BERKELEY |
GENERAL
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA
WILLIAM POTI
OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Plate 1.
8 t--5'
10
14
15
13
JP
PLATE I
NATURAL FLIES
1. ALDER-FLY. Siali* 1-ntaria, Linn. (Slightly enlarged.)
2. CAPERER. Hatesiut mdiatus, McLach.
3. RED SEDGE. Anabolm nervosa, Steph. (Slightly enlarged.)
4. WELSHMAN'S BUTTON. Sericostoma collare, Pict.
5. CINNAMON-FLY. M-i/sta-ridc* lonywomis, Linn.
(>. GRANNOM. &mfJvycemtru» swbnwbUu*, Curt.
7. WILLOW-FLY. Leiictra geni&ulata, Steph.
8. BLUE- BOTTLE. CtUliphora erythrocephala, Mg.
9. GREEN-BOTTLE. Lucilia ccesa-r, LINN.
10. HOISK-FI.V. Mn*<-« corn////f, Fab.
11. OAK-FLY. Leptis scolopacea, Linn.
12. Cow- DUNG-FLY. Scatophoga stercoraria, Linn,
13. HAWTHORN-FLY. Bibio marci, Linn.
14. Corixa geoffroyi.
15. FRESH- WATER SHRIMP. Gamnmrus pulex.
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1 'linjli:
OLD FLIES
IN NEW DRESSES
HOW TO DRESS DRY FLIES
WITH THE WINGS IN THE NATURAL POSITION
AND SOME NEW WET FLIES
BY
CHARLES EDWARD WALKER
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR AND EDWARD WILSON
LONDON : LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, LTD.
1 6 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
MPCCCXCVIII
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BUNGAY.
PREFACE
IN the first part of this little work I do not wish my
reader to suppose that I claim to be the first who has
dealt with any particular imitation in the manner he
will find that I have dealt with it. In the case of
particular flies, others have frequently observed that
the imitations generally used were inaccurate. The
imitation of the Alder-fly has perhaps been most treated
in this way, but it is not alone. One instance, how-
ever, of inaccuracies in imitations of natural flies having
been observed, will I hope not be trespassing too much
upon my reader's patience.
Elaine, in his Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports published
in 1840, says when speaking of the Cow-dung fly : —
" By some extraordinary mistake Bowlker describes
this fly as having upright wings ; and as many of the
London fly-makers dress their flies by his directions,
we need not wonder that they are often bought with
their wings unnaturally glaring outwards."
What I have tried to do, is to work out and bring
down to a definite rule the position in which the wings
of the imitations of the various kinds of flies should be
placed.
M83895O
vi PREFACE
My reader therefore must not hope in this first part
to meet with many imitations of creatures that have
not been imitated before ; but if he finds that the
manner in which the flies are dealt with as a whole is
any step forward, be it ever so small, I shall be satisfied
in having attained the object at which I aim.
My reader may be surprised at the order in which
I have arranged the various flies ; but it was necessary,
or at any rate very much more convenient, to arrange
them in the way I have, as entomological accuracy of
arrangement in a work on fishing must not be the
first consideration of the author. That the wings of
the Alder and the Caddis flies are in practically the
same position in relation to their bodies, was my reason
for placing the descriptions of these flies next each
other, and this instance is sufficient to suggest to those
of my readers who are entomologists, reasons for the
other cases in which I have not placed the descriptions
of the various flies in their correct sequence.
A disclaimer must also be my preface to the second
part of my work, for I know that I am far from being
the first in thinking that the wet fly of the fisherman
is not taken by the fish for the natural fly it is supposed
to represent.
Here my hope is that my reader will find a definite
theory which is sufficiently plausible to interest him,
at least for the moment.
I have to acknowledge the kind assistance of Dr. G.
A. Buckmaster, Lecturer on Physiology at St. George's
Hospital, of Mr. Ernest E. Austen, of the British
Museum (Natural History), and of several other
gentlemen.
PREFACE vii
I must also thank the Editor of Land and Water for
allowing me to republish an article in the first part of
my book, and the Editor of The Field for a similar
permission with regard to certain articles which appear
in the second part.
Mrs. J. R. Richardson, of Kingston-on-Thames, has
also given me some hints as to improvements in the
dressing of some of the flies described.
CHARLES WALKER.
CONTENTS
PART I
DRY FLIES
CHAPTER I
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 3
CHAPTER II
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH 14
CHAPTER III
How TO DRESS FLIES WITH THE WINGS IN THE NATURAL
POSITION 29
CHAPTER IV
THE ALDER-FLY 41
CHAPTER V
CADDIS-FLIES 45
CHAPTER VI
PERLIDJ? 54
CHAPTER VII
PlPTERA KQ
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VIII
PAr:K
WINGED ANTS ................... 72
CHAPTER IX
CATERPILLARS .................. 76
PART II
WET FLIES
CHAPTER I
A THEORY ................. 87
CHAPTER II
CORIX^E ......... ......... 96
CHAPTER III
FRESH- WATER SHRIMP ................ 107
: OF WATER-INSECTS . . 113
SOME HINTS ON DRY FLY-FISHING . . . 115
OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
PART I
DRY FLIES
OLD FLIES IN NEW DKESSES
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
THOUGH it would not be true to say
that hitherto writers on fly-dressing have
shown any lack of power of observation,
still it is unfortunately true that their
energy seems, strangely enough, to have
stopped short at observing the natural
fly, and has not been sufficient to carry
them on to making even passable imi-
tations, except of Ephemeridae. With
the exception of this family of flies, no
one could possibly recognise the artificial
through knowing the natural fly which it
is supposed to represent. Yet the fisher-
man who knows the natural fly well by
sight will go on using these imitations
B 2
4 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
year after year imquestioningly ; and
though he himself would certainly not
have known, unless he had been told,
what natural fly the imitation he is using
is meant to represent, he expects the
trout to do so at once.
There has been much discussion recently
as to whether trout have the power of
discriminating between different colours,
but no one has ever cast a doubt on their
power of discriminating between different
shapes ; yet in most of these imitations it
is not the colour that is wrong, but the
shape. The wings of a fly undoubtedly
play a most important part in forming the
outline, and consequently the general ap-
pearance of the fly. Therefore, if they are
not put in the natural position, the whole
contour of the imitation must be entirely
different from that of the natural fly.
It seems, however, judging by the
standard works on the subject, that there
is practically but one recognised position
for the wings of the artificial fly, as the
difference between the position of divided
wings and wings dressed flat together is,
after all, but slight. No one seems yet
INTRODUCTORY 5
to have realised the fact that the wings
of a May-fly do not He in the same relative
position to the body as do those of the
Blue-bottle, whilst in the case of the Alder
there is a further marked distinction from
both.
The wings, in the different families of
flies upon which trout and grayling feed,
lie when at rest in three distinct positions
in relation to their bodies.
In the Ephemeridse they lie in planes
approaching the vertical, slightly diverging
from each other towards their extremities.
Fig. 1 gives a sketch of one of the Ephe-
meridse, and Fig. 2 a transverse section
through the line a @ of Fig. 1. These
drawings show the relation of the wings
to the body. All flies have so far been
treated by writers on fly-dressing as
though their wings were in this position.
In the Caddis-flies (Trichoptera) and the
Alder-fly (Sialis lutaria) the wings lie on
each side of the body, meeting at their
upper edges in front, gradually diverging
towards their lower edges and posterior
extremities.
Fig. 3 gives a sketch of an Alder, and
6 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Fig. 4 a transverse section through the
fly, showing the position of the wings.
In the Diptera (Blue-bottle, Cow-dung,
&c.), and PerHdse (Stone-fly, Yellow Sally,
&c.), the wings lie in a horizontal plane.
In some Diptera the wings diverge from
each other towards their extremities, as in
the Blue-bottle, shown in Figs. 5 and 6.
In some other Diptera and in the Per-
lidae, the wings lie over each other, as
shown in Figs. 7 and 8. It will be seen
that the wings in both these cases lie in
a horizontal plane.
In Figs. 2, 4, 6 and 8 j3 represents the
section of the body, a and 7 the section
of the wings.
I wish it to be thoroughly understood
that these positions are the positions
of the wings of the natural fly ivlien at
rest.
Many flies when they fall on the water
buzz round in circles periodically, appa-
rently with the object of disengaging them-
selves from the surface. Between these
efforts, however, their wings generally
assume the normal position of rest. The
only way to imitate the fly when it is
INTRODUCTORY
buzzing is by dressing it without wings,
and with extra hackle ; and this is, after all,
but a poor imitation. In most cases it is
FIG. 1.
FIG. 3.
FIG.
FIG.
A
'"S
u
FIG. 2.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 6.
FIG. 8.
Sketches and diagrams showing the relative positions of the wings
to the body in the various natural flies. Figs. 2, 4, 6 and 8
show sections through a& in Figs. 1, 3, 5 and 7. In Figs.
2, 4, 6 and 8 a = anterior wings ; 0 = body ; 7 = posterior wings.
better to imitate the wings at rest ; and
if this is done accurately, it will present
8 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
to the trout an accurate imitation of the
natural fly as it appears to him when not
trying to raise itself from the water.
I have on many occasions watched the
behaviour of an Alder when it has fallen
on the water. At first it moves its wings
rapidly, but soon stops, to begin again,
however, when it has rested. This is
repeated time after time, but after each
succeeding struggle, the interval of rest
becomes longer. In many cases, however,
the fly hardly struggles at all.
In observing many other flies which had
fallen on the water, I have seen the same
sequence of events occur, though some
flies struggle to raise themselves from the
surface much more than others, as in the
case of the Blue-bottle.
The first trial that I made of a fly dressed
with the wings in the natural position was
with an Alder. To make this trial com-
plete, I purchased some Alders, dressed
according to the most approved patterns,
from three well-known firms of tackle
makers. When I got to the water-side
the trout were rising freely, and the banks
were literally swarming with Alders. I saw
INTRODUCTORY 9
a trout take one which had fallen on the
water, so it was evident that the Alder
was the fly to use. I began with the
flies I had purchased, and cast over a
trout which was rising under a tree. He
would not look at it, and the same hap-
pened with the flies of the other two
makers when I cast over two other
trout. I then tried one of my own, and
got a fish at once. He did not take it in
a half-hearted manner, but was hooked
right in the back of the tongue. I then
tried the other flies again without suc-
cess. When, however, I went back to
my own fly I hooked the first fish I cast
over.
Imitations of other flies made with the
wings in the natural position have served
me as well as did my imitation of the
Alder, though I was not inclined to try
the ordinary patterns so freely on every
occasion as I was at the first trial. I
have, however, several times caught a
rising fish on one of my imitations when
he had refused the ordinary imitation not
two minutes before.
My reader will of course think that
10 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
these experiments, being carried out by
myself, are hardly a conclusive proof of
my theory, as, however impartial I might
wish and believe myself to be, I must be
naturally biassed in my own favour. I
quite realise that this is a natural doubt,
but fortunately others besides myself have
tried my flies.
Mr. Herbert Ash put them to an even
more severe test than I did myself, and
has kindly permitted me to give his ex-
perience. I give an extract from a letter
written by him and published in Land and
Water on October 23rd, 1897, as I think
it is a very pertinent testimonial to the
practical success of my theory.
" I put up a cast of three Alders, two
being the shop-tied patterns which I
usually used, and the third, which I put
on as a first dropper, being Mr. Walker's.
I landed eight trout in about an hour and
a half, and each of those fish took Mr.
Walker's fly."
" Now, although I used three flies, I
was fishing up stream and dry, my ob-
ject being to test the new mode of
tying the Alder, and I found that while
INTRODUCTORY 11
the fish rose boldly at the first dropper,
not one took any notice of the other
flies."
Colonel Walker also had much greater
success with flies dressed with the wings
in the natural position than with any
others. In fact, for several consecutive
days, on different occasions he caught no
fish except with my flies, though he did
not use them more than flies dressed in
the ordinary way.
