The complete science of fly fishing and spinning

Front matter

The COMPLETE

AND

NING

Preface

In writing this book the author has endeavoured to confine his text entirely to subjects that he thinks will interest every fisherman and be of assistance to those who, owing to lack of opportunity, are neither experienced nor skilful. Even when he has ventured to express his opinion on controversial subjects he hopes that his views will cause offence to none.

The average fisherman may not want to know how to build a rod — but he certainly wishes to know how to select one and how to use it. He may not want to make his own flies — but he certainly desires to know what flies to get and when and how to use them. He does not want to make his fishing line — what he wants is to know how to extend it and how to preserve its usefulness.

If it be desirable and necessary to obtain help in order to become a proficient fly fisherman, the author admits the great advantages of personal tuition when it is obtainable. But, on the other hand, he is confident that, by explaining in simple language the science of casting and fishing with the fly or minnow, in similar terms to those which he uses when teaching the student personally, he can help the reader to acquire, by careful attention, a success which will well repay him for his trouble.

When one recalls the pleasure and assistance which have been derived from the literature devoted to fly fishing, the pleasant reminiscences which have been revived, and the extensive fields of sport which have thus been thrown open, it would indeed be ungrateful to deny the iv. PREFACE

efficacy of written instructions on this delightful science, but the author cannot too strongly deprecate the assumption that this book is written with the view of attempting to teach experienced fishermen. It is written especially for those who are thinking of taking up the sport, and if the author should be successful in imparting to these the skill which has afforded him so many happy hours, and if, in addition, some of his ideas and methods may happen to interest his brother fishermen, he will, in some measure, repay the debt which he owes to a kindly Providence for giving him so many delightful opportunities of fishing.

No kill is quite equal to that of the first salmon ; no thrill can exceed that which runs from the fisherman's hands to his brain as he braces his muscles to resist the first rush of a fresh-run salmon, feels the long downward strain on his rod, and hears the screech of the reel as his first fish plunges down-stream in its initial rush for safety ; no tension is more delightful than the first twenty minutes spent with a clean-run salmon ; and no satisfaction, so far as the sport is concerned, can possibly exceed that felt by him as the gleaming silver sides of his first fish emerge from the water securely held on his gillie's gaff. The vigour of the sport, the grandeur of the scenery, and the revivifying atmosphere of his surroundings, offer a tonic to the system far more pleasant and of infinitely greater value than any the pharmacopoeia is capable of producing. The contest between the salmon and the fisherman is more severe, longer, and the result more uncertain than that between the trout and man, and— during the time the struggle lasts — no fisherman would deny that salmon is infinitely superior to trout fishing ; but during all the other hours of these two sports dry fly fishing for trout may with justice claim precedence as the most attractive form of angling.

PREFACE V.

While the fisherman's sporting instincts will be aroused by the difficulties and thrilled by the triumphs of salmon fishing, the artistic and poetic side of his temperament will be as strongly appealed to and affected by the charms of trout fishing.

The salmon river will inspire the mind with the strength and force of its beauty, and invigorate the body with the health-giving scent of its pine forests and heather ; the trout stream, on the other hand, will lull the senses into delicious content, as the rippling notes of its liquid harmony are heard, and the delicate perfume of its surrounding flowers is inhaled, while the eyes will be soothed by the varied shades of the leafy surroundings of these haunts of the trout, and by the exquisite pictures reflected from the surface of their limpid depths.

Hardly any water-side exists which fails to interest and attract the fisherman, and the pleasure of wandering by the side of any brook or mountain stream and watching the changing beauties and the wonder of its natural life is always enhanced by the infinite probabilities of sport which it suggests to the ardent angler, and the recollections which it arouses of sunlit days and happy associations of the past.

The author's thanks are due to many who have kindly assisted him in writing this book, and their names will be noticed from time to time in its pages. He cannot, however, omit a special reference to the kind assistance which has been given to him by his secretary and friend, Miss Helen Stanton.

The author has but recently discovered that much of his own experience and advice on fishing for trout is supported by the admirable writing of the late Mr. Francis Francis in " A Work on Angling," in which book there does not seem to be any aspect of fly fishing to which this gentleman has not lent the charm of his pen and the wisdom vi. PREFACE

of his experience, and although the author cannot add to his text, yet he has ventured to give a few footnotes of quotations from the book in question.

