American trout-stream insects; a guide to angling flies and other aquatic insects alluring to trout, selected and painted for each month of the trout season from nearly one hundred living specimens native to the rivers and lakes of the temperate zone of North America, with notes on and reproductions of artificial imitation flies tied by the author, and a chapter on the mode of tying artificial flies, with assisting charts and illustrations in the text, together with descriptions and illustrations of a complete set of new artificial nature-lures copied exactly from carefully colored life-pictures of all creatures that bass and other game fishes consume as food

Front matter

Cornell University

The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.

Preface

THE object of this book is to furnish anglers, amateurs, students of entomology, and others interested in aquatic insects, with a colored selection of the most abundant and well-known trout insects that appear, month by month, on the rivers and lakes of the temperate regions of North America.

Inquiries from various State entomologists failed to locate a single volume or treatise on trout-stream insects. Likewise, diligent search in libraries and large bookstores proved futile. This shows the present volume to be the first and only work on this most necessary adjunct to the angler’s craft. It is curious that while our Government documents relating to pisciculture are equal to, if not in advance of, those of European countries, there, particularly in England and France, research in the field of entomology has kept pace with other branches of science.

After looking back over a period of seven trout vii

PREFACE seasons, in which the insect studies of this book have been in preparation, the author well understands why the subject has not been treated heretofore in America. No artist could do it properly unless he were an angler of wide experience, with an infinite love of his subject, and willing to devote ample time to the work. He must be present on the streams nearly all the summer; and he must be prepared to forego much pleasure in the pursuit of his favorite sport—it so often happens trout are rising to the very flies which must needs be captured. No angler could do it unless he were an artist; and no artist unless he were an angler; it must be a combination of both.

The difficulty in catching, uninjured, these most fragile insect specimens, in keeping them alive in a wire cage long enough to paint them in colors true to the living fly (when dead, their beautiful color instantly fades), is an undertaking my brother anglers would scarcely believe. Most of the insects must, of necessity, be captured at evening—very often miles away from home. It is imperative that the captives be kept over night in the open air; and in the morning many of the most delicate are either dead or so greatly injured as to be useless. Then the hunt for them must be gone all over again. Nearly every specimen has to be painted by the aid of a magnifying-glass; and the most fragile are the most restless. To stick a pin viii

PREFACE in them is sure death, the mangling of the body, and the fading of the color.

Aquatic insects—at least, those most alluring to trout—have a tendency to keep themselves hovering over deep or rushing water, while the maddened would-be capturer stands waiting to get them within reach of his net, or else, teasingly tempted, he flounders about in the water, wet to the skin, only to miss the object of his desire.

Worse, far worse, are these elusive insects to get within the net than the wily trout.

Louis RHEapD.

Brooklyn, N. Y.

CHAPTER

XITI

Part I American Trout-stream Insects Preface

Inrropuctory Notre

Wuy Ir Is Best to Cory Nature

System anp CLASSIFICATION .

Tue ArvririciaL Fry or CoMMERCE .

Trout Fries 1n Aprit—Wuewn Insects First APPEAR .

Trout Insects ror May .

Tur Best Trout Insects ror JUNE

Typicat Insects or JULY

Concerning My ArtiriciaL Imirations

New Names ror F.1rs

Tue Maxine or an ARTIFICIAL Fiy

A Test or tHE New Furs

PAGE vii, xv

— 2 oO me

18 35 52 66 77 87 97

- 101 - 104 - 124

CHAPTER

XIV XV

XVI

XVII

XVIII XIX

XX

CONTENTS

PART IT NEW ARTIFICIAL NATURE LURES

Intropucrory Norn: CONCERNING THE RAPIDLY DIMINISHING NATURAL FOOD OF FRESH-WATER GAME FISHES. »- «© «+ + «© «© «© «© «@

New Lures Tuat Anz True To Lire . . .

Suiny Deviis: GOLD- AND SILVER-BODIED FANCY MINNOWS FOR SALMON, BIG TROUT, AND BASS .

