and full, and dressed from head to tail ; silver
tinsel ; wing, a pair of bittern hackles with strips of bustard,
and wood-duck over them ; blue macaw ribs.

No. 3. Tag, gold twist ; tail, sprigs of gold pheasant sword
feather and yellow macaw ; body, olive and yellow pig's wool
mixed, doubled gold twist ; silver-grey dun hackle, blue jay at
shoulder ; wing, a bunch of bronze peacock herl ; hooks from
6 to 8. Patterns from Farlow.

No. 4. Another fly that kills well, and which was dressed
for me by one of the Martins, of Brecon, when I was there, is a
yellowish buff wool body, rather full ; bright yellow hackle,
and wing of a pair of the under wing feathers of the snipe, or
similar ones from under a hawk's wing, stained medium yellow ;
tail, grey mallard, stained yellow, and a kingfisher feather.
This fly is varied with a lighter buff body and a grizzled blue
dun hackle, or with a light green crewel tail, and unstained
ribbed feathers from under the woodcock's wing.

The following four are by Peake, of Abergavenny, a well-
known local maker and first-rate practical authority :

311

312 A BOOK ON ANGLING

No. I. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, two slips of red parrot and
pale blue macaw ; body, dirty yellow-orange crewel ; reddish
orange hackle (full), gold tinsel ; bunch of peacock herl for
wing ; head of the same.

No. 2. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping and two long sprigs
of red macaw ; body, medium brown crewel, narrow gold tinsel ;
hackle, red-orange with a black centre ; wing, brown speckled
turkey ; head, peacock herl. This fly is varied with a tail as
in No. I ; body, dirty brown orange ; and hackle, dark grizzled
blue dun.

No. 3. Tail and tag as in No. i ; body, medium orange floss,
gold tinsel ; hackle, lemon-yellow, with red lake at shoulder ;
wing, brown speckled turkey ; head, black ostrich.

No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, red parrot ; body, dirty yellow,
inclining to orange wool, gold tinsel ; hackle, lemon-yellow,
scarlet hackle at shoulder ; wing, a bunch of peacock herl ;
head, the same ; "hooks, about 6'or 7.

THE WYE

The Usk flies do well also on the Wye ; but I add some flies
which I obtained of the keeper at Builth when there, which I
found first-rate killers.

No. I. Tag, silver twist ; tail, a topping, a bit of wood-duck
and scarlet ibis ; body rather full, of bright yellow golden floss ;
the hackle longish and full, and of a peculiar shade of olive-
yellow, which is obtained by staining a medium blue dun a
pale yellow : this gives it an olive-greenish yellow tint of a very
taking look ; wing two good clearly marked bittern hackles ;
the best bitterns' hackles to use are those of a yellowish tint,
and on which the ribbed markings are most distinct ; one
topping over. (Plate XIX, Fig. 3.)

No. 2 is a fly of somewhat similar kind, save that the body
is of a lemon-yellow floss ; and the hackle a fine blue dun
hackle, long and full, the bluest that can be got, fine gold tinsel ;
the wing and tail as before ; body, fattish ; hooks, about
No. 6 or 7 and smaller for summer.

No. 3 is dressed after the fashion of No. i, the body, however,
being^of the same colour as the flesh of a cooked salmon ; the
hackle, blue dun, long and full ; wing and tail as in No. i.

Add to the above the Dhoon fly, there called the Canary.
See page 270 for the dressing of it.

WELSH RIVERS 313

THE DOVEY OR DEIFI

No. I. The Welshman's Fairy. — Tag, gold tinsel and orange
floss ; tail, a topping, and gallina stained pink ; butt, black
ostrich ; body, red wool ; silver tinsel ; hackle, claret and
golden-olive laid together and wound on simultaneously ;*
pale blue dun hackle (unstained) at shoulders ; wing, strips of
mallard, brown mottled turkey, bastard bustard, galhna, pale
dirty pink swan ; blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. The Captain. — This is a jointed fly. Tag, gold
thread ; tail, a topping and tippet ; butt, black ostrich ; body,
in four joints. The first joint is composed one half of dark
orange, and the other of dark red floss, just below the joint
a few turns of fine gold thread, above this a small cock of the
rock feather put on as a hackle. The next joint is bright
yellow and dark red floss, gold thread, and cock of the rock
hackle as before. The third and fourth joints are of yellow and
black floss, gold thread, and cock of the rock hackle as before,
at the shoulders blue jay ; wing, brown mottled turkey with
brown mallard over it, blue macaw ribs and black head.

Add to these two flies, " Powell's Fancy " (see the Bush,
p. 309) and " The Baker," page 252, dressed smaUish, and
there are four killers for the Dovey. Hooks from 6 to 10, or
even smaller in low water. Patterns from Farlow's.

THE CONWAY

The following patterns were sent to me by C. Blackwall,
Esq., the secretary of the Conway Club ; and the patterns
may, therefore, be thoroughly relied on. They are all capital
general flies, and would kill on many rivers : —

No. I. Tag, silver thread and medium blue floss ; tail,
sprigs of yellow swan, wood duck, and Indian jay (the blue
out of the wing) ; butt, black ostrich ; body, one-third yellow
floss, the rest ohve-green with a few strands of yellow pig's
wool, silver tinsel ; lightish claret hackle, blue jay at shoulder ;
wing, two jungle cock (medium length), sprigs of tippet, wood
duck (plenty), a strip of red swan or red macaw, golden
pheasant's tail (plenty), blue macaw ribs ; black head.

No. 2. The Blackwall. — Tag, as before ; tail, a topping and
a small blue chatterer feather ; butt, black ostrich ; body, half
medium orange floss, half redder orange mohair, broadish silver

I

* This will be found easiest to do either by stripping one side ol the
hAckl«, or by preparing the hackles and laying one within the other. — F, F.

314 A BOOK ON ANGLING

tinsel ; hackle, claret a shade darker than No. i, short wood
duck hackle at shoulder ; wings, two medium jungle cock,
tippet sprigs, slips of wood duck, two toppings ; blue macaw
ribs ; black head. This fly is Mr. Blackwall's own fancy, said
to be very deadly, and I have given his name to it.
^No. 3. Tag, as before; tail, a topping with slips of wood-
duck ; butt, black ostrich ; body, medium orange floss ;
hackle, coch y bondu stained claret, blue jay at shoulder ;
wing fibres of tippet, slips of wood-duck, golden pheasant's
tail over, blue and red macaw ribs ; black head (the blue
jay to be tied outside the wing). This is the old Conway
pattern. I

No. 4. Tag, silver thread, and yellow floss ; tail, yellow
swan, tippet and wood duck sprigs ; butt, black ostrich herl ;
body, lightish medium blue floss ; hackle, the same, tinsel
silver ; a httle short wood duck tied on at breast hacklewise,
also a tippet feather as a hackle over it ; wing, two medium
jungle cock feathers, sHps of tippet, golden pheasant tail over
this, and short wood duck sUps over that ; black head.

No. 5. Tag, silver thread and medium blue floss ; tail, a
topping and some wood duck ; butt, black ostrich ; body,
silver tinsel ; dark claret hackle with a strand of yellow silk
laid on under and beside it, blue jay at shoulder ; wing, plenty
of wood -duck slips, tippet sprigs over, brown mallard and
golden pheasant tail over, a sprig or two of yellow-olive swan,
blue macaw ribs ; black head.

These flies may be varied in size to suit the water, and will be
found quite sufficient for the river. The siies sent to me vary
from 5 to 9.

THE TOWEY AND TIVEY OR TEIFI

One or two friends, of whom I expected to obtain flies of
these rivers, having failed me, I was obhged to ask assistance
in the columns of the Field, and a great many flies were sent
me. It would be impossible to describe them all. I have,
therefore, made a selection of those which are best spoken of.
Lord Llano ver very kindly sent me some patterns. I append
three of them.

No. I. Tail, the red rump-feather of the golden pheasant,
and the extreme point of blue jay's feather ; body, yellow
crewel, silver tinsel ; silver-grey hackle (longish fibre) ; wings,
a bunch of coppery peacock herl. The other two flies are very
similar, only the bodies are orange crewel, and the hackles a

WELSH RIVERS 3i5

trifle darker, and the tinsel gold. All these flies kill well also
on the^Usk.

The two following flies are from Mr. Harrison/"^of Lam-
peter : —

No. I. The Gamekeeper. — Tag, gold tinsel and peacock herl ;
tail, a topping and some golden pheasant sword feather fibres ;
the body is somewhat difficult to decide on, being well washed ;
it appears to be of a red-brown or burnt sienna-coloured
mohair, gold tinsel ; hackle, greenish olive, darkish blue at
shoulder ; wing, a short tippet and golden pheasant's rump
feather, over this bustard, with golden pheasant's tail (the
streaked feather), the latter much predominating ; head,
peacock herl.

No. 2 is a pattern of Mr. Harrison's own devising. Tag,
silver tinsel ; tail, a small tippet feather ; body, two turns of
yellow crewel, the rest of Ught red crewel, the usual colour of
blotting-paper, silver tinsel ; Hghtish brown hackle, medium
blue at shoulder ; wings, blue hackle point same colour as the
shoulder, golden pheasant's tail (the streaked feather).

The following is one of three sent me by Mr. Whitlow, of
Twickenham. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, red parrot ; butt, black
ostrich ; body, oUve-yellow ; narrow gold tinsel ; hackle,
light brown-red, blue jay at shoulder ; wings, light dun
turkey with a few dark blurred spots on it ; head, black
ostrich.

Mr. Whitlow also sent a somewhat similar fly with apple-
green body and hen pheasant's wing. Hooks 5, 6, and 7, and
smaller for fine water.

The Butcher (No. 2 dressing, p. 252) kills well also in the
Tivey.

THE CORTHY

The following two flies for the Corthy were also forwarded
by Mr. Harrison ; and the patterns are good both for salmon
and sewin : —

No, I. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, scarlet ibis ; body, blotting-
paper red crewel, narrow silver tinsel ; hackle, pale lemon ;
wings, hght speckled turkey stained a bright ochre-yellow.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, scarlet ibis ; body, Ught
yellow crewel, tinsel and hackle as before ; wing, two slips of
blue macaw and two of white-tipped black turkey. Both of
the above are strange, unnatural, inharmonious sort of flies ;

I but there is no accounting for taste, especially of fishes. Hooks
btoii.

3i6 BOOK ON ANGLING

THE DEE

The accompanying flies were sent to me by Mr. Townshend,
of Wrexham, who obtained them for me from Colonel T., a
noted angler on the Dee. The Dee flies are very sober and plain.

No. I. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a small tippet feather ; body,
bronze peacock herl, gold tinsel ; brown-red hackle at shoulder ;
wing, a mixture of brown turkey and thin peacock herl fibres
from near the eye of the feather ; head, peacock herl.

No. 2. No tail ; same body, coch y bondu hackle ; wing,
two short hackles, crimson-red with a lake tinge, set on either
side, with a bunch of long fibres from a cock pheasant's tail
between them ; peacock herl head.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, sprigs of tippet ; body, as
before ; dark ohve-brown hackle at shoulder ; wing, bunch
of fibres from rump of speckled brown hen with fibres of tippet
on either side ; head, as before.

No. 4. Tail, a scrap of teal slightly stained oHve ; body,
medium brown mohair, silver thread ; coch y bondu hackle
at shoulder ; wing, mottled peacock, with a few fibres of the
same stained yellow for ribs ; head, peacock's herl. Hooks
from 5 to 8.

THE ESK (border)

Mr. Rowell, the tackle-maker of Carhsle, whose name I have
already favourably mentioned in connection with the Annan,
also sends me patterns for the Esk and the Eden, and the
commendation bestowed upon his Annan flies may be also
extended to these.

No. I. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, gold pheasant saddle sprigs ;
body, a medium purple floss ; silver tinsel, tolerably stout ;
hackle, coch y bondu ; under it, and tied on at the shoulder,
is a wad of bright orange crewel well picked out ; wing, some
teal sprigs with light dun turkey over split into sprigs.

No. 2. Much the same fly, only the body is bright medium
(inchning to darkish) blue, with a few sprigs of blue, and one or
two of bright yellow in the wing. All the rest as before.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, some tippet sprigs ; body,
golden yellow floss, with orange crewel picked out at shoulder ;
hackle, coch y bondu with an ohve tinge ; silver tinsel ; wing,
two peacock slips brownish at butt. Hooks 6 and 7.

THE EDEN

Is one of the finest of our Enghsh salmon rivers, and if properly

THE EDEN 317

treated, would be one of the most productive. It still produces
a great quantity of salmon, and affords a good deal of sport,
though the spoon is found more deadly even than the fly in it.
Mr. Rowell suppUes these patterns, as in the last river.

No: I I call The Chimney Sweep ; it is a very striking fly, as
it is the only thoroughly black fly I ever saw, but that it is a
favourite on the Eden Mr. Rowell vouches, as he says it will
kill when none of the others will, and I certainly shall try it
elsewhere. The tail is a single topping ; the tinsel medium
silver ; but the body, hackle, and wings are all black. The
hackle is longish in fibre, but is dressed only from the shoulder,
not down the body. The wing, two slips of swan as black as a
coal. It should be a first-rate night fly.

No. 2. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a topping ; body, lightish
orange floss. Silver tinsel ; hackle, black, and dressed only at
shoulder as before ; under wing, two shps of teal, upper two
slips of dark dun (cinnamon) turkey. In default, gled or even
Monal pheasant will do.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping ; body, lightish blue
floss ; silver tinsel ; hackle dressed as before of darkish
medium blue, and under it a wad of yellow crewel picked out
at shoulder ; under wing, some teal, upper mixed Hght peacock,
gold pheasant tail and dark dun turkey, with a few sprigs of
claret and yellow swan.

No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel, tail, some tippet ; body, ruby floss ;
silver tinsel ; a wad of darkish medium red pig's wool tied in
and picked out at the shoulder, with a coch y bondu hackle over
it ; under wing, gold pheasant rump, upper mixed black (not
very bright), gold pheasant tail, cock pheasant tail, sprigs of
blue, yellow, red, and green.

No. 5. Tag, gold tinsel and some orange-yellow crewel ; tail,
the tip of a medium claret hackle ; body, floss herl, a very
difficult colour to describe. It is a dark pink-red, not so bright
as ruby, but a sort of faded ruby ; silver tinsel ; hghtish claret
hackle half-way down the body ; under wing, a tippet, rather
conspicuous, and a saddle feather over (rather thinly) ; sprigs
of teal, gold pheasant tail, bright blue and red. All the bodies
of these flies are dressed rather sparely, and the hooks are
about 6 and 7.

THE TAWE AND TORRIDGE

These three patterns are from Farlow's : —

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel ; tail, a topping and red and blue

3i8 A BOOK ON ANGLING

macaw ; butt, black ostrich ; body, three turns of medium
orange floss, the rest of darkish blue pig's wool ; broad silver
tinsel ; medium blue hackle, blue jay at shoulder ; wing, a
darkish blue hackle, slice of brick-red swan and darkish grey
speckled turkey ; black head.

