. 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
A 
 
 TRUE TREATISE 
 
 ON THE ART OF 
 
 FLY-FISHING, 
 
 TEOLLING, 
 
 ETC., 
 
 AS PRACTISED ON THE DOVE, AND ON THE PRINCIPAL 
 STREAMS OF THE MIDLAND COUNTIES; 
 
 APPLICABLE TO EVERY TROUT AND GRAYLING 
 RIVER IN THE EMPIRE. 
 
 BY WILLIAM SHIPLEY. 
 
 EDITED 
 
 BY EDWARD FITZGIBBON, ESQ. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO.; 
 
 SOLD ALSO BY THE AUTHOR AT ASHBORNE, 
 AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1838. ' 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR WILLIAM BOOTHBY, BART. 
 
 OF ASHBORNE HALL, DERBYSHIRE, 
 AND TO 
 
 DAVID WATTS RUSSELL, ESQ. 
 
 OF ILAM HALL, STAFFORDSHIRE. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 It has seldom fallen to the 
 fortunate lot of an author, to be called 
 upon to write a double dedication. Under 
 ordinary circumstances the task would be 
 a difficult one ; for it is not by any means 
 easy to find two gentlemen so closely 
 equal in rank, character, and influence 
 as you are ; and to whom the same united 
 meed of praise may be meted out unspa- 
 
 M312459 
 
IV 
 
 ringly with like truth and justice to both 
 parties. Happily for me I have found 
 them, and I can liberally and conscien- 
 tiously do so. 
 
 The modest work which I have just 
 completed, in conjunction with a friend, 
 relates, as its title tells, to angling on the 
 several streams of Derbyshire and Staf- 
 fordshire, and it refers more particularly 
 to fly-fishing on the Dove, which in 
 several parts is the natural boundary that 
 divides these counties. It has already 
 proved an invaluable recommendation to 
 this work, to have received permission 
 to dedicate it to two of the most respec- 
 table and influential gentlemen that pos- 
 sess beautiful mansions and wide domains 
 in the vicinity on each side of the before- 
 mentioned, enchanting, and far-famed 
 river. The many Noblemen and Gentle- 
 men chiefly resident in the midland 
 
counties who have done me so great an 
 honour, and, I trust, conferred upon me 
 so lasting and solid an advantage, by 
 permitting me to place their powerful 
 names on my subscription list, have been 
 mainly induced to do so, through a cer- 
 tainty that nothing frivolous nothing 
 dishonourable nothing immoral no- 
 thing irreligious in fine, nothing un- 
 worthy of the notice of the Noblemen 
 and Gentlemen of Derbyshire and Staf- 
 fordshire could appear fostered by the 
 auspices of the Houses of Boothby and 
 Russell. Gentlemen, need I then aver, 
 that I feel myself bound towards you and 
 your families by ties of the most fervent 
 and undying gratitude ? If it be at all 
 necessary to make such an asseveration, 
 I will do so with the profoundest humility 
 and sincerity, and with a fixed determi- 
 nation, strong and immoveable as human 
 
VI 
 
 one can be, to steadfastly abide by such 
 a declaration as long as it shall please 
 Providence to permit me to remain on 
 this side 
 
 " That undiscover'd country, from whose bourn 
 No traveller returns." 
 
 Gentlemen, it would be insincere on 
 my part it would be an injustice to your 
 characters as country gentlemen and as 
 magistrates it would be injurious to my 
 own children, and to those of others, if I, 
 for a moment, concealed what I firmly 
 believe to have been your principal mo- 
 tive in affording me your encouragement 
 and support in my present undertaking. 
 You knew, Gentlemen, my late father, 
 and you were personally aware, that he 
 possessed, in addition to the secondary 
 qualities of being an excellent fly-fisher, 
 the far more sterling ones of being an 
 honest man of being a man worthy of a 
 
vn 
 
 family, one member of which, at least, 
 has borne a character for religion, true 
 piety, and charity, which has stood un- 
 tarnished the severe test of a long trial 
 of nearly three-score years and, in con- 
 sequence of that knowledge, you have 
 resolved to visit the good deeds of the 
 father and the uncle on the son and 
 nephew thereby, not only encouraging 
 him to walk in their steps, but setting a 
 striking example, by publicly rewarding 
 him, to all children, not to disgrace by 
 degeneracy their sires. 
 
 I could dilate, Gentlemen such is the 
 abundant fulness of my heart to an 
 interminable extent on the excellence 
 and high repute of both your charac- 
 ters ; but knowing that you are of that 
 true disposition, which wishes not that 
 "the left hand should know what the 
 right hand doeth," I refrain from at- 
 
Vlll 
 
 tempting to blazon the fame of your 
 numerous good actions beyond the wide 
 circle to which it already extends. Pray- 
 ing that you may never have the slight- 
 est occasion to regret the vast honour 
 and service it has pleased you to confe" 
 upon me, 
 
 Permit me, Gentlemen, 
 
 To subscribe myself thus publicly, 
 
 The most grateful, 
 
 The most humble, 
 
 And the most faithful 
 Of your many obliged 
 
 And devoted servants, 
 
 WILLIAM SHIPLEY. 
 
 Ashborne, May 10, 1838. 
 
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 * Subscribers whose Names are thus distinguished, have generously 
 ordered Two or more Copies. 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Norfolk. 
 *His Grace the Duke of Devon- 
 shire. 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Suther- 
 land. 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Newcastle. 
 *His Grace the Duke of Rutland. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Anglesey. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Granby. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Beresford. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Earl of Leicester. 
 
 Rt. Hon. the Earl of Liverpool. 
 
 The Earl of Dartmouth. 
 
 The Earl of Lincoln. 
 
 Rt. Hon. Viscount Melville-. 
 
 Viscount Alford. 
 
 Viscount Combermere. 
 *Lord St. Helens. 
 *Lord Vernon. 
 
 Lord Scarsdale. 
 
 Lord Bagot. 
 
 Lord Francis Egerton. 
 
 Lord Sandon. 
 
 Lord Newburgh. 
 
 *Rt. Hon. Sir R. Peel, Bart., M. P. 
 
 Sir George Crewe, Bart, M. P. 
 *Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, Bart., 
 
 (six copies.) 
 *Sir William Boothby, Bart. 
 
 Sir T. Cotton Sheppard, Bart. 
 *Sir Henry Every, Bart. 
 
 Sir Francis Chantrey. 
 *Francis Hurt, Esq., M. P. 
 Henry Gaily Knight, Esq., M. P. 
 
 Captain Meynell, M. P. 
 *Thomas Hawkes, Esq., M. P. 
 
 T. B. Baring, Esq., M. P. 
 *VVilliam Evans, Esq., M. P. 
 *Hon. Henry Vernon. 
 
 Hon. and Rev. C. Dundas. 
 
 Hon. and Rev. Frederick Curzon. 
 
 Hon. and Rev. Alfred Curzon. 
 
 Hon. and Rev. William Bagot. 
 
 Rev. Brooke Boothby. 
 
 Rev. Frederick Anson, Jun. 
 
 Rev. W. Alderson* 
 
 Rev. J. Alderson. 
 
 Rev. Bernard Port. 
 
 Rev. George Stretton. 
 
 Rev. S. Bradshaw. 
 
Rev. R. W. Vevers. 
 Rev. Granville Granville. 
 Rev. Court Granville. 
 Rev. Clement Broughton. 
 Rev. Bryan Broughton. 
 Rev. J. L. Petit. 
 *Rev. Henry Buckston. 
 Rev. German Buckston. 
 Rev. William Webster. 
 Rev. George Hake. 
 Rev. Gervase Brown. 
 Rev. Henry Goodwin. 
 Rev. Hugh Wood. 
 Rev. R. Unwin. 
 Rev. Oliver Raymond. 
 Rev. Francis Martin. 
 Rev. George Belcher. 
 Rev. G. P. Lowther. 
 Rev. Sampson Kingsford. 
 Rev. J. H. Coke. 
 Rev. G. E. Gepp. 
 Colonel Bainbrigge. 
 Colonel Riddlesden. 
 Major Wilkinson. 
 
 * Captain Norman. 
 Captain Granville. 
 Captain Riddlesden. 
 Captain Wm. Martin, 
 Lieutenant Jenkinson. 
 
 *D. Watts Russell, Esq., (six 
 
 copies.) 
 
 *Richard Manly, Esq., Manches- 
 ter, (three copies.) 
 *Benjamin Heyvvood, Esq., ditto. 
 John Hobson, Esq., ditto. 
 William Blackwall, Esq., ditto. 
 *Maitland Dashwood, Esq. 
 
 * William Mundy, Esq. 
 *Abraham Whe^xtcroft, Esq. 
 *\Villiam Greaves, Esq., M.D. 
 *R. B. Manclarke, Esq. 
 *Francis Bradshaw, Esq. 
 
 * Henry Allsop, Esq. 
 
 T. W. Coke, Esq. 
 Francis Wright, Esq. 
 William Fitz-Herbert, Esq. 
 Richard Fitz-Herbert, Esq. 
 Cecil Boothby, Esq. 
 Henry Boothby, Esq. 
 George Boothby, Esq. 
 Hugo Charles Meynell, Esq. 
 Godfrey Meynell, Esq. 
 Watkin Williams Wynne, Esq. 
 Edward Vernon, Esq. 
 Arthur Henry Anson, Esq. 
 Wilson Overend, Esq. 
 John Gisborne, Esq. 
 John Newton Lane, Esq. 
 Francis Hurt, Jun., Esq. 
 Frederic Arkwright, Esq. 
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 Edward Arkwright, Esq. 
 John Harrison, Esq. 
 John Harrison, Jun., Esq. 
 Court Granville, Esq. 
 Bernard Granville, Esq. 
 William Pole Thornhill, Esq. 
 John Stokes, Esq. 
 T. Sneyd Kynnersley, Esq. 
 John Silvester, Esq. 
 Edward Silvester, Esq. 
 Alfred Silvester, Esq. 
 Hubert Lill de Burgh, Esq. 
 D'Ewes Coke, Esq. 
 John Goodwin Johnson, Esq. late 
 John Goodwin Johnson, Jan., 
 
 Esq. 
 
 William Webster, Esq. 
 Edward Webster, Esq. 
 William Webster, Jun., Esq. 
 P. Bainbrigge Le Hunt, Esq. 
 William Bosworth, Esq. 
 Robert J. Hartshorne, Esq. 
 Thomas W. Hartshorne, Esq. 
 Christopher Harland, Esq. 
 Charles Harland, Esq. 
 
XI 
 
 John Cooper, Esq. 
 
 C. Kelly Cooper, Esq. 
 
 John Cruso, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Manly, Esq., Manches- 
 
 ter. 
 
 John Manly, Esq., ditto. 
 William Prickett, Esq., ditto. 
 George Tinker, Esq., ditto. 
 George Newton, Esq., Atherton. 
 Rupert Griffin, Esq. 
 William Tyson, Esq. 
 John Skevington, Esq. 
 Robert Goodwin, Esq. 
 Thomas Wise, Esq. 
 John Fox, Esq. 
 Edward Bell, Esq. 
 George Walker, Esq. 
 William Kurd Wood, Esq. 
 J. Harry Buxton, Esq. 
 Henry Wilmot Buxton, Esq. 
 John Buxton, Esq. 
 Francis Sandars, Esq., Derby. 
 Charles Sandars, Esq., ditto. 
 Charles Alkins, Esq. 
 
 Bever, Esq. 
 
 William Taylor, Esq., Derby. 
 
 Robert Hindley, Esq., Sheffield. 
 
 Samuel Ward, Esq. 
 
 Robert Wynne, Esq. 
 
 Charles J. Sampson, Esq., (N. W.) 
 
 Richard Edensor, Esq. 
 
 F. F. Loder, Esq. 
 
 John Penrose, Esq., Eton. 
 
 Samuel Marshall, Esq. 
 
 Wain, Esq. 
 
 Michael Ellison, Esq. 
 John Bostock, Esq. 
 John Gilbert, Esq. 
 John Brindley, Esq. 
 John Riddlesden, Esq. 
 
 Summerfield, Esq., 
 
 Birmingham. 
 Whieldon Badderley, Esq. 
 
 C. C. Mort, Esq., Staffordshire 
 
 Advertiser. 
 
 William Phillips, Esq., Leek. 
 Charles Creswell, Esq., Notting- 
 ham. 
 
 Henry Mountford, Esq. 
 
 John Prince, Esq. 
 
 John Gould, Esq. 
 
 John Smith, Esq. 
 
 John Macqueen, Esq. 
 
 T. P. Johnson, Esq., M. D., 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
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 seat. 
 
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 *Mr. W. Greaves, Rutland Arms, 
 Bakewell. 
 
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 Messrs. Dawson and Hobson. 
 
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Xll 
 
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 tackle, Sheffield. 
 
 Mr. W. Bower. 
 
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 Red ditch. 
 
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 Redditch. 
 
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 son, Fish-hook Makers, Ken- 
 dal. 
 
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 tel, Dove-dale. 
 
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 well. 
 
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 Mr. William North, ditto. 
 
 Mr. Garland, ditto. 
 
 Mr. J. Owencroft, ditto. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Mellows, Dog and 
 Pheasant, ditto. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE treatise, comprised in the follow- 
 ing sheets, has been long and loudly 
 called for. When I make this assertion, 
 I do not mean to censure by any criticism 
 it may at first sight seem to imply, the 
 labours of other writers on the same sub- 
 ject. I merely state a fact. That fact 
 must be an apology for my assuming in 
 the face of the public the superiority 
 certainly not on a matter of vital impor- 
 tance to society that is supposed to 
 attach to the character of authors. To 
 prove the fact, I shall write that which 
 every body in the neighbourhood knows 
 to be a true story. 
 
 My father, the late William Shipley 
 of Ashborne, in which town he was born 
 and resided until he had fully completed 
 the term of years allotted to the age of 
 man, was the best fly-fisher that appeared 
 
XIV 
 
 on the banks of the Dove during the last 
 fifty years. I do not say this so much of 
 my own judgment, as of that of all who 
 knew him. Even the irritable, and, I 
 fear, enviable race of anglers by trade 
 a race remarkably constipated when they 
 are asked their opinion of the merits of a 
 rival, or when they are asked for any 
 useful information relative to their craft, 
 lest, by freely giving it, they may injure 
 their own reputation universally ac- 
 knowledged, I do not say to strangers, 
 but to those that knew both themselves 
 and my father, that, as a fly-fisher, they 
 never saw his equal. The gentlemen 
 resident in the neighbourhood, and those 
 who came from afar to fly-fish in the 
 Dove and the other streams adjacent to 
 it, and who must have had abundant op- 
 portunity of judging by comparison of my 
 father's merits, invariably said, and, like 
 true and disinterested brothers of the 
 angle, took a pleasure in making the 
 avowal, that he was the most successful 
 fly-fisher they had ever fished with in any 
 
XV 
 
 country. I have in my possession, and 
 they are open .to the perusal of any one, 
 many letters from many gentlemen resi- 
 dent in the various parts of the empire to 
 that effect. 
 
 Such being the reputation of my father, 
 and it being known besides, that he had 
 left several memoranda behind him rela- 
 ting to fly-fishing, made from observation 
 during a successful practical experience 
 of upwards of half a century, and that 
 those documents were in my possession, 
 I have been solicited year after year, I 
 may say in truth, week after week, since 
 his decease, which took place about eight 
 years ago, to put them into a readable 
 shape, and communicate them to the 
 public. I should long since have done 
 so, but I doubted my own abilities to 
 perform the literary portion of such a 
 task. I felt it would be a matter of 
 chance and time, to find a gentleman 
 who united within himself a love and 
 practical knowledge of the art of fly-fish- 
 ing, and a capacity of communicating by 
 
XVI 
 
 writing all he knew of it, all he might 
 learn from my father's notes, and all that 
 I could teach him orally. Time the 
 great revealer of all things of modest 
 merit and of cunning criminality 
 brought me into contact last year, at 
 Nottingham, with the very sort of co- 
 adjutor I wanted. At a single interview, 
 at the hospitable board of a relative, 
 I came to a fixed opinion, in reference to 
 him ; and reading shortly after certain 
 sketches of fly-fishing in Derbyshire, 
 which appeared in a celebrated sporting 
 London journal,* and from certain allu- 
 sions in them knowing them to be his, I 
 resolved (forgive the vulgar flippancy of 
 the expression) to hook him. The world 
 shall never know the bait I used, but he 
 took it freely ; and I had the pleasure, 
 .towards the end of last January, of land- 
 ing him safely under my humble roof. 
 He arrived fagged from over-exertion in 
 certain literary engagements which he 
 had just completed in London, and dis- 
 
 * Bell's Life. 
 
XV11 
 
 pirited on account of certain crosses in 
 
 ; but, stop, I must not meddle with 
 
 the feelings of his heart, for they are the 
 only matters upon which a child may not 
 govern him. I treated him Derbyshire 
 fashion my hospitality with that of my 
 family was, perchance, rude, but it was 
 frank-hearted. He seemed pleased with it, 
 rallied, recovered, made himself at home. 
 I showed him the scenery of the neigh- 
 bourhood, brought him suddenly on the 
 most interesting parts of the Dove, and 
 never shall I forget the fishing enthusiasm 
 excited in him by the sight of that lovely 
 stream. He uttered on its banks some 
 fifty rhapsodical speeches, all of them, 
 save one, in some language, or languages, 
 which I understood not. I feared he was 
 possessed of the " gift of tongues." He 
 became calmer, took me under the arm, 
 and turning his back upon the river, and 
 directing his steps homewards, he began 
 singing, not very melodiously by-the-by, 
 the following stanza : 
 
XV111 
 
 " Oh ! my beloved nymph, fair Dove ; 
 Princess of rivers, how I love 
 
 Upon thy flowery banks to lie ; 
 And view thy silver stream, 
 When gilded by a summer's beam ! 
 And in it all thy wanton fry, 
 
 Playing at liberty : 
 And with my angle, upon them 
 
 The all of treachery 
 I ever learn'd, industriously to try !" 
 
 " To-morrow we will set to work," said 
 he, and then we talked of divers matters 
 not connected with fishing. 
 
 In the morning I laid my father's notes 
 before him. He read them with silent 
 avidity, called me into the room, and 
 questioned me, touching my own fishing 
 acquirements, with as much preciseness 
 and pertinacity, as if he had been deputed 
 to examine me as to my fitness to become 
 chairman of the Walton -and- Cotton Club. 
 After an examination of more than two 
 hours, of which he took close short-hand 
 notes, he finished by assuring me in 
 rather a solemn tone, but which was yet 
 full of sincerity and earnestness, that, 
 
XIX 
 
 " with the blessing of God, we should 
 manage a good and useful book on fly- 
 fishing betwixt us." I slept well that 
 night. 
 
 He has been frequently pleased to tell 
 me during the progress of my work, that 
 the benefit he received from my oral 
 information was such, that, notwithstand- 
 ing my father's notes and his own know- 
 ledge, he could not have produced a 
 standard work without it. I do not take 
 the compliment to myself. If I under- 
 stand any thing of fly-fishing, if I am the 
 "capital" fly-fisher he says I am, I owe 
 it to my father's instructions, Him I 
 followed throughout all my boyhood, and 
 during a great portion of my manhood, in 
 his fishing excursions him I observed 
 him I listened to I treasured up his 
 practice and his principles, and whatever 
 merit is due to my share in the work, I 
 willingly offer it as a just and due homage 
 to his memory. I have now stated why I 
 asserted at the out-set, that the following 
 work had been " called for ;" and I have 
 
XX 
 
 also given a rapid history of the circum- 
 stances under which it has been begun. 
 
 The text contains, therefore, the united 
 opinions, information, and instructions of 
 three individuals, founded on long, exten- 
 sive, and very varied experience ; and to 
 that text are added extracts from every au- 
 thor that has been considered of sufficient 
 authority to have his opinions placed in 
 juxta-position with our own. In quoting 
 an author, care has been taken to mention 
 his name. The reader will have, there- 
 fore, a new treatise on the art of fly-fishing, 
 and he will at the same time have an op- 
 portunity of dwelling on the instructions 
 relative to important and disputed points 
 of every writer of reputation. The plan 
 adopted will be found at least useful if not 
 amusing. 
 
 Touching amusement, I have a word or 
 two to say. I have been advised to allow 
 that to be a secondary point ; and know- 
 ing the sound judgment of those who were 
 friendly enough to tender me such advice, 
 I have followed it. The book, will, conse- 
 
XXI 
 
 quently, be found rather a book of in- 
 formation than of mere amusement ; but 
 let the reader bear in mind, that it is 
 written on an amusing art, and he will 
 agree with me, that it would have been a 
 task of supererogation and of self-suffi- 
 ciency, to attempt " to paint the lily, to 
 gild refined gold." It is written in a plain, 
 straightforward style, suitable, I hope, to 
 the subject ; but of that I dare not judge. 
 I tremblingly see the critic's rod lifted up 
 before me ; but while he wields it, let 
 him lay it on mercifully, when he reflects 
 that his victim is a meek and modest 
 "brother of the rod." 
 
 I hope that the different authors whose 
 names I have made use of, will perceive 
 that I have done so in a perfect spirit of 
 fairness, and with the laudable purpose of 
 disseminating as widely as possible a 
 knowledge and a love of the art we all 
 profess and are fond of. If I have done 
 any of them the slightest wrong, I shall 
 be ready, when it is pointed out to me 
 
XXIV 
 
 more rankly of a long and continuous 
 consumption of the " midnight lamp," 
 I have only to say, that I earnestly hope 
 so, and that I shall feel obliged to any 
 reader, who, on the detection of errors, 
 will point them out to me, in order that 
 they may be rectified in succeeding 
 
 editions if called for. 
 
 W. S. 
 
 Ashborne, May 10, 1838. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER T. 
 
 In Praise of Fly-fishing. , 
 Page 117. 
 
 Reasons for supposing that we can teach the art. Lord 
 Byron and Izaak Walton. Why we think fly-fishing the 
 highest branch of the art of angling. Encouragements 
 for the fly-fisher : the sort of fish he catches, the nature of 
 the rivers he fishes in, and of the scenery he traverses 
 when in pursuit of his recreation. Pliny's metaphorical 
 description of a river. Fly-fishing not liable to the charge 
 of cruelty : insensibility of fish ; Sir Humphrey Davy's 
 opinion thereon ; our own opinion : curious facts ; one 
 related by Captain Medwin. A fish caught by swallowing 
 its own eye ! The humanity of the English people con- 
 trasted with that of the French, the Italians, and the 
 Spanish. Out-of-door amusements : our opinion and 
 encouragement of them. Beautiful sentiment of Sir H. 
 Davy. Not a single angler to be found in the Newgate 
 Calendar ! The sort of exercig^ undergone by the fly- 
 fisher. The end of the chapter propped by Atlas. 
 
XXVI 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Same Subject continued. 
 Page 1833. 
 
 General description of the fly-fisher's tackle. Elegancy, 
 delicacy, and cleanliness of the art : Mr. Bainbridge quo- 
 ted. The art a pursuit of moral discipline, as it requires 
 patience, forbearance, and command of temper. Its con- 
 nection with natural science. Dame Juliana Berners. 
 The art suitable to Englishwomen. It is of pure British 
 growth and practice : foreign fly-fishers " few and far 
 between." Several authorities quoted who have eulogised 
 the art : Mr. Taylor, Mr. Jesse, Mr. Fisher. Remarkable 
 personages fly-fishers : George IV., the Duke of Sussex, 
 Nelson, Sir H. Davy, Charles Cotton, Dr. Paley, Robert 
 Burns, Professor Wilson, Mr. Hogg, the poets Thomson 
 and Wordsworth, Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Birch, Professor 
 Rennie. Passage referring to our list of subscribers : Sir 
 Francis Chan trey, Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 On the Choice, Make, Materials, and Qualities of a Fly-rod. 
 Page 34 51. 
 
 The necessity of having a rod of perfect formation : our 
 own opinion, and the care we have taken in forming it. 
 The different species of wood proper for the several joints 
 of the fly-fisher's rod : Bainbridge's advice on one point 
 recommended. The proper size of rings pointed out : ma- 
 terial of which the loops that hold the rings are to be made. 
 A common and great defect in rods : Irish rods, opinion 
 on. How a rod should taper. The joints that do most 
 
XXV11 
 
 work. Care to be taken in tying up your joints after 
 fishing. Length of a rod. Bainbridge's method of pre- 
 serving a rod after use. The oldest method of making a 
 rod. A lady's recipe, and observation thereon. The di- 
 rections of Sir John Hawkins and of Mr. Taylor. Supe- 
 riority of the rod " of two parts, without ferrules," iu cer- 
 tain cases, and objections to it. Mr. Hansard and Colonel 
 Hawker's advice. Weight of rods. Further directions by 
 Mr. Alfred Ronalds, Mr. Professor Rennie, and Mr. 
 Bainbridge. Concluding remarks. 
 
 CHAPTER rvV 
 
 On the best sorts of Lines, Reels, Hooks, fyc. 
 Page 5273. 
 
 Length of a reel-line for the Dove, and the other 
 streams of the midland counties. Objections to a reel- 
 line when entirely made of silk or hair. The best compo- 
 nent parts for a line. Minute instructions relative to 
 lines of different lengths. The best colour, &c. The reel- 
 lines we always use ourselves. Casting-line : of what sort 
 of gut it ought to be made; how to knot the links to- 
 gether ; its length to be modified according to the number 
 of flies you fish with ; instructions upon that head. A 
 link of twisted horse-hair recommended to come between 
 the reel and casting-lines. Advice as to what sort of horse- 
 hair ought to be used. Our way of dying or staining gut. 
 Walton, Johnson, and Bainbridge's directions on the 
 matter. Hooks : the best manufacturers ; the proper 
 sizes, and the different modes of numbering them. The 
 "sneck-bent" recommended. The opinions of Sir H. 
 Davy, Mr. Ronalds, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Fisher, Professor 
 Rennie, Mr. Stoddart, and Colonel Hawker, with respect 
 
XXV111 
 
 to hooks. Majority in favour of O'Shaughnessy's Limerick 
 hook. Our own opinion notwithstanding. Directions 
 how to make hooks. Reel : the sort of one we prefer. 
 Mr. Bainbridge's advice. How and where a reel is to be 
 attached to the rod. Doctors disagree. Colonel Hawker's 
 authority. Landing-net : its use particularly insisted 
 upon ; its size, with that of its handle and hoop. Clear- 
 ing-ring described, and mentioned as a most useful ap- 
 pendage to the fly-fisher. Fishing-basket, one word rela- 
 tive to : our wish. The amber ale of Ashborne. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 On, Throwing the Line ; Hooking, Playing, Landing, and 
 Killing a Fish. 
 
 Page 7499. 
 
 Importance of these several operations. Meaning of 
 " He throws a fly as well as any man in England." How 
 to commence throwing the line. The way the process is 
 performed. When to begin using the casting-line and 
 flies. Not necessary for a beginner to endeavour to throw 
 against the wind ; difficulty of doing so, and its impor- 
 tance ; how to succeed in the operation. How to throw 
 your flies when the wind blows either from the right or 
 left. Mode of fishing a stream. Frequent casting recom- 
 mended. When a fish commonly takes a fly. Casting- 
 line alone to touch the water, whenever practicable. 
 Necessity of keeping the flies in view. The parts of 
 streams that should be fished most carefully. The only 
 time the "still deeps" should be fished. When a fish is 
 seen to rise at a natural bait, how to act. Fish " fine 
 and far off." Authors quoted on the way of throw- 
 ing the line : Mr. Ronalds, Mr. Rennie, Mr. Carroll, 
 
XXIX 
 
 Mr. Cotton, Mr. John Sidney Hawkins, Mr. Taylor, 
 Colonel Hawker, and an anonymous ancient author. 
 Hooking or striking a fish ; when and how to do so ; what 
 advice is to be rejected, and what followed j a word or 
 two from Mr. Rennie and Mr. Ronalds on the subject. 
 Playing a fish. How to judge whether you have hooked a 
 fish firmly or not : in either circumstance the method to 
 be adopted. The best general mode of playing a fish. 
 Importance of giving a fish sufficient line, and caution to 
 be observed in doing so : our father's successful practice. 
 In what way length of line acts upon the fish and tackle. 
 Keep your fish " under buckle." Playing a fish against 
 stream the worst practice possible : the reason : remarks 
 of Sir H. Davy : particular directions under peculiar cir- 
 cumstances. Landing a fish. The landing-net again 
 recommended : how to make use of it : important precau- 
 tions pointed out. How to kill your fish : crimping, when 
 advisable ; its effects. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On the different Materials used for dressing Artificial Flies ; 
 and the simplest, shortest, and best Mode of dressing them 
 pointed out. 
 
 Page 100128. 
 
 Opinion as to written instructions. Plagiarisms of au- 
 thors. Always use our own flies. All the arcana of the 
 art divulged. Materials : the different sorts of silk ; fea- 
 thers for the wings and legs of flies ; dun-hackles and dun- 
 cocks ; other sorts of hackles ; dubbings, description of, 
 and where to be got ; herls and ribbing, where procured. 
 Eight general rules for dressing flies laid down: 1. to 
 make a plain hackle ; 2. how to make a palmer-fly ; 3. 
 A 3 
 
XXX 
 
 how to make the same fly ribbed with twist j 4. how to 
 make a winged-fly with simple dubbing ; 5. how to make a 
 grouse or a wren's hackle ; 6. winged-fly, with hackle for 
 legs ; 7. fly with wings, dubbing for body, and hackle for 
 legs ; 8. how to dress the most difficult sort of fly. The 
 advantages of our method of fly-making pointed out. 
 Cotton's method and directions, and all that is taught by 
 them. Opinion of the directions given by Rennie, Han- 
 sard, Best, Ronalds, Taylor, &c. Judgment on Mr. Bain- 
 bridge j the consequence : his directions for fly-dressing 
 given, in order that they may be compared with ours ; a 
 word or two respecting them, and our own instructions. 
 Recipe for the only sort of wax that ought ever to be used 
 in fly-dressing. 
 
 CHAPTER .VII. 
 
 A curious Controversy sharply commenced, and, it is hoped, 
 successfully concluded. 
 
 Page 12914-5. 
 
 Modern geniuses. The studies of fly-dressers have after 
 all only produced "pretended imitation :" that the opinion 
 of a learned professor of zoology. The routine school back- 
 ed against the ultra-scientific. Lists entered with Mr. 
 Professor Rennie : his notes to Cotton ; his original work : 
 his manifest contradictions. A few questions put to him. 
 The assertion combatted, that species is quite unimpor- 
 tant, that all insects are equally welcome to fish, and the 
 larger they are the better. March-brown and May-fly. 
 Authorities quoted by Mr. Professor Rennie : our inter- 
 pretation of the assertions of those authorities. The gaudy 
 or extravagant fly. Mr. Bainbridge's salmon flies. The 
 professor beaten with his own weapons. Sir H. Davy quo- 
 
XXXI 
 
 ted by the learned professor in support of his heresy : our 
 counter-quotations. The dragon-fly. Messrs. Ronalds, 
 Taylor, and Hansard's opinions on the question of imitating 
 nature in dressing flies. Why we thought it necessary to 
 write the chapter: concluding opinion. Vignette of 
 Ashborne-hall. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Flies for every Month in the Year. 
 Page 146172. 
 
 Importance of this chapter. According to whose method 
 the flies are dressed. London-dressed flies : Messrs. Bow- 
 ness and Chevalier recommended. Opinion of our flies. 
 Size of flies. Sir Humphrey Davy at Ham Hall : his 
 opinions and intentions with respect to our father. List of 
 flies for January : red-brown fly blue dun refer to notes 
 light-blue dun golden palmer-fly Esterhazy dun 
 peacock fly. Admonition to the reader. Flies for Fe- 
 bruary : dark dun plain palmer red fly another blue 
 
 dun red dun furnace fly. Flies for March : another 
 
 blue dun dark-claret fly description of the furnace-hac- 
 kle another dark dun winter brown the March-brown, 
 or dun-drake : opinions with respect to this celebrated fly : 
 execution done with it : different ways of dressing or tying 
 
 it : commendations of this fly March-brown dun-fly. 
 
 Flies for April: orange dun cow-dung fly golden and 
 plain palmers grannom, or green-tail light-blue dun 
 yellow dun stone fly sand fly : our opinion of this excel- 
 lent fly : opinions of Messrs. Bainbridge and Ronalds. 
 
 Flies for May: spider fly iron blue another dark 
 
 dun another sort of palmer little yellow May-fly 
 
XXX11 
 
 silver-twist hackle fern fly. Flies for June : the 
 
 green-drake, or May-fly : history of this " delicate and 
 fragile creature :" reasons why this celebrated fly is placed 
 in our list for June : opinions of authors : way of dressing 
 this fly : how to die mallard's feathers for the wings of 
 the May-fly grey-drake : Mr. Ronalds's remarks on this 
 fly black gnat peacock fly light mackerel fly. 
 Flies for July : dark mackerel fly ash fly orange 
 dun red ant fly black ant fly wren's hackle grouse 
 
 hackle. Flies for August : oak fly little whirling-blue 
 
 summer dun peacock fly on smaller hook brown fly. 
 
 Flies for September : little pale blue willow fly 
 
 golden dun cinnamon fly an important nota bene. 
 
 Night Flies : white, brown, and cream-coloured moths 
 black clocker stone fly instructions for night fishing. 
 Guarantee of this list of flies. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 On the Nature, Habits, and Organisation of the Common 
 Trout. 
 
 Page 173185. 
 
 Source of our principal information. Localities chosen 
 by this fish : character of it. Spawningseason. Variations 
 in appearance in different localities. Opinions as to va- 
 riety of species. Consideration of strata, water, food : 
 consequences. Vertebrae of Salmo Fario. Mr. Neill and 
 black-moss. When the fish is in best season. Interesting 
 experiment mentioned by Mr. Stoddart. Sir H. Davy on 
 the colouring-matter of trout. Weight and longevity of 
 this fish London anglers for trout in the Thames. Ex- 
 tract from Mr. Jesse's Rambles. The most celebrated 
 
XXX111 
 
 Thames anglers. Minnow-spinning for trout in the 
 Thames. Mr. Popham's water-spaniel an excellent trout 
 catcher. Anatomical description of the trout. Deformed 
 trout. Right season, and right baits, for angling for this 
 fish. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 On the Nature, Habits, and Organisation of the Grayling. 
 Page 186211. 
 
 The grayling a local fish. Rivers in which it is found. 
 Supposition, that it was originally introduced into this 
 country by the monks. In what sort of rivers the grayling 
 thrives best. Size of this fish. Spawning time, and when 
 in best condition. Its food. A migratory fish on the Eu- 
 ropean continent. Grayling caught this year in the Dove. 
 The term Thymallus. When the fish ought to be dressed. 
 Derivation of the word grayling. Effects of the large 
 dorsal-fin and swimming-bladder. Anatomical propor- 
 tions of the fish. Condensation of Sir H. Davy's excellent 
 observations relative to grayling. The minnow taken by 
 this fish. The best modes of fishing for. Its habits. Its 
 growth. Best artificial flies for grayling-fishing. Letter 
 from a gentleman resident on the banks of the Teme with 
 respect to the growth of the grayling, and recommending a 
 new method of angling for it. Editor of the Literary 
 Gazette. Our opinion of the new method. Extract from 
 Izaak Walton. Why this fish is called Umber. Note on 
 an aristocratic distinction. Vignette of Ham-hall. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN PRAISE OF FLY-FISHING. 
 
 WHEN an author chooses of his own free- 
 will a subject to write upon, it must of course 
 be supposed, that he is attached to it. Attach- 
 ment and devotion to a subject, whatever it 
 may be, whether it embraces an art or a science, 
 implies in a person of common sense, unsway- 
 ed by foolish partiality or caprice, a knowledge 
 of that subject. From our boyhood upwards 
 and we have been now man and boy full 
 thirty years we have been, and still are, 
 passionately attached to the amusement of 
 angling, at least to those higher and more 
 difficult branches of the art which come under 
 the heads of fly-fishing and trolling. Now 
 the range of our intellect must be very limited 
 indeed we must be sadly deficient both in 
 memory and observation if, for nearly a 
 space of time that would comprehend a quin- 
 tuple apprenticeship, we have followed, we may 
 
 say, perseveringly pursued, an art without 
 B 
 
2 
 
 becoming acquainted with its principles in 
 general and in detail. We will not mince the 
 matter, nor assume a mock modesty, which is 
 nothing more than the flimsy and threadbare 
 disguise of vanity and presumption ; but we 
 will, in the spirit of unaffected candour and 
 a similar spirit shall be found running, in deep 
 vein, through every page of this book ac- 
 knowledge our love for the art we write about, 
 and confess that we think we have practised 
 it long enough to become humble professors 
 of it. 
 
 If a man amuses himself innocently, it 
 neither becomes the philosopher nor the man 
 of the world to scoff at him, or to ridicule 
 contemptuously his pursuits. Live and let 
 live, amuse yourself, and let others do so like- 
 wise, is a charitable maxim, and one that 
 ought to be observed by all brothers of the 
 angle. While we observe it, while we studi- 
 ously avoid giving offence to the patient, 
 placid, plodding bottom-fisher while we con- 
 sider him entirely free from the charges of 
 cruelty brought against him by the over- 
 weeningly sensitive and squeamish* while 
 
 * Nothing ever hurled against angling has alarmed 
 anglers more than the following lines from, in our opinion, 
 the best written, the most popular, and the most danger- 
 ously-immoral poem of our time : 
 
we disclaim any thing that can be fairly con- 
 sidered as a cruel disposition on the part of 
 anglers, we cannot refrain from exalting above 
 all others that division of the art of angling 
 in laud of which this chapter is written. 
 
 "And angling too, that solitary vice, 
 
 Whatever Isaak Walton sings or says: 
 The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet 
 Should have a hook and a small trout to pull it." 
 
 Byron's Don Juan, canto XII. stanza 16. 
 
 Not only do these four verses contain severe and chosen 
 epithets of abuse launched against the common father of 
 anglers, but they convey a strong censure against the art 
 itself the whole art of angling calling it "a solitary 
 vice," that is, a vice of the very worst sort, since it must 
 be founded on self and unparticipated enjoyment. For 
 our parts we have always smiled at the noble poet's indig- 
 nation against the cruelty of anglers, and the more so, 
 since that indignation is expressed in a work, the hero of 
 which is a model of refined cruelty one of those lax, yet 
 interesting young gentlemen, who think less of breaking a 
 woman's heart be she maid, wife, or widow than poor 
 quiet old Isaak would of paining a grasshopper. Angling 
 a "solitary vice!" Gambling, dog-fighting, boxing, in- 
 trigues, both with married and with single, are certainly 
 not " solitary" vices ; but that is the only negative praise 
 that can attach to them ; and he who has been known to 
 indulge in and to patronise them, must have been in ra- 
 ther a maudlin mood when he spun the above verses. 
 Captain Medwin, in his Angler in Wales, who knew Lord 
 Byron, says of the noble poet, that " he was always strain- 
 ing at some paradox to startle with. I believe he never 
 threw a fly in his life, or, except at Newstead, in some 
 dull pond, ever wetted a line, or used any other bait than 
 a worm." There can be but little doubt, that Lord Byron 
 did not mean his censure to apply to fly-fishers ; but, as 
 the text stands, it is directed against anglers in general, 
 and for that reason we have noticed it. In concluding 
 this note we beg to say, that we do not hold Walton wholly 
 
4 
 
 In every art, that branch of it which is most 
 difficult, and which requires the greatest ex- 
 ercise of our ingenuity and of mental and 
 manual ability, must be the most highly pri- 
 zed, the most interesting, the most exciting, 
 and must be, when completely mastered, were 
 it only for the consciousness of superiority 
 that it inspires, and the laudable complacency 
 that always accompanies the overcoming of 
 difficulties, the most amusing. Let us take, 
 for the sake of familiar illustration, the art of 
 painting. The mere house-painter, in the 
 practice of his art, must feel less pleasure than 
 the sign-painter, the sign-painter less than the 
 portrait-painter, the portrait-painter less than 
 the landscape-painter, and the latter, though 
 the assertion, we are aware, will be contested, 
 less than the historical-painter, who exercises 
 his art in its highest and most refined state. 
 
 harmless of the charge brought against him by Byron, since 
 the patriarch of the rod thus tells you to use your frog, that 
 he may continue alive : " Put your hook into his mouth, 
 which you may easily do from the middle of April till 
 August; and then the frog's mouth grows up, and he con- 
 tinues so for at least six months without eating, but is 
 sustained, none but He whose Name is Wonderful knows 
 how: I say, put your hook, I mean the arming-wire, 
 through his mouth, and out at his gills ; and then with a 
 fine needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg with only 
 one stitch to the arming-wire of your hook ; or tie the frog's 
 leg above the upper joint to the armed wire ; and in so 
 doing, use him as though you loved him, that is, harm him 
 as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer." 
 
The amusement derived from angling has 
 likewise its gradations, more or less intense, 
 according to the way in which it is practised. 
 The patient barbel-fisher, who is obliged to bait, 
 night after night, his fishing-ground, and to sit, 
 hour after hour, watching the bending of his 
 rod or the sinking of his float, and who, in the 
 end, can only hope to catch some of the worst 
 fish that swim in our rivers, enjoys an 
 amusement less exciting than the middle - 
 fisher, that is, than he who trolls with a 
 minnow for perch or trout, or with a gudgeon 
 for pike; and the middle-fisher's pleasurable 
 excitement is less than that of him who angles 
 at the top, or fly-fishes. The fly-fisher has 
 chosen the most difficult branch of the art of 
 angling, and as little really worth possessing 
 is given to us in this world without some 
 portion of pain and labour, he enjoys, when 
 the pain and labour of learning his art is over, 
 a pleasure far keener than that of those ang- 
 lers who do not venture beyond the lower 
 and more easily-acquired divisions of the art. 
 
 One of the first encouragements that pre- 
 sents itself to the fly-fisher is, that he knows 
 that he is in pursuit, not of the coarse fish 
 the vilains of the water, but of those which 
 in form and in flavour are the finest and most 
 delicate, and, (without meaning any offence to 
 
the class to which we ourselves belong, but in 
 order to use an epithet in contradistinction to 
 the French one already used with respect to 
 all coarse fish), which we will call, the aristo- 
 cracy of the water.* The fish that generally 
 take the fly are the salmon, the trout, and the 
 grayling, with their varieties, and every body 
 will allow that they are the noblest, the best, 
 and the most beautiful of the fresh-water 
 finny tribe ; and every fisher of any experience 
 will also allow, that the streams and rivers in 
 which those fish are found, are, with respect to 
 the nature of their waters, the variety of the 
 channels through and over which they flow, 
 the country in which they are situated, the 
 formation of the banks that confine them, 
 and the diversity of the scenery that sur- 
 rounds them, the most romantic and the 
 most picturesque of all those that irrigate, 
 fertilise, and beautify the most enchanting 
 districts of the happy land we live in.f 
 
 * The only thoroughly coarse fish the only vilain or 
 worthless plebeian of the waters that greedily takes a 
 fly, is the handsome but tasteless chub. The pike, the 
 roach, and dace, also take the fly ; but though we cannot 
 place them amongst the aristocrats of the water, we may 
 safely say that they belong to the respectable portion of 
 the middle classes. 
 
 t Sir Humphrey Davy, encouraging a young fly-fisher, 
 holds out the following allurement : " And 1 think I can 
 promise you green meadows, shady trees, the song of the 
 nightingale, and a full and clear river. 
 
The fly-fisher, therefore, in addition to the 
 encouragement of feeling that he is in 
 pursuit of high game, knows that it is to be 
 found among those scenes, in embellishing 
 
 " POIETES -.This last is, in my opinion, the most poeti- 
 cal object in nature. I will not fail to obey your summons. 
 Pliny has, as well as I recollect, compared a river to hu- 
 man life. I have never read the passage in his works, but 
 I have been a hundred times struck with the analogy, 
 particularly amidst mountain scenery. The river, small 
 and clear in its origin, gushes forth from rocks, falls into 
 deep glens, and wantons and meanders through a wild and 
 picturesque country, nourishing only the uncultivated 
 tree or flower by its dew or spray. In this, its state of 
 infancy and youth, it may be compared to the human 
 mind in which fancy and strength of mind are predomi- 
 nant it is more beautiful than useful. When the dif- 
 ferent rills or torrents join, and descend into the plain, it 
 becomes slow and stately in its motions ; it is applied to 
 move machinery, to irrigate meadows, and to bear upon 
 its bosom the stately barge in this mature state, it is 
 deep, strong, and useful. As it flows on towards the sea, 
 it loses its force and its motion, and at last, as it were, 
 becomes lost and mingled with the mighty abyss of waters. 
 
 " HALIEUS : One might pursue the metaphor still fur- 
 ther, and say, that in its origin, its thundering and foam, 
 when it carries down clay from the bank, and becomes 
 impure, it resembles the youthful mind affected by dan- 
 gerous passions. And the influence of a lake, in calming 
 and clearing the turbid water, may be compared to the 
 effect of reason in more mature life, when the calm, deep, 
 cool, and unimpassioned mind is freed from its fever, its 
 troubles, bubbles, noise, and foam. And, above all, the 
 sources of a river which may be considered as belonging 
 to the atmosphere and its termination in the ocean, may 
 be regarded as imaging the divine origin of the human 
 mind, and its being ultimately returned to, and lost in, 
 the Infinite and Eternal Intelligence from which it origi- 
 nally sprung." Salmonia, page 17. 
 
8 
 
 which all-bountiful Nature seems to have 
 exerted herself with all the generous and 
 unsparing love, and disinterested and delicate 
 devotion, of maternity. 
 
