Trout Flies of Devon and Cornwall: And when and how to Use Them |
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acquired afford amusement ance angling animals appearance APRIL AUGUST banks birds boat brackish capture casting lines caught colour Commence Complete Angler cormorants CORNWALL dark darted deposited Devon devour Earl of Home eggs epicure escapes exhibit feet female finny tribe fisherman floods fly-fishing fox-hunter gilse Glasgow gravel Herodotus hook inches in length insect January jerk Kentigern killed lake large fish larvæ leaves lichen lived magpie makers male March migration minnows months moors moth natural history observed parr pleasure Plymouth pool pounds prey pursuit quantity reel remarks ring rise rivers sagacity salmon peal Scotland Scrope season second week seize shallow Sir H small fish smolt spawning place sport sportsman spot spring stream fly surface tackle tail taken throw tion treatise trout Tweed Walton water flies weather weight whilst wind worms young
Popular passages
Page 28 - ... 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...
Page 24 - And let no man imagine, that a work on such a subject must necessarily be unentertaining, or trifling, or even uninstructive ; for the contrary will most evidently appear, from a perusal of this excellent piece, which, whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the style, the ease and unaffected...
Page 27 - How delightful in the early spring, after the dull and tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear and the sunshine warms the earth and 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...
Page 26 - ... the fisher for salmon and trout 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 demanding a knowledge of the habits of...
Page 16 - Dr Paley was ardently attached to this amusement ; so much so, that when the Bishop of Durham inquired of him, when one of his most important works would be finished, he said, with great simplicity and good humor, " My lord, I shall work steadily at it when the fly-fishing season is over," as if this were a business of his life.
Page 31 - ... of birds. There are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same source. For anglers, in spring, it is always unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen ; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the young ones ; but when two go out together, it is only when the weather is warm and mild, and favourable for fishing.
Page 58 - 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 sunshine. These are generally black, and they escape the influence of the frost by the effects of light on their black bodies, and probably by the extreme rapidity of the motions of their fluids, and generally of their organs. They are found only at the surface of the water, where the temperature must be above the freezing point. In February a few...
Page 81 - The spawning bed is made by the female. Some have fancied that the elongation of the lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat in the form of a crook, is designed by nature to enable him to excavate the spawning trough. Certainly it is difficult to divine what may be the use of this very ugly excrescence ; but observation has proved that this idea is a fallacy, and that the male never assists in making the spawning place ; and indeed, if he did so, he could not possibly make use of the elongation...
Page 34 - ... its light wings, and flits in the sunbeam in enjoyment of its new existence — no sooner descends to the surface of the water to deposit its eggs, than the unfeeling fish, at one fell spring, numbers him prematurely with the dead. You see, then, what a wretch a fish is; no ogre is more bloodthirsty, for he will devour his nephews, nieces, and even his own children, when he can catch them; and I take some credit for having shown him up.
Page 28 - The great supposed migrations of herrings from the poles to the temperate zone, have appeared to me to be only the approach of successive shoals from deep to shallow water, for the purpose of spawning.