Nature Lures ror SuMMER FIsHING: IMITA- TIONS OF MINNOWS, GRASSHOPPERS, DRAGON- FLIES AND CATERPILLARS . . . . «© ~

Tue Turee Best Nature Lures ror Bass. .

Sitver SuHiner aNp GoLpEN CuuB: NEW MIN- NOWs FOR SURFACE OR DEEP-WATER TROLLING AFTER BIG LAKE TROUT, TOGUE, MASCALONGER, OR SALMON . . . 2. 1 ee we

Tuer Ricut IMPLEMENTs aND METHODS: THEIR IMPORTANCE FOR SURE SUCCESS. . .

. .

PAGE

129 133

151 158

TURN ANT: | RSE at NAR US

ILLUSTRATIONS

Expert Dry Fly-Casting on the Stream (Pencil Portrait of Mr. George La Branche). Incolors. . . . . . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Specimens of Seven Different Orders of Insects . . . 6

A Selection of the Best Trout Insects for the Month of April. Painted from Life by the Author. In colors . 20

A Selection of the Best Trout Insects for the Month of May. Painted from Life by the Author. In colors . 36

A Selection of the Best Trout Insects for the Month of June. Painted from Life by the Author. In colors . 54

A Selection of the Best Trout Insects for the Month of July. Painted from Life by the Author. In colors . 68

A Selection of the Best Trout Insects for the Month of August and Corresponding Artificial Flies Tied by the

Author. « «= 5 «© 2 © ©» # & «© « « » 80 Selected Nature Flies Tied in Accordance with the Au-

thor’s Patterns and Sold by His Agents . . . . 90 Tools for, and Methods of Making a Fly . . . . 106

Feather Minnows for Bass, Pike and Trout . . . . 134

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Gold- and Silver-Bodied Fancy Minnows for Salmon, Big Trout and Bass . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Nature Lures for Summer Fishing: Imitations of Minnows, Grasshoppers, Dragon Fly and Caterpillars . 144

Artificial Frogs—Lamper Eel and Helgramite . . . 152 Crawfish: Under View, Back View and Side View. Helgramite: Side View . . . . . . . . . . 158

Silver Shiner (actual size) for either Surface or Deep Water Trolling after Lake Trout, Mascalonge, Pike and Salmon . . . . . . 1 «© « « =. 166

Over twenty years ago Mary Orvis Marbury, in her well-known and useful book, “Favorite Flies,” wrote: “At present fishermen are chiefly indebted to the fly-makers of Great Britain for copies of the insects alluring to game fish . . . and until we have studied more thoroughly our own stream life we do well to abide by many of their conclusions; but there can be no question that in the years to come the differences between the insects of the two countries will be better understood and defined, and that a collection of the water insects interesting to fishermen of America, with directions for accurate imitations, arranged after the manner of Ronalds’ ‘Fly-fisher’s Entomology,’ would be of great value.”

To-day conditions remain the same. No one, as yet, has seen fit to undertake such a collection of American insects; although in the interval several important books on English insects have been issued—notably, Halford’s “Entomology” and

XV

Leonard West’s “The Natural Trout Fly and Its Imitations.”

Now that so many American fly-fishermen desire a knowledge of this subject, it would seem that the time has arrived for a book on American insects; from the fact that anglers in all parts of the country have requested me to undertake this muchneeded work.

In this volume I purpose to describe and picture in colors a selected number of the most abundant and most common insects that trout feed upon in a typical American trout stream, and to show, side by side with these, correct artificial imitation flies tied by my own hands, in order that anglers may better understand how to choose their own flies and thus be enabled to lure fish with greater success and pleasure than heretofore.

In a handbook of this kind it would not be possible to include all of the large number of species and the numerous varieties that inhabit the different trout waters of the United States. I shall describe those specimens found on streams in the mountainous regions of New York and Pennsylvania, which are available to the more northern and perhaps southern zones.