 Fly-fishing is exempt from the principal 
 drawbacks attendant on the other modes of 
 angling. In the first place, the charge of cruel- 
 ty cannot, with any justice, attach to it. The 
 fly-fisher* tortures no insect, no reptile, no 
 living animal, in pursuing his recreation. He 
 uses artificial baits ; and even the charge, that 
 the fish he kills is put to unnecessary tor- 
 ture, cannot be thoroughly substantiated. Sir 
 Humphrey Davy, a great authority on any 
 point that relates to the organisation of fishes, 
 says, and we entirely agree with him, that 
 " it cannot be doubted, that the nervous sys- 
 tem of fish, and cold-blooded animals in gene- 
 ral, is less sensitive than that of warm-blooded 
 animals. The hook usually is fixed in the 
 cartilaginous part of the mouth, where there 
 are no nerves ; and a proof, that the sufferings 
 of a hooked fish cannot be great, is found in 
 the circumstance, that though a trout has been 
 hooked and played for some minutes, he will 
 often, after his escape with the artificial-fly in 
 his mouth, take the natural fly, and feed as 
 if nothing had happened; having apparently 
 
 * The artificial fly-fisher, of course, is meant. 
 
learnt only from the experiment, that the arti- 
 ficial-fly is not proper for food. And I have 
 caught pikes with four or five hooks in their 
 mouths, and tackle which they had broken 
 only a few minutes before ; and the hooks 
 seem to have had no other effect than that of 
 serving as a sort of sauce piquante, urging 
 them to seize another morsel of the same kind." 
 Nothing can be said to beat down this argu- 
 ment, based as it is on absolute fact, unless, 
 indeed, some one have recourse to a subterfuge 
 of this nature, that he admits the facts re- 
 corded, but that they do not prove the non- 
 suflering of the hooked fish, since the craving 
 of appetite may be so great as to overpower 
 the acuteness of external pain. We can our- 
 selves, by the statement of a fact that occurred 
 to us last summer, destroy completely the above 
 supposition. We were fishing on an afternoon, 
 at the weir a little to the south of Sawley 
 bridge on the Trent, and lost, in consequence 
 of a flaw in an old gut casting-line, the whole 
 of it, with the exception of a link or so. We 
 lost our three flies, and all by a small chub of 
 less than a pound weight, From the way the 
 fish were rising, sluggishly and slowly, we 
 were certain that the pangs of appetite had 
 little to do with their mounting towards our 
 flies, and having gone to another part of the 
 B 5 
 
10 
 
 river, and returned in about half an hour to 
 where we lost the line, we hooked and killed 
 with a red hackle the same sort of fly it had 
 taken before the identical chub that had so 
 short a time previously snapped our gut, 
 having the red-hackle tail-fly stuck right 
 through the under jaw, and the other flies 'and 
 line entangled loosely round his body.* If 
 fly-fishing is to be considered a cruel sport, 
 there is scarcely one of our field-sports and, 
 
 * Whilst Captain Medwin was fishing in a mill dam, his 
 friend hooked a trout which proved too strong for his 
 tackle, and he lost it ; five minutes after the Captain, 
 found himself violently tugged, and succeeded in landing 
 a trout of three pounds, with the identical hook and tac- 
 kle of his companion in its mouth. Angler. 
 
 The following fact ought to put an end to any doubts 
 we may have relative to the insensibility of fish : " Some 
 time ago, two young gentlemen of Dumfries, while fishing 
 at Dalswinton Loch, having expended their stock of 
 worms, &c. had recourse to the expedient of picking out 
 the eyes of the dead perch, and attaching them to their 
 hooks, a bait which the perch is known to take quite as 
 readily as any other. One of the perch caught in this 
 manner struggled so much when taken out of the water, 
 that the hook had been no sooner loosened from its mouth, 
 than it came in contact with one of its own eyes, and 
 actually tore it. The pain, if so it can be called, occa- 
 sioned by this accident only made the fish struggle the 
 harder, until at last it fairly slipped through the holder's 
 fingers, and again escaped to its native element. The 
 disappointed fisher, still retaining the eye of the aquatic 
 fugitive, adjusted it on the hook, and again committed 
 his line to the waters. After a very short interval, on 
 pulling up the line, he was astonished to find the identical 
 perch that had eluded his grasp a few minutes before, 
 and which literally perished by swallowing its own eye .'" 
 
11 
 
 as a nation, we take some pride in the noble 
 ness and manliness of our field sports that can 
 be deemed free from the charge of cruelty. 
 Hunting, coursing, shooting, horse-racing, 
 nay, riding, may by the fastidious be tortured 
 into cruel amusements. We believe, that, as a 
 people, we are as humane yes, more humane 
 for in a matter of this sort we will not hide 
 the well-founded opinion we entertain, though 
 we should be accused of national vanity 
 than any great and civilised people upon the 
 surface of the globe ; whilst, at the same time, 
 it is a fact universally acknowledged, that in 
 all out-of-door sports we indulge ourselves 
 more generally, and with keener zest, than any 
 other modern nation; that we understand 
 them better, and that we introduce into their 
 practice and pursuit the same ingenuity, the 
 same spirit of improvement, discovery, and 
 observation, the same desire to push every 
 art, though it be one of mere amusement, to 
 the very verge of perfection, that urges us to 
 excel in all that relates to commerce and real 
 civilisation, and which has placed the inhabi- 
 tants of our little island in the proudest position 
 ever occupied by the natives of any country. 
 We will simply ask, whether the French, the 
 Italians, the Spanish people peculiarly at- 
 tached to in-door amusements who delight 
 
12 
 
 in the atmosphere of the theatre, the ball-room, 
 the gambling-house, the billiard and the coffee 
 room, are a more humane people, a less cruel 
 race of men, than we Englishmen are than 
 we who are the best shots, the best riders, the 
 best anglers in the world. Let the historical 
 annals of each nation be consulted; let the 
 unhappy period, during which each nation was 
 plunged in domestic or foreign strife, 
 
 "When foe met foe in one red burial blent," 
 
 be surveyed, and then let the impartial exami- 
 ner tell we will not stickle for the palm of 
 bravery which nation showed most of true 
 heroism we mean, of humanity of the good- 
 ly milk of human forgiveness and kindness. 
 What is more what is still more strongly in 
 favour of our opinion, that an attachment to 
 field-sports does not in any way pre-suppose a 
 cruelty of disposition we will confidently aver, 
 that our landed gentry, and the people inhabit- 
 ing the country, and who, of course, must be 
 more addicted to the sports of the field, are 
 not one jot less humane and tender-hearted 
 than the inhabitants of large cities. We are 
 strong partisans, and from motives we trust of 
 humanity, to most out-of-door recreations. 
 We believe that they tend to health of 
 body, and to cheerfulness of mind ; and that, 
 
13 
 
 more than the amusements pursued in large 
 towns, they make us study nature, and its 
 various features and productions; and that 
 whilst we do so, and are not distracted by 
 streets, marts, shops, palaces all the work of 
 man's hands we are brought more immedi- 
 ately into contact with the beneficent Creator 
 of all things, and that we are more frequently 
 led, with loving and grateful hearts, to exclaim, 
 " God made the country, but man made the 
 town !"* 
 
 * Such a sentiment as the following flows freely from 
 the heart of a fly-fisher, after a day spent in the practice 
 of his art among the romantic rivers and hills of Scotland : 
 " I envy no quality of the mind or intellect in others ; not 
 genius, power, wit, or fancy ; but if I could choose what 
 would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, 
 I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other bless- 
 ing ; for it makes life a discipline of goodness ; creates 
 new hopes, when all earthly hopes vanish ; and throws 
 over the decay, the destruction of existence, the most 
 gorgeous of all lights ; awakens life even in death, and 
 from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity ; 
 makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder 
 of ascent to paradise ; and far above all combinations of 
 earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of 
 palms and amaranths, the gardens of the blest, the secu- 
 rity of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the scep- 
 tic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair !" 
 
 Salmonia, page 136. 
 
 Stephen Oliver, the younger, prettily remarks, " What 
 Pinkerton, with his usual modesty, has said of collecting 
 old coins, 'it is an innocent pursuit, and such as never 
 engaged the attention of a bad man,' belongs more justly 
 to angling there is not a single angler to be found in the 
 Newgate Calendar." 
 
14 
 
 Fly-fishing is the only mode of angling in 
 practice of which exercise is undergone. The 
 exercise of trolling, perhaps, ought to be con- 
 sidered an exception; but in bottom-fishing 
 the angler remains stationary, and were it not 
 for the pure river breeze he inhales, and the 
 scenery that gilds his imagination, it is doubt- 
 ful whether his amusement would be a health- 
 ful one. Now the fly-fisher is, we may say, 
 continually in motion, and there is scarcely a 
 muscle in the body that is not called into play 
 and into more robust developement by the 
 practice of his art. Let any fly-fisher we 
 do not speak of one who has already fallen 
 into " the sere and yellow leaf" examine the 
 muscles of his right arm, or of his left if he be 
 left-handed, at the beginning and at the end 
 of the fly-fishing season, and he will find them 
 nearly as much developed in size and solidity, 
 as if he had been in constant practice with 
 foil in hand in the salle cTarmes. Besides 
 exercise, not too gentle nor yet too rough, the 
 fly-fisher, always in motion, and not confined 
 to one particular stream or pool, nor to one 
 particular bank or rock, enjoys another great 
 advantage, that of variety. We confess our- 
 selves inconstant enough, not to wish to be 
 tied down to any one spot, howsoever beauti- 
 ful; and if fly-fishing possessed no other ad- 
 
15 
 
 vantage over the other modes of angling, we 
 should prefer it, because it allows us a wide 
 range, and does not confine us to plain, hill, 
 or valley. As we said before, those streams 
 which most abound with fish that take the 
 fly, run through the most beautiful scenery, 
 and in themselves, on account of the obstruc- 
 tions they meet with in their course, and the 
 inequalities of the bed they flow over, present 
 all those changes of stream, rapid, reach, cas- 
 cade, and quiet pool, which contribute to form 
 that, to many, most beautiful object of inani- 
 mate nature a perfect river. The fly-fisher 
 following up his recreation, has a varied and 
 living panorama ever before him.* 
 
 * The philosophical author of Salmonia elegantly says 
 on this point, with regard to fly-fishing, that, " as to its 
 poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild and 
 beautiful scenery of nature ; amongst the mountain lakes, 
 and the clear and lovely streams that gush from the 
 higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make their way 
 through the cavities of calcareous strata. How delightful 
 in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of win- 
 ter, when the frosts disappear, and the sunshine warms 
 the earth and the waters, to wander forth by some clear 
 stream, to see the leaf bursting from the purple bud, to 
 scent the odours of the bank perfumed by the violet, and 
 enamelled, as it were, with the primrose and the daisy ; 
 to wander upon the fresh turf below the shade of trees, 
 whose bright blossoms are filled with the music of the bee ; 
 and on the surface of the waters to view the gaudy flies 
 sparkling like animated gems in the sunbeams, whilst the 
 bright and beautiful trout is watching them from below ; 
 to hear the twittering of the water birds, which, alarmed 
 
16 
 
 at your approach, rapidly hide themselves beneath the 
 flowers and leaves of the water-lily ; and, as the season 
 advances, to find all these objects changed for others of 
 the same kind, but better and brighter, till the swallow 
 and the trout contend, as it were, for the gaudy May-fly, 
 and till, in pursuing your amusement in the calm and 
 balmy evening, you are serenaded by the songs of the 
 cheerful thrush and melodious nightingale, performing the 
 offices of paternal love, in thickets ornamented with the 
 rose and wood-bine !" Salmonia, page 10. 
 
 An anonymous writer, in that excellent Sunday news- 
 paper, THE ATLAS very properly named after the fabled 
 giant, for the weight of information it carries remarks 
 in the clear chanticleer spirit of a lover of our art ; 
 " Without the most remote intention of upbraiding any 
 with a fastidiousness or deficiency of taste ; without wish- 
 ing to make any body discontented with pre-conceived 
 and long-settled notions of the external, visible, and 
 practical delights of this busy and various earth ; or with- 
 out affecting any undue advantages of choice on our part, 
 we do not hesitate to say, that trout-fishing with the fly is 
 the perfection of sublunary pleasure to those who are, 
 in the full sense, ' brothers of the angle.' 
 
 'Let the huntsman praise his hounds, 
 Let the farmer praise his grounds, 
 And the squire his sweet-scented lawn ;' 
 
 but a mountain stream, running through an inclined val- 
 ley, shaded by expanding trees, with a cool wind breathing 
 up against the current, and clouds not rainy but dark 
 sailing over-head, is a more attractive sight to the lover of 
 angling, than the best pack in all the country side, the 
 rich golden-eared harvest, and the shorn lap of velvet 
 before the manor-house, with all its promise of comfort 
 and hints of ease. 
 
 "Select one of those days in June in our modern turn- 
 coat June, that (abandoning the path of its ancestors, 
 which was one bright blaze of sunshine throughout) is now 
 a capricious and lover-like month, sometimes smiling and 
 sometimes frowning, and anon weeping, and always co- 
 quetting select one of those days in June which your 
 in-door people would call * dubious ;' let there be a smart 
 
17 
 
 breeze blowing over the fern, and a gathering of clouds as 
 dreary as may be, short of actual showers ; sally forth on 
 such a day with your rod, and your belted basket, and 
 your book of ' glittering glories ;' take to the gorge of the 
 mountains, where the water, after having broken from its 
 alpine birth-place, flows gently, but with vigour, through 
 the depths of the valley there take your stand under the 
 shadow of an ancestral tree, and mark where the froth 
 surges on the surface, and where the current is most im- 
 petuous throw in boldly near the spot ; your eye must 
 be rapid and vigilant, your hand skilful and fastidious of 
 its motions, your foot firm, and every nerve on the alert. 
 Do not be dispirited by delay ; patience is the angler's 
 virtue ; do not suppose yourself frustrated by a false rise, 
 or by a failure in your first fly ; persevere until you are 
 convinced, that the sun from behind has cast your shadow 
 on the stream, and so discovered you to the watchful prey, 
 or that you have made an unlucky attempt, and betrayed 
 yourself to some of the sagacious patriarchs of the stream, 
 in either of which cases the sooner you take up another 
 position the better ; but if not, persevere, keep out of 
 sight, be cautious and eagle-eyed and you must succeed. 
 It would be idle to fill up the accessories of the picture. 
 Those who are true anglers need not to be recalled to the 
 living delights that surround them in such a scene the 
 hills crested with foliage, the vanishing tints that float 
 across the picturesque valley, the hum and buzz of the rip- 
 pling water as it frets in the eddies, and sweeps against the 
 loosely-rooted herbage under the shadow of the bank, and 
 the sense of vitality with which the whole is inspired. 
 These are to the angler a part of his own world ; not the 
 dreams of a sickly fancy, but the realities of revealed 
 nature." 
 
18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COMMENDATION OF THE ART OF FLY-FISHING 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 THE moment any one of the slightest taste 
 examines the tackle or "harness" which the 
 fly-fisher uses, he must acknowledge that it is 
 clean,* neat, delicate, and elegant. The essen- 
 tial property that marks all his gear is, light- 
 ness. His rod must he nearly as light and as 
 limber as an enchanter's wand ; beautifully, 
 lightly, gracefully, pliantly, tapering from the 
 but to the top; made of the lightest, the 
 most pliant, the toughest, and the strongest 
 wood ; and joined and put together with ma- 
 
 * " In addition to the foregoing advantages, that of 
 CLEANLINESS must not be omitted. How greatly prefer- 
 able is the simple formation of an artificial fly of feathers 
 and fur, to the unpleasantness attendant upon baiting a 
 hook with worm, maggot, or paste ! The one will last 
 during the diversion of a whole day, and with care much 
 longer, whilst the other requires adjusting or renewing 
 after every trifling nibble ; to say nothing of the cruelty 
 which attaches to the introduction of a hook into the 
 worm whilst living, or the extraction of a gorged hook 
 from the entrails of a ravenous fish." Bairibridge. 
 
19 
 
 thematical precision. His reel-line must pos- 
 sess the same qualities be light, strong, 
 tapering ; and his casting-line, or that to which 
 the flies are attached, and which is cast upon 
 the water, must be of the finest gut, scarcely 
 thicker than the threads the field-spider spins 
 from plant to plant. His hooks, and the 
 materials attached to them, in order to imitate 
 those delicate water-flies fish prey upon, must, 
 in many instances, present an object, hardly 
 more bulky than the little " worm pricked from 
 the lazy finger of a maid." It is this delicacy 
 of tackle that is the chief source of the 
 charming excitement felt by the fly-fisher. 
 Nothing depends upon brute force; every 
 thing is dependant on art, and on art, the exe- 
 cution of which requires the most consummate 
 delicacy. Throw your flies rudely, and, crack ! 
 they and your casting-line are gone, or else 
 you make a splash upon the water, that will 
 scare away the greediest fish in it ! Hook your 
 fish too roughly, and he will sail away with 
 your line, or fracture your rod; and, after you 
 have hooked him, play him with too rude a 
 hand, and you will either tear the hook from 
 out his flesh, or, with a lunge, he will scud 
 away with a portion of your " harness !" You 
 know all this you know the danger of any 
 violence on your part you know that victory 
 
20 
 
 is only to be obtained by gentleness; and when 
 the battle is over, you have the pleasure of be- 
 holding your prostrate foe, beaten in his own 
 element, forced from it, and with weapons so 
 weak, that, if strength could compete with 
 art, you would not have been able to hold him 
 in check for a moment. You feel that you 
 could not have accomplished such a feat with- 
 out exercising great command over your own 
 faculties, without exercising patience, inge- 
 nuity, cunning of hand and of mind ; that you 
 have been putting in practice the good old 
 advice, suaviter in modo ; and that you have 
 just proved, that, in almost all contentions for 
 mastery, " an ounce of oil goes farther than a 
 pound of vinegar." Moreover, this light 
 tackle of yours is portable within a very small 
 compass ; it is easily put together; and though 
 your fingers may be as delicate, and as white, 
 and as soft, as the exquisite's, who, with hands 
 well steeped in fragrant and softening cos- 
 metics, sleeps in kid gloves, you need not be 
 afraid of tarnishing their hue, or diminishing 
 their velvet softness. You have no worms nor 
 any other disagreeable or dirty bait to finger ; 
 the materials you have to manipulate are as 
 clean and as delicate as those that enter into 
 the composition of the entomologist's cabinet. 
 Every one who goes in search of fish, either 
 
21 
 
 for gain or for pleasure, employs art, in some 
 degree; "but," as Sir H. Davy truly says, 
 "that kind of it [search] requiring most art, 
 may be said to characterise man in his highest 
 or intellectual state : and the fisher for trout 
 or grayling with the fly, employs not only 
 machinery to assist his physical powers, but 
 applies sagacity to conquer difficulties; and 
 the pleasure derived from ingenious resources 
 and devices, as well as from active pursuit, 
 belongs to this amusement. Then, as to its 
 philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral 
 discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, and 
 command of temper. As connected with 
 natural science, it may be vaunted as de- 
 manding a knowledge of the habits of a 
 considerable tribe of created beings fishes, 
 and the animals that they prey upon, and 
 an acquaintance with the signs and tokens 
 of the weather and its changes, the nature of 
 waters and of the atmosphere." 
 
 Fly-fishing is so graceful and elegant an art, 
 requiring in the practice so much minute at- 
 tention and delicate manipulation, so much 
 quickness of eye and sensitiveness of touch, so 
 much ready apprehension, and which carries 
 us in its pursuit into so many scenes that cast 
 a glow over the fancy and the imagination, 
 that we are not surprised to see it chosen, as 
 
22 
 
 an out-of-door recreation, by some of the most 
 intellectual ladies in the land. An old English 
 lady, " Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of the 
 nunnery of Sopwell, near St. Alban's, a lady 
 of a noble family, and celebrated for her learn- 
 ing and accomplishments by Leland, Bale, 
 Pits, Bishop Tanner, and others," was the 
 first who wrote upon the art of fishing with a 
 rod ; and we think it extremely unlikely, that 
 a female at the head of a religious establish- 
 ment, in which religion and chastity walked, 
 like angel twins, side by side, would have 
 written in laud of an art, if there were any 
 thing in it at all derogatory from the high 
 religious and virtuous tone that has ever 
 characterised Englishwomen. It contains no- 
 thing of the sort; and if, in our in-door 
 amusements, our thoughts, words, and actions 
 are refined by the presiding companionship 
 of females, we ought to do all that lies in our 
 power to attract them to accompany us, and 
 to participate in those field enjoyments which 
 seem most adapted to the tasteful texture of 
 their minds, and to the delicate structure of 
 their persons. 
 
 Fly-fishing has still another recommenda- 
 tion. It may be considered of pure British 
 growth and practice. Out of England, Scot- 
 land, Ireland, and Wales, it will be in vain 
 
23 
 
 for you to look for a fly-fisher. We have 
 roamed through most of the countries of 
 Europe, and though here and there we did 
 meet with a foreign fly-fisher or two, they 
 were so "few and far between," nearly all of 
 them having acquired a smattering of the art 
 in this country ; and their tackle was so rude, 
 and their mode of using it so un-English-like, 
 that we may safely say that the art is peculiar to 
 
 "The land of the brave and free." 
 
 Long may it continue so ! And if in this our 
 modest treatise upon it, we add to its further 
 extension, and draw one disciple more over to 
 the "gentle craft," we shall not, so lowly is 
 our ambition, repine that our labours have 
 been thrown away. 
 
 As a conclusion to this chapter, we will 
 subjoin a few extracts from different authors 
 in praise of fly-fishing : ' ' Fly-fishing, or 
 fishing at the top of the water, is the most 
 genteel, ingenious, pleasant, and profitable of 
 the innocent recreations of angling ; to the 
 perfect accomplishment of which is required, 
 not only great attention and frequent practice, 
 but also diligent observation and considerable 
 judgment. It is the cleanest and neatest that 
 can possibly be imagined, being quite free 
 from the trouble of baiting your hook or foul- 
 
24 
 
 ing your fingers. The exercise it requires you 
 to take is moderate and gentle, not being 
 confined long to any part of the river, but 
 moving from stream to stream. The fish that 
 are caught in this manner are of the best and 
 most delicate sorts ; and when the water is in 
 order, and plenty of flies, there are a great 
 number of fishes to be taken. The prepara- 
 tion of the materials for the artificial fly, and 
 the skill and contrivance in making them, and, 
 comparing them with the natural, is a very 
 pleasing amusement. The manner of the 
 fishes taking them, which is by rising to the 
 surface of the water, and sometimes out of it, 
 gives the angler a very agreeable surprise, and 
 the length and slightness of line greatly adds 
 to the pleasure of tiring and killing them after 
 they are hooked." Angler's Museum. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, who wrote in 1800, and whose 
 book is tolerably esteemed by anglers, writes 
 very much in the same words in praise of fly- 
 fishing: "I shall here remark, that this in- 
 genious and delightful part of angling is, in 
 every respect, superior to all the rest put toge- 
 ther; it is the nicest, cleanest, and most 
 enlivening that can be ; giving no trouble in 
 baiting the hook, which occasions dirty fingers, 
 and thereby renders the sport rather unplea- 
 sant to persons of nice ideas." The rest of 
 
25 
 
 Mr. Taylor's further remarks are so manifestly 
 copied, or rather garbled from the extract we 
 have already given from the Angler's Museum, 
 that we shall dispense with quoting them. 
 
 Mr. Jesse, in " His Rambles/' who under- 
 stands trolling for pike well, but who is not 
 certainly a skilful fly-fisher, says, " I am 
 not about to make any comparison between 
 the pleasure of trolling and that of fly-fish- 
 ing. They may both be enjoyed in their 
 several ways, and trolling may be had when 
 fly-fishing cannot. I always consider the 
 mere art of fishing, as a secondary considera- 
 tion. I connect with it the enjoyment of the 
 country, the song of birds, the beauty of the 
 day, the refreshment of mind, and the calm- 
 ness of thought which these bring with them. 
 ' If,' as an old writer remarks, c an angler is 
 weary, his sport refreshes him ; if melancholy, 
 it cheers him ; if in pain, it eases him.' This 
 is the prosperity of the fisher. Patience and 
 hope are the two chiefest pillars that support 
 him. Cowper appears to have had this feel- 
 ing, when he remarked, 
 
 ' O ! friendly to the best pursuits of man, 
 Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace, 
 Domestic life in rural pleasure past, 
 Few know the value, and few taste the peace.' 
 
26 
 
 "Perhaps there is no pleasure to be enjoyed 
 at a more easy rate than that of angling, one 
 more conducive to health, or which composes 
 the mind to that quiet and serenity which can 
 only be appreciated by those who have experi- 
 enced the happiness they bring with them. 
 An old angler has justly remarked, that he 
 who lives Sibi et Deo, leads the most happy 
 life; and when we reflect that most of our 
 earthly hopes are attended with anxiety that 
 ambition, and riches, and power, generally 
 have some cares or evils to counterbalance 
 them, the contented angler may pursue his 
 course, enjoying his beloved recreation, with a 
 mind unruffled, like the stream he wanders 
 along." 
 
 The following and the last extract in praise 
 of fly-fishing is from the Anglers Souvenir, 
 a book written with much spirit, but, per- 
 haps, in a style rather too barbed, to please 
 generally the unoffensive race of gentle crafts- 
 men : " Fly-fishing is most assuredly that 
 branch of angling which is most exciting, and 
 which requires the greatest skill, with the 
 greatest personal exertion, to insure success. 
 Fly-fishing, in a preserved water, where a gen- 
 tleman, perchance in ball-room dress, alights 
 from his carriage to take an hour or two's easy 
 amusement, is no more like fly-fishing in a 
 
27 
 
 mountain stream, where the angler wanders 
 free to seek his fish where he will, and take 
 them where he can, than slaughtering phea- 
 sants, in a manner, fed at the barn-door, and 
 almost as tame as the poultry which are regu- 
 larly bred in the yard, can be compared to 
 the active exertion of grouse-shooting. The 
 angler who lives in the neighbourhood of, or 
 visits even the best trout streams, has not 
 unfrequently to walk miles, if he wishes to 
 bring home a well -filled creel, before he finds 
 it worth his while to make a cast. When he 
 has reached a place where trout are plentiful, 
 and disposed to rise, his labours then only 
 commence. He now and then hooks a large 
 trout, which he has to keep in play for some 
 time before he can draw him to land. The 
 fish has run all the line out, and with strong 
 effort is making up or down the stream ; and 
 the angler being no longer able to follow him 
 on the shore for a tree, a rock, or a row of 
 alders prevent him ; and knowing that his 
 tackle, which, towards the hooks, is of the 
 finest gut, will not hold the trout, and rather 
 than lose the speckled beauty, three pounds 
 weight at the least, into the water he goes, up 
 to his knees, and possibly a yard above, the 
 first step. And thus he continues leading a 
 sort of amphibious life, now on land, now in 
 
28 
 
 the water, for nearly half a day, till he has 
 killed his creel full, about the size of a fish- 
 woman's pannier, with some three or four 
 dozen besides, strung on his garters, and 
 suspended over his rod. In this guise, light- 
 hearted for he has reason to be proud of his 
 success though heavily laden, he takes his 
 way homeward; and there does he, for the 
 first time, note how rapidly the hours have 
 fled. He came out about two in the after- 
 noon, just thinking to try if the trout would 
 rise, as there had been a shower in the 
 morning, and the water was a little coloured ; 
 and he now perceives, that the sun, which is 
 shedding a flood of glory through the rosy 
 clouds that for half an hour before partly 
 obscured his rays, will in ten minutes sink 
 behind the western hill, although it be the 
 twenty-first of June. Involuntarily he stands 
 for a while to gaze upon the scene. Every 
 thing around him, in the solitude of the hills 
 for there is no human dwelling within five 
 miles appears quiet and composed, but not 
 sad. The face of nature appears with a cha- 
 stened loveliness, induced by the departing 
 day; the winds are sleeping, and so are the 
 birds lark and linnet, blackbird and thrush; 
 the leaves of the aspen are seen to move, but 
 not heard to rustle : the bubbling of the 
 
29 
 
 stream, as it hurries on over rocks and peb- 
 bles, is only heard. The angler's mind is 
 filled with unutterable thoughts with wishes 
 pure, and aspirations high. From his heart 
 he pours, as he turns towards home, 
 
 ' Thanks to the glorious God of heaven, 
 Which sent this summer day.' 
 
 The exercise which the angler takes when 
 fly-fishing, is no less conducive to the health 
 of his body, than the influence of pleasing 
 objects contributes to a contented mind. He 
 is up in the summer morning with the first 
 note of the lark ; and ere he return he has 
 walked twenty miles 
 
 < By burn and flowery brae, 
 Meadow green and mountain grey j' 
 
 and has eaten nothing since he dispatched a 
 hasty breakfast of bread and milk about four 
 in the morning; nor drunk, except a glass of 
 cogniac or glenlivat, qualified with a dash 
 of pure spring water, from the stone trough of 
 a way-side well, on his way home. When he 
 goes to the water-side, as it is more than 
 likely that he will have to wade, he puts on a 
 pair of lamb's-wool socks, and an extra pair in 
 his pocket. Should his feet be wet when he 
 leaves off fishing, he exchanges his wet socks 
 
30 
 
 for a pair of dry ones, and walks home in a 
 state of exceeding great comfort; the glass 
 of e cold, without/ which he took at the well, 
 just after changing his socks, having sent the 
 blood tingling to his toe-ends." 
 
 We think we have now sufficiently proved, 
 and yet, if we were so minded, we could bring 
 further testimony to our aid, the excellency, 
 the elegance, the high and exciting amuse- 
 ment, the harmlessness, and the humanity of 
 fly-fishing. But, as names are better than 
 mere words, and facts more persuasive than 
 the most eloquently-urged argumentation, 
 we will mention the names of a few distin- 
 guished persons who patronised and practised 
 fly-fishing. Geo. IV., the most highly- 
 cultivated minded monarch of the Brunswick 
 line that ever swayed the sceptre of these 
 realms, was a fly-fisher. His royal brother, 
 the duke of Sussex, is a fly-fisher. Nelson, 
 the hero of a hundred fights the Napoleon 
 of the ocean used to fly-fish in the Wandle, 
 near his country-seat at Merton, Surrey, and 
 so much was he attached to the amusement, 
 that after the loss of his right arm he continued 
 to practise with his left. Sir Humphrey Davy, 
 the greatest chemist of modern times, and the 
 humane inventor of the safety-lamp, which has 
 saved the lives of thousands of the most useful 
 
31 
 
 of mankind, was intiis et in cute a fly-fisher. 
 The first voluminous writer on the art was 
 Charles Cotton, Esq., of Beresford, near 
 Ashborne, a gentleman by birth, and far less 
 known to the generality of readers, for his 
 poetical and literary attainments, than he 
 deserves. He was a true country gentleman, 
 and, if not a profound scholar, he was a very 
 general and elegant one. "Dr. Paley," ac- 
 cording to Sir H. Davy, "was ardently at- 
 tached to the amusement of fly-fishing; so 
 much so, that when the bishop of Durham 
 inquired of him, when one of his most impor- 
 tant works would be finished, he said, with 
 great simplicity and good-humour, ' My Lord, 
 I shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing 
 season is over,' as if this were the business 
 of his life." Robert Burns, Mr. Hogg 
 (the Ettrick Shepherd), Professor Wilson (the 
 Great Christopher North), all great poets, 
 were good fly-fishers, and ardently attached to 
 the sport. Thomson, the immortal author of 
 the SEASONS, and of that still (in our opinion) 
 superior poem, THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE, 
 and Wordsworth, the most philosophical poet 
 of any age or clime, were fly-fishers. Emerson, 
 the mathematician, Dr. Wollaston and Dr. 
 Birch, were also fly-fishers. So are Professor 
 Rennie of King's College, and Mr. Jesse, 
 
32 
 
 author of Gleanings in Natural History ; and 
 both these learned gentlemen have written 
 treatises on the art. We could mention seve- 
 ral more distinguished living individuals who 
 are lovers of the art; but we think it will 
 fully answer our purpose, to refer the reader to 
 our list of patrons and subscribers.* In that 
 list will be seen the names of the first nobility 
 of our country first in rank, in ancientness 
 of race, in vast territorial possessions, in man- 
 ly virtue, and in high standard of intellect. 
 That list comprises and we feel justly proud, 
 and profoundly grateful in recording it the 
 names of the first warriors, the first statesmen, 
 the first political and literary characters of our 
 time of men, who, with risk of life, and loss 
 of blood and limb, have defended, and upheld, 
 and augmented, the glory and interests of our 
 beloved country in the field, and in presence of 
 
 * From that list we cannot refrain from choosing the 
 name of Sir Francis Chantrey. That name carries with it 
 the highest distinction that of genius and that name 
 is already entwined with the most interesting portion of 
 the history of our country with that part of it which 
 treats, and shall have to treat, of the state and progress 
 of the fine arts. The greatest and the most classically- 
 chaste of living sculptors, is an ardent and excellent, fly- 
 fisher. Sir Walter Scott has said of this immortal artist, 
 " We have ourselves seen the first sculptor in Europe, 
 when he had taken two salmon on the same morning, and 
 can well believe, that his sense of self-importance exceeded 
 twenty-fold that which he felt on the production of any 
 of the master-pieces which have immortalized him." 
 
33 
 
 the most redoubtable enemy we had ever to 
 contend against of men who have added to 
 that glory and those interests in the cabinet, 
 in the senate, and in the pulpit who have 
 adorned them by their literary productions 
 by men, who, in their private capacity of 
 English gentlemen, in all their social duties 
 and relations, give proofs that they would 
 sanction no pursuit, the exercise of which 
 would tend in the remotest degree to sully 
 that triple emblem of our nationality and union 
 which bears enwreathed on it the rose, the 
 thistle, and the shamrock and which has 
 braved, and which shall still brave for thou- 
 sands of years the " battle and the breeze !" 
 
34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE CHOICE, MAKE, MATERIALS, AND 
 QUALITIES OF A FLY-ROD. 
 
 IN this chapter we shall first state our own 
 opinion as to the best sort of rods, and we shall 
 then give the opinions and advice of the best 
 judges and writers on the same subject. The 
 importance to be attached to the qualities of a 
 rod is very great. It is a matter of perfect 
 impossibility to throw a fly with precision, or a 
 line, so as that it may fall lightly on the water 
 two operations of absolute necessity with 
 a rod of improper construction, make, and ma- 
 terial, no matter how experienced and skilful 
 the hand that wields it. The opinions on the 
 subject are various and conflicting; but we 
 can safely and with confidence advise the fly- 
 fisher to adhere to our judgment, as it has been 
 formed by careful comparison (all judgment of 
 any weight should have its source in extensive 
 and cautious comparison, otherwise it will be 
 worthless and one-sided) of the rods of many 
 
35 
 
 manufacturers, and of many made by fishermen 
 themselves. It is also impossible to strike at 
 and hook a fish with certainty of success, or to 
 play him confidently and without harm to your 
 tackle, if your rod is of imperfect formation. 
 
 TJie Fly -fisher's Rod: Let the but, or 
 joint next the hand, be of ash, of the finest, 
 smoothest, and longest grain; of that sort of 
 ash of which the best and lightest cabriolet 
 shafts are made; let the piece for your but be 
 sawn out of the trunk of a straight and full- 
 grown tree, which has been hewn down shortly 
 before the winter solstice, when all trees are 
 sapless ; and let it be from a piece that has 
 been seasoned in a dry place for years. The 
 material cannot be too well seasoned, and 
 should not be sawn too near the centre of 
 the tree, but rather at a distance from the vein 
 through which the pith runs.* Ash makes a 
 hard, tough, and regularly pliant but, and 
 there is only one objection to it, namely, that 
 
 * " Before wood of any description is cut into lengths, it 
 should be perfectly seasoned ; and whatever number of 
 pieces the rod is to be composed of, between the but and, 
 the top-piece, they must all be cut from the same log, and 
 not, as is too frequently done, the second part from one 
 piece of wood, the third from another, and so on, which, 
 not having undergone the same degrees of seasoning, will 
 never play regularly in the hand." Cambridge. 
 
 This is excellent advice. 
 
36 
 
 it is too weighty. To the fly-fisher of muscular 
 wrist and arm, we recommend it as the least 
 objectionable of all materials. The buts of 
 the greater part of modern fly-rods are made 
 of willow, and, perhaps, for the generality of 
 fly-fishers, the material of that tree is the most 
 appropriate. It is a lighter wood than that 
 of the ash, and is, within a shade or two, 
 equally springy and pliable; and though we 
 give the preference to ash, on account of early 
 habit, and on account of possessing, chiefly in 
 consequence of long practice in wielding the 
 rod, beyond the average muscularity of arm, 
 still we recommend to most anglers, and to all 
 beginners, the but made of willow. The two 
 middle joints of the rod should invariably 
 we heed not the assertions of many authorities 
 against us be made of hickory, and not of 
 lance-wood, which is more generally recom- 
 mended by writers, and which is, as any one 
 may perceive by comparing them, heavier, 
 less firm, and yet less elastic than hickory. 
 The top joint, two of which should belong, to 
 guard against casualties, to every rod, should 
 be made of bamboo-cane, and of nothing else, 
 since no other material, as yet tried, has been 
 found in any degree equal to it. We have been 
 speaking of a four-jointed rod. Should your 
 rod be of five joints, or even of the unusual, 
 
37 
 
 and, in most instances, unnecessary length of 
 six joints, let all the middle joints, that is, all 
 those between the but and the top, be also of 
 hickory. Most anglers recommend that the 
 top joint should terminate with a piece of 
 whale-bone of about six inches in length or 
 rather less, but if your top joint be made of 
 fine-grained bamboo, it can be reduced at the 
 extreme end to sufficient thinness, to do away 
 with the necessity of using whale-bone, and 
 will prevent the defect, and a very serious one 
 it is, of having your rod top-heavy. The but- 
 end of your rod should be bored, for the pur- 
 pose of carrying an extra top. The lower joints 
 of the rod we mean that part of the joint 
 that enters the ferrule should be brass 
 shouldered, in order that the wood may be 
 prevented from swelling when exposed to 
 moisture, and from straining the ferrules and 
 other parts of the rod, which it would do, du- 
 ring the process of unjointing your rod, if it 
 were in a swoln state. Nothing can be more 
 unwise than the advice of those persons who 
 direct the joints of the rod to be dipped in 
 water, that they may not separate in casting. 
 All modern rods have two flattened loops of 
 brass wire, 'placed in a direct line near and 
 opposite to each other, at each end of every 
 joint, which not only serve to keep the joints 
 
38 
 
 firmly united, by whipping a thread of silk 
 round them, but which are also used as a guide 
 to put your rod together straight, that is, with 
 all the loops through which the line passes in 
 a direct line one with the other. Those who 
 advise that your loops or rings should be large, 
 give the very worst counsel, since large rings 
 deprive the rod of three essential properties, 
 lightness, elasticity, and gracefulness. On the 
 contrary, your rings cannot possibly be too 
 light, provided, which is by no means a great 
 difficulty, they be well and firmly soldered. 
 They should be of moderate size, rather too 
 small than too large, and should, in their circle, 
 gradually diminish from the but to the top. 
 The size of the rings on the but should be 
 No. 5; those on the second joint, No. 6; on 
 the third joint, No. 7 ; and on the top joints, 
 Nos. 8 and 9. They should be tied on the rod 
 with the greatest possible neatness, and the 
 finest twisted silk should be used in the pro- 
 cess. The loops to which the rings are fas- 
 tened should be cut with a scissors from the 
 thin round plates of copper to which the dials 
 of watches adhere, and which are composed of 
 the finest-grained and toughest copper. They 
 can be procured in abundance, and almost for 
 asking, at the watch-maker's, since they are of 
 no use to him after the dial has been so much 
 injured as to require renovating. 
 
39 
 
 One of the most constant and greatest de- 
 fects in rods is, that they are made to taper 
 too abruptly from a little above the spot the 
 reel is placed on, down as far as the first joint. 
 This defect is particularly remarkable in rods 
 of Irish manufacture, which, though much 
 vaunted by prejudiced anglers, are inferior to 
 English rods; and their inferiority is mainly 
 to be attributed to the great weight of their 
 ferrules, weighing twice or three times more 
 than ours, and to the mode of fastening the 
 joints by means of screws, all which contributes 
 to render their rods too heavy, and to neutra- 
 lise the good properties which they otherwise 
 possess. Your rod should taper in just pro- 
 portion from but to top, if not it will not bend 
 with exact uniformity, and there will be an 
 unequal stress on the different portions of it. 
 When a rod tapers with mathematical exact- 
 ness, its pliability will be in uniform proportion 
 with the thickness and strength of its parts, 
 and each part will have to bear a weight exactly 
 in proportion with its power of bearing it. In 
 a rod of fair proportions the second and third 
 joints do most of the work, on them is greatest 
 stress, and on them chiefly depends your suc- 
 cess in throwing with precision your line, stri- 
 king your fish, hooking and playing him. If 
 they be defective in proportion, or composed of 
 
40 
 
 improper material, no good qualities in the 
 other parts of your rod can compensate for the 
 imperfection. It is scarcely necessary to add, 
 that there must be a moveable spike to your 
 rod, to screw into the ferrule at the base of the 
 but-end. Such spike or blade serves to fasten 
 your rod in the ground whilst you land a fish, 
 free your hooks from weeds, your lines from 
 being entangled, or whilst you change your 
 casting-line or flies. In tying up your joints 
 after fishing, or in laying them by during the 
 winter, be careful to place them straight and 
 parallel with each other, lest they should con- 
 tract a bend, or get strained, so as to render 
 it a labour of difficulty to bring them back to 
 their original formation.* A. fly-rod is suffi- 
 ciently long at from twelve to thirteen feet : 
 thirteen feet and. a half should be the utmost 
 length.f 
 
 * "To preserve rods after use, let them be well rubbed 
 with salad oil or tallow, and kept in a moderately dry 
 place until the return of the angling season, when, after 
 being carefully wiped, they will be found in excellent 
 order. If the bottom piece be bored for the purpose of 
 receiving a spare top, the inside should be oiled, by means 
 of a piece of rag, fastened to the end of a stick." 
 
 Bairibridge. 
 
 t " The common length of a trout rod is from twelve to 
 fourteen feet. Some persons prefer them even longer; but 
 for the generality of streams the latter is quite sufficient, 
 and for small rivers and brooks the former is much the 
 most convenient and useful size." JBainbridge. 
 
41 
 
 We shall now proceed to give the instruc- 
 tions of others on this subject ; and we begin 
 with extracts from the most ancient professors, 
 certainly rather with a view to satisfy curiosity 
 than to communicate useful information. 
 
 Dame Juliana Berners, writing about the 
 year 1486, gives the following curious recipe 
 for rod-making: "Ye shall kytte betweene 
 Myghelmas and Candylmas, a fayr staffe, of a 
 fadom and a halfe longe, and arme-grete, of 
 hasyll, wyllowe or aspe; and bethe hym in an 
 hote ouyn, and set hym euyn; thenne, lete 
 hym cole and drye a moneth. Take thenne 
 and frette (tie it about) hym faste with a coeke- 
 shote corde; and bynde hym to a fourme, or 
 an euyn square grete tree. Take, thenne, a 
 plummer's wire, that is euyn and streyghte, and 
 sharpe at the one ende; and hete the sharpe 
 ende in a charcole fyre tyll it be whyte, and 
 brenne the staffe therwyth thorugh, euer 
 streyghte in the pythe at bothe endes, tyll they 
 mete ; and after that brenne hym in the nether 
 ende wyth a byrde-broche (bird-spit) and wyth 
 other broches, eche gretter than other, and 
 euer the grettest the laste ; so that ye make 
 your hole, aye, tapre were. Thenne lete hym 
 lye styll, and kele two dayes ; unfrette (unbind) 
 hym thenne, and lete hym drye in an hous roof, 
 in the smoke, tyll he be thrugh drye. In the 
 
42 
 
 same season, take a fayr yerde of grene hasyll, 
 and bethe him euen and streyghte, and lete it 
 drye wyth the staffe; and whan they ben drye, 
 make the yerde mete unto the hole in the 
 staffe, unto halfe the length of the staffe; and 
 to perfourme that other halfe of the croppe, 
 take a fayr shote of blacke thornn, crabbe tree, 
 medeler, or of jenypre, kytte in the same season, 
 and well bethyd and streyghte, and frette 
 theym togyder fetely, soo that the croppe maye 
 justly entre all into the sayd hole; and thenne 
 shaue your staffe, and make hym tapre were ; 
 thenne vyrell the staffe at bothe endes wyth 
 long hopis of yren, or laton, in the clennest 
 wise, wyth a pyke at the nether ende, fastynd 
 wyth a rennynge vyce, to take in and out your 
 croppe; thenne set your croppe an haridfull 
 wythin the ouer ende of your staffe, in suche 
 wise that it be as bigge there as in ony other 
 place about; thenne arme your croppe at the 
 ouer ende, downe to the frette, wyth a lyne of 
 VJ heeres, and dubbe the lyne, and frette it 
 faste in the toppe wyth a bowe to fasten on 
 your lyne ; and thus shall ye make you a rodde 
 soo prevy, that ye may walke therwyth; and 
 there shall noo man wyte where abowte ye goo." 
 The Dame Juliana must have been a lady 
 of powerful "thews and sinews," not very much 
 macerated by fasting and prayer, prioress of a 
 
43 
 
 nunnery though she was, since she was able 
 to handle a rod, at least, according to her own 
 calculation, fourteen feet long, and the but of 
 which was an " arme-grete," or somewhat 
 about as thick as one's arm. The "staffe," 
 or but, being "a fadom and a halfe longe," 
 makes nine feet ; the middle joint being " a 
 fayr yerde (yard) of grene hasyll," when added 
 to nine makes twelve feet; and the "toppe," 
 consisting of "a fayr shote (shoot) of blacke 
 thornn," must be computed at the lowest at 
 two feet; thus making the fair angler's rod 
 full fourteen feet long a length, and, conse- 
 quently, a weight (and, remark, the joints are 
 to be bound with long " hopis of yren" 
 hoops of iron) far too ponderous for the mus- 
 cles of us degenerate modern males. 
 
