Chapter XXXI: Appendix: Flies, Rods, Reels, and Lines

Since the body of this book was written, the tackle-makers have taken it into their heads to give the fishing world the most wonderful assortment of flies that the mind of man could have conceived, and far beyond anything that nature could in her most festive moods have produced. I give them not because I believe any such assortment to be necessary for the angler or tempting to the fish, but because they are so wonderful in themselves and so very attractive to the tyro who fancies that beauty of tackle is going to produce fulness of creel. I am indebted for them less to my own knowledge than to the kindness of Mr. W. Holberton who, to excellence as a fly-fisherman, has had the good fortune to add experience in the business. So firmly have some of them established their reputation that a modern book on angling would not be complete without them.

The strongest flies are tied with reversed wings, as they will last much longer. Use highest-quality sproat hooks and selected white or mist-colored gut snells. Salmon flies are now often tied on small double hooks, instead of on large ones, as formerly. For salmon flies even more care should be taken in choosing the gut, as not only is the fish larger, but the loss of a salmon is more serious than the loss of a trout.

The following list comprises all those of any value sold in the shops, whether copied from nature or evolved from the inner consciousness of the tackle-maker. For the smaller streams in the Middle and Eastern States, the coachman, royal-coachman, grizzly-king, Abbey, Montreal, Imbrie, brown-hen, white-miller, orange-miller, yellow-sally, black-gnat, great-dun, queen of the water, Hooker, golden-spinner, Cahill, silver-black, professor, march-brown, jenny-spinner, red or dun fox, silver-brown, hare’s-ear or dark-fox, blue-dun, dusty-miller, coch-y-bon-dhu or marlow-buzz, gray-gnat, cow-dung, Beaver-Kill, grannom, Ronald’s stone, brown-stone, and the various colored hackles. On some waters the addition of jungle-cock’s feathers to the above will prove very killing.

On Long Island waters the favorites are the cow-dung, scarlet ibis, Cahill, Imbrie, yellow-sally, great-dun, hare’s-ear, queen of the water, black and gray gnats, golden-spinner, silver-black, grizzly-king, professor, Abbey, Montreal, and the different colored hackles. Hooks for the above lists should be numbers 8 to 12.

For the Adirondacks, Maine, and the Canadas, light and dark Montreal, Abbey, scarlet-ibis, professor, great-dun, brown-hen, Brandreth, cock-robin or Murray, silver-doctor, Parmacheeny belle, St. Patrick, McAlpin, Lawrence, Holberton, Rangely, Molechunkamunk, Mooseluck-maguntic, Beatrice, No. 8, Round-lake, Bemes, tinselled-ibis, Elliot, Megalloway, silver-black, Canada, blue-jay, Jenny-Lind, and the hackles. Also any of the above, with the feathers of the jungle-cock added. They are to be tied on hooks numbered from 3 to 5, and may be reinforced by a short piece of gut tied in alongside of the other and extending above the hook, making the snell double for half an inch beyond the head of the fly.

For black-bass any of the large flies previously named

may be used, and the following are particularly good: turkey, scarlet-ibis, Page, Brandreth, Fergusson, grizzly-king, Montreal, silver-doctor, Rube Wood, Lord Baltimore, Whitney, Elliot, Rangely, Holberton, humble-bee, Gov. Alvord, and white-miller. The hooks for these should be from numbers 1 to 4. For trolling, the same tied with double snells may be used on hooks from 2/0 to 1.

For salmon-fishing, the following are recommended: Fairy, Dovey-queen, black-dose, Imbrie’s-witch, gipsy, butcher, fiery-brown, bonne-bouche, silver-gray, silver-doctor, orange-doctor, black-doctor, lion, Dunkeld, blue-tansy, gold-finch, dusty-miller, Wilmot, thunder-and-lightning, blue-Highlander, parson, Wingfield-red, Popham, Jock-Scott, and Durham-ranger.

