THE MAKING OF FLIES. 93 



hackle is fastened, after it has made the legs of the fly, 

 the bare silk is carried up to the legs, and there fastened. 



SECOND METHOD. This manner of proceeding differs 

 from the first in the fixing on of the wings. When you 

 have fastened the gut and hook together, to the point 

 where the wings are to be tied, apply the wings to the 

 hook with the but of the feather lying uppermost; then, 

 when the wings are well fastened, pull them back into 

 the natural position alternately; and, having your silk 

 firmly tied to the roots of the wings (and not over the 

 roots), the fly is to be completed as in the first method, 

 having cut off the roots of the feather. 



THIRD METHOD. This includes the Irish mode of 

 tying flies, and is the plan generally adopted in the 

 tackle shops. 



There are two ways of finishing a fly by the head. 



If the wings are to be reversed or turned back, they 

 are to be tied to the hook first, but not immediately 

 turned back ; the silk is carried to the tail of the fly, 

 when the dubbing is carried round the hook until the 

 putting on of the hackle ; the hackle is tied by the point, 

 and not by the but. Having finished the body, twist on 

 the hackle close up to the wings, and fasten by one or 

 two loops; then divide the wings, and pass the silk 

 between them, pulling them back to their proper posi- 

 tion, and finishing the head; fasten off by one or two 

 loops. 



The Irish tie over the roots of the wings, which inter- 

 feres with their action in the water and renders them 

 lifeless. 



If the wings are placed at once in their natural posi- 

 tion, and the fly is to be finished at the head, the gut 

 must be tied on the hook, beginning near the head and 



