FLY-MAKING. 433 



short as to make it look bare — like a long-legged boy in a 

 bobtail coat. In this case there is more hook than hackle ex- 

 posed to the eye of the expectant Trout, and of course it is the 

 less attractive. Then, again, we see a small hook wound with 

 a hackle, the fibres of which are too long, coming far below 

 the bend — like a short-legged boy dressed in his " daddy's" 

 long-tail coat. Now if such a boy should be detected in 

 stealing your peaches, and should make his exit from your 

 premises through a hole in the fence, if you were somewhat 

 slow in grabbing him, you would most likely find yourself in 

 the predicament in which Joseph left Potiphar's wife ; that is, 

 with only a part of the extremity of the aforesaid long-tail coat 

 in your fist. Judge then of the disappointment of the Trout 

 and yourself too. He expects to grab a good-looking cater- 

 pillar, but if he does not open his mouth very wide, or if he 

 is at all indifferent, he goes off with a few hairlike fibres 

 between his teeth. You expect from the beautiful rise, and 

 the tug you feel, that you have a Trout on, but the next 

 moment your line comes bootless home to you. And thus 

 with a small hook and a long-fibred hackle, you will fre- 

 quently fool the Trout and the Trout will fool you. It does 

 not follow, as many fly-makers suppose, that because a fly is 

 tied on a small hook it is a small fiy ; on the contrary, a 

 great many of the flies sold in tackle-stores are large flies on 

 small hooks. In other words, the hackle or wings so far 

 exceed the hook in their proportions, as to make the fly 

 unattractive to the fish, and less apt to hook him, when he 

 tries to seize it. The fibres of the hackle, therefore, while 

 they may reach the bottom of the hook, should never extend 

 much, if at all, below it. 



To MAKE A Fly with Wings. — " Thus far we have run 

 before the wind," and although it may appear that we have 

 made but little headway, still, if you have taken your 

 28 



