Dr. Francis Ward, 1911

arvels of Fish Life picked up the baton passed to him by Professor James Rennie and is one of the classic scientific works that have influenced fly fishing. The thing that Ward did which no-one before him had thought of (or had been able to do) was to take photographs of fish and their environment from underwater. He went to great trouble to secure his pictures, constructing a pond with an observation chamber let into the side and his investment led to the publication of two books; this one and Animal Life Underwater, published in 1921.

Ward was an inspiration to those who followed him and Hewitt, Harding, Marinaro and Goddard and Clarke all owe a debt to his work. Ultimately, Ward's observations provided the evidence that smashed the Halford school and here are the words that started the revolution:

I would mention in passing, that the most gaudy fly seen against the surface of the water merely appears a grey iridescent silhouette, and for this reason I do not think that the colour of the fly matters if the size be right for the condition of the water and the fly be fished so as to suggest life.

Some idea of how influential Ward was can be gained from the fact that G.E.M Skues not only read Ward's books, but also spent time the underground observation chamber, where he was very struck by the effect of the 'window' and the area of total internal reflection which surrounded it. Skues studied a dry Mayfly pattern, noting that the gut was not very noticeable; and a wet one, noting that the gut stood out like a sore thumb. A new Halford spinner pattern was pronounced useless, and a Tup's Indispensible wet resembled a nymph. Skues was most impressed by the appearance of the floating Mayfly, when it appeared in the window:

In the rainbow semi-circle of light above the observer's head in the pond, the whole artificial May fly became not only visible, but extraordinarily and brilliantly so. The wings seemed coated with a spun-glass brilliance which was particularly attractive.

If these words sound familiar to you, it is because ever other experimenter has been struck by the same effect - it has become a key part of modern scientific angler's thinking and is repeated in varying forms in most recent books on the subject - and yet Ward's name is hardly known nowadays.