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No. 38, East 12nd St., New York 22

THE

WITH REMARKS ON

BY

DAVID CAIRNCROSS.

LONDON :
G. SHIELD, 30, LOWER SLOANE STREET, S.W.

MDCCCLXII.

The right of Translation is reserved.

LONDON t

O. SHIELD, PRINTER,
LOWER SLOANE STREET, S.W,

G3x

TO THE

$0nbU. ijre ^resibent, $iu-|)rmbnTi, & $$Umhr*

OP THE

BLAIRGOWRIE ANGLING CLUB.

GENTLEMEN,

Being privileged with a full share of your
confidence individually, and having been honoured
with the same distinction by you in your associated
capacity, my being allowed to dedicate this humble
treatise to your honourable Club, proves beyond a
doubt not only the deep sincerity of all your past
favours, but also a desire on your part (expressed in
a way most congenial to my heart and honourable to
my mind) that these favours should be perpetuated ;
and although separated from you, it is the wish of
your honourable Society not only to acknowledge
me as a Brother, but so to extend the favours of the
brotherhood, as to patronize the efforts of my mind,
and stamp with your approbation my little work.
Suffice it to say, that this last act of your kindness
recals some of the happiest scenes of my life, and
goes far to gladden me in the land of my adoption,
lending a bright gleam to my setting sun, and shed-
ding a chastened joy over my closing years.

With deepest gratitude to each and all of you for
your numerous acts of esteem and goodwill, and with
a hearty prayer for long life and prosperity to your
honourable Club, and to each individual member,
allow me, for " Auld Lang Syne," to subscribe myself,
Your obedient Servant,

THE AUTHOR.

LONDON, August 19th, 1862.

M8MS1O

CONTENTS.

P1GZ

Prefatory Remarks 1

Classification ... ... 7

PART I.— ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.
CHAPTER I.

" Hair Eels," curiosity excited respecting 14

The Eel Beetle discovered in the act of parturition ... 17

CHAPTER II.

Theory tested by Experiment 20

Time required for the Development of the Eel ... 25
CHAPTER HI.

Wisdom of the Creator exemplified 28

Description of the Eel Beetle 28

Eels found in Mosses, Moors, Marshes, &c., accounted

for 29

The Silver Eel a Neuter ~ ... 30

Migratory Habits of the Eel ... 31

The Lamprey Eel ... 32

The Sandling Eel 33

Mistake of early Naturalists 33

CHAPTER IV.

Wine-coloured Beetle 34

The Eel not a Parasite 36

Two Natures of the Eel Beetle 37

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

PAGE

Parallelism between the Bee and the Eel Beetle ... 41

Parallelism between the Toad and the Eel Beetle ... 43

A Domesticated Toad ... ... ... ... ... 45

Parallelism between an Amphibious Fly and the Eel

Beetle 49

PART II.— BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

CHAPTER I.

Fishing a healthy recreation ... ... ... ... 53

Rods and Tackle ... 54

Fishing for Eels 56

Fishing for Trout 57

Minnows and Minnow Tackle 57

CHAPTER H.

Pike Fishing ... 62

Clear-stream Fishing ... ... ... ... ... 64

Low-water Fishing 65

Salmon Roe Bait, a substitute for , ... 66

Artificial Maggot 68

CHAPTER III.

Loch Fishing 70

CHAPTER IV.

Fly Fishing 73

Flies which frequent quick-running streams... ... 74

Salmon Fly— mode of dressing 80

CHAPTER V.

Flies which frequent deep, slow-running rivers ... 84

Insect Spawn in Fresh Water 91

Trout Fly — mode of dressing ... ... ... ... 92

Hints to Young Anglers 94

Conclusion ... ... ... ... ... ... 95

I WAS reared in one of the rural districts
of Scotland, near the mouth of the Tay.
Here education was small in quantity and
inferior in quality ; little of it came my way,
and what did come was very elementary
indeed, English grammar and the art of
composition being entirely excluded. Quietly,
it was the opinion of many of the elder
pupils that the teacher should have been at
school a little longer himself. These facts
will in some measure prepare my reader
to excuse the style of my simple treatise ;
also, I may say what of it I possess was
formed in the hurried moments of an engi-

2 PREFATORY REMARKS.

neer's apprenticeship, and mainly to assist
me in decently stringing together my few
scientific observations. Books on the arts
and sciences seldom or never made their
appearance in the place of my nativity ;
and so few were my opportunities of read-
ing, and so incessant my toils, that all my
knowledge through means of books could
be collected in the space of a few hours.
My never-failing fountain of supply during
my investigations has been an old trusty
copy of Bailey's Dictionary, enabling me to
to state, as nearly as I could in plain
English, the observations made by me from
time to time.

I never expected to publish these re-
marks ; they are simply the jottings of a
progressive experiment, having for its object
the unfolding of the origin of the silver
eel. The series of inquiries, and the notes
recording them, extend over a period of

PREFATORY REMARKS. 3

sixty years. If the taste of my reader will
make every allowance for the note-like style
of my composition, I feel quite assured
I shall be fully able to satisfy his judgment
that I have discovered the real origin of this
hitherto mysterious creature.

The reader may at once be informed that
that the progenitor of the silver eel is a
small beetle. The study of its nature and
habits has occupied my attention for the
period above mentioned. That it truly is
the progenitor of the silver eel I feel fully
satisfied in my own mind, from a rigid and
extensive comparison of its structure and
habits with those of other insects. This
will be the reader's opinion too, I feel
assured, after he has fairly weighed the
array of facts brought before him, and
tested the conclusions naturally flowing
from them by actual experiment. As my
own mind is now fully made up on the
B 2

4 PREFATORY REMARKS.

subject, I have at last yielded to the soli-
citation of my scientific friends, and fearless
of the result I send it forth to the world.

Although my library was small, and, as
far as natural history was concerned, limited
in the extreme, yet the broad fields of
nature so abundantly supplied this defect
as to surround me with materials so various
in kind, and so vast in quantity as com-
pletely to overwhelm me. Under these
feelings I kept on the outskirts of them,
delighted to pick up, and carefully to ex-
amine such things as I could comprehend.
While so employed, the eel-beetle came in
my way, which, I could perceive stood
unparalleled in its natures among all the
other amphibious animals that had crossed
my path. In each of the others I could
see the two natures mixed, but in the eel-
beetle its two natures were nearly separate
and distinct; the fish nature being only

PREFATORY REMARKS. 5

couched in the alimentary canal, and the
secreted juices passing through these canals
for the support of the beetle, gives it a tinge
that by nature makes it strive, if possible,
to live near water in order to be ready
to give up its second nature to its proper
element when the time arrives. This may
seem strange; the strangeness, however,
disappears when we look round among the
members of the vegetable kingdom. There,
through a caprice of gardening, one tree
may be made the possessor of two diverse
natures. The ash, for example, may be
grafted on the elm. In the spring, the elm
would be sowing its seed, while the ash
would be breaking the bud to grow. Could
not, therefore, the Great Creating Gardener
graft a foreign nature on that of an insect ?
Whilst one nature was sending forth its
offspring, the germs of the other would be
lying dormant till its period of development

6 PREFATORY REMARKS.

arrived ; when, by means of the beetle, it
might be distributed among the bogs, where
no other fish could live, and thence emigra-
ting to the sea about the end of July,
supply a nicely-flavored dish to thou-
sands.

I could not be expected to be acquainted
with the names and terms used by natu-
ralists in their classifications of the different
animals, my knowledge of such from books
being limited. To make up for this defi-
ciency I had to employ names and terms of
my own.

I HAVE divided my classes of every species
into three grand divisions ; these again may
be sub-divided into thousands, according to
the different modes and forms of life. I will
now bring before the reader my names and
terms, and the meaning I attach to them, so
as to be understood by him throughout.

By the expression, "returning to original,"
I mean altering back to parents or begetters.

By " not altering back to originals," I
mean altering to another class.

By " not the same," or " altering their
form/7 I mean not the same in one class, or

8 CLASSIFICATION.

going through other forms until they come
to originals.

I. All animals that live and breed on
land or in the water, remaining where they
breed, have a simple nature whatever
forms they may pass through before they
die; but if they change to another form,
and do not return back to that of the
originals before they die, they have a com-
pound or mixed nature.

II. Next are all that live on the land
and deposit their ova in or upon the waters,
their young remaining in it until they are
perfected by passing through different forms,
and then changing back to their originals
on land ; some of this class may return
yearly to breed in the water ; all these have
a compound or mixed nature.

III. The last class embraces all bipeds,

CLASSIFICATION. 9

quadrupeds, and insects that breed on land,
yet may alter their form to live in or on
the waters, and there are others that live
between land and water. These also have a
compound or mixed nature.

frip* 0f

CHAPTER I.

THIS little treatise contains a series of
observations extending over sixty years
connected with the history, habits, and
origin of the fresh- water eel.