 Cotton gives no directions for making a rod, 
 but one of his commentators, Sir John Haw- 
 kins, thus supplies the deficiency : " But for 
 the neatest fly-rod you can make, get a yellow 
 whole deal board that is free from knots; cut 
 off about seven feet of the best end, and saw it 
 into some square breadths ; let a joiner plane 
 off the angles and make it perfectly round, a 
 little tapering, and this will serve for the 
 stock ; then piece it to a fine straight hazel, 
 of about six feet long; and then a delicate 
 piece of fine-grained yew, planed round like 
 
44 
 
 an arrow, and tapering, with whalebone, as 
 before, of about two feet in length. There 
 is no determining precisely the length of a 
 fly-rod ; but one of fourteen feet is as long as 
 can be well managed with one hand." 
 
 The same commentator, improving on the 
 above instruction, says with much truth, 
 "Here follows a description of such a neat, 
 portable, and useful fly-rod, as no angler that 
 has once tried it will ever be without. Let 
 the joints be four in number, and made of hic- 
 kory, or some such very tough wood, and two 
 feet four inches in length, the largest joint 
 not exceeding half an inch in thickness. 
 The top must be bamboo shaved. And for 
 the stock, let it be of ash, full in the grasp, 
 of an equal length with the other joints; and 
 with a strong ferrule at the smaller end, made 
 to receive the large joint, which must be well 
 shouldered and fitted to it with the utmost 
 exactness." A rod made of the above pro- 
 portions will be about thirteen feet and a 
 half long, full long enough for all the trout 
 and grayling streams of the midland counties. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, who certainly was a good angler, 
 but rather of the old school, says, "Your 
 rod for trout-fishing should be about fourteen 
 feet in length ; the bottom part made of well- 
 seasoned ash or hazel, large enough towards 
 
45 
 
 the but-end for the reel to fasten on properly ; 
 the middle part seasoned yew or hickory ; the 
 top of the same, well spliced, with about half 
 a foot of good round whalebone to fit nicely, 
 properly tapered to the end, and ringed 
 neatly ; and when put together it must be very 
 regularly taper from bottom to top, with a 
 good spring, and pliable almost to the hand,* 
 for fly-fishing; but you should have another 
 top, much stiflfer, to put on for minnow and 
 worm-fishing. The but-end of your rod 
 should be bored so as to be adapted to hold 
 either top, according as you change them, 
 with a screw or cap at the end to keep it from 
 dropping out. For fly-fishing only, your rod 
 should be but of two parts, without ferrules, 
 and the lower part longer than the upper part, 
 with the small end of the former and the large 
 end of the latter, cut nicely to fit, as for spli- 
 cing, but pretty long ; it may be tied together 
 by the water-side, with a proper-sized twisted 
 and waxed hempen thread, such as shoe-ma- 
 kers use ; and when you have left off fishing, 
 you should untie the rod, and wrap the string 
 round both parts together, for the more con- 
 
 * Reader, in choosing a rod never follow this advice, for 
 a rod can have no greater defect than that of being " pli- 
 able almost to the hand." If it be, you can neither throw 
 a line, nor hook a fish well, and, above all, you can have 
 no command over him when he is hooked. 
 
46 
 
 veniently carrying it home. This sort of rod 
 is by far the best, both for throwing out the 
 line with more ease and exactness, and for 
 easing it in playing the fish when hooked; 
 and it will have a better spring, if properly 
 made, than the other sort of rods." 
 
 We agree with Mr. Taylor, with respect to 
 the superiority, in the points he mentions, of 
 the rod " of two parts, without ferrules ;" and 
 the best fly-rod we ever used was a small rod 
 of this description, given to us in our boyhood 
 by an Irish clergyman. With it we could 
 throw a fly into a nut-shell. The chief objec- 
 tion to such a rod, and it is almost an insur- 
 mountable one for persons living in towns and 
 far from rivers, is, that it is not portable, and 
 that the putting of it together is troublesome. 
 Gentlemen who live on the banks of fishing 
 streams, and who have servants to put their 
 tackle together for them, would do well to have 
 this sort of rod. In this opinion we are glad 
 to see ourselves supported by the authority of 
 Mr. Rennie, who, in a note to the " Complete 
 Angler," says, "The great objection to rods in 
 many pieces is, that they are not sufficiently 
 pliant ; and no angler, who is as near his sta- 
 tion as Mr. Cotton was to the Dove, should 
 think of such a pieced rod as he describes."* 
 
 * " Some prefer them [rods] of two pieces only, which 
 
47 
 
 Mr. Hansard, author of a valuable little 
 work on " Salmon and Trout Fishing in 
 Wales," says, that "the length and strength 
 of rod must, of course, be proportioned to the 
 size of the fish you may expect, and the width 
 of the water in which you sport. A stiffer 
 rod is to be preferred, as enabling the angler 
 to throw with more exactness : it is also of 
 great advantage in a strong breeze." 
 
 It is unquestionably easier to throw a line 
 in a " strong breeze," or against the wind, 
 with a stiff rod; but that is the only solitary 
 advantage it possesses. In every other respect 
 it is objectionable, and we defy any man to 
 cast his line lightly on the water with a stiff 
 rod. A stiff rod, and one pliable to the hand, 
 are equally objectionable, though from different 
 reasons. Medio tutissimus ibis. 
 
 Colonel Hawker, whom we deem rather too 
 much conceited to be a profound adept in the 
 
 are spliced together about the middle. These certainly 
 throw a fly in a neater manner than those encumbered 
 with ferrules can possibly do, as the spring from the hand 
 is uninterrupted, consequently, more regular ; and they are 
 admirably adapted for the use of an angler whose resi- 
 dence is near the scene of his diversion ; but the awk- 
 wardness of length renders them troublesome and un- 
 wieldy companions, when a walk of some miles intervenes 
 between the river and the angler's dwelling. This de- 
 scription of rod is in general use in the northern counties 
 of England, where ferrules are considered very objection- 
 able." Bainbridge. 
 
48 
 
 " gentle craft," offers excellent counsel on the 
 matter in question. The gallant sportsman 
 says, that "your fly-rod should be about 
 twelve feet three inches long, and about four- 
 teen ounces* in weight. It must not be top- 
 heavy, nor it must not have too much play in 
 the lower part, but the play should be just in 
 proportion to the gradual tapering, by which 
 there will be very little spring till after about 
 the third foot of its length. A rod too pliable 
 below is as bad a fault as being too stiff; and 
 from being too small there (at the but) is, of 
 course, more liable to be top-heavy, which 
 nine rods out of ten are. The consequence is, 
 they tire the hand, and do not drop the fly so 
 neatly. I have seen some Irish rods, which, 
 if they had not been too pliant, would have 
 been worth any money." 
 
 In the following recommendations respecting 
 the choice of a rod, taken from the " Fly-fisher's 
 Entomology," by Mr. Alfred Ronalds, the 
 reader will perceive, that in some points that 
 gentleman agrees with us ; but that in others 
 his opinion is widely different from ours. Mr. 
 
 * The generality of rods, of modern manufacture and of 
 the length the colonel recommends, do not weigh more 
 than twelve ounces. We have several rods in our posses- 
 sion thirteen feet and a half long, the average weight of 
 which is under fourteen ounces. However, the weight the 
 gallant colonel recommends is a very proper one. 
 
49 
 
 Ronalds writes, " Like the bow of the archer, 
 the rod of the angler should be duly propor- 
 tioned in dimensions and weight, to the 
 strength and stature of him who wields it. The 
 strong or tall man may venture upon a rod 
 about fourteen or fifteen feet long ; but to the 
 person who is shorter or less robust, one so 
 short even as twelve or twelve feet and a half, 
 and light in proportion, is recommended, as 
 the command will be sooner obtained, and with 
 very much less fatigue to the arm. The best 
 materials are, ash for the stock, lance-wood 
 for the middle, and bamboo for the top ; the 
 but should have a hole drilled down it, with a 
 spare top in it, and a spike is made to screw 
 into the end, which will be found useful to stick 
 into the ground, and keep the rod upright, 
 when landing a good fish. The ferrules of 
 brass should fit into each other with screws. 
 A good rod should be such that its pliability 
 may be felt in the hand, yet it should not 
 deviate or droop by its own weight, if held by 
 the but in a horizontal position, more than 
 three or four inches from a straight line. The 
 rings are usually too small ; not allowing such 
 slight obstacles on the line, as can never be 
 totally prevented, to run with sufficient free- 
 dom through them ; they should all be of the 
 size of those usually put upon the stock." 
 D 
 
50 
 
 Professor Rennie, quoting Bainbridge, says, 
 that "the best rods are made of ash for the 
 bottom-piece, hickory for the middle, and 
 lance- wood for the top-joints. If real bamboo 
 can be procured of good quality, it is prefer- 
 able to lance-wood. Rose-wood and partridge- 
 wood, from the Brazils, may also be used for 
 the top-pieces. The extreme length of the 
 top-piece is usually composed of a few inches 
 of whale-bone. The rings for the reel-line 
 may be made by twisting a piece of soft brass 
 wire round a tobacco-pipe, and soldering the 
 ends together. They ought to diminish in 
 size as they are made to approach the top, and 
 must form a straight and regular line with each 
 other when the rod is put up for use." 
 
 In an old work, written about the middle of 
 the last century, entitled the " Sportsman's 
 Dictionary," the following directions are to be 
 found : "If you fish with more than one hair, 
 or with silk-worm gut, red deal is much the 
 best, with hickory top, and about four yards 
 long the whole rod; but for small fly, with 
 single hair, about three yards, very slender, 
 the top of the yellowish hickory, with whale- 
 bone about nine inches, and very near as long 
 as the stock ; the stock of white deal, not too 
 rush-grown; let it be thick at the bottom, 
 which will prevent it from being top-heavy, 
 
51 
 
 and make it light in the hand. The rod for a 
 fly must by no means be top-heavy, but very 
 well mounted, and exactly proportionable, as 
 well as slender and gentle at top ; otherwise it 
 will neither cast well, strike readily, nor ply 
 and bend equally, which will very much en- 
 danger the line." 
 
 We have placed in this chapter every thing 
 that is necessary, even for the most curious, to 
 know respecting all that pertains to a fly-rod, 
 and if the reader take the trouble to study and 
 compare its contents, he may, to all useful 
 intents and purposes, consider himself suffi- 
 ciently learned on the subject. 
 
52 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON THE BEST SORTS OF LINES, REELS, HOOKS, 
 &C. 
 
 A REEL-LINE of twenty yards in length is 
 sufficiently long for the river Dove, and for the 
 other trout and grayling streams of the mid- 
 land counties. For the lesser streams we 
 recommend a line not longer than fifteen yards. 
 A reel-line entirely made of silk is extremely 
 objectionable, as it readily imbibes the water, 
 and thereby becomes too heavy for being 
 thrown lightly ; a line entirely made of hair 
 is equally objectionable, as it will not be pliant 
 enough, and is too apt to kink. The best 
 decidedly the best lines, are composed partly 
 of silk, partly of hair. The proportions of 
 both those materials necessary for the compo- 
 sition of a good line are as follow : 
 
 A line twenty yards long must consist of 
 three twists; all of those twists must have 
 each one very fine white silk thread, one fine 
 white hair, two light-brown hairs, and one dark- 
 
.33 
 
 brown, making all together four hairs and one 
 thread of silk for each twist, or three threads 
 of silk and twelve hairs, to compose the thick- 
 ness of the line. All good lines must be com- 
 posed of three principal twists. The whole of 
 this calculation refers to the thickest part of 
 the line that part next the reel. The bottom 
 part of a twenty-yard line, or that part to which 
 the casting-line is attached, must likewise con- 
 sist of three chief twists, one of which to be 
 made of one white thread of fine silk, one white 
 hair, and one dark-brown hair; the other two 
 twists to contain each one white thread of silk, 
 and two light-brown hairs. A line thus made 
 will taper properly, and be sufficiently strong 
 and pliant in all its parts. Its colour will be a 
 light-speckled brown, and suitable for the 
 generality of waters. 
 
 A fifteen-yard reel-line, consisting of the 
 following component parts, will be found best 
 suited to light rods of about twelve feet long, 
 and we confidently recommend it, both for 
 material and colour, as beautifully adapted for 
 small streams. 
 
 Like the former line it must consist of three 
 principal twists, one of which must be made of 
 one fine white silk thread, two fine white hairs, 
 and two fine light-brown hairs ; the second 
 twist must be composed of one fine white silk 
 
54 
 
 thread, and four fine white hairs; and the third 
 twist must consist of one fine black hair, of 
 two light-brown hairs, of one white hair, and 
 of one fine white silk thread. This is the com- 
 position of the reel-end of the line. The end 
 next the water must also be composed of three 
 principal twists ; of one white thread of silk, 
 and one brown hair ; of a second twist made of 
 one black hair, and one white thread of silk ; 
 of a third, consisting of one light-brown hair, 
 and one white silk thread. Such a line will be 
 delicately taper, and its colour will be a sort 
 of pepper-and-salt, with a light-brown sandy 
 shade in it.* We recommend this line to 
 ladies and youthful beginners. 
 
 Both those lines can be had at the fishing- 
 tackle shops, and are the very best that can be 
 used. The two next best are, first, a pale-green 
 line of three chief twists, each twist to be 
 composed of four white hairs, and one light- 
 green silk thread; second, a pale-blue of the 
 same number of twists, each twist one white 
 hair, and one thread of light-blue silk. The 
 line to be less bulky towards the water- end. 
 There are hundreds of reel-lines made and 
 
 * " As to the colour of your line, you must be determined 
 by that of the river in which you fish ; but I have generally 
 found, that a line of the colour of pepper-and-salt, which 
 is made by mixing a black hair among the white ones in 
 twisting, will suit any water." Angler's Museum. 
 
55 
 
 coloured differently, but beyond these four 
 there is no choice. For our own parts we 
 invariably use the two first. The colour of 
 our lines is darker when on or in the water. 
 
 Casting-line: This line is that to which 
 your flies are attached, and which is cast upon 
 the water. It must be composed of carefully- 
 chosen silk-worm gut, of the roundest and the 
 finest that can possibly be procured. Every 
 link must be carefully examined, to see that 
 there is no crack or flaw in it. The ends of 
 each link, particularly the finer end, being 
 generally rotten and worthless, must be un- 
 sparingly rejected. The whole line must be 
 taper, and it is rendered so by knotting toge- 
 ther the thicker links of gut at the top nearest 
 the reel-line, and diminishing by degrees their 
 thickness until you end with a link as fine, or 
 nearly so, as a hair. The links must be 
 knotted, not tied together or whipped, and 
 the sort of knot to be used is the slip-knot, 
 or the old angler's knot.* This knot is, we 
 
 * Though it is extremely easy to make this knot, we 
 question whether we can by writing teach the mode of 
 tying it. If the reader once saw the operation performed, 
 he could do it himself immediately afterwards. We will 
 try, however, if we cannot by plain speaking communicate 
 this very important piece of information to our readers. 
 Hold one piece of gut firmly, at the distance of an inch and 
 a half from its end, between the fore-finger and thumb of 
 
56 
 
 believe, peculiar to Derbyshire and Stafford- 
 shire, and, perhaps, we might say, to the 
 anglers of the Dove and of the neighbouring 
 
 your left hand. Then take another link of gut, and hold- 
 ing it in the same way in your right hand, place it hori- 
 zontally and parallel with the link of gut still held between 
 the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand. The ends of 
 the gut point, of course, in different directions the link 
 in your left hand, or rather that first placed in it, pointing 
 to the right, the other link pointing to the left. So far 
 the operation resembles that necessary to make the ordi- 
 nary angler's knot. You now take that end of the gut 
 which points to the right, and with the fore-finger and 
 thumb of your right hand you form it into a circle about 
 the size of a wedding-ring, the extreme end of the gut 
 pointing upwards, which you pass twice over and under the 
 other link of gut, and always taking into the operation 
 the gut of the circle. You then pull towards your right 
 hand the end of gut so passed, holding both pieces of gut 
 still firmly between the fingers of your left hand, and the 
 first half of the knot is made. You then reverse the whole 
 gut, placing the knot already formed between the finger 
 and thumb of your left hand, and the end of gut which 
 before pointed to the left will now point towards the right. 
 You take this end, in the very same way as you did before, 
 and with your right-hand fore-finger and thumb, form it 
 into a circle, and pass it twice under and over the link of 
 gut which has been already knotted, and you afterwards 
 pull the end tightly towards the right, always holding' 
 firmly in your left hand both links of gut. Two small 
 knots are now formed in a line opposite to each other ; you 
 then leave go, and pulling the links in different directions, 
 that is, right and left, the two knots close upon each other, 
 and form the slide-knot. This knot will open, if the links, 
 instead of being pulled to, be pushed back, and a sliding 
 loop is formed, into which you insert the gut of your 
 dropper knotted singly at the end. Pull the links then 
 to, right and left, and your dropper is held fast in the 
 knot. Cut off the ends close to the knot, and your opera- 
 tion is finished. 
 
57 
 
 streams. Its advantages are many and great. 
 It is easily executed, irrefragably strong, ex- 
 tremely small, becoming more so the more it 
 be pulled, and affords by far the easiest and 
 quickest mode of putting on and taking off 
 your flies. By adopting this sort of knot you 
 get rid of the old and clumsy way of looping 
 on your flies. 
 
 If you fish with three flies, and in the streams 
 of the midland counties we advise you never to 
 fish with a greater number at a time, your cast- 
 ing-line must consist of two yards and a half of 
 gut.* Your tail-fly, or stretcher, which ought 
 to be your chief killing-fly, must be tied on a 
 link of the finest gut, finer, if possible, than the 
 
 * Colonel Hawker says, " Use about eight feet of gut, 
 and the addition of that on the tail-fly will bring the whole 
 foot-line to about three yards. Put on your bob (dropper) 
 fly a few inches below the middle ; or, if in a weedy river, 
 within little more than a yard of the other ; lest, while 
 playing a fish with the bob, your tail-fly should get caught 
 in a weed. More gut than is here prescribed will be found 
 an incumbrance when you want to get a fish up tight ; 
 insomuch, that, of the two, I would rather have a little 
 less than more of it." 
 
 Bowlker, an authority of fair reputation, observes, 
 that " An experienced fly-fisher will use three or four flies 
 at the same time : the leading-fly should be fastened to 
 the gut bottom by a water-knot, in preference to a loop ; 
 the first dropper about a yard from the leading-fly ; the 
 second dropper about eighteen inches above the first; and 
 the third, if required, about a foot from the second." We 
 recommend this spacing (to use a printer's word) of flies 
 when four are attached to the casting-line. 
 
 D 5 
 
58 
 
 water-end of your casting-line, to which it must 
 be attached by means of the slip-knot. The 
 length of the link on which the tail-fly, or 
 stretcher, is tied, ought to be about nine inches 
 long. The distance on your casting-line be- 
 tween each of your flies must be twenty inches. 
 The length of the gut to which your droppers 
 are tied, need not be more than two inches. 
 The majority of anglers use and advise gut of 
 three inches long, but we are sure from expe- 
 rience that they are in error. If you use four 
 flies at a time on your casting-line, its length 
 must be three yards; if you use five, the length 
 must be three yards and a half. Those lines 
 must be knotted in the same way, and made as 
 equally taper, as the line of two yards and a 
 half, and the tail-fly and droppers must be 
 attached to them in a similar manner. 
 
 It will aid you very much in flinging out 
 properly your casting-line, if you have one good 
 length of horse-hair coming between it and the 
 reel-line. This link of horse-hair must consist 
 of four long and strong hairs twisted with the 
 hand together, and they must be pulled from 
 the tail of a chesnut or bay stallion, or gelding, 
 of four or five years old. Never let the hair, 
 either of fillies or mares, enter into the compo- 
 sition of your tackle.* 
 * " Hair, if plucked from the tail of a young horse or 
 
59 
 
 By far the easiest, and simplest, and best 
 mode of dying your gut is, to place your lines, 
 coiled up, in a saucer three parts full of common 
 lukewarm writing-ink. One minute's steeping 
 will be nearly sufficient to die it of the colour 
 required. The moment you withdraw the gut 
 from the ink, you must rince it in clear cold 
 water, and if, holding it between your eye and 
 the light, you find it of too pale a colour, im- 
 merse it for half a minute longer in the ink. 
 The colour produced is the best of all others, 
 namely, a water-colour.* 
 
 mare, is not so good as that which is to be procured from 
 a four-or-five-year-old gelding ; but the best is to be had 
 from the tail of a well-grown stallion ; and those hairs are 
 generally most free from blemish which grow from the 
 middle of the tail." Bainbridge. 
 
 *This recipe, of course, is not chemically correct; but 
 so few have been the improvements made in hair or gut 
 staining, that we believe it will be found the safest and 
 best. The receipt of our common father, Isaak Walton, 
 is a good one : " Take," says he, " a pint of strong ale, 
 half a pound of soot, and a little quantity of the juice of 
 walnut-tree leaves, and an equal quantity of alum; put 
 these together into a pipkin, and boil them half an hour ; 
 and having so done, let it cool ; and being cold put your 
 hair (or gut) into it, and there let it lie ; it will turn your 
 hair to be a kind of water or glass colour, or greenish ; 
 and the longer you let it lie, the deeper coloured it will be." 
 
 When the water after a flood is coloured, you may use 
 gut died of a light-brown colour. The following is an easy 
 recipe : To a strong infusion of coffee, add a little pounded 
 alum; let the liquor become tepid, and steep your gut in 
 it for a minute or two. The longer you let it lie, the deeper 
 coloured it will be. A strong infusion of green tea, with a 
 
60 
 
 Hooks : The hooks we ordinarily use, and 
 which in consequence we recommend, for fly- 
 fishing, are those manufactured at Kendal* 
 and at Redditch.f We find them in every 
 respect suitable to the purposes of the fly- 
 fisher. Before we state the proper sizes of 
 
 few logwood scrapings, kept lukewarm with the gut in it 
 for twelve hours, will die the gut an excellent colour. 
 
 "The angler should be careful to fit the link (colour of) 
 to the water ; the rest of the line is not so material. A 
 reddish sorrel hair, when the water is somewhat red on the 
 decline of a flood ; a light chesnut, when the water is of a 
 gray colour; a lead-colour is preferable when the water is 
 of an iron hue, which it frequently is in many rivers, when 
 full without over-flowing ; an amber foot-line is best when 
 the water is low and clear as crystal." Johnson's Sports- 
 man's Cabinet. 
 
 A very old writer, author of the " Experienced Angler, 
 or Angling Improved," says, with regard to colour, " I like 
 sorrel, white, and gray best ; sorrel in muddy and boggy 
 rivers, both the other for clear waters. I never could find 
 such virtue or worth in other colours, to give them so high 
 praise as some do, yet if any other have worth in it, I must 
 yield it to the pale watery green, and if you fancy that you 
 may die it thus : Take a pottle of alum-water, a large 
 handful of marigolds, boil them until a yellow scum arise ; 
 then take half a pound of green copperas, and as much 
 verdigris, beat them into a fine powder, put those with the 
 gut into the alum-water, set all to cool for twelve hours, 
 then take out the gut and lay it to dry." 
 
 " For discoloured water it may be necessary to stain the 
 gut ; but in clear water ocular demonstration will prove 
 that white is the least perceptible colour." Bainbridge. 
 
 *The best Kendal hooks are manufactured by Messrs. 
 Adlington and Hutchinson, Kendal, Cumberland. 
 
 t The best Redditch hooks are manufactured by Mr. 
 Richard Wyers) and by Mr. Charles Swan, both of 
 Redditch, Worcestershire. 
 
61 
 
 those hooks, we beg the reader to remark, that 
 the mode of numbering hooks, in order to 
 distinguish their size, is entirely different in 
 each of the above-named towns.* At Kendal 
 the smallest-sized hook is numbered 00 
 (double nought), and the largest No. 12. At 
 Redditch, on the contrary, the smallest-sized 
 hook is numbered 12, and the largest, 00, or 
 two noughts. Consequently, Kendal hooks 
 marked 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, and so on, will cor- 
 respond to Redditch hooks marked 12, 11, 10, 
 9, 8, and so on for the other numbers. The 
 following table will exactly show how they 
 correspond : 
 
 Small sized. Large sized. 
 
 KENDAL: 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 11, 12. 
 REDDITCH: 12, 11, 10,9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 00. 
 
 Should you use Kendal hooks, the best size 
 for the Dove, in the hot months, is No. 1, 
 (we should recommend No. 0, but, on account 
 of the shortness of the shank, it will be found 
 too small) ; and No. 2 in the spring months, 
 and when the water is at its average fulness : 
 No. 3 is to be used when there is what is 
 termed a " flush" of water. All Kendal hooks 
 
 * Fish-hooks are generally numbered from 1 to 12 : 
 No. 1 being the largest, and No. 12 the smallest in the 
 series. There are, however, hooks larger than No. 1 . and 
 smaller than No. 12. 
 
62 
 
 for flies should not be straight and round-bent, 
 but, on the contrary, they should be what is 
 called " sneck-bent." The same direction 
 refers to every sort of hook for fly-fishing. 
 They should be as light in the wire as possible, 
 to prevent the fly from falling heavily on, and 
 from sinking in, the water. 
 
 The Redditch hooks are longer in the shank 
 than the Kendal, and, therefore, you may use 
 No. 11 for the hot months, and No. 10 for all 
 the other months of the year we mean for 
 those months in which the river is rather full. 
 
 The diversity of opinion respecting the 
 shape and quality of fly-hooks is so great, that 
 we feel bound to state the conflicting judg- 
 ment of some of the best authorities. Sir H. 
 Davy says, " What a fool I was (a fish had 
 just broken a hook) ever to use one of these 
 London or Birmingham made hooks ! The 
 thing has happened to me often. I now never 
 use any hooks for salmon-fishing, except 
 those which I am sure have been made by 
 O'Shaughnessy, of Limerick; for even the 
 hooks made in Dublin, though they seldom 
 break, yet they now and then bend, and the 
 English hooks, made of cast -steel, in imitation 
 of Irish ones, are the worst of all." 
 
 Mr. Alfred Ronalds says, The Kirby hook 
 is frequently preferred. The Limerick is also 
 
63 
 
 a good hook for large flies, as at present made 
 by O'Shaughnessy, of Limerick. His is not 
 too proud in the barb, and is, generally, pro- 
 perly tapered. The Carlisle hook may also 
 rank amongst the good ones." 
 
 Mr. Taylor, who is quite at variance with 
 us respecting the shape of hooks he prefer- 
 ring those which are straight, and we those 
 that are crooked in the bend says, " Your 
 choice of hooks should be those made of the 
 best-tempered fine steel wire ; generally long- 
 ish in the shank, and strong, and rather 
 deepish in the bend; the point fine and 
 straight, and as true as it can be set, to be 
 level with the shank, which, for fly-making, 
 should be tapered off to the end of it, that the 
 fly may be finished the neater; be careful also 
 that the hook has a good barb. I have, by 
 many years' experience, found these kinds of 
 hooks to be more sure, and better than any 
 crooked hooks whatever ; they do not make so 
 large an orifice when you hook a fish, nor are 
 they so liable to break the hold through, as 
 the crooked-bent ones are; and in trying 
 them for several seasons one against another, 
 I found that I missed, in the rising or biting 
 at bottom, considerably more fish, and lost 
 more after being hooked with the crooked 
 ones, than with those I have here described, 
 
64 
 
 and which, of course, I now always use. The 
 best of the kind are made at Limerick, in 
 Ireland." 
 
 Mr. P. Fisher, author of "The Angler's 
 Souvenir," says, in his usual off-hand style, 
 "By whatever name hooks may be called 
 Limerick, Kendal, Carlisle, or Kirby and 
 whatever may be the pretended excellence of 
 this or that particular bend, the great object 
 is, to obtain them well made, neither so soft as 
 to draw out almost straight, like a piece of 
 pin-wire, nor so brittle as to snap on receiving 
 a slight jerk. Before trying them, they ought 
 to be tested; the smaller ones by pulling 
 them with the fingers, and the larger ones by 
 a smart pull when suspended over a wooden 
 peg. The pretended advantages of one kind 
 of bend over another, for hooking and holding 
 fish, remain yet to be confirmed by experi- 
 ence. If the hook be, in other respects, well 
 made, with a fine point and barb, the angler 
 need not be particular about the bend." 
 
 Professor Rennie remarks, "It is reported, 
 that the German Prince Rupert, well known 
 for his experimental skill, in the reign of our 
 Charles I., communicated to Charles Kirby a 
 method of tempering hooks, which remained 
 for that time a secret with Kirby's descen- 
 dants, and even now, the Kirby hooks are 
 
65 
 
 esteemed. Neither the London, the Birming- 
 ham, nor the Dublin hooks are good, because 
 they are manufactured to sell cheap. Kendal 
 hooks are in considerable reputation as to 
 temper, and hold well, though they are not 
 so readily fixed, by the pull, in the mouth of 
 the fish. 'Many anglers,' says Carroll, e do 
 not approve of the Kirby bend, particularly in 
 large hooks : they prefer the hook that is bent 
 in a line with the shank, as being the best for 
 holding a large fish.' A hook ought never to 
 be chosen whose point stands much outwards, 
 as it often only scratches the fish without lay- 
 ing hold. The celebrated Limerick hooks 
 made by O'Shaughnessy, are by far the best 
 tempered of any in the market, being capable 
 of holding a fish of thirty pounds, stand a 
 very little outwards, which is certainly an 
 advantage." 
 
 Mr. Stoddart says, that " the hook used in 
 Scotland, and which he prefers, is Kendal 
 circular bend. It is of much lighter make 
 than the Limerick, and its shape in the small- 
 er sizes more suitable for hooking trout." 
 
 Colonel Hawker, on the other hand, ob- 
 serves, " With regard to hooks, I have always 
 found the Irish ones far superior to ours. 
 The best, I believe, are bought in Limerick." 
 
 Our readers will perceive, that of the seven 
 
66 
 
 authorities cited, there are five decidedly in 
 favour of the Limerick .hooks ; namely, Sir 
 H. Davy, Mr. Taylor, Professor Rennie, Mr. 
 Ronalds, and Colonel Hawker. Notwithstand- 
 ing the weight of so many great authorities 
 against us, we still maintain the superiority of 
 the Kendal hook over the Limerick. It is 
 equally as well tempered, far lighter, and, if 
 sneck-bent, it has two advantages over the 
 Limerick hook. We have invariably remarked, 
 that the old anglers, and particularly the most 
 noted poachers, in the neighbourhood of Ash- 
 borne, will never buy any but crooked-bent 
 hooks, or those that are, as they say, " skewed" 
 in the bend. This observation is made, in order 
 that it may be placed in juxta-position with 
 the very confident assertion of Mr. Taylor, who 
 says, that straight-bent hooks are the best. 
 
 If the reader choose to make his own hooks, 
 he will follow the following method. It is 
 extracted from Professor Rennie's "Alphabet 
 of Scientific Angling," in which the learned 
 professor has done little more than paraphrase, 
 without acknowledgment, the directions of 
 Sir H. Davy on this subject : " The soft steel 
 for making hooks is made by cementing with 
 charcoal good soft malleable iron, such as is 
 procured from the nails of old horse-shoes, till 
 it is converted into steel. It is then formed 
 
67 
 
 into bars, or small rods, of a thickness varying 
 according to the size of the hooks intended to 
 be made. The bars for the fine hooks are a 
 little flattened ; those for the larger sorts are 
 cut into lengths of from three to four inches, 
 sufficient for two hooks, and are then in the 
 form of a double -pointed spear. The artist 
 requires a hammer, a knife, a pair of pincers, 
 an iron semi-cleam, two files, one finer than 
 the other, a wrest, a bender, long and short 
 tongs, and an anvil. Let the rod be heated in 
 a charcoal fire, when the barb or witter may 
 be raised with the knife, taking care not to cut 
 too deep. The point is then, after cooling, 
 sharpened by filing it on a piece of hard wood, 
 with a dent to receive the bar. The shank is 
 next thinned, flattened, the upper part made 
 square, and the whole worked off with the 
 polishing-file. Again let it be put in the fire, 
 and bent by a turn of the wrest round circular 
 pincers. It is now cut from the bar, put into 
 the fire a third time, and brought to a slight 
 red heat, and, taking it out suddenly, it is 
 plunged into cold water. The temper is given 
 by placing it on an iron heated in the same 
 fire till it becomes bright blue, and while still 
 hot it is surrounded with candle-grease, which 
 gives it a black colour. This completes the 
 process." 
 
68 
 
 Heel : We have seen several inventions 
 intended as improvements of the ordinary 
 multiplying-reel, but we do not by any means 
 deem them such. We have heard Chester- 
 man's self-winding reel much commended, but 
 we can see only one advantage in it, namely, 
 that it winds up with great speed ; but, then, 
 an insuperable objection to it is, that there is a 
 difficulty in modifying that speed, according to 
 will; and that, consequently, in playing a fish, 
 you have not free power over its mechanism. 
 Besides, its construction is heavy and over- 
 complicated. A common reel, which multi- 
 plies four times,* is the sort-of-one we use, 
 and we find that it possesses all the requisites 
 necessary in such an apparatus. It possesses 
 the power of winding up the line rapidly, is 
 sufficiently small and light, and is not liable 
 to be easily deranged. We recommend a mo- 
 
 * Mr. Bainbridge urges strong objections to the multi- 
 plying-reel, the chief one of which is, " that the power of 
 the wheels, as now arranged, is inadequate to move a 
 comparatively small weight at a trifling distance ;" and 
 he adds that, "on the other hand, the common plain 
 pillar-reels bear an even and steady pull upon the extreme 
 weight ; and though more tedious, they are more to be 
 depended upon for certainty and security." In our ado- 
 lescence, when on account of the many claims on our 
 meagre purse, we were constantly " hard up" for cash, 
 and could not afford to purchase a multiply ing- reel, we 
 contented ourselves with a common pillar- reel an old 
 heir-loom and, to say the truth, we do not recollect 
 any instance in which we had to complain of its defects. 
 
69 
 
 clerate-sized reel of this sort, capable of holding 
 twenty-five yards of line, and the wheels and 
 cogs of which are made of iron or steel in pre- 
 ference to brass, which latter metal is too lia- 
 ble to break at the points of the cogs. The 
 reel must be a stop one, and if the works of it 
 be well finished, as those of the London reels 
 generally are, the angler need not trouble him- 
 self about any newer invention. It makes very 
 little difference whether it be fitted to the rod 
 by means of a plate or screwed on ; but as 
 modern rods are for the most part made with a 
 brass hoop or slide, to receive the plate -reel, 
 perhaps it is the preferable one. Moreover, 
 the plate-reel will fit every rod that has got a 
 slide to it, and is more easily put on and taken 
 off. The reel is to be placed about four inches 
 from the but-end of the rod, underneath it,* 
 with the line passing directly straight from it 
 through the rings, which, of course, will be 
 also underneath the rod. The rod is to be 
 
 * On the question involving the best manner of placing 
 the reel, the Authors of this work, for the first time, differ. 
 W. S. maintains, that the reel should be placed under the 
 rod, with its handle on the left side, and his opinion is 
 supported by the practice of almost all English anglers. 
 On the contrary, E. F. G. contends, that the reel should 
 be placed upon and above the rod, about a foot from the 
 but-end, with its handle towards the right, and that the 
 rod should be held in the right hand immediately below 
 the reel, with the right thumb firmly resting on the upper 
 bar of the reel. This is the Irish method. 
 
70 
 
 grasped in the right hand, an inch or two 
 above the reel towards the top. This is the 
 mode generally adopted by the anglers of the 
 midland counties. 
 
 Colonel Hawker is the only authority 
 we mean to quote on the subject of placing on 
 reels. He says, "Put on your reel with a 
 plate and wax-end, fifteen inches from the 
 bottom ; and handle your rod close below it, 
 keeping the reel uppermost, as the line then 
 lies on, instead of under, your rod, and is, 
 therefore, less likely to strain the top between 
 the rings. The closer the rings are put toge- 
 ther on the top, the less chance, of course, you 
 have of straining or breaking it between them. 
 Use a multiplying click-reel, without a stop; 
 and, by not confining it with the hand while 
 throwing, you are sure never to break your rod 
 or line, by happening to raise it suddenly, at 
 the moment you have hooked a large fish or 
 weed. Let your reel be full large in propor- 
 tion to the quantity of line; or it will not 
 always go pleasantly with it in winding up." 
 
 Landing-net : Many a fish is lost, and 
 much trouble and anxiety incurred, in conse- 
 quence of the fly-fisher contemning the use 
 of the landing-net. Whether he be alone or 
 accompanied, such an implement is necessary, 
 
71 
 
 particularly where the banks of the stream are 
 high, and gently shelving strands rare. Be- 
 sides, the handle of it is extremely useful in 
 wading, as it serves for a prop to steady your- 
 self on the stones and gravel, and as a sort of 
 sound to measure the depth of water, as you 
 proceed along. The handle should be made of 
 strong and light wood, and consist of different 
 pieces screwing into one another, or it may be 
 made telescope fashion, so as to allow you to 
 lengthen and shorten it at pleasure. The but- 
 end should be adapted for the insertion, by 
 means of a screw, of a double sort of spike, 
 consisting of a strong, flat, and pointed blade, 
 of about five inches long, and of a small stout 
 crook, sharpened on the inside like a hedger's 
 bill-hook. This last adjunct will be found 
 useful in hooking and cutting off branches of 
 trees and other impediments in which the line 
 may happen to get fastened. The handle 
 should be about five feet and a half rather 
 longer than shorter than this length and the 
 hoop round which the mouth of the net is 
 placed, should form at least a circle of fourteen 
 inches in diameter. Landing-net hoops should 
 be made as light as possible, and should each 
 consist of four pieces of brass rod, stiffly jointed 
 together, so as to form a perfectly round circle 
 
72 
 
 when extended, and to fold up in a portable 
 compass when detached from the handle. 
 
 Clearing -ring : Must be a heavy brass 
 circular ring, the diameter of which should be 
 two inches and a half, and which should open 
 and shut by means of a spring clasp. When 
 your line gets hooked, the clearing-ring, to 
 which is attached a few yards of thin strong 
 whip-cord, is unclasped, then fastened round 
 the line, and allowed to slip down on the sub- 
 stance in which your hook is fast. By pulling 
 the whip-cord line with a force proportioned to 
 the resistance offered, you either disengage 
 your hook, or pull on shore the substance in 
 which you got foul. The clearing-ring is so 
 useful an appendage to the angler, that we ad- 
 vise him never to fish without it. 
 
 Fishing-basket or Creel: On this subject, 
 gentle reader, we have scarcely one word of 
 advice to give. Your own taste will direct you 
 to choose a neat osier one, and your own judg- 
 ment must modify its capaciousness. But be 
 the pannier, that you buckle over your shoulders, 
 of small, or moderate, or large dimensions, we 
 fervently hope that on every return from the 
 river side, you need not be ashamed of allow- 
 ing the hand of curiosity to lift up its lid, or 
 
73 
 
 the eye of inquiry to peer into its contents. 
 May it ever be, brother craftsman, as is this 
 glass of Ashborne ale,* which on this cold 
 snowy evening of February, as we are finishing 
 this dry chapter of detail, we cordially quaff to 
 your health and success a brimming bumper ! 
 
 " VIATOR : Believe me, you have good ale in the 
 Morelands, far better than that at Ashborne. 
 
 " PISCATOR : That it may soon be ! for Ashborne has 
 (which is a kind of riddle) always in it, the best malt and 
 the worst ale in England." Cotton. 
 
 Professor Rennie, in a note on this passage, says, 
 " This seems to be something contradictory to what is 
 formerly stated. A friend informs me, that at this time 
 Ashborne ale is quite famous in the northern and inland 
 counties." 
 
 The information of Mr. Rennie's friend is perfectly cor- 
 rect. The ale to be had at the different " hosteleries" of 
 Ashborne is equal, if not superior, in colour, strength, 
 flavour, and purity, to any ale of any town in the kingdom. 
 The famous ale of our favourite old town of Nottingham 
 does not surpass it. E. F. G. 
 
74 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON THROWING THE LINE; HOOKING, PLAYING, 
 LANDING, AND KILLING A FISH. 
 
 THE different operations, which we are 
 about to describe in this chapter, are, to the 
 fly-fisher, of the very last importance. You 
 may have the best rod and tackle that ever 
 appeared on the banks of the Dove, and you 
 may have "toleration" to fish in the most 
 closely-preserved parts of that lovely stream 
 in those parts of it which are absolutely alive 
 with trout and grayling but if you do not 
 know how to throw, cast, or fling a line in the 
 manner of an artist, you will not be able to 
 make a single fin show itself above the surface 
 of the water. "He throws a fly as well as 
 any man in England," is a common eulogistic 
 expression, as if perfection in that single 
 operation was a guarantee that the adept was 
 equally skilled in every thing that pertains to 
 his art. It is tantamount to saying, he is 
 the best fly-fisher in England. We shall, 
 
75 
 
 with our usual earnestness to convey practical 
 instruction to our gentle readers, be as plain 
 and precise on this subject as possible; first 
 stating our own method of throwing a line, 
 and then extracting the pith and marrow of 
 the information communicated by the best 
 authorities on this nearly all-absorbing matter. 
 
 Throwing the Line : We recommend the 
 beginner, when learning how to throw a line, to 
 use a small and rather stiff rod, of the length 
 of eleven feet. Let him commence, having the 
 wind on his back, with about six yards of line 
 out using the reel-line, and not the casting- 
 line, until he can fling with some little ease and 
 precision and let him throw at a mark in 
 the water, such as the head of a pile or small 
 rock. The process of throwing the line is per- 
 formed by the wrist and elbow joints, and re- 
 quires no effort from the other parts of the 
 body. The rod, grasped tightly in the right 
 hand a few inches above the but-end, is sent 
 back by a sharp impulsion or jerk of the wrist 
 backwards toward the shoulder, and the motion 
 is stopped by the play of the elbow joint being 
 arrested by the meeting of the muscles in the 
 fleshy or rather muscular parts of the lower and 
 upper bones of the arm. When this stoppage 
 takes place, the rod is bent backwards with 
 
76 
 
 sufficient sweep or swing to extend to the ut- 
 most the line in the same backward direction, 
 and then the rod must be returned with a jerk 
 of the wrist forwards, when the line will be also 
 returned, and fall upon the water. In making 
 the throw forwards, and aiming at any particu- 
 lar spot of the river, just as your line comes 
 about a yard above it, suddenly check the im- 
 pulsion given by the wrist to the rod, and the 
 descent of your line will be suspended for an 
 instant, after which it will by its own weight 
 floatingly fall over the spot to which you 
 directed it. This last operation is to be parti- 
 cularly attended to, for if performed properly 
 the line will fall gossamer-like on the water, 
 and your flies will not ruffle the surface of the 
 water more than the descent of so many living 
 natural flies would. 
 
 When the learner can throw the reel-line tol- 
 erably well, and when he has lost all fear of 
 breaking his rod or cracking his line by the 
 operation of casting, let him use a gut casting- 
 line, of about two yards in length, with a rather 
 large tail-fly attached to it. After he finds 
 that he can use this tackle safely, he may 
 lengthen his casting-line half a yard more, and, 
 placing on it, in addition to the tail-fly or 
 stretcher, two droppers at the distance pointed 
 out in a previous chapter, commence fishing 
 
77 
 
 in reality. The motion of the wrist and elbow 
 is not oblique, but fairly straight backwards and 
 forwards ; and if a circular motion be given to 
 them, it should be slightly from left to right, 
 which will often give, if used gently and easily, 
 a circular and safe sweep to the casting-line. 
 The operation of throwing should not be per- 
 formed suddenly or swiftly, but with a certain 
 suppleness in the play of the joints that will 
 insure to your rod and line a safe and sufficient 
 bend and sweep. 
 
 , We recommend the beginner never to endea- 
 vour to cast a line against the wind. It is an 
 extremely difficult and dangerous operation, 
 and can only be performed by an old prac- 
 titioner, and even by him, not satisfactorily 
 unless he use a stiff rod and a hair reel-line. Be- 
 sides, the acquisition is not of vital importance, 
 as every fly-fisher will choose to take that side 
 of the river from which the wind blows, and it 
 is only in consequence of a sudden winding of 
 the river, that the wind is brought to blow in his 
 teeth. \Vhen this happens, you must not try to 
 throw in the eye of the wind, but cast obliquely 
 right or left, according to the nature of circum- 
 stances. It is not difficult to throw against 
 the wind when it blows on your left, but when 
 it blows on your right, and you desire to fish 
 against it, you must sweep your rod over your 
 
78 
 
 left shoulder, and fling back-handed towards 
 the right. This operation is performed like 
 that of a coachman wishing to touch with the 
 lash of the whip the left ear of the near leader. 
 These instructions are directed to the angler 
 who fishes with the right hand. The left- 
 handed must proceed contrawise. 
 
