The Winged Larva.—The body is made of brown mohair; the larva is attached to this body at the shoulder, and tailed with two fibres of golden pheasant neck feather, a woodcock hackle round the shoulder, and winged with hen pheasant tail, mixed with a little woodcock or partridge tail feather, and a bronze peacock head. No. 8 hook. It will be found a good fly on dark windy days in this month and the next, and during the prevalence of winds from the east; it will do best where a strong rapid stream runs into a deep pool.
A Substitute for the Winged Larva:—The body is made of bright golden yellow mohair, which looks very transparent; a woodcock wing, and a hackle off the same bird, with two fibres of golden pheasant neck feather for tail. No. 8 hook.
The Willow Flies.—The body of the first is made of blue squirrel's fur, mixed with a little yellow mohair; a blue dun cock's hackle round the shoulder, and a tomtit wing. No. 8 hook. The second fly is made of orange silk body, ribbed with fine black silk; a very dark furnace hackle round the head, and blackbird's wing. No. 10 hook. The third fly is made of the wings or blue feather of the sea-swallow, for the wing of the fly, and the lightest blue fur that can be got for body (the fine blue of the fox's neck, next to the skin; the fur of a very young water-rat, or the lightest blue fur of the squirrel); a light dun cock's hackle, and a tail of the same. No. 10 hook. These little flies will kill till the end of October, and are excellent fur greyling. There are hundreds of other flies that make their appearance on the water through the summer months, which come under the angler's notice when in pursuit of his pastime, that may be imitated to advantage, the varieties of which must fill the mind with admiration.
FISHING RODS AND FLY FISHING.
For a trout rod, to have a good balance from the butt to the extreme top, it is essentially necessary that the wood should be well-seasoned, straight in the grain, and free from knots and imperfections. It should consist of three or four joints, according to fancy. There is not the least occasion for a rod to be glued up in pieces first, and then cut into lengths and fitted with ferrules, for then you have the unnecessary trouble of lapping the splices, but it is best to clean each piece separately, and measure the exact taper each piece should be to one another with the ferrules to fit in the same proportion, the least thing wider at the lower end than at the top; the ends to be bored for the tongues to fit into tightly to prevent shaking, that when they are double brazed they may fit air-tight.
The ends must be bored previous to planing down the substance of the pieces, and tied round with waxed thread to prevent them from opening or cracking, so that these pieces may be pushed into each end of the boring whilst the rod is planed up to its proper substance or size, except the tops, which should be well glued-up pieces of bamboo cane, and filed down to their proper sizes to suit the other parts of the rod; this may be also done by fastening the tongue of the top in the bored joint next in size. The butt should be made of ash, the middle piece of hickory, and the top of bamboo, which is the lightest and toughest of all woods that can be brought to so fine a consistency. The length of the rod for single-hand fly fishing should be from twelve to thirteen feet long—a length which may be used with great facility without tiring the arm. The butt should be easy in the grasp and not a great deal of timber in it; the next piece to be nearly as stout as the butt above the ferrule for a foot and a half, this prevents its being weak at that particular part, which otherwise would cause the rod to be limber in the middle; the next or fourth piece to be stiffer and lighter in the wood to keep up the top; the whole rod to stand nearly straight up when held in the hand, and to have a smart spring above, which assists materially in getting out the line when throwing. The splices of the tops should be tightly bound over with the finest silk, well waxed, and over all three or four coats of good varnish that is not liable to crack. You cannot bind the splices tight enough with coarse three-cord silk, the top being so small it cannot be drawn together near so well as with fine silk, and when the varnish rubs off it opens and admits the water, which loosens the glued splice inside. The fine waxed silk is to be preferred by all means, as it lies closer on the wood, becomes harder, and makes the splice stiffer to work with the other parts.
When the whole is ringed, ferruled, and fitted for the reel complete, it should not (a twelve foot) exceed one pound; it will afford great comfort to the fly fisher in his innocent pursuit, and will not fatigue him during a long summer day. The reel should be light, in proportion to the rod, and to contain thirty yards of silk and hair line made fine and taper, and when the rod is grasped in the hand a little way above the reel, the balance should be the same above the hand as below it, so that it may be used with the greatest ease.