The eel has been my study all my life.
I commenced my observations at the age of
ten, and as opportunity occurred they were
continued over a period of sixty years.
But before I can convey any idea of the
facts involved, I must give a record of
incidents, times, and places. My father
rented a farm upon Lord Panmure's estate
in Forfarshire, close to the south-east corner
of his lordship's deer park. There was a
small rivulet that ran down through the
park, forming the northern boundary to my

14 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

father's farm. In a low-lying haugh by
the side of the stream there was a drain,
required to take away the water from a
spring that was in it. The drain was 30
yards long. The man that made it, not being
very well acquainted with levels, made it
deepest next the spring, and consequently
water to the depth of three inches stood at
the upper end for a distance of three yards.
It was opened in the first week in April,
and stood open till the first week in May,
1803. During this period, one Saturday
afternoon, I went to this spot with my
father's herd boy and his cows. It was
called the lady's haugh. My attention
was attracted to the open drain, and looking
at the water standing round the mouth of
the spring, I observed a great number of
hair eels swimming about, and asked my
companion to assist me in counting them.
They numbered thirteen. I put the question
to him, " What can they come from ?" He
replied, " They fall from the tails of the
horses while drinking, and the water brings
them to life." My companion was thirteen
years old, and I was ten. Young as I was,

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 15

I could not believe that water could make
hair live. On being left alone I still gazed
upon the water, and again counted the eels.
While so employed, I saw a number of
beetles lying at the bottom of it, on their
backs, dead. There were eight of them. This
excited my curiosity. I wondered and con-
sidered long as to what brought them to
the water. Their position also struck me.
Surely they did not come down to drown
themselves. I immediately captured a few
and immersed them, but they were out of
the water in a moment. The query that
now rose in my mind was, if there could be
any connection between the eels and the
beetles, no other animal being visible in the
drain, themselves excepted. Believing they
did not come there for the purpose of self-
destruction, and unable to trace any con-
nection between them, I returned to the
school on Monday, but often did my mind
revert to the mystery.

I stayed at home for the next six years ;
and in bogs and rivulets I often saw
swarms of hair eels, sometimes finding them,
while fishing, in the mouth of a trout, half-

16 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

swallowed, but never came upon anything
sufficiently clear to satisfy my mind as to
their origin ; or if they were produced in
any particular month (it was then May), or
throughout the whole summer.

Time passed on. I went at the age of
sixteen to serve my time as an engineer.
After my apprenticeship expired, I travelled
through different counties in the prosecution
of my trade. During these journeys I took
every opportunity to examine all eels that
came in my way, large and small. I searched
every work on natural history that fell in
my way, for information as to the origin
of this animal, but found nothing to satisfy
me. I always believed that something
would fall in my way which would reveal
to me the mystery.

I came to the town of Dundee in the
spring of 1817, as manager and principal
engineer at the works of Messrs. J.
and W. Brown. My dwelling-house was
situated in a low-lying place. In the
garden immediately before the window I
had a bed of fine ranunculuses. On the
2nd of May, 1825, whilst weeding this bed

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 17

of ranunculuses, I saw a beetle coming from
the garden wall, and approaching my fingers.
It passed towards the pump, which was a
few yards from me. I stopped it in its
journey, but could not turn it back. I
looked at it, and could perceive that its
abdomen was twice the size of any ordinary
beetle of the kind I had seen before. My
thoughts flashed back twenty-two years, to
the drain in my father's haugh when but a
boy. I always thought I would get the
query solved. "Why, this is the day, for
by what I can see, that insect has something
to do, otherwise why is it so intent on
reaching the water ?" I exclaimed. I followed
it to the pump ; there was a small pool near it,
about three feet broad. The beetle makes
for it, and swims over to the other side,
gets out of it a small way, then stands,
looks about a little, back it comes, swims
over again, and comes out at my feet in a
very troubled state. I could perceive now
two hair eels protruding from it, about the
fourth of an inch. From this, I thought it
would be the last time it would swim over
the pool ; when it came to the centre it sank,
c

18 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

and I could see the eels twisting about its
legs to get themselves free. As to the beetle,
its life went with the birth of the eels. It had
ceased to move before they had half extri-
cated themselves. After they were fairly sepa-
rated from it, I brought up the beetle and
examined it. I saw nothing in it but a
white slough that covered the intestines,
and they were hardly perceptible.

This year, two of the most striking events
in my life occurred. First, the discovery of
the origin of the silver eel, a subject that
had puzzled me for twenty-two years.
Second, the invention of the conical spindle
and the construction of a frame fitted for
working it. I had been annoyed for twelve
years with the old plan ; it was utterly un-
manageable by any mechanic. My plan
came up to my expectations, and has not
yet been superseded, although forty years
have elapsed since I invented it, and it
has been as widely spread as the art
of spinning. I may refer the reader to
whom the subject may be of any interest
to William Brown, Esq., Dundee, who was
then managing partner of the extensive mills

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 19

I had the honour of superintending for
years ; and also to the Mechanics Magazine,
published in London, in 1826, Vol. V.,
page 150. It was communicated to this
periodical by my employer.

c 2

20 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

CHAPTER II.

MY next experiment was upon the eels
themselves. I went in search of a glass globe
with a wide mouth, and put two of them into
it. They both died. I now tried to ascer-
tain when the beetle began to shew signs
of pregnancy. I collected a large number
of them, and kept them in a box among
moss kept moist with water. I could
see about January the pregnant ones
beginning to grow thicker about the ab-
domen, and by March, on opening some
of them, I could perceive signs of life in
the eels and a change of colour ; by April,
I have taken them alive out of the beetle,
and kept them alive two weeks among
water. These experiments led me to believe
that the period of gestation is about ten
months, which corresponds with that of the
salmon and trout, and all fish that spawn
once a year.

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 21

In 1828 ill-health made it necessary for
me to leave Dundee. I settled near Blair-
gowrie, where I took a lease of a small
spinning mill and a few acres of land. The
land abounded with springs and water,
and thus I had every local advantage
for pursuing my eel experiments. This
year, 1829, while building my dwelling-
house, about the beginning of April, I
dug a well in a low place for building
purposes. The water came up eight inches
below the surface, and two beetles appeared
in this well and gave birth to two eels each.
In order to free them from danger from any
lime that might adhere to the buckets of
the workmen when drawing water, I re-
moved them to another well. The whole
four died in the course of a few weeks.
I now began to see that standing water
would not answer. I looked out for a
spring that ran constantly, and dug a well
at the mouth of it about a foot in diameter.
The orifice by which the water flowed into
the well was four inches below the surface
of the water standing in the well. I
covered the orifice with a piece of brass

22 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

wire cloth, of very fine texture, which
allowed nothing to pass out of, or into,
the well but the water: This well was
made in April, 1830; but no pregnant
beetle appeared in it till May, 1834, when
one came and deposited two eels, one of a
light yellow and the other of a dark brown
colour. To protect this well against all
intruders I put a stone on the well's mouth,
and only lifted it up when examining the
progress of the eels to maturity. I watched
the motions of these eels for six days for
hours together. One day I could perceive
the brown one come near the orifice by
which the water entered the well, making
efforts to enter it. That day I had the
pleasure to see the brown one come up to
the opening, which was about two inches in
diameter, near which were some roots of
grass growing. I could perceive that the
extremity in which the head would ulti-
mately appear was always put first when
in the act of swimming* It pushed its head
into the spring, round a root of grass, then
turning the other extremity, aiding the
motion by another root of grass — releasing

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 23

itself, it pushed the headed extremity into
the spring, and I lost sight of it. I went
back the seventh day, and found the light
coloured one swimming about ; it disap-
peared the eighth day, and I concluded
that it followed the other one into the
spring. I went every day for a month to
see if any of them had issued from the
spring, but during that period none made
their appearance. I went occasionally during
the winter months, but none of them were
visible. Had they been so, I must have
seen them, as the water was as clear as
glass and had not at any time been covered
with ice. At first I resolved not to disturb
them till May, 1835, when they would be
a year old, but I became impatient, not
seeing them all the winter, nor observing
the retiring of the yellow one, so one fine
day in March I took a jug, and lowered the
water in the well below the mouth of
the spring, and down came both the eels,
one yellow, the other dark brown — precisely
the colours they had when they disap-
peared. This convinced me they were the
same deposited by the beetle the first week

24 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

in the previous May. I allowed the water to
rise in the well again, and each once more
took refuge in the spring. Now, however,
they were finely proportioned, and as finely
formed as if they had been ten years old.
In May I again emptied the well, and they
appeared. They measured three-sixteenths
of an inch in diameter and about six inches
in length, perfectly formed in every part,
and could swim as quick as thought if I
dared to touch them. As I wished to keep
them another year to note the progress of
their growth, I made another reservoir
below the well, where they were kept from
May 1834 to May 1835, with the object of
preserving them to May 1836. This time
I made the well larger, and used wire cloth
as formerly for the escape of the water.
This cloth was sufficiently small in the
mesh to keep all other fish out, and prevent
the escape of the eels. I put a frame of
wood round the whole to make sure no
other eel could enter, and deposited two flat
stones at the bottom of the well to afford
them a retreat in case of danger. Here
I kept them till May 1836, when I emptied

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 25

the well and lifted the stones — both were
there, the same in colour, healthy and large.
They had grown three-sixteenths thicker
and two-and-a-half inches longer during the
year, making them now three-eighths thick
and eight and a half long. This one in-
stance may not be sufficient to form a rule
as regards the growth of the eel in general,
knowing that variety prevails in the growth
of all animals, but I once caught an eel
which, from its appearance I believed to be
six years old ; on measuring it, I found it to
be three and three-eighths inches in girth,
that is, one and one eighth inch in diameter,
and eighteen and a half inches in length.
Now this agrees with the facts above stated.
On this, I would not, however, insist.

The next fact I felt anxious to ascertain
was the length of time it required the hair-
eel to pass into the form we behold it in our
rivers. In May, 1842, a beetle visited one
of my wells, and produced one eel. For
this one I had a glass tube prepared about
one foot long, and three inches in diameter,
open at both ends, being simply covered by
very fine wire cloth. I placed the eel in

26 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

the tube and a few grass stems along with it.
I then inserted this tube containing the eel
into the mouth of the spring, so as to allow
the water to flow through the tube from the
spring into the well. I visited the well
every month and examined the tube. I did
not observe much change in the eel for
three months. About the 1st of August it
began to grow large in diameter, and by
September I could discern the fins beginning
to appear, and by the 1st of October the
eyes were visible, and it was able to swim
away from your finger; and by the 1st of
November it was fairly formed and trying
to get out of the tube. I kept it until
May, 1843, and measured it. The dimen-
sions in every way corresponded with
those of the other two I had seven years
before.