Lines are now made in an endless variety and of a vastly improved quality. For salt-water fishing, linen lines are generally used, as they stand the action of the chloride of sodium better than silk. For heavy work, such as cod-fishing, trolling for blue-fish, and deep sea-fishing, braided and hawser-laid cotton lines are the best. The lines used by the anglers at West-Island, Pasque, Cuttyhunk, and other localities where large striped-bass are taken, are made of the choicest flax, hand-laid of from nine to eighteen threads, and notwithstanding their fineness, are marvels of strength.

For fly-fishing for salmon, trout, and black-bass, the polished enamelled waterproof, tapered, silk lines have entirely superseded the old hair, and hair-and-silk lines. For fresh-water trolling and bait-fishing, there are the hard-braid linen lines and the oiled silk braided lines, and pure boiled or raw-silk for minnow-casting for black-bass, and so forth.

Good leaders are a very important portion for an angler’s outfit, and more fish are lost through the use of poor gut and improper snelling than from any other cause. The best silk-worm gut from which leaders are made, comes from Spain, and should be carefully selected, only perfectly round and even strands being used. Anglers should discard any leader or snell that is at all rough or flat, or that has been dyed. Dyeing can be easily detected by its decided color, generally either a blue or greenish tinge, and the process injures the gut. A true mist-colored leader should be without any tinge other than a faint mist or water-color, which is obtained by staining, and not by dyeing.

The hooks now generally preferred by anglers are the highest quality sproat and the forged O’Shaughnessy, the latter being used principally for striped-bass, blue-fish, and channel-bass. For the heavy fishing at Cuttyhunk, West-Island, Newport, and Narragansett Pier, the knobbed and needle-eyed O’Shaughnessy is the favorite. The highest quality sproat is used for black-bass, salmon and trout flies, and is rapidly becoming the favorite hook among expert anglers. The advantage of the highest-quality forged O’Shaughnessy hooks consists in the fact that not only are they made of the choicest steel, but that the forging breaks every hook in which there is the slightest flaw, while the difference in price between them and inferior grades amounts to only one-third or one-half of a cent on a hook, an amount not worth considering under the circumstances. The old-fashioned kirbed hooks are rapidly going out of favor. The sproat has been greatly improved lately, the line of draft is in direct line with the point, which is small and keen, and penetrates a fish’s mouth more easily than a clumsier hook. The barb, too, is small and gives less room for play and does not tear so large a hole as a coarser hook. When fishing with a light rod, this is a great advantage both in striking and playing a fish. In fact it is almost impossible to drive a coarse large barbed hook through the tough mouth of a black-bass with the light rods that are now coming into favor.[19]

For fly-fishing there is no rod like a well-made round, split bamboo; but to be well made, and no other is really worth having, a round eight-piece split bamboo is an expensive implement and costs a high price. But when well made it is not only a thing of beauty and a joy forever, but will stand an amount of exposure and hard work not to be obtained from inferior rods. It has not always been possible to obtain such implements in their perfection, as some manufacturers who have not had the necessary experience, or who in their anxiety to produce a cheap article have slighted their work, have given the split bamboo rods a bad name. They should be made from the upper part of the canes alone, as in that part the nodes which give them their strength are the thickest. The outside or glazed part of the cane should come on the outside of the rod, and the joints should be so perfect that they cannot be traced by the eye, as if there is the least opening water will get in and destroy the rod. While if thoroughly well finished, they are the best article of their kind, nevertheless greenheart, cedar and lancewood rods all have their admirers, and in skillful hands will do efficient work. Machine-made rods should be avoided by every angler who takes pride in his casting or his tools, no matter how cheap they are. The best proof of the superiority of the bamboo rod is the fact of its general use at all public tournaments where its power has been proved by a cast of over eighty feet with a four and a half ounce rod.

In giving the weight of a trout rod, it should be stated whether the ordinary mountings are included, as they make a difference of several ounces. The fly-rod that in a tournament would be called a four or five-ounce rod, would in the hands of the sportsman be found to weigh nine or ten ounces. When a weight is given in these pages, the full weight of mountings is intended, so that a nine-ounce rod is what the professionals would call a five-ounce rod.