 When you fish, begin at the head of a stream, 
 fishing the side nearest to you first, and then 
 casting to the opposite side. Let your flies 
 float gently down the water, working them 
 gradually towards you, and making a fresh cast 
 every two or three yards you fish. We dis- 
 tinctly recommend frequent casting. A fish 
 generally takes the fly immediately it has 
 touched the water provided always it be 
 delicately and lightly flung and the quick 
 repetition of casting whisks the water out of 
 your flies and line, and consequently keeps 
 them drier and lighter than if they were left to 
 float a longer time in the water. You should 
 not, except in a strong wind, allow any of your 
 reel-line to be on the water ; your casting-line 
 alone should be on the water, and then only 
 just so much of it as will allow you to see dis- 
 tinctly on the surface the drop-fly that is near- 
 est to you. Remember to keep invariably that 
 fly on the surface of the water and within sight 
 if you can, as you will then be assured, that you 
 
79 
 
 are not fishing with your other flies too deeply 
 immersed in the water, and as you will be 
 enabled to judge of the exact position of your 
 casting-line. Besides, by keeping your nearest 
 dropper in the position recommended, you will 
 the more readily perceive a fish rise, and have 
 a fairer chance of striking him promptly and 
 successfully. In fishing, particularly for gray- 
 ling, miss no part of the stream, however shal- 
 low, but fish it carefully inch by inch. Never 
 neglect those little partial streams, caused by 
 small obstructions in the bed of the river, and 
 which are often to be found a little above the 
 formation of the head of a rapid current. It is 
 scarcely necessary to add, that in the curls and 
 eddies so common at the tails of sharp streams, 
 the best fish frequently lie. It is complete 
 loss of time to fish with artificial flies in pools, 
 and where the water runs deep and smooth, 
 unless the day be dark and windy, and a nice 
 curl on the surface. On such days, if the fish 
 be in rising humour, stick to the deeps, and 
 you may be sure that you will catch few fish 
 that are not large ones. If you see a fish rising 
 at a natural bait, or if he rises at your fly with- 
 out taking it, try him two or three times by 
 casting your flies as lightly as may be a couple 
 of feet higher up than the spot where he rose. 
 He will not be tempted ; press him no longer, 
 
80 
 
 but continue for half an hour fishing elsewhere ; 
 then come back, and it is very probable that 
 you will hook him at the very first cast. By 
 adhering to this practice we have been success- 
 ful times out of mind. It is useless to remain 
 a quarter of an hour flinging over the same 
 fish, as by showing him your flies too often you 
 lose the chance of catching him by-and-by, 
 when a seeming neglect, as is often the case 
 with other animals, will succeed in alluring 
 him.* When you are obliged to fish at a con- 
 siderable distance, it will be impossible for you 
 to prevent some portion of the reel-line falling 
 on the water, but lift it off as speedily as you 
 can, by elevating your rod to a sufficient height. 
 In all cases, and in all weathers, fish as far 
 from the river-side as the nature of the bank 
 and river will permit. 
 
 Mr. Alfred Ronalds, whose precepts are 
 generally scientific, says, " In order to acquire 
 the art of throwing a fly, it may be advisable 
 to practise previously to visiting the stream, 
 in an open space free from trees, where a piece 
 of paper may represent the spot required to be 
 
 * " If you have a rise, but fail to hook your game, 
 either by striking prematurely, or from the fish having 
 missed his spring, you may throw over him again almost 
 directly, if he be a small one; but, if it be 'the monarch 
 of the brook,' don't venture near the spot again for half 
 an hour at least." Hansard. 
 
81 
 
 thrown to. Taking the wind in his back, the 
 tyro, with a short line at first, may attempt to 
 cast within an inch or two of the paper, and 
 afterwards by degrees lengthen his line as his 
 improvement proceeds; he may then try to 
 throw in such a direction, that the wind may 
 in some measure oppose the line and rod; and, 
 lastly, he may practise throwing against the 
 wind. In this way any person may become an 
 adept in throwing a fly, much sooner than by 
 trusting solely to the experience which he may 
 get when on the water-side ; for his attention 
 being then wholly engrossed by the hopes of a 
 rise, &c. a bad habit may be very easily engen- 
 dered, which will not be as easily got rid of. 
 He should endeavour to impart to the line a 
 good uniform sweep or curve round the head ; 
 for if it returns too quickly or sharply from 
 behind him, a crack will be heard, and the fly 
 whipped off. There is some little difficulty in 
 acquiring this management. The larger the 
 fly the more resistance it meets with in the air; 
 this resistance causes it to make a better curve, 
 and the danger of smacking it off is lessened. 
 A palmer is not easily lost in this manner. 
 The attempt to describe by words all the 
 precautions and manipulations necessary for 
 throwing a fly successfully and gracefully, 
 
 would be as hopeless a task as that of teaching 
 E 5 
 
82 
 
 to dance by such means. It must be abun- 
 dantly evident, that the fly should drop as 
 lightly as possible on the water, and that an 
 awkward unmannerly splash will inevitably 
 mar the delusion." 
 
 Professor Rennie observes, "As considera- 
 ble art is required in throwing the line, so as 
 to make the flies fall lightly on the water, and 
 not scare the fish, I would recommend a 
 beginner to observe some good fly-fisher, and 
 then practise as nearly as he can, after him, at 
 first in a purling stream or rapid current, till 
 he can cast dexterously in stiller water. It is 
 useful, also, to commence with a short line, 
 increasing it by degrees, for it is impossible 
 for a beginner to throw eighteen yards at first, 
 and he cannot consider himself out of his 
 apprenticeship, till he can throw twelve or 
 fifteen yards without cracking off his flies, or 
 entangling his tackle." 
 
 Mr. Carroll, in his Angler's Vade Mecum, 
 gives the following directions: "In casting 
 your line and flies, observe to make the semi- 
 circle with your rod, in order to avoid snap- 
 ping your flies ; and after you have made your 
 cast, raise the point of your rod to prevent too 
 much of your line from falling into the water; 
 properly, no more should fall than what your 
 flies are attached to. Manage so as to let 
 
83 
 
 your flies drop lightly on the water, which, 
 with a little well-directed practice, you will 
 soon attain. Begin to fish at the head of a 
 stream, and use caution, for there, generally, 
 the best game lies, particularly when there are 
 flies coming down the river. When you cast 
 your flies across the stream, keep them in 
 gentle motion, to prevent the trouts from per- 
 ceiving the cheat ; if you give them too long a 
 time they discover it, or if they take it, when 
 they perceive the fraud, they quickly disen- 
 gage themselves. If it is a slow-running 
 water, let your flies sink a little, as you draw 
 them towards you." 
 
 Mr. Cotton justly observes, "To fish fine 
 and far off is the first and principal rule for 
 trout angling .... In casting your line, do 
 it always before you, and so that your fly may 
 first fall upon the water, and as little of your 
 line with it as possible : though if the wind be 
 stiff, you will then, of necessity, be compelled 
 to drown a good part of your line, to keep your 
 fly in the water. And, in casting your fly, you 
 must aim at the farther or nearer bank, as the 
 wind serves your turn, which also will be with, 
 and against you, on the same side, several 
 times in an hour, as the river winds in its 
 course, and you will be forced to angle up and 
 down by turns accordingly; but are to endea- 
 
84 
 
 vour, as much as you can, to have the wind 
 evermore on your back. And always be sure 
 to stand as far off the bank as the length will 
 give you leave, when you throw to the contrary 
 side ; though, when the wind will not permit 
 you so to do, and that you are constrained 
 to angle on the same side whereon you stand, 
 you must then stand on the very brink of the 
 river, and cast your fly at the utmost length of 
 your rod and line, up or down the river, as 
 the gale serves." 
 
 Mr. John Sidney Hawkins says, "Till you 
 are a proficient, every throw will go near to 
 cost you a hook ; therefore, practise for some 
 time without one." 
 
 Mr. Taylor's observations show that he 
 understood the matter in question well. He 
 directs, " Let out the line about half as long 
 again as the rod; and holding that (the rod) 
 properly in one hand, and the line near to the 
 fly (the stretcher) in the other, give your rod a 
 motion from right to left, and as you move the 
 rod backwards, in order to throw out the line, 
 let go the line out of your hand at the same 
 time, and try several throws at this length ; 
 then let out more line, and try that, still using 
 more and more, till you can manage any 
 length needful; but about nine yards is quite 
 sufficient for any one to practise with; and 
 
85 
 
 observe, that in raising your line, in order to 
 throw it in again, you should wave your rod 
 a little round your head, and not bring it 
 directly backwards ; nor must you return the 
 line too soon, nor until it has gone its length 
 behind you, or you will certainly whip off your 
 end-fly. There is a great art in making your 
 line fall light on the water, and showing the 
 flies well to the fish. The best way I can 
 direct is, that when you have thrown out your 
 line, contriving to let it and the flies fall as 
 lightly and naturally as possible, you should 
 raise your rod gently and by degrees (some- 
 times with a kind of gentle trembling hand, as 
 it were), which will bring the flies on a little 
 towards you, still letting them go down with 
 the stream ; but never draw them against it, 
 for it is unnatural ; and before the line comes 
 too near you, throw out again. When you 
 see a fish rise at the natural fly, throw out 
 about a yard above him, but not directly over 
 his head, and let your fly or flies move gently 
 towards him, which will show it him in more 
 natural form, and will tempt him more to take 
 it. Experience and observation alone, how- 
 ever, can make an angler a complete adept 
 in the art, so as to be able to throw his fly 
 behind bushes and trees, into holes, Bunder 
 
86 
 
 banks, and other places, and where in general 
 the best fish are found." 
 
 Colonel Hawker gives the following recom- 
 mendations : "In throwing a fly, raise the 
 arm well up, without labouring with your body. 
 Send the fly both backwards and forwards by a 
 sudden spring of the wrist. Do not draw the 
 fly too near, or you lose your purchase for send- 
 ing it back, and, therefore, require an extra 
 sweep in the air before you can get it into play 
 again. If, after sending it back, you make the 
 counter-spring a moment too soon, you will 
 whip off your tail-fly, and if a moment too late 
 your line will fall in a slovenly manner. The 
 knack of catching this time is, therefore, the 
 whole art of throwing well. The motion 
 should be just sufficiently circular to avoid this ; 
 but if too circular, the spring receives too 
 much check, and the gut will then most proba- 
 bly not drop before the line. In a word, allow 
 the line no more than just time to unfold, be- 
 fore you repeat the spring of the wrist. This 
 must be done, or you will hear a crack, and 
 find that you have whipped off your tail-fly. 
 For this reason, I should recommend beginners 
 to learn at first with only a bob ; or they will 
 soon empty their own, or their friends' fishing- 
 book. And, at all events, to begin learning 
 with a moderate length of line. . . . Sometimes 
 
87 
 
 the wind blows very strong, directly across you 
 from the right .... Throwing with the left 
 hand is then a convenience ; but for those who 
 are not able to do this, I can suggest no better 
 make-shift, than to raise the rod over the left 
 shoulder, and throw the line by a motion simi- 
 lar to that used with a whip, when lightly hit- 
 ting a leader on the near side. Avoid, if you 
 can, going too close to the edge of the water. 
 Throw, if you are au fait enough to do it well, 
 rather for the fly to become for a moment sus- 
 pended across the wind, than directly down the 
 wind; as it then falls still lighter, and from 
 this circumstance is, of course, more likely to 
 deceive a large fish. Prefer dropping the fly 
 just under a bush or in an eddy, to the open 
 river; because your line is then more obscured 
 from the light, and the largest fish generally 
 monopolize the possession of such places, in 
 order to find and devour the more flies and 
 insects ; and also to be near their places of secu- 
 rity. If the spot is quite calm, watch the first 
 good fish that rises, avail yourself immediately 
 of the ripple that has been made by the fish 
 himself, and drop in your fly a little above 
 where he last rose. Never let your line lie too 
 long, as, by so doing, you either expose your 
 tackle to the fish by leaving it stationary, or 
 draw the line in so close, that you lose both the 
 
88 
 
 power of striking your fish if he rises, and that 
 of getting a good sweep for your next throw." 
 
 A very ancient author, whose name we can- 
 not learn, says, " Be sure in casting, that your 
 flie fall first into the water; if the line fall 
 first, it scare th the fish; therefore, draw it hack, 
 and cast again, that the fiie may fall first. 
 When you angle in slow rivers, or still places, 
 with the artificial flie,' cast your flie over cross 
 the river, and let it sink a little in the water, 
 and draw him gently back again, so as you 
 break not the water, or raise any circles or mo- 
 tion in the water, and let the current of the ri- 
 ver carry the flie gently down with the stream ; 
 and this way I have found the best sport in 
 slow muddy rivers with the artificial flie." 
 
 Hooking or Striking a Fish : The moment 
 you see or feel a fish rise at you the moment 
 that you perceive, either by sight, touch, or 
 hearing, that you have a rise strike instanta- 
 neously, or at longest within half a second's 
 pause, but strike very gently. The motion 
 necessary for a successful strike, is performed 
 by chucking the wrist rather sharply back- 
 wards, and slightly outwards towards the right. 
 This operation is an extremely delicate one; 
 and if performed too hastily and w T ith too much 
 force, you will almost invariably fail in hooking 
 
89 
 
 your fish. It is better that you should strike 
 rather too slowly and too feebly, than err in the 
 contrary extreme; for there is frequently a 
 chance of the fish hooking himself. Never fail, 
 however, when you have a rise, to strike some 
 way or other, and reject, by all means, the ad- 
 vice of those who recommend waiting till the fish 
 has hooked himself. Such advice is extremely 
 unsound ; for if you allow the fish time to ex- 
 amine in the inside of his mouth no matter 
 whether the examination undergoes the test 
 of feeling or of taste he will assuredly dis- 
 cover, and that speedily, that he has not taken 
 in a natural bait, and he will as speedily reject 
 or disgorge your lure. Thousands of fish are 
 lost by relying on the probability, that a fish 
 may hook himself. Cautioning the reader to 
 observe a proper medium time and force "in 
 striking, we counsel him, whenever he can, to 
 strike in an oblique direction, for the most 
 part slantingly towards the right, as the ope- 
 ration of striking is performed in that direction 
 with more ease than in any other. 
 
 On this subject Mr. Ronalds says, that 
 " striking a fish is a knack, which knack, like 
 all others, is acquired only by practice; it 
 must be done by a very sudden, but not a 
 very strong stroke a twitch of the wrist." 
 
90 
 
 Playing a Fish : When you have hooked* 
 a fish, you may tell by his motions whether you 
 have hooked him firmly or not. If hooked 
 firmly he will rarely, unless you force him to it, 
 put forth his struggles on the surface of the 
 water, but will dart downwards, if he be allow- 
 ed, and make his strongest efforts to get away 
 in mid-water or nearer to the bottom. If 
 slightly hooked, his tumbling to get free will be 
 performed on the top of the water : you must 
 calculate your mode of playing him according 
 
 * " In striking a fish that rises at the fly, some skill is 
 required not to lose the fish or break the line, and this 
 must be regulated by what appears to be the size of the 
 fish ; for if small, it may be at once swung out on the 
 bank, which is the most successful way in par-fishing; 
 while the attempt to do this with the trout, of any size, 
 would be vain. When a fish, on being hooked, descends 
 beneath the surface, and struggles below in the deep 
 water,t it may be safely inferred, that he is securely 
 hooked ; whereas, when he flounders on the surface, and 
 tries to leap out of the water, the hook is seldom very 
 deep. With larger trout, the rod should be kept bent, so 
 as to prevent him from running to the end of the line. 
 The strength of the line or rod should never be trusted to, 
 without the assistance of a landing-net. When the angler 
 is in the midst of the stream, if from the moment the 
 trout is struck, it is prevented from re-descending in such 
 a manner, that the upper part of its head and eyes are 
 retained above, or on a level with the surface, it will, for 
 the space of a good many seconds, be so much astonished, 
 as to be incapable of any active exertions, and will fre- 
 quently allow itself to be drawn in that position, and 
 without resistance, straight ashore." Professor Rennie. 
 
 + This is also a sign that the fish is a large one. 
 
91. 
 
 to those two circumstances. If he be lightly 
 hooked it will require great art to land him ; 
 you must be as gentle as a lamb, coaxing him, 
 rather than forcing him ; and you must be ever 
 ready to give him line when he struggles. 
 Employ no violence, and even when by gentle 
 manoeuvring you have fairly tired him out, 
 guide him, rather than drag him, towards your 
 landing-net. When you have hooked a fish 
 solidly and this we take to be the case on 
 which to give general instructions for playing a 
 fish if he be a tolerably large one, and if the 
 river be fair and free from obstructions, do not 
 endeavour, as some authors erroneously advise, 
 to make your fish show his head above the 
 water. On the contrary, yield to him by giving 
 him line gradually, and let him go, if he choose 
 to take that direction, down current and at 
 mid-water. Be sure, however, that in giving 
 him line you do not allow him to slacken his 
 hold, and take particular care that you con- 
 stantly feel your fish, which you may always 
 do by holding your rod nearly perpendicular, 
 giving, as it is called, the hut-end to him. 
 Never be afraid of giving your fish too much 
 line, provided you feel him, and can keep him 
 from the bottom; for there is nothing that more 
 speedily exhausts a fish, than to have to drag 
 a long length of line after him. This was the 
 
92 
 
 invariable practice of our father, and we never 
 knew him to lose a fish by adopting it. We 
 have seen him kill very large fish in this way, 
 rejecting the advice of lookers-on, who urged 
 rapid winding-up, and bearing strongly on the 
 fish; and we have observed him, notwithstand- 
 ing the many advisers against him, give the 
 fish line with a confidence that would have been 
 jeered at as conceited and obstinate presump- 
 tion, had it not been justified by success. 
 
 Playing a fish with fair length of line, takes 
 the stress off the weaker portions of your tac- 
 kle and rod, and distributes it in proportion 
 equal to the strength of the different parts of 
 them. Whilst in the act of playing a fish, 
 avoid sinking the upper part of your rod too 
 low, for if you do you will lose nearly all power 
 over him ; and he will dart towards the bottom, 
 giving you a world of anxiety and trouble to 
 raise him to the surface or to mid-water again. 
 Ever keep your fish " under buckle," which 
 means, never if you can lose your hold of him, 
 which is done, as we said before, by presenting 
 the but slightly towards the fish.* As soon as 
 
 * " When a fish is hooked in the upper part of the mouth, 
 by the strength of the rod applied as a lever to the line, it 
 is scarcely possible for him to open the gills as long as this 
 force is exerted, particularly when he is moving in a rapid 
 stream ; and when he is hooked in the lower jaw, his 
 mouth is kept closed by the same application of the 
 
93 
 
 the fish has made half a dozen strong turns or 
 efforts to disengage himself, you should begin 
 to wind up gradually, and direct him towards 
 shore. If, however, afterwards he continue, 
 ever and anon, to make a dash to get free, give 
 him line every time he does, and do not make 
 up your mind to land him until you perceive 
 him completely fagged. Allow your fish to 
 run with the stream. Playing a fish against 
 stream is the worst practice possible ; for if you 
 do, you can scarcely calculate the great ad- 
 ditional weight you throw upon your tackle ; 
 and, moreover, there are many chances, that the 
 force of the resistance you in such a case meet 
 with will tear away the fish from your hook. 
 This precept you may see particularly illustra- 
 ted, if you endeavour to spin a minnow against 
 the current of a rapid stream. Even the resis- 
 tance offered to so small a fish will be frequent- 
 ly sufficient to tear it from off the hook. The 
 circumstances under which it will be peremp- 
 
 strength of the rod ; so that he is much in the same state 
 as that of a deer caught round the neck by the lasso of a 
 South-American peon, who gallops forwards, dragging 
 his victim after him, which is killed by strangulation in a 
 very short time. When fishes are hooked foul, that is, 
 on the outside of the body, as in the fins or tail, they will 
 often fight for many hours, and in such cases are seldom 
 caught, as they retain their powers of breathing unim- 
 paired ; and if they do not exhaust themselves by violent 
 muscular efforts, they may bid defiance to the temper 
 and the skill of the fisherman." Salmonia. 
 
94 
 
 torily necessary for you to wind up your reel- 
 line with velocity are, when there is danger, if 
 you allow the fish great length of line, of get- 
 ting foul of trees, or other obstructions, or 
 when you see that he darts off to get among 
 weeds or under the roots of bushes. Rapidity 
 in winding up, is particularly to be observed 
 when the fish strikes towards you, to get under 
 the trees or bank on the side from which you 
 are fishing. You must, besides winding up 
 rapidly, hold your rod with the but-end advanc- 
 ed over the river as far as your arm can ex- 
 tend.* Having exhausted your fish, your own 
 good sense will direct you to choose the most 
 convenient place for landing him, namely, 
 where the bank is most level with the water, 
 and where you can draw the fish ashore without 
 lifting him from off the water. 
 
 Landing a Fish : Whenever you fish a 
 stream, in which you are likely to catch fish 
 above a half-pound weight, take with you, 
 without fail, a landing-net. We know that 
 young anglers feel a sort of contempt for this 
 
 * " Let me tell you, my friend, you should never allow 
 a fish to run to the weeds, or to strike across the stream ; 
 you should carry him always down the stream, keeping 
 his head high, and in the current. If in a weedy river, 
 you allow a large fish to run up stream, you are almost 
 sure to lose him." Salmonia, page 28. 
 
95 
 
 most useful piece of apparatus, and think it 
 savours too much of formidable formality ; but 
 we, old stagers, who like to take things coolly, 
 and leave as little as possible to chance, never 
 fly-fish without one. If you fish alone, you 
 must, when you have exhausted your fish, get 
 him as near shore as possible, taking care, 
 however, not to wind him up so tightly as that 
 he will hang suspended above, or partly out of, 
 the water; but allow him simply to be near 
 the surface of the water. Put the stop on 
 your reel ; force firmly the spike of your but, 
 with its point in a slanting direction towards 
 the fish, into the ground, and sinking your 
 net at some distance from the fish in the 
 water, bring it under him from behind. Never 
 come yourself, or place your net, in face of a 
 fish. When you are accompanied by a person 
 who is to use the landing-net, let that person 
 keep in a line with you, and never go before 
 you. Your fish being ready to be landed, 
 your companion or servant must come between 
 you and the river, always taking care to be 
 near to and in a line with you ; and slowly 
 sinking the net in the water, he must pass 
 it tail-wise under the fish. There is no earthly 
 thing that frightens a fish so much as the 
 sight of a landing-net, or of a person appear- 
 ing in front of him for the purpose of landing 
 
96 
 
 him. Such a sight arouses his seemingly 
 worn-out energies, and the moment he per- 
 ceives it, he dashes off, with all the desperate 
 vigour of a death-and-life struggle. The 
 energy of this lunge of despair, if it do not 
 break your tackle, or free your quarry, will, 
 at all events, cause you much additional 
 trouble. The fish being fairly in the net, the 
 person holding it should not rudely throw the 
 fish or net on the bank, but present them to 
 you, in order that you may speedily take the 
 fish from off the hook, and undo any tangles 
 that may be in your line or flies. Expedition 
 in this last point is important, especially when 
 fish are upon the rise, and when " Time is to 
 be taken by the fore-lock." Never take hold, 
 nor let any else take hold, of your line while 
 landing a fish. 
 
 Killing your Fish : If your fish be of small 
 or middling size, kill them immediately by 
 hitting them with a little hammer on the back 
 of the neck, or by striking that part, holding 
 the fish by the tail, once or twice sharply 
 against the but-end of the rod. If the fish 
 be large, it will be advisable to crimp him.* 
 
 * " Crimping, by preventing the irritability of the fibre 
 from being gradually exhausted, seems to preserve it so 
 hard and crisp, that it breaks under the teeth ; and a fresh 
 fish not crimped is generally tough." Salmonia, page 98. 
 
97 
 
 We shall conclude this chapter, by giving 
 two or three extracts taken from standard 
 authorities. They refer chiefly to playing and 
 landing a fish. 
 
 Mr. Ronalds recommends, that "having 
 hooked a fish, the rod should be carefully retain- 
 ed in that position which will allow its greatest 
 pliability to be exerted. For beginners to do 
 this, it may be advisable that they should get it 
 up over the shoulder, and present the but-end 
 towards the fish. A gentle pull must now be 
 kept upon the fish, and he should be led down 
 the stream rather than up, making use of the 
 reel as occasion may require, to shorten the 
 line. But if he runs in towards the bank upon 
 which the fisherman stands, it will be necessary 
 for him to approach the edge of the water as 
 nearly as possible, holding the rod with an out- 
 stretched arm in almost an horizontal position; 
 and if the reel is of the usual bad construction, 
 it will be also necessary to pull in the line as 
 quickly as possible with the left hand, this may 
 prevent the fish from reaching his harbour ; if 
 it should not, he will most likely twist the 
 gut round roots, &c., and break away. To kill 
 him, the nose must be kept up as much as pos- 
 sible ; should he be very importunate and reso- 
 lute, he may be lent a little more line now and 
 then, but it must be promptly retaken with tre- 
 
98 
 
 mendous interest, and got up as short as pos- 
 sible. After various fruitless efforts to escape, 
 which exhaust his strength, the nose may he 
 got fairly out of the water, he may be towed 
 gently to the side, and the landing-net passed 
 under him. From the time of hooking the fish, 
 if a large one, to the time of landing, care must 
 be had, that the line shall not be touched by the 
 hand, excepting under the just-mentioned cir- 
 cumstances ; all should depend upon the plia- 
 bility of the rod. In case a landing-net should 
 not be at hand, the reel may be stopped from 
 running back, the rod stuck up in the ground 
 by the spike, and, both hands being disengaged, 
 the fisherman may stoop down and grasp him 
 firmly behind the gills." 
 
 Colonel Hawker says, " A small fish is, of 
 course, not even worth the wear and tear of 
 a reel. But if you happen to hook a good one, 
 wind up immediately ; and the moment you 
 have got him under command of a short line, 
 hold your rod well on the bend, with just pur- 
 chase enough to keep him from going under 
 a weed, or rubbing out your hook by boring his 
 nose in the gravel. Observe a fish, and you 
 will always perceive, that, after he finds he is 
 your prisoner, he does all he can to get down, 
 as the best means of escape. After getting 
 your fish under the command of a short line 
 and well-bent rod, let him run, and walk by the 
 
99 
 
 side of him, keeping a delicate hold of him, 
 with just purchase enough, as I before observed, 
 to prevent his going down; when he strikes, 
 ease him at the same instant; and when he 
 becomes faint, pull him gently down stream ; 
 and, as soon as you have overpowered him, get 
 his nose up to the top of the water ; and, when 
 he is nearly drowned, begin to tow him gently 
 towards the shore. Never attempt to lift him 
 out of the water by the line, but haul him on 
 to some sloping place ; then stick the spike of 
 your rod in the ground, with the rod a little on 
 the bend ; crawl slily up as quick as possible, 
 and put your hands under him, and not too for- 
 ward. If you use a landing-net (which, for 
 saving time, and particularly where the banks 
 are steep, is sometimes a necessary appendage), 
 let it be as light as possible, very long in the 
 handle, and three times as large as what people 
 generally carry. Take care that neither that, 
 nor the man who may assist you with it, goes 
 even in sight of the water, till the fish is 
 brought well to the surface, and fairly within 
 reach ; and then you have only to have the net 
 put under him, or keep his eyes above water, 
 tow him into it. Mind this, or the landing-net 
 and your man will prove enemies, instead of 
 assistants, to your sport. Nothing will so 
 soon, or suddenly, rouse a sick fish, as the sight 
 of a man or a landing-net." 
 
100 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON THE DIFFERENT MATERIALS USED FOR 
 DRESSING ARTIFICIAL FLIES; AND THE 
 SIMPLEST, SHORTEST, AND BEST MODE OF 
 DRESSING OR MAKING THEM POINTED OUT. 
 
 THOUGH every writer on fly-fishing tells his 
 readers, that it is almost impossible to teach 
 them how to dress or tie on flies by written in- 
 structions, we think that if such instructions be 
 plainly written, any studious and intelligent 
 person may so fully understand them, as to be 
 able to put them in a very short time into 
 practice. Having attentively read the direc- 
 tions given by many different authors on this 
 chief point of the art, we are obliged, though 
 with considerable reluctance, to come to the 
 ungenerous conclusion, that they have never 
 practised fly-dressing themselves, or rarely 
 seen it performed by others. We have also 
 observed, in the course of our perusal of dif- 
 ferent treatises on fly-fishing, that the bro- 
 thers of the angle have not been over nice in 
 keeping their hands from " picking and steal- 
 
101 
 
 ing;" and, what is worse than all, that they 
 have studiously concealed the sources from 
 which their pilferings were extracted. Au- 
 thors, even of standard reputation, are liable 
 to this charge. Best has taken from Cotton, 
 nearly verbatim, the latter's instructions how 
 to make a fly which is not a hackle or palmer- 
 fly ; and in Bowlker's Art of Angling we find 
 that Mr. Bainbridge's list of materials, and his 
 directions for dressing a fly, are, without 
 acknowledgment, inserted. We could point 
 out many serious instances of plagiarism, but 
 for the present we content ourselves with 
 making the general charge, hoping that 
 authors on angling will, in future editions of 
 their works, name the authorities to whose 
 labours and observations they are so deeply 
 indebted. 
 
 We beg to state, that we never fish, save now 
 and then for comparison' sake, with any other 
 flies except those that have been fashioned by 
 our own fingers ; and that we never use any 
 materials but those of which we shall give a 
 full list and description. We have no arriere 
 pensee we withhold no secret from our readers 
 all the arcana of the art, which hitherto we 
 have kept to ourselves, we now, without the 
 slightest restriction, fully divulge for the 
 benefit of the public. We shall have to men- 
 
102 
 
 tion flies, whose colours and mode of dressing 
 were only known to ourselves, and which have 
 killed fish by dozens, when no other flies could 
 move a fin; and in doing so, it is not our inten- 
 tion to withhold any single detail necessary for 
 the perfect formation of such flies. It is our 
 sincere desire and anxious hope, that every 
 reader of this book may become as practically 
 and theoretically skilful yea, e r en more so 
 than we are ourselves in every thing that 
 relates to the art of fly-fishing. 
 
 Materials used in Fly-dressing : Silk of 
 every shade and colour is the first requisite. 
 The colour of the silk must always exactly cor- 
 respond with the colour of the body of the fly 
 you mean to imitate. The most useful silks are 
 those of the following colours : straw, brim- 
 stone, fawn, light and dark Esterhazy, light 
 and dark orange, light and dark purple, dark 
 puce, black, different shades of yellow, crimson, 
 red, and brown. The strongest in proportion 
 to its substance, the finest and the best silk for 
 fly-dressing, is to be procured at Worcester, 
 and you must ask for that sort which is 
 used by glovers in stitching ladies' finest kid 
 gloves. The silk of this sort, which is com- 
 posed of two twists, will be found the most 
 useful for general purposes. 
 
103 
 
 Wings of Artificial Flies : The best wings 
 for artificial flies are to be made of the longest 
 fibres or plumelets, stripped from the stem 
 or shaft of the wing of the birds which we are 
 about to name. They are to be stripped from 
 that side of the feather, which, in its natural 
 state, lies next to the body of the bird : from 
 the wings of the starling, field-fare, black-bird, 
 red-wing, lark, hen pheasant, woodcock, land- 
 rail, grouse, partridge, dotterel, snipe, golden - 
 plover, and from feathers of different shades, 
 plucked from the body, under the wing, of a 
 mallard or common wild-drake. 
 
 Hackles or Feathers, used to imitate the Legs* 
 of Flies : The scarcest and best hackles are 
 duns of all shades, particularly those which 
 possess the clearest different shades of blue ; 
 furnace hackles, which are of a red colour, with 
 a black streak along the stem up the middle of 
 the feather; red hackles, light and dark 
 ginger, black and grizzled hackles. Those 
 hackles are to be got in the greatest state of 
 perfection, from off the upper part of the necks 
 of cocks. They should be plucked from those 
 parts where they grow from half an inch to two 
 inches long. When dun hackles cannot be 
 procured from cocks, you must use those 
 plucked from dun hens, which, though they 
 * And sometimes the wings. 
 
104 
 
 are considered by some an efficient substitute, 
 are, in consequence of the softness of their 
 fibre, incapable of resisting water so well as 
 the hackles of the male bird. The best time 
 for plucking dun birds is, in the middle of 
 winter ; for, as Mr. Bainbridge justly remarks, 
 "The feathers are then perfect and free from 
 that disagreeable matter, which, at other 
 times, is generally found in the pen part of the 
 feather." Dun hackles, when plucked in 
 March, and exposed to the action of the sun's 
 heat, assume a fine yellow tinge, and become 
 that useful feather, called the yellow dun. 
 Whenever a dun cock a pure dun one 
 falls into the hands of the fly-fisher he 
 should be treated as a thing beloved. The 
 best walk at some farm-house should be select- 
 ed for him, and the humanity and honesty of 
 the persons to whom you intrust the gallant 
 bird, should be unquestionable. 
 
 Feathers, which make excellent hackles, can 
 be got from off the back of the grouse, from 
 the tail of the common wren, from the breast 
 and back of the partridge, from the outside part 
 nearest the body of the golden plover's wing, 
 from the inside of the snipe's wing, and from 
 the crests of the heron and green-plover. 
 
 Dubbings : The general name of the mate- 
 
105 
 
 rial of which the bodies of artificial flies are 
 made, is dubbing. The most commonly-used 
 and the best sort of dubbing is, unravelled mo- 
 hair, of nearly every colour, but particularly of 
 the colour of the different sorts of silk already 
 recommended. No material better resists the 
 action of water, or changes colour less when 
 immersed in it, than mohair. Good mohair is 
 to be procured from the ends of pieces of cloth. 
 Camlets of every colour are necessary. Also 
 divers sorts of furs that are, or may be, dyed 
 every colour ; particularly fur from the dark part 
 of the hare's ear, from the nape of the hare's 
 neck, rabbit's fur variously dyed, mole's, rat's, 
 and monkey's fur. The latter fur can be pro- 
 cured of divers colours even in its natural 
 state, and, by reason of its not imbibing water 
 easily, is one of the best sorts of furs. A rich 
 dun dubbing is to be procured, by combing 
 with a fine-toothed comb the back of a lead- 
 coloured grey-hound. Hog's fur, which grows 
 between the roots of the bristles, dyed of vari- 
 ous colours, bear's fur, fox's fur, fur got off the 
 belly of a hedge-hog, the light yellow fur from 
 off the martin's neck, are all useful as dubbing. 
 Dubbings of various hues and of excellent 
 quality, resisting the water well, and not losing 
 their colour when in it, are to be found in 
 
 tan-yards among the hairs that fall off the 
 F 5 
 
106 
 
 skins, and likewise among pieces of plaster 
 that are stripped from old walls and ceilings. 
 Lime not only changes the original colour of 
 hair, but adds to its capability of withstanding 
 water. 
 
 Herls : The plumelets of that description 
 of feather which grows in the peacock's tail, 
 are denominated herls. They are chiefly used 
 in the formation of the bodies of palmer-flies. 
 The best are those found in ostrich feathers, 
 dyed variously, and in peacock's feathers of 
 every gradation of hue. The feathers forming 
 the crest of the green-plover may be considered 
 in the light of a fine black herl. 
 
 Ribbing : For ribbing flies chiefly pal- 
 mer ones gold and silver twist is used, and 
 may be very easily procured from the hat-bands 
 of livery servants. The brighter and finer the 
 twist the better. Gold and silver tinsel is 
 sometimes used in dressing large-bodied flies, 
 but the best anglers in Derbyshire consider it 
 valueless. 
 
 FLY-MAKING. 
 
 We have now, benevolent reader, pointed 
 out to you all the materials necessary for the 
 construction of flies. We shall proceed then, 
 
107 
 
 forthwith, to teach you how to use those ma- 
 terials. In order to make our instructions 
 more lucid, we will lay down eight general rules 
 for dressing flies. Every fly, except two or 
 three, which we shall teach how to dress in the 
 proper place, when we come to speak of them 
 separately, is made according to some one of 
 the eight rules about to be laid down. We 
 begin with those flies which are most easily 
 made. 
 
 RULE 1 . To make a Plain Hackle : Take 
 your hook between the points of the thumb 
 and fore-finger of your left hand. Hold it 
 firmly by the shank, with the tip of the shank 
 slightly projecting beyond your finger-ends, 
 towards the right. The back of the shank is 
 to be upwards. Take your waxed silk, holding 
 the left point of it, as you do the hook, and 
 whip it three times tightly round the shank of 
 the hook, towards the end that is, in a con- 
 trary direction to the bend. Hold down your 
 silk, out of your way, by placing it, and hold- 
 ing it, between the middle and third fingers of 
 your left hand. Then take your link of gut, 
 with a single knot on the end, and having 
 moistened it in your mouth, place the knotted- 
 end parallel with the shank, and between the 
 shank and your left fore-finger, and let the 
 gut pass down the shank a little more than half 
 
108 
 
 way towards the bend. Take your silk between 
 the fore-finger and thumb of your right-hand, 
 and whip it tightly round the shank and gut 
 three times in the direction of the bend. Rest 
 your silk as before between the middle and 
 third fingers of your left-hand. You have now 
 finished the first operation, namely, that of 
 attaching the hook and gut together; and in 
 dressing every sort of fly, bear in mind, that it 
 is to be performed in a similar way. Now take 
 your hackle-feather, and having stripped it of 
 the downy fibres, on each side the stem down 
 to its root, place it against the shank of the 
 hook, on the side nearest your body, with its 
 root pointing towards the bend of the hook ; 
 then, and in the same direction, whip the silk 
 sharply three times round the hook, gut, and 
 root-end of the feather, and cut off with a fine- , 
 pointed small scissors, any of the root that "\. 
 remains. Having done so, take the feather by ^ 
 its point between the thumb and fore-finger of 
 the right-hand, and wind it in close laps five or 
 six times the number of laps to be propor- 
 tioned to the size of the hook and fly down 
 the shank towards the bend; then make two 
 laps of the silk over the point of the feather ; 
 cut away with your scissors what remains un- 
 covered by the silk of the point of the feather ; 
 and, lastly, waxing your silk afresh, fasten it 
 
109 
 
 with two loops, or invisible knots, just where 
 the bend begins, or opposite to the barbed point 
 of your hook. 
 
 It is necessary to remark here, that the chief 
 operations performed in fly-dressing are very 
 much facilitated, by allowing the nails of the 
 thumbs and fore-fingers to grow long. They 
 will then preclude the necessity of using a 
 pliars. During the different operations your 
 silk should be frequently waxed, and the easiest 
 way to do so is, to take the extreme point of 
 the silk between your teeth, the other part being 
 round the hook held in your left-hand, and 
 with the wax in your right-hand, rub the silk 
 sharply up and down three or four times. At 
 the end of this chapter we shall give a recipe 
 and^.itf^ an unique one of the only sort of 
 wax|p*Gper for making flies. 
 
 RULE 2. How to make a Palmer-fly, or 
 Hackle, with a Body : Though hackles and 
 palmer-flies are by many considered one and 
 the same, we have made, in order to simplify 
 our rules, a distinction between them. The 
 distinction is merely artificial. We will sup- 
 pose you about to dress the red-palmer. The 
 first operation, namely, that of whipping your 
 silk round the hook, and afterwards round your 
 hook and gut, is to be performed according to 
 
110 
 
 the instructions of Rule 1. Then take your 
 hackle-feather, prepared and placed as pointed 
 out in that rule, and lap your silk once round it 
 and the shank ; place the thick end of your 
 herl (in making the red-palmer, it will be a pea- 
 cock's herl) by the side of your hackle, and 
 whip your silk round the herl, hackle, gut, and 
 shank of the hook, two or three times, according 
 to the size of your hook* and fly; then cut the 
 thick ends of your hackle and herl off; wax 
 your silk anew, and lap the herl five or six 
 times each lap close upon the other 
 towards the bend of the hook ; hold your herl 
 tight between the left-thumb and fore-finger, 
 in the way you are holding the hook; then 
 take the point of the hackle-feather in your 
 right-hand fingers, and wrap it thickly five or 
 six times over the herl in the direction of the 
 bend ; make two laps of your silk over all ; cut 
 away the remaining point of the hackle-feather, 
 and then wrap your herl further on towards the 
 bend twice round the hook, make one lap of 
 your silk over the herl, and cut away all that 
 remains of it. Fasten your silk again wax- 
 ing it anew with two loop-knots near the 
 
 * No. 3 Kendal hook is the best size for palmers fished 
 with on the Dove ; you may use No. 4 or No. 5 in some 
 of the smaller streams of Derbyshire, where larvae and flies, 
 on account of locality and atmosphere, are of a larger 
 growth. 
 
 4. 
 
 , 
 
Ill 
 
 bend, and then your palmer will be ready for 
 his pilgrimage. 
 
 RULE 3. How to make a Palmer, ribbed 
 with Gold-twist : Suppose you are going to 
 dress the black or golden palmer. Having 
 completed the first operation described in 
 our first rule, put on your red-hackle with 
 only one lap of silk, then by the side of 
 that fasten on your gold-twist with a single 
 lap of silk, and then attach outside them your 
 black-ostrich herl, with two laps of silk. Cut 
 away the but-ends of twist, hackle, and herl, 
 and wind the latter four or five times closely 
 round the shank of the hook, in the direction 
 of the bend; then take the gold- twist, and 
 wrap it in the same direction three times 
 round the herl ; after that take your red-hac- 
 kle by the point, and wind it in thick laps 
 over all. Now withdraw, in a backward direc- 
 tion, towards the end of the shank, the herl 
 and the twist that have been held, while you 
 were winding the hackle, between the thumb 
 and finger of the left-hand, and make fast the 
 end of the hackle with two laps of the silk. 
 Again take the ostrich herl, and wind it 
 thickly three or four times round the hook 
 towards the bend, then rib with windings of 
 the twist to the last lap of the herl ; fasten 
 
112 
 
 down the herl and twist with two loop-knots 
 
 of the silk, cut off their remaining ends, and 
 
 fasten the whole, opposite the barb of the 
 
 hook, with a single knot of the silk. 
 
 . All descriptions of palmers are to be made 
 
 after the manner directed in these three first 
 
 rules. 
 
 RULE 4. How to make a Fly with Wings 
 and simple Dubbing : First operation the 
 same as before described. Having stripped 
 a sufficient quantity of fibres, to form your 
 wings, from the feather of the starling's wing 
 or from that of the wing of any bird men- 
 tioned in our list of fly-making materials 
 place it on the back of the shank, with the 
 roots pointing towards the bend, and the 
 points of the feather towards your right-hand ; 
 then lap the silk, at a short distance from the 
 end of the shank, twice around the feathers 
 and shank. With your right-hand thumb-nail, 
 force upright all that part of the wing which 
 lies to the right of the silk laps ; divide equally 
 and exactly, into two parts, on each side of the 
 shank, your feathers, so as to make two wings 
 of exact proportion the one with the other, in 
 every respect ; then bring your silk under that 
 wing which is next to your body, and over it 
 through the separation of the wings, in the 
 
113 
 
 direction of your left-hand fingers ; next bring 
 the silk round the wing on the right side of 
 the shank, drawing it towards your left through 
 the separated wings; pass the silk once more, 
 as you did in the first instance, through the 
 wings. Now cut off the roots of the wings, 
 and bending the points of the wings, by taking 
 them together between your right-thumb and 
 fore-finger, down towards the bend of the hook, 
 and holding them down on the shank firmly in 
 that position, lap your silk three times between 
 the bent-down wings, and the point of the 
 shank. This operation forms the head of the 
 fly, and serves to keep the wings from falling 
 back, and to retain them in an upright posi- 
 tion. Now take your dubbing, whatever it 
 may be but that composed of mohair is, 
 perhaps, the best for beginners to commence 
 with and laying it thinly round your silk, 
 well waxed, spin the silk three or four times 
 sharply round, between the thumb and fore- 
 finger of the right-hand, which will cause the 
 dubbing to stick round it firmly and evenly ; 
 and then take your silk, with the dubbing 
 spun neatly about it, and lap it close under the 
 wings on the side next the bend, four or five 
 times, or until you see that there is sufficient 
 dubbing lapped round the hook to form a body 
 of proper length and thickness. Then putting 
 
114 
 
 the end of the silk between your teeth, rub the 
 silk from the hook towards your mouth with 
 your wax, in order to clear away the dubbing 
 that is not wanted; and whipping your silk 
 twice round the shank, fasten it at the bend 
 with two loop-knots. Now examine the shape 
 of your fly, and if you find that the dubbing lies 
 clumsily and unproportionably round the hook, 
 pick it out with the point of a needle when 
 enough of it does not show, or clip it off with 
 your scissors when you find it too long or too 
 thick. 
 
 RULE 5. How to make a Grouse or a 
 Wren's Hackle : Lap your hook and gut toge- 
 ther in the usual way. Strip off the soft fibres 
 from the quill-end of such feather as you are 
 going to use, and, instead of placing that end to 
 be first whipped on to the shank of the hook, as 
 you did in dressing the simple hackle, you must 
 fasten on to the shank the tip-end of the fea- 
 ther, having first made a separation in the 
 fibres of the feather, for your silk to pass without 
 obstruction through. This separation is made 
 by forcing, from opposite points of each side of 
 the stem, the fibres backwards towards the 
 root of the feather. Whip your silk twice 
 round the point of the feather, at the place 
 where the fibres are separated, and then cut off 
 
115 
 
 what remains, in the direction of the bend, of- 
 that point. Now take between the fore-finger 
 and thumb of your right-hand, the thick-end 
 stem of the feather, and warp it twice round 
 the shank in the direction of the bend ; make 
 two laps of silk over the feather, and cut away 
 what remains of it : fasten with two loop-knots. 
 
 RULE 6. Winged-fly ', with Hackle for 
 Legs : Whip on your silk and gut according 
 to Rule 1, and tie on your wings according to 
 Rule 4. Having completed these operations, 
 strip the downy fibres off the thick-end of your 
 hackle-feather, and fasten it close unto the 
 wing, on the bend-side, with two laps of your 
 silk. Cut off the thick end of the stem of the 
 feather, and, with your right-hand, draw back 
 towards the point all the fibres of the feather, 
 in order to separate them distinctly, and that, 
 when the feather is wound round the hook, the 
 fibres may sit more regularly. Next, take the 
 hackle in your right-hand fingers by its point, 
 and lap it round in close laps under the front of 
 the wing down towards the bend. Having 
 done this, whip your silk twice round the point 
 of the feather, and clip off that point ; then 
 fasten with three loop-knots at the bend. 
 
