594 OCEAN, LAKE, AND RIVER. 



your wrapping silk along the herls you twist both herls and wrap- 

 ping silk slightly, winding in the meanwhile as far up the shank 

 of the hook as you intend the body to extend, then fastening in 

 your hackle you proceed as already described. 



Fur, mohair, pig's wool and seal's wool are spun on in the same 

 way. A ravelling of any fabric, for instance, moreen, may be fas- 

 tened and wound on as floss silk. In making a very large body 

 to a fly it is a matter of economy when using floss silk, to wrap 

 first with darning cotton, or similar material. It matters but little 

 as to the color, as the floss covers it. 



To make a palmer hackle proceed as instructed as far as A, 

 figure 2 ; and after putting on the tinsel, if it is required, fasten in 

 the tip end of the hackle, then the material of which the body is 

 composed. Now you have tinsel, hackle, and dubbing tied in, and 

 the rule is that the material fastened in last is wound on first, so 

 you wind on your dubbing, fasten it a little below the head of the 

 hook, and then taking three, four or five turns of the tinsel in the 

 same direction, you fasten it also. Now you wind on your hackle 

 just behind and close to the tinsel, and as you get near the head 

 of the hook disregard the tinsel and take a few close turns of the 

 hackle, fastening it, clipping it off and finishing as already directed. 

 In a palmer the fibres of the hackle should stand out much thicker 

 at the shoulders and head of the fly than along the body. 



I hope the reader will understand the directions I have given 

 for tying hackles and palmers, for they are pertinent, as far as they 

 go, to making winged flies. 



The most celebrated fly makers use only their fingers, but a 

 small hand, or as some call it a pin vise, is exceedingly convenient 

 when one wishes to lay down his work for a while. By twirling it 

 with the left hand and holding the material with the right you can 

 wind on the most delicate floss without soiling it with wax, which 

 it is almost impossible to have your fingers entirely free from. In 

 fact it is necessary sometimes to dissolve whatever of it adheres to 

 the fingers with a little oil and then wash your hands with soap 

 and water to get rid of the oil. 



A certain school of fly-makers tie on the wings, or more prop- 

 erly the wing, last of all, and in making an elaborate fly it is the 

 proper way, but in ordinary trout flies, as I shall presently show, 



