HACKLES, JOINTED BODIES, AND GRUBS. 69 



none down the body. You can tie in as many 

 hackles as you want in the same way. As I said 

 in the last chapter, the last turn of the last hackle 

 should come to the spot where the wings are to 

 be tied in. This will depend upon the size of 

 the fly. The distance shown in the illustration 

 is about right for that size of fly. On a hook 

 with gut loop the hackle should reach to the 

 lapping of silk which ties on the gut loop. 



Before tying in thick, stemmed hackles, soak 

 them in warm water ; they then wind more easily, 

 and are not so liable to split. With very fine 

 fibred feathers, such as toucans, tie in two or 

 three of the same size together, and wind them 

 on together. 



Hackles with curved fibres. Feathers with 

 curved fibres, to be used as hackles, should not 

 be doubled. As examples, take jay, teal, or 

 guineafowl's feathers. If these were doubled, 

 the fibres would appear curved, in 

 opposite directions, when wound on 

 the hook, and spoil its appearance. 

 To obviate this, one side must be 

 stripped off. The illustration shows 

 a 'right' and 'left' jay's feather, 

 with one side of each stripped off. 

 If you tied in the feather on the 

 right, as before, and wound it up the 

 body, the fibres would all point to Fl S- 46. 

 the tail, and the blue side of the fibres be on the 

 head end of the fly, as they should be ; but if you 