 RULE 7. Fly with Wings, Dubbing for Body, 
 and Hackle for Legs : Proceed as before 
 
116 
 
 directed until you have tied on ydur wings ; 
 then attach your hackle with a single whip of 
 the silk; on the silk twist your dubbing, ac- 
 cording to the directions of Rule 4; having 
 done so, lap your dubbing close under the 
 wings and over the stem of the hackle and 
 hook, three times ; then clear away from your 
 silk the superfluous dubbing, using, as directed 
 in Rule 4, your wax for that purpose. Now 
 take your hackle by the point, and lap it over 
 the dubbing three times ; cut off what remains 
 of the point of the hackle, after having made 
 two whips of the silk over it, and fasten with 
 two loop-knots. 
 
 That excellent fly the sand-fly is made 
 according to this method, and the beginner 
 will do well to put the directions of this rule 
 into practice by endeavouring to dress so 
 killing a fly. 
 
 RULE 8. Fly with Wings-, Dubbing for 
 Body-, Hackle for Legs, and ribbed with Gold or 
 Silver Twist : This is the most difficult sort 
 of fly to be made. The learner will perceive, 
 that, at least, four different materials are to be 
 used to fashion it, and that, consequently, great 
 delicacy of manipulation is required, in order 
 that the shape of the fly may not be too coarse 
 and bulky. When the learner has succeeded 
 
117 
 
 in making this fly well, he may consider him- 
 self entitled to the highest honours of our 
 angling academy. To obtain them he must 
 execute as follows: Having put on the wings 
 in the usual way, he must fasten directly under 
 them, with one lap of silk, his twist ; he must 
 fasten by the side of his twist the hackle, with 
 one lap of silk also; he must then cut the 
 ends of the twist and hackle away, those ends, 
 of course, which point in the direction of the 
 bend ; then the dubbing must be placed on the 
 silk and twisted round it, and after that 
 twisted round the hook in sufficient quantity 
 to form the body ; over the dubbing he must 
 lap the twist two or three times, and then both 
 over dubbing and twist, close to the wings of 
 the fly, let the hackle be lapped three times; 
 he must fasten the point of the hackle with 
 one whip of the silk, and then clip off what 
 remains of the point of the hackle. He must 
 now whip the silk twice or thrice towards the 
 bend, and over that he must make two laps 
 with the twist ; he must now with a single loop- 
 knot of the silk fasten down the twist, and cut 
 off what remains of the twist. The whole must 
 be fastened and finished by making too loop- 
 knots with the silk at the bend. 
 
 The operations described in this rule are 
 necessary to make the dun-drake, or March- 
 
118 
 
 brown, one of the best if not the very best 
 flies that can be fished with, in its due sea- 
 son, on the Dove. We advise the learner to 
 try, as an exercise, to dress this fly. 
 
 Having described, as plainly and as succinct- 
 ly as possible, the different modes of dressing ar- 
 tificial flies, we wish to point out, in a few words, 
 the advantages of the system we adopt and 
 recommend. Those advantages will be more 
 fully understood, if our system be compared 
 with the system of others. The learner will 
 remark, that all our operations commence near 
 the end of the shank of the hook, and termi- 
 nate at the bend nearly opposite the barbed 
 point of the hook. They possess, therefore, the 
 inestimable advantage of never-ceasing unifor- 
 mity. The reader will also remark, that the 
 silk is wound or whipped but once along the 
 hook, and that, in consequence, the body of 
 the fly must be neater than if the silk, as is 
 recommended by many authors, were whipped 
 twice, which is nearly always done by those 
 who commence their operations at the bend of 
 the hook. Time is also saved by following our 
 method. Nearly all our operations being per- 
 formed from right to left, the motions of the 
 hand necessary to perform them are, in conse- 
 quence, the most natural. That the reader 
 may have an opportunity of comparing our 
 
119 
 
 mode of dressing flies, with the modes practised 
 by others, we shall, on this head, make a few 
 extracts from the works of those authors most 
 in repute. 
 
 Mr. Cotton, whose directions, as we said 
 before, have been taken and inserted, without 
 acknowledgment, in Best's work on angling, 
 says, " In making a fly, which is not a hackle, 
 or palmer-fly, you are, first, to hold your hook 
 fast betwixt the fore-finger and thumb of your 
 left-hand, with the back of the shank upwards, 
 and the point towards your finger's end ; then 
 take a strong small silk of the colour of the fly 
 you intend to make, wax it well with wax of 
 the same colour, to which end you are always, 
 by the way, to have wax of all colours about 
 you* and draw it betwixt your finger and 
 thumb to the head of the shank; and then 
 whip it twice or thrice about the bare hook, 
 which, you must know, is done, both to prevent 
 slipping, and also that the shank of the hook 
 may not cut the hairs of your towght,f which 
 sometimes it will otherwise do. Which being 
 
 * Unnecessary trouble. Your silk being already "of 
 the colour of the fly you intend to make," wants no addi- 
 tional colouring. The wax, which at the end of the chap- 
 ter we shall tell you how to make, being colourless and 
 transparent, will suit silks of every colour. It neither adds 
 to, nor takes from, their hue. 
 
 t Hair-link. 
 
120 
 
 clone, take your line [link of gut], and draw it 
 likewise between your finger and thumb, hold- 
 ing the hook so fast, as only to suffer it to pass 
 by, until you have the knot of your towght al- 
 most to the middle of the shank of your hook, 
 on the inside of it ; then whip your silk twice 
 or thrice about both hook and line, as hard as 
 the strength of the silk will permit. Which 
 being done, strip the feather for the wings pro- 
 portionable to the bigness of your fly, placing 
 that side downwards which grew uppermost 
 before upon the back of the hook, leaving so 
 much only as to serve for the length of the 
 wing of the point of the plume lying reversed 
 from the end of the shank upwards ; then 
 whip your silk twice or thrice about the root- 
 end of the feather close by the arming ; and 
 then whip the silk fast and firm about the 
 hook and towght, until you come to the bend 
 of the hook, but not farther, as you do at 
 London, and so make a very unhandsome, and, 
 in plain English, a very unnatural and shape- 
 less fly.* Which being done, cut away the 
 end of your towght and fasten it. And then 
 take your dubbing, which is to make the body 
 of your fly, as much as you think convenient, 
 and holding it lightly, with your hook, betwixt 
 
 * This may have been the case in Mr. Cotton's time, 
 but is not the case now quite the contrary. 
 
121 
 
 the finger and thumb of your left-hand, take 
 your silk with the right, and twisting it 
 betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand, the 
 dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which, 
 when it has done, whip it about the armed- 
 hook backward, till you come to the setting on 
 of the wings.* And then take the feather for 
 the wings, and divide it equally into two parts ; 
 then turn them back towards the bend of the 
 hook, the one on the one side, and the other 
 on the other, of the shank, holding them fast 
 in that posture, betwixt the fore-finger and 
 thumb of your left-hand; and then take the 
 silk betwixt the finger and thumb of your right- 
 hand, and, where the warping ends, pinch . or 
 nip it with your thumb-nail against your 
 finger, and strip away the remainder of your 
 dubbing from the silk ; and then, with the bare 
 silk, whip it once or twice about; make the 
 wings to stand in due order, fasten, and cut it 
 off. After which, with the point of a needle, 
 
 * The learner will perceive, that Mr. Cotton proceeds in 
 the same way as we do, as far as the setting on of the 
 wings ; but that afterwards he whips the silk along the 
 hook as far as the bend ; then he twists on his dubbing, 
 retracing his steps towards the wings, and fastens and fin- 
 ishes at the point of the shank. In our method the fly is 
 finished by the time Mr. C. begins to put on his dubbing, 
 or before he has completed one half of his operations. Our 
 fly will of necessity be more delicate in shape, and will be 
 every tittle as solidly attached to the hook. 
 G 
 
122 
 
 raise up the dubbing gently from the warp; 
 twitch off the superfluous hairs of your dubbing ; 
 leave the wings of an equal length your fly 
 will never else swim true and the work is 
 done." 
 
 All Mr. Cotton's directions for fly-dressing 
 are included in this extract, and they only 
 teach how to make the easiest of winged flies 
 the fly with simple dubbing for body. See 
 our fourth Rule. 
 
 We have attentively studied the directions 
 for fly-making given by the following authors, 
 Rennie, Hansard, Best, Ronalds, Taylor, &c. 
 but we confess, that, to our comprehension, 
 they appear either so complicated, or so 
 obscure, as to prevent us from laying any 
 portion of them before our readers. Messrs. 
 Best and Ronalds are particularly elaborate in 
 their instructions, how to make the different 
 sorts of palmer-flies, but we question whether, 
 notwithstanding their minuteness, they have 
 succeeded in their praise-worthy intentions. 
 Bowlker's directions are a mere unacknow- 
 ledged condensation of those of Mr. Bainbridge, 
 but as we consider the latter gentleman the 
 best fly-dresser that has hitherto appeared in 
 the shape of an author, we shall copy his gen- 
 eral directions in full, in order that the reader 
 may compare them with ours. 
 
123 
 
 Mr. Bainbridge says, " Whether a common 
 hackle, or a dubbed winged fly, is to be manu- 
 factured, it is invariably necessary to have the 
 whole of the materials which are to compose 
 the imitations properly adjusted, previous to 
 the commencement of the operation. First: 
 The hackles stripped, or divested of the soft 
 downy feathers which grow nearest the root, 
 and turned back ready for twisting on the hook. 
 Second: The gut carefully examined, and 
 tried by moderately pulling it, in proportion to 
 the weight expected to be held by it. This 
 precaution will frequently save the angler 
 much disappointment, by discovering defects 
 not apparent to the eye. Third : The dubbing 
 properly mixed to the exact colour of the body 
 of the natural fly, a small proportion of which 
 should be moistened, and held up to the light ; 
 for the camlets and furs, when wet, generally 
 become several shades darker than when in a 
 dry state, and in some instances assume a 
 totally different hue. Fourth : The silk well 
 waxed with a colour lighter than the body of 
 the fly ; and a hook cautiously tried as to tem- 
 per, and prudently selected as to size. Fifth : 
 The wings must be stripped from the feathers 
 by an even but sudden pull. Every thing being 
 thus in a state of readiness, the hook must be 
 first fastened to the finest end of the gut with 
 
124 
 
 waxed silk, beginning (if for a hackle-fly only) 
 at the bend, and working towards the head of 
 the hook; when, within about three turns of 
 which, the hackle must be fastened in, and 
 the winding of the silk continued until it 
 reaches the end of the shank. Having reached 
 this point, it must be turned again, as if to 
 retrace the same ground for two turns, which 
 will form the head of the fly. 
 
 (i The dubbing, if of fur or camlet, must now 
 be twisted round the silk, and wrapped on the 
 hook for nearly half the proposed length of the 
 body, when it may be fastened by a single loop, 
 in order that both hands may be at liberty, for 
 the better management of the hackle. If the 
 body is to be composed of peacock or ostrich 
 herl, it ought to be fastened on at the same 
 time with the hackle, so that it may be per- 
 fectly secure. Should the hackle be of tolera- 
 ble size, there will be no difficulty in twisting 
 it firmly on the hook, with the fingers only; 
 but if small, a pair of neat pliars, which close 
 together by a spring, will be found of great 
 utility, in winding the turns of the hackle close 
 under each other ; and, if pliars be wanting, a 
 piece of silk, fastened to the end of the feather, 
 will answer the purpose. 
 
 " When enough of the feather is wound upon 
 the hook, the remainder should be pressed 
 
125 
 
 closely under the thumb of the left-hand, and 
 the fibres which may be entangled picked out 
 by means of a needle. The silk, with the dub- 
 bing, must now be twisted over the end of the 
 hackle (with the left-thumb kept down), until 
 the body of the fly is of the length required, 
 taking care that it never proceeds beyond the 
 bend of the hook, which would give it an 
 unnatural appearance. A single loop will keep 
 the whole together, until the dubbing be pick- 
 ed out, and the hackle properly arranged, when 
 the fastening off must be effected, by making 
 three or four loose turns of the silk, at such a 
 distance from the hook, as to admit of the end 
 being passed under them. 
 
 " The loose turns must then be wrapped 
 closely on the hook, and the end drawn tight, 
 which will so completely secure the fastening, 
 that, if neatly managed, it will be difficult to 
 discover where the fly has been finished. This 
 mode of fastening is called the ' invisible' knot. 
 
 " In making a winged fly, the same method 
 may be adopted with respect to whipping the 
 hook to the gut, as far as the fastening in the 
 hackle; after which, instead of returning im- 
 mediately with the silk, in order to form the 
 head of the fly, the wings must be fastened 
 before the dubbing is wound. Some persons 
 fix the wings to the hook with the root nearest 
 
126 
 
 the bend, and force the points or narrow ends 
 of the fibres back afterwards, making use of the 
 short remains of the roots to effect the division 
 of the wings. This method is, however, 
 tedious, and difficult to be understood by a 
 young practitioner. 
 
 " The most simple mode of proceeding is, to 
 fix the wings on the shank of the hook length- 
 wise, with the narrowest ends nearest the bend, 
 fastening them by three or four turns of the silk 
 above or nearest the head of the hook, and then 
 cutting the root-ends close with a small pair of 
 scissors ; after which, the silk must be brought 
 below the wings, and the body twisted, for a 
 short distance, as in the hackle-fly. 
 
 " The hackle must be wound once round the 
 hook at the head, which will conceal the ends 
 of the cut fibres, and add greatly to the neatness 
 of the fly. If the wings are to be divided, they 
 may be separated equally by a needle, and the 
 hackle brought down between them, and wound 
 again round the hook four turns below, where 
 the silk will be found in readiness to fasten it." 
 
 These directions are entirely opposed to ours. 
 Bainbridge tells the learner to begin " at the 
 bend, and work towards the head of the hook;" 
 and we tell the learner to begin at the head 
 of the hook, or near the end of the shank, and 
 to work downward towards the bend. By fol- 
 
127 
 
 lowing Mr. Bainbridge's method the silk must 
 pass twice round and along the hook ; and his 
 directions for placing the wings are extremely 
 difficult to be put into practice. If properly 
 learned, however, they will be found in the end 
 useful ; and dividing the wings by means of the 
 hackle -feather, is certainly an improvement. 
 Besides, he gives instructions to make only 
 three flies, namely, the hackle, the fly with 
 wings and dubbing, and the fly with wings, 
 dubbing, and hackle, and we have given eight 
 progressive rules for fly-dressing. In conclu- 
 sion, we will stake our existence, that if all the 
 information contained in this chapter be care- 
 fully read and digested, and afterwards put 
 into practice for a few days, any man of mode- 
 rate comprehension, who has the use of his eyes 
 and fingers, will be able to tie on flies that 
 will kill trout and grayling in every stream of 
 the midland counties ; and if he be a judge of 
 the proper colours, we will warrant that flies 
 so tied will catch the afore -mentioned fish in 
 whatever waters they are found of the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 The following is the recipe for the only sort 
 of wax that ought ever to be used in fly- 
 dressing : 
 
 Take two ounces of the best and lightest - 
 coloured yellow resin, with one drachm of 
 
128 
 
 bees-wax; put them into a pipkin on a slow 
 fire until completely dissolved; let them sim- 
 mer for ten minutes. Then add a quarter of an 
 ounce of white pomatum, and allow the whole 
 (constantly stirring it) to simmer for a quarter 
 of an hour longer. Pour the liquid into a 
 basin of clean cold water, when the liquid will 
 instantly assume a thick consistency. In this 
 state, and while it is yet warm, work it by 
 pulling it through the fingers until it be cold. 
 This last operation is necessary to make the 
 wax tough, and to give it that silvery hue 
 which it has when made in perfection. 
 
129 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A CURIOUS CONTROVERSY SHARPLY COMMENCED, 
 AND, IT IS HOPED, SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDED. 
 
 AT a time when the spirit of innovation is 
 considered as a sure proof of talent, it is not 
 wonderful that a startling heresy should have 
 been broached with respect to some of the 
 most established doctrines of angling. The 
 modern possessors of genius- and in this 
 precocious age of ours they are many disdain 
 in every art to wend their way along the old 
 and beaten roads, and will not condescend to 
 travel in the pursuit of knowledge, unless in 
 class 1st. of some rapid rail-road train. To 
 them our ancestors seem slow coaches in 
 every thing, and any thing that smells of rou- 
 tine strikes their nostrils with an odour quite 
 the reverse of savory. It seems, that since 
 the days of Charles Cotton that is, for the 
 space of two goodly centuries we, practised 
 anglers, have been plunged up to the neck and 
 ears in error. He thought it necessary, and 
 G 5 
 
130 
 
 we routine fishers have adopted his opinion, 
 that, in dressing flies, as much care as possible 
 should be taken to imitate the particular fly 
 with an artificial representation of which he 
 meant to deceive and catch fish. Not only, 
 according to our modern scientific schismatics, 
 is this care quite unnecessary; but, though it 
 has been recommended and practised since 
 and before the time of Cotton, it nev.er has as 
 yet succeeded. All the efforts of our prede- 
 cessors, and all the attentive studies of our- 
 selves, have served only to produce " pretended 
 imitation." So says a learned professor of 
 zoology professor too in a metropolitan col- 
 lege - but we hope he will excuse us if we do 
 not take for oracular all that is announced 
 from his professor's chair. We confess our- 
 selves rather obstinate in some cases so 
 much so, indeed, that, unlearned as we are, we 
 cannot adopt as true mere assertions unaccom- 
 panied with proofs, though they emanate from 
 a professor of high degree, from a philosophical 
 contributor to the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," 
 or from a score of smart, but, we some how or 
 other think, superficial writers of the steam- 
 engine school. We have, however, some pretty 
 good authorities on our side, and, if betting 
 were our : cue, we could get three professors of 
 the "routine" school backed to kill more trout 
 
131 
 
 and grayling with artificial flies in a given time, 
 on the same rivers, than any six of the " pre- 
 tended-imitation" professors. They are to tie 
 on their own flies in accordance with their 
 theory, " that it is quite unimportant to imitate 
 any species of living insect ;" and we shall tie 
 on ours according to our doctrine, " that it is 
 all-important not only to imitate, as nearly as 
 art can, .living insects, but also the different 
 species of those insects." Let not one of our 
 readers suppose for an instant, that we are 
 " -obstructives" in the way of improvement and 
 useful innovation. Not so, by the disinterested 
 honour of an angler; but we are as cautious 
 conservators of the true principles of fly-fishing, 
 as the lord-mayor of London is of the Thames 
 from Richmond to the Medway. But let us 
 oppose to the assertions of the learned the ob- 
 servations of the experienced. 
 
 Piscator, in Cotton, has, after minute in- 
 structions, tied on a fly, and says to his pupil, 
 Viator, " There's a fly made : and now, how do 
 you like it?" Viator answers, "In earnest, 
 admirably well; and it perfectly resembles a 
 fly." Hereupon Mr. Professor Rennie makes 
 the following annotation : "If so, it is more 
 than ever I saw any angler's artificial flies do, 
 which, to use Shakspeare's term, imitate 
 Nature abominably ; but, though noways like 
 
132 
 
 natural flies, (and this is not, it would appear, 
 of the slightest importance), they certainly 
 catch fish as if they were." In another note 
 on Cotton the learned professor observes, 
 " Both these extracts from VenaUes are found- 
 ed upon the notion, that the fish can discrimi- 
 nate the species of flies, than which nothing 
 can be more unfounded, for the angler's flies 
 are not like any species." In another part of 
 his work Cotton says to his pupil, " I am now 
 to tell you next how to make an artificial fly, 
 that will so perfectly resemble him [May-fly], 
 
 as to be taken in a rough windy day." 
 
 Whereupon the professor notes, " The resem- 
 blance is not much nearer, I should say, than 
 Hamlet's cloud to a camel, or a whale." Lest 
 this opinion contained in notes should escape 
 notice, Mr. Rennie, in an original work, puts it 
 more prominently forward, thus : " It is still 
 more common, however, for anglers to use arti- 
 ficial baits, made in imitation, or pretended imi- 
 tation, of those that are natural. I have used 
 the phrase ' pretended imitation,' as strictly ap- 
 plicable to by far the greater number of what are 
 called by anglers ' artificial flies,' because these 
 very rarely indeed bear the most distant resem- 
 blance to any living fly or insect whatever, 
 though, if exact imitation were an object, there 
 can be little doubt that it could be accomplished 
 
133 
 
 much more perfectly than is ever done in any of 
 the numerous artificial flies made by the best ar- 
 tists in that line of work. The fish, indeed, ap- 
 pear to seize upon an artificial fly, because, when 
 drawn by the angler along the water, it has 
 the appearance of being a living insect, whose 
 species is quite unimportant, as all insects are 
 equally welcome, though the larger they are, 
 as in the case of grasshoppers, so much the 
 better, because they then furnish a better 
 mouthful. The aim of the angler, accordingly, 
 ought to be to have his artificial fly calculated, 
 by its form and colours, to attract the notice 
 of the fish, in which case he has a much greater 
 chance of success, than by making the greatest 
 efforts to imitate any particular species of fly." 
 Before we proceed any further, we beg to 
 point out the manifest contradictions in this 
 one extract. First the professor says, that 
 "anglers' artificial flies, very rarely indeed, 
 bear the most distant resemblance to any living 
 Jly or insect whatever ;" and in the very 
 next sentence he adds, " The fish, indeed, 
 appear to seize upon an artificial fly, because, 
 when drawn by the angler along the water, 
 it has the appearance of being a living insect." 
 We really cannot, for the life of us, under- 
 stand how an object which does not bear 
 the most distant resemblance to any living 
 
134 
 
 fly or insect whatever, can, by the mere 
 motion given to it in drawing it along the 
 water, assume the appearance of being a living 
 insect. If mere motion had such a wonderful 
 effect, as that of changing a thing unlike to a 
 thing like, it would be the greatest waste of 
 time in the world, to sit down to dress and 
 dub hooks. Why the hooks themselves, if 
 such were the case, would be quite sufficient 
 for the ordinary purposes of fly-fishing. 
 Besides, it will be seen that the professor 
 again runs into a contradiction, when he says, 
 that the "aim of the angler, accordingly, 
 ought to be, to have his artificial fly calcu- 
 lated, by its form and colours, to attract the 
 notice of the fish." What, we will ask, in the 
 name of common sense, is the meaning of the 
 word " form," as it is here used ? Does it not 
 in some degree imply similarity ? What form 
 is to be used, we modestly ask the learned 
 professor, in order to attract the notice of 
 the fish? Is it the form of Hamlet's camel, 
 or whale, or the form of a water- fly ? We 
 " pause for a reply." Now if it be the form of 
 any of the above creatures, the substance used 
 to give such form must produce resemblance, 
 at least, as to shape. What becomes now of 
 the professor's assertion, that an artificial fly 
 does not ^bear the most distant resemblance 
 
135 
 
 to any living fly or insect whatever?" The 
 professor recommends the employment of 
 "colours to attract the notice of the fish." 
 Unhappily-chosen word! What things do 
 those great imitators of nature the poet 
 and the painter use ? Colours ! Do we 
 not say the colouring of that poem is good, 
 the colouring of that picture is bad. Why 
 good? Because the colouring bears a resem- 
 blance to a certain appearance possessed by 
 the object intended to be depicted or imi- 
 tated. Why bad? For the very converse 
 reason, because there is lack of resemblance 
 in a particular appearance. Let us now ask 
 Mr. Professor Rennie what colours he recom- 
 mends. Undoubtedly he will recommend 
 some particular ones. Will he say that they 
 are colours unlike those presented to the eye 
 on the bodies and their members of water-flies? 
 If he do, he will be inconsistent. Will he say 
 that they are to be colours like those pre- 
 sented to the sight by the bodies, &c. of 
 water-flies ? If he do, he will still be incon- 
 sistent with himself. He has got completely 
 between a cleft stick, and nothing but an 
 honest recantation of his heresy will get him 
 out of it. But we hope he will tell us the 
 peculiar colours that are to be used to draw 
 fish to them. It may be said, that, when the 
 
136 
 
 learned professor used the words "living 
 insects/' he did so advisedly that he meant 
 dead insects. Not at all. He has not got even 
 that loop-hole out of which to escape, since 
 he afterwards says, that " fish appear to seize 
 upon an artificial fly, because, when drawn hy 
 the angler along the water, it has the appear- 
 ance of a living insect." Now the whole 
 truth of the matter is, that the professor, 
 great observer of nature and its creations as 
 he unquestionably is, could have no exact 
 means of forming a decisive opinion on this 
 subject. Has he ever balanced himself 
 beneath the water, and observed, with the eye 
 of a fish, the similarity or the dissimilarity 
 that exists between a natural and an arti- 
 ficial fly ? Impossible, for two reasons ; first, 
 because he could never place himself in the 
 position required to make the observation with 
 the necessary accuracy ; secondly, if he did so 
 place himself, he could not see with the eye of 
 a fish. At least, so we routine teachers of the 
 art of artificial-fly making opine. 
 
 Before we come to the authorities about to 
 be cited by each party relative to the question 
 in dispute, we have a few words to say on the 
 three assertions contained in the following 
 quotation : "It [an artificial fly] has the 
 appearance of being a living insect, whose 
 
137 
 
 species is quite unimportant, as all insects are 
 equally welcome, though the larger they are, 
 as in the case of grasshoppers, so much the 
 better, because they then furnish a better 
 mouthful." First, as to species. The dun- 
 drake, or March-brown, is of the genus baetis, 
 and appears, according to the locality of rivers, 
 earlier or later in them, in the month of 
 March. As soon as it appears, it is eagerly 
 devoured by trout. In about four days it 
 becomes the great red-spinner, that is, another 
 species of the dun-drake, which continues 
 on the water longer than the latter fly. Before 
 the dun-drake appears, no fish will take the 
 red-spinner, and generally when the longer- 
 lived latter fly is taken, the dun-drake is 
 refused. Here fish make a striking distinc- 
 tion between species ; and in proving that they 
 do, we also prove how necessary it is to 
 imitate them artificially. Moreover, they are 
 of the same size, but their colour is widely 
 different; consequently, different coloured mate- 
 rials must be used in dressing them. Secondly, 
 as to the assertion, that all insects are equally 
 welcome ; is the common hive-bee at any time 
 equally welcome with the May-fly ? And, third- 
 ly, as to size ; is the May-fly at all times equally 
 as welcome to fish as the wren-fly, one con- 
 siderably smaller ? Mr. Rennie cannot answer 
 
138 
 
 these two latter questions in the affirmative, 
 for every man that ever fished knows that 
 while the May-fly is on the water trout will 
 take no insect so willingly, no matter what it 
 may be ; and that, in the latter months of the 
 summer, trout will not take the May-fly at all, 
 whilst they will avidiously devour the diminu- 
 tive wren-fly. Those three assertions, then, 
 are reduced to their proper value. 
 
 We come now to authorities. The learned 
 professor, in support of his " pretended-imita- 
 tion" heresy, says, " It tends strongly to corrob- 
 orate our principle [to wit, the aforesaid heresy], 
 that Bainbridge, who is the best authority on 
 the species of flies, expressly says, respecting a 
 gaudy artificial fly for salmon, that, ' However 
 fanciful, or varied in shade or materials, it will 
 frequently raise fish, wJien all the imitations of 
 nature have proved unsuccessful ; indeed so fas- 
 tidious and whimsical are the salmon at times, 
 that the more brilliant and extravagant the fly, 
 more certain is the angler of diversion.' ' : We 
 have placed certain words in the above passage 
 in italics, that the professor may the better un- 
 derstand it when he reads it again. What ! does 
 the professor teach to his classes, that an ex- 
 ception to a general rule, is the corroboration of 
 a principle ? Mr. Bainbridge simply says at 
 least such is the way we interpret the passage 
 
139 
 
 that at certain extraordinary times, when imi- 
 tations of nature do not succeed, salmon are 
 then caught with gaudy flies ; and that at such 
 times salmon are so fastidious and whimsical, 
 that is, when they forget their ordinary natural 
 gout, and lose their ordinary plain sense, they 
 become enamoured of an extravagant sort of fly. 
 Because one dog or one horse will sometimes eat 
 an orange, is that a proof, or a corroboration of 
 a proof, that dogs or horses are frugiverous ? 
 Because a man happens once, twice, or ten times 
 a year, to get intoxicated, and whilst in that 
 state is whimsical enough to prefer a brick-bat 
 to a loaf of bread, is that a proof that he likes 
 the former better or as well as the latter ? Sal- 
 mon do no more when they prefer a gaudy or 
 extravagantly-dressed fly, and Mr. Bainbridge 
 does not say they do. Now to further prove 
 that Mr. Bainbridge is talking only of an excep- 
 tion, and not laying down a principle, and that 
 he would be very sorry to teach any such dan- 
 gerous doctrine as that professed by Mr. Ren- 
 nie, we will proceed to quote him in our favour. 
 Mr. Bainbridge recommends five flies for sal- 
 mon-fishing, only one of which is to be gaudy ; 
 one is to be of colours of a sombre cast; another 
 is to be so plainly dressed, that it is called the 
 quaker fly ; another is to be dressed with wings 
 made of the dark-mottled brown or blackish fea- 
 
140 
 
 ther of a turkey, and a body of orange camlet 
 mixed with mohair, the legs of the fly to be a 
 dusky red or bright brown cock's hackle; and 
 another is to represent the common wasp. It 
 therefore, appears, that of five flies with which 
 salmon are caught, there is but one gaudy one, 
 and Mr. Bainbridge, placing this said gaudy fly 
 fourth in his list, shows that he prefers at least 
 three others to it. Consequently, we have three 
 chances to one against the fly that is supposed 
 not to be an imitation of a natural fly. The 
 fifth fly for salmon-fishing, recommended by 
 Mr. Bainbridge, is an imitation of the common 
 wasp. He says that it is " a favourite with the 
 salmon peal, mort, or gilse ; and well-grown fish 
 will sometimes rise at this fly in preference to 
 any other." Here, therefore, is a fourth com- 
 petitor to the unnatural representation, and we 
 could bring many more if we chose to consult 
 other authors than Bainbridge. We wish to 
 beat the learned professor with his own arms ; 
 and, consequently, having proved that he mis- 
 understood the drift of Bainbridge's observa- 
 tions, relative to the gaudy salmon-fly, we will 
 show how anxious that author is, that the water- 
 flies which trout and grayling take should be 
 exactly imitated. Mr. Bainbridge says, " Al- 
 though the imitation of nature is the principal 
 object to be desired by the fly-maker, yet, in 
 
141 
 
 some instances, it will be advisable to enlarge 
 or diminish the proportions of the artificial fly ; 
 as the state of the water may require." To be 
 sure ; in order, that to the fish the imitation 
 may be the more precise. The imitation of 
 nature is the rule the deviation from it, or the 
 use of a gaudy fly, the exception. 
 
 Mr. Professor Rennie quotes Sir H. Davy 
 in corroboration of his principle. The follow- 
 ing is the passage : " / imagine" says Sir H. 
 Davy, "salmon take the gaudy fly, with its 
 blue kingfisher and golden pheasant's feathers, 
 for a small fish: I never saw a dragon-fly drop 
 on the water or taken by a fish." Sir H. Davy 
 gives no decided opinion ; he simply imagines) 
 that the gaudy fly is taken for the represen- 
 tation of a small fish. It, therefore, is not a 
 "pretended imitation." But what says Mr. 
 Bainbridge, the learned professor's "best 
 authority on the species of flies," in reference 
 to this very point. That gentleman says, " The 
 most successful bait [for salmon] which can be 
 used is, the artificial fly. Those made in imita- 
 tion of the dragon flies are the most to be de- 
 pended upon, as these insects are constantly 
 hovering over the water, consequently, are more 
 familiar to the view of the fish." Sir H. Davy 
 says he never saw " a dragon-fly drop on the 
 water or taken by a fish." But if " dragon- 
 
14-2 
 
 flies are constantly hovering over the water," is 
 it not natural to suppose, that when the imita- 
 tion of them drops on the water, the fish take 
 it. since they are pleased to get near them, 
 and within easy reach that which they suppose 
 represents an object "familiar to the view?" 
 In no part of Sir H. Davy's work do we find 
 the " pretended-imitation" principle in any way 
 favoured. On the contrary, we often find such 
 passages as the following : " The true fisher- 
 man's flies, those imitated in our art, &c." Mr. 
 Alfred Ronalds, who certainly is not a routine 
 fly-fisher, but rather of the innovating school, 
 says, after giving a reason for a trout taking a 
 non-rescript artificial fly. that " it furnishes no 
 plea to quacks and bunglers, who, inventing, or 
 espousing, a new theory, whereby to hide their 
 tcant of skill, or spare their pains, would kill all 
 the fish with one fly, as some doctors would 
 cure all diseases by one pill. If a trout rejects 
 the brown hive-bee at the time that he gree- 
 dily swallows the March-brown fly, it is clear 
 that the imitation should be as exact as possible 
 of the last, and as dissimilar as possible to the 
 first." In another passage of the same author 
 Mr. Professor Rennie's heresy is thus combat- 
 ted : "It should never be forgotten, that, let 
 the state of the weather, or the water (in respect 
 of clearness), be what it may, success in fly- 
 
143 
 
 fishing very much depends upon showing the 
 fish a good imitation, both in colour and size, 
 of that insect which he has taken last." Mr. 
 Taylor, who calls his work, " Angling reduced 
 to a complete science" and must not, therefore, 
 be considered a " routine" fisher, after giving 
 very minute directions how to dress a fly, con- 
 cludes by saying, " The head being then nice- 
 ly completed, the fly will be most natural and 
 beautiful." Again, the same author, with much 
 of sound sense but which is in direct oppo- 
 sition to the learned professor's theory re- 
 marks, that " as you cannot keep the artificial 
 flies to sit on the surface of the water, as some 
 of the natural ones do, they are taken for those 
 that are driven under by the current, which 
 makes the fish more eager in taking them, for 
 fear they should recover and get away." In 
 another passage Mr. Taylor makes the following 
 excellent observations, which decidedly militate 
 against the heretical principle of professor 
 Rennie: " When you go out a fly-fishing, you 
 should not forget to have with you a little of 
 all your different materials for fly-making ; for 
 the fishes are sometimes so whimsical, that you 
 may see them take insignificant flies freely, 
 which at other times they would not look at. 
 When this is the case, catch one of such flies, 
 and try how far art can imitate nature, by 
 
144 
 
 making one as nearly similar as you can." 
 Best, who by many is considered a good 
 authority, remarks, " The imitations of nature, 
 in regard to the flies necessary for use ; suiting 
 the different colours so exactly as to resemble 
 the natural fly; and observing the greatest 
 nicety in regard to its symmetry, contribute to 
 make it [the art of fly-fishing] still more 
 delightful. Whenever he [the fly-fisher] makes 
 a fly, let him have the natural one always before 
 him, which will enable him to be a competent 
 judge of the materials most necessary to dub it 
 with." Mr. Hansard, an angler of extensive 
 experience, advises you, " If you make any flies 
 while out, to catch the natural fly, and, seated 
 on your basket in some sheltered corner, to 
 try your skill. Always take a few of the real 
 files home to be copied during unfavourable 
 weather." 
 
 We have thought it absolutely necessary to 
 write this chapter, for unless we disproved the 
 theory of professor Rennie, and we flatter our- 
 selves that we have triumphantly done so, all 
 the instructions, given with such elaborate 
 minuteness in the preceding chapter, would 
 be so much loss of time, and, what is worse, 
 would be tending to propagate false doctrines. 
 The same observation applies to the chapter 
 that will succeed this. It is scarcely necessary 
 
145 
 
 to add, that it is our own unshaken and sincere 
 opinion, that artificial flies, when in the water, 
 are like either the living or dead insects which 
 fish prey upon. The closer the imitation, the 
 surer the success of the angler. 
 
146 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FLIES FOR EVERY MONTH IN THE YEAR. 
 
 THIS chapter will be a very long one, but it 
 will be the most important, at least so we 
 think, in the whole work. The list of flies we 
 give is numerous perhaps too much so 
 but there is not one that will not kill fish more 
 or less in proper time and place. All those 
 flies are dressed according to our father's 
 method, and we believe we may add, that he 
 was the most successful fly-fisher that appear- 
 ed on the Dove during the last fifty years. 
 We have tried and seen tried other flies in 
 competition with them, and we frankly declare, 
 that we have never known them equalled.* 
 They will kill trout and grayling in every 
 stream of the midland counties, and, we dare 
 assert, in every river in the empire where those 
 fish are to be found. The angler has only to 
 vary their size according to the size of the flies 
 
 * If any person chooses to try London-dressed flies, the 
 best are those made and sold by Messrs. Bowness and Che- 
 valier, 12, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London. 
 
147 
 
 
 
 that are bred on the different English streams. 
 And be it remarked, that the smaller and more 
 shaded the river, stream, or brook, the larger 
 the fly. On wide and slightly-sheltered rivers, 
 the flies are small. As a general rule, use for 
 the Dove flies tied on No. 2 Kendal hook; 
 for the smaller and warmer streams of Der- 
 byshire and Staffordshire, flies dressed on 
 No. 3 Kendal hook. Many strangers, cele- 
 brated fly-fishers, and particularly the late Sir 
 Humphrey Davy, invariably used our flies in 
 preference to all others when they came to fish 
 on the Dove and the streams adjacent to it. 
 It was Sir Humphrey Davy, when once on a 
 visit to the hospitable owner of Ham Hall, 
 that suggested to our father, who always 
 accompanied him in his fly-fishing excursions, 
 the necessity of writing such a work as the 
 present. In fact, so anxious was Sir Hum- 
 phrey to have the result of our father's expe- 
 rience communicated to the public, that he 
 volunteered the aid of his literary talents, to 
 forward such an undertaking. Though the 
 task has fallen to be executed by less able hands, 
 still if zeal and industry can supply the place 
 of talent and celebrity, the public will not have 
 to regret much that Sir Humphrey Davy was 
 not the compiler of this Treatise. Now to 
 our list of flies. 
 
148 
 
 JANUARY.* 
 
 Red-brown Fly : The body of this fly is 
 to be dubbed with dark-brown mohair. The 
 wings are to be made of the feather from a 
 starling or dotterel's wing. It is to be tied on 
 or dressed with red silk. Will kill from eleven 
 to three o' clock, f 
 
 Blue Dun: The bodyf of this fly is to be 
 
 * We confess we begin the fly-fishing season rather early, 
 but we do so, that the enthusiast in the art may not want 
 instructions for any month of the year. Flies are to be 
 found on the water in the coldest months of the year. 
 " Even," Sir H. Davy says, " in December and January, 
 there are a few small gnats or water-flies on the water in 
 the middle of the day, in bright days, or when there is sun- 
 shine." We caught ourselves this year, on the 19th of 
 February, in the midst of the snow and frost, two fish, a 
 grayling and a trout, and we did not endeavour to catch 
 any more, for we simply wanted a single specimen of each 
 fish as a model for our artist to design after. The grayling 
 was caught with a dark-blue-dun hackle, and the trout 
 with the common furnace hackle. They weighed each 
 exactly one pound. 
 
 t With this fly our father caught early one day in Janu- 
 ary on the Dove, between Norbury Weir and Dove Leys, 
 thirteen grayling and five trout. Four of the grayling 
 weighed two pounds each. The fish were taken between 
 half-past eleven and two o'clock. 
 
 Whenever we do not mention what sized hook a fly is to 
 be dressed upon, it must be understood that we mean a 
 No. 2 Kendal. 
 
 $ The silk with which the fly is dressed, is often sufficient 
 to form the body of a slender fly. We shall often, there- 
 
149 
 
 formed of the straw-coloured silk, with which 
 it is dressed. A blue-dun cock's hackle for 
 legs, to be wound round the hook under the 
 wings three times. The wings from the feather 
 of an old* starling's wing. 
 
 This fly must be made rather full in the 
 body, and in the winter months, and when the 
 water is high, it must be dressed on a No. 3 
 Kendal hook. It may with safety be account- 
 ed a standard fly. 
 
 Light-blue Dun : The body to be of green- 
 ish-yellow silk ; legs, a soft hackle-feather of 
 a light-blue-dun colour, to be wound round the 
 hook close to the wings four times, and in a way 
 that the silk may be clearly discerned. Wings, 
 the feather of an old starling, f 
 
 fore, use the expressions, " body to be of such and such 
 coloured silk," which means nothing more, than that the 
 fly is to be dressed with silk of the colour indicated. 
 
 * For flies with dark bodies use generally the feathers of 
 an old starling ; for those, the bodies of which are of lighter 
 hue, use the feathers of the young starling taken from the 
 nest when nearly full fledged. Note, also, that the wings 
 of flies are generally made from the feather of the wing of 
 the bird recommended for such purpose. 
 
 t This fly is an excellent one for grayling during the cold 
 months, whether in the beginning or the latter end of the 
 year. From January to April it should be dressed on a 
 No. 3 Kendal, when the water is low on a No. 2. The 
 water makes the silk body appear entirely green. 
 
150 
 
 Golden Ostrich, or Golden Palmer-fly : 
 The body, a black-ostrich herl ribbed with 
 gold-twist ; a dark -red cock's hackle for legs. 
 To be dressed sometimes with orange, some- 
 times with puce-coloured silk. A famous fly 
 for grayling. Hook, Kendal No. 3. Will 
 kill all day long. 
 
 Esterhazy Dun: Bright Esterhazy-colour- 
 ed silk for body; blue-dun hackle for legs; 
 wings, from the feather of the fieldfare's wing. 
 An extremely killing fly on a cold windy 
 day, from half-past ten to three o'clock. 
 
 Peacock Fly : Peacock herl for body ; a 
 bluish-dun hackle for legs. To be dressed 
 with greenish Pomona silk. 
 
 Let us here remind the reader, that the flies 
 that will kill in the beginning of the year, will 
 also kill at the latter end. Thus, then, the 
 flies that are taken in January, February, and 
 March, will also be taken in November, Octo- 
 ber, and September ; making the months cor- 
 respond in the way we have written them 
 down. 
 
 FEBRUARY. 
 
 The flies that we recommended for last 
 month will be found serviceable in the begin- 
 
151 
 
 ning, and frequently throughout the whole of 
 this month. 
 
 Dark Dun : Body of dark -plum- coloured 
 silk; legs, a blue-dun hackle-feather; wings, 
 of the feather of a fieldfare. This fly kills 
 well in all the cold months. 
 
 Plain Palmer : Black-ostrich herl for 
 body; over that a red cock's hackle for legs. 
 To be dressed with red silk. Hook, Kendal 
 No. 3. 
 
 Red Fly : Body, dark-red dubbing, to be 
 chosen from the hair found in tan-yards ; cock's 
 hackle of the same colour for legs. To be 
 dressed with orange -coloured silk. Wings, a 
 starling's feather, or if you wish to be still more 
 exact, the dun covert feather of a mallard's 
 wing. A good grayling fly, and it will kill both 
 in March and April. 
 
 Another Blue Dun : A very small portion 
 of the water-rat's fur, spun round yellow silk 
 for body. A blue-dun hackle for legs. Wings, 
 from the feather of a starling. There cannot 
 possibly be a more killing fly than this during 
 all the cold months. 
 
 Red Dun : Esterhazy-coloured silk for 
 
152 
 
 body ; reddish-dun hackle for legs. Wings, 
 from the feather of the fieldfare. 
 
 Furnace Fly : Body, orange-coloured silk ; 
 legs, cock's furnace hackle.* Wings, a field- 
 fare's feather. A standard fly, killing well all 
 the year through. 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 The same description of flies, but dressed of 
 a smaller size, that were recommended for 
 last month, will be taken in this. 
 
 Another Blue Dan : A small quantity of 
 water-rat's fur, twisted round straw-coloured 
 silk for body; a blue-dun cock's hackle for 
 legs. Wrings, of the light fibres from the 
 feather of a fieldfare's wing. This fly kills 
 well on cold windy mornings. 
 
 Dark-claret Fly : Body, deep-claret-co- 
 loured silk ; legs, a cock's dark-red hackle ; 
 wings, from the feather out of the wing of the 
 land-rail. , 
 
 * The furnace hackle is a dark red, having a black streak 
 running from the root of the stem, on each side of it, up 
 the middle of the feather. The extremities of the fibres on 
 each side of the feather are likewise black. The more 
 purely dark the red part of the feather is the better it 
 should be red through and through. 
 
153 
 
 Another Dark Dun : Esterhazy silk for 
 body ; blue-dun hackle for legs ; wings, of the 
 feather of a starling. 
 
 Winter Brown: Body, puce-coloured silk; 
 legs, a dark furnace hackle; wings, from the 
 feather of a fieldfare. 
 
 The March Brown, or Dun-drake : This 
 fly is so important a one, that we feel bound 
 to give, in conjunction with our own informa- 
 tion, that of others respecting it. We are 
 writing on the twentieth of March, and we 
 desire the reader to bear in mind the lateness 
 and the coldness of the season. On Friday last, 
 the sixteenth, we took a stroll to the Dove. 
 The morning promised fair, and though the 
 river was dashed, and by two feet of water too 
 full, we expected a tolerable day's sport. Just 
 as we began to fish, there came on a mingled 
 storm of wind, rain, and hail. Notwithstand- 
 ing, we resolved, for a moment, ta " bide the 
 pelting of the pitiless storm," and in less than 
 ten minutes we caught, with this fly, three 
 trout and one grayling, each within five yards 
 of the other. There was not a single natural 
 fly visible on the water, and each of the fish 
 weighed upwards of a pound. One of the 
 trout would have weighed more than two 
 H 5 
 
154 
 
 pounds, had it been in full season. On the 
 23rd of March, 1836, we killed, with this fly, 
 from one and the same standing, sixteen trout 
 and one grayling. We fished with two flies of 
 this sort on our casting-line at the same time, 
 and we caught three times, successively, two 
 fish at a cast. We should have caught many 
 more, were it not for an accident that 
 occurred to our tackle, for before we could 
 repair the damage caused by it, rising time 
 was over. From the middle of March, to the 
 middle of April, it is decidedly the best and 
 most killing fly that can be fished with. We 
 recommend the angler to fish with two flies of 
 this sort on his casting-line at the same time, 
 one ribbed with gold-twist, and the other 
 without. The best time of fishing with this 
 fly is, between the hours of eleven and three 
 o'clock, especially if the water is curled by 
 a smart breeze. 
 
