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THE SECOND DAY.
(Continued.)
CHAPTER VII.
FISHING AT THE TOP---FLIES FOR THE MONTHS OF JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, AND PART OF MAY; INCLUDING, UNDER MAY, PARTICULAR DIRECTIONS HOW TO BAIT WITH THE GREEN-DRAKE.
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Viat. Come, Sir! having now well dined, and being again set in your little house, I will now challenge your promise, and entreat you to proceed in your instruction for fly-fishing: which, that you may be the better encouraged to do, I will assure you that I have not lost, I think, one syllable of what you have told me; but very well retain, all your directions both for the rod, line, and making a fly, and now desire an account of the flies themselves.
Pisc. Why, sir, I am ready to give it you, and shall have the whole afternoon to do it in, if nobody come in to interrupt us: for you must know, besides the unfitness of the day, that the afternoons so early in March signify very little to angling with a fly; though with a minnow, or a worm, something might, I confess, be done.
To begin then where I left off. My father Walton tells us but of twelve artificial flies, to angle with at the top, and gives their names; of which some are common with us here; and I think I guess at most of them by his description, and I believe they all breed, and are taken in our rivers, though do not make them either of the same dubbing or fashion. And it may be in the rivers about London which I presume he has most frequented, and where 'tis likely he has done most execution, there is not much notice taken of many more: but we are acquainted with several others here, though, perhaps, I may reckon some of his by other names too; but, if I do, I shall make you amends by an addition to his catalogue. And although the fore-named great master in the art of angling, for so in truth he is, tells you that no man should in honesty catch a trout till the middle of March, yet I hope he will give a man leave sooner to take a grayling; which, as I told you, is in the dead months in his best season: and do assure you, which I remember by a very remarkable token, I did once take upon the sixth day of December, one, and only one, of the biggest graylings, and the best in season, that ever I yet saw or tasted: and do usually take trouts too, and with a fly, not only before the middle of this month, but almost every year in February, unless it be a very ill spring indeed: and have sometimes in January, so early as New-year's-tide, and in frost and snow, taken grayling in a warm sunshine day for an hour or two about noon; and to fish for him with a grub it is then the best time of all.
I shall therefore begin my fly-fishing with that month, though I confess very few begin so soon, and that such as are so fond of the sport as to embrace all opportunities, can rarely in that month find a day fit for their purpose, and tell you that, upon my knowledge, these flies in a warm sun, for an hour or two in the day, are certainly taken.
JANUARY.
1. A Red Brown, with wings of the male of a mallard, almost white; the dubbing, of the tail of a black long-coated cur, such as they commonly make muffs of; for the hair on the tail of such a dog dyes and turns to a red brown, but the hair of a smooth-coated dog of the same colour will not do, because it will not dye, but retains its natural colour. And this fly is taken, in a warm sun, this whole month through.
2. There is also a very little Bright-dun Gnat, as little as can possibly be made, so little as never to be fished with, with above one hair next the hook: and this is to be made of a mixed dubbing of marten's fur, and the white of a hare's-scut, with a very white and small wing. And 'tis no great matter how fine you fish, for nothing will rise in this month but a grayling; and of them I never, at this season, saw any taken with a fly, of above a foot long, in my life: but of little ones, about the bigness of a smelt, in a warm day and a glowing sun, you may take enough with these two flies; and they are both taken the whole month through.
FEBRUARY.
1. Where the red brown of the last month ends, another, almost of the same colour, begins with this; saving, that the dubbing of this must be of something a blacker colour, and both of them warpt on with red silk. The dubbing that should make this fly, and that is the truest colour, is to be got off the black spot of a hog's ear: not that a black spot in any part of the hog will not afford the same colour, but that the hair in that place is by many degrees softer, and more fit for the purpose: his wing must be as the other; and this kills all this month, and is called the lesser red-brown.
2. This month also a Plain Hackle, or Palmer-fly, made with a rough black body, either of black spaniel's fur or the whirl of an ostritch-feather, and the red hackle of a capon over all, will kill; and, if the weather be right, make very good sport.
3. Also a Lesser Hackle with a black body also, silver-twist over that, and a red feather over all, will fill your pannier, if the month be open, and not bound up in ice, and snow, with very good fish; but in case of a frost and snow, you are to angle only with the smallest gnats, browns, and duns, you can make; and with those are only to expect graylings no bigger than sprats.