No. 2. Tag, silver thread and mby floss ; tail, a^topping f^butt,
black ostrich ; body, palish yellow wool ; medium claret hackle,
a light orange hackle (inclining rather to pale brick-red) at
shoulder ; wing, brown speckled turkey ; peacock, a few sprigs
of bastard bustard and grey mallard, slightly brown at tips,
over all ; black head.

No. 3. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a topping ; butt, black ostrich
body, bright canary-coloured floss, gold tinsel ; hackle the
same colour, blue jay on shoulder ; wing, Hght and mixed
sprigs of bustard, tippet, wood duck, gaUina over, topping, and
blue macaw ribs ; black head. In the early spring, a Butcher
(see p. 252) dressed smalhsh is a first-rate fly for these rivers.
Hooks from 5 to 9.

SEA TROUT FLIES

" Well, Mr. Francis,'* methinks I hear the reader remark,
" you have given us a rare long list of salmon flies, but what
about sea trout flies ? "

Sea trout flies are a sort of connecting link between common
trout and salmon flies ; and first I will give you a fist of flies
used more or less on the Tweed, where they are termed whitling
flies, and it shall go hard but some of these flies shall kill sea
trout wherever they are found to rise in Scotland. The sizes of
sea trout flies run from the No. 12 hook in the salmon scale
down to about three sizes smaller.

No. I. Of all the sea trout flies I know of this is about the
best. It will kill almost anywhere ; either in Scotland, Ireland,
or England. Tail, a short tuft of orange-yellow floss silk ;
body, a dark ruddy brown or brown-red (something the colour
of dark red hair) pig's wool, fine silver twist ; hackle, coch y
bondu (red with black centre) ; wing, two strips of bright teal.
Three sizes of this fly should always be kept on hand, from the
largest to the smallest sea trout size.

No. 2. Much the same dressing ; the body bright orange
with a black hackle. Medium size.

No. 3 Tail as before ; body, lower half, dark red ; upper

SEA TROUT FLIES 319

half black ; hackle, coch y bondu, the black tint of the hackle
predominating ; wing, teal. Medium size.

No. 4. Tail as before ; body, black ostrich herl, silver
thread ; hackle, coch y bondu ; wing, bright, well-marked teal.
Two sizes.

No. 5. Tail, short golden floss ; body, ruddy orange, gold
thread ; red hackle, with a scrap of black at the butt of the
feather ; wing, the brown speckled feathers from a woodcock's
tail, or the rump of a brown speckled hen. Medium size.

No. 6. Tail as before ; body, half dirty orange ; upper
half black, fine gold thread ; hackle, coch y bondu ; wing, two
slips from a dun feather, either landrail or the lighter part of
partridge tail. The smaller sizes.

No. 7. The White Tip. — I never did a great deal with this
fly, but it is a standard Tweed pattern, so I give it. Tail, short
orange floss ; body, black ostrich herl, silver thread ; hackle,
dark coch y bondu, with only a Httle red at the tips of the
fibres ; wing, two shreds from the black and white wing
feather of a wild drake, three-fourths black and one-fourth a
bright white tip.

If one of these seven flies do not stir the sea trout on the
Tweed and many another Scotch river, the angler may go
home, as far as sea trout are concerned. These are all dressed
by Jamie Wright, of Sprouston, on whom my benison, for they
are perfection.

Here is a batch for the west of Ireland, which I got years
ago from McGowan, of Brut on Street, Berkeley Square,
formerly a fight of science at Ballyshannon, but now a Saga on
Norwegian mysteries. They are capital patterns, wonderfully
tied, perfect miniature salmon flies, and for killing they are
not at all easy to beat ; I have killed " wales o' fish " with
some of them, particularly with No. i.

No. I. Tail, a whisk from the cock of the rock's breast
feather ; body, light claret-red pig's wool ; hackle, the same,
fineish gold tinsel ; under wing, a fragment of golden pheasant
tippet, over it brown mallard ; black head. Medium size.

No. 2. Tail, sprigs of golden pheasant tippet, and teal ;
body, dirty reddish brown (almost the colour of dark cow's
hair), gold thread ; red hackle with a black butt to it from the
shoulder ; wing, mixed, bustard predominating, with fibres of
gallina, two or three sprigs of golden pheasant tippet, and
sword feather with peacock's breast ; head, peacock's herl.
Large size.

320 A BOOK ON ANGLING

No. 3. Tag, pale blue floss ; tail, sprigs of golden pheasant
tippet, and fine blue macaw points ; body, golden yellow floss,
gold thread ; hackle, dark oHve, with one turn of jay at
shoulder ; wing, mixed golden pheasant tail and tippet, brown
mallard and gallina ; head, black. Small size.

No. 4. Tag, gold thread and orange floss ; tail, a small
orange toucan feather ; body, dark blue floss ; black hackle,
fine silver tinsel ; wing, gold pheasant tail (the streaked
feather), and tippet, with some teal over ; head, black. Small
size.

No. 5. Tag, silver twist and ruby floss ; tail, mixed sprigs of
golden pheasant tippet, galhna, and fine blue macaw sprigs ;
body, dark blue floss, gold thread ; black hackle, with a red-
brown one at shoulder ; wing, bustard, with fibres of galhna and
golden pheasant tippet over ; head, black. Size largish.

No. 6. Tag, gold thread and a bit of lemon-yellow crewel ;
tail, red parrot ; body, medium purple claret pig's wool picked
out, silver tinsel ; red hackle only at shoulder ; wing, bright
teal ; head, black. Size medium.

Here is a number of patterns for the ^west and north-west
of Ireland, collected by myself on the spot. I have found
them to be first-rate killers, and do not hesitate strongly to
commend them. The first is a capital fly for Erris, and will
slaughter not only white trout, but when the water is low will
kill salmon. It was given to me by a gentleman who had lived
for years at Bangor, and who had fished all the streams in that
part incessantly. I killed baskets of white trout with it, and
although the river was so low that there had not been a salmon
killed for weeks, on the first morning that I was there we went
out on the Owenmore, played and lost one salmon and killed
another of eleven pounds.

No. I. Tail, a few sprigs of blue jay ; body, two turns of
medium blue floss, the rest black pig's wool mingled with a
few fibres of hghtish brown or dirty grey fur to give the body
a sort of rusty appearance, silver thread ; black hackle ; wing,
plain, from the jay's wing, choose a bit which is dark towards
the butt. Two sizes.

No. 2. Tag, golden-yellow floss ; tail, sprigs of red and
green parrot, and golden pheasant tippet ; body, black pig's
wool, silver thread ; black hackle, with two turns of jay at
shoulder ; wing, mixed, of brown and grey mallard, fibres of
golden pheasant with four or five sprigs of blue macaw. Size,
full. With this fly I once killed nearly a hundredweight of

SEA TROUT FLIES 321

white trout in one day on the DoohuUah lakes. It is a great
Connemara favourite.

No. 3. Tail, a small topping ; body, one turn of ruby floss,
the rest of black floss, silver thread ; black hackle only one-
third down ; wing, a darkish bit from a jay's wing. Size small.
Good in the Newport river, and most of the rivers and lakes in
that neighbourhood.

No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, a sprig or two of brown
mallard ; body, dark blue wool well picked out ; red hackle
only at shoulder ; wing, from jay's wing-feather, with a light
brownish tinge preferred. Size small.

No. 5. Tag, silver thread ; tail, grey mallard ; body, apple-
green floss ; red hackle, silver thread ; wing, mottled wood-
cock. The last two flies are good on the Lennan and at
Gweedore, and generally on the north-west of Donegal. Largish
size.

No. 6. Tag, light orange floss ; tail, golden pheasant tippet
sprigs ; body, medium blue pig's wool picked out slightly ;
black hackle (only at shoulder), silver thread ; wing, brown
mallard, small speckled gallina, a few shreds of red parrot and
blue macaw. A capital Connemara pattern. I have done very
well with it at Ballynahinch. Medium size.

No. 7. Tag, silver tinsel and hght orange floss ; tail, blue
jay and yellow macaw ; body, Ughtish blue pig's wool ;
hackle, the same colour, silver thread ; wing, jay's wing — a
lightish feather. Connemara. Medium size.

No. 8. Tag, as before ; tail, jay and tippet ; body, bright
pea-green floss, silver tinsel ; red hackle ; wing as before.
Connemara. Medium size.

No. 9. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, golden pheasant tippet sprigs ;
body, light orange floss ; wing and hackle, a grouse hackle left
full and long on back and cUpped on the breast. Connemara.
Medium size.

Four patterns from Nicholson of Gal way : —

No. I. Tag, silver tinsel and orange floss ; tail, tippet and
blue and green sprigs ; body, blue mohair, rough ; hackle, red ;
wing, jay's wing.

No. 2. Tag, as before ; tail, as before ; body, yellow mohair,
rough silver thread ; wing, jay's wing— darkish feather.

No. 3. Tag and tail as before ; body, two-thirds light claret
mohair, one-third at shoulder dirty yellow ; black hackle ;
wing, dark jay with some tippet over.

No. 4. Tag, silver tinsel, dark blue floss ; tail, tippet, and

322 A BOOK ON ANGLING

sword feather with yellow sprigs ; body, black mohair with a
little dark red picked out at the shoulder, silver tinsel ; hackle,
black ; wing, dark jay, and some tippet sprigs over. All these
flies have black heads, and are dressed of large size.

I had some patterns sent me specially for Erris rivers and
lakes, more particularly for Maxwell's river — the Ballycroy —
a very famous white trout river, in which my friend Mr. S.,
who rented it, as I have before stated, for some years, killed
magnificent baskets of white trout, many of them running up
often to five and six pounds' weight. Four of these flies are
very much alike ; the bodies vary a little in the shade of
orange ; the tags are all silver tinsel and ruby floss ; the tails
a sprig or two of golden pheasant's tail ; they all have the
somewhat unusual appendage to a white trout fly, of a black
ostrich butt. The bodies are pig's wool, more or less of a
red or yellow orange, gold thread. One of them is half orange
and half black. The hackles are black ; wings of two, brown
mallard ; in the other two a bit of peacock's wing or hen
pheasant's is thrown in. The fifth fly is a very pretty one : no
tail or tag ; body, lake floss, then orange floss, and then lake
again ; hackle, a yellow olive ; black hackle at shoulder,
amidst which on the breast a fibre or two of dark blue and
claret mohair is tied in ; wing, landrail and brown mallard,
with a small topping over. I should think this fly would be in
request. It is a very pretty pattern — the body smacks a Uttle
of the Moy. They all have black heads, and are of medium
size.

Here are half a dozen for Lough Currane (or Waterville).
They were sent me by Haynes, of Cork, whose small flies are
perfection.

No. I. Tag, a few turns of gold thread ; tail, a few sprigs of
tippet ; body, dark sandy red (red hair red), gold thread.
Hackle, red — when held up to the Hght golden olive ; wing, a
darkish bit of bustard. Largish size.

No. 2. Tag, and tail as before ; body, very dark claret pig's
wool, gold thread ; very dark blue hackle, a nice streaky bit of
cock pheasant. Largish size.

No. 3. Tag and tail as before ; body, claret, two shades
lighter than the last fly ; hackle, the same colour, gold thread ;
argus hackle at shoulder (grouse may be substituted in default) ;
wing, well mottled hen pheasant ; black head. Same size as
the last two flies.

No. 4. Tag and tail as before ; body, medium brown pig's

SEA TROUT FLIES 323

wool, gold thread ; medium blue hackle ; wing, speckled cock
pheasant. One size smaller than the last three.

No. 5. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, brown mallard ; body, dark
brown claret, gold thread ; black hackle with medium brown
hackle at shoulder ; wing, a few fibres of speckled cock
pheasant, and over them dark jay's wing ; black head. Same
size as first three.

No. 6. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, brown mallard ; body, three
turns of orange floss, the rest black ostrich herl ; black hackle ;
wing, dark cinnamon, partridge tail is hardly long enough in
the fibre — there is an Indian pheasant which has the feather.
One size smaller.

I now give half a dozen patterns for the Caragh, which will
kill on most of the Kerry rivers. They are also by Haynes, and
are not inferior to the last.

No. I. Tail, two grey mallard strands ; medium blue floss
body, silver tinsel ; hackle same colour as body ; wing, jay's
wing. Small size.

No. 2. Tail, three strands of brown mallard ; body, dirty
yellow-orange, gold thread ; medium blue hackle ; light jay's
wing.

No. 3. Tag, silver thread ; tail, three strands of bustard ;
body, one-third medium orange floss, the rest silver-grey fur,
silver thread ; hackle, smoky blue dun ; wing, darkish jay's
wing.

No. 4. Tag, gold tinsel ; tail, brown mallard ; body, one-
third golden-yellow floss, the rest hare's ear ; hackle, red
(fight transparent oUve when held up to light) ; wing, jay's
wing, with dark butt to the feather.

No. 5. Mallard tail ; medium orange floss body, gold thread ;
wing and hackle, fight tawny grouse hackle, only at the
shoulders, and cfipped on the breast.

No. 6. Tail, grey mallard ; body, fightish olive-green pig's
wool roughish, fine gold thread ; wing, a rather fight coloured
bit of speckled cock pheasant tail, a wad of the same being tied
on at the breast as a hackle, and then clipped. All these ffies
are of the smallest size used for sea trout.

With such a list of sea trout flies as I have given in the last
half-dozen pages, scarcely any lake or river in the kingdom can
fail to be well suited.

CHAPTER XIII

TACKLE MAKING AND FLY DRESSING

On Making Tackle, Knotting, etc. — How to Dress the Trout Fly — The Method
of Dressing the Salmon Fly

BEFORE going into the mysteries of fly dressing, I
may say a few words upon tackle making generally.
One of the first acts the tyro wiU attempt to
perform for himseK, will be the lashing on of a hook.
This process is exceedingly simple, and may be very quickly
performed with a Httle practice. Take a hook, a thread of gut,
and some fine but strong silk ; wax it well either with white or
cobbler's wax ; bite the gut slightly at the extreme end, so
as to flatten it and prevent its shpping ; then lay the gut and
the end of the silk against the shank of the hook, the ends
reaching rather short of the bend ; then, holding both in place
with the bend and shank of the hook between the left finger
and thumb, take the silk in the right, and wind it firmly round
the gut and hook, commencing at the head or end of the hook,
and laying coil beside coil until the gut is covered and bound
securely to the hook ; then fasten off the silk either by two
half hitches, as shown in the right-hand tie in Fig. 7 of Plate III,
page 66, or by the method given on the left-hand side. These
cuts render any further explanation needless. I generally
prefer the two half hitches, as, although perhaps less neat, they
are more secure. The coils should of course be drawn tight, and
the loose end of the silk snipped off. The lashing may then be
touched with shellac varnish (see Recipes and Notabilia,
P- 357) > a-nd the hook put aside in a dry place tiU required for
use. It is always desirable, where you use shellac varnish, to
employ it some time before using the tackle, as, if not quite
dry, the varnish turns to an opaque white colour when the
tackle is used.