The spirit echoing through some Hnes written by Mr. W. Gilchrist Wilson will most certainly touch a sympathetic chord in the minds of most fishermen.

To AN Unknown Angler.

" Following the course of a mountain stream we came to a rude grave, a few slates put loosely together. Its history is not known, but some say it is that of a fisherman — of the early part of the last century." (1700).

Sleep, unknown comrade, sleep

Securely in thy cool Slate bed, where mountain steep

Purples the long, slow pool.

Barely a cast away

Only a trout at play

Breaks Nature's sympathy.

Yet still we hear thy reel

Go ringing down the stream — An unknown presence feel.

And know we do not dream.

For we are anglers all

And ply our gentle trade By ripple, rush and fall —

Pagan and not afraid.

Then let us not repine.

But wait our turn, and so Reel in our little line.

Shoulder our creel and go.

F. G. S.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

PREFACE _ - - - -

I. INTRODUCTION — FLY FISHING FOR TROUT - I

Chapter I Fly Fishing For Trout

A consideration of fly fishing — The necessity of learning how to cast — Wet and dry methods of fly fishing compared.

It cannot be claimed that there are any odds, as between a man and his quarry, which are more evenly balanced, or of more sporting a character, than the chances which lie between the safety of the trout on the one side, and the success of the dry fly fisherman on the other. No fish is more alert or more wary than the trout, and certainly there is no pursuit more engrossing, nor any sport more fascinating, than this method of trout fishing, and I think it may be maintained with justice that dry fly fishing takes a place second to no other pastime in the world.

The most acceptable of our successes are those which can be directly traced, or even attributed, to our own mental or physical efforts, and for that reason the ability to cast a trout fly accurately and delicately is a pleasure which in itself is a sufficient reward at the end of a day's fishing, though that day may be almost barren as regards the take of fish.

The satisfaction which accompanies the perfectly understood and successful use of a fly rod is undoubtedly increased by the pleasure which is felt by the fisherman who, after all too short a day spent by some lovely trout stream, can on his return home produce a dish of speckled beauties as a tribute to his knowledge and the successful use of his treasured rod and delicate tackle.

There are but few accomplishments more delightful to witness than the handling of his rod, line and fly, by the skilled dry fly fisherman. It is not alone the grace and ease which accompany the varying and always beautiful curves assumed by his rod and line which compel the admiration of the onlooker, but it is equally due to the instinctive recognition of the science or art which lies behind the exquisite result of each cast. But if the casting of a skilled fisherman be so admirable, can there, on the other hand, be any failures more humiliating than those which accompany the efforts of the unskilled fly fisherman.

This book, however, is not written to extol " the gentle art," but with the serious object of assisting those who may be anxious to learn the science of fly fishing; and for his comfort I can assure the beginner that it is by no means a difficult or a lengthy process for him to acquire an absolute and exact method of casting a fly, so that he may be able with certainty to present his lure accurately and delicately to the trout in ninety-nine out of every hundred chances which occur in an average day's fishing.

A well-known writer on piscatorial matters says : " For my part, indeed, I am inclined to believe that the best way to become an accomplished dry fly fisherman is, in these particular methods, to steer clear of teachers and preachers, either in the book or in the flesh, get down to the water, look out for rising trout, and hammer away till one is at length hooked and landed, after very many have been scared."

Although this advice was seriously meant, and although other writers and many fishermen have argued on similar lines, they have all admitted the length of time required

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT 3

before a novice is able to cast a fly in anything like a satisfactory manner. Such mentors might just as well advise an absolute novice at cricket to don some pads, borrow a bat, face the bowling and fielding of an Australian eleven, and slog away until he has made a century, or acquired the skill of a Grace or a Palairet.

How many fishermen can say that they owe nothing to the advice or assistance of others in their attempts at handling the rod ? To my infinite delight I caught a trout when only four years of age, but my father was there all the time ; and although I have since then fished for over fifty years and in most parts of the world, I never realized how absolute is the science which controls a perfect method of fly and bait casting until within the last few years, and until I had spent those years in perfecting the casting of others.

The Necessity of Learning how to Cast

With every respect, then, for the fishing abilities of the writer above quoted, I am fully persuaded that the one thing a novice can and should do before he goes down to " scare the trout " is to learn the art of casting a fly.

