As North American sport fishing moved into the mid-1800s; an appetite for well researched and analyzed literature evolved. To answer the call arose a boldly outspoken Brooklyn Heights, New York preacher, pastor, and abolitionist; George Washington Bethune.
Aside from his other interest, Bethune was an avid fly fisherman, who had in possession over seven hundred books on sport. Although forgotten in our day, his greatest contribution to our sport consists of five, personally edited, North American additions of The Complete Angler. Below is a passage from is the 1847 edition.
“The anglers of our day are divided into two schools, which may be conveniently distinguished as the routine and the non-imitation. The former hold that the trout should be angled for with a nice imitation of the natural flies in season at the time, and that, therefore, the flies seen on the water, or found in the belly of the fish, are to be carefully imitated. To this school belong the older writers, from Venables down, and Taylor, Blain, Hansard, South, Shipley, and Fizgibbon … The non-imitation school (which reckons among its adherents Rennie, Professor Wilson, Fisher …) hold that no fly can be made so as to imitate nature well enough to warrant us in believing that the fish takes it for the natural fly; and therefore, little is to be had to the fly upon which the trout are feeding at the time.”
Next week; More than 100 fish in three hours and the fly fishing loggers of the Delaware.
The Report
Don’t forget your BC fishing license expired on April 1.
Fishing on our Lower Mainland lakes is slow. Expect fishing to improve when the sunshine returns; in the mean time, watch the barometer and focus on upward trends. For wet fly fishing try: Bloodworm, Chironomid, Wooly Bugger, Doc Spratley, Halfback, Micro Leach, Six Pack, Souboo, or Baggy Shrimp.
Our lower mainland bass and panfish water are slow also. For bass try: Wooly Bugger, Big Black, Dolly Whacker, Clouser’s Deep Minnow, Lefty’s Deceiver, Dragon Nymph, Foam Frog, Chernobyl Ant, or Popper. For panfish try: Micro Leach, Bloodworm, Chironomid, Wooly Bugger, Dolly Whacker, Tied Down Minnow, Black Gnat, or Tom Thumb.
The Fraser River has browned out and will remain that way until the freshet is over. For better success focus on the cleaner water around the Fraser’s feeder streams. For cutthroat try: Rolled Muddler, Eggo, Chez Nymph, Big Black, Black Stonefly Nymph, or Micro Leach. For dolly varden try: large, size 4 to 1, Eggo, Zonker, Dolly Whacker, Clouser’s Deep Minnow, or Lefty’s Deceiver.
The Vedder River is slow to fair. Try GP, Squamish Poacher, Polar Shrimp, Popsicle, Big Black, Flat Black, Eggo, or Black Stonefly Nymph.
The Harrison River is fair for rainbow, and cutthroat. For rainbow try: Rolled Muddler, Zulu, Eggo, Chez Nymph, Big Black, Black Stone Nymph, Micro Leach.