 We dress this fly as follows : Body, orange- 
 coloured silk, or deep-straw-colour, on which 
 wind for dubbing the fox-coloured fur taken 
 from a hare's poll ; legs, a honey-dun hackle ; 
 wings, the top of the light or inner fibres strip- 
 ped from the feather of the hen pheasant's 
 wing. Rib with gold-twist for your tail-fly; 
 let your dropper, when you use one, be without 
 any twist. 
 
155 
 
 Mr. Bainbridge's way of dressing this fly : 
 The wings are made from the dark-mottled 
 feather from the tail of a partridge; or mottled 
 feather from the ptarmigan, in its summer 
 plumage ; the body, of the fur from the hare's 
 ear, intermixed with a small portion of 
 yellow worsted, well dubbed together ; a griz- 
 zled hackle for legs ; and, if the imitator choose 
 to be exact, two fibres, from the same feather 
 which composed the wings, will enable him to 
 form the tail.* 
 
 Mr. Ronalds 's method : Body, fur of the 
 hare's face ribbed over with olive silk, and tied 
 with brown; tail, two stands of a partridge's 
 feather ; wings, feather of the pheasant's wing, 
 which may be found of the exact shade ; legs, 
 a feather from the back of a partridge. 
 
 Best's way : Wings are made of the feather 
 of the pheasant's wing, which is full of fine 
 shade, and exactly resembles the wing of the 
 fly; the body is made of the bright part of 
 
 * The learner will have already observed, that we dress 
 our flies without tails. They are of no use, and Mr. Bain- 
 bridge properly says of them, " This appendage to the flies 
 in their natural state, need not be attended to in the arti- 
 ficial formation, as it is of little importance in aiding the 
 success of the angler, although, if flies are dressed for sale, 
 it improves their appearance, and renders them more 
 showy and attractive." 
 
156 
 
 hare's fur, mixed with a little of the red part of 
 squirrel's fur, ribbed with yellow silk, and a 
 partridge's hackle wrapped over twice or thrice 
 under the but of the wing. 
 
 Mr. Hansard's mode : The wings and 
 whisks at the tail may be made from the spot- 
 ted tail-feathers of a young partridge. For the 
 body, use the dark fur which has yellow tips 
 from a hare's ear, and tie it on with reddish-buff 
 silk ; if you are inclined to use a hackle for legs, 
 let it be a dun cock's, or a small partridge's fea- 
 ther. As the fly grows lighter, alter the body, 
 and use the yellow buff fur from a hare's ear, 
 tied with pale yellow ; and let the hackle be a 
 light dun with yellow edges, or a dull -ginger 
 one. 
 
 Commendations of this Fly : Mr. Bain- 
 bridge says, " This very excellent fly generally 
 appears about the middle of March, and is 
 strongly recommended as a good killer from 
 eleven until three o'clock." Best says, " There 
 cannot be too much said in commendation of 
 this fly, both for its duration, and the sport it 
 affords the angler." Bowlker says, " This fly 
 may be used with great success in warm 
 gloomy days; and when the brown fly is on 
 the water, the fish will refuse all other kinds." 
 
157 
 
 We can bear ample testimony to the truth of 
 these eulogistic observations. 
 
 March-brown Dun-fly : Body, hare's fur 
 from the back of the neck, twisted round 
 primrose-coloured silk; legs, a brownish-dun 
 hackle ; and wings from a hen pheasant's wing- 
 feather. 
 
 APRIL. 
 
 Orange Dun : Body, orange- coloured silk ; 
 legs, a blue-dun hackle; wings, a fieldfare's 
 wing-feather. 
 
 Cow-dung Fly : Body, yellow lamb's -wool, 
 mixed with a little brown mohair ; legs, ginger- 
 coloured hackle ; wings, from the wing-feather 
 of a land-rail. To be dressed with orange- 
 coloured silk. This is a killing fly on windy 
 days, and on them only. 
 
 The Golden and Plain Palmer flies are to be 
 used this month, tied on a No. 2 Kendal hook. 
 
 The Grannom, or Green-tail : This fly 
 comes in about the middle of April, and lasts 
 three weeks or thereabouts. On warm days it 
 is a good fly during the morning and evening, 
 when no brown flies are on the water. "It 
 
158 
 
 derives the name of green-tail? says Bain- 
 bridge, "from a Lunch of eggs, of a green 
 colour, which drop on the water at the moment 
 of the fly's touching that element." The body 
 is made of the dark fur from a hare's ear, mixed 
 with a small portion of blue fur; the tail is 
 made of the green herl taken from the eye of a 
 peacock's feather ; the legs, a pale-ginger hac- 
 kle ; and the wings, of a hen pheasant's feather. 
 
 Light-blue Dun: This ily is to be dressed 
 exactly like that of the same colour recom- 
 mended for January, except that the hook 
 must be a No. 2 Kendal. 
 
 Yellow Dun : Body, yellow silk ; legs, a 
 yellow-dun hackle; and wings from a feather 
 of the red-wing. 
 
 Stone Fly : Body of the fur from the dark 
 part of a hare's ear mixed with a little brown 
 and yellow mohair, and ribbed over with yellow 
 silk rather closely towards the tail; legs, a 
 dark-grizzled cock's hackle of great length; 
 wings, which must lie flat upon the body and 
 not be longer, or at least very little longer, 
 than the body, to be made of the dark -mottled 
 feather of a hen pheasant or pea-hen; tail, two 
 rabbit's whiskers. This fly is in season from 
 
159 
 
 the beginning of April until the middle of 
 June, and is a killing fly early and late in rough 
 streams, and in pools during a strong wind. 
 Hook, No. 4 Kendal. 
 
 Sand Fly : Body, from the fur off the hare's 
 poll ; legs, a ginger or light-red hackle ; wings, 
 from the feather of the land-rail's wing. To 
 be dressed with bright-orange-coloured silk on 
 a No. 3 Kendal hook. 
 
 This is a first-rate fly, and is justly a great 
 favourite with anglers, since it will kill well for 
 at least three successive months, namely, April, 
 May, and June % It may be used all day long. 
 On account of the importance we attach to this 
 fly, we think it necessary to bring to the aid of 
 our favourable testimony the praises of other 
 fly-fishers. Mr. Bainbridge says, "This may 
 be considered as one of the best flies for afford- 
 ing diversion which can possibly be selected ; 
 for it may be used successfully, at all hours of 
 the day, from April to the end of September, 
 and is equally alluring to trout and grayling." 
 Mr. Ronalds observes, "My own experience 
 leads me to recommend the use of it during 
 April and May, on days when there is no 
 abundance of any particular insect on the 
 water." 
 
160 
 
 MAY. 
 
 Spider Fly : Lead-coloured silk for body ; 
 for legs, a wood- cock's hackle, wrapped three 
 or four times round the hook. 
 
 Lest some of our readers may think this 
 mode of dressing this fly too simple, we give 
 the way recommended by Mr. Ronalds : 
 Body, dark-dun, or lead-coloured silk thread 
 dressed very fine ; wings, from the underside of 
 a feather of the wood-cock's wing; legs, a 
 black cock's hackle rather long, wound twice, 
 only round the body. 
 
 Iron Blue : Body of the blue fur of the 
 water-rat or monkey, warped on with purple 
 silk, and afterwards neatly picked out. Wings, 
 from a torn-tit's tail. An excellent fly. 
 
 Another Dark Dun : Body, a small quan- 
 tity of the blue fur of a water-rat warped on 
 with yellow silk; legs, a blue-dun hackle; 
 wings, of the feather from under the water-hen's 
 wing. If delicately dressed, a very killing fly. 
 
 Another sort of Palmer : Body, brown pea- 
 cock's herl ; legs, a dark-red hackle. To be 
 dressed with red silk. 
 
161 
 
 Little Yellow May-fly: Body of yellow 
 silk; legs, a light-ginger hackle; wings, a 
 fieldfare's feather stained yellow. 
 
 Another way : Body, yellow monkey's fur ; 
 wings, from the feather of a dotterel's wing. 
 To be dressed with lemon-coloured silk. Both 
 these little flies are capital killers. 
 
 Silver -twist Hackle : Body, of a black- 
 ostrich herl, ribbed with silver- twist; legs, a 
 black cock's hackle. To be dressed with puce- 
 coloured silk. 
 
 Fern Fly : Body, the brown fur from a 
 fox's breast; legs, a pale-dun hackle; wings, 
 of the palest fibres from the feather of a 
 thrush's wing. To be dressed with orange- 
 coloured silk. A killing fly for grayling. 
 
 JUNE. 
 
 The Green-drake, or May -fly : * The 
 reason we place this celebrated fly in our list 
 
 * The following is a condensed history of this " delicate 
 and fragile creature, this emblem of human life, this being 
 of a day." The ephemera, or May-fly, undergoes the same 
 number of metamorphoses as the rest of insects. As a 
 worm and nymph it is an inhabitant of the waters, where 
 it acquires its growth so slowly, that, with regard to the 
 length of these portions of its life, it has been at least as 
 
162 
 
 for June is, that it is not in full season on the 
 Dove, in the vicinity of Ashborne, until about 
 the 4th of this month. In the smaller 
 streams in the neighbourhood, particularly 
 those that are most shaded from cold winds, 
 it appears A week earlier. In the vicinity of 
 Bakewell it appears a fortnight sooner ; and 
 on the Dove, near Rocester and Calwich, it 
 appears, generally, in the last week of May. 
 " Its season," remarks Mr. Ronalds, " depends 
 greatly upon the state of the weather ; and it 
 will be found earlier upon the slowly-running 
 parts of the stream (such as mill-dams) than 
 
 well treated as the rest of insects. Swammerdam asserts, 
 that the ephemerae continue two or three years in their 
 larva and pupa states ; and that it is only when they have 
 attained to the utmost perfection of which their organisation 
 is susceptible, that they so speedily perish. Some of these 
 worms pass their lives in habitations, each one in his own. 
 This is nothing but a hole formed in the bed of a river ; 
 others, on the contrary, may be termed wanderers ; and 
 they are sometimes seen to swim, sometimes to walk on the 
 -various substances found in the water, and sometimes they 
 remain tranquil and concealed under a stone. Their habi- 
 tations are always made in a soft soil ; but should necessity 
 force the insect to provide a habitation in a coarser soil, it 
 takes especial care to protect its tender body by lining the 
 inside of its dwelling with fine earth. As the entrances to 
 its dwelling are situated below the surface of the water, the 
 insect is surrounded by the element, and lives for two years 
 in perfect security within its retreat. With this, as with 
 many other insects, its house not only shelters but feeds 
 it ; for it is easy to perceive through its transparent body, 
 that its intestines are filled with the same earth in which it 
 has constructed its dwelling : it is probable, that the soil is 
 
163 
 
 on rapid places." What Cotton says about 
 the season of this fly, may be taken as a 
 general rule, "The green-drake comes in about 
 the 20th of May, 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." Mr. Hansard observes, " The 
 green-drake is in season from the 20th of May 
 till the 20th of June, but it is most plentiful just 
 at the end of the one month and the beginning 
 of the next; a dry season and low water is 
 
 impregnated with some nutritious substance which the 
 insect's organisation appropriates. After having sojourned 
 within these dens for nearly two years, and changed them 
 as often as its increase of bulk demanded a more spacious 
 lodgment, the insect undergoes those transformations 
 which permit it to enjoy in another element a momentary 
 existence. Nevertheless, short as this term of life is, the 
 insects are surrounded at the very threshold of their new 
 existence with the most imminent peril. The transforma- 
 tion which is to convert the aquatic into the aerial being, is 
 attended with all those risks which we have seen attend the 
 gnat: the ephemera is at the mercy of a gust of air; if 
 once thrown off its balance while endeavouring to extricate 
 itself from its larval skin, it is lost for ever ; for it has no- 
 thing to dread so much as the element in which it has lived 
 so long. When, however, the insects have once become 
 fitted for their new mode of life, they burst at sunset from 
 the banks of the river which they have inhabited in incre- 
 dible numbers. It is thus that these creatures burst forth 
 from the waters : it would appear, however, that though 
 the time of the year in which they become aerial beings 
 differs in different countries, yet the insects of the same 
 
164 
 
 most favourable for this fly, which may be used 
 from eight o'clock in the morning till six in 
 the evening, and when they are abundant no 
 other fly will be taken." The artificial green- 
 drake is generally dressed on too large a scale, 
 which is the principal reason that many persons 
 do not think it a killing fly. It should never 
 be dressed on a hook larger than No. 9 Red- 
 ditch, or a No. 3 Kendal ; but the latter hook, 
 unless ordered expressly for the purpose, is too 
 short in the shank. It is of little use to fish 
 with the artificial green -drake, unless there be 
 a strong wind curling the water, and when such 
 
 country appear at the very same time each year ; nay, fur- 
 ther, the very hour of the day at which they should rise 
 from the water into the air is fixed to such a nicety, that in 
 each succeeding day these swarms of insects come forth at 
 the precise instant at which they had appeared the prece- 
 ding day. No insect executes an operation (that of casting 
 its larval skin) at once so important and laborious, with 
 equal celerity. We do not draw our arms from the sleeves 
 of a coat more quickly, than the ephemera extricates its 
 body, wings, legs, and the long caudal appendages, from a 
 sheath in which these various parts are folded and cramped 
 up. We could hardly expect that an insect which, when 
 perfect, is so frail and delicate, could exert, in its imperfect 
 state, so much force as the act of getting rid of its larval 
 skin appears to demand. It would seem, however, that the 
 address and strength necessary to eifect its emancipation, 
 is supplied at the moment of need by a power independent 
 of the will of the insect. Swammerdam's experiments 
 prove, that every part of the body of the insect is in itself 
 capable of its full developement. He detached a wing still 
 inclosed within its larval skin ; it immediately unfolded 
 itself, and attained all the natural dimensions which it 
 
165 
 
 has been the case, we have frequently found the 
 artificial fly taken in preference to the natural 
 one. The time of the day to fish with it is, 
 from eleven to four o'clock. This fly is dressed 
 as follows : 
 
 Body of an ostrich herl died a straw colour, 
 and ribbed with gold-twist; legs, a ginger 
 hackle; wings, a mallard's feather from the 
 side under the wing, died a dingy yellow 
 colour; two whips of a brown peacock's herl 
 between the wings and the shank of the hook, 
 to form the head of the fly. 
 
 would have acquired had it still remained in its natural 
 situation, communicating with the vessels of the body. 
 Reaumer crushed the head of these creatures while in the 
 very act of transformation, nevertheless the metamorphosis 
 was performed with the same celerity as if the cruelty had 
 not been practised. Neither did immersion in spirits of 
 wine prevent the completion of the change. The insect 
 burst through its trammels, and instantly perished. The 
 females of the ephemera seem to be born only to perpetuate 
 their species, and, accordingly, as soon as they can use 
 their wings, so soon they begin to lay their eggs ; a crea- 
 ture, whose life in a perfect state is comprised in a few 
 hours, cannot afford to waste the precious moments ; na- 
 ture, therefore, has foreseen and contrived, that her object 
 should be thoroughly attained in the shortest time. They 
 lay about eight hundred eggs, nevertheless they are depo- 
 sited in a shorter time than another insect would consume 
 in laying only one. Nature has crowded into their short 
 life an operation to which other insects are not subjected. 
 After they have gone through the ordinary metamorphoses 
 common to most insects, and when they are apparently 
 perfect insects, they again cast their skins, and change a 
 vestment which has scarcely time to become old. 
 
 Abridged from the blst Number of the Family Library. 
 
166 
 
 The following is a proper recipe to die the 
 mallard's feather of the colour required. Cut 
 into minute slices a small quantity of the inner 
 bark of the barberry tree, add a piece of alum 
 about the size of a small walnut, then boil the 
 whole for ten minutes in a pint of rain or soft 
 water. Immerse, for a minute, your feathers 
 in the boiling liquid ; take them out and wash 
 them in clean water, and afterwards expose 
 them for two hours to the action of the heat of 
 the sun. 
 
 Grey Drake: Body, puce-coloured silk 
 ribbed with silver-twist; legs, a dark-blue- 
 dun hackle; wings, a sooty-grey mallard or 
 widgeon's feather. Hook, No. 9 Redditch. 
 
 On this fly Mr. Ronalds's remarks are so 
 opposite, that we will confine ourselves to 
 quoting them : f( This is the metamorphosis 
 of the female green- drake. She lives three or 
 four days, and is caught by the fish whilst lay- 
 ing her eggs on the water. She lasts a few 
 days longer than the green-drake, and is to be 
 fished with in the evening. Some fishermen 
 prefer other flies in season to this ; when well 
 made, it will, however, furnish excellent sport, 
 especially towards the evening." 
 
 Black Gnat : Body, the feather from the 
 
167 
 
 green-plover's crest; wings, a fieldfare's fea- 
 ther. To be dressed on a No. 1 Kendal hook, 
 with dark-purple-coloured silk. 
 
 Peacock Fly: Body, a peacock's herl; legs, 
 a bluish-dun hackle. To be dressed with 
 Pomona green silk. 
 
 Light Mackerel Fly : Body, light-orange 
 silk, ribbed with gold-twist; legs, light-red 
 hackle ; wings, light-grey feather of a mallard. 
 
 JULY. 
 
 Dark Mackerel Fly : Body, purple silk rib- 
 bed with gold-twist ; legs, a dark furnace hac- 
 kle ; wings, a darkish grey mallard's feather. 
 
 Ash Fly : Body, orange -coloured silk ; 
 legs, a furnace hackle ; wings, from a wood- 
 cock's wing-feather. 
 
 Orange Dun : Body, bright-orange-colour- 
 ed silk ; legs, a light-blue-dun hackle ; wings, 
 from a fieldfare's feather. 
 
 Red Ant Fly : Body, bright-brown pea- 
 cock's herl; legs, bright-red cock's hackle; 
 
168 
 
 wings, starling's feather. To be dressed with 
 bright-red-coloured silk. 
 
 Black Ant Fly : Body, black-ostrich herl; 
 legs, a dark hackle ; wings, of a fieldfare's fea- 
 ther. To be dressed with silk of a dark -puce 
 colour. 
 
 Wren's Hackle : Body, light-brown silk ; 
 legs, the feather of a wren's tail. This little 
 fly will kill at all times especially during 
 the summer months when the water is low 
 and clear. 
 
 Grouse Hackle : Body, deep- orange- 
 coloured silk ; legs, the reddish-brown-mottled 
 feather of the male red grouse. Will kill in 
 July, August, and September. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 Oak Fly : Body, a black-ostrich herl, 
 wound thinly round the hook; legs, a dark- 
 red hackle, stained deeper than the natural 
 colour; wings, from the feather of a wood- 
 cock's wing. To be dressed with orange- 
 coloured silk. This fly will kill from the 
 latter end of April to the beginning of 
 September. 
 
169 
 
 Little Wliirling-Uue : Body dubbed with 
 hare's fur from the back of the neck, mixed 
 with a little yellow mohair ; legs, a blue-dun 
 hackle ; wings, a starling's wing-feather. To 
 be dressed with primrose-coloured silk. 
 
 Summer Dun : Body, of greenish-yellow 
 silk ; legs, a soft light-blue-dun hackle, to be 
 wrapped three times quite close under the 
 wings, so as to show the silk body well; 
 wings, from the wing-feather of a starling just 
 fledged. Let this fly be dressed as delicately 
 as possible, and it will be found a very killing 
 one. 
 
 Peacock Fly : This fly should be repeated, 
 but it should be dressed on a No. 1 Kendal 
 hook. 
 
 Brown Fly : Body of yellow silk, of 
 the finest twist possible; legs, a red cock's 
 hackle, whipped twice round the body under 
 the wings, which are to be from the feather 
 of a land-rail's wing. 
 
 All the flies for July will kill more or less 
 in this month. 
 
 SEPTEMBER. 
 
 Little Pale Blue : Body of a minute 
 portion of pale-blue fur from the water-rat, 
 i 
 
170 
 
 mixed with a little fine fur of any sort, died 
 yellow ; legs, a very pale-blue hackle ; wings, 
 a young starling's feather. To be dressed 
 very delicately, with fine pale-yellow silk. A 
 good killer. 
 
 Willow Fly : Body, a small portion of 
 monkey or water-rat's fur spun sparingly on yel- 
 low silk ; legs, a dark-blue-dun hackle ; wings, 
 a fieldfare's feather. This fly will also kill on 
 fine days in February. 
 
 Golden Dun : Body, deep-straw-coloured 
 silk, ribbed with gold- twist; legs, a honey- 
 dun hackle; wings, the palest feather of a 
 young starling. This little fly will also kill 
 well on warm days towards the end of May. 
 
 Cinnamon Fly : Body, any sort of dark- 
 brown fur ; a pale-ginger hackle for legs ; 
 wings, the pale -reddish-brown feather of a 
 hen. A good fly both during this month and 
 the last, on a windy day, or in a smart 
 shower. 
 
 N. B. The same sort of flies that killed 
 in April will be found equally serviceable 
 during this month. For October, use the 
 same flies you fished with in March; for 
 November, the same sort of flies that were 
 
171 
 
 recommended for February ; for December 
 do not fly-fish at all. 
 
 NIGHT FLIES. 
 
 The flies used for night-fishing are gene- 
 rally imitations of moths. We can recom- 
 mend no more than three of them. 
 
 The Wliite Moth : Body, a white ostrich- 
 herl ; legs, a white cock's hackle. Wings, from 
 the feather of the white owl. To be tied with 
 white silk on a No. 4 Kendal hook. When 
 you fish with this fly put a gentle on the hook. 
 
 Brown Moth : Body, dark-brown bear's 
 fur; legs, a brown hackle; wings, the brown 
 owl's feather, to be dressed with dark-brown 
 silk, on the same sized hook as that for the last 
 fly. A cad-bait on the point of the hook will 
 render the lure more enticing. 
 
 Cream-coloured Moth: Body of any fine 
 cream-coloured fur ; legs, a pale-yellow hackle ; 
 wings, the feathers of the yellow owl of the 
 deepest cream-colour. 
 
 Black Clocker : Body, black-ostrich herl, 
 thickly warped round the hook ; legs, a large 
 
172 
 
 black hackle; wings, the darkest fibres of a 
 wild-goose's wing-feather. As we remarked 
 before, the Stone-Jly will be found to kill late at 
 night. In fly-fishing by night use a short line, 
 and use but one of the above flies, of course, 
 always as a stretcher. During the darkest 
 parts of the night, fish with the white moth ; as 
 the night becomes clearer, use the cream-colour- 
 ed and brown moths; and towards morning, 
 fish with the black clocker. Night-fishing 
 with the fly can be practised successfully only 
 during the hot summer nights. As you can 
 seldom see the fish rise at your night-flies, you 
 must have an attentive ear, and hand; and as 
 soon as you hear or feel a fish rise, you must 
 strike at him. Make use of strong tackle, as 
 the fish taken by night are generally large 
 ones. 
 
 You have now read, patient reader, a list of 
 flies, which we firmly believe will be found 
 superior to any as yet recommended; and, if 
 they be dressed according to the directions we 
 have given, we will guarantee, and back that 
 guarantee by any pledge, that they will be 
 freely taken by trout and grayling, in every 
 river, stream, and brook inhabited by those 
 fish in the united kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland. 
 
173 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON THE NATURE, HABITS, AND ORGANISATION 
 OF THE COMMON TROUT. 
 
 SALMO FARIO. 
 
 IN giving an account of all that relates to 
 this beautiful fish the handsomest, taking 
 every thing into consideration, that swims our 
 streams we shall do little more than copy 
 and condense the copious and correct chapter 
 written by Mr. Yarrell, vice-president of the 
 Zoological Society, on the subject. The com- 
 mon trout is too widely diffused, and too gene- 
 
174 
 
 rally known, to make any enumeration of 
 particular localities* necessary. It is an inhabi- 
 tant of most of the rivers and lakes of Great 
 Britain; and so closely identified with the 
 pursuits and gratifications of sportsmen, that 
 those landed proprietors who possess streams 
 of water favourable to the production and 
 growth of trout, preserve them with great care 
 and at considerable expense. The trout, 
 though a voracious feeder, and thus affording 
 excellent diversion to the experienced angler, 
 
 * " The favourite haunts in which the trout delights, and 
 where the angler is most likely to meet with diversion, are, 
 the j unction of two streams the tails of currents below 
 bridges near old weirs or pieces of rock where the roots 
 of trees are exposed by the bank having fallen in under 
 hollow banks ; and an excellent mode of enticing a good 
 fish is, to throw the fly against the opposite bank, so that 
 it may drop gently from thence to the water ; also, where- 
 ever there is a fall of water, or a whirlpool ; as when on the 
 watch for food, they take post at the foot or sides of agita- 
 ted waters, lying in wait for such flies, &c. as the motion 
 of the element may drive before it." Bainbridge. 
 
 "To enumerate the rivers, streams, and brooks of this 
 country, which the common trout inhabits, would be an 
 endless and useless task ; he may be said to frequent al- 
 most all of them, and will even sometimes be discovered 
 in a mere ditch (in spawning time), having scarcely depth 
 of water enough to cover the back. He delights in rapid 
 clear-running waters, with a rocky or gravelly bottom. 
 His favourite haunts are the tail of a stream, the end of a 
 little rapid, or swifter running portion of the current, the 
 junction of little rapids formed by water passing round an 
 obstruction in the midst of the general current, and where 
 a chain of bubbles or little floating objects indicate the 
 course of the principal current j which course is chiefly 
 
175 
 
 is so vigilant, cautious, and active, that great 
 skill, as well as patience, are required to insure 
 success. During the day the larger-sized fish 
 move but little from their accustomed haunts ; 
 but towards evening, and during the night, 
 they rove in search of small fish, insects, and 
 their various larvae, upon which they feed with 
 eagerness. The young trout fry may be seen 
 throughout the day, sporting on the shallow 
 gravelly scours of the stream, where the want 
 
 dependent upon various reflections of the water, from pro- 
 jecting banks, rocks, scours, and shoals, and may often 
 be guessed at, when not sufficiently visible, by attending to 
 the position of the banks, &c. At roots of trees, or in 
 other places where the froth (called in Staffordshire Beg- 
 gar's Balm) collects, and in little whirlpools and eddies, he 
 will often be found. All such places are by far the most 
 favourable for sport ; for insects follow the same course as 
 the bubbles, &c. and are sought there by the fish. The 
 larger trout are on the scours in the night, chasing min- 
 nows and other small fish. In the day they are cautiously 
 watching for food in deep holes, under hollow banks, or 
 roots of trees, or at the angles of rocks. In May and June, 
 when the fish are strong, they are also to be found in the 
 more rapid parts of the water." Ronalds. 
 
 " Large trout always hide themselves under the same 
 bank, stone, or weed, and come out from their permanent 
 habitations to feed. When they have fled to their haunt, 
 they may be taken there by the hand ; and on this circum- 
 stance the practice of tickling trout is founded. A favou- 
 rite place for a large trout in rivers is, an eddy, behind a 
 rock or stone, where flies and small fishes are carried by 
 the force of the current ; and such haunts are rarely un- 
 occupied, for if a fish is taken out of them, his place is soon 
 supplied by another, who quits for it a less convenient 
 situation." Sir H. Davy. 
 
176 
 
 of sufficient depth of water, or the greater cau- 
 tion of larger and older fish, prevent their 
 appearance. Though vigilant and cautious in 
 the extreme, the trout is also bold and active. 
 A pike and a trout put into a confined place 
 together, had several battles for a particular 
 spot, but the trout was eventually the master. 
 The season of spawning with the trout is gene- 
 rally in the month of October, at which period 
 the adult fish make their way up the stream ; 
 and the under jaw of the old male exhibits, in a 
 smaller degree, the elongation and curvature 
 observed to obtain in the male salmon. The 
 trout varies considerably in appearance in dif- 
 ferent localities ; so much so, as to have induced 
 the belief, that several species exist.* It is, 
 
 * " Indeed, considering the sea trout as the type of the 
 species trout, it is, I think, probable, that all the other 
 trouts may be considered as varieties, where the differences 
 of food and of habits have occasioned, in a long course of 
 ages, differences of shape and colours, transmitted to off- 
 spring in the same manner as in the variety of dogs, which 
 may all be referred to one primitive type." Sir H. Davy. 
 
 "There are a great number of varieties of trout, which 
 different naturalists have deemed to be distinct species ; 
 but Professor J urine of Geneva, who studied their changes 
 for many years, under very favourable circumstances, came 
 to the conclusion, that there is only one species the 
 Salmo Fario, or common trout." Rennie. 
 
 " The variety in the shape and colour of trouts, which 
 are taken in different rivers and pools, has induced some 
 persons to imagine, that there are three distinct kinds of 
 this fish, namely, the red, the yellow, and the white, the 
 
177 
 
 indeed, probable, that more than one species 
 of river trout may exist in this country ; but 
 when we consider geologically the various 
 strata traversed by rivers in their course, the 
 effect these variations of. soil must produce 
 upon the water, and the influence which the 
 constant operation of the water is likely to 
 produce upon the fish that inhabit it when 
 we reflect also on the great variety and quality 
 of the food afforded by different rivers, depend- 
 ing also on soil and situation and the addi- 
 tional effect which these combined causes, in 
 their various degrees, are likely to produce 
 we shall not be much surprised at the varia- 
 tions, both in size and colour, which are found 
 to occur. That two trout of very different 
 appearance and quality should be found within 
 a limited locality in the same lake or river, is 
 not so easily explained; and close examination 
 of the various parts which afford the most per- 
 manent characters should be resorted to, with 
 a view to determine whether the subject ought 
 to be considered only as a variety, or entitled 
 
 former of which ranks highest in estimation ; but the more 
 generally received and most probable opinion is, that this 
 difference arises from the quality of the food, or from the 
 water which they inhabit being impregnated with some 
 substance capable of producing this effect. Certain it is, 
 that their haunts, voracity, and modes of feeding, are 
 every where alike." Bainbridge. 
 
 i 5 
 
178 
 
 to rank as a species. In these examinations, 
 the character of the internal organs also, and 
 the number of the bones forming the vertebral 
 column, should be ascertained. The normal 
 number of vertebrae in Salmo Fario, our com- 
 mon trout, I believe to be fifty-six. 
 
 Mr. Neill, in his tour, has noticed the black- 
 moss trout of Loch Knitching, and Loch Kat- 
 rine is said to abound also with small black 
 trout; an effect considered to be produced in 
 some waters by receiving the drainings of bog- 
 gy moors. In streams that flow rapidly over 
 gravelly or rocky bottoms, the trout are gene- 
 rally remarkable for the brilliancy and beauty of 
 their spots and colours. Trout are finest in ap- 
 pearance and flavour, from the end of May till 
 towards the end of September;* an effect pro- 
 duced by the greater quantity and variety of 
 nutritious food obtained during that period. 
 Two specimens of the common trout taken ear- 
 ly in January, were unusually fine in colour for 
 that season of the year ; their stomachs on ex- 
 amination were distended with ova of large 
 size, which, from circumstances attending the 
 capture of the trout, were known to be the roe 
 
 * Trout are in the best season in the Dove and other 
 rivers where the May-fly is abundant, towards the end of 
 June, or at the time when that fly disappears. The im- 
 mense number of May-flies they consume during the three 
 or four weeks thosa flies last is, of course, the chief cause. 
 
179 
 
 of the bull-trout. The albuminous nature of 
 this sort of food, which the trout availed them- 
 selves of, was believed to be the cause of their 
 colour ; since other trout procured at the same 
 time from localities where no such food could be 
 obtained, were of the usual dark colour of that 
 season of the year.* 
 
 Mr. Stoddart, in his "Art of Angling as 
 practised in Scotland," mentions an interest- 
 ing experiment made with trout, some years 
 ago, in the south of England, in order to 
 ascertain the value of different food. " Fish 
 were placed in three separate tanks, one of 
 which was supplied daily with worms, another 
 with live minnows, and the third with those 
 small dark-coloured water-flies which are to 
 be found moving about on the surface under 
 banks and sheltered places. The trout fed 
 with worms grew slowly, and had a lean 
 appearance; those v nourished on minnows, 
 which, it was observed, they darted at with 
 great voracity, became much larger ; while 
 such as were fattened upon flies only, attained, 
 in a short time, prodigious dimensions, weigh- 
 ing twice as much as both the others 
 
 * "The colouring-matter is not in the scales, but in the 
 surface of the skin immediately beneath them, and is pro- 
 bably a secretion easily affected by the health of the ani- 
 mal." Sir H. Davy. 
 
180 
 
 together, although the quantity of food swal- 
 lowed by them was in no wise so great." A 
 common trout has been caught in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Great Driffield, in September, 
 1832, which measured thirty-one inches in 
 length, twenty-one in girth, aud weighed 
 seventeen pounds. A trout weighing twenty- 
 five pounds was caught on the llth January, 
 1822, in a little stream, ten feet wide, branch- 
 ing from the Avon, at the back of Castle- 
 street, Salisbury. It was placed in a pond 
 and fed, but it lived only four months, and 
 had decreased in weight, at the time of its 
 death, to twenty-one pounds and a quarter. 
 The age to which trout may arrive, has not 
 been ascertained. There are two instances 
 on record; one of a trout having lived in a 
 well at Dunbarton Castle, for twenty-eight 
 years, and another of a trout that lived fifty* 
 three years in a well in an orchard of Mr. 
 William Mossop, of Board Hall, near Brough- 
 ton-in-Furness. The Thames, at various 
 places, produces trout of very large size. 
 Among the best localities, may be named 
 Kingston, opposite to the public-house called 
 the Angler, Hampton-court bridge and weir, 
 and the weirs at Shepperton and Chertsey.* 
 
 * " The art of fishing for trout from the tops of the weirs 
 of the river Thames, is, I may venture to say, confined to 
 
181 
 
 These large trout are objects of great attrac- 
 tion to some of the best London anglers, who 
 unite a degree of skill and patience rarely to 
 be exceeded. The most usual mode prac- 
 tised to deceive these experienced fish is, by 
 trolling, or spinning with a small bleak, 
 gudgeon, or minnow ; and trout of fifteen 
 pounds' weight are occasionally taken. 
 
 Some deep pools in the Thames above Oxford 
 afford excellent trout, and some of them of very 
 large size. We have before us a record of six, 
 
 very few, and to those only who have been in the habit 
 of practising it for a considerable length of time. It re- 
 quires good tackle, great skill, and some nerve. A bungler 
 would even find it difficult to put a bleak properly on a set 
 of the hooks which are used in Thames trout-fishing, so as 
 to make it spin as it ought to do. The angler sits or stands 
 on the top of the piles of the weir, the foaming water rush- 
 ing through them with great force and noise. The torrent 
 then forms eddies and little whirlpools in the basin below, 
 and from which, as the water expands itself, it again re- 
 sumes its calm and stately movement. In the position I 
 have described, the angler has to cast his line into the 
 foaming basin, and this a skilful practitioner will do to a 
 distance of from thirty to forty yards. The great art, how- 
 ever, is in gathering up the line properly in the hand for a 
 second cast, so that it may not become entangled, or be 
 checked in its progress. When the position of the angler 
 is considered, this is no easy task, especially as the loss of 
 his balance might precipitate him into the torrent below." 
 Jesse's Rambles. 
 
 The most celebrated Thames anglers are, Mr. G. Marshall, 
 of Brewer Street, London ; Mr. Cox, of Bermondsey ; Sir 
 Hyde Parker, Win. Whitbread and Ed. Mills, Esquires, 
 and Mr. Bachelor, of Windsor ; and Mr. Goodman, of 
 Hampton Court. 
 
182 
 
 taken by minnow-spinning, which weighed 
 together fifty-four pounds, the largest of them 
 thirteen pounds. Few persons are aware of 
 the difficulty of taking a trout when it has 
 attained twelve or fourteen pounds' weight, and 
 it is very seldom that one of this size is hooked 
 and landed except by a first-rate fisherman : 
 such a fish, when in good condition, is con- 
 sidered a present worthy of a place at a royal 
 table. Among performances in trout-catching, 
 the following may be mentioned, as found in 
 the MS. of the late Colonel Montagu : " Mr. 
 Popham, of Littlecot, in the county of Wilts, 
 was famous for a trout fishery. They were con- 
 fined to a certain portion of a river by grating, 
 so that fish of a moderate size could not escape. 
 To the preserving and fattening of these fish, 
 much trouble and expense were devoted, and 
 fish of seven and eight pounds' weight were not 
 uncommon. A gentleman at Lackham, in the 
 same county, had a favourite water-spaniel, that 
 was condemned to suffer death for killing all the 
 carp in his master's ponds, but was reprieved 
 at the desire of Mr. Popham, who took charge 
 of him, in the belief that so shy and so swift a 
 fish as a trout, was not to be caught by a dog. 
 However, in this he was mistaken, for the dog 
 soon convinced him that his largest trout were 
 not a match for him." 
 
183 
 
 The following description of a trout is taken 
 from a fish of twelve inches in length. The 
 length of the head, compared to the length of 
 the head and body, not including the caudal- 
 rays, was as one to four; the depth of the 
 body, rather more than the length of the head ; 
 the dorsal-fin commenced half-way between the 
 point of the nose and the commencement of the 
 upper caudal-rays ; the third ray of the dorsal- 
 fin, which is the longest, longer than the base 
 of the fin : the origin of the adipose -fin, half- 
 way between the commencement of the dorsal- 
 fin and the end of the upper half of the tail ; 
 the pectoral-fin, two-thirds of the length of the 
 head ; the ventral-fins under the middle of the 
 dorsal-fin, and half-way between the origin of 
 the pectoral-fin, and the end of the base of the 
 anal-fin ; the anal-fin begins half-way between 
 the origin of the ventral-fin, and the com- 
 mencement of the inferior caudal-rays. The 
 tail but slightly forked, and growing slowly up 
 to square in old fish, or even very slightly con- 
 vex. The fin-rays in number are 
 
 D. 14: P. 14: V. 9: A. 11: C. 19. 
 
 Vertebrae 56. 
 
 The form of the head blunt ; the eye large, 
 placed one diameter and a half from the end of 
 
184 
 
 the nose; the irides silvery, with a tinge of 
 
 pink : the lower jaw in the Salmonidas appears 
 
 to be the longest when the mouth is opened, 
 
 but it shuts within the upper jaw when the 
 
 mouth is closed ; the teeth, numerous, strong, 
 
 and curving inwards, extending along the 
 
 whole length of the vomer ; the convexity of 
 
 the dorsal and ventral outline nearly similar ; 
 
 the colour of the back and upper part of the 
 
 sides made up of numerous dark-reddish-brown 
 
 spots on a yellow-brown ground; eleven or 
 
 twelve bright-red spots along the lateral line, 
 
 with a few other red spots above and below 
 
 the line ; the lower part of the sides, golden 
 
 yellow ; belly and under surface silvery white ; 
 
 the spots on the sides liable to great variation 
 
 in number, size, and colour; dorsal-fin and 
 
 tail light brown, with numerous darker brown 
 
 spots ; the adipose fin brown, frequently with 
 
 one or two darker brown spots, and edged 
 
 with red ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, 
 
 uniform pale-orange brown. The number of 
 
 scales in a row above and beneath the lateral 
 
 line, about twenty-five. Deformed trout are 
 
 not uncommon ; mention of them, as occurring 
 
 in some of the lakes of Wales, is made by 
 
 Pennant, Oliver, and Hansard. "In 1829," 
 
 says the writer of the article on Angling, in 
 
 the 7th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britan- 
 
185 
 
 nica, "we received some very singular trouts 
 from a small lock called Lockdow, near Pit- 
 main, in Inverness-shire. Their heads were 
 short and round, and their upper-jaws were 
 truncated, like that of a bull -dog. They do 
 not occur in any of the neighbouring locks, 
 and have not been observed beyond the weight 
 of half a pound." Such a trout from Lockdow 
 was presented to the museum of the Zoological 
 Society by the Honble. Twiselton Fiennes. 
 Walton says, that " a man should not in hon- 
 esty catch a trout till the middle of March ;" 
 but we think that time too early, at least by a 
 fortnight; and we seldom or never knew a 
 trout under ordinary circumstances in tolera- 
 ble season before the middle of April, or after 
 the middle of September. The period between 
 is the right and proper season to angle for 
 trout, and the only bait we cordially recom- 
 mend is the fly, the minnow, and the loach. 
 
186 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ON THE NATURE, HABITS, AND ORGANISATION 
 OF THE GRAYLING. 
 
 SALMO THYMALLUS. 
 
 THE chapter we are about to write on this 
 gracefully-shaped fish, will be chiefly compiled 
 from the same source to which we are indebted 
 for the previous one. The grayling, though 
 abundant in some streams, is yet a very local 
 fish. Similar, in many respects, to the trout 
 in its habits and wants; there are numbers 
 
187 
 
 of rivers abounding with trout, that do not 
 produce grayling. In the southern counties of 
 Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is 
 found in the Test and both the Avons. In 
 Herefordshire, in the Dove, the Lug, the Wye, 
 and the Irvon. In Shropshire, in the Teme 
 and the Clun. In Staffordshire, in the Hod- 
 der, the Trent, the Dove, the Churnet, and the 
 Wye. In Derbyshire, in the Dove. In Meri- 
 onetshire, in the Dee, between Curwen and 
 Bala. In Nottinghamshire, in the Trent. In 
 Lancashire, in the Ribble. In Yorkshire, in 
 the Derwent, the Ure, the Wharfe, and the 
 Wiske, near Northallerton. Dr. Heysham 
 says, it is occasionally taken in the Eden and 
 the Esk in Cumberland. It is also found in 
 several of the minor streams of nearly all the 
 above-mentioned counties. It is not found, 
 that we are aware, either in Ireland or Scot- 
 land ; Mr. Low, however, includes this fish in 
 his Fauna Orcadensis, and it is known to be 
 plentiful in Sweden, Norway, and Lapland. It 
 is found in France, Germany, and in the north- 
 ern parts of Italy. The peculiarity of the local 
 distribution in this country gave rise to the 
 supposition, that the grayling had been origi- 
 nally introduced by the monks, as a fish worth 
 cultivating; many of the rivers containing 
 grayling being near the remains of great mon- 
 
188 
 
 asteries.* But two circumstances affect this 
 solution: it would be very difficult to bring 
 this fish alive from the continent to this coun- 
 try; and it is not found in the rivers of 
 Kent, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, or Cornwall, 
 where monastic establishments were formerly 
 numerous. 
 
 The grayling thrives best in rivers with 
 rocky or gravelly bottoms, and seems to re- 
 quire an alternation of stream and pool. Ac- 
 cording to Sir Humphrey Davy, who has given 
 a good history of the grayling in his " Sal- 
 monia," this fish was introduced into the Test, 
 in Hampshire, from the Avon; and the former 
 river, in particular parts, appears to suit it the 
 better of the two. Large grayling are, how- 
 ever, occasionally taken in both these waters, 
 which are particularly resorted to by the 
 southern anglers. Three graylings, weighing 
 together twelve pounds, were caught by 
 Thomas Lister Parker, Esq. in the Avon, near 
 Ringwood. A grayling of four and a half 
 pounds' weight has been killed in the Test; 
 and one of five pounds is recorded to have been 
 
 * We think the monks, 
 
 " If ancient tales say true, nor wrong these holy men," 
 
 better judges in matters of gastronomy than to take any 
 trouble about the introduction of a fish in every respect in- 
 ferior to the indigenous trout. 
 
189 
 
 caught near Shrewsbury. However fastidious 
 in the quality of the water or the choice of 
 situation in the stream the grayling is known 
 to be, experiment has proved, that this fish will 
 live in ponds that have been newly made in 
 hard soil ; or in such as have been very recent- 
 ly and carefully cleaned out; but in these 
 situations the grayling does not breed, and 
 they will not continue to live in old muddy 
 ponds. The ova of this fish are numerous, 
 large, and of a deep-orange colour ; the spawn- 
 ing season is in April, or the beginning of 
 May ; in this respect differing from the other 
 Salmonidae, most, if not all, of which spawn 
 towards the end of the year, and generally in 
 cold weather. The grayling, however, is in 
 the finest condition in October and Novem- 
 ber,* when trout are out of season, not having 
 then recovered the effects of their recent 
 spawning, while the young grayling of that 
 year are about seven inches in length. 
 
 The food of the grayling, as ascertained by 
 examination, besides the various flies imi- 
 tations of which are successfully used by 
 anglers consists also of the larvae of Phry- 
 ganea. Ephemera, and Libellula ; the remains 
 of the cases of the former, and the tough 
 
 *The only reason why the " with-well-capon-lined" 
 monks should have imported them. 
 
