66 HO W TO TIE SALMON FLIES. 



off the black fibres on one side, hold the feather 

 by the point, between the forefinger and thumb 

 of the left hand, the wrong side uppermost, and 

 with a pair of scissors cut horizontally from the 

 butt, to as near the point as possible (taking care, 

 though, not to cut right through the rib), taking 

 off as much of the rib as you can. Now, lay 

 the feather down on its back, and, with the point 

 of a knife, scrape away the pith very gradually ; 

 if this is carefully done, nothing but the quill will 

 be left, except of course near the point. If 

 the quill towards the butt end is too broad, 

 a little can easily be cut off with the scissors or 

 knife. 



Winding on and fastening off hackles. After 

 the body and ribbing have been finished, the 

 hackle must be wound on. So fix the pliers to 

 the root end, and wind the hackle down, close up 

 to, and immediately behind the ribbing, twisting 

 the hackle, if necessary, to make the fibres point 

 towards the tail. Hackles must always be wound 

 tightly, otherwise they will soon lose their position 

 close behind the tinsel, and spoil the play of the 

 fly in the water. 



When you corne to the end of the ribbing, wind 

 the hackle at right angles to the hook, covering 

 and concealing the tying silk underneath. Each 

 coil of the hackle should be close against the last, 

 but never overlapping it, or the fibres of the last 

 turn would be tied down, and prevented from 



