These fifteen Salmon Flies may be considered by my readers as specimens of real perfection, and the "dons" of the present time amongst the great Salmon fishers. There is such a combination of colours in them throughout, that they will be found most killing in the rivers of Scotland and Ireland, if made on hooks of sizes to suit each, and their proper seasons.
I have taken the greatest pains imaginable to make them in proportion, and of the most choice materials, which will greatly amuse the amateur in his leisure hours to imitate them, and if he goes by the models, and their descriptions, he will find them, when completed, what may be termed by a Salmon fisher, magnificent. Their life-like and alluring appearance, when humoured attractively with the rod and line, will cause them to be very deceptive to the Salmon, and they will rise out of the water at them with such greediness (the fun of it is) as to mistake them for living insects. I have seen them swim after the fly for some distance, as quietly as possible, before making a rush at it, then seize it, show their back fin, and then the points of their tail—the break of the water they have made closes—you "rise your hand," and the hook is "anchored."
No. 1. I shall name this The Spirit Fly, in consequence of its numerously-jointed body, its fanciful, florid, and delicate appearance. Its colours will be found most enticing to the fish, and is a sister fly to Ondine, in the "Book of the Salmon," by "Ephemera."
The wings are made of six toppings, with a broad strip of wood duck on each side, a red Hymalaya crest feather at top, a cock of the rock feather, blue kingfisher feather at each side, a black head, and feelers of macaw. The body is made of joints of black, orange floss, and a tip of gold tinsel at the tail, tail two small toppings, a tag of puce silk and ostrich, (it must be tied with very fine silk that the body may not be lumpy, but to show gradually taper from the tail to the head, and the hackle to be stripped at one side to roll even), and at each joint a scarlet hackle, with a tip of gold tinsel under each joint, to make it lively looking. There is a purple hackle, or very dark blue, struck round the shoulder. The size of the hook is No. 6 or 7. Salmon, B or BB.
No. 2. The wings are composed of golden pheasant tail feather, mixed with the following: strips of bustard, scarlet macaw, wood-duck, mallard, yellow macaw body feather, silver pheasant, and a topping over all, extending a little longer than the other feathers; blue and yellow macaw feelers. The wing, as above, should be laid out on a piece of paper, ready to tie on after the body and legs are formed, the jay rolled over the head in this fly, and the head tied on last, of black ostrich. The tail is a topping, mixed with a strip of wood-duck feather, tipped with silver twist, a tag of gold-colour floss, and black ostrich; the body puce floss to the centre, and the remainder orange pig hair or mohair, ribbed with broad silver tinsel, and a guinea-hen rump feather rolled over the orange beneath the jay hackle. This is about as fine a specimen of a Salmon fly as ever was thrown into the water, and will kill Salmon and Grilse, made small, in every Salmon river in Great Britain. The hook No. 6 or 9, Limerick.
The best Irish hooks are numbered from No. 1, largest Salmon size, to No. 10, Sea-Trout size.
No. 3. This is another of the Spirit Flies that kill so well in the rivers of Ireland and Scotland, at high water, particularly the Spey and Tweed. The wings are made of the following mixtures of feathers, each side of the wings to be alike: Brown mallard, bustard and wood-duck; a topping, scarlet macaw, teal, golden pheasant neck feather, a strip of yellow macaw, and feelers of blue and yellow tail; a head of black ostrich; the tail to be a topping, mixed with green and red parrot tail; the body is composed of joints, first a tip of silver, a tag of morone floss, a tag of black, a joint of brown, green and brown-red hackle, puce and red, green and yellow, blue and orange, with a tip of gold tinsel at each joint, a very small red hackle, and two red toucan feathers round the shoulder, and blue kingfisher's feather on each side of the wings. The hook No. 6, and No. 10 for Grilse.
No. 4. A celebrated Claret Fly, of very killing qualities both in Scotland and Ireland, and in the Thames as a trout fly. The wings are composed of two wood-duck feathers wanting the white tips, and two strips of the same kind of feather with white tips; the head is made of peacock harl; the tail is two or three strips of hen pheasant tail, with a short tuft of red orange macaw body feather or parrot, tipped with silver, and gold ribbing over the body, which is formed of claret pig hair, over which roll two richly dyed claret hackles, struck in fine proportion from the tail up. The hook No. 6 or 10. It is a capital fly in lakes for large trout, as a breeze or gentle gale only causes a ripple, and a strong wind does not do so well in lakes with the fly, as it makes waves, although good for a large size minnow.