Not only should the novice endeavour to obtain instruction, but it might well repay the experienced fisherman to find out whether he can improve his style and acquire absolute accuracy in his casting, and even if the expert be well satisfied in these respects, to ascertain whether there may not be other styles of casting which might help him to get his fly to any desired spot under circumstances and against difiiculties which have hitherto appeared to him to be insurmountable. Since my first work on Fly Fishing was published, some eight years ago, I have established a school for trout and salmon fly casting, and for spinning, and I have had the pleasure of coaching in this school over 1,800 clients. This work, supplemented by a most exhaustive study of the whole science of casting, has shown me that it is possible to teach anyone an accurate and perfect style of casting a fly, with or against the wind, in both the wet and dry fly methods, with both hands, in three or four lessons, each of one hour's duration. Further, this experience has shown me that if the country be fairly clear between the rod and the position of the trout, that a fisherman should under almost any circumstances be able to cast his fly accurately to a fish, so long as it be within a reasonable distance.

The clients whom I have coached have varied in age, from the youth of seven to the veteran of seventj^-five, and while at least half of this number have come to me as complete novices in the art of fly casting, the other half have been more or less hardened in such faulty methods of casting that the pleasure which they should have experienced when fishing has been minimized by their inability to present their fly to the trout accurately, delicately, instantly and effectively, and my success in making them cast to their own and my satisfaction has more than repaid me for the difficulties I have had to encounter when coaching them.

The beginner should consider the saving in time and material which he will effect by first acquiring the ability to cast a fly, also the satisfaction he will feel in knowing that when he arrives at the water-side he will not appear as a novice to his brother angler.

I am convinced that the greatest success in fishing will attend the fisherman who, both in favourable and unfavourable circumstances, can with certainty cast the lightest and most accurate fly, and that to learn this will take him but a short time if he be properly coached ; that, without the assistance of a master in the art of casting.

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT 5

many, if not all, the years of the average man's fishing life will be stultified by mistaken conception and faulty efforts to acquire an art which would otherwise have taken him but a few hours to perfect.

When a student is able to cast his fly lightly and accurately in any required direction, he can then seek his trout stream, and be in a position to fish with ever increasing delight and confidence. With a little advice from any experienced fisherman his progress should be rapid ; he should have nothing to unlearn, and may, indeed, so far as science in actual fly casting is concerned, step down to the water-side more assured as to his casting than the one from whom he has in other respects very much to learn.

Wet and Dry Fly Methods of Fishing

There are two distinct and widely different methods of fishing with a trout fly, and these are known as the dry and the wet fly methods.

In the former, one fly only is used. This fly is cast upstream just above the rise, or above the spot at which the trout is supposed to be lying, and is allowed to float down towards the fish on the surface of the water.

In the latter, from two to four flies should be attached to the cast. These are cast either across and up-stream or across and down-stream, and in both cases are allowed to sink below the surface of the water. Wet fly fishing is in itself thus divided into two distinct variations. In the down-stream method of wet fly fishing the flies, at the end of a long line and cast, are allowed to sink well below the surface, and to be carried down-stream towards every spot where trout may be lying. The stream is thus thoroughly searched by the flies, both fish and lure being invisible to the angler, and, in consequence, no dependence can be placed on the rise of the fish being seen, the angler having, in most cases, to trust to his sense of touch for a knowledge as to when his fly is taken.

In the up-stream method of wet fly fishing, a short line is used, and each cast is made with the definite object of fishing either for a rising or for a feeding fish, whose position is therefore either known or assumed. The flies are allowed to sink a few inches below the surface and the rise of the fish should, in consequence, be more apparent to the angler, the fish in this case being mostly hooked by the angler's initiative in striking. This style of fishing is undoubtedly more interesting than fishing with wet fly down-stream.

In wet fly fishing up-stream the successful angler, in four cases out of five, is dependent on his skill and alertness in striking for his fish. In wet fly fishing down-stream the angler is dependent in four cases out of five on the chance of the fish hooking itself, and in this respect alone it will be admitted that the greater interest must centre in fishing up-stream.

Advantages of Both Methods Compared

I am convinced that the general consideration of the relative merits of these two methods of fly fishing is often obscured by the overshadowing idea of filling the basket. This anxiety, however, has had but little influence on those who have been instrumental in bringing Dry Fly Fishing into favour on our chalk and other trout streams.