The next thing the young aspirant to skill in tackle making
will attempt, will be in t^ing threads of gut together for lines.
Of course the selection of the gut depends upon the purpose it

324

KNOTS 325

is to be put to, but it is common, both for bottom and fly-
fishing hnes, to taper them ; that is, the stoutest gut is
reserved for the upper part of the hne, or that to which the
running or reel Hne is tied, and the finer for the part near the
hook, and it graduates in stoutness from one to the other. Gut
should be moistened in luke-warm water (if time can be spared,
cold is better), before it is tied ; and the older the gut is the
more thoroughly soaked it must be, and the more carefully and
closely the knots must be drawn together, as it gets brittle with
age. To tie two threads of gut together, place two ends side by
side, overlapping each other for a couple of inches or so, and
then tie the knot shown in Fig. 3, Plate III, page 66. Draw it
closely home, and snip off the short ends. This knot is generally
secure enough, if it be properly drawn home ; but to render it
more secure, I generally touch the knot, when the gut is quite
dry, with a drop of shellac varnish. If, however, this be not
thought secure enough, then it is usual to take another turn
in the fold, as shown in Fig. 4. The double folds, though the}'
make rather a large knot, render a slip impossible. There is
another way used when dropper flies are needed to be fastened
in, and that is shown in Fig. 2 in the same plate, but I have
noted that elsewhere. Some people whip the ends of the gut
on to the main hne so as to secure the knot, but the whipping
always frays off, and is practically useless. In securing the gut
line to the reel line, it is usual to have a loop at the end of the
gut. The end of the reel hne having merely a knot in it, take
the end of the reel hne and pass it through the loop, as shown
in Fig. 5, Plate III, page 66. But if you wish to be able to imdo
the line with ease and quickness when you require to change or
have finished fishing, then it is advisable to use the shp knot
shown in Fig. 6, when by pulling the loose end of the hne
smartly, the hitch is released.* In making a loop in a gut line,
I usually prefer the knotted loop, as shown in Fig. 6, to the
whipped one, shown in Fig. 5. It is less conspicuous when
properly made and drawn close, and it is more secure, as loop
w-hipping often comes undone. Alwa^-s try all hooks and gut
before using them, as it is exceedingly vexatious to lose a good
fish for the want of this precaution.

And now as to fly t\nig.

The Trout Fly. — Some persons trust entirely to their tackle

* Personally, I would not be found dead, so to speak, with such knots as
these on my line. In my opinion the figure of eight knot is the right one
for the purpose. — Ed.

326 A BOOK ON ANGLING

makers for their flies, and will not go to the trouble of tying
or learning to tie, their trout flies. I myself trust to my tackle
maker for my general supply of flies, but there are times when
the capability of tying a fly will secure one a good day's fishing,
and when, but for the power to do so, the angler might see fish
rising but be unable to bring them to hook. As it will often
happen that the angler will desire to tie a fly by the river side,
it will be well that he should learn to tie them by the use of his
fingers alone. It may be more difficult at first, but the best
tyers (professional tyers) very seldom use anything else, and it
is a mere matter of practice. Most amateurs, however, prefer
to use a vice to hold the hook, and the vice for trout flies is a
small brass table vice, and can, with spring tweezers, also a
common requisite, be bought at most respectable tackle
makers. The only other implements required are a neat sharp-
pointed pair of scissors and a dubbing needle, which last should
be a stout needle, fixed in a handle like a bradawl, and with a
rounded blunt point, so as not to cut the silk when used to
pick out the fibres of dubbing.

The easiest fly to dress is, of course, the simple palmer.
Suppose we take the common red palmer. Choose hook and
gut ; lash on the gut with the finest and strongest" silk you can
procure in the ordinary way, only do not begin quite at the
head or end of the hook, leave space enough for two or three
turns of the silk bare of lashing in order to finish the fly off at ;
having lashed on the gut down towards the bend, take either
a piece of crewel or silk, or even two or three (according as you
require the substance of the fly to be) peacock's or ostrich
herls, break off the weak points, lay the herls together, and
tie the ends in a mass on to the bend of the hook (see Plate
XXI, Fig. i) ; then select a hackle from the neck of a red
cock — choose a two-year-old cock in preference to a young one,
as his colours will be better and his feathers stronger. As your
fly is to be larger or smaller, and you need the fibre to be longer
or shorter, so you will choose one nearer to or farther from the
head ; having settled this, prepare the hackle by snipping a
little bit off on each side near the tip (see Plate XXI, Fig. lo),
so that the fibres may not be tied in. Then comes the question
whether you desire your palmer to be dressed with hackle all
over from head to tail, whether it shall be dressed half-way
down, or only at the shoulder of the fly. If the hackle is to go
from tail to head, it is tied on at the same time as the herl. If
not, then the silk must be warped up from the tail to the

w

TO DRESS TROUT FLIES 327

required spot ; and having tied on the tip of the hackle, you
must carry the silk on to the shoulder of the fly, and fix it with
a half hitch.* Then take hold of the peacock's herls and wind
them round and round the hook side by side, up to the silk,
when seize them down with two or three turns of the silk and a
half hitch (see Plate XXI, Fig. 2) ; cut off the refuse herl, not
too closely ; and touch the fastening with a drop of shellac
varnish to make all secure. Then take hold of the hackle either
with the fingers or spring tweezers, and taking care that the
fibres point in the right direction, wind it carefully on up to
the head of the fly, until it reaches the silk, pressing the fibres
down so that they point tailwards while doing so ; then seize
it down and tie off as in the case of the herl (see Plate XXI,
Fig. 3) ; cut off the refuse, not too closely, leaving a scrap
of the quill still on, which lap over and tie down firmly,
finishing off with the silk to the end of the hook ; snip the
silk off and touch the tie with varnish, and you have a red
palmer.

Of course all other palmers are tied in the same way. When
they are very large and thick-fibred, two or more hackles are
used. Some tie them both on together, and wind them on at
the same time ; and some use one up first, and then tie on
another. The first plan is the best.

A winged fly is simply a palmer with the addition of wings,
and with three-quarters of the legs taken away (Fig. 4 shows
the wings simply added). For the legs of an ordinary fly,
prepare a small piece of hackle of the requisite length of fibre ;
tie the end on at that part of the hook where the thorax of the
fly would be. This may be done either when the hook is being
tied on to the gut, or afterwards, when the body is being
warped on, a turn of the silk being taken over the herl or
dubbing to secure it while the hackle is being tied on. The silk
is then wound up to the shoulder ; the body worked up to it
and tied off ; two or three turns of the hackle are then taken,
by which time that too will reach the shoulder, and can be tied

* This is one way, and the one commonly adopted. My own plan, how-
ever, is to lash in the tip of the hackle while I am tying the hook to the gut,
when the hackle is to be either from the middle of the body or at the shoulder
only : this plan makes the body less clumsy. Of course, if it is to run from
head to tail — or tail to head rather — the hackle should be tied in at the same
time as the herl or crewel. As it is very liable to break and the body then
comes to pieces, to prevent this, some persons spin the herls round on the
silk by twirling them together ; then turning them on the hook, silk and all,
and avoiding the hackle, carry silk and herl to the head simultaneously, and
tie oft the herl with the silk without trouble, and snip off the end. — F. F.

328 A BOOK ON ANGLING

off, when the wing is put on, and all is finished. But be sure
not to overhackle your fly — ^it makes it lumpy and unnatural ;
as a rule, nine fly tyers in ten overdo this. No fly has more than
six legs, and the imitation is none the more faithful for having
sixty. Some flies have the hackle put on from tail to head, Hke
a palmer or the sedge fly, as I have shown ; others have this
same make, but the hackle is much more thinly laid on. When
this is the case, strip off the fibres from one side, and only tie
on the single side left on the quill (see Plate XXI, Fig. lo). Be
sure you strip off the right side, or you will find the hackle will
not roll on. To tie on the wing, select carefully a fragment of
some feather, as the wing of jay, pheasant, starling, or black-
bird, and strip it off neatly, taking care not to split or separate
the fibres. The wing being held between one finger and thumb,
the butt ends of the fibres are pinched together by the other, so
as to compress them without, if possible, bending or doubhng
up the wing (see Plate XXI, Fig. 12). This is then laid to the
head of the hook and set in the direction it is desirable to make
it stand, and two or three turns of the silk taken over it, the
silk being then fastened off in the usual way.

If a pair of wings are to be set on, it is as well to pick a strip
of two separate feathers from both wings of the bird ; by this
means the feathers will set properly, and each wing of the fly
will have the bright and glossy side outwards, and exposed to
the gaze of the fish. Lay the strips side by side, and hold them
between the finger and thumb. Then nip the butts of the
feathers with the other finger and thumb, so as to get the wing
into as good a shape as possible for tying on. Lay the feathers
to the hook, and take two or three turns of the silk firmly over
them to secure them, and if the set of the wings be satisfactory,
part them with a needle, and cHp off the refuse. It is always
advisable to make flies not less than twelve hours before using,
so as to allow the varnish to set. Some flies require tails, and
some tinsel to mark the joints of the fly. When this is the case,
after lashing on the gut and taking one half hitch to secure it,
lay the tail to the hook just above the bend — it is usually
composed of two or three fibres of some feather — and lap it on
securely. Tie in the tinsel with the dubbing (see Plate XXI,
Fig. 5) ; and after having wound on the dubbing and fastened
if off, wind the tinsel on spirally, with a gap between each turn,
and tie off in the same way'as the dubbing. A complete fly of
this kind is shown in Fig. 6. In some flies it is the custom to
wind on the tinsel the reverse way to the hackle, and by wind-

TO DRESS TROUT FLIES 329

ing it over the hackle the hackle is bound on very securely
indeed, which if it be a weak one is very advantageous.

As various materials are used for the bodies or dubbing
of trout flies, different methods of applying them must be
adopted. Where herl, or quill, or silk is used, the process
is tolerably simple ; but fur of some kind — as hare's ear,
water-rat's or moles's fur, etc. — is occasionally used, and
when this is the case, the following plan is adopted : Pick
out as much fur as is required ; break it up and pull it well to
mix it thoroughly ; distribute it in a httle row or heap along
the palm of the hand ; then rub it backwards and forwards
between the hands, or with two fingers, until it hangs together
in something like consistency (see Plate XXI, Fig. 14). Then,
the silk being well waxed, lay the fur along it, and twirl the silk
between the finger and thumb, so as to twist the dubbing
round it and incorporate it with the silk (Fig. 13). Wind the
dubbing on as high up the hook as may be required ; then,
detaching and pulling off any surplus dubbing, finish the silk
off in the usual way and touch with varnish. With the dubbing
needle pick out the stray hairs and such of the fur as may seem
superfluous, trimming off with a keen pair of scissors (taking
care in these rather delicate processes not to sever the silken
thread), until the body is satisfactory in its proportions. When
fur dubbing is used, the silk is often apt to get too frayed for
tying off the hackle and wing, and some difliculty is experi-
enced in tying in the tip of the hackle. The latter process can,
as I have said, be carried out when lashing the gut on, so as to
avoid the needless return of the silk up towards the head of the
fly. I prefer this plan myself. The dubbing can then be wound
on, the single thread tied off, the hackle wound over it, the
same thread tying off the hackle and wing afterwards. But
such as may prefer it can use a double thread, by commencing
to lap on the gut in the middle of the silk, beginning with a
half hitch, and leaving half the silk hanging down at the
head, and so wind on to the tail with the other half (see Plate
XXI, Fig. 7) the tail thread being used to work the dubbing,
while the upper thread ties off the hackle and wings. This is
certainly the safest plan should the dubbing thread fray
at all.

There are some feathers used as hackles which in their
natural state would be too thick in the quill and heavy in
the fibre for a delicate trout fly, as grouse and woodcock
hackles, etc. These are, Hke the hackles in some instances, as I

330 A BOOK ON ANGLING

have before mentioned, stripped on one side (see Plate XXI,
Fig. ii) . The object is to get off as much of the quill as possible
without breaking the feather ; and here again be careful that
the right side of the feather be stripped away, as if the wrong
one be taken off it will be difficult to wind it on. If the operator
winds the feather away from him, he must lay the feather
with the outside (the bright side of the two) upwards, and
strip off that side of it which is on the left hand. If he winds
the feather towards him, of course the reverse side must be
taken off.

There is also a method of preparing a hackle which, though
chiefly used in salmon flies, can equally well be adopted for
trout if it be* thought desirable. Take hold of the tip of your
hackle with a pair of spring tweezers, put them over whichever
finger be most convenient for the length of the hackle on the left
hand ; bend the hackle back until you can take hold of the butt
of it between the finger and thumb, the bright or upper face of
the hackle lying downwards towards the knuckles (see Plate
XXI, Fig. 8), moisten the finger and thumb of the right hand,
and taking the two sides of the hackle between them, press
them together, gently drawing them back towards the butt of
the feather at the same time. Continue this process the whole
length of the hackle until the fibres remain in an angular
position with respect to the quill and each other instead of
flat as previously (see Plate XXI, Fig. 9). In this manner
the hackle can be laid on very neatly, and the fibres will point
all one way with great regularity — albeit the legs of a natural
fly by no means do so ;? and in this respect our neatness rather
overdoes nature. 1^.

In comparing the colours of the material with those of the
natural fly, a due allowance should always be made for the
wetting which the fly gets, as this frequently deepens and
darkens the colour two or three shades. Always wet the fly
before comparison. Even the very laying on of the materials,
particularly in bodies, will deepen the colour. The waxing of
silk will deepen it many shades. All this should be borne in
mind, for the fly which on the hook will resemble those flitting
over the water to a nicety, will, when on the water, be two or
three shades darker, and will not consequently resemble it at
all ; and colour is a point beyond all others on which the fish are
very critical.

PLATE XXII.

To face Page 331.

Salmon Fly Dressing.

HOW TO DRESS A SALMON FLY 331

In referring to the various parts of a salmon fly, I must
refer the reader to Plate IX, Fig. 8, page 211 : — a, is the
tag ; h, the tail ; c, the butt ; d, the tinsel ; e, the body ;
/, the hackle ; g, the shoulder hackle ; h, the under wing ;
iy the upper or over wing ; y, the cheek ; h, the head ; and
I, the loop.

Some persons also dress a salmon fly by the aid of their
fingers alone*, and others, particularly with the more compli-
cated flies, use a vice and all the other implements already
mentioned for trout flies ; but the vice to be used for salmon
flies must be larger and more powerful than that employed in
the making of trout flies. Again, some persons tie the gut to
the hook as in trout flies ; and though this is the neater plan,
perhaps, and makes the fly swim more accurately, it is not safe,
as the gut at the head of the fly soon gets wounded, and then
your fly is useless for ever. Some lash a piece of stout single or
treble gut, doubled on to the shank of the hook, leaving a small
eye just above the end of the shank, and through this eye a
strand of gut is passed and made fast by a knot, hitch, or jamb ;
the other end, having a loop, is looped on to the casting line.
This is, perhaps, the more clumsy and coarse plan, as it thickens
the shank of the hook and adds bulk to the fly. Some, again,
employ hooks which have an eye already forged at the
end of the shank ; and though this in time is apt to fret
and wear the gut somewhat, it is, if the tie be looked to
now and then, not only the neatest and safest way, but
the fly is safe until it is pulled to pieces or smashed against
a stone. The fly tyer can adopt any of these plans which he
may think fit. The gut loop is the most common plan, so
I will briefly describe it.

t Take the best bit of salmon gut you have, round and thick —
' it is the best economy, one ordinary strand will cut into about

* Professional tyers seldom, even with salmon flies, use a vice. Their
fingers answer all purposes, and they get on so much more rapidly than the
amateur, and obtain so much more precision, by carrying out only one pro-
cess at a time when tying flies in bulk or large numbers. For a certain
time, for example, they will tie nothing but bodies, and then having selected
a good stock of the various coloured dubbings required, no time is lost in
hunting for each separate colour. There they lie ready to hand, and a pinch
is picked off one after the other as it is required, and the tyer goes on tying
bodies, perhaps two, three, or four dozen or more, all of the same pattern,
until the dubbing is exhausted ; the consequence is, that if any fault is made
in one body, it is instantly corrected in the next. After this hackles, and
then wings, are served in the same way. The result of this practice is won-
derful accuracy, quickness, and neatness. — F. F.