Several other fishermen have told me
that their experiments with my imitations
have produced similar results.
Mr. H. H. Brown, of the Piscatorial
Society, after I had read a paper to that
Society 011 my theory of the right way to
dress trout flies, described a very interest-
ing experience which he had one day when
out fishing, and which bears directly on
this theory. While out fishing some time
ago, he rested on a bridge over the river
in which he was fishing. There were a
great number of Alders about, and on ob-
serving some fish in the water some little
distance below the bridge, he caught some
Alders, pinched their heads slightly in
12 OLD FLIES IN NSW DRESSES
order to either kill them outright or at
any rate stop them struggling, and threw
them on the water. He was in such a
position that he could observe each fly
individually until it either floated past
or was taken by the fish. What he ob-
served was, that when in killing the fly
he had disturbed the natural position of
the wings, not one of the fish would look
at it ; while, if the wings remained in the
normal position of rest, the fly was always
taken. This occurred time after time, and
not once was the fly with the wings in an
unnatural position taken, but, on the other
hand, not a single fly with its wings in the
natural position of rest was allowed 'to
pass. He also observed that once or
twice the fish came up to look at a fly
whose wings had been disarranged, but
on getting close to it they always drew
back.
This is, I think, an extremely strong
argument in favour of my theory.
I do not propose in this work to deal
with Ephemeridae, as the wings in the
imitations now sold are in the natural
position. The families I do propose deal-
INTRODUCTORY 13
ing with are the Sialidse, Trichoptera,
Diptera, and Perlidse, as no one has yet,
to my knowledge, described the position
in which the wings of the imitations of
these flies should be put.
CHAPTER II
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH
(Re-written from "Land and Water," November 6, 1897)
MANY interesting problems constantly
come before the fisherman, but certainly
one of the most interesting which has
recently attracted his attention is Sir
Herbert Maxwell's theory on the power
of fish to discriminate between various
colours.
His theory is, that though fish can un-
doubtedly discriminate between different
shades of light and dark, they cannot dis-
tinguish one colour from another. The
only conclusion that can be drawn from
this theory is the conclusion at which Sir
Herbert Maxwell has apparently arrived.
This is, that if the same relations of light
and shade be maintained in the artificial
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH
15
which exist in the natural fly, the colour
of the imitation is quite immaterial.
The facts upon which he based this
theory were (1) that during the May-fly
season he used several artificial May-flies,
some of which were coloured scarlet, some
bright blue, and some coloured to imitate
the natural fly, all of them being similarly
graduated with regard to the shade of
their various component parts ; (2) that
he caught trout with all these flies, no
particular one of them being decidedly
more successful than the others.
This experience of his no doubt would
at first strike one as being very strongly
in favour of his theory ; but on going
deeply into the matter, its bearing on the
fish's powers of vision is not so gr-eat as
it appears.
To begin with, we must consider
whether, judging from experience in the
past, trout have been known to rise at
things on the water which were not only
unlike in colour to any flies on the water,
but also unlike them in shape and grada-
tions of shade. This we know they will
sometimes do. I have on several occasions
16 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
seen a trout which refused a fairly accurate
imitation of the flies which were on the
water rise at and take below the surface a
swan's feather. There are also many other
much more extraordinary but similar cases
on record. Thus, the fact that these trout
took an abnormally coloured fly is not a
conclusive proof that they mistook it for
the natural fly, particularly as this experi-
ment was made during the May-fly season,
when the trout sometimes appear to be
quite mad, but are at any rate always
much less shy than at any other time of
the year.
The experiment, too, was made upon a
private water, and I think that there is
great doubt that the same result would
have occurred had it been made upon a
well-fished water where the trout were
more shy and better educated.
We must then consider whether, in what
we know of the natural history of fish,
there are any facts which point towards
the probability of their being able to dis-
criminate between different colours. Here
we find that there are cases in which
in certain species the males are more
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH 17
brilliantly coloured than the females, either
at the spawning season or always. This
is probably a process in evolution which
tends to make them more attractive to the
female. We also know that fish sometimes
assume a colour similar to their surround-
ings. This colour is, no doubt, evolved for
their protection from enemies, and surely
a very large proportion of these enemies
are other and larger fish. Many of the
larvse of water insects and other creatures
upon which fish feed are also coloured
according to their surroundings, in order
to facilitate their concealment. These
facts would naturally lead us to come
to a conclusion opposed to that of Sir
Herbert Maxwell, as the probabilities all
point towards the power of fish to discern
various colours.
Another very important point is the
structure of the fish's eye in comparison
with that of man, who we know has the
power of discriminating between colours.
This power is, in the human eye, probably
situated in the layer of rods and cones
of the retina. Had the fish's retina not
contained this layer, as is stated by Sir
c
18 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Herbert Maxwell, there would certainly
have been most excellent grounds for sup-
posing that his theory was true ; but this
layer is contained in the fish's eye, though
it is not the same as in man. If the fish's
eye did not contain it, fish would have
been totally blind.
How far this difference in the retina of
the fish bears on its sense of colour is, at
present, a moot point, though I believe
researches are being made in this direc-
tion. At present, our knowledge is too
limited with regard to it for any definite
statement to be made. The probability
is, that fish have the power of distin-
guishing colour from colour. A proba-
bility, however, is not a certainty, though
one is more inclined towards it than
towards an improbability.
Even should Sir Herbert Maxwell's
theory prove true, in spite of probabilities
to the contrary, I do not see that we
should have progressed very much further
with regard to facilities in imitating the
natural fly. We know that the relative
values of light and shade in various colours
contiguous to each other, is not actually
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH 19
the same as the impression conveyed to
our eyes. We have an example of this
always with us in the photograph, where
red and blue, in relation to each other,
certainly do not produce the same effects
on the plate as they do on the eye ; and as
we have no accurate knowledge as to the
effect of contiguous colours upon a nor-
mally monochromatic eye, we could hardly
be certain of producing an accurate mono-
chromatic imitation of a "multi-coloured
object, which would deceive that eye.
The case of a colour-blind human being
is certainly not a normal case, so the shade
value of the various " colours to this eye
could hardly be taken as a safe standard.
Even if we assumed that all these diffi-
culties had been surmounted, and that
the exact relative shade values to this
monochromatic eye of every colour were
estimated, I think that there can be no
doubt that it would be easier to imitate"
the colours, with the various shades in
these colours, than to calculate out the
relative shade values of the different
colours, in one particular colour, and that
the result of the former and easier, would
c 2
20 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
be much more likely to be accurate than
the latter and more difficult attempt.
Besides this, possibly, as the eyes of
some families of fish are more highly
developed ^than those of others, the
relative shade values of colour might be
different to the different families, so that
if we eliminate colours from our lures, we
must have different shading for different
fish.
Having considered all these things care-
fully, I have come to the conclusion that
it will be much safer and easier to keep
on using colours in our imitations, even if
we do present these imitations to a mono-
chromatic eye.
Since writing the above article, I have
been able to collect some further informa-
tion with regard to the probable power of
the trout's eye to discriminate between
colours.
These researches, though I have not yet
had time to carry them as far as I had
hoped, have led me to believe more firmly
than ever that I am right in recommend-
ing the use of colours in our imitation flies.
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH 21
I have prepared some sections of the retina
of the trout, and examined them carefully
in comparison with the retinae of several
other fish. A short account of what is
known at present of colour-vision is, I
think, advisable to make my meaning clear
to those of my readers who may not be
sufficiently well versed in this particular
subject.
The sensation of an individual colour is
produced by rays of light of a particular
wave-length falling upon the retina. A
sensation of " white " is produced by rays
containing all the wave-lengths which are
able to affect it. When, on looking at an
object, we find that neither a colour nor
white sensation is produced, this sensation
is called " black."
The white sensation may be mixed with
the sensation of any colour of the spectrum,
as also may the sensation of black, and
when these two are mixed they produce a
sensation of " grey." Some colours of the
spectrum are probably produced by a mix-
ture of various wave-lengths of different
primary colours, and many colours in nature
do not exist in the spectrum.
22 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
The word " tone " expresses variations
of wave-lengths within a named colour, and
"brightness" is used to indicate the in-
tensity of the sensation produced upon the
retina.
The enormous difficulty of working out
into a monochrome the shade- values of a
collection of colours, with several tones
and shades of brightness in each of the vari-
ously coloured parts of the object we wish
to imitate, can be imagined on considering
these facts only ; but there are more facts
which lead me to believe that to do this is
not only difficult, but impossible.
Two theories have been propounded to
explain the sensation of colour produced
upon the retina.
The Young-Helmholtz " theory teaches
that there are three primary sensations-
red, green, and violet. Other colours are
a mixture of these sensations ; white is pro-
duced when all three sensations are excited
together, and black ""is an absence of
sensation,
Hering's theory is that there are six
primary sensations arranged in three pairs
—white and black, red and green, and
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN PISH 23
yellow and blue. He assumes the existence
of three visual substances which undergo
metabolic changes when subjected to the
action of light. These are the red-green,
the yellow-blue, and the white-black sub-
stances. The white-black substance is
influenced by all the rays of the spectrum,
while the red-green and yellow-blue sub-
stances are differently influenced by rays
of different wave-lengths. When all the
rays together fall upon the retina, no
metabolism takes place in the red-green
and yellow-blue substances, but only the
white-black substance is affected. Thus
the white-black substance is the most
active.
Any discussion as to the relative value
of these theories would in this work be
out of place and unnecessary.
The ordinary form of colour-blindness in
human beings is the inability to discrimi^
nate between red and green. This shows
that the visual power of these people is
dichromatic and not trichromatic, as their
power is limited to two colours, or pairs of
colours, and does not extend to three.
The individuals who belong to this class
24 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
of the colour-blind may be divided into two
sub-classes — those who are red-blind and
those who are green-blind.
Those who are red-blind do not see the
red end of the spectrum, and the blue-green
appears grey, though they have distinct
colour vision of the parts of the spectrum
on either side of the blue-green. In match-
ing red with a green, they put a bright red
with a dark green.
On the other hand, those who are green-
blind see the red end of the spectrum,
while the green appears to them as grey.
In matching a red with a green they put a
dark red with a bright green.
No absolutely undoubted cases of blue-
yellow blindness have been recorded, and
only one of absolute colour-blindness ; but
one case is not sufficient to go upon.
According to the Young - Helmholtz
theory, a case in which only shades of
black and white were visible would be
impossible, as it would not be shades of
black and white which would be seen, but
shades of either red, green or blue.
According to Bering's theory, of course
absolute colour-blindness would be possible.
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH '25
In the normal human eye, only the
central parts of the retina are sensitive to
colour, the peripheral parts are practically
colour-blind. Anaemia of the retina, which
may be produced by pressure on the eye-
ball, will render the retina, first colour-
blind and then insensitive to light. To
me it appears that colours in relation to
each other assume a grey tone, and the
sensation of black and white disappears
last.
The great difference which I have been
able to observe between the human retina
and the retina of the trout is, that while
the human retina contains a layer of rods
and cones, the retina of the trout only
contains cones, or if it does contain rods,
contains very few, as I have not found any
as yet. There exists also at the back of
the retina of the trout a " tapetum,"
which extends over almost the whole of its
posterior surface. This does not exist in
the human eye, but is found in the eyes of
some of the vertebrates. It consists of a
layer of " guanin " crystals, and, presenting
as it does a metallic appearance, and having
great power of reflecting light, probably
26 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
plays an important part in the visual power
of the trout, particularly, I should think, in
a dim light.