At the present time American and English artificial flies are, almost exclusively, what may be called “fancy flies”; that is, tied flies made of colored feathers and wool, without much attempt at imi-.- xvi tating the natural insects. The question may possibly be asked, “If fancy flies entice trout, is not the object for which they are intended attained?” My reply is, good imitations of the insects that trout take as food are sure to prove more effective and make far more interesting sport.

The great majority of expert anglers at the present time rely on fly-makers of the British Isles for their trout and salmon flies; moreover, we are naively assured, “Some are tied especially for American waters.” In the various plates of colored flies, the angler will see a much greater difference between the insects of the two countries than is commonly supposed to exist; though in a few instances there are species that are nearly alike—as for instance the green and brown drake. It is most essential that a true copy of our native insects should be used as a guide for American anglers.

European entomologists have divided insects into various orders; each season finds them making new classifications so conflicting as to bewilder the lay mind. For the simple use of plain anglers, who have neither the wish nor the time to enter into the intricacies of entomology, the use of a common name for each insect will, I think, be more acceptable. Among the insects pictured will be found specimens of browns, drakes, duns, spinners, beetles, house-flies and ants. To enter into details concernxvii ing the general classification of insects would prove wearisome and perplexing and would destroy the purpose intended. This book endeavors, merely, to simplify the branch relating only to insects of interest to anglers.

The insects pictured are carefully selected from the many captured in the past three years, while wading and fishing in the river Beaverkill, situated in the Catskill region of New York. They have been most carefully copied, in every instance, from the living insects, which, like fish, rapidly change their lovely color soon after death. ‘They represent what I consider are the most valuable insects to imitate that will most induce trout to take them.

I have tied the various artificials as I think they will best imitate the natural insects, without any reference whatever to the artificial flies made and sold by American and English fly-makers, although I have made a careful study of all the works on trout flies. I have no hesitation in pinning my faith on the angler who uses these new patterns, if used as directed in the accompanying charts, as against the expert who angles with the popular native “fancy” flies or even the imported English dry flies.

Of this I am sure: for every insect a trout takes alive at the surface, a thousand are consumed drowned under water or near the surface; and to xviii one natural insect able to float on the surface, there are hundreds which cannot float.

Because of this fact, I believe it to be the height of folly to fish exclusively with dry flies on the surface. Wet fishing with two or three accurately copied insects is in every way as effective on the average American stream. I do think the dry-fly | method is excellent on large pools, and more or less placid water; but the trouble is that trout prefer to lie under a rock where turbulent water flows above, © from which in a runway they get insects alive or drowned as they go swiftly by.

Since this appeared in magazine form I have read Mr. La Branche’s “Dry Fly in Rapid Waters,” and I quite agree that anglers can wade into the lower end of a rapid, and with a very short cast float down a cocked dry fly a few yards toward them with deadly effect. I have seen Mr. La Branche do it, and I have done it frequently myself.

In general fishing the method is merely a matter of preference, and is really of very little importance compared to offering the right artificial that will make trout fancy is its regular food.

PART I AMERICAN TROUT-STREAM INSECTS

I

WHY IT IS BEST TO COPY NATURE

Every thoughtful angler will agree that to fish with an exact artificial imitation of the natural insect is certainly a desirable thing. To do this it will be necessary that some radical changes be made from the fly of commerce now in use.

In the first place, the most important class, called drakes—and a great many specimens of the other classes—have their under bodies quite pale and colorless compared to the upper part of their bodies. From the trout’s point of view—that is, looking upward—the artificial imitation with pale or white under body must be a much more acceptable lure than the commercial fly as now tied with upper and under body exactly the same.

Another desirable change, still more important, is to tie all drakes’ wings close together instead of outspread—a most unnatural attitude which the insect never assumes, and only introduced in later years by dry fly experts in order to assist the fly in floating. With the aid of oil the fly will float just as well with closed wings as with wings outspread.

