80 DRESSING A SIMPLE HACKLE. 



you are arming your gut, you are forming the 

 body of your fly. You must make that body of 

 the requisite length and thickness, and of the 

 proper tapering shape, by a few laps more or less 

 of the silk. Tie on your hackle and wings, as 

 shown at Figs. 7 and 2 ; wind on your hackle 

 two or three laps down the body of the fly; 

 fasten, and clip off the point of the hackle. Bring 

 your silk back through the fibres of the hackle to 

 behind the wings, which divide in the usual way, 

 and finish at the head delicately. Never forget 

 to varnish the final knot. 



I now give you a simple hackle to make, which 

 I think very easily done, 

 though others do not. The 

 great difficulty consists 

 10 in winding the hackle- 



feather, so that its fibres 

 may project below and 

 above the hook with great regularity, tapering off 



into a pipkin on a slow fire, until completely dissolved. Let the 

 whole simmer for ten minutes. Then add a quarter of an ounce 

 of white pomatum, and allow the whole, constantly stirring it, 

 to simmer for a quarter of an hour longer. Now pour the liquid 

 into a basin of clean cold water, when the liquid will instantly 

 assume a thick consistency. In this state, and while it is yet 

 warm, work it by pulling it through the fingers until it be cold. 

 This last operation is necessary to make the wax tough, and 

 give it the bright silvery hue which it has when made to per- 

 fection. 



