WINGS. 79 



properly to a hook of the right size, it would arch 

 naturally ; but if you tied the piece cut off the 

 strip from the large feather on to the same sized 

 hook, the fibres could not arch, because they are 

 naturally straight. The above should be borne 

 in mind when you are tying any kind of wing, 

 whether with strips or strands, or whole feathers. 



The tying silk should be well waxed before 

 any part of the wings is tied on, and every turn 

 of it should be as tight as possible ; otherwise 

 when the fly was finished, you would be able to 

 twist the wings to one side or other of the hook. 

 In attempting to do this you will probably break 

 the silk frequently at first, especially with * mixed ' 

 wings, but don't let this discourage you. 



If you are tying a fly on an eyed hook, there 

 should be nothing to the right of the throat hackle 

 except the even close coils of tying silk which 

 were wound on first of all, With a fly tied on a 

 hook with gut loop, there should only be the bare 

 hook to the right of the throat hackle ; so, before 

 tying on the wing, wind the tying silk tightly and 

 evenly round the gut and hook, up to the end of 

 the shank, then start back again, still winding as 

 tightly and evenly as possible ; by this means 

 the gut at the head of the fly, where the most 

 strength is needed, has two layers of silk over it. 

 Varnish this tying all over. The gut, of course, 

 must be kept perfectly straight under the hook. 



Single strip wings. For this kind of wing you 