4. In this month, upon a whirling round water, we have a Great Hackle; the body black, and wrapped with a red feather of a capon untrimmed: that is , the whole length of the hackle staring out, (for we sometimes barb the hackle-feather short all over, sometimes barb it only a little, and sometimes barb it close underneath;) leaving the whole length of the feather on the top or back of the fly, making it swim better, and, as occasion serves, kills very great fish.
5. We make use also, in this month, of another Great hackle; the body black, and ribbed over with a gold twist, and a red feather over all; which also does great execution.
6. Also a Great Dun, made with dun bear's hair, and the wings of the gray feather of a mallard near unto his tail; which is absolutely the best fly can be thrown upon a river this month, and with which an angler shall have admirable sport.
7. We have also this moth the Great Blue Dun; the dubbing of the bottom of bear's hair next to the roots, mixed with a little blue camlet; the wings of the dark gray feather of a mallard.
8. We also have this month a Dark Brown; the dubbing of a brown hair off the flank of a brended cow, and the wings of the gray drake's feather.
And note, that these several hackles, or palmer-flies, are some for one water and one sky, and some for another; and, according to the change of those, we alter their size and colour. And note also, that both in this, and all other months of the year, when you do not certainly know what fly is taken, or cannot see any fish to rise, you are then to put on a small hackle, if the water be clear, or a bigger, if something dark, until you have taken one; and then, thrusting your finger through his gills, to pull out his gorge, which being opened with your knife, you will then discover what fly is taken, and may fit yourself accordingly.
For the making of a hackle, or palmer-fly, my father Walton has already given you sufficient direction.
MARCH.
For this month you are to use all the same hackles, and flies with the other; but you are to make them less.
1. We have besides for this month, a little dun called a Whirling-Dun, though it is not the whirling-dun indeed, which is one of the best flies we have; and for this the dubbing must be of the bottom fur of a squirrel's tail, and the wing of the gray feather of a drake.
2. Also a Bright's Brown; the dubbing either of the brown of a spaniel, or that of a cow's flank, with a gray wing.
3. Also a Whitish Dun, made of the roots of camel's hair, and the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.
4. There is also for this month, a fly, called the Thorn-tree fly; the dubbing an absolute black, mixed with eight or ten hairs of Isabella-coloured mohair, the body as little as can be made, and the wings of a bright mallard's feather: an admirable fly, and in great repute amongst us for a killer.
5. There is, besides this, another Blue Dun, the dubbing of which it is made being thus to be got. Take a small-tooth comb, and with it comb the neck of a black grey-hound, and the down that sticks in the teeth, will be the finest blue that ever you saw. The wings of this fly can hardly be too white; and he is taken about the tenth of this month, and lasteth till the four-and-twentieth.
6. From the tenth of this month also, till towards the end, is taken a little Black gnat: the dubbing either of the fur of a black water-dog, or the down of a young black water-coot; the wings of the male of a mallard, as white as may be; the body as little as you can possibly make it, and the wings as short as his body.
7. From the sixteenth of this month also, to the end of it, we use a Bright Brown; the dubbing for which is to be had out of a skinner's lime-pits, and of the hair of an abortive calf, which the lime will turn so bright as to shine like gold: for the wings of this fly, the feather of a brown hen is best: which fly is also taken till the tenth of April.
APRIL.
All the same hackles and flies that were taken in March, will be taken in this month also; with this distinction only concerning the flies, that all the browns be lapped with red silk, and the duns with yellow.
1. To these a small Bright Brown, made of spaniel's fur, with a light gray wing, in a bright day and a clear water, is very well taken.
2. We have too a little Dark Brown, the dubbing of that colour, and some violet camlet mixed, and the wings of a gray feather of a mallard.
3. From the sixth of this month to the tenth, we have also a fly called the Violet-fly; made of a dark violet stuff, with the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.
4. About the twelfth of this month comes in the fly called the Whirling Dun, which is taken every day, about the mid-time of day, all this month through, and by fits from thence, to the end of June; and is commonly made of the down of a fox-cub, which is of an ash-colour at the roots, next the skin, and ribbed about with yellow silk; the wings of the pale gray feather of a mallard.
5. There is also a Yellow Dun, the dubbing of camel's hair, and yellow camlet or wool, mixed, and a white-gray wing.
6. There is also, this month, another Little Brown, besides that mentioned before; made with a very slender body, the dubbing of dark brown, and violet camlet, mixed, and a gray wing: which, though the direction for the making be near the other, is yet another fly; and will take when the other will not, especially in a bright day, and a clear water.
7. About the twentieth of this month comes in a fly called the Horse-flesh fly; the dubbing of which is a blue mohair, with pink-coloured and red tammy mixed, a light coloured wing, and a dark-brown head. This fly is taken best in an evening, and kills from two hours before sunset till twilight; and is taken the month through.