Two farmers were the first to credit my
statements concerning the origin of the
silver eel ; one of them had some land lying
near a marsh whose water ran over a pro-
jecting rock from 30 to 40 feet high, and
falling over it with such force as in no
part of its descent to touch the rock. They

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 27

drained this marsh by digging an open
ditch through the centre of it. As the
work of draining proceeded they came
upon quantities of silver eels, for whose
presence in that spot they could in no way
account. Hearing of my discovery, they
applied to me for information. Going up
the drain one day with them, I captured a
few beetles, and informed them that these
insects were the parents of the eels ; they
believed me, and rejoiced in the solution of
the mystery.

28 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

CHAPTER III.

1. These practical experiments shew the
wisdom of the great Creator, and his kind-
ness, in making this small land-insect to
produce millions of eels a thousand times
larger than itself every year — thus stock-
ing our rivers, bogs, and mires with a fish,
which, after a visit to the sea, is so
well fitted to form a part of the food of
man.

2. The parent beetle is small and black,
and lurks about stones in marshy places
and river banks. It is less than the work-
ing bee of the hive. It has a couple of
hard wing cases. It seldom uses its wings,
although I have seen them on the wing in
a hot day in July. It breeds in the ordinary
way of insects. I have seen both the male
and female sitting beside their nest, which
was a small hole below a stone. There
would be ten to twelve eggs beside them,

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 29

about the month of June. The eggs were
whitish, a little transparent, and as large
as a mustard seed. These they produce by
ordinary generation. They are prolific, and
the young turnip suffers for their food. But
a part of these beetles changes every year
to bring forth a species of the fish kind by
propagating eels in them, and bringing forth
from May to July. Some of them have
one and others two, owing to cold or hot
situations. Most of them have two. About
the time of giving birth to their eels, nature
has taught them to seek the water, and
some of them travel upwards of sixty yards.
They die in the act of parturition, whether
in water or on land. I have come upon
them dead, and two eels twisting round
their limbs, in water left after rain in the
foot-prints of the horse, and at a great
distance from running water.

3. The origin of the eel as above de-
scribed accounts for finding them in mosses,
moors, mountains, marshes, glens, and old
quarries where there are springs; also in
bogs, where no other fish could move a
fin on account of the rushes. They are

30 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

so formed by their length and serpent-like
motion as easily to glide through the
thickets of grass and rushes.

4. I have opened eels at all seasons of
the year, but never could find milt or roe
in one of them. On this point I have con-
sulted many anglers, and of the existence of
such a thing they were equally ignorant.
To me there appears no arrangement for
anything like productive parts in the crea-
ture. I therefore conclude the Silver Eel to
be a NEUTER. It is my opinion that there
are a few of the smaller animals that
produce neuters, and these are to be in-
cluded among the characteristics of the
class from which they spring, e.g., the bee
and the ant, the eel-beetle, and the other
beetle previously described, and the prickly
bog minnow. I was informed by a veteran
angler that the prickly bog minnow was the
progenitor of the horse leech, and that he
himself had taken them alive out of them
with his knife. I may also add to the above
list a small tufted caterpillar, whose nature
and habits have engaged my attention for
some time. It feeds on the lime-tree, and
produces eggs while in the caterpillar

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 31

state, and these eggs pass through several
changes in a period of about two years,
before their inmates have eggs themselves,
but the original caterpillar changes into a
chrysalis, and comes out in a short time
a beautiful red butterfly, and, as far as I
can see, has no connection with its own
class, although I have closely watched them
during the remainder of the summer. The
eel frequents our rivers and lakes, eating
what comes in its way, and has none to
provide for but itself. If in a locality where
food is abundant, it is always fat and in
good season, which is not the case with
spawning fish.

5. The migratory habits of the eel is the
next point worthy of notice. It takes place
in the autumn. At this season they begin
to come down our rivers, some scarcely
two ounces in weight, others many pounds.
Allow me to offer a few remarks concerning
this variety in the size of the eel. I re-
member in my early researches there was
a marsh on the south side of my father's
farm, about a mile in length, which emptied
itself into a small rivulet, which ran
round the northern side, as a boundary.

32 ORIGIN OF THE SILVEE EEL.

At the top of this marsh was a well, and
stretching from it was a ditch, which ran
towards a cutting 100 yards square, and
four feet deep, dug a hundred years before
for turf. A skin of grass covered its
surface. At the age of thirteen, I frequently
saw, among the grass and clear water, great
numbers of eels and dead beetles, but none
in the act of parturition. How they came
there I could not at that time under-
stand. In this place I have also seen
eels of immense size. One sprang up in
pursuit of a shoal of young ones which
I am certain must have been five feet long,
and four inches in diameter. Now, why
I mention this matter is simply to say
that the attacks of the larger eels in some
measure accounts for the emigration of the
younger ones. I also believe that many of
these monster eels lie in these localities
twenty years before emigration.

We have another species of eel that
spawns in our rivers, called the lamprey
eel. I captured one in autumn as full of
roe as would stock a river. There could
not have been less than 20,000 in it.

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 33

There is another eel about the mouths of
our rivers, called the sandling. They make
an excellent dish. I think they spawn in
November. Their young visit us in May.
I went to Perth to examine them, and along
the banks of the Tay they came in vast
numbers streaming along close by the edges,
evidently to keep themselves beyond the
reach of the trout and the salmon. I threw
two or three on the land and could discover
no resemblance between them and the fresh-
water eel. They were not the same species.
I think our earlier naturalists have mistaken
them for the fresh-water eel, supposing our
rivers and lakes to be stocked from the sea,
and believed they found their way back
again.

34 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

CHAPTER IV.

I MAY here mention there is another
beetle smaller than the one I denominate
the eel-beetle. It is half an inch long, and
is a well-shaped, active creature ; its colour
rather darker than that of Port wine. It
breeds in the ordinary way of beetles, by
eggs, in damp places, and finishes its career
thereafter by giving birth to two wire-like
worms, one-thirty-second of an inch thick,
and four inches long, which may be seen
creeping about in damp places and corners
of gardens frequented by these beetles. If
they take refuge below a small stone from
the sun's rays, they lie till they become
black and hard, and quite brittle like hairs of
glass, but what they grow to, and whether
they be neuters, I know not. I believe
they are. This I leave to others, especially
to that class of naturalists who have already
noticed this insect, and pronounced these

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 35

worms to be parasites. I simply mention
the fact to prevent the reader confounding
it with the eel-beetle and its offspring.

I come now to describe the pillars on
which my theory rests — the habits and
history of two beetles. They are about three-
quarters of an inch long, and are one in
species, although two in colour. One is of
a dusky yellow colour about the legs and
belly; the other darker, and the more nume-
rous of the two. Both have eels, and the
same variety of colour prevails among the
eels as among the beetles.

I find the following remarks concerning
the eel-beetle among some old notes on
insects. After two eels had been discharged
from a beetle, I examined its inside and
found nothing in the shape of intestines re-
maining ; a thin film being all the abdomen
contained. Again, some months afterwards,
I examined a few more, and in them I found
nothing but eels. This decided the matter
to my mind, and my opinion is that the
intestines are the eels.

It may be said that the produce of the
eel-beetle is a parasite* I was of this
D 2

36 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

opinion myself for five years ; but, on further
investigation, I lost every hook to hang a
thought upon. What I understand by
a parasite is this — a class of animals whose
bodies are so constructed, and their natures
so inclined, that the one enables them and
the other compels them to deposit their
embryo progeny in the bodies of other
animals, either by piercing their bodies, or
placing them so as to be taken by the
tongue into the system, where they are
lodged until they are perfected, whence they
issue forth the very image in every respect
of the progenitor which deposited them.
Now, this cannot be the case with the silver
eel. It was never known to have spawn in
it ; it is consequently a neuter, a fact which
has been known for many years. My great
fisher-father, Walton, knew that the silver
eel was a neuter, and argues they have
neither roe nor milt as known organs of
generation ; but he solves the mystery in
another way than I do. He stoutly argues
that they are bred of corruption, in the
same way as some kinds of bees and wasps.
I have myself seen diseased and corrupt

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 37

blood in animal bodies breed small vermin,
which found their natural aliment in the
bodies of their victims, but never so large
as eels. The poor milch cow has to carry
the small vermin on her belly (her only
comb for cleaning them out being her
barbed tongue), and the large " warbie/' as
the farmers call it, on her back. This
1 consider a parasite. But I will be more
explicit if ever for amusement I write upon
parasites.

I have now described the nature and
habits of the eel-beetle. I have also shewn
that the eel can in no way be considered a
parasite. The only thing that remains for
me is clearly to shew the derivation of the
eel from its insect-parent by natural laws.