Great strides have been made by professional fly-casters in the matter of length of cast since this book was first written. Then a cast of seventy feet was considered a very long reach, but now eighty-five feet have been cast with a rod of four and seven-eighths ounces, and eighty-seven feet with a twelve-ounce rod. The rods in these cases are heavy at the tip, and are not well adapted to ordinary fly-fishing and would soon tire out the strongest wrist. They are in all instances made out of split bamboo. In bass-casting, that is what is called Cuttyhunk fashion, the public trials have not been satisfactory, the casts not having been scored at much over one hundred and sixty feet. But there is no doubt that with the regulation weight of two and a half ounces, at least two hundred and twenty feet can be cast. To make very long casts with a fly, it is essential not only to have a stiff rod and to fasten on the droppers with short snells, but to put double gut at

the head of the stretcher-fly. Moreover, the flies must not be allowed to sink, but must be retrieved immediately in order to get the line well out behind, which is the great difficulty in distance-casting. In actual fishing the angler is considered an expert who alone and unaided can strike, play and land a five-pound trout or a fifteen-pound salmon. Those are tests of skill that far exceed casting ninety feet in an open pond with a top-heavy rod.

Reels have kept up with the march of improvement in fishing tackle, and are now made much lighter and stronger than in days gone by. Hard rubber has taken the place of metal to a great extent, making the reel very much lighter. Aluminum has been tried, but, though very hard, it is a metal of poor texture, so that the screws do not hold, and the reels soon get loose and shaky, while at the same time it is expensive. There are several patented trout reels for getting large barrels to wind the line on quickly, or to expose it to the air so that it will not rot. Most of the fine reels are made of German silver, and with works as carefully constructed as those of a clock, for the striped bass reels must run with absolute perfection. A valuable invention of Messrs. Abbey & Imbrie provides for the adjustment of the bearings, so that any wear can be readily taken up, and the reel kept in good condition without expense. It consists of the use of steel-screw pivots easily adjusted, which reduce the friction to a minimum.

There is an endless variety of spoon baits now made for the angler to select from; among them the most admired are the “fluted spoons” and the “mottled pearl,” including the new Florida pearl spinner, with a body of white pearl, combined with a mottled revolving spoon. But the old-fashioned revolving silvered plate in its various forms is by no means superseded by these modern mysteries.

The introduction of black-bass throughout the country has created a large demand for artificial baits. Live minnows are often difficult to obtain, and the market is now well supplied with artificial minnows, frogs, dobsons, crickets, beetles, and grasshoppers. Of these baits, the “fairy” is the most successful. It is made of fish-skin, and has the scales of the real minnow preserved. It is as soft and flexible as the live bait, and will kill black-bass and pickerel when every other artificial bait fails.

Of minnow gangs there is also a great variety, the latest and one of the best being the “St. Lawrence” gang. This has a thin baiting needle, which allows the most delicate minnow to live for hours, and has not the usual great number of treble hooks to make it troublesome and unsightly for delicate fishing.

INDEX.

A.

PAGE
Allowance of provisions, 312

Attihawmeg, 147

B.

Bass, black, 217

Otsego, 151

rock, 222

Baits for trout, 33

Black Fly, 297

Blue-fish, 153

Boiestown, 135

C.

Camp life, 297

stores, 302

_Centrarchus æneus_, 222

_fasciatus_, 217
Cisco, 149

Classification of fish, 7

Cooking, 303, 307

_Coregonus albus_, 147

_Otsego_, 151

Common Carp, 163

Crab bait, 205

Curing fish, 304

_Cyprinus carpio_, 163

E.

_Ephemera_, 292

_Esox estor_, 164

_fasciatus_, 187

_Elucioides_, 181

_reticulatus_, 182

_tredecem radiatus_, 184

F.

Flies and knots, 263

for bass, 283

for salmon, 263

for trout, 16

Flies, Rods, etc., Appendix.

G.

Ghost of Deadman’s Landing, 126

story of Abraham, 129

Glass-eye, 224

Green-fish, 153

_Grystes nigricans_, 217

H.