The fact that the rods are absent from
the trout's retina does not bear the im-
portant significance that one would
imagine on first realising it. The fovea
centralis of the human retina is the seat
of most acute vision, and in the fovea
centralis there are no rods. The cones in
the retina of the trout are very closely
arranged, so that they are practically in
contact with each other, and their outer
limbs are rather longer and finer than in
the case of man. This layer of cones
extends to the periphery of the retina, and
the cones are just as closely arranged as
far as they extend. These facts should
lead us to believe that the vision of the
trout is probably extremely acute, in fact,
as we find in the retina of the trout, no
material difference from the fovea centralis
of the human retina, we have no reason
to suppose that the visual powers of the
whole of the retina of the trout, should
differ in any way from the visual powers
possessed by the fovea centralis, the seat
COLOUR PERCEPTION IN FISH 27
of most acute vision both as to colour and
light in the human retina. The retinae of
other fishes which I have examined (none
of them were Salmonidce) contained only
cones ; but these cones were some distance
from each other.
The layer of pigment epithelium which
is present in the human eye, is present
also in that of the trout. It occupies the
same position between the layer of rods
and cones, or cones only, and the choroid.
As in the human eye, it adheres sometimes
to the choroid and sometimes to the retina,
when the retina is removed, though per-
haps it most often adheres to the retina.
My space is too limited to enter into any
of the theories as to the possibility of the
pigment cells playing a part in colour
vision. It is quite sufficient to state that
they undoubtedly do play some part in our
sense of sight, and that they are contained
in the eye of the trout.
The retina of a colour-blind person does
not show any organic difference from the
normal eye, so we cannot say to what
cause colour-blindness is due ; but so far as
our knowledge goes, there is 110 reason to
28 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
suppose that the trout is normally colour-
blind.
As Michael Foster so ably put it, " No
man can tell what are the sensations of his
fellow-man," still less I think can man say
what are the sensations of a trout. All
we can do with regard to this question of
colour vision, is to find out all the facts we
can relating to it, and working on com-
parisons, arrive, not at conclusions, but
at probabilities.
The only thing of which I am sure is
that we shall find it safe and comparatively
easy to imitate flies in colours, but to make
a monochromatic imitation of one, which
would accurately represent it to a normally
monochromatic eye (about which we know
nothing), in a medium of which we know
very little, is practically impossible.
CHAPTER III
How TO DRESS FLIES WITH THE WINGS IN
THE NATURAL POSITION
THE generally accepted method of dress-
ing a trout fly is to put on the wings first.
This is perhaps the best plan when making
an imitation of one of the Ephemeridae, but
it is impossible to put the body on after
the wings, if the wings are placed in the
natural position in the case of any fly not
belonging to this family. The hackle must
also be put on before the wings, so it will
be seen that putting on the wings is the
last operation in dressing one of these
imitations.
I have never myself used a vice in fly-
dressing, and think that it is a great ad-
vantage to be able to dress a fly without
using one. Any one who can dress flies
30 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
well without a vice will be able to dress
them even better with a vice, and will be
able to dress flies at all sorts of odd times
and places where a vice could not be used ;
while he who has never dressed flies with-
out using one, will find that the imitations
he produces are anything but neat, when
he first tries to make them without his
vice.
Alder and Caddis Flies
These flies, as I have already explained,
have their wings in the position shown in
Figs. 3 and 4.
Give a few turns of the tying silk round
the shank of the hook, beginning near the
eye and leaving enough room to put on
the hackle and wings. Carry it down the
shank in the Alder, going just beyond the
bend, and in the Caddis-flies generally
stopping well short of it, so that the body
may be perfectly straight.
The material for the body and the tinsel,
if used, should now be tied in. I find it
best to tie the tinsel in first, not straight
out from the hook, but diagonally, as, if put
HOW TO DRESS FLIES 31
on in this way it lies much smoother in the
first turn than if tied in quite straight.
If the body is to be made of wool or hair,
the tying silk should be waxed again at the
part nearest the hook for about two or three
inches, and the material spun on it.
When I began fly-dressing I found this
spinning on of the " dubbing" a great
stumbling-block. In all the books I have
read the directions on this point are
simply, " Spin the * dubbing' on the tying
silk," and I had not the least idea how this
should be done. As others who wish to
make their own flies may also find this a
difficulty, I will try to explain the method
which I have found the easiest.
If Berlin wool is used, a piece should be
broken off and the strands separated from
each other. The strands should then be
laid together and pulled into short pieces
until the whole is in one mass. This should
then be teazed up with the nails of the
thumbs and first fingers until it is of an
even consistency. A small portion of this
should then be taken to make the body of
each fly. This should be teazed up again,
and made to taper gradually to a point
32 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
at one end, and applied to the tying silk
with the taper end towards the hook, as
shown in Fig. 9. All "dubbing" should
be teazed up and ap-
plied in this way.
The wool must now
be taken between the
thumb and first finger
of the right hand, and
twisted round the tying
silk by rubbing the
FIG. 9. thumb and finger to-
gether. The " dubbing "
is now spun on, and should cover from
about a quarter to three-quarters of an
inch of the tying silk, according to the size
of the hook. It should be wound round
the shank to the head, leaving a small
portion of the shank bare at the head
for the hackle and wings. The tinsel or
wire is then wound round in a spiral to
the head, tied, and the surplus cut off.
The hackle should now be applied. The
longest fibres of the hackle must be
of the same length as the hook. Clear
off the flue with the nails of the thumb
and first finger, and then holding the tip
HOW TO DRESS FLIES
33
of the hackle in the left draw down its
fibres by pressing the hackle between
the thumb and first finger of the right
hand and drawing them downwards. The
hackle will now appear as shown in Fig. 10.
Take the tip of the hackle thus prepared
between the nails of the thumb and first
of the left hand, and the butt of
fingei
FIG. 11.
FIG. 10.
the hackle in the hackle pliers, so that
the back or dull surface of the hackle
faces towards you. Now, holding the
hackle pliers in the palm of the right
hand with the third and fourth fingers,
put the first and second fingers behind
the hackle, and by stroking them down
with the thumb make the fibres of the
D
34 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
hackle which point upwards point down
in the same direction as the lower row.
The hackle will now
appear as shown in
Fig. 11.
Tie the point of the
hackle in at the head
as hr Fig. 12, cut off
projecting point, and
wind it on with the
pliers in close turns
towards the head. Three or four turns
will be found ample as a rule. Tie in
the end with the tying silk and cut off
the part which remains over. Now draw
down the fibres of the hackle which pro-
ject upwards, cutting off those which will
FIG. 12.
FIG. 13.
FIG. 14.
not stay down. The fly should now ap-
pear as shown in Fig. 13.
The wings should be taken from cor-
HOW TO DRESS FLIES
35
responding quill feathers from opposite
wings of the bird. These are split up the
middle with scissors, and a piece from
the side with the longest fibres taken.
The piece of quill attached must now be
cut at regular intervals, and each piece
between these cuts will serve as a wing
FIG. 15.
(see Pig. 15). Take two of these pieces,
one from each feather, and place them
together, with their concave surfaces to-
ward each other. Place them, one on each
side of the hook, with their lower mar-
gins a trifle lower than the body of the
fly, tie them in at the head, cut off the
projecting part with the quill, and finish
D 2
36 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
off the head. The head should now be
varnished, taking care to clear the eye
of the hook, and the fly will appear as
shown in the illustrations of imitation Alder
and Caddis-flies.
There is another way of preparing wings
which is much better, as it makes the ends
of the wings round, though it is more
difficult. This was first shown me by Mrs.
Richardson of Kings ton-on-Thames.
The feather is taken and the lower part
of the fibres stripped off, till a part is come
to suitable for making a wing. A portion
of fibres sufficient for making a wing is
then separated from the fibres above and
bent carefully downwards. If the fibres
are stroked very gently between the
thumb and first finger, they will arrange
themselves, so that their ends present a
rounded edge instead of a point. This
portion of fibres is then grasped firmly be-
tween the thumb and first finger near the
quill, and detached therefrom by pulling
it smartly downwards. The other wing
is prepared in a similar manner from
a feather of the opposite wing of the
bird.
HOW TO DRESS FLIES 37
Diptera and Perlidce.
In imitations of Diptera and Perlidse the
body and hackle are put on in the same
way, except that the hackle should be
allowed to project sideways as well as
downwards ; for as the wings are hori-
zontal in these flies, the fibres which pro-
ject sideways will not interfere with the
position of the wings, as they would do
in the Alder and Caddis flies. The body
and hackle, when put on, should therefore
appear as shown in Fig. 14.
The wings of these flies are perhaps the
most difficult of any to put on. To put
on wings which diverge from each other
as in the Blue-bottle,
two portions of the
quill feathers from op-
posite sides, prepared
as described for the
Alder and Caddis flies,
should be laid upon FIQ lg
each other, as shown
in Fig. 16. The hook should then be taken
in the left hand, and held by the bend
between the first and second fingers, with
38 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
the head pointing towards the right. The
wings are then laid flat on the body with
the right hand, and held there firmly
with the left thumb. The wings are now
tied in, the quill and part of the fibres at-
tached cut off close, and the head finished
off. The illustration of the imitation Blue-
bottle, etc., shows its appearance when
finished.
Those Diptera whose wings lie, when at
rest, one over the other (as in the case of
the Cow-dung), my reader will see that I
have represented in my imitations, with
their wings spread to a certain extent.
This is because I have seen that, in the
natural fly, when it falls on the water, the
wings are most often in this position.
In Perlidse, whose wings lie one over
the other, the wings should be put in the
position they occupy in the natural fly,
instead of across each other, and the fly
will appear when finished like the illus-
tration of the imitation Yellow- Sally.
The dressings which I have found most
successful will be described with each fly.
It will be noticed that I have put tinsel
ori many of the flies which have been
HOW TO DRESS FLIES 39
dressed hitherto without. My reason for
using it so freely is because this is the
only way to produce a peculiar effect
which is seen in certain flies when viewed
from under the surface of the water ; and
as this is how they must appear to the
trout, it is best to imitate this effect as
nearly as possible.
The bodies of many flies are covered
with short hairs. When these flies fall
on the water, .an air bubble adheres to
these hairs, and, seen from below the
surface, produce a brilliant metallic effect,
with the colour of the body showing
through in places. Ribbing the body of
the imitation with tinsel reproduces this
effect accurately.
The appearance of the natural fly on
the water, when seen from below, may be
observed by placing a small mirror at the
bottom of a large bowl full of water. I
have used one of those small round mirrors
which were sent about some time ago as an
advertisement for something, 1 forget what.
If the fly be placed on the surface of the
water over this mirror, its reflection will
show what the fly looks like to the trout.
40 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Another, and perhaps a better, way to
observe the appearance of the fly from
below the surface is to put it on the water
in a large glass aquarium. It can then be
observed by looking up at it through one
of the sides of the aquarium.
It is better to use tinsel in dressing
these flies than wire, as wire does not re-
produce the metallic effect of the air
bubble on the body of the natural fly.
§
JJI MTAJM
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PLATE II
ARTIFICIAL FLIES
Drawn from flies tied by Mrs. J. R. RICHARDSON, of Kingston-
on-Thames (dressed from the Author's models).
1, 2. BLUE-BOTTLE.
3, 4. GREEN-BOTTLE.
5, 6. HOUSE-FLY (slightly enlarged).
7, 8. CURSE (BLACK).
9, 10. CURSE (Dux).
11. CURSE (BADGER).
12. BLACK GNAT.
13, 14. YELLOW SALLY.
15, 16, 17. WILLOW-FLY.
18. ALDER-FLY.
19. OAK-FLY.
20, 21. COW-DUNG-FLY.
22. HAWTHORN-FLY.
Plate 11
£.«•
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15
18
16
17
19
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CHAPTER IV
THE ALDER-FLY (Sialis lutaria, Linn.).
THE Alder is a fly which hitherto has
taken a position in the dry-fly fisherman's
estimation very much inferior to that which
is its due. Almost every writer on the
subject says that it is but rarely found on
the water. It is naturally not found there
so often as the flies which are hatched out
in the water, but I have notwithstanding
frequently seen them on the water in fair
numbers. The proportion of Alders which
get on the water is probably very small if
compared with those which do not ; but as
the fly is in some places extremely numer-
ous, even this small proportion becomes in
those places a large number.