190 
 
 skins of all of them, being frequently found 
 in their stomachs. We have found also, several 
 small shells, examples of the Physa and 
 Neritina Jluvialis. Dead shells and small 
 pebbles are also found; but whether these 
 last are taken up by the fish to serve any 
 useful purpose, as in the stomachs of galli- 
 naceous birds, or have only formed part of the 
 case of the Phryganea, may be questioned. 
 Some English authors have considered the 
 grayling a migratory fish, passing the winter 
 in the sea, and the summer in fresh water. 
 " Early in spring," says Mr. Donovan, " they 
 ascend the rivers, where they remain till 
 autumn, . and then return to their former 
 element." This may apply to grayling on 
 some parts of the European continent,* but is 
 not the case certainly with our fish in this 
 country, in the rivers of which it is found in 
 the most perfect condition, and, in consequence, 
 most eagerly sought after in October and 
 November. We have caught grayling in the 
 Dove on the 27th of March this year the 
 very day on the evening of which we are now 
 writing between Norbury and Rocester, and 
 though small ones not exceeding three 
 quarters of a pound in weight some of them 
 
 * Block says the grayling descends to the Baltic in 
 autumn. 
 
191 
 
 were in the very highest perfection. Their 
 flavour was equal to that of trout of the same 
 size, and the colour of the outward surface of 
 the flesh of several of them, was a beautiful 
 pink. The day was sun-shiny, without a 
 cloud, and the fly they all took was the March- 
 brown. However, the finest specimens we ever 
 saw, were taken in November; and Sir H. 
 Davy states in his "Salmonia," he had proved 
 that the grayling of England would not bear 
 even a brackish water without dying. 
 
 The term Tliymallw is said to have been 
 bestowed upon this fish, on account of the 
 peculiar odour it emits when fresh from the 
 water, which is said to resemble that of thyme; 
 and from its agreeable colour, as well as smell, 
 St. Ambrose is recorded to have called the 
 grayling the flower of fishes. To be eaten in 
 perfection, it cannot be dressed too soon after 
 it is taken from the water, and it should be 
 handled as delicately and as little as possible. 
 The name grayling is supposed to be a modifi- 
 cation of the words gray-lines, in reference to 
 the dusky longitudinal bars along the body. 
 It has been considered, that the large dorsal- 
 fin of the grayling enabled it to rise and sink 
 rapidly in deep pools; but this power would 
 rather seem to be afforded by the large size of 
 the swimming-bladder. The very large dorsal- 
 
192 
 
 fin, compared to the small size of all the other 
 fins, renders the grayling unable to stem rapid 
 currents; they are much more prone to go 
 down stream than up, and are never seen leap- 
 ing at a fall like trout. 
 
 In a grayling of ten inches long, the length 
 of the head is to the body alone as one to four ; 
 the depth of the body rather more than equal 
 to the length of the head : from the point of 
 the nose to the commencement of the dorsal- 
 fin, is equal to one- third of the length of the 
 whole fish, to the end of the fleshy portion of 
 the tail; the posterior edge of the dorsal-fin, 
 half-way between the point of the nose and the 
 end of the longest caudal-rays ; the adipose fin, 
 rather nearer the dorsal-fin than the end of the 
 tail : the height of the dorsal-fin, equal to half 
 the height of the body, the first ray short, the 
 next five increasing gradually in length; the 
 sixth ray, nearly as long as the seventh, and, as 
 well as the five anterior rays, articulated and 
 simple ; the seventh ray, and all the rays be- 
 hind it, articulated, branched, and nearly of 
 the same height; the length of the base of 
 the fin, not equal to twice the length of its 
 longest ray : the pectoral fin, small, narrow, 
 and pointed: the ventral fins commencing 
 in a vertical line under the middle of the 
 dorsal-fin; the anal fin commences half-way 
 
193 
 
 between the origin of the ventral -fin, and 
 the end of the fleshy portion of the tail, and 
 ends on the same plane as the adipose-fin 
 above it; the longest ray but little longer 
 than the base of the fin. The tail forked; 
 the middle rays rather more than half as long 
 as the longest. The fin-rays in number 
 are 
 
 D. 20: P. 15: V. 10: A. 13: C. 20. 
 
 Vertebrae 58. 
 
 The head is small and pointed, flattened at 
 the top ; the breadth of the eye equal to one- 
 fourth of the length of the whole head ; irides 
 golden-yellow, pupil blue, pear-shaped, the 
 apex directed forward: the opening of the 
 mouth, when viewed in front, square; the 
 teeth small, incurved, numerous, none on the 
 tongue, and only a few on the most anterior 
 part of the vomer : behind the head, the nape 
 and back rise suddenly; the body deepest at 
 the commencement of the dorsal-fin, then 
 tapering off to the tail; abdominal line but 
 slightly convex ; the scales rather large; the 
 lateral line in the middle of the body not very 
 conspicuous, with seven rows of scales on an 
 oblique line above it, and seven rows below it; 
 the sides marked with about fifteen dusky 
 
194 
 
 longitudinal bands. The general colour of 
 the body, light-yellow brown, beautifully 
 varied with golden, copper, green, and blue 
 reflections, when viewed in different lights, 
 with a few decided dark spots : the head 
 brown; on the cheeks and gill-covers a tinge 
 of blue: all .the fins somewhat darker than 
 the colour of the body ; the dorsal-fin varied 
 with square dusky spots on the membrane 
 between the rays, the upper part of the fin 
 spotted and streaked with reddish brown. 
 The grayling appears to become darker by 
 age, and the pectoral fins are reddish about 
 spawning time, with small black spots. 
 
 The chapters Sir H. Davy has written so 
 carefully about this fish will, if judiciously con- 
 densed, be found useful and interesting to our 
 readers. They contain much that relates to 
 the natural history of the fish, and to the mode 
 of angling for it. Leintwardine, near Ludlow, 
 was a favourite piscatory resort of Sir Hum- 
 phrey's, and he is of opinion, that there is no 
 stream in England more productive of grayling 
 than that water is. The Dove would be, were 
 it not for those infernal prowlers, the poachers 
 of the neighbourhood of Ashborne. The 
 grayling requires a number of circumstances 
 in a river, to enable it to multiply. The Dove 
 possesses those circumstances, namely, a tern- 
 
195 
 
 perature in the water which is moderate nei- 
 ther too high nor too low. Grayling are never 
 found in streams that run from glaciers at 
 least near their source ; and they are killed by 
 cold or heat. Sir Humphrey put some grayling 
 from the Teme, in September, with some trout-, 
 into a confined water, rising from a spring in 
 the yard at Dowton ; the grayling all died, but 
 the trout lived. And in the hot summer of 
 1825, great numbers of large grayling died in 
 the Avon, below Ringwood, without doubt kill- 
 ed by the heat in July. In the northern. Euro- 
 pean countries, char are always found in the 
 highest and coldest waters ; the trout, in the 
 brooks rising in the highest and coldest moun- 
 tains; and the grayling always lower, where 
 the temperature is milder ; and, if in hot coun- 
 tries, only at the foot of mountains, not far from 
 sources which have the mean temperature of 
 the atmosphere. Besides temperature, gray- 
 ling require a peculiar character in the disposi- 
 tion of the water of rivers. They do not dwell, 
 like trout, in rapid, shallow, torrents ; nor, like 
 char or chub, in deep pools or lakes. They 
 require a combination of stream and pool ; they 
 like a deep still pool for rest, and a rapid stream 
 above, and a gradually declining shallow below, 
 and a bottom ^here marl or loam is mixed with 
 gravel ; and they are not found abundant ex- 
 
196 
 
 cept in rivers that have these characters. 
 There must be a succession of deep still pools 
 under shady banks of marl, with gentle rapids 
 above, and a long shelving tail, where the fish 
 sport and feed. If there are no such pools in a 
 river, grayling will remain, provided the water 
 be clear, and will breed ; but they cannot stem 
 rapid streams, and they are gradually carried 
 down lower and lower, and at last disappear. 
 
 The trout, in all its habits of migration, 
 runs upward, seeking the fresh and cool waters 
 of mountain sources to spawn in : the grayling, 
 we believe, has never the same habit of run- 
 ning up stream ; we never saw one leaping at 
 a fall, where trout are so often seen. When a 
 grayling is hooked he very rarely jumps, as a 
 trout does, out of the water to shake off the 
 hook, but he descends to below mid-water, and 
 there struggles stoutly to get free, and is by 
 no means what Cotton calls him, " one of the 
 deadest-hearted fishes in the world." How- 
 ever, if the grayling happen to be hooked 
 sharply in any of the bones of the upper jaw, 
 he will, and so will most fish under a similar 
 circumstance, at the first prick throw himself 
 two or three feet from out the water. The 
 large back fin seems intended to enable him to 
 rise and sink rapidly in deep pools ; and the 
 slender nature of the body, towards the tail, 
 
197 
 
 renders the grayling much more unfit for leap- 
 ing cataracts than the trout and salmon. The 
 temperature of the water, and its character as 
 to still and stream, seem of more importance 
 than clearness; for grayling have been taken 
 in streams that are almost constantly turbid, 
 as in the Inn and the Salza in the Tyrol. 
 This fish appears to require food of a particular 
 kind, feeding much upon flies and their larvae, 
 and not usually preying upon small fish, as the 
 trout. We recollect, however, that a gentle- 
 man of the name of Powell, who resided for 
 some time in the neighbourhood of Ashborne, 
 and who always fished with a minnow, was in 
 the constant habit of catching large grayling 
 with that bait. He has been known to catch 
 of a day, by spinning the minnow, four grayling 
 each upwards of a pound and a half in weight. 
 The grayling has a very strong stomach, 
 almost approaching to that of the gillaroo 
 trout, and is exceedingly fond of those larvae 
 which inhabit cases, and which, usually covered 
 with sand or gravel, require a strong membra- 
 neous stomach to enable the extraneous matter 
 to be separated. In accordance with their 
 general habits of feeding, grasshoppers are 
 amongst their usual food in the end of summer 
 and autumn; and at all seasons, maggots, 
 upon fine tackle and a small hook, offer a 
 
198 
 
 secure mode of taking them the pool having 
 heen previously baited for the purpose of 
 angling, by throwing in a handful or two a few 
 minutes before. Prepared salmon spawn or 
 roe is, apparently on account of the strong 
 fishy smell it emits, an excellent bait for 
 grayling. 
 
 In fishing for grayling, you may use as many 
 as four flies at a time on your casting-line ; for 
 that fish lies deeper, and is not so shy a fish as 
 the trout, and, provided the gut be fine, is not 
 apt to be scared by the cast of the flies on the 
 water. Very slender transparent gut of the 
 colour of the water, is one of the most impor- 
 tant causes of success in grayling fishing. A 
 trout generally lies near the surface of the 
 water, and sucks in the flies as they sail down 
 by him, which a grayling scarcely ever does. 
 He rises rapidly from the bottom or middle of 
 the water on the contrary darting upwards ; 
 and having seized his fly, sinks rapidly to his 
 station. This habit, however, is not invariable ; 
 for we have sometimes seen trout feed like 
 grayling, and vice versa ; but neither of these 
 fish emits bubbles of air in rising, as dace and 
 chub do. In playing the grayling, it is neces- 
 sary to use a very light hand, and never to 
 play him against the stream if it be at all rapid; 
 for the flesh of the mouth is extremely tender 
 
199 
 
 we may say brittle and unless the hook 
 eatch through the lip, it is more than an equal 
 chance that he will escape you. 
 
 The habits of the grayling, like those of 
 most other fish, are very simple. He is, to a 
 certain extent, gregarious; more so than the 
 trout, and less so than the perch. He is in the 
 highest or most perfect season, at the end of 
 November or beginning of December, when 
 his back is very dark, almost black, and his 
 belly and lower fins almost gold-coloured ; but 
 his brightness, like that of most other fishes, 
 depends a good deal upon the nature of the 
 water. In many rivers of the continent, the 
 grayling is far more brilliantly coloured than 
 in England; the lower part almost a bright 
 orange, and the back fin approaching the colour 
 of the damask rose, or rather of an anemone. 
 The grayling spawns in April, and sometimes 
 as late as the beginning of May ; the female is 
 generally then followed by two or three males. 
 She deposits her ova in the tails of sharp streams, 
 and the males, rubbing against her, shed upon 
 the ova the milt or seminal fluid. It has. not 
 been ascertained with certainty how long a 
 time is required for the exclusion of the young 
 ones ; but in the end of July, or beginning of 
 August, they are of the size of sprats, four or 
 five inches long, and already sport merrily at a 
 
200 
 
 fly. The grayling hatched in May or June, 
 become the same year, in September or Octo- 
 ber, nine or ten inches long, and weigh from 
 half a pound to ten ounces;* and the year 
 after, they are from twelve to fifteen inches 
 long, and weigh from three-quarters to a 
 pound; and these two sizes are the fish that 
 most usually rise at the fly. The grayling 
 may be fished for at all times, since he is 
 rarely so much out of season as to be a bad 
 fish, and when there are flies on the water, 
 will generally take them; but as the trout may 
 be considered as a spring and summer fish, so 
 the grayling may be looked upon as an autum- 
 nal and winter fish. Grayling are taken in 
 spring with the same imitation of flies as the 
 trout; and, as far as flies are concerned, these 
 two species feed alike, though it may generally 
 be taken for granted, that the grayling prefers 
 smaller flies; and the varieties of the ephemeras 
 or phryganeee, of the smallest size, form their 
 favourite food. Yet grayling do not refuse 
 
 * This statement is made on the authority of Sir H. Davy; 
 but, although his opinion is supported by that of Mr. 
 Yarrell, we think that he attributes a too rapid growth to 
 the grayling. How is it that so many fish of this species 
 are caught under the weight of six ounces each in February 
 and March ? Surely they ought to have increased in bulk 
 during the quarter of a year that intervened between those 
 latter months arid the previous October. The growth of 
 this fish is not yet positively known. 
 
201 
 
 large flies, and the stone -fly, the May-fly, and 
 even moths, are greedily taken in the summer 
 by large fish of this species. Flies, likewise, 
 that do not inhabit the water, but are blown 
 from the land, are likewise good baits for 
 grayling. There is no method more killing, 
 for large grayling, than applying a grasshopper 
 to the point of a leaded hook, the lead and 
 shank of which are covered with green and 
 yellow silk, to imitate the body of the animal. 
 This mode of fishing is called sinking and 
 drawing. We have seen it practised with as 
 much success as maggot-fishing ; and the fish 
 taken were all of the largest size ; the method 
 being most successful in deep holes, where the 
 bottom was not visible, which are the natural 
 haunts of such fish. In the very depth of win- 
 ter grayling rise for an hour or two, in bright 
 and tolerably warm weather ; and at this time, 
 the smallest imitations of black or pale gnats 
 that can be made, on the smallest-sized hook, 
 succeed best in taking them. In March the 
 dark-bodied willow-fly may be regarded as the 
 earliest fly; the imitation of which is made by 
 dark-claret dubbing and a dun-hackle, or short 
 fibres from the starling's feather for wings. 
 This fly has four small wings, and we have seen 
 it on the water early in the cold. March of the 
 
 very backward and bleak spring of the present 
 K 5 
 
202 
 
 year. The blue-dun comes on in the middle of 
 the day in this month, and is imitated by dun- 
 hackles for wings and legs, and an olive dubbing 
 for body. In mild weather, in morning and 
 evening in this month, and through April, the 
 green-tail, or grannom, comes on in great 
 quantities, and is well imitated by a hen phea- 
 sant's wing-feather, a gray or red hackle for 
 legs, and a dark peacock's herl, or dark hare's 
 ear fur, for body. The same kind of fly, of a 
 larger size, with paler wings, kills well in the 
 evening through May and June. The imita- 
 tion of a water insect called the spider-fly, 
 with a lead-coloured body and woodcock's 
 wings, is a killing bait towards the end of April 
 and the beginning of May. A dark fly, imi- 
 tated by a dark- shaded pheasant's wing, black 
 hackle for legs, and a peacock's herl, ribbed 
 with red silk, for the body, is greedily taken in 
 May and June. At this season, and in July, 
 imitations of the black and red palmer worms, 
 which we believe are taken for black, or brown, 
 or red beetles, or cockchafers, kill well ; and, in 
 dark weather, there are usually very light duns 
 on the water. In August, imitations of the 
 house-fly and blue-bottle, and the red and black 
 ant-fly, are taken, and are particularly killing 
 after floods in autumn, when great quantities 
 of the fly are destroyed and washed down the 
 
203 
 
 river. In this month, on cloudy days, pale- 
 blue duns frequently appear; and they are still 
 more common in September. Throughout the 
 summer and autumn, on fine calm evenings, a 
 large dun fly, with a pale-yellow body, is greedily 
 taken by grayling after sunset; and a good 
 imitation is, consequently, very killing. In the 
 end of October, and through November, there 
 is no fly-fishing but in the middle of the day, 
 when imitations of the smaller duns may be 
 used with success ; the best sport is to be ob- 
 tained, in bright sunshine, from twelve till half- 
 past two o'clock. Grayling, if you take your 
 station by the side of a river, will rise nearer to 
 you than trout, for they lie deeper, and, there- 
 fore, are not so readily scared by an object on 
 the bank ; but they are more delicate in the 
 choice of their flies than trout, and will much 
 oftener rise and refuse the fly. Trout, from 
 lying nearer the surface, are generally taken 
 before grayling, where the water is slightly 
 coloured, or after a flood ; and in rain trout 
 usually rise better than grayling, though it 
 sometimes happens, when great quantities of 
 flies come out in rain, grayling, as well as trout, 
 are taken with more certainty than at any other 
 time ; the artificial fly, in such cases, looks like 
 a wet fly, and allures even the grayling, that 
 
204 
 
 generally is more difficult to deceive than trout 
 in the same river. 
 
 Never wishing to quote an author, or bor- 
 row from him without acknowledgment, we 
 will remind the reader, that most of the 
 remarks comprised in the preceding pages are 
 extracted from various parts of Sir H. Davy's 
 Salmonia. We will now lay before the reader 
 some curious observations communicated to 
 Mr. Jesse, by a gentleman residing on the 
 banks of the Teme. The said gentleman 
 communicates them in a tone of the most 
 confident authority, and as some of them are 
 in direct variance with the opinions of Sir 
 H. Davy and Mr. Yarrell, and as others run 
 diametrically counter to our notions of gray- 
 ling-fishing, we will, putting them into the 
 smallest possible space, write them down, to 
 the end that both sides of the question may 
 be fairly heard. The gentleman in question, 
 says, "Any person who has ever fished in a 
 grayling river, will remember that there are 
 three very distinct sizes of fish : the pink, 
 so called, I imagine, from its not much 
 exceeding the minnow in size ; the shett, or 
 shote, which average about five to the pound ; 
 and the half-pound fish, which then takes the 
 name of ' grayling' Now, as I have myself 
 constantly caught all these several kinds on 
 
205 
 
 the same day, and that in the month of Octo- 
 ber; and it is allowed by all, that grayling 
 spawn in April, or at latest in May ; if all 
 these fish are the produce of the same year, 
 how can you account for the great difference 
 in size ? And yet Sir Humphrey affirms, that 
 the fish spawned in April, in the October of 
 the same year attain the weight of half a 
 pound, or even ten ounces ! Leaving this for 
 more competent judges to determine, I will 
 now state the common opinion, to which I 
 confess I am much more inclined than the 
 other. It is, that the pink-grayling are the 
 fry of the present year ; the shett, of the year 
 preceding; and, therefore, instead of being 
 a fish of rapid growth, that a grayling of more 
 than half a pound is a fish of nearly two 
 years of age, and up to which time they do 
 
 not spawn.* 
 
 " During the whole of August, and up to the 
 middle of September in this summer [1833], 
 the weather was so sultry, and the water so 
 low and fine, that all our country anglers fan- 
 cied it was useless to attempt to kill fish. The 
 consequence was, I had the river [Teme] very 
 
 * Very probable. "VVe have caught several grayling this 
 spring. Those of half a pound and under had no spawn in 
 them the larger ones were full of it, and the eggs in a 
 state of large developement. 
 
206 
 
 much to myself; and by using very fine tackle, 
 and wading under bushes where the fish had 
 probably never even seen an artificial fly, I had 
 capital sport, seldom failing to fill my basket, 
 which holds about seventeen pounds of fish. 
 I usually fished with three flies, the red-ant, 
 fern, and orange -tail ;* and I will venture to 
 back them during those two months against all 
 the combinations of feather, fur, and silk, ever 
 
 put together And now having given 
 
 you a hint about flies, I will tell you a secret or 
 two about making use of them, which is of much 
 greater importance. You will always see any 
 person who is a stranger to grayling fishing, 
 and I may add, many who have fished for them 
 all their lives, when the water is very low and 
 clear, immediately betake themselves to the 
 streams and curls, from the idea that the fish 
 will see your line in the dead water. Let them 
 do so ; they will perhaps catch a few trout, and 
 some shett grayling. But go yourself to a 
 deep, dead part of the river, never mind if there 
 is no wind) or if the sun is hot ; use the finest 
 gut you can procure (even if you give a guinea 
 a knot for it), and two flies; and when you 
 have thrown your line as light as gossamer, let 
 
 * Body, green dubbing, mixed with a little yellow j a 
 tuft of orange silk or worsted for tail ; made buzz with 
 light-blue hackle. 
 
207 
 
 it sink for eight or ten inches. You will not 
 see a rise, but a slight curl in the water, which 
 by little practice you will understand quite as 
 well, and when you strike, you will have the 
 pleasure of finding a pounder or more tugging 
 away at the end of your line. This is the real 
 secret in grayling-fishing; and I have often 
 filled my basket, while eight or ten other fish- 
 ermen on the water, using the very same flies, 
 have not managed to kill a decent dish 
 amongst them all." 
 
 This method of fishing for grayling in still 
 water by sinking the flies, is also recommended 
 by the Editor of the Literary Gazette as a 
 killing way for trout. That celebrated writer 
 says, " We have dragged out fine trout as fast 
 as we could throw our line, when the fly, from 
 their incessant biting, was reduced to the bare 
 hook, and the hackle-feather fastened merely 
 at the shank. A very favourite and successful 
 practice of ours was, to fish in a part of the 
 river where others seldom thought of, in the 
 dead still water, imitating a drowned fly, and 
 using very fine tackle : here we have filled 
 our baskets with the best trout, whilst others 
 have thrashed the stream in vain." 
 
 It would be quite unpardonable in us to give 
 the lie direct to the assertions of those gentle- 
 men, particularly when they relate to facts 
 
208 
 
 performed by themselves. But we must say 
 that we have hundreds of times, with the finest 
 tackle ever knotted together, and the best flies 
 that human fingers could dress, tried the 
 method of fishing in dead still water, recom- 
 mended by them, and we never in any single 
 instance found it attended even with the 
 shadow of success. Fish then, impartial 
 reader, after both fashions, for trial' sake, and 
 for your own satisfaction, and inform us at the 
 end of the season whether you have killed 
 more fish in " dead still water" in a " deep, 
 dead part of the river, when there is no wind 
 and when the sun is hot" or in streams, 
 eddies, and curls, and in deeps, when the wind, 
 piping on them, has made them alive, and the 
 lowering clouds have stripped them of their 
 transparency. We will stake our reputation on 
 your judgment. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter which we 
 fancy a tolerably complete one on the gray- 
 ling, by giving a short extract from the common 
 father of us all quaintly poetical Izaak Wal- 
 ton. It is a very fair specimen of the old gentle- 
 man's style, and not an unflattering portrait of 
 our pretty friend, the grayling. " The umber* 
 
 * " The title of Umber appears to be derived from the 
 Latin Umbra, a shadow, which the rapidity of its motions 
 authorises, inasmuch as, when swimming, it darts with 
 
209 
 
 and grayling are thought by some to differ as 
 the herring and pilchard do. But though they 
 may do so in other nations, I think those in 
 England differ nothing but in their names. 
 Aldrovandus says, they be of a trout kind ; and 
 Gesner says, that in his country, which is Swit- 
 zerland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish. 
 And in Italy, he is, in the month of May, so 
 highly valued, that he is sold at a much higher 
 rate than any other fish. The French, which 
 call the chub un mlain, call the umber of the 
 lake Leman un umble chevalier;* and they value 
 the umber or grayling so highly, that they say 
 he feeds on gold; and say, that many have 
 been caught out of their famous river of Loire, 
 out of whose bellies grains of gold have been 
 often taken. And some think that he feeds 
 on water-thyme, and smells of it at his first 
 taking out of the water ; and they may think 
 so with as good reason as we do that our smelts 
 smell like violets at their first being caught, 
 
 such velocity as to give the semblance to the eye of the 
 flitting of a shadow, rather than the actual movement of 
 an animated substance." Bainbridge. 
 
 * A not unfanciful aristocratic distinction, as supposing 
 that elegancy of shape, tenderness of flesh, and delicacy of 
 complexion imply gentility of race. It may have been 
 so in the olden time ; but since money and nobility have 
 been crossed, neither little white ears, nor little white 
 hands, are the " distinctive die" of a sixteen-quartered 
 escutcheon. 
 
210 
 
 which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says, 
 the salmon, the grayling, and trout, and all 
 fish that live in clear and sharp streams are 
 made by their mother Nature of such exact 
 shape and pleasant colours, purposely to invite 
 us to a joy and contentedness in feasting with 
 her. Whether this is a truth or not it is not 
 my purpose to dispute : but 'tis certain, all that 
 write of the umber declare him to be very medi- 
 cinable. And Gesner says, that the fat of an 
 umber or grayling, being set with a little honey, 
 a day or two in the sun, in a little glass, is very 
 excellent against redness, or swarthiness, or 
 any thing that breeds in the eyes. Salviani 
 takes him to be called umber from his swift 
 swimming or gliding out of sight, more like a 
 shadow or a ghost than a fish. Much more 
 might be said both of his smell and taste ; but 
 I shall only tell you, that St. Ambrose, the glo- 
 rious Bishop of Milan, who lived when the 
 church kept fasting-days, calls him the flower- 
 fish, or flower of fishes ; and that he was so far 
 in love with him, that he would not let him pass 
 without the honour of a long discourse. He 
 is of a very fine shape, his flesh is white, his 
 teeth, those little ones that he has, are in his 
 throat, yet he has so tender a mouth, that he is 
 oftener lost after an angler has hooked him than 
 any other fish. Though there be many of these 
 
211 
 
 fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in Trent, 
 and some other smaller rivers, as that which 
 runs by Salisbury, yet he is not so general a fish 
 as the trout, nor to me so good to eat or to an- 
 gle for. And so I shall take my leave of him." 
 
212 
 
 CHAPTER XL' 
 
 ON TROLLING, DIBBING, OR DAPING, &C. 
 
 WE will confess, that though we are about 
 to write a chapter on minnow-spinning, we 
 do not sit down to do so with much inward 
 satisfaction, for it is a mode of fishing that we 
 are not over-attached to, and it is one which 
 we never practise, unless when we absolutely 
 want a dish of trout. Generally speaking, 
 however, it is decidedly the most killing mode 
 of taking trout, and, perhaps, the only way 
 of catching the largest fish of that species. 
 The picturesque observation of Walton is true, 
 "that a large trout will come as fiercely at a 
 minnow, as the highest-mettled hawk doth 
 seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on a 
 hare." Now, so unaccountable are the tastes 
 of men, that we are not unwilling to subject 
 ourselves to the charge of, in this one 
 instance, lack of judgment; for we cannot pre- 
 vent ourselves from avowing, that one of our 
 objections to the use of the minnow is, that 
 
213 
 
 it is too sure a bait. Absolute certainty in 
 the pursuit of game destroys the keenness of 
 enjoyment, when success depends, in no way, 
 upon chance. Minnow-fishing may be com- 
 pared to playing at whist with the four 
 honours always in your hand. It has, how- 
 ever, several advantages over fly-fishing. It 
 depends little on the state of the weather, and 
 can be pursued with equal success on cloudy 
 or bright days, when there is wind or when 
 there is none. It matters little from what 
 point of the compass the wind blows ; it may 
 blow on your right hand or your left, from 
 your back, or in your teeth, it cannot prevent 
 you from throwing your minnow how and 
 where you please. Minnow-fishing requires 
 not that peculiar state of the water so requi- 
 site for fly-fishing ; the water may be dis- 
 coloured, or it may be as clear as crystal, still 
 the minnow will be found deadly in either 
 condition it may be curled into rough 
 waves by the wind, or it may be smooth 
 and unruffled as a mirror, the minnow-fisher 
 regards it not. Neither does he much heed the 
 obstruction of trees, roots, or rocks ; his 
 tackle is strong, and there is very little fear, 
 unless he be very clumsy indeed, that he should 
 lose it. He is not troubled about playing a 
 fish ; with his long and powerful rod and strong 
 
214 
 
 line, he hauls the helpless fish ashore with as 
 much ease as a steam-vessel tows after it a cock- 
 boat. All that delicacy of hand all that ex- 
 citement from the moment a fish is hooked un- 
 til he is safely landed all that care in playing 
 a fish which accompanies the fly-fisher, is 
 unknown to the minnow-fisher. He spins his 
 minnow, hooks his fish firmly, and every danger 
 is over ! He is a John-Bull fisher he builds 
 not upon sand his calculation is that of 
 positive gain he coolly smiles at the poesy 
 of fly-fishing he is a down-right matter-ofr 
 fact prose personage he is right, and we are 
 wrong. Be it so. We had rather err with 
 
 Plato than We forget the rest of the 
 
 quotation, and, perhaps, for certain reasons, it 
 is as well we do. There are persons, notwith- 
 standing, of that happy versatility of talent and 
 disposition, who, whilst they practise minnow- 
 fishing with extreme success, and understand it 
 to perfection, are equally versed in fly-fishing, 
 and have taste and imagination enough to con- 
 sider it the more agreeable, and by far the less 
 exceptionable of the two modes of angling for 
 trout. A gentleman aye, every inch a gen- 
 tleman of the latter character Maitland 
 Dashwood, Esq. kindly taught us that mode 
 of trolling with the minnow, which, as we con- 
 
215 
 
 sider it the best, we will proceed to communi- 
 cate to our readers. 
 
 The gentleman above alluded to,, and whose 
 name we take the liberty without permission of 
 making use of not indeed to do honour to 
 him, but to ourselves, and for that reason, we 
 are confident, he will pardon our presumption, 
 fishes with the minnow, in the following very 
 simple manner. He uses a rod twenty-two 
 feet long. The different joints from but to top 
 are all made of stained and varnished bamboo 
 cane. It tapers far less deeply than a fly-rod, 
 and is consequently stiffer and less pliant. 
 However, towards the top it possesses sufficient 
 elasticity to allow the person who uses it to 
 direct the bait and line in the direction he 
 chooses, and when playing a large fish to throw 
 the strain on the but-end. The rings on it 
 are large, made of brass-wire, and stand 
 upright; the last position being of absolute 
 necessity on all rods used for trolling. The 
 line is full eighty yards long, and it is made 
 of silk very strongly plaited. It is, however, 
 in thickness, not more substantial than a com- 
 mon fly-line, but it is far stronger on account 
 of the force that must have been used in plait- 
 ing it and reducing it to so small a volume. 
 It is thickly varnished an excellent invention, 
 which prevents the line from being injured by 
 
216 
 
 any sort of humidity, hinders it from tangling 
 when coiled loosely on the ground, and 
 preserves to it that rigidity which is necessary 
 to make it slip freely and rapidly through the 
 rings during the operation of throwing. The 
 reel is a simple Irish click one, of rather large 
 dimensions being remarkably deep, but not 
 wide, and rather stiff in its play. A rod, line, 
 and reel of this description is fit for every 
 mode of trolling whether for trout, pike, or 
 salmon*. 
 
 The usual methods of placing the minnow on 
 the hook are by far too complicated. The one 
 we are about to explain is not only free from 
 any such objection, but is extremely neat and 
 simple. Three hooks (size, No. 7, Redditch) 
 long in the shank, and pointed at its end, are 
 to be soldered back to back, so as to form a 
 hook of triple bend and barb. Those hooks are 
 to be of bright steel that is, they are to be 
 chosen before they undergo the process that 
 turns them blue. They are to be whipped on a 
 looped link of gut, of fine and strong quality, of 
 the length of about twelve inches. The loop of 
 this gut is placed in the eye.of a darning-needle; 
 
 * Mr. Dashwood informs us, that in his piscatory excur- 
 sions in Scotland, he is extremely successful in taking 
 salmon, trolling for them as he does here for trout, except, 
 that instead of the minnow he uses a young herring, of four 
 or five inches long, for a bait. 
 
217 
 
 a little cut having been previously made in the 
 eye for the purpose of admitting the gut, and the 
 point of the needle is introduced at the vent of 
 the minnow, and drawn out through its mouth 
 until the hooks are arrested by their bend at 
 the vent. The loop of the gut is next passed 
 through a little hole in the head of a short piece 
 of lead about an inch long, and just thick 
 enough to fill the orifice of the minnow's mouth, 
 and the lead is then passed down the gut and 
 fixed in the mouth and belly of the bait. The 
 whole is then looped to a gut-line of about two 
 yards in length, having two swivels on it, the 
 first distant from the bait about fourteen 
 inches, and the second about a foot and a half 
 from that. This tackle is looped to the reel- 
 line, and you are prepared for casting. Before 
 the cast is made, the distance you have to 
 throw is to be calculated, and line sufficient to 
 reach it is to be freed from the reel and allowed 
 to drop in coils upon the ground. The rod is 
 then to be grasped with both hands, one above 
 the reel and the other below it, and the bait is 
 to be swung to the point you wish it to reach. 
 As soon as the bait sinks in the water, lower the 
 rod to within about two feet of the surface, and 
 keeping constantly drawing your line with your 
 left hand towards you, and between the interval 
 of each draw, move the rod shortly and sharply 
 L 
 
218 
 
 backwards from the direction in which your 
 bait is. When the bait is hauled home, repeat 
 the cast. It is never necessary to strike at a 
 fish ; the constant motion given to the minnow 
 in spinning it this way is quite sufficient to hook 
 him. The common advice of making the min- 
 now spin against the stream is erroneous. 
 Spin it with the stream, and invariably do so 
 when the weather is clear and the water low. 
 When you fish a stream, stand at its tail, and 
 fling your minnow towards the head of the cur- 
 rent on that side nearest you. Repeat your 
 casts until you have fished the stream from you 
 across to the other side. If after half a dozen 
 casts there is no run, proceed to another situa- 
 tion. When the water is discoloured and full, 
 you may fish the stream in whatsoever direction 
 you like, either against the current or with it ; 
 the same advice is applicable to fishing in pools 
 when ruffled by the breeze. The best fish are 
 caught in clear and rapid streams immediately 
 before, during, and just after the drake-season. 
 A second very excellent way to bait with 
 the minnow is, to use six hooks ; they must be 
 rather small ones say No. 5 Kendal and 
 they must be bright, and without the usual 
 blue polish. The first hook is to have a small 
 bit of lead looped on to the gut near where 
 that hook is tied; about half an inch lower 
 
219 
 
 down, soldered or brazed together back to back, 
 three hooks are to be attached, and half an 
 inch further on, a double hook is to be tied. 
 Insert the bit of lead in the minnow's mouth, 
 and close it by passing the first hook through 
 the lips of the bait ; insert one of the barbs of 
 the triple hook on the right-side of the back 
 of the bait, at about a quarter of an inch on the 
 head-side of the back-fin; and on the same side 
 of the bait, half way between the ventral -fin and 
 the tail, fasten one part of the double hook. 
 The shanks of the hooks are to be lapped with 
 silver tinsel, in order that every part of them 
 may correspond with the silvery colour of the 
 minnow's belly. Two swivels are to be used 
 as before directed. In trolling for trout let 
 your minnows be of middling size, and carry 
 them with you alive in a small tin minnow-can. 
 Before you put them on the hooks, kill them 
 by passing a needle through the spine just 
 over the upper ends of the gill-covers. A 
 minnow that has been long dead will never 
 spin well on account of its stiffness. We are 
 acquainted with several other modes of baiting 
 with the minnow, but those two we have given 
 are decidedly the best, and we think it, in con- 
 sequence, perfect waste of time to give any 
 more. 
 
220 
 
 Trolling for Pike: Use a rod, line, and 
 reel, similar to those recommended for minnow- 
 spinning. They will be found quite strong 
 enough. Let your hooks be of the same num- 
 ber, and tied on in the same way, as we pointed 
 out in our second way of baiting with a min- 
 now. The hooks must be the best-tempered 
 perch-hooks of the largest size, and instead 
 of being tied half an inch distant from each 
 other, the distance must be a full inch. In- 
 stead of gut use strong gimp. Let your bait 
 be a good-sized fresh-killed gudgeon. Heed 
 not the advice of others, it is, after all, the 
 surest bait for pike. Make your gudgeon 
 spin exactly as you do the minnow, but never 
 fish streams or fast-running waters. If you 
 do, you will take only very small jacks. The 
 large ones lie in the deep waters, and are to be 
 found in the vicinity of weeds and the different 
 species of large water-plants. The safest way 
 is, to allow the fish a few moments' time to 
 gorge your bait, and then strike him obliquely 
 either to the right or left, as occasion may 
 suggest to you. Give him no play, hold him 
 strongly " under buckle," wind up rapidly, and 
 land him without mercy or delay. He is a 
 ruthless tyrant, and he should be pitilessly 
 treated as such. Your tackle can never be too 
 strong; only avoid large hooks; those we 
 
221 
 
 have recommended are sufficiently strong for 
 your purpose. A bundle of slight twigs are 
 not very 'easily broken; neither are two or 
 three small hooks, stuck, at the same time, in a 
 pike's gorge. 
 
 Mr. Jesse, from accounts that we have 
 heard of him from gentlemen who have had 
 the good fortune of making his acquaintance, 
 so thoroughly understands trolling for pike, 
 that we shall communicate his instructions to 
 our readers. Mr. Jesse observes, " Indeed I 
 have observed, that success in pike-fishing, 
 especially in clear and shallow water, generally 
 depends on the surface being ruffled. A fine 
 bright day is often an unsuccessful one in 
 pike-fishing; whereas, I have frequently had 
 excellent sport in cold autumnal weather, 
 when there has been a breeze on the water. 
 When that breeze, however, is accompanied 
 by a cloudy sky, and a warm southerly wind, 
 a troller may depend on catching fish if there 
 are any to be caught. The only thing I pique 
 myself upon is, being a good troller ; and I 
 have, besides, one great advantage in trolling, 
 and that is, having arms and legs of rather an 
 unusual length, which enable me to cast a line 
 further than most people. As some novices 
 in the art may read this work, I will proceed 
 to give them such - instructions as will, if 
 
222 
 
 properly attended to, speedily make them 
 proficients in the art, and enable them, 
 
 ' To trowle for pike, dispeoplers of the lake.' 
 
 I must begin by recommending a light, but 
 strong cane-rod, some ten or eleven feet in 
 length,* rather stiff, but yet with some little 
 pliability at the upper end. The rings should 
 be of twisted brass, and each of them suffici- 
 ently large to allow, at least, the little finger 
 to pass through them with ease. The use of 
 these will be seen presently. The lines should 
 be of about forty yards in length, so that an 
 expert troller, in a good situation, and with 
 the wind in his favour, should be able to cast 
 nearly that distance at every throw. f The 
 difficulty is, how to procure a good line. I 
 recommend those sold by Mr. Barth of Cock- 
 spur-street,:;: and who also makes up the sets 
 of trolling-hooks, which I am now about to 
 describe. The hooks, eight in number, are 
 fastened on gimp, having a loop at the end for 
 the purpose of fastening it to the swivel of one 
 end of a trace. The first hook is to be tied on 
 at about half a foot from the loop, having the 
 
 * This rod is too short by one-half. 
 
 t The line should be varnished, and of the same quality 
 as that recommended for fishing with the minnow, but it 
 should be somewhat shorter. 
 
 + Those sold by Bowness and Co., Bell Yard, Temple 
 Bar, are equally good. 
 
223 
 
 barb pointing downwards, the second and 
 third (double) hooks at an inch distance each 
 from that, and a double hook is to be tied at 
 the extreme end of the gimp, at about an inch 
 and a half from the third hook. On the top 
 or upper side of the gimp, is to be tied, at the 
 distance of half an inch from the third hook, 
 a single hook with the bend reversed towards 
 the loop-end of the gimp. The first hook is 
 to be put through the lips of the bait, passing 
 it first, from the outside, through the upper and 
 then through the lower lip; the second and 
 third lower hooks should be fixed on the side 
 of the back the fourth, or reversed hook, is 
 placed a contrary way, for the purpose of 
 giving a bend to the tail of the bait which 
 makes it spin and one of the last hooks is 
 to be fixed near the fork of the tail of the 
 bait. It requires some skill to put on a bait 
 properly, so as to make it spin when played in 
 the water, but a little practice will soon effect 
 this. The length from the loop to the last 
 hook should be about eleven inches, and the 
 trace about twenty-two inches, having a swivel 
 at each end, and one in the middle. The 
 trace is also made of gimp, and should have 
 three or four rather large shots attached to it. 
 These will enable a young beginner to throw 
 his bait the more readily. 
 
224 
 
 " With the above-mentioned rod and tackle, 
 half a dozen good dead baits, either gudgeons, 
 or dace, but as nearly as possible if a little 
 longer the better the length of the set of 
 hooks to be used, a knife with a small hammer 
 at the end, to kill and crimp the pike when 
 taken, and a pair of scissors, to extract the 
 hooks from his mouth, the troller may set 
 to work. If he fishes from a bank, mill-dam, 
 meadow, or, in short, from any place where his 
 line is not liable to get entangled, no reel is 
 necessary. It is, in fact, an encumbrance. 
 Longer, quicker, and better casts can be made 
 without one. The troller has only to gather 
 up his line around him, and alter his cast, 
 which is chiefly made with the right hand, 
 and he has his left at liberty to draw in the 
 line, which he disposes on the ground near 
 him, stepping forward a pace or two, so as to 
 vary the place where his bait is thrown. In 
 this way he may make his casts with great 
 rapidity, letting his bait sink or keeping it 
 near the surface according to the depth of the 
 water, or the height of the weeds. When 
 weeds are found within six or eight inches of 
 the surface, the bait should be skimmed nearly 
 along the top of the water. This may be done 
 by having a small one, fewer shot, keeping the 
 top of the rod well elevated, and by throwing 
 
225 
 
 out a lesser length of line. On the contrary, 
 when the water is deep, the point of the rod 
 should be held near the water, and additional 
 shot should be added to the trace, to make 
 the bait sink the quicker. In this way of troll- 
 ing, the large rings recommended to be fixed 
 on the rod are of essential use. In case of any 
 knot in the line, or any bit of grass or small 
 stick adhering to it, an obstruction seldom 
 takes place, as the rings are sufficiently large 
 to let them through, when the line is cast. 
 This hint is well worth the attention of trollers. 
 The best hooks for trolling are those made by 
 O'Shaughnessy of Limerick. When a reel is 
 necessary, as it is when fishing in foul places, 
 I would recommend a wooden one, about four 
 and a half inches across, having the rim 
 grooved for the reception of the line. These 
 reels turn round with great rapidity when the 
 cast is made, letting out a sufficient length of 
 line, and are wound up again by turning them 
 with the fore-finger. They are much to be 
 preferred to the common brass reel. 
 
 "When a pike has come at a bait, a mo- 
 ment's pause should take place, and he should 
 be then gently struck to the right or left as his 
 supposed position may be. If the troller 
 strikes when the mouth of the fish is directly 
 towards him, he is apt to pull the bait out of his 
 L5 
 
226 
 
 mouth. When a pike is hooked, he should be 
 kept as much as possible near the surface of the 
 water to prevent his getting into the weeds, 
 which add so much to the stress on the line. 
 If he is a weighty fish, it will be necessary to 
 allow time for three or four violent struggles 
 which he will make, but in general it is as well 
 to land him as soon as possible. What is said 
 about playing him till he is tired is a waste of 
 time. I am always for securing a fish as quick- 
 ly as may be. The best trolling I have had, 
 has generally been from the 1st of November, 
 to the 1st of March. The weeds are then 
 down and rotten, and pike see the bait readily. 
 The weather, however, for fishing at this sea- 
 son of the year, should be moderately fine, with 
 a mild wind, and the water * in tune/ as an old 
 angler calls it. I have never had a good day's 
 trolling when the water has been discoloured. 
 The best time of the day for trolling for pike 
 is, from four to six o'clock in the evening, in 
 summer, and from two to three o'clock, in 
 winter. They may, however, be readily taken 
 at all times of the day when the weather is pro- 
 pitious. I prefer gudgeons to all other baits, as 
 they are tougher, and, therefore, are not readily 
 jerked off the hooks. If properly put on, they 
 spin admirably, and are then very attractive. 
 A bleak is the next good bait, but I generally 
 
227 
 
 find that I take smaller pike with it than I do 
 with a gudgeon. A small perch, with the fins 
 cut off, is not a bad bait, but the most killing 
 one I know of is, a smelt, it, however, is not 
 always to be had. By fishing with a dead bait, 
 and by instantly killing a fish as soon as it is 
 landed, but little pain is inflicted, and perhaps 
 not more than every animal suffers, in being de- 
 prived of life for the purpose of becoming food 
 for the use of man. I am the more desirous of 
 mentioning this, because there are many per- 
 sons who think that angling and cruelty are 
 synonymous terms. The method I recommend 
 is, I think, infinitely to be preferred to the 
 gorge, snap, or beed-hooks so generally used, 
 and which have been extolled by both ancient 
 and modern writers on angling. Experience 
 alone can prove this." 
 