To the dry fly fisherman the weight of his creel takes second place to his love of the methods he employs. Personally I prefer to fish with a dry fly, even if I achieve nothing but an occasional rise, to fishing with a wet fly, and killing a number of fish. Nay ! I can regard with perfect composure the success of a brother angler, who, in using the wet fly, or even the worm, on the same water

FLY FISHING FOR TROUT 7

that I am fishing, fills his basket and finds me with but a brace of fish. It is the delightful method, more than its success, which makes the dry fly fisherman.

However, whether the angler elects to fish by the dry or wet method, or whether he may be spinning a minnow or throwing a salmon fly, the essential object he has to achieve is to throw his line in the lightest and most accurate manner. He should remember that the more nearly he can extend his line in a horizontal direction in the forward cast, the more lightly will his fly or line fall on the surface of the water. Lightness and delicacy of casting are especially necessary for dry fly fishing, as the line has to be cast more or less over the trout, and success will depend, therefore, to a great extent on skill in casting.

If the dry fly fisherman be using a fly similar in size and appearance to that which is being taken by a rising fish, and if his cast and line be thrown so that the fly alights accurately and delicately at from two to four feet above this rising trout's position immediately after a rise, and the fly is permitted to float on the surface of the water over the rising fish, the odds on the fish rising again to this fly will be about level ; but if the fisherman owing to his first cast being faulty, or to any unnatural movement of the fly, has to make a second cast, the odds against a rise will be as ten to one ; and if, for a similar reason, a third cast at the same fish has to be made, the odds may be regarded as about a hundred to one against a rise.

Since I first ventured to express this axiom I have been flattered by hearing that the late Captain Marryatt, one of the most eminent of dry fly fishermen, formulated an almost similar axiom. I think, however, the odds he expressed against the third cast being successful in producing a rise were as fifty to one.

To be successful in either of these methods of trout fly fishing requires in addition patience, experience and observation.

Many excellent fishermen confine their fishing to either the wet or dry fly method, but while the most successful fisherman generally will be he who is in reality the master of both, there can be no question as to which method of fishing requires the greater skill or affords the more delightful and interesting pastime.

Even on such classical waters of dry fly fame as the Itchen or the Test there are days when the trout who cannot or who will not see the floating fly may yet be caught on the sunken one.* Again, there are times on northern loch or on the waters of wet fly streams when the wet fly expert may use his sunken lures in vain, but when the fish will eagerly take the floating fly. Both wet and dry fly can be used with success on the same day. The Rev. Hamilton Young caught in one day, on the Deveron, forty-four pounds of trout, using both wet and dry fly methods. Here is the entry from his diary :

" The Deveron, May lo, 1899. — Fished from 9.30

to 1.30 with wet fly, using the Hareslug and Yellow

Cotterel. Wind south, rainy and squally ; then sun

came out ; wind dropped. Fished with Olive

Quill, and got most heavy trout. Total weight, 44

pounds."

It will be readily admitted, however, by those who are

skilled in both methods that not only is the dry fly more

successful in southern waters during May, June, July and

August, but that, as a means to sport, it is infinitely more

fascinating and delightful than the wet fly. The tendency

of every wet fly fisherman is toward dry fly fishing, and the

often repeated statements, " Oh, it is too scientific for me,"

" I should like to learn," etc., are my apology for dealing

* On this subject, " Minor Tactics on our Chalk Streams," by Mr. Skues, is a book well worth reading.

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FLY FISHING FOR TROUT 9

mainly with the dry fly method. The dry fly enthusiast may find in this work some points with which he disagrees, yet I trust that the attempt to explain my views of the science of dry fly fishing may at least be of use to the wet fly fisherman and the student. It will be, therefore, the art of dry fly fishing to which I shall first turn the student's attention, dealing with the wet fly later on.

Chapter II

DRY FLY FISHING. A DAY'S COACHING ON A TROUT STREAM

Preparation for a day's fishing — Approaching the water — The fly and the rise — Different aspects and methods of fishing — OiHng the fly — Greasing the line — Fishing the stream — Striking — Changing the fly — Netting the fish — Methods when fishing — 'A taut line — The rise and its advantages — Fishing the rise — Striking discussed — Keep your eye on the fly — A jumping fish — Undersized fish — Handling a trout — A killable age — The broken hook — The fly retriever — A big fish.