I put the eel-beetle in my third class,
among the animals that breed on land and
change to live in water. I believe the eel-
beetle has two natures ; and that these two
natures spring from the same original at
the same time, and coupled together as the
nature of the beetle-form and the nature of
the eel-form within it, and the first, or beetle-
form, could not subsist without the second

38 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

or eel-form being its intestines, and in these
intestines lies the germ of the eel in all its
parts. The one nature progresses in growth
with the other, the nourishing process being
mutual. When the beetle has finished the
propagation of the species, then the germ of
the eel begins to come forward, and the
insect is instinctively urged towards water.
Here the eel is deposited in a half viviparous
state, that is with life but not perfect, where
through the action of water for seven months
what could not be attained in the beetle is
completed. This is the same period that the
salmon roe requires to come up a living fish.
I believe from what I have seen in the
growth of the beetle, that it is three years
old before it begins to breed, and continues
to breed four years before it stops, which
gives seven years as the period the eel and
the beetle remain together before separation.
When seven months are added to this period,
for its stay in the water, during the whole
of which time its growth is being perfected,
we cease to wonder at the eel's tenacity of
life. From all I know and have seen, there
could not be a more likely progenitor for

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 39

the silver eel. The beetle is a very timid
creature, and always hides except when in
search of food. It protects itself from frost,
by burrowing in the earth, under bushes of
heath, beside springs on Mil sides, or among
moss, where it is completely sheltered from
the blasts of winter. It is a lurking animal,
taking its prey by cunning — for instance, it
pounces upon the disabled fly, dragging it
into its retreat, as also such heavy bodies as
worms ; and, as far as the water will allow,
the eel has a similar mode of securing its
food. It lies between large stones on the
edge of the stream, its head only being
visible, and when the minnow comes past,
the little fish is pounced upon, dragged
under the stone, and devoured. I have lost
many a minnow tackle by the eel.

40 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

CHAPTER V.

I HAVE been a keeper of bee-hives for
thirty years. My object in keeping them
was to become acquainted with the govern-
ment, manners and modes of life of the bee.
As little is known of this insect as of the
beetle, and the facts of its history are as
difficult of discovery. The bee is the most
perfect insect I know. All its work is per-
formed in the dark, with wonderful inge-
nuity and skill. Every proprietor of bees
is aware that there are three distinct forms
of the insect in his hive, each performing its
own part for the good of the whole com-
munity. He is equally aware there are
three distinct cells or combs, for nursing
and rearing the young. The queen requires
the longest ; the male, the widest ; and the
common cells for the working neuters, are
of the same width as that of the queen, but
not so deep.

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 41

In spring, when the queen commences to
prepare a new hive, she has three different
varieties of sex in her — male, female, and
neuter. Here a marked parallelism between
the bee and the beetle subsists : for like it
the beetle has its male, female, and neuter;
and it is just as great a mystery that the
queen of the common bees should produce
a male, female, and neuter, as that the beetle
should do so. It may further be remarked,
that although the working bee, from natural
causes, is unable to assist in the direct pro-
pagation of the species, yet nevertheless by
its determined energy, strength of muscle,
and large wing, it overcomes every obstacle
in the collecting of honey for the support of
itself and others, as also pollen for the
young. In a similar way, the neuter silver
eels, by acting as the alimentary canals of
the beetle, take in what food the insect pro-
vides for supplying nutriment to themselves
and the beetle forms. There is something
singular in these two neuters. The beetle
gives out a species of food which is prized
by thousands as the most dainty dish of the
fish tribe, and is always in season, not

42 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

requiring to breed. The neuter of the hive
produces another — honey — which in addi-
tion to supporting themselves, is esteemed
by thousands the richest luxury of the floral
and insect worlds.

The toad is another parallel case in some
respects. It has a compound nature, like
the beetle, only it reaches its last form of
existence in a reverse order. The one
alters its form from that of a fish to that of
a quadruped, to live on land ; and the other
alters its form from that of an insect to that
of a fish, to live in water. The toad resem-
bles both our land animals and the fish
tribe. It spawns like the quadruped-beget-
ting and the fish-producing, all in the same
process. The spawn leaves the female like
a thread of clear beads, the ova being
dark specks in the middle of each. This
thread of beads is sometimes thirty yards in
length, warped round the rushes in about
five inches of water. The young toads
come to life in six or eight days, according
to the weather. The glutinous bead sup-
ports them before they come forth in swim-
ming trim, The frog spawns in the same

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 43

way, but its ova are deposited in lumps, not
in threads. The toad remains three or four
months in the water, swimming about as a
fish, until a foot springs out at each side of
the insertion of the tail, and one at each
side of the breast. After its limbs are fully
developed, it comes out of the water, and be-
gins to leap, and loses its tail for swimming.
I think it comes back to the water to spawn
in about two years, and continues to spawn
four or five years, while young ; at this age it
is an inch and three-quarters in breadth, and
three inches in length. It then gives up
spawning, and increases in size to three
inches in breadth, and four inches in length.
It does not change to neuter internally, I
believe, but acts as such externally, looking
out for the warmest place it can find, and
keeping away from the water at spawning
season.

I wish the reader specially to note, that
as the result of close observation, I am of
opinion a very marked change takes place
in the animal's nature at this period, as well
as in its size. At the commencement of its
life, the fish nature predominates; after

44 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

spawning, is given up, the land animal's
nature prevails.

Now, in the reverse order a similar change
takes place in the eel-beetle — when it begins
life, the land animal's nature prevails, and
when it ceases to breed, it alters its form to
the fish nature. It is evident, however, that
the eel in the early stages of its career, even
in the water, is to some degree tinged with
with the beetle nature, for I have seen them
out on the edge of a loch in search of food,
but after they are older they never leave the
water, and I believe that when they are a
long time in the sea, the beetle nature leaves
them entirely.

It appears that age alters some of these
amphibious animals in their nature — the
toad, frog, water-newt, and eel, for instance.
To test this opinion by actual observation, I
tamed a specimen of the toad family. I
will give the reader a short memoir of him,
which if it does not instruct, may possibly
amuse.

There were two young toads that fre-
quented my garden for two years. They
left it in spring, and returned again in a

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL; 45

month. One year, while they were away,
a larger one made his appearance. When
I first saw him, he was scratching a hole in
a warm corner in an elevated terrace near
the edge of a walk leading to a summer-
seat. I wondered why he came there, as I
knew the other two had gone to spawn.
I had never seen one so large among the
spawners of his race, and I determined to
keep my eye upon him. In order to keep
him about me, I dug him a house in the
spot he had chosen, about nine inches deep^
and laid a handful of moss at the bottom of
it. He entered it, looked around, and
appeared perfectly satisfied with his new
abode. He and I got very friendly, and in
a short time he allowed me to put my hand
upon his head, and would take a fly from
between my fingers. My daughters named
him, "Oberon in his Hall." He knew
every one of them, but when they wished
to introduce him to any of their acquaint-
ances, he slipped back into his hole, flatly
refusing to show his face to strangers.
If he heard me coming round his way, in
my customary morning walk, he would be

46 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

up at his door, to see what I had brought
him.

As time wore on, he would follow me
down to the summer-seat, and catch flies
before me. This he did in a manner that I
could not account for. When he got his
eye on a fly, the insect could not take wing ;
he then quietly approached his victim, keep-
ing his eyes steadily fixed upon it ; and when
within an inch of it, he opened his mouth
quickly, and in went the fly. His mouth
closed with a smack so quickly as to be
scarcely perceptible. My conviction is, that
he possessed some fascinating power in his
eye, which affected the fly ; and also that at
a certain distance he could exert a power of
suction sufficient to draw the fly into his
mouth — just as I have seen a perch below a
boat in clear water, draw in a worm-bait
three inches from its mouth, and when it felt
the hook, eject it to the distance of six.

Another striking incident in this toad's
life came under my notice. I was one day
sitting in the garden, with my dog beside
me, when down came Oberon and crawled
upon my foot. The dog, in frolic, and

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 47

partly from envy, pretended to bite him,
when the toad lifted up his head with a
jerk, scratched it on the dog's tooth, causing
him to run away, lie down, and foam at the
mouth for half-an-hour. Oberon made off
to his hall as fast as he could (the toad
cannot leap after he grows old and large).
Looking at the toad, slow and unwieldy in
his movements, one is reminded of the pro-
verb, " He can neither fend nor flee." This
is a mistake, for he is provided with a
nauseous scurf all over his skin, which very
effectually protects him from enemies, and
particularly from the pike in the spawning
season. Oberon showed his respect for me
by putting his fore-paws on my foot, and
looking up in my face with all that was
beautiful about him. He always closed his
hall door with grass on the approach of
winter. After having lived with me for six
years, I found him dead, one morning in
April. I felt as sorry for him as I after-
wards was for my favourite dog.

The last parallel case with which I will
illustrate the natural history of the eel beetle
is that of a dark coloured amphibious fly

48. ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL.

with a compound nature. I place it in my
third class. It is very like the eel-beetle,
because it breeds on land, and changes its
form to live on the water.

This fly is about five-eighths of an inch
long, of a slender make, with long thin legs.
It is of a dark colour, and its wings are clear,
tinged with a shining bluish red. It breeds
in the sandbanks on the rivers of Scotland.
It rises out of the sand, and pairs about the
beginning of June, depositing its ova among
the grass on the bank, wherever it is thin.
The ova remain among the roots of the
grass until the hot sand brings them to life,
when they work down among it, beyond
the reach of the frost. In the following
May, when the banks become heated with
the sun, it appears in the shape of a small
grub. It then goes into chrysalis, and
comes out about the 1st of June, the dark-
coloured fly previously described. It chooses
a bank not far from the river, and is con-
stantly going between the bank ' of sand
where it was hatched and the water. It
has the power of flight, but generally walks,
and when it comes to the water, it travels

ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 49

upon it the same as on land ; this it is en-
abled to do by a membrane upon each foot,
which confines as much air as balances its
weight, and this membrane, when reversed,
forms a sucker by which the insect can cling
to smooth stones. This is the only amphi-
bious fly that has a compound nature, breed-
ing on land and going to the water, in the
same way as the eel beetle. This being the
difference : in the case of the eel beetle, a
neuter is produced and sent to the water,
but this fly goes itself. Of the second class
of amphibious flies with a mixed nature,
there are many more than I can now de-
scribe. They are nearly one year in the
water in different forms, then rise out of it,
spawn, fly about the rest of the summer,
and die on the approach of cold weather.

