FISHING Fly, a bait used in angling for divers kinds of fish. See FISHING.
The fly is either natural or artificial.
I. Natural flies are innumerable. The more usual for this purpose are mentioned in the preceding page.
There are two ways to fish with natural flies; either on the surface of the water, or a little underneath it.
In angling for chevin, roach, or dace, move not your natural fly swiftly when you see the fish make at it: but rather let it glide freely towards him with the stream: but if it be in a still and slow water, draw the fly slowly sideways by him, which will make him eagerly pursue.
II. The artificial fly is seldom used but in blustering weather, when the waters are so troubled by the winds, that the natural fly cannot be seen, nor rest upon them. Of this artificial fly there are reckoned no less than 12 sorts, of which the following are the principal.
1. For March, the dun fly; made of dun wool, and the feathers of the partridge's wing; or the body made of black wool, and the feathers of a black drake. 2. For April, the stone fly; the body made of black wool, dyed yellow under the wings and tail. 3. For the beginning of May, the ruddy fly; made of red wool, and bound about with black silk, with the feathers of a black capon hanging dangling on his sides next his tail. 4. For June, the greenish fly; the body made of black wool, with a yellow list on either side, the wings taken off the wings of a buzzard, bound with black broken hemp. 5. The moorish fly, the body made of dusky wool, and the wings of the blackish mail of a drake. 6. The tawney fly, good till the middle of June; the body made of tawney wool, the wings made contrary one against the other of the whitish mail of a white drake. 7. For July, the wasp fly; the body made of black wool, cast about with yellow silk, and the wings of drakes feathers. 8. The steel fly; good in the middle of July; the body made with greenish wool, cast about with the feathers of a peacock's tail, and the wings made of those of the buzzard. 9. For August, the drake fly; the body made with black wool cast about with black silk; his wings of the mail of a black drake, with a black head.
The best rules for artificial fly fishing are,
1. To fish in a river somewhat disturbed with rain: or in a cloudy day, when the waters are moved by a gentle breeze: the south wind is best; and if the wind blow high, yet not so but that you may conveniently guard your tackle, the fish will rise in plain deeps; but if the wind be small, the best angling is in swift streams. 2. Keep as far from the water side as may be; fish down the stream with the sun at your back, and touch not the water with your line. 3. Ever angle in clear rivers, with a small fly and slender wings; but in muddy places, use a larger. 4. When, after rain, the water becomes brownish, use an orange fly; in a clear day, a light-coloured fly; a dark fly for dark waters, &c. 5. Let the line be twice as long as the rod, unless the river be encumbered with wood. 6. For every sort of fly, have several of the same differing in colour, to suit with the different complexions of sever-
ral waters and weathers. 7. Have a nimble eye, and active hand, to strike presently with the rising of the fish; or else he will be apt to spue out the hook. 8. Let the fly fall first into the water, and not the line, which will scare the fish. 9. In slow rivers, or still places, cast the fly across the river, and let it sink a little in the water, and draw it gently back with the current.
Salmon flies should be made with their wings standing one behind the other, whether two or four. This fish delights in the gaudiest colours that can be; chiefly in the wings, which must be long, as well as the tail.
FISHING by means of birds, a method peculiar to the Chinese, who train certain birds for the purpose in the same manner as falcons are taught to pursue game. For this purpose they have trained a species of pelican, resembling the common corvorant, which they call the Leu-tze, or fishing bird. Sir George Staunton, who, when the embassy was proceeding on the southern branch of the great canal, saw those birds employed, tells us, that on a large lake, close to the east side of the canal, are thousands of small boats and rafts, built entirely for this species of fishery. On each boat or raft are ten or a dozen birds, which, at a signal from the owner, plunge into the water; and it is astonishing to see the enormous size of fish with which they return, grasped within their bills. They appeared to be so well trained, that it did not require either ring or cord about their throats to prevent them from swallowing any portion of their prey, except what their master was pleased to return to them for encouragement and food. The boat used by these fishermen is of a remarkable light make, and is often carried to the lake, together with the fishing birds, by the men who are there to be supported by it.
The same author saw the fishermen busy on the great lake Wee chaung-hee; and he gives the following account of a very singular method practised by them for catching the fish of the lake without the aid of birds, of net, or of hooks. To the one side of a boat a flat board, painted white, is fixed, at an angle of about 45 degrees, the edge inclining towards the water. On moonlight nights the boat is so placed that the painted board is turned to the moon, from whence the rays of light striking on the whitened surface, give to it the appearance of moving water; on which the fish being tempted to leap on their element, the boatmen raising with a string the board, turn the fish into the boat.
Water-fowl are much sought after by the Chinese, and are taken upon the same lake by the following ingenious device. Empty jars or gourds are suffered to float about upon the water, that such objects may become familiar to the birds. The fisherman then wades into the lake with one of these empty vessels upon his head, and walks gently towards a bird; and lifting up his arm, draws it down below the surface of the water without any disturbance or giving alarm to the rest, several of whom he treats in the same manner, until he fills the bag he had brought to hold his prey. The contrivance itself is not so singular, as it is that the same exactly should have occurred in the new continent, as Ulloa asserts, to the natives of Carthage, upon the lake Cienega de Tefas.