A practical proof that they do frequently
fall on the water is the avidity with which
42 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
the trout feed upon them, and I have al-
most always found them in the stomachs of
trout when they have been numerous at
the water-side. I have also often dropped
a natural Alder on the water and seen it
taken by a trout.
Many will probably think that I have
mistaken one of the Caddis-flies for the
Alder, but I can assure them that this is
not the case. I have always, with regard
to the Alder especially, made a very care-
ful examination of the flies at the water-
side, and, as every one knows, even a
cursory examination of the fly with a
magnify ing-glass puts an end to all doubt
as to its being an Alder or Caddis-fly, even
if the knowledge of entomology possessed
by him who examines is but small. The
peculiar hump-shape of the wings when
at rest also makes an Alder easily recog-
nisable.
I believe that the great reason that the
imitation Alder is not so successful as it
should be, is because the wings are gene-
rally put in an absolutely impossible posi-
tion. This is not the fault of the fly-
clressers, as all writers on the subject
THE ALDER-FLIES 43
have put the wings in this position, a
position into which they could not get
in the natural fly without the intervention
of external violence.
I have, in observing this fly when it
has fallen on the water, seen its wings
in the position of rest as often as not.
In fact the only other condition in which
I have seen it, is when it has been buzzing
violently, apparently with the object of
raising itself from the surface. Of course
the easiest, and in fact the only pos-
sible position in which the wings can be
accurately imitated, is the position of
rest.
Another mistake in the imitations usually
sold, is in the materials used in the dress-
ing. The body is made very fat, with
peacock herle ; while in the natural fly it
is decidedly thin, and of a dark brown
colour. The wings are made of brown
speckled hen's quill feathers or bustard,
which are of a very much richer brown
than the wing of the natural fly, and lastly
the hackle is much too profuse and goes
all over the fly. The following dressing
of the Alder I have found, to be most sue-
44 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
cessful, both in my hands and in those of
other fishermen.
Body. Very dark brown floss silk, car-
ried well on to the bend of the hook, and
there made a trifle thicker. I have at
times found it very successful when ribbed
with narrow gold tinsel (00 size).
If the body be covered with thin india-
rubber, it will be found to give the fly a
most effective appearance.
Haclde. Three or four turns of a black
cock's hackle, put on as described in
Chapter III.
Wings. From quill feathers of woodcock's
wings taken from opposite sides. The
woodcock's feathers have a somewhat
shiny appearance ; and as they are also
the nearest in colour to the general colour
of the Alder's wings, I think they are the
very best feathers to use. I have de-
scribed the position in which to put the
wings in Chapter III.
Hook. No. 2 — 4, new size.
(Plates I. and II. show the natural Alder
and the imitation as it should appear when
finished.)
CHAPTER V
O ADDIS-FLIES (Trichoptera).
EVERY fisherman knows the Caddis-
worm, which is the larval form of the
Caddis-fly. As the number of different
species of Trichoptera is very large,
there are many different sorts of Caddis-
worms. Some of these make cases which
they fix to rocks ; most of them how-
ever have cases which they drag about
with them, and retire into it when
any danger approaches. These cases
vary much in shape and the materials of
which they are made. Some species are
however, as a rule to be found in almost
every water. They are extremely inter-
esting to watch, though, if they are acci-
dentally introduced into a hatching trough
containing trout ova, they will destroy
the eggs. Caddis worms are taken freely
by trout, and I have frequently found them,
46 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
contained in their cases, in the stomachs
of trout.
The Caddis or Sedge flies, as I have
pointed out, are a very numerous family,
and most of them are taken very readily
by the trout. These flies, when on the
water, generally have their wings in the
position of rest. Notwithstanding this
fact, the wings of the imitation Sedges
are always put in an upright position,
while the position of the wings at rest in
the natural flies is practically the same
as in the case of the Alder, though the
lower edges of the wings do not, as a
rule, come quite so low in relation to their
bodies.
THE GRANNOM (Brachycentrus submibilus,
Curt.).
This fly is extremely numerous on many
of the streams in the South, and is so well
known to the fisherman that a description
is almost needless. It appears about the
middle of April, and lasts five or six
weeks, though Ronalds says that he has
found them in the stomachs of trout as
late as August.
CADDIS-FLIES 47
The bunch of eggs which the female
carries at the tail is best represented by
winding on some bluish-green floss silk
or wool at the end of the body, which
should be carried well down on the bend
of the hook, as shown in the illustration
of the imitation fly.
Body. Light coloured fur from hare's
face, with green floss silk or wool at the
tail. If ribbed with narrow gold tinsel is
sometimes more successful.
Haclde. Light ginger, or, better still, a
hackle dark in the centre and light ginger
at the ends.
Wings. The lightest-coloured feathers
from a partridge's wings.
Hook. No. 1 — 3, new size.
(Plates I. and III. give illustrations of
the natural and artificial Grannom.)
THE SAND FLY (Limnephilus flavus, Steph.).
Mr. Halford points out in his Dry- Fly
Entomology ', that Ronalds was mistaken in
calling this fly the Sand-fly, as the true
sand-fly is one of the Diptera. I take it,
however, that in either case this is but a
popular name ; and as almost all former
48 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
writers on the subject seem to have de-
scribed the Sand-fly as being a common
Caddis-fly, I think that in adhering to
the old name I shall avoid confusing the
fisherman.
This fly is one of the most useful of all
the Caddis-flies, as it is hatched out in
April, and lasts almost all the season.
There are several other Caddis-flies which
come out later in the year, that resemble
it very closely both in colour, shape, and
size. The wings are of a yellow ochre
colour, barred with brown, the body is
covered with short hairs of a light fawn
colour, and the fly is about the same size
as, or a little larger than, the Grannom.
The dressing given below, if slightly
modified, will serve for several of the other
Caddis-flies which come out later in the
season.
Body. Light-coloured fur from hare's
face, ribbed with orange silk. If ribbed
with narrow gold tinsel is sometimes more
successful.
Hackle. Light ginger.
Wings. The part of quill feather of a hen
pheasant's wing that is yellow, barred
CADDIS-FLIfiS 49
with brown, or a similarly barred part of
the quill feather of a woodcock.
Hook. No. 1 — 3, new size.
(Illustrations of the natural and artificial
fly are given in Plates I. and III.)
THE BED SEDGE (Anabolia nervosa, Steph.)
There is a Caddis-fly which appears on
the water about the beginning of June,
and which I have seen in great numbers
as late as the middle of October, that does
not seem to have obtained a popular name
among fishermen.
Its wings are very much like those of
the Alder in shape and veining, and the
fly is nearly the same size, though per-
haps it is, on an average, very slightly
smaller. Here, however, the resemblance
ends. Its anterior wings are of a light
reddish-brown colour, and are more trans-
parent than are those of the Alder. The
body is also shorter in proportion to its
wings, and is closely covered with light
yellow hairs, which, on the darker back-
ground of the body, gives it a greyish-
yellow appearance.
E
50 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
This fly is taken freely by both trout and
grayling, and I have seen dace feeding 011
it greedily.
Body. Lightest yellow fur from the
water-rat, spun on black silk.
Hackle. Light red.
Wings. The peculiar shape and colour of
the wings are best represented by the tip
of a feather covering the roots of the quill
feathers in the wing of the landrail. These
feathers are of a reddish brown colour, and
are found near the upper edge on the outer
surface of the wing. The most superficial
and reddish feathers are the best. These
feathers should be taken from opposite
wings, and prepared by stripping off some
of the fibres so that they may appear as
shown in the illustration of the artificial
fly on Plate III. Plate I. gives an illus-
tration of the natural fly.
Hook. No. 9 — 4, new size.
THE WELSHMAN'S BUTTON.
(Sericostoma collar e, Pict.)
This fly is very numerous in some places,
and is taken readily by trout. The body
CADDIS-FLIES 51
of the imitation is generally made of
peacock herle, but this makes it much too
thick. The fly generally appears early in
June.
It is said that this fly is often mistaken
for the Alder, bufc it should be easy to
discriminate between them. In the Alder
the anterior wings are smooth, broad and
strong, in the Welshman's Button they are
covered with hairs and narrow. This fly
is usually smaller than the Alder.
Body. Reddish brown wool, ribbed with
narrow gold tinsel.
Haclde. Yellow centre with black ends.
Wings. From reddish quill feather of
landrail.
Hook. 2 — 4, new size.
THE CINNAMON FLY. (Mystacides
longicornis, Linn.)
There are a large number of small Caddis-
flies which are very much alike in appear-
ance. The anterior wings are long and
narrow, and are brown barred with dull
yellow. They hover in great numbers by
bushes and trees overhanging the water,
E 2
52 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
and are taken readily enough by trout. I
have chosen the Mystacides longicornis as
being one of the commonest and most
typical. An illustration of the natural fly
is given on Plate I. and of the artificial on
Plate III.
Body. Light fur from hare's face.
Hackle. Ginger.
Wings. Narrow piece from well barred
quill feather of hen pheasant.
Hook. No. 0 — 2, new size.
THE OAPEREE. (Halesus radiatus, McLach.)
This fly, which is well known to fisher-
men and appears as a rule in August, is
one of the largest Sedge-flies. Its wings
are mottled brown and covered with hairs.
Several other Sedges somewhat resemble
it. (Illustrations of the natural and arti-
ficial flies are given on Plates I. and III.
respectively.)
Body. Brown fur from hare's face.
Hackle. A badger hackle, the light parts
of which are of a pale dull yellow colour.
Wings. From the dullest mottled quill
feather of a hen pheasant.
CADDIS-FLIES 53
Hook. No. 3 — 5, new size.
There are many other Caddis-flies, but
the following dressings, perhaps slightly
modified to imitate certain flies more
closely, will be found to cover most of
them.
1. Body. White wool, ribbed with narrow
silver tinsel.
Hackle. Pale ginger.
Wings. Brown quill feather of landrail.
Hook. No. 0—3.
2. Body. Hare's face, ribbed with narrow
gold tinsel.
Hackle. Brown ginger.
Wings and Hook as No. 1
3. Body. Pale yellow wool, ribbed with
narrow gold tinsel.
Hackle. Coch-y-bondu.
Wings. Speckled quill feathers of phea-
sant's wing.
Hook as No. I.
CHAPTER VI
PERLIMJ
IMITATION Perlidae, or Stone-flies, are
more used in the North in wet-fly fishing
than by the dry-fly fisherman of the South.
The best known species is the Stone-fly
proper, but this fly does not seem to abound
in the South, though I have found isolated
specimens at Heathfield in Sussex on two
occasions.
This fly is therefore omitted, and the
Willow-fly and the Yellow-Sally only are
described.
Perlidae, unlike Diptera, have four wings.
As, however, the anterior wings cover the
posterior when at rest, it is as a rule only
necessary to make the imitation with one
pair of wings.
This posterior pair of wings in the Perlidse
PERLID^ 55
often materially changes the colour of the
anterior pair when they are at rest. Thus
in the Willow-fly, though the anterior pair
of wings are of a brownish colour, they
appear of a dark slaty hue when the fly is
seen crawling about. An illustration of
natural fly is given on Plate I.
WILLOW-FLY (Leuctra geniculata, Steph.)
This fly comes on late in the season. In
September and October it is taken freely
by the trout and grayling. It is similar in
shape to the Stone-fly of the North.
This fly has almost always been made
buzz. Ronalds mentions in his Fly Fisher's
Entomology that it may be made with wings,
but does not say anything about their
position. I do not think that the hackle fly
is a really good imitation of the natural
insect, and it is quite possible to put the
wings of the imitation in the same position
as those of the natural fly.
It will be seen that there are on Plate II.
three illustrations of the imitation Willow-
fly. One of these has its wings in the
position of rest, the manner of dressing
56 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
which I have described in a previous
chapter.
The other, which has its wings partially
spread, I owe to a suggestion from Mr.
