Читать книгу Fishing Flies - Smalley - Страница 19

In 1558 Conrad Gesner of Zurich published a large tome called Historia Animalium, the fourth volume of which was De Piscum et Aquatilium Animatium Natura, or Of Fish and of Aquatic Animal Life. He began his section on fishing flies with: ‘Certain skilful fishers fabricate diverse kinds of worms and winged insects from the feathers of birds in various seasons of the year …’ (trans. Andrew Herd). ‘Worms’ probably included all subsurface forms including larvae and nymphs. As in the Treatyse there were twelve patterns for catching trout and grayling. They lacked names, but were tagged to the months in which they were most effective, the first for each month being a grayling fly, the second a trout fly.

APRIL

Body: White [thread or wool?].

Wings: Whitish feather from the partridge belly.

Body: Red silk.

Wings: Red cock hackles.

Head: Green [thread?].

MAY

Body: Segmented black and white by twisting together black and white thread before winding down the hook shank [see DARK WATCHETT, (see here); FOOTBALLER MIDGE PUPA, see here].

Wings: Varied (i.e. hooded) crow back feather.

Head: Blue.

Body: Red silk and gold [tinsel?].

Wings: Red cock hackles.

Head: Black.

JUNE

Body: Green ‘from the feathers of the breast of the wild duck’ [which are brown – were these wound round the hook shank?].

Wings: Dark heron tail.

Body: Blue silk and gold [tinsel?].

Wings: Partridge underwing coverts.

Head: Yellow.

JULY

Body: Blue silk.

Wings: Hooded crow belly feathers.

Head: Black silk.

Body: Green silk and gold [tinsel?].

Wings: Yellow feathers.

Head: Blue silk.

AUGUST

Body: ‘Feathers of a crane’s wing’ [herl?].

Wings: Partridge.

Head: Green silk.

Body: Peacock herl, ‘bound with a golden feather’ [was the golden feather palmered as a body hackle?].

Wings: Back feathers of hazel hen.

Head: Yellow silk.

SEPTEMBER

Body: Blue silk.

Wings: Feathers from back of hooded crow.

Head: Red silk.

Body: Yellow and red silk [twisted, as for the first fly for May?].

Wings: Ptarmigan.

Head: ‘Dark’.

When Gesner wrote his fly patterns, the Treatyse flies were in their pomp in England. It is clear that Gesner was unaware of the Treatyse flies, and that authors in England, up to and beyond Izaak Walton, were oblivious of Gesner’s work.