Imt ratir jflg

CHAPTER I.

HAVING from my earliest days lived near
water, much of my leisure time was spent in
fishing. The result of many years expe-
rience in angling, and the record of some
of its pleasing reminiscences may form a
variety to the reader, and a suitable close to
my little work. I will simply give a general
description of bait fishing for eels and other
fresh water fish. From experience I can
testify that fishing is one of the most healthy
recreations to which any persons can betake
themselves. The motion of the rod back-
ward and forward gives to the whole body,
but especially to the muscles of the breast,
much strength and power, enabling the vis-
cera easily to perform their functions. The
love of the sport sometimes gets so intense,
as occasionally to lead the angler to dis-

54 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

regard the solicitations of the stomach, and
the cry of hunger is met with the reply,
" Stop till another trout is caught," which
generally gives time to the lower regions to
balance accounts. This fast often converts
into a feast the simplest fare, supplying in
abundance that excellent salad, hunger, and
producing health and vigour to the whole
system. One abuse of an intense love of
angling is, that of wading with boots not
water tight, which is sure to be followed by
rheumatics, thus hurting the health more
than the sport helps it.

As a matter of course, good tackle is in-
dispensable to success. Permit me, there-
fore to make a few remarks on its structure
and use. I was in the habit of using rods
of three different sizes, 16, 20, and 24 feet,
the last I used for broad rivers to enable
me to throw rny point fly (if the wind was
favourable) 'so as to drop 25 or 30 yards
from me across the stream. The rod I used
for bait and minnow fishing was 20 feet long;
my first casting line was 4 feet in length,
made of three-ply gut with a catch for
joining the second to it; the second was

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 55

two-ply gut, tapering towards the end by
smaller gut. A swivel was attached to the
top to let the second turn round with the
point bait ; and the first or upper bait catch
between the first and second knot at the
upper end of the casting line was made with
two holes in it— one to let the line turn round,
the second to join the loop on to the gut for
the hook. Another catch is put on at the end
of the casting line, to join the point hooks
for altering to try what bait will take best.
This catch is made of small wire put through
as if making a knot, leaving one end as a
hook for the loop ; the other turned round
like a screw. I put the loop through, and
fasten it on the catch hook, the other end
being turned into the screw that goes down to
the hook. These catches can be made as large
as will take in a double gut for salmon fly.
This saves a great deal of time and trouble
in taking the hooks through the loop of the
casting-line, as is commonly done with three
fly hooks on it ; it also has the advantage of
enabling the angler to use double hooks,
which he could not easily according to the
old plan. Baits can be put on by passing a

56 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

long needle through the worm or minnow,
the needle being previously cut on one side
in the upper part of the eye to take in the
loop through the baits that join the catch
upon the line. The fisher should keep three
of them — one at hand and two spare ones
in his book.

To give a full account of bait fishing as
applied to every kind of fresh water fish,
would occupy more space than can be de-
voted to it in this little volume. I will only
therefore, "attempt a short general sketch.
I will begin with the eel.

It is the opinion of a great many fishers,
that minnows or worms are the best bait, on
a Limerick hook. Some prefer a strong
needle an inch and three-quarters long ; they
put the gimp or gut through the eye of the
needle, bring up both ends and tie them
hard in the middle with a silk thread coated
with resin. They then insert the needle
with the eye foremost into the worm until
it projects three-quarters of an inch over
the point of the needle ; when the eel gorges
the bait, in drawing it back the point comes
across the gullet. But there is another and

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 57

I think a better way, that is, by what are
called " set lines " immersed at night, or
by wires and garths in the summer when
they migrate to the sea.

In fishing for trout, my first consideration
on reaching a stream, always was, what
sort of food the fish had been feeding on
the few preceding days. If they were leap-
ing for flies, I put flies on ; if the water was
muddy or flooded with rain, I used a large
round bend, No. 3 or 4, and fished with
worms ; but if the water had decreased after
a flood, I put on a minnow tackle, throwing
it across the stream arid letting the minnow
come round and down by jerks, about two
feet at a time, bringing it up again to the
spot on which I was standing ; taking it four
feet farther down each cast, and landing the
trouts where I stood. When I fished with
fly, I commenced at the foot of the current
where it ran into the pool, taking the trouts
and landing them at the first slope on the
bank of the pool, not to disturb the rest
farther up.

My minnow tackle was made with seven
hooks, one large enough to go through the

58 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

minnow (say No. 3), and three double hooks
(No. 8) tied back to back ; the first pair tied
up the gut from the point of the large hook
the length of a minnow — allowing one of
the upper pair of hooks to go through the
head of the minnow, and one of the second
pair to go in at the dorsal fin, arid one of
the third pair to go into the middle of the
tail at right angles to it. I kept six minnow
tackles, some of them of different sizes, and
some of them made of small gimp which I
used where pikes were numerous, and some
smaller ones for clear water or for smaller
minnows. My minnow tackle had a loop
to put on the catch hold on the casting line,
about four inches long down to the swivel,
with two lengths of small, strong, clear gut
below the swivel, making in all a length of
two and a half feet down to the hooks. I
put the large hook into the mouth of the
minnow, and bending the tail that the hook
might go down through the centre of it,
then twisting it so as to come out at the
lower edge of the tail where the fins com-
mence. Here great care must be taken so as
to give the tail such a skew as by a forward

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 59

jerk the pressure of the water upon the
tail shall make it turn once in four inches
forward. If the minnow be short for the
tackle, the guts can be turned round the
hooks until they all bear alike.

Minnows can be angled with in different
ways. I have loaded my large hook by
putting round the stem a piece of sheet lead,
making it taper down to the bend sufficiently
sharp to go down through the centre of the
minnow. When fishing, let it sink into a
deep pool where the wind causes a ripple,
jerking it up at an angle of 45 degrees ; let
this be done several times ; in this way I
have captured some large trouts. I have
also used a minnow without a sinker in a
narrow stream with bushes on both banks ;
let it down the centre of the stream, and
give out line at every jerk, and when a fish
grips, let the line be wound up quickly to
prevent its becoming entangled among the
roots and bushes at the edge of the stream.
It requires good tackle to haul up a trout a
pound and a half in weight. If you fish a
narrow stream without bushes or trees, stand
up ten yards above the pool, and let your

SO BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

minnow down the stream as before, till it
reach the pool. This precaution keeps you
out of sight ; no trout will look at bait if it
see the angler first. There is another way
which may be tried with success; take a
hair of gut or small gimp ; tie on two No. 8
hooks back to back, and take a needle, as
I have described before, and put it into the
mouth of the minnow, bringing it out at
the tail ; draw the hooks up so as to protrude
at its mouth on each side ; put the loop on
the catch at the foot of the casting line ; then
throw it into the pool where the stream
begins to run slow, using a pellet of lead so
as to keep it at the bottom.

I never hesitated to fish up or down a river
according to circumstances. The eyes of
trouts project on the same principle as those
of the hare, so that they see behind as well
as before, looking up the stream for food,
and down for enemies. My main object was
to draw the hooked ones upon the water I
had already fished, either with worm or
minnow ; this in most cases I could do only
with a small fly, which takes a smaller grip.
I worked them down the pool and landed

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 61

them at the first slope I could get, if the
river was broad.

The greatest number of trouts I ever
caught in the shortest time was with dried
minnow, in the river Tay, a mile below the
" Boat of Caputh," near the foot of a back
water, on the north side; there I killed
15 Ibs. in an hour; in two casts I caught
four — the first pair was about 4 Ibs. and
the second 2^ Ibs.

Minnows can be preserved a long time
amongst common salt in a jar, keeping
them separate from each other and dry;
also, they may be kept soft by putting them
into a strong solution of salt and water for
half an hour, then cork them up in a bottle
of glycerine, or purified cod liver oil.

CHAPTER II.

MY tackle for pike was the same as for
trout, but the hooks larger and stronger. I
used strong small gimp, the swivel close up
to the hooks for holding the head of any
small fish known as their food in loch or
river. I kept my tackle three inches long,
which would take on a small fish or trout
about four inches long,* but the hook that
goes through the centre of bait to turn
the tail, would require to be a No. 1 round
bend, put through so as to put a skew on
the tail that it may turn once in six inches,

* I was always very reluctant to take par for pike bait,
it having been ray opinion for thirty years that they were
young salmon. I have seen them, when they were three
years old, spawning with the large female, and the male
chasing them away until he ran himself aground. The
female first migrates to the sea, and comes back and
spawns when about five or six years old. While watching
the spawn beds in May, I have seen the young par come
wriggling through the gravel, with the brand on their side,
but ill-proportioned, having large heads.

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 63

going forward by a jerk of four feet each.
I always let the bait fall to the bottom (if it
were clean) and lie a short time before I
commenced to jerk it to the edge. It re-
quires a strong rod and tackle to troll for
pike.