G. E. M. Skues.
The posterior pair of wings are put on
first, and the anterior afterwards. As the
mode of procedure is practically the same
as in the Blue-bottle, with the addition of
another pair of wings, I need not enter
into further detail.
The Willow-fly, when it falls on the
water, has its wings sometimes in one and
sometimes in the other of these positions.
Body. Light brown fur from water-rat,
ribbed with narrow gold tinsel.
Hackle. Ginger.
Wings. Darkest starling's quill feathers.
The wings should be made narrow.
Hook. Nos. 00 — 1, new size.
(Illustrated, Plate II.)
THE YELLOW SALLY (Chloroperla grammatica,
Poda).
This fly appears in May and June, and
though it is said to be occasionally taken
PERLID^E 57
by trout, does not seem to be relished to
any great extent by them. The wings
should be placed one over the other as in
the illustrations of the imitation fly given
on Plate II.
Body. Light brown water-rat's fur, ribbed
with yellow silk.
Tail. Two brown fibres from pheasant's
wing.
Hackle. Partridge hackle, dyed olive.
Wings. Quill feather of white hen, dyed
olive.
Hook. Nos. 1 — 2, new size.
CHAPTER VII
DIPTERA
THE order Diptera, or two-winged flies,
includes more species which at times serve
as food for trout and grayling, than any
other order which includes species of so-
called flies.
Though naturally many other species
than those whose imitations I describe here
will be found on the water, I have tried to
include those which are most commonly
found, without burdening my reader with
too many.
The several patterns of imitations of
small Diptera (curses) will, I believe, be
found to represent most of the commoner
species found on the water, at least suffi-
ciently accurately to deceive the trout
sometimes, though when the fish are feed-
DIPTERA 59
ing upon these tiny flies, it is very probable
that they will refuse all imitations, for
many species which serve them as food are
too small to imitate.
BLUE-BOTTLE AND GREEN-BOTTLE
The Blue-bottle and Green-bottle, though
perhaps some of the commonest of flies, are
but little used by the fly-fisherman. The
success met with in using the natural fly
is very small. The reason for this want of
success is the position in which the wings
of the imitation are put by the fly-dresser.
In this case, like that of the Alder, the fault
does not lie with the fly-dresser, as the
writers on fly-dressing direct that the wings
should be put on in the same position as
those of every other fly — that is, in an up-
right position. Any one, as I have said
before, on the most casual observation
must realise that the wings of a Blue-bottle
and the wings of a May-fly do not lie in
quite the same position in relation to the
body.
There are many Diptera which come
under the names of Blue- and Green-
60 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
bottles, but as they are very similar in
appearance it is only necessary to vary the
size, as the trout are probably not suffi-
ciently scientifically educated to discrimi-
nate between the different species. The
commonest species of Diptera which are
included under the popular names of Blue-
and Green-bottles, are the Calliphora
erythrocephala, Mg., and Lucilia ccesar, Linn.,
of which illustrations are given on the
Plate of Natural Flies.
August and September are the best
months for these flies, though they come
out much earlier. They seem, however, to
fall upon the water much more frequently
later in the season. They are also very
good flies for grayling in October. As I
have already said, of the many different
species which I have ventured to include
under the name Blue-bottle, the com-
monest at the water side is Calliphora
erythrocephala. This fly is also found in
towns. The Green-bottle, however, which
I have chosen to represent all the others
as being the commonest at the water
side is a country fly, Lucilia Ccesar.
Some species of Lucilia, the bodies of
DIPT ERA 61
which are generally green, are found in
towns.
Blue-bottle —
Body. Fine dark blue chenille or dark
blue Berlin wool, ribbed with silver tinsel.
(I have found the fly very successful when
ribbed with light blue silk as well as the
tinsel.)
Hackle. Black.
Wings. Transparent wing feather of
starling.
Hook. Nos. 2 — 4, new size. (No. 3 best
all round.)
Green-bottle—
Body. Bright green peacock herle, rib-
bed with silver tinsel.
Hackle, Wings and Hook. Same as Blue-
bottle. (Illustrated Plate II.)
HOUSE-FLY
There are many small Diptera which
frequent the water side, which to the or-
dinary eye are apparently House-flies.
They resemble them so closely, in fact,
that many could not be discriminated from
them except by an entomologist.
62 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
I have, therefore, ventured to put them
all under the heading of "House-Fly."
The only difference which will ever have
to be made in the dressing given below
is in the body, and very rarely in the
hackle ; but these modifications must be
left to the fisherman, who must judge for
himself according to the flies he finds by
the water.
I do not remember ever having met a
fisherman who had used an artificial House-
fly for trout. Trout however do feed on
them ; and in this case I can bring other
evidence than my own.
Ronalds describes an experiment he
made in order to test the trout's power
of taste; and in this experiment he used
House-flies, to which he applied various
condiments, including red pepper. Though
his object was not to prove that trout fed
readily on House-flies, I think he proved
that they did so.
Probably the commonest of these small
Diptera which is to be found by the water
•is Musca corvina, Fab., which is the country
cousin of our well-known House-fly, though,
indeed, many of the flies which frequent
D1PTERA 63
our houses are not the true House-fly
(Musca domestica). The male Musca corvina.
whose portrait is given on Plate I., has a
body which appears to consist of alternate
stripes of yellow and brown. The female,
however, has a uniformly dark body. Of
the other flies, very similar in appearance
to House-flies, the bodies vary in colour ;
but if made of a yellowish or dull brown,
sometimes ribbed, it will generally prove
like enough to nature, to deceive the
trout.
Body. Yellow ochre-coloured Berlin wool,
spun on black silk. Ribbed with silver
tinsel and dark brown according to cir-
cumstances. (The exact shade is easy to
see on the under surface of the natural
fly. The under surface of the fly is the
surface seen by the trout.)
Hackle. Ooch-y-bondhu.
Wings. Transparent quill feather of
starling.
Hook. Nos. 00 — 1, new size.
(Illustrations of imitation, Plate II.)
64 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Cow-DuNG FLY. (Scatophaga Stercoraria,
Linn.)
This fly appears as a rule in February,
but I have seen it on warm days in
January, in fairly large numbers. It lasts
all the year till the frosts set in. Those
cow-dungs which appear early in the year
are not so large as those which appear
later. The body is covered with short
hairs which gives it a velvety appear-
ance. The thorax is large and also has
a number of hairs upon it. In order to
imitate this large thorax, it is necessary
to have more room on the hook above
the hackle and wings than in other flies
to leave room for a turn of the chenille,
of which the body is made, just below
the head of the fly. This will be seen
in the illustrations of the artificial fly on
Plate II.
The body of the male is a bright yellow
colour, that of the female is greenish. The
male is rather larger than the female.
These flies, which on windy days particu-
larly, frequently fall on the water, are
often taken very freely by the trout.
DIPTERA 65
Though when at rest the wings are flat
upon each other, as shown in the illustra-
tion of the natural fly in Plate I., they
often, when the fly falls on the water, are
spread out slightly ; so in the imitation it
is best to put them in the position shown
in the illustration of the artificial fly.
Body. Yellow or greenish yellow chenille
ribbed with gold tinsel.
Hackle. Ginger.
Wings. Light land-rail, or brownish
starling.
Hook. 0 — 2, new size.
BLACK GNAT (Bibio johannis, Linn.)
The black Gnat is found on almost all
waters. It is extremely numerous in some
places, and is taken very readily by the
trout.
These flies are not really Gnats ; but as
they are commonly called Gnats by the
fishermen, I have kept to the old name.
Bibio johannis comes out in June. The
body is black in both the male and female,
the wings in the male are almost colour-
less, while the wings of the female are
dark. The head of the male is also larger
F
66 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
than the head of the female. Both the
male and female have a dark oval-shaped
patch about the middle of the anterior
margin of the front wing.
Both these flies are taken greedily by
the trout when they fall upon the water.
I have found the following dressing the
best : —
Body. Peacock quill dyed black, or black
silk.
Hackle. Cock starling's hackle, stripped
on one side.
Wings. (Male) From most transparent
part of quill feather of starling. (Female)
From brown tipped starling's tail feather.
Hook. No. 000—0, new size.
An illustration of the imitation fly is
given on Plate II.
HAWTHORN FLY (Bibio marci, Linn.)
Bibio marci is commonly called the Haw-
thorn-fly, and was described under this
name by Ronalds. It is, speaking broadly,
first cousin to the Black Gnat, though it is
very much larger. It appears at the end of
April or the beginning of May. The body
DIPT ERA ^7
is black, and the wings show the oval patch
in the B. johannis ; but as the fly is larger,
in the B. marci it is more noticeable. As
only the male seems to rove about to any
extent, it is just as well to imitate the male
only.
Body. Black Berlin wool, ribbed with
silver tinsel.
Hackle. Black.
Wings. (Male) Transparent part of quill
feather of starling.
Hook. No. 1 — 3, new size.
An illustration of the natural fly is given
on Plate I., and one of the imitations on
Plate II.
Curses
There are several other small Diptera
which at times appear on the water in
swarms. These are known to the fisher-
men as Curses or Smuts. They are often
so small that there is no hook made small
enough upon which to tie imitations of
them. However, as every fisherman knows,
when the trout or grayling are feeding on
these flies, it is generally impossible to
get them to take the imitation of any other
F 2
68 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
fly, it is worth while trying to imitate
them on the smallest hook made. This
is an 000, with a short shank. As it is
extremely difficult to put wings on these
flies, hackle patterns may be tried, but
the winged patterns are the best.
Once, when out fishing, I had a very
aggravating experience with some tiny
Curses. I had been fishing all the morn-
ing and had caught nothing. At about
two o'clock I saw several good fish rising,
but they would not look at my fly. I
observed a fair number of light Olive
Duns on the water, but both the imitation
of this fly and several fancy patterns I
tried proved equally useless.
At last I seated myself on a fence close
to a clump of willows, lighted a pipe, and
began watching a fish which was rising a
few yards higher up, not far from the bank
on my side of the river. The water was
perfectly clear, and when the fish rose I
could see him distinctly. He was a
grayling of between half and three-
quarters of a pound, and rose four or five
times in the minute. There were a lot of
Smuts on the water, which from where I
DIPTERA 69
was, looked very dark if not black. These
the fish rose at regularly, but he let
several Olive Duns pass by unnoticed.
The only Curses I had in my fly-box were
black ; and as those he was feeding upon
appeared to be black, I put one on my cast
and floated it over him several times. But
though he once took a natural Smut floating
within an inch of my fly, my fly he would
not take.
I then went further down the bank and
caught some of the Smuts that were on the
water. They were of a mottled dun colour,
and the black effect was only produced by
their shadow or reflection (which I could
not determine) when they were on the
water.
Of the flies in my box that which came
nearest in general effect to these Curses
was a green insect (dun hackle and peacock
herle body) tied on an 000 hook. This I
put on my cast and floated over him. He
rose to it, and as he rose I could see him
distinctly. When within a few inches of
my fly, however, he stopped short, turned
aside, and took a natural Smut that was
floating past. I tried him then with an
70 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
olive quill, a Wickham, and a red tag ; but
he would have none of them. I had to give
him up in despair, though I believe if I had
had a dun-coloured Smut he would have
taken it.
The dressings of Curses given here will,
I think, be sufficient to include the com-
moner Curses so numerous on most waters,
especially during the hottest part of sum-
mer and autumn.
The number of different small Diptera
which are found on the water is so gr eat-
that any attempt to classify them in a work
which is meant only for fishermen would
be out of place. I have therefore limited
myself to giving these imitations—
Curse No. I (Black) :-
Body. Black silk or black quill, with a
turn of the narrowest silver tinsel at the
tail.
HacMe. Black.
Wings. Most transparent part of star-
ling's quill feather.
Hook. 000 short shank.
(Illustrated, Plate II.)
DIPT ERA 71
Curse No. 2 (Dun) : —
Body. Thinnest part of natural brown
ostrich.
Hackle. Dun (hen's)
Wings and hook as No. 1.