332 A BOOK ON ANGLING

four loops — double it, leaving one end somewhat longer than
the other, bite the gut that is to be lashed to the shank well up
and down between the teeth to ensure its not drawing ; then
lay it to the hook, and with a fine strong double thread of
glover's silk, or any other silk that is fine and strong, well
waxed, begin at the head or shoulder and lash it firmly on,
leaving a gut loop as in Plate XXII, Fig. 2. And here
I may pause to say, always get the best, newest, finest,
and strongest silk you can buy for money. It is not always
easy to obtain. Old silk is pretty sure to get rotten, and rotten
silk is an abomination. It always fails you when it should not
— just as you are tying in or tying off a hackle, and want to
make an unusually strong and tight hitch. You must have two
or three colours ; the lighter ones are best, white best of all,
yellow next, and then red ; avoid green or black, as those dyes
rot the silk, green especially^

Having tied in your loop, leaving a good long end of silk
hanging down, proceed to business ;j and here, again, I must
pause to bid you observe that you do not commence to tie the
gut on quite up to the end of the hook, as observe in the cut.
If you do, you make an unsafe and clumsy shoulder to the fly.
Now put your hook in the vice, if you use one, as most ama-
teurs do. The young tyer particularly will want all his fingers
about the fly, and will not find it at all easy to hold the hook
and tie too. He may possibly come to it in time, but at first he
will find his vice a great convenience ; and if he be a wealthy
man, and can afford to buy one of those splendid vices of
Holtzappfel's, in Cockspur Street, which cost some three
or four pounds, and by which the hook can be twisted about
in any direction, no doubt he will reahse the convenience of the
same.

Having fixed his hook firmly, he must, by the aid of the
loose silk hanging from the bend of the hook, tie on the tag,
which is usually a bit of tinsel. Let him make a long turn of
the silk first over the end of the tinsel, as far down towards the
bend of the hook as he wishes to go, then lap round Hghtly back
towards the head of the fly, so as not to have to go over the same
ground with the silk twice, and, having fixed the end firmly
and taken a half hitch (see Plate XXII, Fig. 2), twist the tinsel
two or three times round the hook, so that each turn shall be
evenly side by side. Tie the remainder of the tinsel off firmly
with a couple of turns and a half hitch, and cut off the
fragment, but not too closely to the silk, or it may happen to

DRESSING A SALMON FLY 333

slip out subsequently. It often happens that a turn or two of
floss silk will be added to the tag ; when tying off the tinsel
the end of a fragment of floss silk must be inserted in under the
tie and tied in, the tying silk still being worked back towards
the head. The floss is then served in the same fsahion as the
tinsel, and cut off.

Then comes the tail, which is usually' V'small" topping or
some other fragment of feather. If two or three sorts of feathers
or fibres be used, care must be taken to make them all he
together and in the same direction, which is usually, in the case
of a topping or other whole feather, bending upwards and
slightly away from the bend of the hook. Having placed the
feathers on the back of the hook, take three laps of the silk and
a half hitch. If a butt is required — as is often the case, as it
serves to set off and add brilliancy to the fly, besides hiding the
tie and the stump of the tail — after taking two turns of the silk,
nip it with a pair of spring tweezers,* and let them hang down
so as to keep the silk in its place. Plate XXI, Fig. 8, shows the
spring tweezers holding the end of the hackle. Then take a
strand or two of peacock or ostrich herl, or whatever substance
be selected, tie on the end of it as in the former process (see
Plate XXII, Fig. 3), take two or three turns of it, taking care
that the fibres of the herl point towards the tail, and then tie
and fasten off.

Next comes the body and the tinsel : as the simplest, we
will suppose that the body is of silk. Cut off enough floss to
make the body and to spare, also as much tinsel as may be
needed, and tie the ends of them in close down to the butt in
the usual way (see Plate XXII, Fig. 4) . If the hackle is to reach
from head to tail, the point of the hackle must also be tied in,

I^^ii only half or two-thirds of the way down the body, it can be
JKied in after the silk and tinsel is tied in at its proper place, and
■ then left to hang (Fig. 4) . The tying silk is then wound on up
to the shoulder, and there hangs also until required. Now,
having clean fingers (for floss easily discolours and loses its
gloss if handled with soiled digits) , smooth the floss out and pull
it so that it lies perfectly even and flat, and then wind it care-

* The fly here will require two pairs of them ; they should be short and
strong, and of the shape shown in Plate XXI, Fig, 8. He will also require
two pairs of scissors, one of a stoutish build, such as a pair of nail scissors,
for cutting rough feathers, tinsel, etc., and one very fine pair to nip oft fine
fibres neatly. The points of these should always be in good order. They
should be kept in a leathern sheath, and out of the ken of all females, or they
will be looked on as lawful spoil and degraded to lace work, or to some hideous
muslin enchantment designed to entrap some wretched gudeeon. — F. F.

334 A BOOK ON ANGLING

fully round and round the hook, so as to make one round, even,
shining body of floss silk. Simple as this may seem, it is not
easy to turn out a first-rate silk body. The body should grad-
ually, but imperceptibly, increase a little in thickness towards
the shoulders ; when it reaches the tying silk tie off the floss
and then lay on the tinsel, which should be wound on in good
bold spiral rings up to the shoulder, where that also is tied off
(Fig. 5). Next comes the hackle, and that is wound on,
following the course of the tinsel, and lying side by side with it
(on the upper side of the tinsel, of course). Tie the hackle off,
and then pass the silk round tightly four or five times, and
finish with a hitch (Fig. 6) . Touch the silk with varnish to keep
all secure, and lay the fly aside until dry, when the hackle can
be pressed down into its place, and the wing can subsequently
be tied on as in Fig. 7.

At this stage it often occurs that another hackle is used, and
two or three turns of a different colour are employed to add
contrast to the fly. The length of the fibres must here be
attended to : these must be properly matched, and if the fibres
of the lower part of the supplementary hackle be too short,
they must, of course, be broken off. A piece of hackle sufficient
for the purpose is then tied in, two or three turns are taken,
and it is fastened off, and touched with varnish as before
mentioned.

If two or more hackles be required,^either to thicken the
hackhng or to give variety of colour to^the fly, the best plan
will be to tie them in to their respective places while lashing on
the gut ; separate pieces of silk might subsequently be used,
but the more work you can get out of the single strand the
better, and the less bulky and clumsy the fly will be. Be sure,
however, where a junction of hackles is to be effected, to
carefully compare the length of the fibres, so that the hackling
may graduate properly. To this end the fine point of the second
hackle for some distance will have to be eschewed. But all this
the fly tyer will discover after a failure or two.

And now as to the putting on of a hackle. There are various
methods adopted. First, if the hackle be not wanted very
thickly on the fly, one side is stripped off, as is described in the
directions to the trout flies. Take care you strip off the right
side is a caution I must repeat. To make a hackle lie
very neatly and^well upon the fly, it is best to prepare it as is
also described in the direction for tying trout flies. Sometimes,
though not often, two hackles of a different colour are used at

THE HACKLE AND THE WING 335

the same time. Having " prepared " them both, lay one
lengthwise within the other, and wind them on both at the same
time. I may state here, that this is a good plan where very
thick hackling is desired, as in palmers, for chub-fishing,
for example.

One of the most di£&cult hackles to strip and make ready for
the hook is the small blue barred feather in the jay's wing. It
requires to be stripped with great care and nicety, so as to take
off as much of the quill as possible without weakening the
feather too much ; the process is much the same with a grouse,
bustard, or other hackle. Taking care to select the proper side,
separate the fibres on one side or the other near the top, and
then pull them steadily apart as evenly as possible, so as to
strip off one side of the feather entirely. If too much of the quill
be left on near the butt of the feather, so that it would roll on
clumsily, take a very sharp knife, and with great care not to
cut or damage the quill, shave off some of the pith until you
have it to the requisite thickness of substance. It is a common
practice to prepare a large number of jay's feathers thus,
so as to have plenty in hand ; but it is not a good plan, as
they are apt to fade somewhat, and lose some of their bril-
liancy, which is a great desideratum in a jay's feather. The
newer you can get your feathers the better, and it is not there-
fore desirable to prepare a very large stock, more especially
as, by long keeping, the stripped and shaved quill gets dry and
brittle and weak, and an old one is very apt to break in the
rolling on. Hackles, more particularly in the spring, when
kelts abound whose lean jaws and long teeth play havoc with
good flies, are very apt to get cut ; they then unroll, and the
fly is almost useless. In such flies the method of rolhng on the
tinsel the reverse way, and after the hackle, so as to strengthen
the hackle, and to secure it from damage as much as possible,
will be found useful. This plan was first used on the Spey flies,
and it is invariably used on them now : it is by no means a bad
plan, but requires some little care and neatness.

And now we come to the nicest operation of all, which is that
of winging the fly. If the body and hackle have been put on
judgmatically, a short space at^ the head of the hook is left

1^ uncovered. See that the silk is strong and well waxed, and then
B select the feathers or fibres of feathers you design to use. In
some flies but one feather, as mallard or turkey, is used to form
the wing. Two slips of this material can be tied on in the usual

336 A BOOK ON ANGLING

fly tying. In some flies, however, especially in the Dee flies,
these wings are tied on so as to spread out apart. It is needless
to say that they must set at the same angle precisely, and this
the tyro will find not easy to accomplish. See that the slips
correspond exactly. Settle the length carefully, and nip the butt
of each feather, and if a tie of silk be lapped round it the tyer
will be able to make it set easier ; then tie the slips on at the
right angle, one at a time, and after tying on a dozen or two,
and making as many awful abortions, he may hope to get some
idea of the manner. If they are to run in slips or fibres, cut the
slips from feathers out of right and left wings if possible, and
they will lie and show the better ; lay the slips upon one
another on either side, with the best sides outwards, between
the left forefinger and thumb, as in trout-wings, taking care
that the points of the feathers properly correspond in length.
When you have as many slips and fibres as you require, having
measured and judged carefuUy the length of wing you need,
at the right spot pinch the butts of the feathers together with
the right thumb-nail and forefinger so as to get the butt of the
wing compressed into the smallest possible space preparatory
to tying on. Lay this point of the feathers to the bare place
in the hook already spoken of, and take two turns with the
tying silk, which you can then keep in its place by the weight
of the spring tweezers ; then relinquish the wing, which up to
this time you have held between the left finger and thumb,
and see how it sets. Should any of the feathers have turned
or not set well, you must work the wing about until they are
righted, or you may have to slacken the silk, or even, if things
are very bad, to rearrange the feathers, or even to shear off the
offending fibres. No special directions can be given in such a
case ; practice alone will enable the fly tyer to overcome such
difficulties. When all sets right, take three or four sharp turns
with the silk, and then a half hitch. If you want the fly to be
very firm and strong in the wing, touch the tie now with a drop
of varnish, and lay it aside until dry.

If an under wing as well as an over wing be used, of course
it must be tied on first, and then the over wing. Cheek feathers
— that is, short feathers, as kingfisher or small jungle cock,
which are often put on at the shoulder on either side of the
wing to give additional brilHance to the fly or toppings over the
wing — are always put on after the main portion of the wing,
and both are often very troublesome to get to set well. The
cheek feathers will sometimes turn any way but the right when

THE SET OF THE WING 337

the silk presses on them, and here also practice alone will
enable the tyer to contend with the difficulty.

When the feathers of the wing are tied safely on, cut off the
refuse at the head of the fly, pretty closely to the tie, unless
you have toppings to put on. Toppings before being laid on
should be nipped with the thumb-nail at the butt, and the quill
bent slightly, so that they may, when tied on, have the proper
set (see Plate XXII, Fig. 9, p. 331) ; and one of the most difficult
operations I know of is to make half a dozen toppings set and
He well together ; one or the other, particularly if they be
pretty large ones, will " stare '' or point out of the right direc-
tion, thus rendering the fly, which in other respects is an
artistic and well- tied chef-d'oeuvre, the visible sign of a tyro
and a bungler. Many a time have I arranged a wing of toppings
a dozen times over before I could get them to set properly.
To avoid having to drill such an awkward squad, the tyro
should select the toppings he is about to employ with care.
They should all be of the same form and bend, and the quills
straight and true, for if one quill turns towards the left, and
another towards the right, unless he can nip them properly
and with certainty, so that they shall take the tie kindly, they
will assume their natural bias.

Not that it matters two straws to the fish whether the
topping bends one way or the other, for in the water the stream
soon corrects all such little eccentricities ; in fact, it is possible
that the fish may prefer them so, as having more play and
motion. They are often dressed upside down, and stand hke
a Prince of Wales' plume in the " Erne Parson ; " but it is not
the fish he has to please but that hostile critic at the other
table, that chap Jones, who can knock off two ffies to your one,
and whose hackles and toppings never stare, whose tails curve
upwards in one right line (not several), and whose wings drop
into their places like magic, and never want rearranging, while
his heads don't come to pieces on handling. Ah! what a treat
it is to see Jones take your fly out of the vice, and to hear him
ask " What is this meant for ? and what makes you prefer a
fly with a tail like a turkey cock ? " What makes you, eh ?
why, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness make
you. But never mind, your bungle wipes Jones's eye for all
that, and catches that eighteen pounder in an unguarded
moment which he missed the other day ; so equilibrium, as far
as^you are concerned, is'^restored, though Jones is sulky of
course, and hints darkly, opprobriously, and distantly, as

338 A BOOK ON ANGLING

though alluding to something taking place on Benmore, miles
away, about " muff's luck."

The toppings tied on, cut off the refuse butts of the feathers,
as before directed, touch with varnish, and allow to dry.

The last thing you have to put on is the head. Now, it is
the custom to make heads of ostrich or peacock herl, but such
heads never last, they soon whip out and come to pieces ; and
to put in anything that you know will not last is simply absurd.
I generally use some small chenille of different colours ; two
turns of this well tied off will last, and preserve the tying of the
wing from damage for ever. No matter what you use, lay the
end of it against the hook on the under side, where we would
suppose the throat to be. The herl or chenille lying towards
the body of the fly (see Plate XXII, Fig. 7, p. 331), tie it on
with one or two turns of the silk, then take one or two turns
of the substance and tie it off.