There are many kinds of bait. If the water
were flooded with rain and muddy in colour,
I used as bait the red hay or common gar-
den worm, also the brandling. If, where I
was fishing, a hill stream flowed into the
river, I always found the pool below the best
for trout fishing ; I commenced at the top of
it and kept my bait in the ripple inside the
strong stream, bringing it down and round
upon the sand or gravel bank ; if not suc-
cessful with worm bait, I tried salmon roe ;
if nothing would take, I shifted my ground,
either up or down the river. I have often
seen the young angler lose much valuable
time from his ignorance of the different
sorts of bait, believing he was sure of fish
if he cast his bait into any pool in the river.
There are some parts of rivers, especially if
flooded, where it would be impossible to
take a fish of any sort. Every fish has its

64 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

retreat to which it resorts, according to the
height of the water. The knowledge of
these facts gives a great advantage to the
fisher residing on the banks of a river, over
one who may visit it once or twice in a sum-
mer. When I went to a strange river in a
flooded state, and did not get a nibble in
ten minutes, I moved on; if I caught no
fish, I caught no cold. As long as my
legs were willing to act, I tried every eddy,
not unfrequently walking six or eight miles.
I will now make some remarks on clear
stream fishing, at an ordinary or mean
height of water. On reaching the river, I
went to a pool that, according to its locality,
appeared to have fish in it. I tried fly or
minnow, according to circumstances ; if these
failed me, I generally resorted to an ordi-
nary small hook round bend, No. 6, using
as a bait the red hay worm or brandling.
These worms when used as bait ought to be
kept in a flower pot a few days amongst
damp moss, in order to purify them from
earthy matter, and to make them tough, so
as not to be easily torn from the hook. I
drew the worm up over the hook about an

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 65

inch, leaving half an inch over the point of
it. I commenced at the top of the stream
where the water runs down to the pool, and
cast my bait over and up the stream, letting
it come round and down six yards below
where I stood, going down four or five
yards for the next cast ; but taking care not
to let the trouts that were hooked run
farther down to disturb those that were
below, but brought them up at my feet.
The best angling spots in spring are the
head and foot of pools, but after the season
is advanced, say about May, I have fished
between pools with fly, minnow, and worms.
Low water is the reverse of flooded water
fishing. Walking up and down the bank
of a river in this condition is useless, as
the trouts see you a great deal better than
you see them. I generally looked out a
pool sheltered with bushes to screen me
from view, and allow me to fish over them
or between them. Sometimes I selected a
deep pool with high banks, whilst I stood well
back out of sight, making very little motion
on the surface of the water, simply allowing
the bait to drop gently down. I first tried
F

06 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

two Limerick hooks, No. 6 ; I made them
after this fashion. I cut a hair of gut about
four inches long, tied on each end a Limerick
hook, brought both hooks down, tied the
double at top to one hair to go up to catch
on casting line ; I then put on two small
red worms or brandlings on the hooks. I
took off the upper loop of catch on casting
line, and then took my needle and put on a
larger worm on top, drew it down to the
other two worms, which were drawn up over
the hook one inch ; this holds them together.
Sometimes I used three smaller in a similar
way. I had a float to keep the bait six inches
from the bottom, and a pellet or two on the
foot of the casting line ; I have tried salmon
roe in the same way in still water ; I always
used the paste ; I put on two hooks of the
Kerby make, tied back to back, No. 7 or 8.
As salmon roe fishing may be stopped,
there may be a substitute employed ; a very
good one may be made by boiling the head
and shoulders of a salmon to a jelly ; when
cold let them be strained through a cloth
and mixed with an equal quantity either of
glycerine or refined cod liver oil ; put a part

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 67

of this mixture amongst old loaf bread, roll
it with a roller on a board until it become
tough enough to cling to the hooks; let it
be fished with the same day. Minnows can
be tried in the same way, also trouts or any
kind of animal known as the food of fish. I
have tried worms with success ; put a quan-
tity of them into a bottle, cork it and put it
into hot stable dung, let it remain there till
the worms are dissolved to an oil, then rnix
them with glycerine or sperm oil, and let
the mixture be made into a paste as above.

Another clear water bait I used was a
grub or worm which crawls about in back
waters and eddies with a parcel of twigs for
a case; sometimes this case was made of
grains of sand glued together by the animal
itself; this is the first fly that comes out in
spring. I have turned these grubs out of
their cases and put the hook through the
middle of one crosswise, or at right angles,
then I drew the second up the hook, the
same as a worm to hide the hook ; I kept
the float so as to let the bait be six or seven
inches from the bottom, with a lead pellet
at the foot of the casting line, the hook

F2

68 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

being a No. 7. I have tried gentles in the
same way with great success.

The bait 1 fished with for clear water was
sometimes the fresh water whelk. I broke
the shell and put on a small No. 7 or 8 hook,
and kept them the same distance from the
bottom as in the last case. All these are
for deep pools when the fish are compelled
to leave the streams for want of water.

I have made an imitation of the maggot
which answered exceedingly well, the trouts
supposing it either a maggot, small minnow,
or fly; I have tried it as a substitute for
any of these. It is constructed as follows:
— tie on the end of a hair of gut two No. 10
or 11 hooks back to back; close up from
these tie on a single one so that there may
be a space between the top of the single
hook to the foot of the double hooks of five-
eighths of an inch, then dress the upper
hook as a small fly with a wing feather of
the fieldfare or bunting for its wings, and a
light red rolling feather or heckle ; keep
two of these in your book, and after sunset
cut out of the belly of a trout or minnow a
small strip about three-quarters of an inch

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 69

long, let it be one-eighth longer than the
hooks ; put in the single hook so as to cause
the upper end to go up to the heckle of fly
and to press the other end on one of the
double hooks, tie it with a light yellow silk
thread softly, and keep every turn apart like
a screw to resemble the rings on the body
of a maggot; if minnows cannot be got,
keep two of this sort of bait in your book
made of a bit of sheep skin put on in
the same way, but I approve most of the
strip of minnow for the scent. They may
be preserved by putting them into a bottle
of glycerine up to the fly and corking them
down ; if not so preserved, the strips will
require to be replaced each time they are
to be used. This is a deadly bait, to be
used during the twilight of a summer even-
ing ; allow it to float over the surface of the
water with a short stop at every two or three
feet. Be sure to strike softly and quickly
when a fish rises.

70 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

CHAPTER III.

I CONSIDER loch fishing similar to small
dead river fishing ; but it may be altered in
its mode and its bait, according to the kind
of fish angled for. I sometimes trolled for
pike with a minnow or trout, or any small
fish, my tackle being as before described.
If I did not succeed by trolling, I used
hooks for dead bait, that is, two twisted
loop wires about five inches each, joined in
the middle — a hole in each end. I put one
end up the vent of the bait fish until it came
out at its mouth ; then put through the
double hook, drew it back so that the points
protruded at each side of the mouth. I tied
a cord round the bait fish not to allow the
pike to tear it off. The other end or hole
was fixed to the whip cord or line. I held
it about the float and gave it a turn or two
round my head making it fly off at a tangent,
as far into the loch as was required for depth

...

BAIT^AND FLY PISHING. 71

of water. I loaded the foot of casting line
with one or two pellets, making the bait
hang one and a half foot from the bottom.
There is another mode that can be tried
with this double hook and small fish bait.
Take the bladder of an ox for a float, put to
it the fish bait, the line attached. In a
strong wind let it take the same direction
into the loch keeping the rod perpendicular,
letting the float go as far as necessary, then
walk slowly round the edge until a pike is
caught, which makes excellent sport. I
fish for perch with worms and float, keep-
ing the bait one a half foot from the bottom.
When I fished with minnow, I carried them
alive to the loch in a tin vessel, shifting
the water as often as necessary, with a wet
cloth for a lid, and all round it to keep
them cool in the boat. I put on a round
bend, No. 5, put it through the root of back
fin, let it swim about mid water with a float,
and very light sinkers ; trouts can be taken
the same way. If for eels, let the minnow
swim close at the bottom ; if wi^h worms do
the same, as they seldom come up. Every
fish must be angled for according to its

72 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

nature, whether it lies at the bottom or
swims near the surface. He may try any
or all the baits that I have mentioned in
clear or dead water, as the case may be.

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 73

CHAPTER IV.

HAVING given the young angler a general
sketch of my mode of bait fishing, permit
me now to introduce him to the mysteries
of Fly Fishing ; by the former, the trout is
deceived by the taste ; and by the latter, it
is deceived by sight. Fly fishing resembles
angling with artificial minnow; its success
very much depends upon the skill with
which Nature is imitated in the production
of artificial minnow, maggot, or fly, as also
in the skilful handling of the rod while
angling ; trouts are not to be caught by the
work of imperfect head or hands. The
angler's defects in imitation are in some
measure compensated by the ripple on the
water, which deceives the voracious fish as
it darts up from the first impulse of sight,
fearing the escape of its prey, by wing, wind,
or water. The speed with which the fish
rises through the water dims its sight, until

74 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

the supposed fly be in its mouth ; it then
discovers its mistake, but cannot at once
rectify it, for it has to close its mouth and
take water in by the gills, in order to eject
the cheat. At this moment the stream, or
wind, or the movement of the rod draws in
the hook over the barb, which secures the
fish ; the angler's next step being the work-
ing it down the pool and landing it on the
first sloping bank.