MAY.
And now, sir, that we are entering into the month of May, I think it requisite to beg not only your attention, but also your best patience; for I must now be a little tedious with you, and dwell upon this month longer than ordinary: which, that you may the better endure, I must tell you, this month deserves and requires to be insisted on, forasmuch as it alone, and the next following, afford more pleasure to the fly-angler, than all the rest. And here it is that you are to expect an account of the Green-drake, and Stone-fly, promised you so long ago, and some others that are peculiar to this month, and part of the month following; and that, though not so great either in bulk or name, do yet stand in competition with the two before named: and so that it is yet undecided, amongst the anglers, to which of the pretenders to the title of the May-fly, it does properly, and duly belong. Neither dare I, where so many of the learned in this art of angling are got in dispute about the controversy, take upon me to determine; but I think I ought to have a vote among them, and according to that privilege shall give you my free opinion; and peradventure when I have told you all, you may incline to think me in the right.
Viat. I have so great a deference to your judgment in these matters, that I must always be of your opinion; and the more you speak, the faster I grow to my attention, for I can never be weary of hearing you upon this subject.
Pisc. Why that's encouragement enough; and now prepare yourself for a tedious lecture: but I will first begin with the flies of less esteem, though almost anything will take a trout in May, that I may afterwards insist the longer upon those of greater note, and reputation. Know, therefore, that the first fly we take notice of in this month, is called
1. The Turkey-fly; dubbing ravelled out of some blue stuff, and lapped about with tellow silk; the wings of a gray mallard's feather.
2. Next a Great Hackle or Palmer-fly, with a yellow body; ribbed with gold twist, and large wings of a mallard's feather dyed yellow, with a red capon's hackle over all.
3. Then a Black fly; the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and the wings of a gray mallard's feather.
4. After that a Light Brown, with a slender body; the dubbing twirled upon small red silk and raised with the point of a needle, that the ribs or rows of silk may appear through; the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.
5. Next a Little Dun; the dubbing of a bear's dun whirled upon yellow silk, the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.
6. Then a White Gnat, with a pale wing, and a black head.
7. There is also this month a fly called the Peacock-fly; the body made of a whirl of a peacock's feather, with a red head, and wings of a mallard's feather.
8. We have then another very killing fly, known by the name of the Dun-cut; the dubbing of which is a bear's dun, with a little blue and yellow mixed with it, a large dun wing, and two horns at the head, made of the hairs of a squirrel's tail.
9. The next is the Cow-lady, a little fly; the body of a peacock's feather, the wing of a red feather, or strips of the red hackle of a cock.
10. We have then the Cow-dung fly; the dubbing light-brown and yellow mixed, the wing the dark gray feather of a mallard. And note, that besides these above-mentioned, as all the same hackles and flies, the hackles only brighter, and the flies smaller, that are taken in April, will also be taken this month, as also all browns and duns. And now I come to my Stone-fly, and Green-drake, which are the Matadores for trout and grayling; and, in their season, kill more fish in our Derbyshire rivers than all the rest, past and to come, in the whole year besides.
But first I am to tell you, that we have four several flies which contend for the title of the May-fly: namely,
The Green-drake,
The Stone-fly,
The Black-fly, and
The Little Yellow May-fly.
And all of these have their champions and advocates to dispute, and plead their priority; though I do not understand why the two last-named should, the first two having so manifestly the advantage, both in their beauty, and the wonderful execution they do in their season.
11. Of these, the Green-drake comes in about the twentieth of this month, or betwixt that and the latter end, for they are sometimes sooner, and sometimes later, according to the quality of the year; but never well taken till towards the end of this month, and the beginning of June. The Stone-fly comes much sooner, so early as the middle of April; but is never well taken till towards the middle of May, and continues to kill much longer than the Green-drake stays with us, so long as to the end of June, and indeed, so long as there are any of them to be seen upon the water: and sometimes in an artificial fly, and late at night, or before sunrise in a morning, longer.
Now both these flies, and, I believe, many others, though I think not all, are certainly and demonstratively bred in the very rivers where they are taken; our Cadis or Cod-bait, which lie under stones in the bottom of the water, most of them turning into those two flies, and being gathered in the husk, or crust, near the time of their maturity, are very easily known and distinguished; and are of all other the most remarkable, both for their size, as being of all other the biggest, the shortest of them being a full inch long, or more, and for the execution they do, the trout and grayling being much more greedy of them than of any others: and indeed, the trout never feeds fat, nor comes into his perfect season, till these flies come in.
