Piscator. My honest scholar, I will do it; for it is a debt due unto you
by my promise. And because you shall not think yourself more engaged to
me than indeed you really are, I will freely give you such directions as
were lately given to me by an ingenious brother of the angle, an honest
man, and a most excellent fly-fisher.
You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of artificial made Flies,
to angle with upon the top of the water. Note, by the way, that the
fittest season of using these is in a blustering windy day, when the
waters are so troubled that the natural fly cannot be seen, or rest upon
them. The first is the dun-fly, in March: the body is made of dun wool;
the wings, of the partridge's feathers. The second is another dun-fly:
the body, of black wool; and the wings made of the black drake's
feathers, and of the feathers under his tail. The third is the
stone-fly, in April: the body is made of black wool; made yellow under
the wings and under the tail, and so made with wings of the drake. The
fourth is the ruddy-fly, in the beginning of May: the body made of red
wool, wrapt about with black silk; and the feathers are the wings of the
drake; with the feathers of a red capon also, which hang dangling on his
sides next to the tail. The fifth is the yellow or greenish fly, in May
likewise: the body made of yellow wool; and the wings made of the red
cock's hackle or tail. The sixth is the black-fly, in May also: the body
made of black wool, and lapt about with the herle of a peacock's tail:
the wings are made of the wings of a brown capon, with his blue feathers
in his head. The seventh is the sad yellow-fly in June: the body is made
of black wool, with a yellow list on either side; and the wings taken
off the wings of a buzzard, bound with black braked hemp. The eighth is
the moorish-fly; made, with the body, of duskish wool; and the wings
made of the blackish mail of the drake. The ninth is the tawny-fly, good
until the middle of June: the body made of tawny wool; the wings made
contrary one against the other, made of the whitish mail of the wild
drake. The tenth is the wasp-fly in July; the body made of black wool,
lapt about with yellow silk; the wings made of the feathers of the
drake, or of the buzzard. The eleventh is the shell-fly, good in
mid-July: the body made of greenish wool, lapt about with the herle of a
peacock's tail: and the wings made of the wings of the buzzard. The
twelfth is the dark drake-fly, good in August: the body made with black
wool, lapt about with black silk; his wings are made with the mail of
the black drake, with a black head. Thus have you a jury of flies,
likely to betray and condemn all the Trouts in the river.
I shall next give you some other directions for fly-fishing, such as are
given by Mr. Thomas Barker, a gentleman that hath spent much time in
fishing: but I shall do it with a little variation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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