I will now turn the attention of the reader
to the principal amphibious flies which
frequent large quick running streams, gene-
rally resorted to by salmon. There is a
grey fly (No 1), that appears in March. I
will be very particular in my description of
this fly, because it has the same habits as
all flies, which, when resting, keep their
wings erect, and have two hairs or prongs
projecting from the extremity of the abdo-
men about five-eighths of an inch. These
prongs it has in both forms. In its water
form, these hairs give steadiness to all its
movements ; in this form it nearly resembles
the fly, only it is flatter and thinner, afford-
ing facility for creeping under stones, and

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 75

having its wings folded up under the skin ;
after emerging from the water form, and
passing into the fly form, the prongs assist
it in the act of spawning ; it spawns above
the water as the salmon and the trout do
under it. The milter takes a sweep round
before they unite, and both the male and
female flies take a direct upward flight for
a distance of three yards, then separate, and
descend singly, poising themselves on their
wings, and re-uniting when within a foot of
the surface of the water. Sometimes the
feet of the one catch the wings of the other,
and both fall into the water, when the
wary, watching trout gives them short credit
for their mistake. If the male parts off
first, the female flies over the surface of
the water, striking it about every three
feet until it has finished its spawning. When
this fly first appears, it is of a grey colour,
with mottled wings, five-eighths of an inch
long, and prongs of the same length. It
changes its colour from a grey to a red body,
with clear wings, after being a few days out
of the water. I have imitated this fly as it
first appears, by making its wings out of the

76 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

wing feather of the woodcock, and its body
and legs out of a red rolling feather with a
black root; its wings may also be made
from the wing feather of the landrail, and
its body and legs from a red rolling feather
with black root ; and for a bright day, its
wings may be made from the wing feather
of a hen pheasant, and its body and legs
from a bright red rolling feather.

No. 2 is a small lead-coloured fly about
half an inch long which appears in April ;
the middle of its body is tinged with red,
and its breast and end are of a dark hue.
It is similar in form to No. 1, having its
wings erect, and two prongs. This fly may
be imitated by making its wings of the wing
feather of a starling, and its body of the fur
of the water rat. For a brighter day its
wings may be made of a light brown field-
fare wing feather, and its legs and breast of
light fur or wool, bound round with yellow
silk thread.

No. 3. is of a greyish colour, similar to
No. 1, and has erect clear wings. It is of
the same size and makes its appearance at
the same time as No. 2. It may be imi-

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 77

tated by making its wings of a small quan-
tity of landrail wing feather, and its body of
mottled hairs ; for a bright day, its wings
may be made of the wing feather of a jepie,
and its body of light mottled hairs, tied on
with yellow silk thread.

No. 4. This fly appears in May ; it is
small at first, but grows to about three-
quarters of an inch in length ; it has no
prongs, and its wings lie close to its body.
It comes out at the same time, passes
through the same forms, and is nearly the
same colour as the cloth moth, and may not
improperly be called an amphibious moth.
It spawns by reeling about upon the top of
a tree that overhangs the water, and the ova
is carried down the stream until it reaches
the shallows, where it rests among the moss
on the stones. It appears first as a small
grub, feeds on the moss for a few months,
then goes into chrysalis, and comes out in
May in its moth form. The empty chrysalis
cases are sometimes met with, clustered
together like a honey-comb, among the
stones. This fly may be imitated by form-
ing its wings of the wing feather of the

78 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

landrail, and its body and legs of a light
rolling feather from the neck of a red cock.
A lighter fly may be made by using the
wing feather of a hen pheasant for its
wings, and the yellow fur of the seal for
its body and legs. Another may be made
by taking a brownish feather from a drake's
breast for wings, and rabbit's fur for body
and legs, tied on with orange silk.

No. 5 appears in June, and is commonly
known as the salmon fly. It is about
seven-eighths of an inch long, and is the
largest fly that rises from quick running
streams. It is a flat crawling insect when
it leaves the spawn, similar to No. 1 ; and
when about to change from this form to its
original, it comes out upon a gravel bank
above a ford. It pairs after passing into
its original form. The male is smaller than
the female; he has small prongs, and his
wings are covered by a short case. The
female is without prongs, but is furnished
with small hairs at the end of the abdomen,
that serve to protect the ova (which is
fixed upon the upper end like small red
strawberrys) until it is matured. Her wings

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 79

are large, but seldom used for flight, and
are employed by her in delivering her spawn
to the water, which she does while fluttering
over it, switching them off in rotation with
her wings, but seldom escapes being caught
by the young salmon or par, as it is called,
which gives them a taste, and tempts them
to leap and lose their life by an imitation of
this fly afterwards. Although this insect is
called by anglers the salmon fly, they will
take any kind. When I was fishing for
trout in July, with a small dark midge, a
No. 14 hook, and gut as small as horse hair,

I took two salmon in Ericht, one weighing

II Ibs., and the other 12 Ibs. ; and at Islay
I captured one weighing 15 Ibs., which
required an hour and a quarter to lay it on
the bank — never relaxing pressure on the
rod, excepting when it leaped, during the
whole of that time.

The salmon fly may be imitated by using
the tail or wing feathers of a turkey, or the
many-coloured side feathers of a drake, or
the tail feathers of a pea-hen, for its wings ;
and one side of a feather of a heron's neck,
or one side of a mottled feather of a drake

80 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

(any colour according to taste) for body
and legs, and worsted threads of different
colours for abdomen.

When dressing them, I tied a two-ply gut
up the hook, within three thicknesses of
the thread at the upper end ; I then laid the
wings up the gut, took two turns, clipped
off the ends of the wings, brought them
back, taking a turn to keep them so. I
then divided the wings equally, bringing
the thread between them, and reversing the
following turn to keep them apart. I then
tied a loop knot, putting in the rolling
feather, three threads of worsted of different
colours, and the tinsel, and drew the knot
firm. I next bound the worsted threads —
say black, white, and red — round down the
hook, side by side ; I then put round the
rolling feather and the tinsel, adding a little
dyed pig's hair at the end, and tying all up
with four knots. The worsted threads may
be altered by tying the dark first over the
other two for three-eighths of an inch,
keeping them tight down the hook; then
taking the next colour in the same way, and
finishing with the last, and fixing them all

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 81

in the manner described above. I thought
the more tartan-like the better.

No. 6. This fly is found on most of the
rivers in Scotland. I have described it
before, comparing it to the eel beetle, which
I put with it in my third class — breeding on
land and afterwards going to the water. In
its habits of life, it is more peculiar than
any of the amphibious flies that have come
under my observation. It chooses a dry
sand-bank near the edge of a river, and
deposits its spawn among the sand where
the grass is thin. After passing through
the ova, grub, and chrysalis states, it comes
out in the following June in its original
form. It then pairs, spawns, and goes to
the water, between which and its native
sand-bank it is constantly traversing. It
seldom takes wing, but on very bright
sunny days may occasionally be seen flying
close over the surface. It stands and walks
on water the same as on land. This fly
may be imitated by a feather out of a land-
rail's wing, or a brown fieldfare's tail, for
wings; and dark wool or hair, or a dark
feather from a black cock, for body and legs.

82 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

No. 7. This is a small fly, called by
fishers the dark midge, and rises in July in
small streams as well as in large rivers. It
is a short, dark fly, about a quarter of an
inch long, with clear, flat wings. I have
seen them so numerous, in their sporting,
pairing reels, below trees, in a mild after-
noon, that the water was scarcely visible
through them. They fly so quickly, by
circular crossings, up and down the stream,
that they completely nonplus the trout,
who, however, waits until two stop to pay
compliments, when he pays his respects to
them, by sending them both home to rest.
This fly may be imitated with a fine, short,
jet black feather, about an inch long, for a
heckle, to turn down on a No. 13 or 14
hook, about an eighth of an inch, which
makes a good imitation of the two flies
together.

No. 8. This fly is also called a midge ;
it is the same length and colour as No. 7,
but flies slow, has broad dark wings, and
feelers turned back like those of a small
butterfly, which it closely resembles. This
may be dressed the same as No. 7.

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 83

No. 9. This fly rises in August; it is
about half-an-inch long, and of a slightly
greyish hue, with clear erect wings. It may
be imitated by the wing feather of a jepie
for its wings ; and the hair of a water rat,
mixed with that of a hare's ear, mottled, for
its body, tied on with light yellow silk,
the threads being kept apart to resemble a
screw.

During the month of August, a great
number of flies of all colours are to be met
with, which may be imitated by using the
wing or tail feathers of the teal, drake,
fieldfare, bunting, &c., for wings ; and hair
from the ear of the rabbit or hare, black fur,
yellow seal's wool, and tinsels of various
colours, for body and legs.

G 2

84 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

CHAPTER V.

HAVING in the preceding chapter given an
account of the flies that frequent quick-
running streams, I will now attempt to de-
scribe those which rise from deep, slow-
running rivers.

No. 1. This fly makes its appearance in
February, and is the first that rises. It has
no prongs, and its wings lie close to its
body ; it is of a lead colour, and about five-
eighths of an inch long. When it leaves
the spawn, it crawls about in the grub state
for two months, keeping in old water-courses
and back waters ; it then constructs a kind
of tubular dwelling from small straws, twigs,
and gravel, cemented together. It remains
in the grub state for nearly two years, after
which it returns to its original form, when
it pairs, and deposits its spawn by fluttering
over the surface of the water. When in

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 85

the fly state, it is readily devoured by the
trout, but I have found the grub, tube and
all, in his stomach, when closely pressed by
hunger, after a long drought.

No. 2. This fly rises in March and April,
and throughout the summer, in deep waters,
and lochs where streams enter. It is of a
brown or greyish hue, and casts its coat
like a crab, after which its colour is lighter.
It is about half-an-inch long, and has erect
wings and prongs. It may be imitated by
a wing feather of fieldfare for its wings, and
a little mottled hair from a cat's back, mixed
with wool from the belly of a water rat, for
body and legs; and another with a landrail's
wing feather for wings, and fur from a
hare's ear, or one side of a small mottled
drake's feather of brownish colour, for body
and legs.

No. 3. This is called the May fly by
fishers ; it is about three-quarters of an inch
long, with large erect wings, like a small
butterfly, and three prongs about the same
length as its body. It spawns in the same
way as the No. 1 fly of the quick-running
streams. tn its water form it is like a

86 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

miniature fluke ; its wings are folded down
by its sides and act as fins, and the three
prongs serve as a tail. They are generally
of the same colour as the sand or clay on
which they lie. This fly is very difficult to
imitate, having such broad wings. I made
its wings from a feather out of a drake's
side, dyed yellow, and its body and legs of
coarse yellow wool, tied on with orange silk
thread.