Of these, the Green-drake never discloses from his husk, till he be first there grown to full maturity, body, wings, and all: and then he creeps out of his cell, but with his wings so crimped, and ruffled, by being pressed together in that narrow room, that they are, for some hours, totally useless to him; by which means he is compelled either to creep upon the flags, sedges, and blades of grass, if his first rising from the bottom of the water be near the banks of the river, till the air and sun stiffen and smooth them: or if his first appearance above water happen to be in the middle, he then lies upon the surface of the water like a ship at hull; for his feet are toally useless to him there, and he cannot creep upon the water as the stone-fly can, until his wings have got stiffness to fly with, if by some trout or grayling he be not taken in the interim, which ten to one he is; and then his wings stand high, and closed exact upon his back, like the butterfly, and his motion in flying is the same. His body is, in some, of a paler, in others, of a darker yellow, for they are not all exactly of a colour; ribbed with rows of green, long, slender, and growing sharp towards the tail, at the end of which he has three long small whisks of a very dark colour, almost black, and his tail turns up towards his back like a mallard; from whence, questionless, he has his name of the green-drake. These, as I think I told you before, we commonly dape or dipple with; and, having gathered great store of them into a long draw-box, with holes in the cover to give them air, where also they will continue fresh and vigorous a night or more, we take them out thence by the wings, and bait them thus upon the hook. We first take one, for we commonly fish with two of them at a time, and, putting the point of the hook into the thickest part of his body under one of his wings, run it directly through, and out at the other side, leaving him spitted cross upon the hook; and then taking the other, put him on after the same manner, but with his head the contrary way; in which posture they will live upon the hook, and play with their wings for a quarter of an hour, or more: but you must have a care to keep their wings dry, both from the water, and also that your fingers be not wet when you take them out to bait them; for then your bait is spoiled.
Having now told you how to angle with this fly alive, I am now to tell you next, how to make an artificial fly, that will so perfectly resemble him, as to be taken in a rough windy day when no flies can lie upon the water, nor are to be found about the banks and sides of the river, to a wonder; and with which you shall certainly kill the best trout and grayling in the river.
The artificial Green-drake, then, is made upon a large hook; the dubbing, camel's hair, bright bear's hair, the soft down that is combed from a hog's bristles and yellow camlet, well mixed together; the body long, and ribbed about with green silk, or rather yellow, waxed with green wax, the whisks of the tail, of the long hairs of sables, or fitchet, and the wings of the white-gray feather of a mallard dyed yellow; which also is to be dyed thus.
Take the root of a barbary-tree, and shave it, and put to it woody viss, with as much alum as a walnut, and boil your feathers in it with rain-water; and they will be of a very fine yellow.
I have now done with the green-drake; excepting to tell you, that he is taken at all hours during his season, whilst there is any day upon the sky: and with a made fly I once took, ten days after he was absolutely gone, in a cloudy day, after a shower, and in a whistling wind, five-and-thirty very great trouts and graylings, betwixt five and eight of the clock in the evening; and had no less than five or six flies, with three good hairs a-piece, taken from me in despite of my heart, besides.
12. I should now come to the stone-fly, but there is another gentleman in my way, that must of necessity come in between: and that is the Gray-drake, which in all shapes and dimensions, is perfectly the same with the other, but quite almost of another colour; being of a paler and more livid yellow and green, and ribbed with black quite down his body, with black, shining wings, and so diaphanous and tender, cobweb-like, that they are of no manner of use for daping, but come in, and are taken after the green-drake, and in an artificial fly kill very well; which fly is thus made: the dubbing of the down of a hog's bristles, and black spaniel's fur, mixed, and ribbed down the body with black silk, the whisks of the hairs of the beard of a black cat, and the wings of the black-gray feather of a mallard.
And now I come to the Stone-fly, but am afraid I have already wearied your patience; which, if I have, I beseech you freely tell me so, and I will defer the remaining instructions for fly-angling till some other time.
Viat. No, truly, sir, I can never be weary of hearing you. But if you think fit, because I am afraid I am too troublesome, to refresh yourself with a glass and a pipe: you may afterwards proceed, and I shall be exceedingly pleased to hear you.
Pisc. I thank you, sir, for that motion: for, believe me, I am dry with talking. Here, boy! give us here a bottle, and a glass; and sir, my service to you, and to all our friends in the South.
Viat. Your servant, sir, and I'll pledge you as heartily; for the good powdered beef I eat at dinner, or something else, has made me thirsty.
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