Horse mackerel, 153

I.

Insects, 285

K.

Knots, 263

L.

_Labrax lineatus_, 202

Landing fish, 28

La Val, 61

lake, 77

_Lucioperca americana_, 224

M.

Mascallonge, 164

Mascanonga, 164

Marshpee, 22

Miramichi, 120

Moose story, 131

N.

_Neuroptera_, 291

New Brunswick, trip to, 116

Nipisiquit, 140

O.

Ohio salmon, 225

Otsego bass, 151

P.

_Perca labrax_, 202

_flavescens_, 228

Perch, yellow, 228

Pickerel, 198

common, 182

great northern, 181

Long Island, 187

Pickering, 224

Pike, federation, 184

of the lakes, 224

perch, 224

Propagation of fish, 230

_Phryganea_, 292

R.

Roe of shad or salmon, 204

Rock-fish, 202

S.

Salmon, 88

Salmon fishing, 92, 102

habits of, 98

rivers, 167

rivers, how to reach them, 111

time for catching, 94

place for catching, 94

rod for, 91

Ohio, 225

_Salmo salar_, 88

_trutta marina_, 41

_Sciena lineata_, 202

Scollops, 207

Sea trout, 41

Shrimp bait, 205

Skipjack, 153

Smoking fish, 305

Snap-hook, 176

Snapping mackerel, 157

Spearing, 209

Spoons, 174

T.

_Temnodon saltator_ 157

Tents, 293, 311

Thousand Isles, 189

Trimmers for pickerel, 177

Trout, American speckled, or brook, 12

flies for, 16

fly-fishing for, 18

baits for, 23

sea, white or silver, 41

white, or Scoodic, 145

W.

White-fish, 147

trout, 145

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These periods do not refer to the game laws.

[2] If he is alive at this writing.

[3] Since that was written, many of these waters have been depleted, and Long Island has been so thoroughly preserved that there is hardly a free pond or stream from one end to the other of it.

[4] Since then passed away. Peace and happiness be with him.

[5] The old Stump Pond trout has of late years wholly disappeared.

[6] A fine hotel has been built at Tadousac.

[7] License is now required for fishing in the British Provinces anywhere.

[8] Hon. Wm. F. Whitcher, late Superintendent of Fisheries of the Dominion, and as skillful an angler as ever handled rod or wet a line.

[9] This is changed. There is no free salmon fishing in the Provinces.

[10] The best river now is the Restigouche.

[11] See Post as to modern fishways.

[12] Probably at least a year later than this.

[13] Travelling in the Dominion has been much improved since the foregoing was written, and the hotels are better. The expenses of living are higher than they were, but still much cheaper than in the United States.

[14] Mr. Dominy has gone, but Mr. Royal Sammis keeps a large and fashionable hotel at Fire Island, which every sportsman should visit at least once in his life.

[15] The finer qualities of carp, the “leather” and “mirror” carp, have been introduced into America by Mr. Spencer F. Baird, the scientific and enterprising Commissioner of Fisheries of the United States, and have proved a success.

[16] Prepared lines are sold now at all the fishing-tackle shops, and linen lines are made so fine, beautiful, and strong, that for bass-fishing nothing better is needed. For surf-fishing use a nine-thread line.

[17] It is now generally accepted as the scientific conclusion that the Oswego bass, the Southern black-bass--there called the chub--and the big-mouthed bass, are one and the same. I know, however, that the Southern black-bass, the _Grystes salmoides_, is a much finer fish on the hook and on the table than his supposed compeer, the Oswego bass, and takes the fly as freely and fiercely as the true black-bass. The latter is now generally called the Small-mouthed bass, that being his distinguishing peculiarity.

[18] For thorough instruction in the details of the artificial cultivation of all varieties of fish, the reader is referred to a work entitled “Fish Hatching and Fish Catching” written by Seth Green and Robert B. Roosevelt which exhausts the entire subject.

[19] Some of the illustrations in this volume have been furnished us by Messrs. Wm. C. Harris, and Abbey & Imbrie.