PRACTICAL FRESH WATER FISHING BY FRANCIS E. SELL THE RONALD PRESS COMPANY NEW YORK To N EVE s Conservationist, Outdoorsman, and Friend PREFACE This is a fishermans book. No matter whether you fish for trout along a flashing mountain stream, go for panfish with a worm, or take catfish on quiet evenings when the stars are held captive in the dark waters, it is a book written for you. It tells you how to fool a wise old brown trout with a dry fly, the basic lore of wet fly fishing, the way to use streamers and plugs, the proper equipment--and a lot more. In short, this book discusses the whys and hows of fresh water fishing in all their manifestations. It is based on the trials, errors, and successes of my practical experiences. I am deeply indebted to many other practical hermen who have contributed to the book by their suggestions as to what it should contain. Thanks are also due Lyman Hawbacker, Editor of The American Woodsman, and Lawrence Kelly, Editor of Fishing Waters of the World, for permission to use certain material of mine which first appeared in their magazines. I am going fishing. You come, too Riverton, Oregon January, 1960 FRANCIS E. SELL CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1 HEAVY CREELS FROM CROWDED WATERS . . . . . . 2 THE HUMBLE WORM-WITH A DIFFERENCE . . . 3 NYMPIIING . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 BASIC WET FLY FISHING . . . . . . . . . 5 THE AQUATIC INSECTS . . . . . . . . . . 6 THE TERRESTRULL INSECTS . . . . . . . . . 7 SURFACE FLIES 8 FOR BIG FISH-TRY STRWLMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 NIGHT MATCHING FOR OFF DAYS . . . . . . . 10 READING TROUT 11 THE INTANGIBLES OF FLY P A AND S WATER . . . . . 12 THE RIVER ANDTHEFLY ROD . . . . . . . . l3 FLY LINES . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CUSTOM FLY RODS . . . . . . . . . . 15 FLY ROD Km WATER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 SPINNING . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 HOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 CoRREcr LBADERS . . . . . . . . . . 19 TERMINAL RIGS AND SINKERS . . . . . . . . 20 EQUIPMENT FOR FISHING 21 WILDERNESS FISHING FLEXIBILITY . . . . . m . . . . . . . . . . . 22 PLuGGINGFORBA . . . . . . 23 BASS LAKES AND FLY ROD FISHING 24 S- TO A DRY FLY 25 WINTER STEELHEAD 26 THEFINE ART OF CATFISHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii viii CONTENTS PAGE PRACTICAL FRESH WATER FISHING Nymphing accounted for this limit. Nymphs Flies labeled from left to right, top to bottom. Strowman Quicks May Fly Caddis Grub Stone Fly Creeper Martinez Black Zug Bug Green Shellback Ray Bergman l Impressionistic Stone Fly Tellico Trueblood Shrimp Ed Burkc Trueblood May Fly Grey Nymph Black Ant Montana Nymph Burlap Black Beetle Ingrens Peacock Atherton Medium Coudes of Wayne Buuek, Viralicr, California HEAVY CREELS FROM CROWDED WATERS Good fishing close to home Record bass to be taken from seem- ingly overfished waters Brown trout waiting on heavily hhed streams for you to finagle them with a properly presented worm or fly The answer is a resounding yes to all three questions-if your angling is qualified by a fresh approach to these problems of mod- em fishing. Actually, no water is ever fshed out by hook and line alone, regardless of the fishing pressure from an army of present-day anglers. Conventional methods of angling become exhausted and non-productive long before the fish supply is depleted in any water. Heavily bed rivers and lakes hurbor very selective fib-h which are constantly educated to reject the conventional bait, lure, or fly, and conventional methods of presentation. An angler must come to these waters with a fresh approach, fish them creatively to make a creel. Thats all. The largest cause of non-productive khing is a too dose adherence to orthodox methods, hhing by rote as it were, following blindly the conventional methods of fly casting, plugging, bait fishing, disregarding the naturd presentation and nzatchjng...