If the fly be well and properly tied there should be yet a
slight fragment of the hook left unoccupied between the head
and the eye or loop. Take one or two turns of the silk round
this and fasten off strongly, touch with varnish, and hang up
your fly to dry thoroughly : it is now complete. In all processes
where you touch with varnish allow it to dry thoroughly before
you go on with the next process. Fig. 8 shows the head, etc.,
all complete.

This is the way which I employ in tying a salmon fly, and I
think it is the best and simplest. I puzzled this plan out for
myself, never having taken a lesson of a fly tyer in my life,
though after I was able to tie a fly I have watched many
professors at work. There are other ways, most of which, I
think, are more complicated and difficult. There is one plan
already mentioned, and which is sometimes advantageous,
and that is, when beginning the fly, to use a good long piece of
silk, and to commence in the middle of the silk, allowing one
end of it to hang down at the shoulder. This comes well in,
if a fur body be used, for tying off the hackles, tinsel, wing, etc.

If a fur body be used instead of a floss one, select your fur,
pig's wool, mohair, seal's fur, or whatever the substance may be,
pull it into short lengths, particularly pig's wool or mohair, pick
out the coarse fibres, and then lay a sufficient quantity along in
the palm of your hand and roll it over and over by the fingers,
as already directed in trout flies. The body will most probably
be too thick, and you must pull off or pick out as much with
your dubbing needle as you may think desirable, until the body

BLACKER'S METHOD 339

is reduced to the proper size. If there be not enough dubbing
on the silk for the whole body you must feed the silk with a
fresh supply. If a hackle needs to be tied in, say half-way up,
put on only as much dubbing as will reach that spot, or, if
need be, pull it off, tie in the hackle, and then feed the silk with
more dubbing. When the body is long enough, pull off any
refuse dubbing, and tie the silk itself with a couple of half
hitches ; then your spare end, above alluded to, comes into
play to tie off hackles, tinsel, etc., if it be not frayed — if it is not
trustworthy, a fresh piece of silk must be used.

In looking over other works which give directions upon
salmon fly-fishing, the first work I take into consideration is
Blacker 's Fly Making, Angling, and Dyeing. The flies sold
by Blacker were so beautifully tied, and his reputation as a
tyer stood so high, that one has a right to expect first-rate
directions from such a master ; but I confess that I am disap-
pointed in them, and that many of them appear to me not only
puzzling but almost impracticable. His " easy way of tying
a salmon fly " is first to tie on the wings the reverse way and
these are afterwards to be turned and tied down the proper way,
a process which, if it be not utterly destructive of the wing,
is a needlessly bad one. Then the hackle is to be tied in at the
butt with the dubbing and the tinsel, and these are to be worked
down to the tail and tied off, and a tail is then to be tied on.
Now, in the first place, what is to hide the tie which ties on the
tail ? Nothing ; it must be left exposed. Then a hackle tied
in at the butt, and worked down by the point, so that the point,
which is much the weakest part of the hackle, has the most
pulhng and chafing. Then this hackle, as well as the dubbing
and the tinsel, has to be tied off at the tail, and what is to
conceal all that mass of tying off ? Even if the tail is put over
the top side of it it can only partially hide it, and a terribly bun-
gling affair a tail so tied on would be, while below there is a
perfect mass of tying exposed, with nothing at all to hide it.
Again, if a shorter hackle is to be used, a turn or two is to be
taken ; it is to be fastened off under the wings ; but the
hackle must of course go on over the body, and how on
earth is a hackle to be tied off over dubbing ?

I never read such extraordinary directions, and if I had not
known Blacker to have been an artist of the very first rank, I
should, judging from these directions, have thought him no
tyer at all. His directions, however, for tying the gaudy
salmon fly, though of the briefest, show that his modus

340 A BOOK ON ANGLING

operandi is very similar to the one I have ahready given, so we
will eschew his easy method and stick to his difficult one.

To explain the full method of tying the jointed flies with
manes, mid-hackles, and herls, of Erris and elsewhere, would be
a work of supererogation, as no tyer will venture to begin with
such patterns, and when he is able to tie according to the direc-
tions I have furnished him with, quickly and well, he will hit
off the method of tying any other pattern which may be possible
or desirable without difficulty. Practice is the great thing, and
a cessation of even a few months throws one back in the art
more than would be believed by the uninitiated.

CHAPTER XIV

CONCLUSION
On Hooks — ^The Bait Table — Recipes and Notabilia

PERHAPS there is no point of greater importance, or
to which the great majority of anglers pay less
attention, than that of hooks. Yet everything
depends upon having a hook that will take a good
hold and keep it. No matter if you possess the most perfect
skill, if your tackle be as fine and as sound as can be' manu-
factured, yet if your hook be not thoroughly trustworthy all
the rest is set at nought, There is no economy so miserable, so
shortsighted, and so expensive in the long run, as that indulged
in by buying cheap hooks. A hook may be bad from various
causes. It may be badly tempered, being hardened either too
much or too httle. In the first case, the point will certainly
break in the strike when it touches a bone, and you will lose
your fish ; and lucky are you if that be the only fish you lose.
Usually the angler from carelessness loses, misses, or scratches
two or three other fish before the fact dawns upon him that
there may be something amiss with the hook ; and, when he
examines it, he finds that the fine dehcate extreme point is
gone, and a rough, scratching, blunt point, that cannot be
made to take a hold anyhow, remains. Even with the best of
hooks this accident will sometimes happen, should the point
strike on a hard sohd bone. In these instances a touch of a fine
needle-file (the finest kind of file in use) will put all to rights
again ; but so biting and effective are these files that they
ct very k33.ily, a i i, t herefore, a sHght touch or two is all that
is necessary. But, of course, with over-tempered hooks this
accident is infinitely more probable. An over-tempered hook,
however, a fresh point being given to it, will often take a
number of fish without going again, the extra fine hair-like
point having been got rid^of, and all that will be required will
be a rather sharper strike. Still, with a heavy fish you are
never safe ; a jump or a jerk may^leave you without a fish and

341

342 A BOOK ON ANGLING

only half a hook. This I have seen on many occasions, when
not the slightest blame was due to the angler, save for his buy-
ing untrustworthy hooks. As a rule, the angler should always
try his hooks. Stick the point carefully into a piece of soft
deal, and then give the gut a smart (not too smart) tug, and if
the hook stands you may fairly rely upon it. This is advisable
with all hooks, for, though good tackle makers, as a rule, do
usually buy good hooks, and pay a fair price for them, a few
bad hooks may creep into every packet.

But, if an over- tempered hook be a nuisance, an under-
tempered one is ten times more so. An under- tempered hook
springs or opens with very Uttle persuasion ; that is, the bend
and shape of the hook is destroyed, the point stands outward,
the efficiency of the hook is gone, and an entire change of fly is
necessary. It is not of the shghtest avail to bend the hook
back into its place again, as, having once been sprung, it will
spring again much more easily. The point off your hook is^not
as bad as a sprung hook. What can be more annoying than to
find the fish well on the rise at some particular fly, to hunt out
perhaps one soHtary specimen of the fly from a half-forgotten
corner of your book, and then, after taking a fish or two, to find
the hook sprung ?

I will illustrate the nuisance of bad hooks by two short
anecdotes. In the first instance the hooks were either over-
tempered or made of downright bad stuff. It is immaterial
from which cause they broke ; it is sufficient that they were
bad hooks. A friend of mine, who owned some fine trout-
fishing where the fish ran heavy, was a httle inclined to be
economical in the purchase of his tackle, and took it into his
head one day, several years ago, to buy some flies of a tackle
maker who was notorious for selhng cheap rubbish. I will not
give his name, even though he has long since retired from
business, but will call him Snooks. I am not aware that any
tackle maker of eminence can lay claim to the appellation, and,
therefore, my words will offend no one. Coming to me one day,
rubbing his hands, my friend displayed some very nice looking
flies. " There, old fellow, look at that. Eighteen pence a
dozen. What do you think of that, eh ? "

" Think ? " quoth I. " Cheap and nasty, for a certainty."

" What fault can you find with them ? Aren't they well
tied ? "

" Oh, they look well enough," I answered.

" Look well enough ! Of course they do ; and they'll stan4

AVOID CHEAP HOOKS 343

well enough, for that matter ; and why should I pay or

two shiUings and sixpence a dozen when I can get the same
flies of Snooks for one shilling and sixpence ? "

" Well, we shall see how they stand. I, for my sins, once, in a
hurry, bought a dozen black gnats of him, and whipped them
all to pieces in one morning for less than as many fish. I have
neverj^boughf'a fly there since."

" Ah, that's just hke you ; you always run Snooks down."

" Not I. I care nothing about him personally ; I speak
as I find. But, if the hooks and gut be good, and the flies
be well tied, they cannot be had for the money, so as to leave
the tackle maker who sells them a fair profit."

" Well, we shall see."

Three or four days after I walked into my friend's house.
He was out. I went into his sanctum, where his rod hung
always ready for action. On one of the nails below it hung a
collar of gut, and the fly showed that it had been used but an
hour or so before. I recognised the fly as one of the dozen my
friend had bought at Snooks's, and, taking it in my hand, I
found the point and barb entirely gone, the hook having
broken at the bend. Just as I made the discovery my friend
entered. I turned to him with the fly in my hand, and, holding
it out, I uttered but one word, and that word was " Snooks."
My friend was a little irate and a little confused. He had had
hold of a good fish in the mill-tail, a three-pounder : the fish
gave a jump, and, somehow, there was too much of a strain, or
something ; but the hook broke, and the fish, of course, was
" spoilt " for a month to come. It was a fine morning for
fishing, so, taking town his rod, we strolled together down the
stream. He rigged up another " Snooks " in the meantime,
and, coming to a good cast under some trees, he rose and
hooked a handsome two-pounder. The fish gave one flounder
on the top, and he was away. We looked for the cause, and,
lo ! the hook was the counterpart of the one I had seen hanging
on the nail ; the barb and point were gone at the bend.

" Snooks ! " again quoth I, emphatically.

" Oh ! be hanged with your ' Snooks ' ; as if nobody else's
hooks ever broke. I held him too hard."

" Too hard for Snooks," said I.

Sulkily enough he mounted another of the infalhbles, as we
walked up towards the mill-tail, where all was fair open fishing ;
no boughs, no stones, no roots, nothing but water and gravel.
Here he rose and hooked a fish of about a pound and a half,

344 A BOOK ON ANGLING

The fish played smartly for a minute. My friend looked
round at me triumphantly. " What do you think of Snooks
now ? " The words had scarcely passed, when the fish made a
slight but sudden plunge, and off he went, leaving the fly in
almost precisely the same condition as the other two.

" Snooks ! " roared I, for I began to get vexed.

" Confound it ! " said my friend, " I really think there must
be something in it."

" Hem ! " I said ; " never mind ; mount another. Use up
the whole dozen while you are about it."

" Yes, and then send the flies without points back as a
present to Snooks I suppose, and ask him what he thinks
of it." .

*' Oh, he'd ask you in return what you could expect for
eighteen pence," I said.

I need not say that Snooks lost a customer. The above is a
simple fact, and my friend would verify it.

On another occasion I was fishing on the Test. I had not
had very good sport, but the fish began to rise well at the
yellow dun, and I mounted a fly from a fresh dozen I had
bought a few days before. I caught two fish immediately,
pla5^ng them but lightly. I hooked and lost another ; and the
fish were rising so well and boldly all over the water, that I got
excited with the sudden advent of the sport, and forgot to look
at the fly as I usually do after losing a fish. I made four throws
and hooked or scratched and lost four good fish in succession.
Then it flashed across me that something was wrong with the
hook, and on looking at it, I found the hook so far opened that
the odds against hooking a fish with it were very considerable.
I speedily changed flies, taking one from a more trustworthy
lot, and I took three or four other fish without an accident of
any kind, when the fish left off rising.

The only means of guarding against such a loss is for the
angler always carefully to inspect his fly after losing a fish. But
he should always, when at leisure, try his hooks, as above
recommended, and throw into the fire all such as are untrust-
worthy. Never keep them, but destroy them utterly, or they
are sure to turn up when they shouldn't, and do mischief in :
some way. Added to this, let anglers have their tackle made J
of the very dearest hooks they- can buy in the market, and give \
particular directions as to the sort and shape of their hooks, for '
tackle makers are mostly very careless on this point, and as
they are the onlyjpersons who can profit by cheap hooks, they

^

C

c

e

SALMON HOOKS 345

are more prone to use them than they ought to be. The saving
on the purchase of cheap hooks to the angler will not amount
to half a crown a year, while the satisfaction of feeling confi-
dence in your hook is worth any money.

Hooks are of various forms, applicable to various kinds of
fishing. We have the Limerick bend, the Carlisle or round
bend, the sneck bend, and the Kirby bend, and there are also
various modifications and variations of these bends.

The hook scale in Plate XXHI shows the best form of
Limerick bend in use ; while in Plate XXI, page 326, I
have given, as will be seen, the Carlisle, or round, and the
sneck bends. Scales of all these have been given for the con-
venience of reference, as — such is the confusion caused by the
various methods of numbering — there is no other way of
making myself understood. Indeed, it often happens that
makers are not true even to their own sizes. I may add here
that the sizes given for trout flies refer to the sneck bend scale.

'The best hooks, particularly for salmon-fishing, are those
which will take the largest hold and keep it. For this purpose
few have been held to be better than Phillips's (of Dublin)
Limerick patterns. Not those of the " hollow-point," as the
straight-pointed hooks are called ; they are in my eyes simply
detestable. I never had any confidence in them, and believe
that the point cuts the hold out. The hold in a salmon's mouth
is mostly a flesh hold, not a bone or gristle one, and a point that
cuts must be avoided. Now, in Plate XXIII it is evident that,
instead of cutting, the point of the hook being ranked outwards
slightly, insinuates itself farther and farther outwards, or away
from the shank, thus increasing rather than decreasing the
hold ; but this ranking outwards is often carried to excess, and
the stroke consequently, instead of falling full and direct upon
the point of the hook falls on the inside of the point, and often
causes the strike or tug to become "a scratch " instead of " a
hold." Plate XXII, Fig. i, page 331, shows a hook which I
have a high opinion of. It was first introduced to me by
Dr. Sheil, years ago, and he gave me a pattern. Lately, when
writing to him about the hook, he sent me another pattern
precisely similar, but recommended that the shank should be
lengthened sHghtly, and I wrote to Messrs. Allcock, of Redditch,
who were the makers of the pattern, to send me some of the
improved pattern. The only objection to the hook which the
Doctor mentions is, that in deadish water it hangs rather up
and down too much, though in a swift stream it swims on an

346 A BOOK ON ANGLING

even keel. One of the best hooks I have seen is the American
Kinsey hook, made by Messrs. Hutchinson, of Kendal, who
make the finest classes of hooks ; it has somewhat of a
resemblance to the Limerick bend, but is shorter from the bend
to the barb, and having a larger gape takes a larger hold, and
does not wear it out so soon ; it is a capital hook. Another
admirable hook is one called the Sproat bend, being the
invention of Mr. Sproat, of Ambleside. This excellent hook
was brought out lately by Messrs. Hutchinson ; a drawing of
it may be seen in Plate XXH, Fig. lo, page 331. It has many
of the advantages of the Kinsey hook. Whether hooks should
be heavily or Ughtly ironed will always depend on circum-
stances not worth considering here.

