The publication of James Henshall's "Book of the Black Bass" in 1881 brought respectability to sport-fishing for American black bass. Beginning with the making of the first modern plug-casting rod in 1885, the use of artificial lures experienced a surge in popularity. Artificial bass plugs and spoons were heavy in order to pull the line from the reel, running from half an ounce to an ounce in weight, and entered the water with a splash. This left a niche where a style of fly-rod fishing called bass-bugging could grow.]]>Cane Poles & Fly Rods, Part 3http://www.backcountrynotes.com/backcountry-fishing/2008/11/16/cane-poles-fly-rods-part-3.htmlJay Henderson2008-11-16T20:57:27Zbass bream fishing fly-fishingNOTES ON THE HISTORY AND PRACTICE OF LONG-ROD FISHING

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Everywhere in the world, it seems, humans developed rustic methods of fishing that are very similar among cultures - - trapping, spearing, and angling.  Fish hooks and gorges are known from the dawn of modern man.  I strongly suspect that all it took, in any human culture, to inspire angling with rod and line was the coincidence of four factors: a long, limber pole; a length of twine or some workable substitute; a piece of bone formed into a hook suitable for catching fish; and a five-year-old boy with a strong desire to reach out and catch one.

I have no idea why I was born with the desire to fly-fish; a mutant gene, perhaps, since I didn't come from a family particularly interested in fishing of any kind, much less fly-fishing. I had always thought of the cane pole as a "starter" fly rod, and beginning during the summer of my eleventh year I began hinting that I was ready to move up to a fly rod. My parents gave me the long-nagged-for fly rod for Christmas - - that being the socially-acceptable alternative to taping my mouth shut. The rod was a Heddon "Pal," an 8-foot fiberglass wand which came with a South Bend Oren-O-Matic reel. I still have both, but they are pretty much worn out, having been my fishing tackle of choice for 12 years, including summers on the Slack farm in Whynot, NC, when I fished religiously mornings, afternoons, and evenings.

This 19th-century print shows anglers using long cane poles

CANE POLES . . .

 

When I was four, I decided it was time I went fishing.  In those days my maternal grandparents had a cabin in the woods in central North Carolina; below the cabin, deeper in the woods, they had built a one-acre pond which was stocked with bass, bluegills, and catfish.  One summer day, after about three hundred requests, "Pop" Slack gave in and outfitted me with a cane pole and a bucket with some minnows seined from the stream below the pond.

The early Backcountry settlers may have enjoyed fishing, but they fished for food, not for recreation. Their gear was mostly or entirely home-made, typically consisting of a long pole, a basket or creel, lengths of braided horsehair line, and hooks made from pins or sewing needles. The fish were unsophisticated and had not yet become wary of such things as flies tied from chicken feathers, so it was not unheard of for an angler to catch 100 fish in a day.

The Cut-Wing Emerger

The Cut-Wing Emerger is a fairly easy tie that can be adapted for several situations. The basic idea of this fly is to present a strong wing shape in the context of the "emerger" concept. It also provides something to do with that nifty set of brass wing-burners gathering dust in the cabinet.

If the names of these flies seem strange, it is appropriate: these are strange-looking flies.

This season I was down to one fresh Grizzly-Hackle Peacock wet fly, with another, somewhat chewed example stuck on the fly patch of my vest. This is a simple, easy pattern, but there is one thing to be said for it: the Grizzly-Hackle Peacock catches trout. Trout, did I say? Actually, the Grizzly-Hackle Peacock catches fish. It catches brown trout, rainbow trout, and brook trout. It also catches smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegills, shellcrackers, rock bass, white perch, and probably quite a few others to boot.]]>Fly-Tying: Yellow-Bellied Olivehttp://www.backcountrynotes.com/backcountry-fishing/2008/9/1/fly-tying-yellow-bellied-olive.htmlJay Henderson2008-09-01T20:25:20Zfly-fishing fly-tying(NOTE: Click on the thumbnail below to access a jpg scan of the original article.  If the scan opens in a ridiculously large browser window, right-click and choose "view image".)

The Yellow-Bellied Olive

The Yellow-Bellied Olive is a dry fly designed to simulate the various mayflies commonly called Blue-Winged Olives. Jake Crockett took a sampling of Yellow-Bellied Olives out West this past August and one of them took the only trout he caught on a dry fly.
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