(Illustrated, Plate II.)
Curse No. 3 (Badger) :—
Body, wings and hook as No. 2.
Hackle. Cock's badger hackle.
(Illustrated, Plate II.)
Curse No. 4 (Red) :-
Body. Peacock quill dyed to a crimson
lake colour.
Hackle. Black.
Wings and hook as No. 1.
Nos. 2 and 3 should be made also without
the fluff being stripped off the quill, which
in this case should be used just as peacock
herle is used.
THE OAK-FLY (Leptis scolopacea, Linn.)
This fly, notwithstanding its popular
name, is found on many other trees, and I
have seen it in places where there were
no oak-trees near. It kills very well, and
72 OLD FLIES IX NEW DRESSES
is in season from April to July. The body
is long and tapered, and the segments of
the abdomen are, in the male, of a brilliant
orange colour, with black markings upon
them, as shown in the illustration of the
natural fly on Plate I. The wings are
brown.
Body. Reddish orange Berlin wool, ribbed
with black silk, and narrow gold tinsel.
Hackle. Ooch-y-bondhu.
Wings. From sixth or seventh quill
feathers of landrail wings.
Hook. New size, No. 2 — 3.
(Imitation illustrated on Plate II., Figs. 3
and 4.)
CHAPTER VIII
WINGED ANTS
THE Winged Ants, which are the newly
hatched insects, appear about the middle
of July. The time at which they appear,
however, varies very much. They appear
in swarms, arid when one of these swarms
gets near or on the water, the fish feed
greedily upon them. They have four
wings, the anterior pair being somewhat
longer than the body. These wings, when
at rest, do not fold neatly over each other,
and as the insect is clumsy in its flight,
even a slight breeze is sufficient to drive
many of them out to the water.
The Ant I have seen most frequently
on the water is a large Red Ant, but
smaller Red Ants and winged Black Ants
are also frequently seen. The position of
the wings in relation to the body .easiest
74 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
to imitate is shown in the illustration of
the imitation of the Willow-fly, which has
four wings.
The Red Ant is frequently used early in
June, though the natural insect is not seen
so early. The imitation, however, fre-
quently meets with success, though it is
improbable that the trout takes the imita-
tion for the natural insect, especially as
the wings are always put on in a vertical
position.
The bodies of all the Ants should be
made fat towards the bend of the hook,
and carried well on to the bend.
As the body of the Ant is very shiny,
parts of it, when the light falls upon it,
have a very brilliant appearance ; therefore
I have recommended the use of tinsel.
Red Ant-
Body. Red-brown (burnt sienna) silk,
thin on the shank and fat towards and on
the bend of the hook, ribbed with gold
tinsel.
Hackle. Red.
Wings. Transparent part of a starling's
quill feather.
Hook. 0—2.
WINGED ANTS
75
Black Ant—
Body. Black silk, ribbed with silver
tinsel.
Hackle. Black.
Wings. As Red Ant.
Hook. 0—1.
CHAPTER IX
CATERPILLARS
" OF the caterpillars, spiders, and other
creatures which are supposed to fall from
the trees into the water, and into the
trout's mouth, and of the consequent ad-
vantage of trees projecting over a stream ;
of the sapient advice, both verbal and
written, to cultivate vegetation overhang-
ing the river, because it increases the
supply of natural food ; of the statement
that fish under trees are invariably in the
best condition, anglers have heard from
time immemorial. My advice is, cultivate
your trees, because they are of advantage
as giving shelter to the fish. Not a single
example of these tree windfalls has been
found in the hundreds of autopsies which
I have macle, and all the caterpillars and
CATERPILLARS 77
spiders that fall from the trees in a mile
of water would not suffice to feed a single
pound trout for a single day. They may
therefore be discarded from consider-
ation." — HALFORD'S Dry-fly Entomology,
page 138.
I read this passage with extreme sur-
prise, as it absolutely contradicts my
personal experience. After thinking the
matter over carefully, and trying to make
out how it was that Mr. Halford, in the
hundreds of autopsies he has made, has
never come across a caterpillar, I realised
how dangerous it is to make a dogmatic
and sweeping statement with the evidence
of personal experience only to fall back
upon.
As recently as June, 1897, when fishing
with Dr. Charles B. Watson and Mr. A. D.
Home, I made with them a series of six
autopsies of trout caught consecutively in
one morning. The smallest number of
caterpillars found in one of these six au-
topsies was five, and the greatest, twelve.
These trout were all caught under oak
trees overhanging the water, which were
at that time swarming with small cater-
78 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
pillars, most of these caterpillars being of
a brilliant emerald green colour.
In the afternoon of the clay on which I
am writing this, Colonel Walker showed
me a peculiar sort of knife which he carries
when out fishing, for the purpose of mak-
ing autopsies on trout. I naturally took ad-
vantage of this occasion to increase my
evidence, and asked him if he had ever
found caterpillars in the trout he caught.
He told me that in certain places, in the
early part of the summer, he almost always
found caterpillars in the stomachs of the
trout he caught under trees overhanging
the water.
This experience of his exactly coincides
with my own, though the six consecutive
autopsies described above without my
other similar experiences is a fairly strong
piece of evidence. I am therefore inclined
to believe that there is some good to
be gained in following the sapient advice,
verbal and written, to cultivate vegetation
overhanging the river, beyond its advan-
tage as giving shelter to the fish.
I will narrate the circumstances which
first led me to use the caterpillar as a
CA TERPILLABS 7 9
dry fly, as they may, I think, interest my
reader.
I was lying on the bank by a large pool
on a stream, and saw a little green cater-
pillar hanging from the branch of an oak
tree, apparently trying in vain to pull him-
self up the thread by which he had so
foolishly lowered himself, till he was un-
comfortably near the surface of the water.
I watched him, lazily thinking in a dreamy
manner how very unkind it was of the
trout to keep on rising, and yet not
look at my fly. They were evidently
feeding on something, but what it was
I could not make out. The little green
caterpillar was getting gradually nearer
to the water, and I was beginning to think
that the poor little chap would meet with
a watery grave, when just as he touched
the water a trout came up and grabbed
him.
Little green caterpillars were evidently
what the trout wrere feeding upon, and
that was the reason that I could not catch
one with a fly. I watched the branches of
the oak tree overhanging the water for
some time, and saw several caterpillars
80 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
fall in and meet with the same fate. The
next thing I did was to catch a caterpillar,
scrape the fly dressing off my hook, and
put him on it instead. I caught several
trout in this way, but found that it was
almost impossible to cast any distance
without shaking off the caterpillar. After
much trouble caused by this difficulty,
which was very trying to the temper,
as the caterpillars always seemed to come
off the hook at the most critical moment,
and having got a fairly good basket, I
found it was time to return. That night
I managed to make some fairly good imi-
tations of the little green caterpillar to use
on the morrow, instead of the natural ones.
These imitations met with success, and
since that time I have been able to im-
prove on the dressings then used.
I have found many different kinds of
caterpillars in the stomachs of trout, but
small green ones of various sorts were
decidedly the most numerous. The species
I have most frequently found is, I believe,
the larval form of the Tortrix viridana. I
have never found a large caterpillar in a
trout, though I have caught trout with
CATERPILLARS 81
imitations of them used as dry flies. I
give the exact dressing of the green cater-
pillar; but the other dressings must be
left to the discretion of the fisherman for
alterations, as there are so many sorts of
small caterpillars, some of them being ex-
tremely rare in one place and common in
another.
Should the fisherman wish to see the
sort of caterpillar commonest where he is
fishing, he must seek them himself. Those
only are useful which are on the trees
overhanging the water. If there are oak
trees the caterpillars will probably be
green, and many kinds of caterpillars will
be found which have rolled themselves up
in the leaves of the tree upon which they
live. I have no doubt that this imitation
caterpillar will be looked upon as a poach-
ing implement, but it is or should be used
as a dry fly, and to use it successfully
requires as much skill and power of obser-
vation as does the use of any imitation of
a fly used in a similar manner.
How to make an Artificial Caterpillar. — -A
small piece of cork J^ of an inch thick, or
less, and nearly twice the length of the
G
82 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
hook, must be cut into the shape shown
in Fig. 17. Next take a piece of quill rather
longer than, and about the thickness of
a large pin, from a tail or wing feather of
a starling. This quill makes the founda-
tion of the body. Split the thick end of the
quill far enough to embrace two-thirds of
the shank of the hook, and then tie it on
the hook as shown in Fig. 18. Now fold
- — -x — --. v* .j^^^r
A ^ > <*^_±L^_.V .,'£TT
1 ~*j ** '
(U-
FIG. 18. FIG. 17. FIG. 19.
the piece of cork, with the broad end
towards the eye of the hook, over the
shank of the hook and the quill, tying it
in as shown in Fig. 19.
This foundation serves for any cater-
pillar. Tie it at the tail whatever is to
be used for ribbing the body, and the body
material if it is not to be spun on the
tying silk. Then wind on the body mate-
rial, tie it in, wind on the ribbing, finish
CATERPILLARS 83
off at the head, and cut off the projecting
piece of quill.
The caterpillar when finished should
appear as shown in the illustrations on
Plate III.
Green Caterpillar. — 1. Emerald green wool
spun on tying - silk, ribbed with light
yellow silk.
2. Emerald green wool spun on ty ing-
silk, ribbed with scarlet silk.
3. Yellowish green wool spun on tying-
silk, ribbed with narrow gold tinsel.
4. Olive green wool spun on tying-silk,
ribbed with narrow gold tinsel.
(I have found Nos. 1 and 2 very success-
ful when ribbed also with narrow gold
tinsel, and Nos. 3 and 4 when ribbed with
light yellow silk.)
Other Caterpillars made with a reddish-
brown body, and ribbed with yellow or
red, are also sometimes very successful,
as are those also ribbed with red or Coch-
y-bondhu hackles.
G 2
Ill 3TAJ1
: '
.T.H.-dXA/^ , I
.!/«>>[•/ AH r) i!
.Y.r'4- /^O 17 /'.•'' •*!* *
/" /• f'.H^J i 'fJ k
• \-\k) d.
—'n< (ia.>r .H
.a/-i n-iH^TA^xaaflx) H r7
;i</> .Ot t(f
i ,^r , r (
PLATE III
ARTIFICIAL FLIES
Drawn from flies tied by Mrs. J. B. RICHARDSON, of Kingston-
on-Thames (dressed from the Author's models).
1. SAND-FLY.
2. GRANNOM.
3. CINNAMON-FLY.
4. WELSHMAN'S BUTTON.
5. CAPERER.
6. RED SEDOE.
7, 8. GREEN CATERPILLAR.
t), 10. CORIXA.
11, 12. FRESHWATER SHRIMP.
Pi ate 111
^*^N4>^^X,
12
10
J.
Swan Electric Etri
PART II
WET FLIES
CHAPTER I
A THEORY l
THAT a trout or any other fish could
possibly mistake a wet fly used in the
regular wet fly way for the natural fly of
which it is supposed to be an imitation,
was always to my mind a very doubtful
question ; but now it is so no longer. I
am sure the fish takes it for something
else.
If we consider what would happen to a
natural fly which had by some mishap be-
come submerged, we can come to no other
conclusion than that it would be carried
along by the current, without any power
of its own of altering the direction in
which it was being moved by the water.
1 Rewritten from an article in The Field under the
heading of " An Unorthodox View of Wet Fly Fishing."
88 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
Does this ever happen to the sunk fly ? I
think not. In fishing across and down
stream it certainly does not ; and even in
up stream fishing, in order to keep his line
straight, the fisherman must keep a certain
amount of tension on it, and very probably
draws it through the water with much
the same sort of movement he would give
it if not fishing up stream.
This movement through the water which
is given to the artificial must be absolutely
unlike any movement of the natural fly
when under the surface ; for in the natural
fly, if it were not already drowned, the
only possible movement would be that of
its legs and wings, which, not being in-
tended as a means of progression through
the water, and being absolutely unsuitable
for that object, would be most unlikely to
enable it to do so.
