ANGLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14307, 19 March 1912, Page 3

ANGLING NOTES.

NYMPHS, DUNS. AND SPINNERS,

<15y "Ikon But.."')

(■JVECtAT.r.Y WRITTEN FOR "tHK J'IIKSS.")

'"Its never too late to loam,'' is a pretty good proverb, and when I find a man who can teach mc new things .•(bout fishing, I regard our mooting as iv bit of exceedingly good luck. Often, it may be long in coming, but one does

t such luck occasionally: so during I the past weeks., I have hail the oppor- | tunity of learning more about dry fly doings, from a man whom '"The Field' , has mentioned as the bost amateur flytier in London. My knirker knees are worn through by reason of the. humble manner in which dry-fly rules ordain that you must approach a big 'tin: my back still aches from the stooping and crouching that is likewise deemed necessary; some of my pettest convictions have been ruthlessly destroyed; but for all that, i have gathered knowledge, and am therefore glad. In tho beginning there was a flanbranded letter "ex-Tainui"': "Shall wo become acquainted?": and later .1 pencil note from Te Ann 11 Lake: "Wo will go camping together." And from tho moment when tho train set him down at Winchester, I notice a distinct advance in my respect for angling scicr.no up-to-date." Ono result of our mooting is a tiny book at a "bob" a time, '"The Ephemera of New Zealand," which will soon be published, and will contain lifesize drawings and everything about each insect that is likely to interest iiehermeii hor<» and at Home. Also thero-will be a new set of flies, which have been tied exactly to copy tho duns and .spinners which frequent our I streams. Hitherto, tho flies Wβ have used are casual wet or fancy flies which have answered their purpose more or less well, but it is only reasonable to suppose that copies of the natural fly we sec upon the water will answer much better. 1 went into a shop in Dunedin, and asked,." Have you the flics that aro seen 011 tho rivers here!'" and the owner of the shop said: "Certainly, we have them all, hero is the pomahaka' for instance." ""What does that represent?" I enquired, but . _ why'of course the 'pomahaka' is a splendid fly" was all the information 1 could obtain. And so on and so forth no single, lly in his attractive stock was more than passably like the every fly which floats downstream. I must do that man justice,, for immediately he understood my requirements he became most keen to help in tho construction ot tho proper patterns. Hero-is one of my brief object lessons —we came .down to a. river at a ' t on \ j } vJw «» grew great beds of that 'iVetlonjj, many pointed-leaved water weed, and we stayed to pull n P SOJ ne of It in a search tor tho "nymphs," which are tho second stage of our all-important fly. This wae in tho Orari river, and nymphs of the "pepper-winged olivo dm - were there m plenty, but no other Kind. 1 could dra»- them quite well, and save description, but the time for lJlustratJons is not yet. So imagine a quarter-size cricket larva, with a fewextra leg*, and that is a nymph. These nymphs exist m this form for a couple oi years or longer, and then struck, upwards to the surface and hatch Tnto a dun. If they live, as tho "little ivluto dun." No. 3 pattern, under tho stones, you will notice that their bodies are flattened to suit surroundh" circumstances, and aro quite unhko thosa that live among tho weed bed*, when you see the trout "bulging," that is, making a sort of swirl near the tot>, without breaking the surface,, they aiv probably taking nymphs, and thoY.iasl sure way of catching them iy to us© a. fly tied to imitate tho insect, as it lives. To get an idea of the proper thing is quito easy; take a "Greenwell's .Glory,V cut v «ff • tho wings, mid some of tin* superfluous hackle, and you have a fair representation of a "nymph." The dim is the kind of fly that is most interesting to fishermen,'for when you begin to see them floating down, it is an odds-on chance that at the same time you will also notice that tho trout have ''come on the feedJ' A dun lives as n dim—his primo of life—for two days, or perhaps a few Lours longer—and then he changes once more into a spinner. You can prove this for yourself by catching a dun olf \he river, and keeping .him, , in a box. Tho ".spinner" is the last stage of natural fly life, when, his duties fuliilled, the spinner drifts anywhere, and ceases to exist. Doubtless, you have seen him, fluttering np and down in companies at the evening hour, before dropping tired upon the stream: hence "a fail of spinner" which, as a fact, is usually the cause of our "evening rise." There are several kinds ot duns that are more scarcely seen, but of the rest, three typical varieties may be taken as being of chief importance- to tho angler. These are the "black-winged dun," , tho "pepper-winged dun"—nearly a March Brown, or Brown Drake—and tho "little white dun." Now, take tho imitations of these flies, and the threo spinners to match them, and tho brown beetle, tho red dragon fly, with a fair tying of the •cricket-singer, and wo have a set that will supply the needs i of most angling hours in tin's country. 1 think that tney will be at your disposal by next October. Apart from theso there is ono fancy fly, which is most surely a wonder, and 1 am told it is tho outcome of threo years' fishing and the combined ottorfc of "H.T.5.." Beaforth and »Saforth, and another loading light of "The Field." I know it is a dry liy, for it simply won't sink, and you tie it like this. Take a wide No. 1 or No. 2 hook, and lap on a dozen turns of silk near the bend, leaving a long loop in the middle for the dubbing that will presently be arranged. Fasten the silk with a single hitch, and snip the long loop in the middle. Next spread the dubbing of rabbit fur along one thread, and bringing the other over it, twist the fur tightly, and wind over the hook shank to make a body. Next, from the placo where you stopped lapping tho hook, work some red silk forward and back for a head to the fly, and tie , in a red cock hackle, point to the front turns back of the hackle will i meet the body and over run it one turn; and the best fancy fly that I have ever seen will be finished. In its use there is one thing to be remembered, you must not strike instantly as before, but count "one-two," and then fix the hook, i I I can truly say that when thero was no fly upon the water, and fish were not mine in consequence, that this "rabbit fly" brought them up, and to mc was neither more nor less than a revelation.