Passing from salmon, we come to trout hooks ; and for
large flies up to sea trout size there is nothing like a good
bold Limerick, unless it be the Kinsey pattern before noticed,
which would be the perfection of a sea or lake trout hook.
In lake or still water fishing the fly should swim upon an even
keel, and therefore no sneck bend or twisted point should be
employed, or the balance cannot be fairly maintained. In
swift or troubled water this is not of so much consequence. In
small trout flies the point must be twisted slightly, or the hook
will often fail to take hold at all, for the body and the hackle
will often stand out sufficiently to help to guard the point to
some extent, and if the hook chance to be taken flat or side-
ways in the mouth of a good fish, it may be pulled from his
mouth without the point coming in contact with the flesh at
all. To prove this, let the reader lay such a fly flatly between
two pieces of softish card and draw it out : it will come out
without a scratch. Not so if it be slightly twisted, as in the
sneck bend. For these reasons I prefer for all small flies a
sneck bend. The point should be as fine and sharp as possible,
but not too long ; the bark should be light, fine, and also short,
so that it may be driven home with the slightest tug ; it
should, too, lay as close to the hook as possible. A rank barb,
such as we see in the Limerick, is unnecessary and even
objectionable, requiring hard striking and hard holding to get
it home, neither of which are commendable or workmanlike in
trout fishing. The hook requires to be of the very best
temper, and the wire moderately stout, but not too stout ;
neither should it be too fine, or it will not stand. The length of
the shank must be dictated by the fly to be used to some
extent, but as a rule the longer the shank that can be afforded

TROUT HOOKS 347

the better, and the farther off the fly is dressed from the bend
of the hook (in reason) the better too, as the point has then a
fairer play. In the south of Scotland and north of England
they are very fond of the round bend, and it answers very well
for the flies it is used for. These are usually dressed sparely,
and have scarcely any body compared with the southern
patterns, the lapping of the silk often forming all the body.
The wing and hackle are exceedingly sHght, and afford no
guard or let whatever to the point of the hook. The fly is
dressed high up the shank, so that the bend comes out far
behind the fly. Thus dressed, they answer the purpose they
are designed for.

I now come to the consideration of hooks for spinning tackle.
The large single hooks much in vogue for spinning*minnows
for trout should all be of the round bend. There is no better
hook for this purpose, as it communicates the proper twist to
the tail, and is the correct pattern and size in respect both to
the point and barb. If triangles be used, the brazed ones do
well enough, but care should be taken to see that the points be
not too long nor the barbs too rank ; though a trifle more may
be yielded in the latter point than is advisable in fly hooks, as
a harder stroke can be afforded, but it is the fashion often to
make these hooks so very rank in the barb that considerable
difficulty is found in forcing the barb home.^f And it should
be always borne in mind that, as two or even the whole three
hooks may take hold of the flesh, it requires very much more
force to drive two or three hooks home than one, and if more
than one triangle be used, of course'this difficulty is increased
proportionally. As a hard stroke is often requisite, it will be
seen, too, that a stouter wire should be employed in the hook
than is used for fly hooks, lest the hook break, which brazed
hooks are more or less apt to do. I think that the heat they
are submitted to in brazing rather over-tempers them, or in
some way affects the temper, and that too very irregularly,
for while some hooks seem to stand well enough, others do
not appear to do so, more particularly if they have been used
at all and then laid by for a time. Of all tackle oldish spinning-
tackle made of brazed hooks is the most untrustworthy, and
many a time have I rued the loss of fine fish solely because I
have put up a flight of last year's tackle without testing the
hooks first. I have seen one, two, and even three hooks
stripped, that is, the points and barbs broken off from one
flight by a stroke which ought not to have broken a single hook.

34B A BOOK ON ANGLING

The upshot of this is, that old spinning-tackle, particularly of
brazed hooks, should be always tested before it is used.

Hooks for spinning-tackle should not have the points too
much elongated, as this part of the hook is the most liable to
break, and should not be too long or slender ; neither should
the barb be too long or too fine either, as both point and barb
often come into contact with bony and rough work, and should
be constructed accordingly.

Hooks for pike-spinning in particular should always be of
stouter wire than others, as the mouth of the pike is so bony
as to require an extra hard stroke ; and it is particularly
essential that they should be not too long or fine either in point
or barb, and the barb should not be ranked nearly so much as
nine- tenths of them are. I have seen triangles with the barbs
ranked more than in an ordinary Limerick hook, and when
this is the case, if two or three hooks take hold, hardly any
reasonable tackle will stand the stroke that is required to
detach the hooks from the bait, and to force the barbs home
into the pike's jaw. I know the extreme difficulty and force
required to ram such a barb through, by having once buried
one in the ball of my thumb, and the resistance caused by the
badly ranked barb, in my eftorts to bring it through and turn
the hook out at the shank, was something incredible. It is
owing to this fact that eight pike get off out of every ten which
are lost when hooked in spinning. Two or three rank barbed
hooks take hold, and the barbs are not driven home. You
may never get a sufficient strain on the fish to drag them home
(no easy matter either), and the first moment a loose line or a
turn occurs, away come the hooks. To my fancy, pike hooks
in spinning require almost more care and consideration in
construction than any others, and probably they receive less.
With regard to the shape of the hooks best adapted for
spinning-tackle, Mr. Pennell makes a statement which, if it be
borne out by long experience, is so striking that it settles the
question beyond all argument. He says that the sneck bend
hook possesses lOO per cent more killing power than the
Limerick bend, and 50 per cent more than either the Carlisle or
Kirby bend ; and further, that whereas it requires an average
pressure of three pounds to force home a Limerick hook, it
takes two pounds and a half to the Carlisle, two pounds and
one-third to the Kirby, but only one pound and a half to the
sneck bend. Having quoted these facts from Mr. Pennell, I
leave them to the angler's consideration.

SMALL HOOKS 349

All worm hooks, from the largest to the smallest, should be
of the CarHsle or round bend. No other hook admits of
putting on a worm so well, neatly, or quickly.

I now come to roach hooks, and probably more thought
and care have been bestowed on them than upon all the
others put together ; and yet many of the patterns are not
only bad but execrable. As a rule, the shanks are almost
always too short to strike properly. Take an ordinary short-
shanked roach hook, just fix the point in a stout piece of paper,
pull the gut gently, and see what ensues, and the position the
hook takes. The shank of the hook and the gut will form a
small obtuse angle ; in some cases, almost a right angle. The
whole strain falls on the inside of the point instead of directly
on the point ; you may pull, but the effect is not to force the
point in, but to tear the hook open. Consequently, with such
a hook, when the short sharp stroke pecuUar to roach fishing
is given, the hook springs instead of burying the point and
barb, unless the wire of the hook be so coarse and unyielding
as to refuse to spring, when a much harder stroke than would
be necessary if the hook were of the proper shape may perhaps
effect the object. But it has been the practice of roach fishers
to discard hooks of coarse wire and to insist upon having a
hook with a very fine wire, in order that the gentle or maggot
which so many use for a bait may be threaded on the hook with
the least possible damage, and the consequence of this has been
that anglers have considered the bait too much for the hook,
and consequently they have been using the very worst possible
hook they could adopt for their purpose — very short in the
shank, round and broad in the bend, with (if anything) an out-
turned point instead of an in-turned one, and fine in the wire
so as to spring rather than penetrate, consequently the point
only gets fixed, the fish gives a turn over, or comes half-way
home, and gets off ; and when this occurs often, it spoils sport,
as it by no means improves a roach swim to have a dozen or so
of well-pricked fish in it. I have seen hook after hook of the
above description positively give and open and become
utterly useless in a dozen swims, and so, no doubt, have many
of my readers. If roach fishers must have hooks of this shape,
the wire must of necessity be coarse to give any chance of
hooking at all a fair proportion of fish. I, however, greatly
prefer a hook with a turned-in point and a shank of sufficient
length. I got Mr. Wright, the tackle maker in the Strand, to
have some made of this shape some time since, and they

b

350 A BOOK ON ANGLING

answer very well indeed. I lay some stress on the shank, as the
reader can try the following experiment, suggested some time
since in the Field. Take a long-shanked hook and tie three
pieces of gut to it, at three different points along the shank,
fix the point, and then pull each gut alternately, and it will be
at once perceived how much more advantage there is in a
tolerably lengthy shank than a short one. Of course it would
not do to have it too long. If roach are shy and are biting so
badly as that they only nibble and do not take the hook into
their mouths at all, it matters very little what shape the hook
is. The barb should not be too rank, as it is not only quite
unnecessary but requires a harder stroke than should be given,
and is liable to be broken in the frequent unhooking and
occasional contact with bones, etc. All this is of the more
consequence in roach-fishing because so many anglers fish
with a single hair, when the object is to fix the hook with the
lightest possible stroke, and this with the present shaped hooks
is very difficult. The best shaped hook of this kind I ever saw
was a French hook, manufactured in the Pyrenees ; and much
as we look down on French tackle, our hook makers might take
a lesson from that hook. Some roach-fishers use sneck bent
hooks, and if Mr. Pennell's opinion of sneck bends should
prevail, they ought to be the best shaped hook for the purpose.
I, however, have used them in roach-fishing many times (that
is, my fishing companion used them and I used some other
form), but I never discovered that it actually hooked any
appreciable percentage of fish more than the ordinary hook
in use.

The scales of small hooks which I have given were lent to me
by Mr. Farlow, and were made by Messrs. Bartleet and Sons, of
Redditch.

BAIT TABLE

The Red Worm. — This is a very general favourite with
fishermen. In the Nottingham district it is called the cock-
spur. It will kill almost any fresh-water fish, but is used
chiefly for roach, gudgeon, dace, tench, and carp. It is found
in heaps of dead and decaying leaves, or vegetable matter, in
rotten dung or dead wood. The best way to procure and keep
a stock of them is to put a httle manure, mould, a few cabbage
stumps or mowed grass and dead leaves, with a bit of rotten
matting or old carpet, and water it well now and then. This

BAITS 351

will breed and keep them. To scour them, put them in a pan
with a bit of refuse damp netting or old cheese-cloth.

The Brandling or Gilt-tail is a beautiful little worm to look
at, being clad in alternate rings of yellow and red. It is a more
lively worm than the last, and is used for most of the fish
named above, in common with the red worm. It also comes
in for fine worm-fishing in the Scotch and Border streams, for
which the red worm would be a size or two too small. It is
found in old dung heaps, or rotten tan chiefly, but a good many
may be found in rank vegetable matter in a state of moist
decay. It is a nasty worm to handle, exuding a filthy yellow
secretion of a most disagreeable smell. A little moss, in
addition to the means recommended for the red worm, will be
useful in scouring it.

The Red Head is a very bright gleaming worm, a sort of link
between the red worm and the lob. It is the most active of
any, and is found in rich mould, and notably under the old
dead droppings of cows. Used mostly in fronting, or for perch,
tench, etc., being too large for the smaller fish, and not large
enough for barbel, etc. It is rather a tender worm, and easily
damaged. Scour with moss.

The Lob or Dew Worm is the largest and perhaps the
commonest worm we have. It is found in all gardens and fields,
and many other places likewise, save where the ground is
dressed with lime, salt, cinders, or such matters as are inimical

I to worms. In grass plots not very well kept ; village greens,
■jBind many places where the grass is kept pretty short ; the
sides of garden walks, and such like spots, they will be found
very plentiful after a good fall or two of rain, as soon as the
evening comes on. Go out then with a lantern, and, treading
gently, you may gather two or three or more quarts of them ;
but the worm-catcher requires to be pretty active in grabbing
them, and resolute in hanging on, as they dart into their holes,
when alarmed, with great rapidity, and hang on when half in
and half out with singular tenacity, often submitting rather
to be pulled in halves than to let go. They should be scoured
in a plentiful supply of moss, and looked over every day, the
dead and sickly picked out and thrown away, or they poison
the rest. In order to keep a good stock of them, fill an old
chest or packing-case with clay, and turn some thousands of
worms into it. This will keep them in good order till they are
wanted, when they can be taken out and scoured. For the
ook, those which are reddest, with a red streak down the back

I

352 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and a clean bright tail, are the best. The others do for ground
bait. Used for trout, salmon, barbel, bream, and chub.

The Dock or Flag Worm. — ^This is a pretty little worm, found
in the roots of flags, but as the red worm answers exactly the
same purpose, is very similar to it, and is not a tithe of the
trouble to obtain, I need not enter upon any special directions
in reference to it.

The Blood Worm. — ^This little worm is rather a larva than a
worm,* and is found at the bottom of stagnant pools in vast
qauntities, so much so as at times quite to colour the bottom.
It is said to be an infallible bait for roach. I have never tried
it, as it seems to me, from its extremely small size and slender
proportions, next to impossible to get it on a hook at all ;
however, as report notes it as a good bait for roach, I quote the
report for what it is worth.

The Meal Worm. — ^This is not a worm either, being a grub or
larva ; indeed, it is the larva of a beetle, the scientific name of
which is Tenehrio molitor. It is very abundant in mills and
such places as large stores of flour and meal are kept in. It is a
capital bait for trout, and no doubt for many other fish. There
is no bait equal to it for a nightingale, so the bird-fanciers say,
but this is a branch of angling I have not much knowledge of.
They keep easily in a little flour, and need no scouring.

Gentles or Maggots. — ^These are bred from almost any putre-
fying animal matter. They are the larvae of various flies. The
best are those which are bred in bullock's liver ; and the plan is
to take a piece of liver, slash it about with a knife, and hang it
up in the sun. The large blow-flies collect upon it and lay their
eggs in the crevices. When it appears sufficiently blown, it
should be taken down and put into a tub or pan, and kept out
of the way of cats or birds. In a few days the eggs hatch into
maggots. A few handfuls of bran are then added to the liver to
keep it cool. In a few more days the maggots will have fed
themselves up to their full size. They then require to be
removed into another pan or tub half-full of bran, and only a
few scraps of the liver left with them to feed on. As soon as
they lose the dark spot, which before they are scoured appears
in the middle of them, and assume a bright yellowish colour,
they are scoured and fit for the hook. They should always be
kept in the coolest possible place, with plenty of air and
ventilation, or they will soon turn to chrysalids. These in turn
hatch into flies, and the reader should be careful to empty his

* The name applies to the larvae of several species of Chironomus.

BAITS 353

gentle-box when he has done with it, or he may when opening
it on his next fishing-day be assailed by a cloud of huge blow-
flies. The chrysalis is a favourite bait at times with the roach,
but it is rather tender on the hook. Carrion and other gentles
are mostly used for ground-bait, and require no scouring.
They are obtained from knackers' yards, butchers, or tallow
melters, etc. etc. Some of the larger kinds may at times be
used for hook bait, but they are all inferior to the liver gentles.
Gentles may, by being buried in an earthenware vessel, be kept
far into the winter. Be careful to keep the gentles in a dry
vessel, as, if the sides be wet, they can and will creep away ;
also, be sure that your tub, if you use one, be sound, as no
crevice is too small for them to force their way through.

