282 THE COMPLETE ANGLER 



hook backward, till you come to the setting on of the 

 wings ; and then take the feather for the wings, and divide 

 it equally into two parts, and turn them back towards the 

 bend of the hook, the one on the one side and the other on 

 the other of the shank, holding them fast in that posture 

 betwixt the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand ; 

 which done, warp them so down as to stand, and slope 

 towards the bend of the hook ; and having warped 

 up to the end of the shank, hold the fly fast betwixt the 

 finger and thumb of your left hand, and then take the 

 silk betwixt the finger and thumb of your right hand, 

 and where the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your 

 thumb-nail against your finger, and strip away the 

 remainder of your dubbing from the silk, and then with 

 the bare silk whip it once or twice about, make the wings 

 to stand in due order, fasten, and cut it off ; after which 

 with the point of a needle, raise up the dubbing gently 

 from the warp, twitch off the superfluous hairs of your 

 dubbing ; leave the wings of an equal length, your fly will 

 never else swim true, and the work is done. And this 

 way of making a fly, which is certainly the best of all 

 other, was taught me by a kinsman of mine, one Captain 

 Henry Jackson, a near neighbour, an admirable fly- 

 angler, by many degrees the best fly-maker that ever I 

 yet met with.* And now that I have told you how a fly 

 is to be made, you shall presently see me make one, with 

 which you may peradventure take a trout this morning, 

 notwithstanding the unlikeliness of the day ; for it is now 

 nine of the clock, and fish will begin to rise, if they will rise 



* There needs nothing more be said of these directions, than that 

 hundreds have, by means of them alone, become excellent fly-makers. 

 H. 



[NOTE. I cannot agree with Sir J. Hawkins. Cotton's directions 

 are limited to making the easiest of all made flies a fly with body 

 and wings, but without tail, hackle-feather for legs, tinsel for tip 

 and ribbing. In consequence, I have given diagrams of the artificial 

 fly in its several stages of fabrication, and have elucidated them with 

 written descriptions and instructions. See the last pages of this 

 work. E.] 