One of the most remarkable and peculiar features in all drakes is the way they cock their tails upward from the body. In order to imitate this feature successfully it is necessary to have what is called a “detached” body: viz., with the tail made separate from the hook and slightly curved upward. There are a few English flies tied in this way; but I have not seen any detached bodies on what may be called strictly American flies. The detached-body fly I have found far ahead of the fly with the body tied round the hook: that is, if intended to represent the drake class. For that reason I -have tied all my drakes with detached bodies.

Still another change for the better is to tie the numerous class of duns with wings sloping down over the body like the natural insect. There are many hundreds of these aquatic insects which, after alighting on the water’s surface, rest with the wings lapping over the covering of the body; which is exactly opposite to the raised wings of commercial flies.

It will therefore be seen that the two principal 2

WHY Tf IS BEST TO COPY NATURE classes—duns and drakes—have wings in exactly opposite positions. The duns have wings hanging from and below the shoulders; the drakes, wings raised from and erect above the shoulders.

Trout fishermen also would find their sport vastly improved if they used imitations of the large and important class of spinners, which form a considerable part of the trout’s food. So far as I know, no attempt has been made to copy spinners. The extra long hackle used for the legs, the long, thin body, and the spread wings must surely act as an effective teaser when lightly dropped and floated to large trout. They might be excellent, also, for river bass.

I had no idea that the spinners were so numerous in numbers and variety. That they have not been imitated before this and used as a regular commercial fly seems strange to me. I see trout gobble them whenever they touch the surface; yes, and even jump at the surface of the water after them while on the wing.

If you fish with an artificial fly like the insect you see the trout takes it gives additional vim to the sport. Your interest is doubled, not only because it is certain that trout will respond to correct imitations, but by the charm of the situation whereby you are as intimately connected with the food taken as with the fish.

By using a fancy fly your interest in what food the fish prefers is void; you simply fish with a bunch of feathers. Furthermore, it tnay be necessary to keep changing fancy flies till you get the desired rise, which may not come to any of them.

How often, when a nice fish is netted, is the question asked, “What fly did you use?”

I claim, and have proved many times, that a fairly good imitation of rising insects will induce trout to rise when a fancy fly is ineffective. If an exact copy of the natural insect is offered to the fish—even if that natural insect is not in flight— it is sure to entice and lure a trout more readily than a fancy fly.

That is the reason this book of the commonest and most abundant trout insects is offered for the use of discerning and thoughtful anglers.

II System And Classification

AFTER a careful study of the various British books on trout insects and their artificial imitations issued to date, I deem it wise to brush aside the science of entomology, which is of no actual service to our purpose, and to lay before the angler a plain, simple plan whereby he can obtain just enough information to understand easily the general characteristics of the insects he is likely to observe trout feeding upon while wading a trout stream, to the end that he may have with him a fair imitation that will be most successful in luring trout.

For what little classification is necessary I have, in a measure, followed after the plan of Michael Theakston, who was the first British angler to make an effort in that direction. He also made a selected list of the best British flies for each month, and tied his flies true to nature. The wings of his drakes are cocked; those of his browns and duns 5 are flat. You can at once recognize ‘n his artificial imitations the class of insects he imitates.

In Ronalds’ “Fly-fisher’s Entomology” there is no effort at classification; he simply made a selection of what he thought to be the best flies for each month, giving a full description of them and telling how to imitate them. Ronalds was an exceptionally clever artist, and his representations of both insects and artificials are so perfect that I form from them a better understanding of British aquatic insects than from any others I have seen issued up to the present time. He, like Theakston, tied his own flies with the greatest fidelity to nature.

The plans of these two eminent authorities I consider are the best to follow; for every month of our trout season has a distinctly different weather condition, and, too, there is a decided difference in our trout insects each month.

The accompanying page drawing shows a system of separation according to shape and construction of the seven most important classes of trout insects and their creepers, viz.: browns, drakes, duns, spinners, beetles, house-flies, and ants. Each of these classes contains many distinct species that differ in size, color, and shape. The monthly colored pages show only a selection of the best and most abundant insects seen upon the water.

Take, for instance, the order of Ephemera, a 6

CREEPER

DRAKES.

