"Emergers" in 1895?

Moderators: William Anderson, letumgo

Greenwell
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:05 pm

"Emergers" in 1895?

Post by Greenwell » Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:43 pm

Here's something interesting from R.B. Marston's 1895 book Angling and How to Angle. It seems to be a very clear description of fishing a hackle wet fly during an emergence of ephemera. He suggests building up the thoracic area to better simulate the nymphal form.
Marston was the Editor of the Fishing Gazette and a friend of Skues.
IMG_0599.jpg
IMG_0599.jpg (224.09 KiB) Viewed 5606 times
Last edited by Greenwell on Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Greenwell
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:05 pm

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by Greenwell » Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:44 pm

The following two pages.
IMG_0600.jpg
IMG_0600.jpg (159.13 KiB) Viewed 5604 times
Attachments
IMG_0601.jpg
IMG_0601.jpg (214.42 KiB) Viewed 5604 times
Greenwell
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:05 pm

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by Greenwell » Sat Feb 16, 2019 2:47 pm

IMG_0598.jpg
IMG_0598.jpg (391.01 KiB) Viewed 5603 times
There is also a short chapter on North Country Flies written by Francis Walbran which I will post soon.
daringduffer
Posts: 2195
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:11 am

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by daringduffer » Sat Feb 16, 2019 4:09 pm

Thank you John, very interesting. For your information; soon is now, where is Walbran? :?

dd
Greenwell
Posts: 346
Joined: Fri Apr 08, 2011 9:05 pm

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by Greenwell » Sat Feb 16, 2019 5:36 pm

OK, I'm posting it under another thread so it won't get "lost!"
User avatar
gingerdun
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:00 pm
Location: Merrimac, Massachusetts

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by gingerdun » Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:57 pm

Good stuff, John.
User avatar
Old Hat
Posts: 4204
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:24 am
Location: Where Deet is a Cologne
Contact:

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by Old Hat » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:27 am

I love this John. Very interesting to me to see this. I have often wondered when and where the earliest purposeful emerger fishing was clearly described. Not say this is it, but this is clearly a very early description of fishing a pattern as an emerger.
I hate it when I think I'm buying organic vegetables, and when I get home I discover they are just regular donuts.
http://www.oldhatflytying.com
User avatar
dj1212
Posts: 237
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:13 pm

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by dj1212 » Sun Feb 24, 2019 1:39 pm

Thanks for posting this. Love it! Interesting to me even way back then they realized how much the fish fed near and just below the surface instead of eating floating flies on the surface.
User avatar
jcwillow777
Posts: 275
Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:58 am
Location: Waterford, Michigan

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by jcwillow777 » Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:37 am

Great post John. I really love the cover of the book, very classy! I am in the middle of a book you mentioned in another post, The Fly-Fisher's Craft by Darrel Martin. He refers to several books, one being River Angling for Salmon and Trout (1840) by John Younger. I don't have that book, but Martin quotes a few passages. In it Younger alludes to emergers as well. He describes how he "mutilates" a spider.

Quoting from Younger = "When the flies come up thickly to the surface...and no trout takes them: for a trial of skill mutilate the wings of your flies by picking them off about half-middle (not cutting Them): of rather by tying down to the top of the wings to near the tail of the fly, which makes its appearance something likie the maggot realeased from its first case on the bottom stone, and on its ascent to the surface..." (Page 34)

Quoting from Martin - "To mutilate the wings, use the fingernail to rip the wing off at half-middle - leaving a truncated wing." ... A half-wing might suggest an emeger, and a quarter-wing, a nymph... In any case, it is little wonder that Skues, the nymph master, owned and studied a copy of Younger's book." (Page 34)

I would have posted pics of the pages, but it is copywritten and I don't have permission.
Greg
wsbailey
Posts: 990
Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:30 pm
Location: Fort Wayne Indiana

Re: "Emergers" in 1895?

Post by wsbailey » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:42 pm

Post Reply