Almost all fresh-water fish take maggots freely ; notably
roach, dace, barbel, bream, gudgeon, etc. ; they are much
affected too by trout and grayling.

Greaves or Scratchings is the refuse skin, etc. from the
tallow melters ; it is made into hard cakes, and must be
partially broken up and scalded before use. It is a capital bait
for chub, roach, and dace, the whitest and toughest pieces being
used for the hook.

Wasp Grub. — This is a very killing bait for trout, grayling,
and dace, and indeed for almost any fish, but it is too tender
for the hook without some preparation. Supposing the angler
to have obtained a nest, let him break off all the grubs which
are imcovered, and with the embryo wasps put them aside for
ground bait. The comb is then to be put into a jar, and that
into hot water, and steamed until the grubs are tough enough,
taking care that no water gets to the comb. Some prefer to
bake them instead. Either plan answers well enough.

1^ Cockchafer and Beetle Grubs. — ^These large grubs are fre-
^fquently found when turning up the garden soil, turf, cow
droppings, or under old half-dried dung heaps. They should
be served as the wasp grub to toughen them. It is difficult,
however, to get enough of them to make a point of fishing with

1^ them. They are first-rate bait for chub.

IV Caddis or Cadbait. — This fit tie insect, which is the larva of
various water-flies, is found at the bottom of streams. Its
body being soft and easily damaged, nature has prompted it to
make a defence in the shape of a case which it provides for
itself. This case is smooth in the inside, and is composed on
the outside of minute sticks, or bits of gravel and other matters
and upon any alarm it retires within it. It is about the size of,

I

354 A BOOK ON ANGLING

and rather resembles in appearance, a gentle ; it is, how-
ever, much more tender, and requires dehcate handling
in baiting. Trout, roach, dace, etc., are very fond indeed
of it.

Palmers. — These, which are the grubs or caterpillars of
various moths, particularly the fox and the tiger moths, are
seldom used in their natural state, the imitations being so good
as to render it quite unnecessary, whilst the flesh is so soft that
it would scarcely be possible to pierce them without destroying
them. The imitations, however, are excellent for trout and
chub. They should chiefly be used under overhanging trees
and bushes, which abound in some streams, but mostly in still
waters.

Leeches form an excellent bait for trout, and may be used
with advantage at times ; as may also the

Cockroach, which is found in abundance in all old houses.
The trout are so fond of a cockroach that they will hardly
ever refuse one. The hook should be run through from the
gullet to the tail.

Grasshopper, baited in a similar way, makes an excellent
bait for chub and grayhng, and trout will also take them. If
small, use two hooks, insert the second, and put on in the
reverse position. N.B. The hoppers or long legs must be
removed.

The Cricket is also a good bait, but should be used Hke the
cockroach and meal worm, chiefly in mill-tails.

The Cockchafer and Humhlehee are admirable baits for chub,
and may be used either by draping at the top of the water, or
in mid-water. A good cut of an artificial bumblebee may be
seen in Plate X, Fig. 4, page 219.

The Crab or Creeper. — ^This is the larva of the stone fly,
and is found in abundance under the stones and pebbles by the
beds and brinks of many rivers. It is a most kilhng bait for
trout, more particularly when the water is low and clear. It is
customary to use two of them. In appearance it rather
resembles the common cricket. It is very active in its haunts,
and easily gets out of sight. A sufficient number should be
collected on the morning of fishing, as they do not keep well.
Keep them moist in a tin box.

Beetles. — ^There are many bettles which trout, chub, and
other fish will take. Indeed, the question, perhaps, rather
would be to decide what they would not take. The best, how-
ever, have already been noticed under the head of beetle-

BAITS 355

isliing. There is no difficulty in keeping them for some days.
If small, two can be employed.

Slugs and Snails. — These are excellent baits for various
kinds of fish. Trout are very fond of a good fat snail or a white
slug, and chub have a decided penchant for a large black slug.
If the belly be sUt open so as to show the white, it will be almost
infallible.

Small Frogs are an excellent bait for both trout and chub.
In baiting with them, be careful only to take up a little of the
back skin on the hook, so as not to impede their motions, and
they will be found the more attractive.

Large Frogs are a capital bait for pike when fish cannot be
procured. In baiting, Izaak Walton's directions are good to
an extent, viz. put the hook in at the mouth and out at the
gills, and then tie one of the hind legs above the upper joint to
the wire of the hook. I think, however, a better plan is not to
interfere with the gills at aU, but pass the hook through the
under lip and so through to the leg.

Rats, Mice, and Small Birds are also good bait for pike. The
two first make a good bait stuffed with sufficient lead within to
make them swim properly, and one good hook sticking out of
the after part of the belly. Failing in procuring the skins, a
tolerable imitation of water-rat can be made from a bit of the
skin of a cow's tail. But these baits need never be resorted to
when live or dead fish can be obtained. The best

Fish Baits are : for pike, the roach, dace, bleak, and
gudgeon ; for trout, a small dace, bleak, gudgeon, loach,
minnow, and even bull head. Fish baits should be kept
in a corfe with plenty of gratings in it. A corfe is simply
a large box made of stout elm or oak timber, and shaped
rather like the bow of a boat. This bow has a chain and
anchor to it, so as to secure it in its place. There are usually
gratings at the bows and on the under part as well as at the
back and on the top. The latter two admit plenty of air.
The corfe should be kept in a running stream, and in sunny
weather it should be put in a cool shady place. It should now
and then be cleaned, and the gratings freed from obstructions,
and the fish should be occasionally fed with a handful of bread
crumbs, chopped worms, or maggots, for fish cannot live for
ever upon nothing, though they will live some time. If the
fish be thus properly attended to, and the dead and sickly ones
picked out daily, they will live and do well in confinement for
a long time. Near the mouth of a drain is a favourite place for

356 A BOOK ON ANGLING

small fry, and a good place for the bait-net. In cold weather
they take to the deeper streams, and are diiBcult to procure.
In floods they must be sought m eddies and any quiet spot.
In the winter, minnows are difficult to find in rivers. At this
time they are usually packed away in thousands in some small
hole under a root or bank in some little tributary brook, or up
some large pipe drain. There are various ways of preserving
baits. One is to salt them, but this so discolours them and
makes them so soft that it is objectionable. The next is to
preserve a lot in a wide-necked bottle or jar, pack them pretty
tight, and fill up with spirits of wine. Gin will do, but spirits of
wine does much better. * The other way is to paint them thinly
over with glycerine. Either of the last methods preserves the
colour and toughens the bait.

Paste is made of the crumb of new loaf, worked up with a
drop or two of water and very clean hands. It may be made
plain or sweetened with honey, or flavoured to fancy, or even
coloured with pigments. Cover the hook with it ; some work
up wool with it to keep it better on the hook. Roach, carp, and
other fish affect pastes.

Pearl Barley, boiled, makes an excellent bait for roach, and
when the fish are inclined to take paste, they will take pearl
barley ; care must be taken not to overboil it, or it becomes
too soft to stay long on the hook.

Boiled Wheat or Barley must be boiled until the outer skin
bursts, which takes some time — often two hours. Wheat is a
good bait for roach, and barley is used in Norfolk to ground bait
for bream.

Cheese forms a good bait for a change with chub or barbel.
Cut it up in morsels of the size of small gooseberries, and use
pretty much like paste.

The provender of fishes is endless in its items, and almost
anything edible may be converted into a bait. For example,
fish will dine very much like humans — say upon bacon and
peas, and bread and cheese ; bacon being a capital bait at
times for barbel, peas for carp, bread for roach, and cheese for
chub, and the art of the angler consists in consulting their
tastes and tickling their palates.

* Formalin has superseded all other preservatives for this purpose. —
Ed,

RECIPES AND NOTABILIA 357

To Dye Gut. — First moisten it well, then dilute some ink
slightly with water, and steep the gut in it ; if only a light
colour be required, for a short time ; if darker, for a longer
period. This gives a blue. For an amber, a very light dis-
coloration many be obtained by steeping in tea or coffee lees,
and a deeper colour by using the water in which walnut shucks
have been steeped. For a green, boil a piece of green baize, and
put the gut in the liquor while it is warm.

To Dress Lines. — Take equal parts of boiled linseed oil and
copal varnish, and steep the line in it till well soaked, and then
hang it out to dry, clearing off all the refuse dressing with a
piece of rag. When the line is dry, repeat the operation. Some
eschew varnish as being too brittle, using a spoonful of gold
size instead. Gold size dries up the dressing more or less
quickly, as the quantity used is increased or diminished.
Boiled oil, with a knob of resin, makes a useful and hard
dressing, and dries more quickly, but it is sticky when warm,
and is rather brittle likewise. India-rubber dressing will be
found preservative, which is not always the case with varnish
and oil dressings, as these often bum and injure the line. Cut
up some white india-rubber in small chips, and dissolve it in
turps ; dress the line with it, and when thoroughly dry it makes
a capital dressing. All lines should be thoroughly dried and
hard before using, or the dressing comes off speedily.

Varnish for Tackle, Hook Dressings, etc. — Break up small
some shellac, put it into a bottle, and dissolve it thoroughly in
strong spirits of wine ; paint the dressing over with it, and
hang it in some warm spot to dry, which it does speedily.
Before using, shake up the varnish and see that the dressing is
thoroughly dry. It is also advisable not to use the tackle until
the .dressing is properly dry and hard, or it turns white.
Sealing wax may be dissolved in the same way, but it does not
make nearly as durable a varnish.

Varnish for Rods. — ^The best varnish for rods is the " best
coachmakers' varnish." Two coats of this are ample, but the
rst coat must be quite dry before the other is laid on.

Liquid Wax. — Dissolve some cobblers* wax in spirits of wine,
shake it up, and lay on with a feather. This is very useful with
frayed or weak silk, when tying a neat and delicate fly, as the
spirit evaporates, but the wax remains on the silk.

White Wax. — ^Take two ounces of the best resin and one-
quarter of an ounce of beeswax, simmer them together in a

I

358 A BOOK ON ANGLING

pipkin for ten minutes ; add one-quarter of an ounce of tallow,
and simmer for a quarter of an hour ; then pour the mass out
into a basin of water, and work it up with the fingers until
prefectly pliable. A very useful and tenacious wax.

Dry or Brittle Cobblers' Wax. — If the wax be too brittle or
dry, add the smallest possible morsel of tallow, and work it up
with the cobblers' wax, and it soon becomes soft and usable.

India-rubber Glue — used to mend waterproof boots and
stockings, by sticking a piece of sheet rubber over a crack — is
made in the same way as the india-rubber dressing for lines,
by dissolving india-rubber, cut small, in turps or naphtha.
For this the black rubber is preferred, and the mixture is
stronger and thicker than for line- dressing.

Cement for Aquariums, etc. — Melt some resin in a pipkin,
and while simmering stir in by degrees about one-half the same
quantity of putty ; pour it on hot.

To Dress Water Boots. — Beeswax, tallow, and black varnish,
or tar, which is preferred by some, should be melted together
and rubbed into the boots before the fire, so as to melt it into
the cracks thoroughly.

To Keep Moth from Feathers. — Pepper them well with white
pepper, and, above all, keep them from the damp. Expose
valuable feathers to the air now and then. Chopped tobacco
leaf is a capital preservative, and a little strewed on the fly-
book is very efficacious. Camphor is good as long as it lasts,
but it soon dissolves, and is very expensive, too. Cedar chips
are said to be good. *

To Pack Trout. — Dry them thoroughly, and pack them in
dry straw. If for a long journey, gut them, and dust the inside
with pepper. Sting-nettles are said to preserve the colour for a
short journey ; but never use grass, as anything damp is not

desirable, t

To Stain Gimp. — Bright brass gimp is very easily seen by the
fish. To discolour it soak it in a solution of bi-chlorate of
platinum mixed with water (i of platinum to 8 or lo of water) ;
then dry before the fire. (Book of the Pike, p. 97.)

Treatment of Boots, Waterproofs, etc. — Neither boots nor
coats must be put too near the fire. They may be safely, and
with advantage, placed at a reasonable distance from it ; but
the best of servants are careless about this, and boots worth

* Naphthalene is perhaps best of all. — Ed.

t As the primary object of packing material is to exclude the air, nothing
answers so well as clean white paper, — Ed,

RECIPES AND NOTABILIA 359

many pounds are constantly destroyed by hasty drying. John
does not think of it over night, and when the boots are wanted
in the morning they are damp. Then comes the fire to work,
and hinc illce lachrymce. The sun, if you can make use of him,
is a much safer medium ; turn the boots down as far as you can,
prop them open with sticks, and let the sun's rays strike down
into them. Never allow your mackintoshes to he hung up on a
peg, for more mackintoshes are spoilt by this plan than by all
the wear you can give them. The peg point cracks the rubber
by stretching it, and a new mackintosh is often rendered leaky
in one night. Even if hung up by the loop, which is appended
to them for that purpose, there is a heavy drag upon two points,
which will, sooner or later, produce the same result. I always
spread mine over a chair back, or fold up and put it away in a
cupboard when not wanted. Never mind what waterproof ers
say about hanging up. Repairing is their business, and wearing
out is yours. Many a time have I got wet through with a nearly
new mackintosh, and from no other reason than a minute peg
split, not bigger than a pin's point.

Dry Lines. — All lines and nets after using should be spread
out, or hung up, to dry. A trolling or fly line can be unwound,
and either wound round the back of a chair or laid upon the
sideboard in loose coils ; but by no means put them away in the
least damp, or when you see them again they will be found to be
perfectly rotten and useless.

To Preserve Gut, Silk, Tinsel, etc. — Neither keep it in too
dry, or rather warm, a place, lest it become brittle, nor in a
damp place, where it will become rotten. Do not expose it
either to the air more than possible or to the sun, for light
appears to have a very deleterious effect upon gut and silk ; a
hank of gut exposed in a shop-window speedily gets rotten and
unreliable. I usually coil the gut and wrap it in a piece of
flannel and put it away in a box till required. The same may
be said of tying silks precisely, while tinsel must be kept in the
dark to preserve its colour. It may be partially restored by
wetting the fingers with a little spirit, and drawing the tinsel
between them repeatedly ; but it never attains its pristine
brilliance. Very dim tinsel in some old fly, which it may be
thought desirable to give one more trial to, may be brightened
up by the application of a knife.

Old Flies or Hooks Drawing. — Many an old fly or hook will
draw, that is, the gut will draw away from the hook when first
used. But dry gut will draw when wet will not. Therefore,

36o A BOOK ON ANGLING

before using, or even testing, such materials, soak them for a
few minutes, when the fact of their being trustworthy or the
reverse may easily be ascertained for a certainty. Gut will
seldom draw, however, if the extreme end is bitten or flattened.

Oil for Hooks. — Oil used for preserving hooks, swivels, etc.
from rust should be boiled, so that if there be any water in it
(as is frequently the case) it evaporates in the steam, and the
oil is purified. If this be not done, the hook points will often
suffer from rust in spite of the oil.