(EPHeme RA) 4

SPINNERS

(DIPTERA) 6 7

COWDUNG _FLY i nd WINGS CAST ‘ & 3k BEETLES TWO-WING FLIES' foe Ken (CoLesPTERA) (Diprera) (HymenopTerA)

SPECIMENS OF SEVEN DIFFERENT ORDERS OF INSECTS q drake class, of which there are over forty species in the British Isles. This region somewhat corresponds to our temperate regions in climatic condition, yet I am pretty sure that not only have we many more species of that class but they are larger, much more brilliant and varied in color. The same will no doubt be found true with the class of Perlide, or stone-flies, and other orders.

_I have not yet had the opportunity to study the insects north or south of the temperate regions; yet I am of the opinion that both those sections of our American continent will show an entirely different class of insects. A gentleman from North Carolina kindly sent me some trout flies caught in his lovality which were entirely new to me; one, in particular, a spinner of gigantic proportions compared with those found here.

The following table of seven orders the angler will be able to use as a guide to identify different species in their class whenever he observes them in their natural state, either as creeper or as mature insect:

First: The browns, or stone-flies, are all bred in the water and hatch out from a creeper. They are most plentiful in the spring, but some are on the water all summer. Their bodies are smooth and fleshy, and they have two pairs of smooth, oblong wings, which, when folded, circle closely over and beyond the body. They have two feelers at

SYSTEM AND CLASSIFICATION the head, and most of them two wisks at the tail. They are mostly brown in color, and are very quick runners, both in the water and on land.

Second: Drakes are all bred in the water and are of various sizes and colors, abounding in all their varieties in vast numbers, from the large green drake to the very tiny white drake. Their movements are sluggish on land; they will even allow themselves to be taken up by the wings. They are not so hardy as the browns. Their shoulders and bodies are exposed; but nature has furnished them with a temporary covering, which they cast off when the weather suits, bursting open the covering at the shoulders and coming out a different color. They have close, thick shoulders, and smooth, tapering bodies which curve upward like the feathers in the tail of a drake. They have a pair of smooth, oblong wings, which, when at rest, stand upright close together; a small wing stands at the root of each large one, and there are two or three hairs in the tail. Some species hatch out in two or three weeks. Others continue hatching through the entire summer.

Third: The duns have two long feelers, small heads, short necks, and small, jumped-up shoulders. They have two pairs of large wings, set near the head; the under wings of some fold double, and all lie close together along the back and slope down over the sides, growing broader at the ends. Duns

AMERICAN TROUT-STREAM JNSECTS all breed in the water from creepers that are enclosed in artificial cases, ingeniously fashioned around them for self-preservation. Trout consume these creepers while?in their cases at the bottom, also while they are rising from the mud to the surface, which they do twice a year. When on land or at the water’s surface in repose, they are similar in appearance to moths. They sport on the wing more in the dusk and twilight than in the daytime, and in general they are tender and susceptible to cold. They are more numerous on warm evenings, flying in quick whirls. When they alight they run exceedingly fast.

Fourth: The class of spinners, the long-legged, slender tribe of insects very alluring to trout. Some are bred on the land and some in the water. They have in general two feelers and a small trunk at the nose; six long, thin legs; and a pair of long, narrow, transparent wings—some slanting upward from the shoulders, others lying horizontally on each other over the back. There are vast varieties of them, from the large gray spinner to the small mosquito.

Fifth: The house-fly. The flies of this class resemble the house-fly in having large heads, thick shoulders, a thick body which is about half the length of the fly, and a pair of clear, oblong wings which lie flat or horizontal and point more or less from the body. They are principally bred on land;

| SYSTEM AND CLASSIFICATION but, being an aac numerous, many fall casually onto the water on windy days and are taken by the fish. The cowdung and the bluebottle are well known examples of this class.

