TINSEL BODIES. 59 



angles to the hook ; cut off the end as close as 

 you can, and then, with the nails, press the edge, 

 so cut, down, and wind a turn or two more of 

 the tying silk. The ribbing is then wound as 

 before. When there is to be a hackle down the 

 body, it is tied in by the body tinsel only, which, 

 if tightly wound, will hold it firmly enough ; but 

 in this case the ribbing must pass actually pass 

 over the stem of the hackle, otherwise it would 

 be easily cut by the edge of the tinsel when you 

 were about to wind the hackle. 



For jointed bodies, or for small flies, use the 

 tinsel of medium width. 



The second way of tying in the tinsels involves 

 their being tied in with the tag, and is as follows : 

 After the floss for the tag is tied in, tie in a piece 

 of ribbing tinsel, stripped as usual at the side of 

 the hook; but in this case the ribbing tinsel, when 

 tied in, must lie to the right : wind on the floss 

 for the tag, finish it off, and tie in the tail with 

 two turns. Take the body tinsel, cut to a taper 

 at one end, as in the first method, and with the 

 taper to the left, the tinsel inclining to the right, 

 tie it in with one turn of tying silk, close to the 

 point immediately above the ribbing ; turn the 

 point back over the tying silk as before ; tie in 

 the herl or wool for the butt, wind it on, and finish 

 it off under the hook ; but in doing so, don't tie 

 down the tinsels, but pull them back out of the 

 way so that the tying silk can pass close up to 



