70 ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PLT-DKESSING. 



THERE are hundreds of things that cannot be 

 taught easily by means of pen and ink, but which 

 the tongue and hand, reciprocally illustrating 

 each other, can inculcate with very little difficulty. 

 Fly-dressing or fly-making is one of those things. 

 I can scarcely teach it by writing ; in a few hours 

 I could explain the whole matter with tongue 

 and hand. However, I must on paper do the 

 best I can ; and the artist in wood having lent 

 me some assistance, I fancy I can make a short 

 lecture on fly-making practically comprehensible. 

 The woodcut on the left-hand side of this 

 page, and marked 1, re- 

 presents what fly-dressers 



V*^ [ "\ term ' the gut armed,' that 



is, plainly speaking, the gut 

 and hook whipped on, or 

 tied together. It is the 

 first step in fly-dressing, and is thus performed : 

 You take the hook by the bent part, or bend, 

 between the tips of the fore finger and thumb of 

 the left hand ; the back part of the hook being 