Sixth: The beetles. The outer parts of these insects are hard and shelly, and the shoulders are united to the body by a flexible joint, which enables them to turn and steer; the two fore legs are attached to the shoulder, and the other four to the shelly breast-plate. They have two pairs of wings; the upper ones, which are hard, stand close to the shoulder-plate and fold over a pair of soft ones and the upper parts of the body. They are of an oblong or oval shape, more or less flattened. Many of them are bred in the water, and are very natural food for fish. They are a numerous class.

Seventh: The class of ants consists of many species that live in communities, often of immense numbers, and are dispersed over the fields and woods in places of their own peculiar choice. A portion of each community are annually furnished with wings; and in the summer season, at their appointed time, these fly off and leave the colony, as bees do their hives. Great numbers of them fly over and fall onto the neighboring streams and are readily nipped up by the fish. The working portion of the community have large hawk-like heads, and large oval bodies—which are united by two or three comparatively very small shoulder-joints, and u to these their legs are attached; but those with wings appear to have but one jumped-up shoulder, as thick as their bodies, and united by a small, hairlike link. They have two jointed feelers which they use constantly; and they run exceedingly fast. Some species have one pair, and some two pairs, of thin, glassy wings, which fall flat over the back and reach beyond the end of the body. Their colors vary from black to green. The sage-green ant observed in August in such vast numbers I do not find mentioned in English books; their red ant I have not observed on our streams. The large black ant has a flight in May and a lesser one in June.

The first business of the angler when he arrives at the stream is with the aquatic flies of the day. If he cannot see these out on the water, he may often discover them on a spider’s web, or he may find them with their creepers at their times of hatching, at the edges of the stream. An hour or two spent in research and observation, at intervals through a season, will give a truer and more correct knowledge of the right fly to use than many years of angling; and it is often the shortest way to get fine sport.

III The Artificial Fly Of Commerce

It is incomprehensible why British and American fly-makers in recent years have gone out of their way to tie “fancy” flies when the natural insects are so beautiful in form and color; so varied, so graceful, that if they are copied true, fancy flies are exceedingly commonplace when they are put side by side. It is obvious that the originators never saw, or considered, God’s handiwork: perhaps, in their egotism, they tried to improve on it; but it is certain they miserably failed, as we all must do, in any like attempt.

We have become so accustomed to using certain well-known artificials with more or less success that our confidence in them has become inflated, or at least satisfying.

Mary Orvis Marbury gives some amusingly naive accounts in her book, “Favorite Flies,” of how some of these historic masterpieces were born. 13

Most often some well-known angler takes up an old favorite fly, ties to it a bit of red or white feather, makes a test under most favorable conditions, and then swears the additional ornament was surely the cause. What is the outcome? He cries out to all his friends of the wonderful discovery of a new killing fly, then modestly names the new creation after himself or the place he happens to be fishing. Rube Wood, Seth Green, Cahill, Ferguson, and others are examples of them. By this I do not take from their usefulness or value as flies, but merely comment upon their rise into fame, as flies.

Tradition has much to do with such glaring mistakes. ach generation of anglers go on using tackle-shop flies without thinking—or, rather, what little time can be spared must be devoted to the actual sport of angling. They accept the wise and serious air of the tackle-dealer’s clerk; swallow his assurance that such and such a fly is a deadly killer, when ninety-nine per cent. never caught or even saw a trout except the stuffed images or the wretched pictures supposed to depict them adorning the walls of every up-to-date store.

Another good reason why so many of the trade flies should be discarded is that for cheapness and profit anything will suffice if the hook is covered and a gay pair of wings attached in the same old way. To supply the varied wants of his patrons 4

THE ARTIFICIAL FLY OF COMMERCE the tackle-dealer’s stock must be enormous. You. will naturally ask, “Then why add more?” My object is not to increase them, but to simmer them down to nature’s reasonable limit.

Experts have told me that their list of flies fora the entire season is confined to twelve varieties. I should hardly consider such a drastic cut-down sufficient to get fish or to enjoy good sport. I do think a careful selection of six for each month would be a better outfit to attain the result we desire— fair sport and fair fish.