I will assume that my reader has already mastered the ordinary overhead style of casting a fly,* and that therefore he is competent to begin fishing for trout. He is not obliged to know or acquire other styles of casting, however much these would add to his pleasure and skill in fishing, but as this is his first visit to a trout water, and as he may have no friend at hand to answer his questions, to show him where to throw his fly, or to tell him the nature and habits of the speckled beauties he is so anxious to secure, I must lead him still further afield in the study of this delightful and engrossing pursuit, and show him not only where to cast his fly, but how to determine what fly he should use, where the fish are to be most readily found, and how to catch them.

With this object will you come with me for a few hours' dry fly fishing. You can leave the rod and line with which you have been practising at home, but first remember to

* See instructions contained in Chapter IX., as to the method of learning to cast a dry fly.

unwind that portion of the line which has been previously wetted. Make it up in your hand (if you have no winder) into large loops ; put your rod on the horizontal rests and hang up your winder, or put the loops of the line on the butt of your rod. A fishing-rod should always be supported in three places at least — each end and the middle. We will take my own rod, which is all ready for use, with gut cast and fly attached. The first thing to be considered is whether we have everything we shall want, and if we are quite prepared for our fishing. Let us see. Are you well shod with good serviceable watertight boots with plenty of nails ? All right. Then, as you have your tobacco, pipe, and matches, and some sandwiches, never mind anything else to-day. I have all that is required — my creel, my net, etc. Your tweeds are a good colour, but you had better put on a soft cap, as that straw hat of yours is too conspicuous. And now, while we are walking down to the lower end of our water, we can discuss the nature of the day's sport. We shall fish — that is, cast the fly — upstream, which, except when fishing on still water, is essential for dry fly fishing. The dry fly must not be influenced by any motion of the line or rod after it has alighted, and by casting up-stream the fly floats down towards the fisherman, who steadily takes up the slack line as it comes back to him, either by the hand, the reel, or by raising the point of his rod, but in whichever way the slack line is raised of^ the water, it must not interfere with that portion of the line and cast near the fly. The fly must float easily and naturally down stream as any drag or movement imparted to it will most certainly scare the ordinary trout.*

The dry fly fisherman, all circumstances being alike, is far less likely to be seen by the trout than is the wet fly

* For full instruction as to the best method of gathering in the slack line when fishing out a dry fly cast, see paige 50.

fisherman, and consequently can take his sport more at his ease. For he of the wet fly who fishes up-stream has to use a shorter line, and is consequently nearer the fish, while he who fishes down-stream is faced by the trout, and has to exercise the greatest caution in order to escape observation. Trout lie invariably with their heads pointed up-stream or against the current, and are in consequence looking away from the up-stream, but towards the downstream fisherman. Trout can easily see from a point right ahead to an angle of 150 degrees on either side in the plane in which they are lying, leaving an angle of about 60 degrees in which the fisherman may escape observation, provided he is not perched too much over them, so that in fishing outside this zone of safety he must endeavour to be as near the surface of the water as possible (see " The Vision of Trout," p. 88). This position of the trout, facing up-stream, is also an important advantage to the angler when fishing up-stream, for when striking his hook will be pulled back into the mouth of the trout, instead of being pulled from or out of the mouth of the trout, as is the case when fishing down-stream. See p. 91.

As we are now approaching the stream, we will look at the water and see if anything is moving. By standing here and looking up stream we shall not scare the fish, and in order to see if the trout are feeding we must look out for any unusual movement on the surface of the water, such as the ring or dimple made by a rising fish. No, there is nothing moving yet ; it is perhaps a little too early or not quite warm enough to tempt the sub-imago — i.e., the first flying state of the various water insects — to leave their shelter on the banks of the stream, or to impel the pupae to come to the surface in order to enter their aerial life, and therefore, until some forms of insect life begin to move on or to the surface, the trout are not likely to rise. In my creel is a small and light telescopic butterfly-net and priest ; it is ready for use in a few seconds, and by its aid I catch that gnat-like fly floating on the water. It is a flying form of water insect life called the Blue Quill, the very fly the trout were taking yesterday. Look ! There is another one on the water floating down, probably one of a previous so-called hatch of the same fly. I will catch him to make certain. Watch how I do it. I slip the net into the watei just in the way of the fly, which floats into it. Here he is. clinging to the muslin. Now look at these two flies carefully. You can see at once that both are just like the Blue Quill fly on my line, one of the best-known flies on southern English waters. If you fit this watchmaker's magnifyingglass into your eye, you will notice more distinctly the colour and appearance of its delicate wings, its body, and its legs.*