No. 4 is a white fly. It rises at the same
time as No. 3, and is similar in size and
habits. I imitated it with the feathers of a
drake for wings, and white wool for body
and legs, tied on with light yellow silk.

I have also taken the fly itself as bait,
dressing it as follows : — I tied on a No. 7
round bend, the same as a bait hook, and
tied a sharp pointed bristle so as to lie up
nearly the length of the hook. I then put
the point of the bristle into the abdomen of
the fly, and pushed the insect down until
the hook was covered. Some small pieces
of cork were attached to the line, above the
fly, to give it buoyancy. When there is a
breeze of wind, this makes an excellent de-

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 87

ceiver, letting it slowly down on the surface
of the water, to float about with the wind.

No. 5 is a small yellow fly of slender
make, and is also to be seen in quick run-
ning streams ; it is about three-eighths of
an inch long, with flat wings and no prongs.
Its wings may be imitated with the wing
feather of a fieldfare, dyed yellow, and its
body and legs with yellow wool.

No. 6. This fly rises in June, and is to
be met with where the water runs steadily.
It is an amphibious fly, about three-quarters
of an inch long, and is called in Scotland
the spinnail or spinner. Its wings are set
out at right angles on a level with its body.
It has no prongs, but the female has a large
sharp ovapositor, which she uses in sand-
banks that are covered with water in winter.
She deposits her spawn with great regularity.
After selecting a place, she makes a hole
with her ovapositor, puts in one spawn, and
then goes forward an inch and drops in
another, until she finishes a drill nine inches
long; she then steps down an inch, and
makes a similar drill parallel to the first ;
and continues working down the bank in

88 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

like manner, for about a foot. The spawn
comes to life in the form of a grub, and
remains until the bank becomes dry the fol-
lowing year, when it goes into chrysalis and
comes out as originals. I imitated this fly
by the wing feather of a fieldfare or light
landrail for its wings, and long mottled fur
with a little brown wool, for its body and
legs. I have succeeded well with this fly
after twilight, by letting it touch the water
and drawing it forward about a foot at a
time, being careful that only the fly touched
the water. I have filled my basket in two
hours when the trouts were numerous.

No. 7. This fly is similar in nature and
form to No. 6, but smaller, being about
half-an-inch long; its colour is yellow; it
is amphibious, depositing its spawn on the
under side of a leaf of grass or herb that
floats on the surface of the water, where it
comes to life and feeds ; it then goes to the
bottom of the water, where the mud protects
it from the frost, and after going into
chrysalis the following summer, it comes
out in its original form. 1 imitated it with
a light landrail's wing feather for its wings,

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 89

and a small light rolling feather from the
head of a cock, with a little yellow wool,
for its body.

No. 8 is the dark midge described as
No. 7 of quick running streams. This and
the two preceding flies are to be found on
quick large rivers as well as on slow deep
rivers, flying about till dark.

No. 9 is what is called the dragon fly,
and by some fishers the pike fly. It is the
largest and most beautiful of the slow deep
water kind. The female deposits her spawn
below a leaf or herb in the stagnant back
water of rivers or lochs ; the spawn comes
to life and remains on the leaf until its
water form is perfect, when it crawls about
at the bottom, and begins to swim. It is
something like the fly, but shorter and
flatter ; it has six legs, and its wings lie flat
below the skin ; it swims swiftly, devouring
all water insects that come in its way. I
think it remains in this state nearly two
years, when it crawls up a reed, and goes
into chrysalis, coming out in its original form
about July. I have seen them two inches
and a half long. Their wings are of beau-

90 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

tiful structure — the nerve stretchers crossing
like the most perfect net-work. While on
the wing, they take insects with their bat-
like mouth, and are just as great devourers
in their aerial flight as in their aquatic form.
There are several kinds of them, one being
about an inch and a quarter long, with
broad blue wings, which goes through the
same forms as that just described. The
large one may be imitated with a No. 2
hook tied on strong gimp, with wings out
of a turkey's brown tail feather, and for
body and legs a mottled side feather of a
brown drake, with red woollen thread. I
have seen fishers try two small moons from
a peacock's tail for wings, with a red rolling
feather from a cock's neck for body and
legs. The second one I dressed the same,
but a smaller hook, with two feathers from
the side of a jepie's wing, blue and mottled,
for wings; with blue worsted, and a dark
rolling feather or half of a blue feather from
a parrot, for body.

Oh ! the beauties great of the Divine art,
No artisan on earth can this impart,
With lacy wings and thousand lensed eye,
Yea, none can imitate this lovely fly.

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 91

I have endeavoured to give the young
angler a description of the largest of the
amphibious flies that came under my obser-
vation when fishing, and which I saw the
salmon, trout, and other fish relished for
food. There are, however, hundreds smaller
which are beyond my power of description,
many of them being not more than the 80th
of an inch in length, and numbers smaller
than that, requiring a microscope to bring
them under observation. It is my opinion
that all fresh water contains the spawn of
flies and other small insects, which is as
light and small as the globules of which the
water is composed ; and that they rise into
the atmosphere with the mist or fog, go
into the clouds, and descend with the rain.
After standing in a pool, or reservoir, or
among the roots of damp grass, exposed to
the action of the sun's rays, the heat brings
the spawn into animalcule life, which goes
through different forms, coming out in the
original. I believe, from the experiments I
have made, that the spawn of the smallest
kind of pluffy headed midge is the heaviest
which the air carries. It is to be seen with

92 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

the naked eye, in its chrysalis or water form,
in rain-water cisterns, like a small root of
shrub, or the seed of the herb aven. Its
head is large, being extended by the pluff,
which the insect requires in its water form
for exchanging the air around its head — (the
young of some amphibious insects require
air in their water form). After it has got a
supply of air, it descends by a zigzag motion,
something like a figure 7, coming to the
surface when it wants more air. But I have
digressed, and forgot I was an old fisher.

Before closing my little treatise, I must
give the young angler some hints on making
trout flies. Begin in spring with a No. 7
hook round bend, and reduce the size as
the season advances; but after a rise of
water by rain put on a larger fly, because
these rise until the water decreases again.
In making your fly, take the hook in your
left hand, between your finger and thumb,
the bend being to the right ; resin a thread
of orange silk, making the end of it small
with your teeth, and flatten the end of the
gut in the same way. Place the small end
of the thread about half an inch down the

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 93

hook, and overlap it by bringing the thread

above toward you, so as to hold the end firm.

Then put the small end of the gut close up

to the thread, and bring the thread twice

round both gut and hook towards you.

Then turn the hook so that the bend is to

the left, and wind the thread from you until

within two thicknesses of thread from the

end (which is left for the wings), drawing

all tight with a knot. For the wings — take

two portions of feather; lay the one above

the other, and put them between your

finger and thumb and the hook ; take one or

two turns round the hook and wings, put

them forward, and slip a knot behind them ;

with your scissors clip off the ends of the

feathers that extend beyond the iron ; then

divide the wings equally, and bring the

thread round to separate them, putting it

behind the wing next you and before the

other ; then turn the thread round, reversing

it by putting it before the wing next jou,

and behind the other wing. For the body —

have the rolling feather ready, and a small

piece of spare thread ; make an open knot,

and put in the ends of the feather and

94 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

thread, drawing the whole tight behind the
wings to hold them forward. Then with
the thread put on a little dark yellow wool,
to swell the breast, as the trouts are fond
of large sized flies in the spring. Take your
nippers and turn down the rolling feather
for body and legs, letting the nippers hang
until you come down to them with the other
thread ; then take them off, and wind down
to the end of the first tying, making three
knots to hold all firm. Finish your fly by
clipping off the thread or anything that
offends the eye. When the thread inserted
in the loop knot with the rolling feather has
been well resined, you can put on any kind
of fur for legs and body, by working it upon
the thread until it adheres. Of course every
angler has his own way of making flies,
and the foregoing was the method which I
adopted.

In conclusion, there are a few things that
the young angler should bear in mind when
he begins the art of fishing. First, he
should not use a heavier or longer rod than
he has strength to manage so as to lay his
line fair upon the water. Secondly, when

BAIT AND FLY FISHING. 95

fishing with fly, he should be careful to
draw back his line in a circular direction, so
as not to snap off his point fly. Thirdly, if
he is compelled to pass between trees or
bushes with his rod up, he should twist his
casting line round his rod, fixing the hook
in the reel, and if he has fly on, the other
two hooks below the casting line, and take
care to keep the point of his rod before him.
The difficulties of the art of angling are
only to be overcome by patient study and
constant practice ; and the young fisher will
become expert and acquire experience in his
art in proportion to the amount of attention
which he gives to it. Each change in the
atmosphere affects the taking of fish, and
there are peculiar circumstances connected
with every locality, which must be closely
watched and taken into consideration by all
who would be successful. I would advise
every tyro to cultivate, if possible, the
acquaintance of some open-hearted, expe-
rienced angler in his locality, or in any place
which he may be visiting, and accompany
him in his piscatorial expeditions, observing
his baits and the colour and make of his

96 BAIT AND FLY FISHING.

flies, and which take best — endeavouring
himself to make improvements upon what
he sees. He must not be discouraged by
returning home with an empty basket, or
by an occasional want of success, for some
who have thought themselves the best have
had to bear this crook in the fisher's lot,
but let him persevere in the face of diffi-
culties and discouragement, and he will be
crowned with success.

-v;

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