Marine Glue will often be found very serviceable in covering
weak splices and securing ties, as it becomes extremely hard, is
yet elastic, and will not crack, and is quite impermeable to wet
even under the hardest work, which few varnishes are capable
of undergoing. It is difficult to lay it on neatly ; the best plan
is to pass a hot iron over it.

I have now brought the angler to the end of my instructions,
and if I have succeeded in imparting to him any useful know-
ledge my end will have been accompHshed.

THE END

INDEX

Alderon Stream, River Tay, 283, Plate XX.
Angling Literature, 2
Artificial flies, for
Lake trout, 166

General trout flies, 176. The Francis,
coachman, Hofland's fancy, governor, the
Edmead, Greenwell's glory, grouse hackle,
partridge hackle, soldier palmer
Monthly list of

March. — The February red, the blue
. dun, early blue dun, red spinner, March
brown, cow-dung, needle brown, red and
black palmers, 143

April. — Yellow dun, brown spinner,
large yellow dun, little iron-blue, jenny
spinner, black gnat, hawthorn, gravel becl,
sand fly, grannom, sedge fly, quill gnat,
150

May. — Stone fly, oak fly, little sky blue,
the alder, pale evening dun, little yellow
May fly, 158

June. — Green drake, grey drake, coch y
bondu. Bracken clock, or fernwebb, fern
fly, yellow Sally, barm fly, foetid brown,
caperer, 161

July. — The red and ' black ants, the
house fly, brown skipjack, or Hammond's
adopted, the wrentail, the white moth, the
brown moth, green midge, blue midge, the
ashy dun, July dun, black and brown
silver horns, 169

August. — August dun, the cinnamon,
172

September. — The whirling dun, the
willow fly, 173
Salmon flies, 248

The Anthony (yellow and orange), 303

Baker, 252, 313

Beauly snow, 278

Bittern, 279, Plate XIX

Black and yellow, 258

Black and teal, 254

Black dog, 283

Blackwall, 313

Black ranger, 275, Plate XVIII

Blue jay, 310

Britannia, 255

Butcher, 252, 272, 315

— fly, 309
Canary, 273
Candlestick maker, 253
Captain, 313
Childers, 253
Chimney sweep, 377

Claret (or fiery brown), 253, 295, 301

Claret jay, Frontispiece

Colonel, 250

Denison, 266

Dhoon fly, 270

Doctor, 249

— silver,. 250, 257

— blue, 257
Drake wing, 256

Duke of Sutherland, 270

Artificial Salmon flies — continued
Dun wing, 256
Durham ranger, 256
Dusty miller, 279, Plate XIX
Eagle, 264
Early, 309

Francis' favourite, 279, Plate XIX
Gamekeeper,- 315
Garibaldi, 310
G led wing, or redwing, 263
Golden mallard, 258

— olive, 310
Goldfinch, 255
Gordon, 265, Plate XVI
Grace, 309

Green grouse, 310

— king, 287
Guinea hen, 253
Highlander, 268
H.I.S., 291
Inchiquin, 298
Indian crow, 272
Jock Scott, 256
John Scott, 277
Judge, 309
Kate, 257
Lascelles, 271
Laxford, 271

Lee blue, Frontispiece

Lion, 285

Llanover, 311

McGildowny, 309

Major, 250

Mar lodge, 265, Plate XVI

Murray, 284

Namsen, 254

Nicholson, 283

O'Donoghue, 291

Orange and grouse, 293

Parson, 251, 289

Policeman, 285

Popham, 254

Powell's fancy, 309, 313

Priest, 270

Purple king, 287

The Ranger (black), 250

(blue), 251

Shannon, 299

Sir Francis Sykes, 270

Sir Herbert, 265, Plate XVI

Snow fly, 275, 278

Spey dog, 286

Switching Sandy, 271

Tartan, 263, 283

Teal wing, 257

Thunder and lightning, 293

Toppy, 257

The Wasps, 284

Waterwitch, 285

Welshman's fairy, 313

White tip, 257, 319

— wing, 257
Wilkinson, 265, Plate XVI

Sea trout flies, 318
Stewart's flies, 178, 179
Trout flies, 134

36'

362

A BOOK ON ANGLING

Trout flies — continued
Alder, or orl fly, i6o
Ashy dun, 171
August dun, 172
Barm fly, or nobbier, 168
Black ant, 169

— gnat, 156

— palmer, 194

Blue dun, hare's ear, etc., 143

early, 144

Blue midge, 171

Brown bent. See Wrentail

— moth, 171

— skipjack or Hammond's adopted, 170

— spinner, 152
Caperer, 169
Cinnamon, 173
Coachman, 176

Cob fly. See March Brown

Coch y bondu, or Bracken clock, etc., 167

Cocktail. See Blue Dun

Cow-dung, or lion fly, 146, 173

Downhill. See Oak Fly

Edmead, 177

February red, 143 •

Fern fly, 167

Fcetid brown, 168

Francis, 176

Governor, 177

Grannom, or greentail, 157

Gravel bed, or spider fly, 156

Green drake. See May Fly

— midge, 171
Green well's glory, 177
Grey drake, 166
Grouse hackle, 177

Hammond's adopted, 170. See Brown

skipjack
Hare's ear. See Blue Dun
Hawthorn fly, 156
Hofland's fancy, 177
House fly, 169
Jenny spinner, 155
July dun, 172
Large yellow dun, 172
Little blue, or sky blue, 160

— iron-blue, 152

— yellow May fly, 161
March brown, or cob fly, 146
May fly, or green drake, 161

Needle brown, or Spanish needle, 147, 173

Nobbier. See Barm fly

Oak fly, or down-hill, 159

Orl fly. See Alder

Pale evening dun, 160

Palmers. See Red Hackles

Partridge hackle, 177

Peacock fly, 150

Quill gnat, or spent gnat, 158

Red and black hackles, 148

Red ant, 169

— palmer, 148

— spinner, 144
Sand fly, 157

Sea trout flies, 318

Sedge fly, 157

Silver horns (black and brown), 172

Sky blue. See Little Blue

Soldier palmer, 178

Spanish needle. See Needle brown

Spent gnat. See Quill Gnat

Spider fly. See Gravel Bed

Stone fly, 158

Whirling dun, 173

White moth, 171

Willow fly, 174

Wrentail, Brown bent, etc., 170

Yellow dun, 151

Trout B.\es— continued
Yellow dun, larger, 152
— Sally, 168
Artificial perch baits, 68, 69

— pike baits, 95

— spinners, 84

Baiting a worm, 5

Baiting needle, 91, Plate VI

Bait table, 350 et seq.

Ballinahinch, white trout stream, 121, Plate

VII
Bank-fishing, 4
Barbel-fishing, 33
Beetles, 354

Beetle-fishing, 197, Plate IX
Birch Grove, a salmon cast on the Wye, 241,

Plate XII
Bleak-fishing, 17
Blow line. See Live Fly Fishing
Blowing the trumpet, 21
Bottom-fishing, i
Bream-fishing, 51
Butt, right way of giving the, 243, Plate XIII

Caddis, 353

Carp-fishing, 53

Casting float tackle, 45, Plate VIII

— line for trout, 106
for salmon, 232

— spinning bait, 87

— trout fly. III

— salmon fly, 234

— worm, 203
Cement, 358

Chapman's spinner, 84, Plate V

Cheese bait, 356

Chub-fishing, 27

Clay ball-fishing, 38, Plate II

Clearing ring, 9, Plate I

Clod-fishing for eels, 62

Cockchafer, 38-9, 353, 354

Cockroach, 354

Colonel Hawker's tackle. See Salter's Tackle

Cork floats, 3, 15, 93, &c., Plate II

Crab, or creeper-fishing, 195, 354

Cricket, the, 354

Dace-fishing, 25

Daping, or dibbing for chub, 29

for trout, 190

Disgorger, 90, Plate VI

Dress for fishing, 130

Dressing for lines, 357

Drop-minnow, 213

Dropper flies, how to fasten, &c., 106, Plate III

Dry fly-fishing, 128

Eel-fishing, 60

Entomological system, the, 134, 135

Ephemeridae, the, 140

Fish-baits, 85, 86, 135, 136, 355

The flight for spinning, 76
Float-fishing for trout, 189
Floats. See Cork Floats
Floors Castle. See Shot
Fly dressing (trout), 324, Plate XIII

(salmon), 331, Plate XIV

Francis's spinning tackle, 81, 207, Plate IV

INDEX

363

French style of barbel-fishing, 38
Frog-fishing, 30, 94
Frogs, large and small, 355

GafF, the, 9

Gaffing a salmon, 249, Plate XIV

General flies. See Artificial Flies

Gentles. See Maggots

Gimp, to stain, 358

Gorge-fishing for pike, 91, Plate I

Grapnell, or drag, 9, Plate I

Grasshopper, or grub fishing, 219,354, Plate IX

Grayling-fishing, 216

Greaves, 353

Ground-baits, 5

Grubs, 353

Gudgeon-fishing, 15

Gut, to dye, 357

— to preserve, 359

H

Hearder's plano-convex bait, 95
Hooks, a chapter on, 341 et seq.

— drawing, 359

— oil for, 360

Humblebee. See Cockchafer
Hung up in casting the fiy, 122

I

India-rubber glue, 358

Jiggering, 244

Knots and hitches, various, Plate III
Kelt grayling, 221

Lake-fishing, 184

Lake trout flies. See Artificial Flies

Lampern-bait, 39

Landing nets, 9, Plate I

Lead for spinning, 72, 73, Plate IV

Lea rods. See Rods

Ledger tackle, 36, 56, Plate I

— fishing, 36
Leeches, 354

Length of cast in spinning, 87

— of trout fly, 113

— of salmon fly, 236

Lines bottom-fishing, 12; Nottingham, 43;
spinning, 74, 75 ; trout fly, 108 ; salmon, 232

— to dry, 359

List of flies. See Artificial Flies
Live-baiting (pike), 93, Plate VI
Live-bait kettle, 9, Plate I
Live-fly fishing, 190
Live-fly casting, 190

Maggots, 352

Marine glue, 360

Mice, 355

Minnow tackles, 212, Plate VIII

— spinning. See Spinning for Trout in small

streams
Moth in feathers, 358
Multiplying winch, no

N

Natural history of trout flies, 139
Night-fishing with fly, 131
Norfolk baits, 6

— angling, 10

Notabilia. See Recipes, etc.
Nottingham angling, 42

— spinning tackle, 74, 80, Plate V

Otter lure, the, 95

Palmers, 178, 354, the theory of, 148

Par-tail fishing, 216

Paste bait, 22, 356

Paternostering, 65, 66, Plate IV

Pearl barley, 356

Pennell's spinning tackle, 83, Plate IV

Perch-fishing, 63

Phryganidae, the, 140

Pike-fishing, 70

— float, Plate II

— fly, 95

Pitlochry Head, River Tay, 227, Plate XI

Plumbing the depth, 6

Plummets, ib., Plate I

Pond-fishing, 3

Pope-fishing, 16

Pouching the bait (pike), 92

Punt-fishing, 10

Preserving fish baits, 85, 86, 215, 355

— gut, silk, tinsel, etc., 359

R

Rats, 355

Recipes and notabilia, 357
Refraction of the water, 130
Rivers, for which lists of flies have been
given : —

*The Annan, 261

*Awe, 272

fBallycroy, 295

fBann, 310

♦Beauly, 278

tBlackwater (Cork), 304

t — (Kerry), 306

♦Bladenoch, 259

*Brora, 276

tBush, 308

fCaragh, 305 >

fConn (Lake), 294

tConnemara (Rivers and Lakes), 297

♦Conon, 268

§Conway, 313

§Corthy, 315

♦Cree, 259

tCurrane (Lake) or Waterville, 305

*Dee (Aberdeen), 262

♦—(Kirkcudbright), 258

§— (Welsh), 316

♦Deveron, 265

♦Don, 264

§Dovey, 313

§Eden, 316

tErne, 289

§Esk, 316

tFern (Lake), 298

♦Findhorn, 279

tFlesk, 301

tGalway, 297

* Rivers marked • are Scotch, f Irish, and § Welsh or English

364

A BOOK ON ANGLING

Rivers — continued

♦Garry (Perth), 280

* — (L. Ness), 274

tGill (Lake), 292

♦Helmsdale, 277

flnchiquin, 298

*IsJa, 286

fKillarney, 301

tLaune, 302

♦Laxford, 271

fLee, 303

tLennan, 298

♦Lochy, 269

♦Luce, 259

fMelvin (Lake), 291

♦Minnick, 259

tMoy, 292

♦Ness, 265

♦Nith, 261

tNore, 308

♦Orchy, 272

tOwenmore, 295

♦Oykel, 276

tShannon, 299

♦Shin, 275

♦Spey, 286

♦Stinchar, 260

tSuir, 306

§Tawe, 317

♦Tay, 282

♦Thurso, 269

§Tivey, 314

§Torridge, 317

§Towey, 314

♦Tummel, 286

♦Tweed, 255

§Usk, 311

§Wye, 312
Roach-fishing, 17

Rods. Bottom-fishing, 11 ; Lea, 13 ; Notting-
ham, 42 ; spinning, 74 ; trout fly, loi ;

salmon, 228
Rudd-fishing, 24
Ruffe. See Pope
Running, or reel lines. See Lines

Salmon-fishing, 226, 242
Salter's minnow tackle, 81
Scratchings. See Greaves
Sea trout-fishing, 246
Selection of trout flies, a, 179
Shade-fishing. See Daping
Shot, the, Floors Castle water, River Tweed,
227, Plate XI

Single hair, 12, 20

Sinking and drawing for roach, 22

— trout, 189
Sinking the fly, 126
Slider-float, the, 49, Plate 11
Slugs and snails, 355
Sniggling eels, 60, Plate VI
Spearing eels, 60

Spinning, 72, 207, 210, Plate IV

— tackles, baited various, Plate V
Spinning for trout in small streams, 210
Spoon-fishing, 94

Stewart's flies. See Artificial Flies
Stewart's worm tackle, 37, 200, 201, and 202,

Plate VIII
Still water-fishing. See Pond Fishing
Stream-fishing, 4
Striking, 240

Swims, how to choose, &c., 4
Switching, 116, 237, Plate XIII

Tackle making, 324

Tench-fishing, 57

Test, dry fly water on, 121, Plate VII

Thames trout-fishing, 206

Trace for spinning, 72, Plate IV

Trolling. See Gorge Fishing

Trout-fishing, 99

Trout flies, plate of, Plate VII

— to pack, 358

Tweed flies, 255

Varnish for tackle, rods, &c., 357
Vision, powers of, in trout, 129

Wasp-grub, 194, 219, Plate IX

Water boots, 358

Waterproofs, 358

Wax-liquid, white, dry, 357, 358

Wheat or barley, 356

Whitling, the. See Sea Trout

Winch's bottom-fishing, 13 ; Nottingham, 42 ;

spinning, 75, 76; trout, no; salmon, 231

232
Wind and weather, 116, 118
Working the fly for trout, 114
— -salmon, 238
Worm-fishing, 198
Worms, 350-352

Rivers m irked ♦ are Scotch, t Irish, and § Welsh or English rivers.

I

oWJ- 0. VC 12583