But here a very natural question arises
as to what, if not the natural fly, the fish
takes the imitation to be? In a commu-
nication to the Field in June, 1897, I
described, under the heading of " A New
Trout Fly," the imitations of two Corixae.
This seems to be a key to the whole
A THEORY 89
question. The number of insects living in
fresh waters, and possessing the power of
moving through it, is enormous.
There are between 220 and 230 different
species of Water Beetles in our waters.
There are also very many different sorts
of Heteroptera, including the numerous
family Notonectidse. When we add to
these the larvse of flies and water beetles,
the Crustaceans, Hydrae and Water
Spiders, we must begin to realise that
there are other things than a drowned
natural fly for which the fish might mis-
take its imitation, with the materials of
which it is made soaked in and drawn
through the water.
The movement of many of these crea-
tures through the water is fairly repre-
sented by the movement of the artificial
fly in wet fly-fishing ; and, when the shade
and colour and size of the fly is the same
as one of these aquatic creatures, I am sure
that the fish takes it, not for a fly, but for
one of them. Again, when the enormous
number of these aquatic creatures is con-
sidered, it is most probable that one or
other of the flies tried on any water by
90 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
the fisherman will come very near in shade,
colour, and movement through the water,
at any rate, to one of them.
If this conclusion at which I have arrived
is correct, as I believe it to be, would
it not be wiser to try to imitate, not the
natural fly, but some of these numerous
aquatic creatures? They are numerous
enough, and a large number of them are
easy to imitate ; but as yet but little has
been done, except with regard to the
spiders, in this direction. I am also sure
that the success of the so-called spider
patterns used in wet fly-fishing has been
due to quite a different cause to that
which those who first used them and
those who use them now believe, as these
imitations are made from the insect as it
appears when out of the water. The
spider goes from its nest to the surface
of the water and back again by a thread
stretched between, and so would hardly
move through the water, as its imitation
is made to do by the fisherman. Those of
the so-called spider-flies which are sup-
posed to represent some of the Epheme-
riclse, are, for the reasons I have given
A THEORY 91
before in speaking of flies in general, most
unlikely to be mistaken for the natural
insect by the trout.
A trout will undoubtedly sometimes take
anything moving through the water which
simulates life, if it be of a suitable size.
This is shown by the manner in which
they take the fancy flies ; although here
again, as one particular pattern of a fancy
fly kills better than any other on one par-
ticular water, I think that very often this
fancy fly is taken by the fish for some
creature which is particularly numerous
there. At any rate, if the fish only takes
the artificial fly because it is apparently
something alive and moving, I am sure
that he would seize it with much more
avidity if it represented one of his aquatic
neighbours on which he has been feeding,
and if its appearance reminded him of many
previous pleasant meals. (Jan. 15, 1898.)1
1 Since this article appeared in The Field, some corre-
spondence on the subject has taken place in The Fishing
Gazette and St, James's Gazette. Many of the arguments
brought forward by some of the correspondents have led me
"to believe that I cannot have made myself sufficiently clear
in the above article, so I have added some further explana-
tions.
92 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
My readers must not suppose that I
intend to apply these remarks to any
particular circumstances ; I am only speak-
ing of wet-flies in general. While it is
probable that the natural fly does often
sink under the surface, and may then be
taken by the trout, the wet-fly of the fisher-
man does not as a rule behave as does the
natural fly when under water. That the
trout takes the wet-fly fished up stream,
which is allowed to come down with the
current without any drag and close to the
surface, for the natural fly it represents, is
also very probable ; but these facts do not
in any way tend to disprove my theory.
This manner of wet-fly fishing is very much
like dry-fly fishing, and is certainly not the
way in which wet-fly fishing is practised
in lakes, and is hardly the most general way
in which it is practised on many rivers.
In dealing with this subject fully and
to carry my theory to its necessary con-
clusion, it is of course necessary to find a
probable explanation of what every form of
wet-fly, fancy or supposed imitation of a
natural fly, is taken for by the fish. This
naturallv leads us to believe that such a
A THEORY 93
theory, if it approaches the truth, should
include an explanation of why the salmon
takes the fly.
We know but little of the world as it
appears to the eye of the fish, but from the
little that is known something may be
deduced which carries this theory a little
further. In the sea many and very vari-
ous effects may be produced upon objects
moving through the water when passing be-
tween the eye and the surface, by light, by
the reflecting powers of the bottom of the
water, and by the relative clearness of the
water, all of which factors of the effect pro-
duced vary to an almost incalculable extent.
Given a bright sun, a light sandy bottom
and clear water, a small crustacean swim-
ming between the eye of the observer and
the surface often will not appear to be
like the creature when it is seen out of
the water. The outline will be indistinct,
and the whole will frequently appear to
be brilliantly coloured. Not only is the
body thus brilliantly coloured, but equally
gaudy rays will be seen round it, probably
produced by the moving legs and by re-
fraction.
94 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
In this case the circumstances are all in
favour of the production of an effect of
brilliant colouration ; but going to the other
extreme, with a dull light, a dark bottom
and cloudy water, we have the dullest-
coloured fly accounted for, as the first con-
ditions accounted for that which was most
gaudy. This also explains the fact that
the flies which go in various gradations
of colour between these extremes are
most suitable for various conditions of the
weather, water, and locality.
In the case of the Salmon-fly, probably
the salmon remembers, when he has
reached fresh water, many an appetising
morsel in the shape of a crustacean or small
fish, and takes the fly for one of these.
In the case of the trout we know that
crustaceans are very acceptable to them,
and though probably fresh water will not
produce the brilliant effect which is pro-
duced by salt water as I have described
above, still, as fancy Trout-flies do not run
to such gaudy colours as do Salmon-flies,
still the effect should be sufficient to
account for a fair amount of brilliant colour
under similar conditions. No doubt some
A THEORY 95
of the fancy Trout-flies are also taken for
small fish.
In many waters, however, the effect-
could hardly be made brilliant, as shallow
water, shade produced by weeds, &c., and
muddy or dark bottoms would all militate
against its being so, and in these waters
probably only lures that imitate the actual
colours of the object they represent would
be of any use.
In fresh water and in the case of trout,
as I have pointed out, there are many
aquatic creatures which serve as food
which have the power of swimming through
the water.
My theory, stated briefly and more ex-
plicitly, I hope, than was the case in my
article in The Field, is that under circum-
stances in which the wet-fly behaves more
as does some creature having the power of
swimming through the water, it is better
to imitate this creature than any natural
fly on the water, which cannot in any case
behave in such a manner ; and what I wish
to advocate is, that imitations of these
aquatic creatures should be made and
used.
CHAPTER II
CORIX.E l
WHILE fishing in a water where the trout
are very numerous in the spring of 1897,
I found that I could hardly catch a single
trout in the day with the fly. The weather
was cold and windy, and showed no signs
of mending. At last, one day, I opened a
trout, one of the few that I had caught
during my visit, and found the stomach
full of some insects belonging to the family
of Corixse. These insects are very com-
monly called Water Beetles, or Water Boat-
men. They, however, are not beetles but
bugs (Heteroptera), and are not the same
as the true water-boatmen, the Notonecta
glauca, though they somewhat resemble it
in appearance.
1 Rewritten from an article in The Field under the
heading of " A New Trout Fly."
97
On finding these insects in the trout I
took some of them home, and made imita-
tions of them. With these the next day
I caught a number of trout, though the
weather was just as unfavourable. Since
then I have improved somewhat upon the
imitations I then used, and in waters
which are inhabited by Oorixse. These
imitations have met, both in my hands
and in the hands of others, with greater
success than any other form of wet fly.
It is an extraordinary thing, considering
the number of men who have written on
trout fishing, that it has apparently never
occurred to one of them to describe an imi-
tation of one of this large family of insects.
Mr. Halford, in his Dry-fly Entomology,
indeed states that he has frequently found
them in the stomachs of trout, but he does
not even suggest that an imitation of them
might be made.
There are many species of Oorixse which
inhabit our waters, but the commoner sorts
are so similar in appearance that many of
the species are very difficult to distinguish
even by an expert, and but little work has
been done with regard to them. Therefore
H
98 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
I have come to the conclusion that a similar
dressing on different sized hooks will be
quite sufficient to deceive the unscientific
eye of the trout. This conclusion is cor-
roborated by the fact that I have several
times had an imitation Corixa seized by a
trout when it was sinking, and before I
began to draw it through the water,
which is, I take it, a fairly severe test as
to the accuracy of the imitation. Colonel
Walker and Mr. Herbert Ash have also
had the same thing happen to them when
fishing with my imitation Corixae.
Corixse vary much in size, the largest
and one of the commonest species being the
Corixa geoffroyi, which is about half an inch
long. In all Corixse, the head is wide and
is attached but slightly to the body. It is
convex in front and concave behind, so as
to fit the end of the thorax, and is as wide
as the wings when folded and at rest.
These insects possess four wings, which
they frequently use, though they are some-
what clumsy in starting from the surface
of the water. I have sometimes, however,
seen them fly considerable distances. The
anterior wings resemble the wing-cases of
CORIXsE 99
a beetle ; they are hard and shiny, brown
in colour, with dark mottled markings upon
them. The posterior pair are transparent.
The abdomen is light yellow and fringed
with hairs, and there are transverse lines
on the dorsal surface of the thorax. As,
however, these markings on the thorax
and wings are hardly visible to the naked
eye, they give the Oorixa a generally
brownish and shiny appearance. Of the
legs, six in number, the hind pair are
most used in swimming. They are some-
what flattened at their extremities to a
paddle shape, and are fringed with hairs.
I have seen the hind legs of the Corixse
when the insects have been suspended
motionless in mid-water, standing out at
right angles on each side of the body ;
and as in the imitation I am about to
describe, the legs take this position when
the fly is at rest or sinking in the water ;
this explains the fact of the trout taking
them in the way I have mentioned
above.
The Corixa sahlbergi, which is almost as
common as the Corixa geoffroyi, is about
half its size, but is otherwise very similar
H 2
100 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
in appearance, as are nearly all the other
smaller species.
The Corixa frequently conies to the sur-
face to breathe, and a number of small air
bubbles attach themselves to its body.
These, when the insect is swimming under
water, give its body a brilliant silvery ap-
pearance, with the yellow showing through
in places. This effect is accurately repro-
duced by ribbing the body with silver tinsel.
The size of the hooks used must depend
upon the size of the species of Oorixse in-
habiting the water to be fished, and varies
from No. 1 to 3, new size.
The Oorixse in any particular water may
easily be found in order to observe the
size. They congregate in great numbers
among the weeds, &c., on the bottom
of the water. They are very numerous
in most millponds, pools, back-waters,
sluggish waters and ponds.
The body is made with light yellow
Berlin wool, teased up with fur from the
hare's face, and ribbed with silver tinsel.
A good space of shank should be left above
the body.
The only legs which make any showr in
CORIX^E 101
the water are the hind legs, and they are
the only ones it is absolutely necessary
to imitate ; should, however, the fisherman
wish to imitate the others, one turn of a
ginger hackle may be used.
When I described the Oorixa in the Field
I directed that the hind legs should be
made with a strand of peacock herle. I
have however found a better imitation
of these legs since then, in the end of a
quill feather from a starling's wing. This
keeps up its spring even when soaked
for a long period in the water, while the
peacock herle legs after a time adhered
to the body of the fly, and did not stand
out on each side when the fly was at rest.
The tip of the feather should be completely
cleared of fibres on one side, and nearly
so on the other, leaving however a few
short stumps at the end, as shown in
illustrations of imitation in Plate III., to
represent the paddle-shape of the legs.
These legs are then tied in at right angles
to the body. I have found the best way
of accomplishing this is to tie the legs in
straight to the side, with the buts pointing
towards the tail of the fly. Then bend
102 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
them down, and put enough turns of the
tying silk round the shank of the hook to
keep them in the position shown in the
illustration of the imitation.