 A very excellent and amiable young friend 
 of ours endeared to us for his many manly 
 attributes of head and heart Mr. Charles 
 Creswell, of New Lenton, Nottinghamshire, 
 one of the most successful pike and perch 
 fishers that we know, practises the following 
 very simple method. For pike-fishing he 
 makes use of a strong, short rod, with a strong 
 silk line, and large wooden reel, and his bait is 
 a live gudgeon. He merely passes a double 
 pike-hook attached to about a yard of gimp 
 
228 
 
 through both lips of the bait, allowing it to 
 swim here and there at some distance from 
 him, and rather near the bottom of the water. 
 He uses a float in order to determine how far 
 the bait is sunk. He allows the fish considera- 
 ble time to gorge the gudgeon, and then he 
 lands him with as little delay as possible. He 
 perch fishes exactly in the same way, except 
 that he uses a much smaller hook, tied on 
 stout gut, and that his bait is a rather small- 
 sized minnow. He generally wades, where the 
 river will allow it, and fishes right on before 
 him. Under his guidance we have frequently 
 had excellent sport in divers parts of the river 
 Trent, particularly at Beeston Weir, an excel- 
 lent fishing station near Nottingham, and 
 where before this summer be over, if health 
 be spared us, we will once more join him and a 
 party of right true friends, and if we cannot 
 catch fish we can " spin tough yarns," Decame- 
 ron-like, in some shady nook of Clifton Grove. 
 And who knows but we may fall in with a 
 
 shoal of . We hate to excite jealousy; 
 
 but we hope that Sir Jukes has not succeeded 
 in shutting up the foot-path through the 
 grove, and that old Nottingham pours out 
 into its sylvan recesses its laughing gipsy- 
 parties as of yore.* 
 * We have used in several of the rivers in the south of 
 
229 
 
 DiWing or Daping : This is one of the ea- 
 siest modes of angling, and we have seen chil- 
 dren practise it with success. The flies used 
 are natural ones in a live state, and the follow- 
 ing are the best. The green-drake, the stone- 
 fly, the common house or window fly, the oak- 
 fly, and the March-brown. The green-drake is, 
 loncjo intervallo, the best of all. The best time 
 to fish with these flies is, two or three days after 
 they come in, when the fish have become fa- 
 miliarised with their appearance, and are rising 
 at them as fast as they drop upon the water. 
 The pleasing advantage accompanying this way 
 of fishing is, that it is practised at the most 
 beautiful season of the year, when trout are in 
 perfect condition, both as to colour and flavour, 
 
 Ireland an artificial fly in fishing for pike, and we have 
 frequently killed large fish with it when every other lure 
 proved useless. This fly should be dressed on a double 
 hook formed of the same piece of wire, which should be 
 fastened to a strong piece of gimp. The wings should be 
 made of four feathers from a young peacock's tail. The 
 part of the feather to be used, is that containing what is 
 called the eye. The body of the fly should be made of an 
 equal mixture of fine bear's fur, red squirrel's fur, and yel- 
 low mohair. The head should be made of half a dozen laps 
 of gold-twist, and two small blue glass beads for eyes. 
 Along the whole length of the body, which should be very 
 full, broad gold tinsel should be rather thickly lapped. 
 Windy and cloudy days are the most proper for the use of 
 this fly. It should be cast as tightly as possible on the 
 water, and kept in constant motion on or near the surface. 
 
230 
 
 and when river scenery is to be viewed in its 
 fullest perfection. 
 
 The rod to be used in dibbing must be about 
 sixteen feet long, and its top joints must be 
 stiffer than those of the fly-rod. Your fly reel 
 and line will do, and to the end of it you must 
 attach two yards of fine gut. When you use a 
 single hook, it must be a No. 5 Kendal. The 
 live flies are to be carried in a little wicker 
 basket, made for the purpose at Ashborne and 
 at other towns in the neighbourhood. The 
 ends of the osier twigs are not to be cut off on 
 the inside of the basket, but are to be allowed 
 to protrude, in order that the flies may perch 
 upon them, and be the more easily laid hold of. 
 When you fish with a single fly, insert the 
 hook through the back between the wings, 
 bringing its point slightly out under one of 
 them. When you bait with two flies, follow 
 the directions of Cotton, viz., "First take one, 
 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 ; and then taking the other fly, 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, 
 
231 
 
 both from the water, and also that your fingers 
 be not wet, when you take them out [of the 
 basket] to bait them, for then your bait is* 
 spoiled." A very good plan, when you dib with 
 two flies at a time, is to use a double No. 2 
 Kendal hook, passing one hook through the 
 back between the wings of one fly, and doing 
 the same to the second fly placed in a reversed 
 position. 
 
 You must keep yourself as much out of 
 sight of the fish as possible, and always begin 
 dibbing near the bank on which you stand. 
 Fish the river then across, allowing the wind 
 to guide your line, and never allow an inch of 
 it to touch the water. Whenever you see a 
 fish rise, tempt him again by directing your 
 fly so as to make it float over him. As soon 
 as you feel or see a fish rise at you, strike 
 as you do in artificial-fly fishing, and play him 
 after the method directed for that sort of 
 angling. Dibbing is best practised on pools, 
 particularly when there is a light breeze. 
 
 When you fish in wide pools in rather 
 windy weather, your reel-line should consist of 
 a water-colour floss silk line. This, generally 
 speaking, is by far the best line for dibbing. 
 You must use a very long rod one of twenty 
 feet and the rings on it must be large, and 
 stand stifly upright, in order that the floss- 
 
232 
 
 line may meet with little or no obstruction 
 in passing through them. By taking advan- 
 tage of the wind, you may make your fly fall 
 floatingly at a very great distance from you, 
 indeed, with a little address, you may direct it 
 whithersoever you please. The greatest care 
 must be taken to preserve the floss-line from 
 touching the water, or from imbibing any 
 humidity. We never dibble with any other 
 sort of line, and we invariably use but one 
 hook, and but one fly at a time. 
 
 With respect to the stone-fly, Cotton's 
 instructions are so correct, that we will limit 
 ourselves to citing them. He says, "This 
 stone-fly then we dape or dibble with, as with 
 the drake, but with this difference, that, 
 whereas the green-drake is common both to 
 stream and still, and to all hours of the day ; 
 we seldom dape with this, but in the streams, 
 (for in a whistling wind a made-fly, in the 
 deep, is better) and rarely but early and late, 
 it not being so proper for the mid-time of the 
 day ; though a great grayling will then take it 
 very well in a sharp stream, and here and 
 there a trout too; but much better toward 
 eight, nine, ten, or eleven of the clock at 
 night, at which time also the best fish rise, 
 and the later the better, provided you can see 
 your fly; and when you cannot, a made-fly 
 
233 
 
 will murder." We know of no better night-fly, 
 when the sky is clear, than the stone-fly, par- 
 ticularly in streams. 
 
 The oak-fly is chiefly found in May and 
 early in June, and not unfrequently in calm, 
 hot days in July, with its head downwards 
 (it is called the down-hill-fly) on the shady 
 side of the trunks of oak trees, and other 
 large trees growing near the river's side. It 
 is, in those months, a good fly to dibble with. 
 
 When dibbing with the March-brown, two 
 flies should be used as a bait at the same time. 
 If abundance of those flies are on the river, 
 trout and grayling will rise at them with great 
 avidity, and if they refuse the artificial fly, 
 which they seldom do when it is properly 
 made, dibbing with the natural fly will be 
 certainly successful. 
 
 The house or window fly is a very killing 
 fly to dib with, particularly towards the evening 
 in the latter end of May and the beginning of 
 June. It should be used at all times that the 
 fish, gorged with the green-drake, at last 
 through sheer surfeit refuse to take the lat- 
 ter fly. 
 
 It would repay any person, who has the 
 slightest curiosity, for the trouble and expense 
 of a long journey to come into Derbyshire 
 during the drake- season. We have seldom 
 
234 
 
 witnessed a prettier sight, than to see the 
 banks of our streams crowded with persons of 
 every age and sex, dibbing with the green- 
 drake, while that beautiful insect is seen flut- 
 tering by myriads on or over the water, and 
 about the trees, shrubs, and plants in the 
 vicinity ; and the trout, now having recovered 
 completely from the effects of spawning, are to 
 be seen by hundreds with vigour and voracity 
 darting at this lovely " being of a day." 
 
235 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE DOVE; ITS SCENERY: OTHER TROUT AND 
 GRAYLING STREAMS IN ITS VICINITY. SKETCH 
 OF ASHBORNE; ITS CHURCH. THE END. 
 
 "Well, go thy way, little Dove ! thou art the finest river that ever I 
 saw, and the fullest of fish." Cotton. 
 
 IN writing about the Dove* we cannot re- 
 frain from touching on its scenery. We shall 
 do so, however, very concisely ; for we do not 
 wish to trench too much upon the province of 
 the professional tourist. Our business is with 
 the piscatory, and not with the pictorial por- 
 tions of the Dove. A slight combination of the 
 latter with the former will be deemed, in this 
 instance, we hope, perfectly pardonable. We 
 will give first, before we come to our own de- 
 
 * Cotton says it is so called from the swiftness of its cur- 
 rent. Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart, says, " The Dove was so 
 called, from the British word " dwfr," (water) ; and the 
 Derwent, from the British ' dwr," (water), and " gwin," 
 (white). 
 
236 
 
 scription of certain parts of this famous stream 
 and our description shall be confined to the 
 best fishing portions, with their immediate 
 scenery a pretty correct statistical account of 
 it taken verbatim from Glover : " The Dove 
 takes its rise among cavities of gritstone and 
 coal-shade, near Thatch-marsh colliery, be- 
 tween the great and middle Axe-edge hills. 
 The scenery around the sources of this beautiful 
 river, presents tracts of barren mountainous 
 ridges, covered with heath, from which the tra- 
 veller has extensive views, on one hand, over the 
 fruitful and thickly-peopled plains of Stafford- 
 shire and Cheshire; and, on the other, the 
 dreary and sometimes stupendous elevations of 
 the Peak. After cutting through the gritstone 
 rock, this small but rapid branch is joined by 
 another stream, which passes by a village called 
 Dove-head, and has been selected by Walton,* 
 the angler, and by Edwards, the poet of the 
 Dove, as the original stream. 
 
 * It is very odd that people will be confounding Walton 
 with Cotton. Walton was a mere bottom-fisher, and 
 knew nothing about fly-fishing. The few directions he 
 gives upon the art, are borrowed from Mr. Thomas Barker, 
 an old writer and a cotemporary. Walton knew little or 
 nothing of the Dove ; it was to Cotton that Glover should 
 have referred. The second part of "The Complete Ang- 
 ler," which treats of fly-fishing, and of the rivers of Derby- 
 shire and Staffordshire, was entirely written by Cotton. 
 Walton had no more to do with it than ourselves. 
 
237 
 
 ' At length 'tis gain'd, the heathy cloud-capt mountain ! 
 Not at the hamlet of Dove-head I rest, 
 But, higher up, beside a bubbling fountain, 
 That makes within a little well its nest. 
 Here springs the Dove ! and with a grateful zest 
 I drink its waters, that first serve the poor. 
 O ! when shall they repose on Ocean's breast ? 
 How long must their rough pilgrimage endure ? 
 They ask not, but commence their wild romantic tour.' 
 
 Edwards. 
 
 "The course of this extraordinary stream 
 passes thrice over what the geologists, who 
 have investigated the strata of this county, 
 term the great limestone fault, and, conse- 
 quently, intersects rocks of the earliest forma- 
 tion. Through a valley, called Beresford-dale, 
 which is scarcely half a mile in extent, its 
 course is upon the fourth limestone; but in 
 the valley, particularly denominated Dove-dale, 
 it rushes amid precipitous rocks, and opens 
 to the inquisitive eye of the scientific student, 
 more of the general series of strata than is 
 any where else to be contemplated in the same 
 limited extent throughout England. After 
 passing between the two surprising hills of 
 limestone, Thorpe-cloud and Bunster, the bed 
 of the river is formed of the debris of the 
 neighbouring rocks, consisting of quartz-gravel, 
 thin limestone, and other alluvial matter; 
 while, as its waters proceed towards Ashborne, 
 
238 
 
 they gradually enter the red marl, but not 
 without bringing with them gritstone sand, and 
 limestone pebbles, which are in some places 
 along their course thickly and extensively de- 
 posited. Even where the Dove empties itself 
 into the Trent, at Newton- Solney Ford, the 
 red marl is covered with deposits of quartz- 
 sand and gravel, which the stream has carried 
 onward from the abrupt and mountainous 
 tracts through which it has passed. 
 
 " The picturesque beauty of the banks of the 
 Dove has been the repeated theme of travel- 
 lers, whether painters or poets. Mr. Rhodes, 
 to whose elegant work we [to wit, Mr. Glover] 
 are already indebted for descriptive extracts of 
 the richest character, says, 'The river Dove 
 is one of the most beautiful streams that ever 
 gave a charm to landscape; and while pass- 
 ing along the first, and least picturesque 
 divisions of the dale,* the ear was soothed 
 with its murmurings, and the eye delighted 
 with the brilliancy of its waters: in some 
 places it flows smoothly and solemnly along, 
 but never slowly; in others, its motion is 
 rapid, impetuous, and even turbulent. The 
 
 * Mr. Rhodes, the reader is requested to observe, is 
 merely speaking of the Dove, as seen in its meandering 
 through Dove-dale. This gentleman's pencil, in the 
 present instance, is painting with colours rather too warm. 
 
239 
 
 ash, the hazel, the slender osier, and the 
 graceful birch, hung with honey-suckles and 
 wild-roses, dip their pensile branches in the 
 stream, and break its surface into beauteous 
 ripples. Huge fragments of stone, toppled 
 from the rocks above, and partly covered with 
 moss and plants that haunt and love the 
 water, divide the stream into many currents; 
 round these it bubbles in limpid rills, that 
 circle into innumerable eddies, which, by their 
 activity, give life and motion to a numerous 
 variety of aquatic plants that grow in the bed 
 of the river ; these wave their slender stems 
 under the surface of the water, which, flowing 
 over them, like the transparent varnish of a 
 picture, brings forth the most vivid colouring. 
 Occasionally, large stones are thrown across 
 the stream, and interrupt its progress; over 
 and among these it rushes rapidly into the 
 pool below, forming, in its frequent falls, a 
 series of fairy cascades, about which it foams 
 and sparkles with a beauty and brilliancy pecu- 
 liar to this lively and romantic river.' The 
 waters of this river have a clear blue tint, 
 deepening through various shades to a dark 
 purple. The limestone over which they flow, 
 renders them fertile, and when they overflow 
 their banks in the spring, they enrich the 
 
240 
 
 adjacent meadows. This has given occasion 
 to this proverb : 
 
 * In April, Dove's flood 
 Is worth a king's good !' 
 
 "These floods are, however, sometimes so 
 sudden, that the waters have been known to 
 rise and fall again in the course of a day, 
 carrying down their channel flocks of sheep 
 and herds of cattle. Such inundations are 
 caused by what are termed f shots of water,' 
 which the Dove often receives in its course 
 through the mountains. Cotton, whose verses 
 seldom rise to any very elevated strain of 
 sentiment, has, in his quaint poem on the 
 Wonders of the Peak, the following lines on 
 the Dove, which constitute its most beautiful 
 passage :* 
 
 Thy murmurs, Dove, 
 
 Pleasing to lovers, or men fall'n in love, 
 
 With thy bright beauties, and thy fair blue eyes, 
 
 Wound like a Parthian, while the shooter flies. 
 
 Of all fair Thetis' daughters none so bright, 
 
 So pleasant to the taste none to the sight 
 
 None yields the gentle angler such delight : 
 
 To which the bounty of her stream is such, 
 
 As only with a swift and transient touch, 
 
 T' enrich her barren borders as she glides, 
 
 And force sweet flowers from their marble sides.' " 
 
 * This criticism is Mr. Glover's not ours. See Glover's 
 8vo. edition, vol. 1, part 1, page 36. 
 
241 
 
 We begin our sketch of the Dove at the 
 spot called Dove-head, and, following the 
 opinion of Cotton, we will assume that the 
 stream begins there. Dove-head is about ten 
 miles to the north of Beresford-hall, and the 
 rivulet at the former spot is not more than a 
 yard wide. From Dove-head to Glutton- 
 bridge there is no angling; but at the latter 
 place, where the stream is not more than 
 between two and three yards wide, a few trout 
 may be taken with the fly in the beginning 
 of the season. This bridge is about four miles 
 from Dove-head, and the stream widening in 
 its course, there is tolerable angling, in the 
 spring, when the water is full, to Ludwell, 
 which is about three miles from Glutton- 
 bridge. From Ludwell to Hartington fishing 
 becomes better, and the angler in the early 
 part of the year will be as successful in the 
 streams about this spot as in any other part of 
 Dove-dale. Accommodation and refreshment 
 can be obtained at Hartington, things very 
 scarce in the northern parts of the Dale. 
 From Hartington to Beresford-hall is a mile. 
 Beresford-hall, once the residence of the fa- 
 mous Cotton, is situated on the Staffordshire 
 side of the stream, and is now a farm-house 
 inhabited by Mrs. Hannah Gibbs. It is in 
 good repair, and we were told, that its interior 
 M 
 
242 
 
 arrangement, with the exception of one room, 
 is the same as in the time of Cotton. There 
 are some handsome plantations laid out around 
 it. Cotton's fishing-house was repaired about 
 three years ago, and is now nearly in the same 
 state as when the original constructor of it 
 described it. All those repairs and improve- 
 ments are owing to the good taste of the actual 
 owner, the Marquis of Beresford. Beresford- 
 hall is about three miles and a half from 
 Mill-dale, and there is very good fishing in the 
 different parts of the river between those two 
 places. The scenery of the portion of the river 
 just described, that is, from Dove-head to 
 Mill-dale, is somewhat monotonous. It is 
 wild, bleak, and betokens barrenness, and the 
 river, in its course, during this distance, flows 
 between steep hills, that have scarcely a tree 
 or plant to break the cheerless sameness of 
 their surface. At Mill-dale, on the Stafford- 
 shire side, are a few miserable houses, forming 
 a sort of village, or hamlet, on the margin of 
 the river, close under perpendicular cliffs of 
 great height, and as wildly situated as the 
 greatest lover of the extreme picturesque could 
 desire. Few mere visitors penetrate the Dale 
 so far north as this collection of huts, but 
 anglers ought ; and if they inquire for an old 
 and unfortunate brother of the angle, called 
 
243 
 
 Sampson Hastings, they will find him located 
 in a sort of shed, built in the ruins of his moun- 
 tain cot, which was burnt down a short time 
 since. It will be a real charity to employ this 
 poor veteran as a guide, and, candidly speaking, 
 w r e know no man who has a more exact know- 
 ledge of the Dove in its passage through the 
 Dale. 
 
 From Mill -dale to a large isolated rocky 
 column called Ham Stone the scenery is 
 the same as hitherto described. The stream 
 now grows wider, and varies from twelve to 
 twenty yards in its further progress through the 
 Dale. From Ham Stone to Reynard's Hall, 
 and to the rocks called Dove-dale Church, the 
 scenery is extremely imposing. On this sub- 
 ject we will quote an excellent description by 
 the Rev. D. P. Davies: " Reynard's Hall is a 
 natural cave of forty-five feet in length, fifteen 
 in breadth, and thirty in height. From the 
 mouth of this cavern, the scene is singular, 
 beautiful, and impressive. The face of the rock 
 which contains the arch, rises immediately in 
 front, and would effectually prevent the eye 
 from ranging beyond its mighty barrier, did not 
 its centre open into the above-mentioned arch, 
 through which is seen a small part of the oppo- 
 site side of the Dale, a mass of gloomy wood, 
 from whose shade a huge detached rock, soli- 
 
244 
 
 tary, craggy, and pointed, starts out to a great 
 height, and forms an object truly sublime. 
 This rock is known by the appellation of Dove- 
 dale Church, and is pleasingly contrasted by the 
 little pastoral river, and its verdant turfy bank 
 below. The approach to these natural excava- 
 tions Reynard's Hole and Hall is very dif- 
 ficult of access even on foot, but impracticable 
 on horse-back : the latter [mode of ascending], 
 however, was unfortunately tried about seventy 
 years ago. The Rev. Mr. Langton, Dean of 
 Clogher, in Ireland, proposed to ascend on 
 horse-back a very steep precipice, near Rey- 
 nard's Hole, apparently between three and four 
 hundred feet high ; and Miss La Roche, a 
 young lady of the dean's party, agreed to ac- 
 company him on the same horse. When they 
 had climbed the rock to a considerable height, 
 the poor animal, unable to sustain the fatigue of 
 the task imposed upon him, fell under his bur- 
 den and rolled down the steep. The dean was 
 precipitated to the bottom, where he was taken 
 up so bruised and mangled by the fall, that he 
 expired in a few days after, and was buried in 
 Ashborne church : but the young lady, whose 
 descent had been retarded by her hair entang- 
 ling in a bramble bush, slowly recovered; 
 though when disengaged, she was insensible, 
 and continued so for two days. The horse, 
 
245 
 
 more fortunate than its riders, was but very 
 slightly injured." The fishing in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Reynard's Hall is excellent, 
 Nearly opposite its base, runs two very capital 
 streams, the upper one called Great Sharplow, 
 and the lower one named Little Sharplow. 
 From this spot there is a constant succession of 
 beautiful streams, running through the most 
 picturesque portion of the Dale, until you 
 come to a part of the river denominated Sedgy 
 Pool, from the quantity of sedges it produ- 
 ces. The fishing in this pool is good, and at 
 the bottom of it is a weir, forming an excellent 
 stream. This stream is nearly at the entrance 
 of the Dale as you approach it from Ashborne, 
 via the little village of Thorpe.* There are 
 
 * " A little to the north of the village, is Thorpe Cloud, 
 a conical hill, of very steep ascent, which rises to a great 
 height. Near this is a tolerahly good descent, into a deep 
 hollow called Bunster-dale ; one side of which is bounded 
 by a steep acclivity, covered with wood ; and the other by 
 a range of lofty crags, of wild, uncouth appearance. Pass- 
 ing through the narrow ravine (where the eye is prevented 
 from excursion, and the mind thrown back upon itself) for 
 half a mile, a sudden turn presents the eye with the south- 
 ern entrance of the far-famed and romantic Dove-dale, a 
 name it has received from the river Dove, which pours its 
 waters through the valley. On entering Dove-dale, it is 
 impossible not to be struck with the almost instantaneous 
 change of scenery, so different from the surrounding coun- 
 try. Here, instead of the brown heath, or the rich cultiva- 
 ted meadow, rocks abrupt and vast, their grey sides 
 harmonised by mosses, lichens, and yew trees, their tops 
 sprinkled with mountain-ash, rise on each side. The 
 
246 
 
 several good streams winding nearly round the 
 celebrated conical elevation called Thorpe 
 Cloud, and from it, through several fields, called 
 Thorpe Pingles,* for a distance of about half a 
 mile, flow in a southern direction several excel- 
 lent streams. The Dove then runs for nearly 
 the same distance through banks which are so 
 
 mountains that inclose this narrow dell rise very precipi- 
 tous, and bear on their sides fragments of rock, that, at a 
 distance, look like the remains of some ruined castle. After 
 proceeding a little way, a deep and narrow valley presents 
 itself, into whose recesses the eye is prevented from pene- 
 trating, by the winding course it pursues, and the shutting 
 in of its precipices, which fold into each other, and preclude 
 all distant view. On proceeding, the scenery of Dove-dale 
 gradually increases in majesty and rudeness." Dames. 
 
 The Dove used to be formerly preserved in the Dale, as 
 far as it ran through the property of Mr. Jesse Watts Rus- 
 sell and Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, Bart., and then there was 
 excellent fishing in it. Every one may lash it now, and 
 the consequence is, that fishing in it is not half so good as 
 in the Dove after it joins the Manifold. Indeed, the only 
 season in which we can conscientiously advise our readers 
 to angle in Dove-dale is the spring, and the earlier in that 
 quarter of the year the better. Having mentioned the 
 name of Sir Henry Fitz-Herbert, although in so obscure a 
 part of the work as in a note, we cannot help telling our 
 readers, that to no person in the list of our subscribers are 
 we so much indebted as to that gentleman. His exertions, 
 and that of his family in our favour, have been so warm, 
 that we are almost tempted to call them friendly. If ever 
 this work comes to a second edition, we will try to show 
 part of our gratitude to the illustrious family of the Fitz- 
 Herberts. 
 
 * In the vicinity is a very convenient inn, called the 
 Izaak Walton, kept by a very obliging landlord of the ap- 
 propriate name of Waterfall. 
 
247 
 
 thickly covered with alders and other trees, as 
 to render it very difficult to be fly-fished, after 
 which it joins the Manifold, a stream that has 
 its second rise in the neighbourhood of Ham- 
 hall.* The Dove now becomes a mueh wider 
 and deeper stream, and a little below its junc- 
 tion with the Manifold, is a fine sheet of water 
 called Flaxly Pool, noted for its large trout and 
 grayling. Between this pool and Coldwall- 
 bridge, is a gentle stream of considerable 
 length, and one of the best in the unpreserved 
 portions of the river. From the bridge thus 
 named, there is a succession of excellent 
 streams, until you come to a fine sheet of water 
 called Peg's Hole. From this sheet of water, 
 until you come to a part of the river called 
 Thorpe Ruff or Thorpe Budds, there are several 
 excellent streams, but which are not easily fly- 
 fished, on account of the many trees growing on 
 their banks. The river now presents run- 
 ning south-east a good succession of pool 
 and stream, until you arrive at Oakover-bridge. 
 From half a mile or thereabouts below this 
 bridge, every one has liberty to fish, and the 
 streams are excellent ones as far as Hanging- 
 bridge. On the north side of this bridge is a 
 fine sheet of water called Garden- wheel, a no- 
 ted place for dibbing with the green-drake and 
 
 * Vide cut at the end of the 10th. chapter. 
 
248 
 
 other natural flies. Hanging-bridge is not a bad 
 fishing-station, and excellent accommodation 
 may be had at the King's Anns, a very clean 
 public-house, kept by a person of the name of 
 Sandys. The scenery from Coldwall-bridge 
 to Hanging-bridge, is remarkably beautiful, 
 particularly on the Staffordshire side of the 
 Dove. It is not like the scenery of Dove-dale, 
 such as Salvator Rosa would choose to paint, 
 but our friend Linton would find many parts of 
 it suitable to his fine English taste. 
 
 To the south of Hanging-bridge, opposite 
 to a large cotton factory, belonging to John 
 Douglas Cooper, Esq. a gentleman of the most 
 punctilious probity, and curious in all that 
 relates to the natural history of the fish of the 
 Dove, and the insects they feed upon, are 
 a fine stream and pool ; and a little lower 
 down, is a beautiful sheet of water, called 
 Barnet's Dam, frequented by the lovers of 
 dibbing and bottom-fishing. The angler next 
 arrives at May-field Weir, at which there is 
 good fishing all along to a noted spot, called 
 Lunch. The next good spot is, the pool that 
 flows to Sides-mill Weir. From this weir to 
 Calwich Liberty, the fishing is very good. 
 The Derbyshire side of the water belongs to 
 a very extensive landed proprietor, John Har- 
 rison, Esq. a gentleman of great influence 
 
249 
 
 and excellent character, and owner of the 
 beautiful mansion, not far from the river, 
 called Snelston-hall. The Staffordshire side, 
 as far as Calwich Weir, belongs to Wil- 
 liam Greaves, Esq. M. D. of May-field-hall, 
 whose professional exertions are ever put for- 
 ward in behalf of the poor with disinterested 
 zeal and humanity. From Calwich Weir to 
 Ellaston Bridge, there is no better fishing on 
 any part of the river, which is chiefly to be 
 attributed to Salt, the indefatigable and cou- 
 rageous keeper of Court Granville, Esq. 
 Calwich Abbey, the seat of this gentleman 
 who is of most ancient descent, and of most 
 blameless reputation, and whose noble cha- 
 racter has been rewarded with one of the 
 finest and most numerous families of sons and 
 daughters in England is romantically situ- 
 ated nearly opposite the pretty church of 
 Norbury, on the Staffordshire side of the 
 Dove. To this family we acknowledge our- 
 selves indebted for innumerable favours, con- 
 ferred in the handsomest manner. Norbury 
 Pool and Weir, and the streams succeeding, as 
 far as Ellaston bridge, are full of trout and 
 grayling. To the south of the bridge, there 
 is good fishing as far as Rocester, particularly 
 at a beautiful spot, called Dove Leys, on the 
 Staffordshire side, belonging to Benjamin 
 M 5 
 
250 
 
 Heywood, the celebrated banker of Manches- 
 ter. From Rocester, all along to Uttoxeter, 
 there is good fishing; but beyond the latter 
 town, we are not sufficiently acquainted with 
 the localities of the river, to justify us in 
 praising any particular parts of it. The fishing 
 from Uttoxeter to the Trent is not, we under- 
 stand, of a decidedly good character. 
 
 The Derwent is a river of great celebrity in 
 Derbyshire. It rises in the Peak, and flows 
 by Hathersage, Chatsworth, Rowsley, below 
 the bridge of which village it receives the 
 Wye. It then flows through Matlock, Crom- 
 ford, Belper, Derby, and joins the Trent near 
 the village of Wilne. The fishing in it is 
 good in the neighbourhood of Rowsley and 
 Matlock, and for seven miles below Matlock- 
 bridge. The flies that are taken in the Dove 
 will kill in the Derwent. 
 
 The Wye> an excellent trout stream, rises 
 among the Axe-edge hills, flows by Buxton 
 and Bakewell, and empties itself into the 
 Derwent below Rowsley-bridge. The fishing 
 in it is of the very first order, particularly 
 from Bakewell to Rowsley, and its course, 
 between those "two places, is amid scenery of 
 the most lovely character. In this respect, it 
 will be enough to mention, that it flows almost 
 at the base of the well-known Haddon-hall. 
 
251 
 
 The river is strictly preserved from poachers, 
 by the orders of his Grace the Duke of Rut- 
 land; but any gentleman that stops at the 
 Rutland Arms can obtain permission to angle 
 in it, through the medium of Mr. W. Greaves, 
 the landlord. 
 
 We take this opportunity of mentioning 
 the pretty town of Bakewell, as one of the best 
 fishing-stations in England, and of recom- 
 mending the Rutland Arms, in this town, as 
 an inn second to none in any country town 
 of the midland counties. Mr. Greaves, the 
 landlord, whose polite and unceasing attention 
 to his guests is proverbial, is ever ready to 
 give those who are " brothers of the angle" 
 every facility and every information the most 
 enthusiastic of them may require in the pur- 
 suit of their favourite amusement. He can 
 give them the best information relative to the 
 many excellent trout and grayling streams in 
 his neighbourhood. 
 
 Tlie Lathkil, famous for the colour and 
 the quantity of its trout, rises among the hills 
 near Monyash, and joins the Bradford at the 
 foot of the Tor. No one, but the immediate 
 relatives and friends of his Grace the Duke 
 of Rutland, is allowed to fish in this cele- 
 brated little stream. It is better adapted for 
 minnow-fishing than fly-fishing, and, notwith- 
 
252 
 
 standing the high -pink colour of its trout, 
 their flavour is not good. 
 
 TJie Churnet is a good stream for trout, and 
 many persons think highly of the quality of 
 its grayling. There are too many coarse fish 
 in it, to allow it to be a stream to our liking. 
 It flows by the town of Leek, but on account 
 of the effect of the silk-dying mills, in that 
 town and its neighbourhood, on the water, 
 there is no fishing till the angler arrives at 
 Oakmoor Wire -mills. From these mills to 
 where the Churnet empties itself into the 
 Dove, between Rocester and Crake Marsh, 
 there is very tolerable fishing. The flies to 
 be used are to be the same as those that suit 
 the Dove, but they must be much larger, and 
 dressed on a No. 4 Kendal hook. 
 
 TJie Blythe abounds in trout and grayling. 
 It rises in the neighbourhood of Watley-moor, 
 and falls into the Trent near King's Bromley. 
 Its scenery is worthy of notice in the vicinity 
 of Blithefield, the seat of Lord Bagot, but no 
 where else. The same flies that are taken in 
 the Churnet will kill in the Blythe. It is a 
 capital river for spinning the minnow. 
 
 There are several brooks in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ashborne famous for their trout. 
 The following are the principal ones. 
 Bradbourn-brook has excellent trout, and the 
 
253 
 
 best fishing in it is, from Bradbourn-mill to 
 Wood- eaves cotton-mill. The same flies that 
 are taken in the Dove will kill in it, but the 
 surest bait is the minnow. 
 
 Cubley-brook rises near the village of the 
 same name, and there is good trout-fishing in 
 it from Cubley-mill to where it runs into 
 Boylstone-brook. It is very narrow and 
 woody, and cannot be easily fly-fished. The 
 flies must be showy ones, dressed on a No. 4 
 Kendal hook. The minnow-fishing in it is 
 excellent. 
 
 Boylstone-brook may be fished with fair 
 success, as far as Foston-dam, with the min- 
 now. It is too narrow and too woody to be 
 fished with the artificial fly. 
 
 Foston-brook can be fished with the minnow 
 from the before-mentioned dam to near Sud- 
 bury, where it runs into the Dove. 
 
 Brailsford-brook may be fished with good 
 success, from the mill to where it runs into 
 Longford-brook. Its trout are of excellent 
 quality, and must be fished for with the 
 minnow. 
 
 Longford-brook, as it flows from the mill 
 of the same name, becomes wide enough for 
 fly-fishing, and it may be successfully fished 
 with the fly or minnow, for about the distance 
 of a mile and a half, until it runs into Barton- 
 
254 
 
 brook. The trout of Longford-brook are 
 nearly as highly coloured as salmon, and, for 
 flavour, are not surpassed by those of any 
 stream in England. 
 
 Barton-brook has the same general charac- 
 teristics as the former ones just described, 
 but, being better preserved, there is, of course, 
 more fish in it. It may be fished with success 
 as far as Sutton-dam. Use gaudy flies, of a 
 large size. Fishing with the minnow is 
 excellent, and the trout of this brook are as 
 good as those of the last-mentioned brook. 
 
 Our fishing lectures are now done and over, 
 and we really hope that they will prove a 
 source of amusement to each and all of our 
 readers. Of one thing we are positively sure, 
 and that is, that if they are read with care, 
 and their precepts remembered, they will 
 make every one, that does so, thoroughly 
 versed in the theory of fly-fishing. Let that 
 theory be but slightly put into practice, and 
 we answer for the sure and rapid progress of 
 our pupils. If any of them should wish for 
 more practical information, we are most ready 
 to afford it, and we beg to offer them the most 
 cordial invitation to . 
 
 ASHBORNE: Before we point out the con- 
 venient locality as a fishing-station of this 
 charming little town, we shall give a brief de- 
 
255 
 
 scription of it. It is situated about one hundred 
 and forty miles (N. W. by N.) from London. 
 Its distance from Derby is thirteen and a half 
 miles, (N. W. by W.) ; from Matlock, twelve 
 miles, (S. W.) ; from Leek, sixteen miles, 
 (S. E.); and from Bakewell, eighteen miles, 
 (S. W). The town being situated in a deep val- 
 ley, and surrounded nearly on all sides by hills, 
 is not visible until you arrive almost upon it. 
 The spire of its handsome church is, generally 
 speaking, that which first indicates to you your 
 approach to a town. We like such an indica- 
 tion it is, as it were, religion directing you to 
 the congregated habitations of man. We will 
 suppose the traveller coming from London via 
 Derby. The first glimpse he catches of Ash- 
 borne is from the top of the " new road," which 
 leads by a rapid descent into the southern part 
 of the town, called Compton. As soon as he 
 arrives on the summit alluded to, he sees, ra- 
 ther to the right, Ashborne-hall,* the hand- 
 some country residence of Sir Win. Boothby 
 Bart. Before him he sees, stretching right and 
 left, the town. On the extreme left he catches 
 a view a one-sided one of the church. In 
 the back-ground to the north is a range of hills, 
 studded with houses almost to their summits. 
 
 * Vide vignette at the end of the 7th. chapter. 
 
256 
 
 In the far distance of that northern back-ground, 
 he will perceive the hill called " Thorpe Cloud/' 
 and the peaks of other hills, which inform him, 
 that between their irregular bases is situated 
 the renowned Dove-dale. A pretty little brook, 
 now called Compton-brook, and formerly 
 named the Schoo or Henmore, and in times 
 gone by, celebrated for the excellent quality of 
 its trout,* runs irregularly on the south of the 
 town. When the traveller has crossed the 
 bridge over this brook, and arrived at the 
 northern end of Dig-street, he finds himself in 
 that part of the town from which he can best 
 judge of its interior locality. 
 
 He will then see, on his left, in a line, 
 Church-street, decidedly the best street in the 
 town, and, on account of the many large and 
 well-built mansions in it, it would really 
 be a fine street, were it not that its beauty 
 is blemished by the irregularity of the build- 
 ings, some of which are little better than mere 
 hovels. At the left-end of this street is situa- 
 ted the church ; and almost the last building, on 
 the right-side of the street at the same end, is 
 
 * " Viator : But what pretty river is this, that runs un- 
 der this stone bridge ? has it a name ? 
 
 " Piscator : Yes, it is called Henmore ; and has in it 
 both trout and grayling." Cotton. 
 
 The poachers have long since taken them out. They 
 may return when the poachers are taken out of Ashborne 
 but not before. 
 
257 
 
 the free grammar-school, founded in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, and a handsome specimen of the 
 architecture of that age; It is now under the 
 able superintendance of the Rev. G. E. Gepp. 
 Supposing the traveller still in the same place, 
 he sees extending directly on his right, John 
 Street, which is terminated by the wall of Ash- 
 borne-hall. A short way up John Street, on 
 the left, is the market-place; from the top of 
 which, the stranger, after having taken the sur- 
 vey just pointed out, may form to himself a 
 pretty accurate notion of the whole of the town. 
 However, to use the words of Mr. Brayley, 
 " Though Ashborne is agreeably situated to the 
 eye, it being in a fertile vale, with the hills ri- 
 sing rather bold, yet the objects are too much 
 scattered for a picture;" and we will add, for a 
 clear and intelligible typographical description. 
 Some of the most remarkable historical 
 events that occurred in Ashborne, are the fol- 
 lowing : A battle took place in the neighbour- 
 hood of the town between the royalists and 
 the parliamentarians in February, 1644; in 
 which the former were worsted, with considera- 
 ble loss. Charles I. remained at Ashborne 
 during the battle. In the month of August of 
 the year following, in his march through the 
 Peak to Doncaster, he stopped to hear divine 
 service performed in the church. One hun- 
 
258 
 
 dred years later (1745) Charles Edward, 
 attended by the dukes of Athol and Perth, 
 on their march to and from Derby, halted at 
 Ashborne. The prince and his officers took 
 forcible possession of Ashborne -hall, expelling 
 Sir Brooke Boothby and his family. Some of 
 the officers wrote their names on the doors of 
 the different rooms in which they slept, and 
 the inscriptions were legible until they were 
 defaced by the late Sir Brooke Boothby. The 
 bed in which young Stuart slept is in the 
 possession of the author. 
 
 As a fishing-station we mean, of course, 
 fly-fishing Ashborne is unrivalled. It is 
 situated within less than a mile of some of the 
 best parts of the Dove, and within three or 
 four miles of the very best. Behind it, on the 
 north, at the distance of a few hundred yards, 
 runs Bentley-brook, in which, at the beginning 
 of the season, pretty good fishing may be had. 
 If it were preserved from the depredations of 
 the gentlemen of the net and night-line, it 
 would be a beautiful little trout stream. If 
 not worth fishing in, it is worth looking at. 
 Bradbourn, Cubley, Boylstone, Foston, Bar- 
 ton, Brailsford, and Longford brooks, all 
 abounding in excellent trout, are about from 
 four to eight miles distant. It is within a 
 morning's walk of the Wye, the Derwent, the 
 
259 
 
 Churnet, the Blythe, the Manifold, and the 
 celebrated Lathkil, whose excellence, either 
 as trout or grayling streams, has been more 
 particularly noticed in a preceding part of the 
 chapter. Situated as Ashborne is, almost on 
 the banks of the Dove, and surrounded by 
 several other streams, some of them of nearly 
 equal celebrity, it is not surprising if its 
 inhabitants are extremely partial to fly-fishing 
 and trolling. They are ; and no town in 
 England can produce, taking its size into the 
 calculation, so many perfect proficients in those 
 two modes of angling. The stranger, there- 
 fore, who comes, for the first time, to angle in 
 the streams of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, 
 can obtain every information at Ashborne, 
 relative to the object of his visit. He need 
 but put up at the Green-man or at the Wheat- 
 sheaf the two best hotels in the town and 
 the proprietors will inform him where he may 
 obtain, most correctly and faithfully, the 
 requisite information. We do not mention 
 the superiority of those hotels for the purpose 
 of bribing their proprietors : they are above 
 it. However, we think we know to whom 
 they will direct their angling guests, who 
 either seek for local information as to fly-fish- 
 ing, or for rods, tackle, or flies. It may be 
 to ourselves, or it may not but we think the 
 
260 
 
 party does not live one hundred miles from 
 either hotel. Moreover, the stranger will find, 
 at the close of the day, when his angling 
 amusements are for the time terminated, a 
 social and friendly reception, if he choose to 
 repair to any of the public rooms frequented 
 by a mixed company. One of the writers of 
 this book is a stranger, temporarily, he fears, 
 sojourning in the town of Ashborne, and, 
 speaking from experience, he assures all stran- 
 gers of social hearts and dispositions, that 
 they will find kindred spirits there, and that 
 it will be with a strong feeling of regret that 
 they will sigh farewell to Ashborne. 
 
 Long, long before we came to Ashborne, we 
 heard of the beauty of its church, and though 
 our imaginations are pretty warm, and apt to 
 be too highly excited by previous description, 
 we were not disappointed when we first beheld 
 it. If we were, it was agreeably so. The 
 beauty of this church is, that there is nothing 
 extravagant nothing running to extremes 
 in its architecture. We have seen churches 
 more striking in 'their appearance, either from 
 over-wrought and over-mixed decoration, or, 
 strange as it may appear, from their extreme, 
 their naked simplicity; but we do not recol- 
 lect having seen a church more likely to please 
 the man of chastened taste. It is very difficult 
 
261 
 
 to decide from what point it can be seen to 
 the greatest advantage. Such is the happiness 
 of its situation, that on all sides it presents a 
 beautiful object. We think, however, that it 
 looks best from certain parts of the Sudbury 
 road; but that notion has been frequently 
 shaken when we have seen it in the distance, 
 on a summer's evening, when returning from 
 a fishing excursion to Norbury or to Calwich. 
 Generally speaking, the different western 
 points are the most favourable to view it from. 
 It is, considering the smallness of the town, a 
 spacious edifice. Its body is cruciform. It 
 has a square central tower, surmounted by a 
 light, lofty, and elegantly-ornamented octagonal 
 ^gjB, pierced with twenty windows. The 
 style of its architecture, is the early English, 
 but extremely modified by an intermixture of 
 alterations and decorations of a later date. 
 The piers and arches of the nave are fine, and 
 bear the characteristics of the early English 
 style. The same may be said of the chancel, 
 which has a high window on the east, and two 
 stone-stalls. The windows of the north tran- 
 sept are decorated ; there is but one window, 
 perpendicular and of large dimensions, in the 
 south transept. The door-ways, which are 
 numerous, are of the early English style, and 
 are in good repair. In truth, the whole exterior 
 
262 
 
 of the church bears the stamp of extraordinary 
 freshness the walks of the church-yard, 
 the different gates opening into it, have the 
 same renovated appearance ; and we have been 
 assured, that all this is to be attributed chiefly 
 to the exertions of the person, who has for 
 several successive years filled with laudable 
 zeal the office of what is termed " the vicar's 
 churchwarden." The name of the gentleman 
 alluded to is Lister, who, now that he has 
 accumulated by his own industry an ample 
 fortune, and raised himself to the enviable 
 post of being one of the most wealthy and 
 respectable tradesmen in the town, shows his 
 gratitude to God by devoting much time and 
 much labour to beautifying and strengthening 
 that God's house of prayer. We hope, that 
 in a future edition we shall have to record, that 
 the interior of the church has undergone a new 
 arrangement under the directions of that clever 
 architect Mr. Cottingham. We know that Mr. 
 Lister for one is endeavouring to bring about 
 so desirable a consummation. 
 
 In the sepulchral chapel, belonging to the 
 Boothby family, situated on the northern side 
 of the chancel, is a monumental statue of very 
 wide celebrity. Rhodes's description of it 
 being brief, we shall quote that author : " It 
 is in memory of Miss Boothby (a lovely little 
 
2G3 
 
 girl, who died at the age of five, daughter of 
 Sir Brooke Boothby), from the chisel of 
 T. Banks, R. A. which, for execution and design, 
 would do credit to the talents of any artist. 
 On a marble pedestal, a mattress, sculptured 
 from the same material, is laid; on this the 
 child reposes, but apparently not in quiet ; her 
 head reclines on a pillow, but the disposition 
 of the whole figure indicates restlessness. 
 The little sufferer, indeed, appears as if she 
 had just changed her position, by one of those 
 frequent turnings to which illness often in vain 
 resorts for relief from pain." There are four 
 inscriptions on the tablet of this exquisite 
 monument all bearing testimony to the feel- 
 ings and learning of the afflicted parent in 
 English, Latin, Italian, and French. We pre- 
 fer the English and French ones, particularly 
 on account of the melancholy ideas expressed 
 in the latter portions of them. 
 
 It shows, perhaps, wrong taste in us to touch 
 upon such grave matters in a fishing-book. 
 But let the reader reflect, that we are just at 
 the end of our work that such a position 
 naturally suggests to the mind, that some day 
 will arrive it may be near or it may be 
 remote when there will be a final end to 
 all our earthly labours let him suppose us, as 
 we really are, writing by the twilight of a dark, 
 
264 
 
 cold, and sleety day of April and he will 
 not be surprised that serious subjects and 
 solemn thoughts should be congenial to our 
 mind. What is more, though we have just 
 concluded the composition of a book on a 
 recreative art, let not the reader deem it 
 strange or unkind, both as it regards him and 
 ourselves, that our parting wish should be, that 
 his and our bones may never find .a less hallow- 
 ed place of repose, than in some quiet and 
 concealed corner of the consecrated ground on 
 which is founded this beautiful 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printer! by Thomas Richardson, Derby. 
 

 
 S7J31 459