Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/48

38 and with the exception of the cow-dung, which is a very useful fly, may be dispensed with. It is impossible here to give the dressing of the various flies; but if the angler goes to any respectable tackle-maker and mentions the names of the flies he requires he will get them. To commence then with the month of—

March, which is early enough for fly-fishing. The earliest fly found on the water is the February red. This, with the blue dun and the March brown, will do well during March, if anything will. The same flies kill well enough also in—

April, and to them may be added the red spinner, the cow-dung, the red and black hackles, the needle brown, and towards the end of the month, or entering on May, the yellow dun and the iron-blue dun.

May.—In addition to many of these, the angler may use the stone-fly, the sedge-fly, and the orl or alder fly—a very celebrated and general fly with the little black gnat and the pale evening dun,—a fly which only comes on in the evening towards dusk, when the fish feed ravenously on it.

June.—In this month the standing dish with the trout in most rivers is the green drake, better known as the May fly, though it rarely appears until May is over. This and its transformations, the grey drake, with the well-known Welsh fly, the coch-y-bondu, otherwise the bracken clock, shorn-fly, &c.; these, with various light-coloured duns and spinners, may be used through the month with effect, as this is the prime month for fly-fishers.

July, as a rule, is rather an indifferent month. The weather is hot, the water low and clear, and fish do not feed well till the evening, when the white and brown moths may be used. In the day-time the red and black ant flies often kill well, and these, with various lightcoloured duns and diminutive green, blue, and grey midges, must make up the bill of fare.

August.—The August dun and the cinnamon now are added to the list, many of the previous flies being still on.



September brings the whirling dun and the willow-fly, and this closes the angler's fly-fishing for trout.

In the latter months many of the earlier flies reappear, and with the list here given the angler should have no difficulty in killing fish anywhere. Most of the smaller trout-flies are dressed on hooks that range from the sizes No. 10 to 17 in the scale of hooks given in fig. 12 in the cut the larger flies, as the May-flies, stone-fly, the moths, &c., running up to sizes 6, 7, and 8. There are, besides these flies, which are definite imitations of insects, a few of such general make and colour that though they do not strictly imitate one fly, may have a general likeness to several, and which are called general flies, and are often used when the angler is in a difficulty in knowing what to put on his cast. Among the best of these are the Hoffland, the Francis, the governor, the coachman, the soldier palmer, the wren-tail, the grouse and partridge hackles, &c. As a rule, the smaller flies are used in the day-time, the size being increased as the evening and night come on. In some waters, owing to the excessive fishing, the trout get so wary that after the May-fly there is very little chance, unless the day be particularly favourable, of hooking a trout before the evening, and fishing is often carried on till ten or eleven o'clock at night. Of course at such times the angler has to trust more to his senses of feeling and hearing than sight. In the majority of instances it is the custom to let the tackle soak, and when fishing to allow the fly to sink a little under the surface to fish with a "wet fly," as it is called; in others, where the fish are more wary, in order to imitate nature more closely yet, it is the custom to fish with a dry one that is, to make the fly and line rest on the surface, without becoming sub merged. To this end, when the fly and line become wet, they are waved to and fro from the rod-point in the air to make them become dry again. The fly should always be allowed to float down stream, as natural flies do, and should not be jerked or "played," as it is termed, unless the angler is fishing down stream and drawing his fly against it, when he will allow it to sink under water, and in that position it may be supposed to represent some 