The wings are made from the quill
feathers of the woodcock, laid flat on the
body one over the other, as described in
the directions for tying Perlidse, which
have their wings lying one over the other.
The head must be made large, and the
whole fly when finished appear as shown
in the illustration.
When used, this fly should be allowed to
sink. The depth to which it must sink
varying according to circumstances, and
then drawn through the water in little
jerks. Each of these movements through
the water causes the legs, which stand out
on each side of the body, to bend back ;
but at the end of the jerk, when the fly
is momentarily stationary, these legs re-
sume their original position. Thus the
movement of the legs of the natural insect
when swimming is accurately imitated.
(June 12, 1897.)
This imitation Corixa has met with a
CORIX^E 103
very general condemnation as not being a
lure which should be allowed on waters
where the use of the fly only is permitted.
As this child of my fancy has cost me many
hours of careful thought and labour, I am
inclined, with all due deference to these
opinions, expressed by men of much greater
experience than mine, to say a few words
in its defence.
Corixce are insects which live in the water
and are eaten by trout. They possess
wings which they use frequently, some-
times flying a considerable distance, and
I have seen trout take them just as they
were trying to leave the surface of the
water. The efficacy of the imitation,
therefore, depends upon the skill of the
fisherman, who must make it simulate
in its movements the movements of the
natural insect. Mr. G. A. B. Dewar, in his
Book of the Dry Fly, in speaking of " tail-
ing" trout, which are probably feeding on
"food of the shrimp and snail order,"
advises that they should be fished for
" with a long line down stream, and the fly
worked with a series of little jerks, some-
what as in salmon-fishing. The fly should
104 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
be cast just above where the head of the
trout is adjudged to be, and worked into
the angler's bank, and it must never be
kept still, otherwise the fish will at once
perceive the deception and at once decline
it." Mr. Dewar then mentions a dry-fly
angler of great skill who is very successful
in fishing in this manner with a big Alder.
It is more than probable that in these cases
the Alder is taken for a Corixa, or some-
thing very like it, as the colour, size, and
movements are somewhat similar.
The Marquis of Granby, in the preface
to Mr. Dewar's book, also speaks highly
of a sunk alder for " tailing " trout.
" To kill ' tailers' in broad daylight and
in low water is quite an art in itself," is
another quotation from The Book of. the Dry
Fly upon this mode of fishing, and though
the author points out that this is not true
dry-fly fishing, still if the fisherman's con-
science allows him to use a sunk Alder
down stream and worked in this manner, I
think it should also allow him to use an
imitation Conxa under similar circum-
stances.
I should not have dragged the writings
CORIXM
105
of others into such a question as this, had
not the criticisms upon my flies been an
indirect attack upon myself, as what has
been said about them practically means
that they ought not to be used by any one
who calls himself a sportsman. If this is
true of the flies, what could not be said
of their inventor ? For this reason I take
the best means I can find to defend myself,
and what better defence could there be
than the published practices of two men
whose sportsmanlike qualities have never
been doubted?
What is legitimate trout-fly has, I be-
lieve, never been clearly defined ; but I
hope I shall not be presuming too much
in saying, that if the lure in question is
the imitation of an insect which can and
does fly, made of the ordinary materials
used in fly-making upon one hook, this lure
has a perfect right to be called a legitimate
trout-fly.
It will be found that my Corixa fulfils
these conditions.
There is one thing that I wish particu-
larly to impress upon my reader, and this
is that, in using the imitations of Corixce
106 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
and Fresh-water Shrimps, he should find
out whether these creatures inhabit the
water he is fishing. If he does not do this
and fishes with the imitations of either of
them where they do not exist, he will
probably meet with failure and disappoint-
ment.
CHAPTER III
FRESH- WATER SHRIMP (Gammarus pulex) l
OF all the forms of food partaken of by
the trout the Crustacea are the best. When
I say the best, I mean that trout fed upon
Crustacea seem to thrive better than trout
fed on anything else. In this case, at any
rate, the most wholesome form of food
seems also to be the most welcome ; for
though I have tried feeding trout with
almost every form of food, I have never
come across another form which they have
taken with anything approaching the
voracity with which they take Crustacea.
Fortunately, I can bring forward a case
to show how trout thrive when fed upon
Crustacea. In April, 1897, Colonel Walker
1 Rewritten from an article in The Field, April 16, 1898,
under the heading of " The Fresh- Water Shrimp as a
Wet Fly."
108 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
presented some trout to the Brighton
Aquarium. I myself caught some of these
trout, which were put in a rearing pond to
await their being transferred by rail to
the Aquarium. As I also assisted in the
operation of taking them from the rearing
pond and putting them into the tanks in
which they were to travel, I can vouch for
their size at that time. They were all in
rather bad condition, and, even had the
largest been in good condition, it could
not have weighed more than three-quarters
of a pound. These trout have been fed
entirely on Crustacea since they were intro-
duced into the tank they now occupy ; and
at the time I am writing (January, 1898),
the largest of these trout must be quite
two pounds or more in weight, and there
are others which are nearly as large.
The voracity with which these trout
seize the Sandhoppers and Shrimps upon
which they are fed is a perfect revelation.
I have seen them leap out of the water to
catch the Shrimps thrown to them before
they reached the surface.
I have also found that young trout in
rearing ponds take Fresh-water Shrimps
FRESH-WATER SHRIMP
109
with the same greediness ; and on consider-
ing these facts, I am surprised that there
have not been more attempts to imitate
the Fresh-water Shrimp.
The Gammarus pulex may be found in
almost all streams, especially where there
is much vegetation. An illustration of it
is given on Plate I. I have however found
them abundant in streams where there
were no weeds. They hide under stones
at the bottom of the water and among
the weeds, especially among watercress
and star wort. Though they will live
in still water, I have found them most
numerous in streams ; and notwith-
standing that they are generally supposed
only to inhabit somewhat sluggish streams,
I have found them in fairly rapid ones,
with a stony bed. The Shrimp is very
prolific, and if protected increase very
rapidly ; thus it is a most excellent plan for
those who breed and rear trout to cultivate
them, as they are one of the most valuable
forms of food.
These animals are very similar in shape
to their well-known relation, the common
Sandhopper. In colour they vary very
110 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
much according to the water they inhabit.
I have seen them a pale yellow colour in
some streams, while in others they are
almost black. The commonest colour is
however a reddish-yellow.
I find that the general idea is that these
Shrimps travel through the water in quick
leaps by bending up their bodies and
straightening them out again. I have
however never seen them do this, though
I have kept them in an aquarium and
watched them very carefully.
What I have seen is, that they use their
legs to swim with, moving them as though
they were walking very rapidly. They
cannot, however, walk when they are taken
out of the water, but lie perfectly helpless
upon their sides. In a stream where the
Fresh-water Shrimp swims, it seems unable
to progress up stream, or at any rate, if it
does it moves very slowly ; when they wish
to go up stream they crawl along the
bottom. They can, however, as a rule,
maintain the same position against the
current.
I have found the following to be the best
way to dress an imitation of the Fresh- water
FRESH-WATER SHRIMP 111
Shrimp : — Choose a light ginger tackle, cut
the tip off, and tie the tip on a hook (No. 1
or 2, new size), so that the fibres will
project for between -J- and J of an inch
at the tail. Tie in a thin strip of india-
rubber and a piece of narrow silver tinsel.
The strip of india-rubber must be taken
from a piece of the natural rubber, and cut
so thin that when stretched it is trans-
parent. When stretched it should be quite
a sixteenth of an inch broad. A little piece
of india-rubber tapered at each end and
half as long as the shank of the hook, must
now be fastened to the shank near the head
of the fly, placing the piece of rubber
on the shank and tying it in with the
tying silk. Now bring back the tying
silk to the tail of the fly, and spin the
wool, of which the body is to be made,
on to the tying silk and wind it on the
shank. The wool may vary in colour, ac-
cording to the colour of the Shrimps in the
stream to be fished, from light yellow or
reddish-yellow to a very dark brown.
When the wool body is finished off, wind
on the strip of india-rubber, so that the
edge of one lap meets the edge of the other,
112 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
thus covering the body entirely ; tie in and
cut off the remainder, and then rib the
body with the tinsel.
In putting on the hackle, which is light
ginger, it is necessary that some of the
fibres should be made to project forwards,
so the tying silk should be finished off be-
hind these. When the fly is complete it
should appear as shown in illustrations of
imitation on Plate III.
In fishing this fly must be allowed to sink
to mid-water, and then allowed to travel
across and down stream in short stages ;
but should not be drawn towards the
fisherman in any marked way, or it will
not represent the movements of the natural
Shrimp.
Whether any particular stream is in-
habited by these Crustacea may be easily
discovered. If the stream has a stony
bottom they will be found under almost
every large stone which is turned over. If,
however, there be debris or mud at the
bottom, they may easily be captured with
a stout gauze net, mounted on a strong
ring and handle. If this net be passed
along the bottom, and some of the weeds
FRESH-WATER SHRIMP 113
and debris brought up, the Shrimps will be
found among the contents of the net. I
should strongly advise any one possessing
a trout stream which is not inhabited by
the Fresh- water Shrimp to introduce them,
for they are, as I have pointed out, one of
the very best forms of trout food. I have
been very successful with the imitation
shrimp on waters which contain the fresh-
water shrimp.
This imitation has also met with general
condemnation of an even more decided
character than that of the Corixa. In
neither case, however, have any reasons
been given for the condemnation.
As undoubtedly some of the hackle flies
used wet must be very like a shrimp, and
if the imitation shrimp is condemned, so
also should these hackle flies.
LARVAE OF WATER-INSECTS, which have
the power of swimming in the water, are
best imitated by making a very taper
body, with a large head. They are many
of them small, and these should not be
tied on a hook larger than No. 1, new
size. There are, however, many larvae
i
114 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
which are larger, but not many of these
swim about much in the water. Some are
brownish-yellow, and some nearly black.
Some should have a tail made of two or
three strands of hackle the same colour
as the body. Some have appendages on
the sides of the body, and in the imitations
of these the hackle must be tied in at the
tail, carried up over the body, and a couple
of turns given at the shoulder. They may
be made in various shades, from brownish-
yellow to black. I have not yet had time
to work out any proper scheme of imita-
tions, but only write this as a suggestion.
SOME HINTS ON DRY FLY-FISHING
On Casting
The fly must not be thrown directly on
to the water, but should be allowed to
drop there by gravitation. Thus the line
should extend itself in a perfectly straight
line in the air, at least a foot above the
surface of the water, and then the fly will
drop naturally upon it.
On Keeping the Line Floating
Unless the line be floating it is almost
impossible to avoid a "drag," which is,
as a rule, absolutely fatal. The best way
to make the line float is to rub the last
twenty-five yards with vaseline, then go
over the line with a lump of beeswax,
and finish up by rubbing very gently with
a rag with vaseline upon it. A rag should
be carried when out fishing, with a small
piece of beeswax in it. A small tin of
vaseline must also be taken and then,
116 OLD FLIES IN NEW DRESSES
when the line shows any signs of sinking,
it must be rubbed with the rag which has
been previously dipped in the vaseline.
The small piece of beeswax should touch
the line as it is being rubbed with the
rag, and the wax will become soft on the
surface as it mixes with the vaseline.
On Making the Fly Float
Many fishermen use odourless paraffin ;
but it takes some time for the paraffin to
float off, and when a quick change of flies
is necessary, this is a great disadvantage.
If the finger be dipped very slightly in the
tin of vaseline, so that there is just a
suspicion of it on the skin, and the hackle
of the fly be rubbed with it, the fly will
float as well as it does with the odourless
paraffin, and the vaseline will not float off.
Personally I prefer not to use anything.
This entails a small amount of extra labour
in drying the fly ; but the tints of the fly
are not altered, as they often are if any
form of grease is used to make the fly float.
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.
VC 12484
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