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tion flies, whose colours and mode of dressing 

 were only known to ourselves, and which have 

 killed fish by dozens, when no other flies could 

 move a fin; and in doing so, it is not our inten- 

 tion to withhold any single detail necessary for 

 the perfect formation of such flies. It is our 

 sincere desire and anxious hope, that every 

 reader of this book may become as practically 

 and theoretically skilful yea, e r en more so 

 than we are ourselves in every thing that 

 relates to the art of fly-fishing. 



Materials used in Fly-dressing : Silk of 

 every shade and colour is the first requisite. 

 The colour of the silk must always exactly cor- 

 respond with the colour of the body of the fly 

 you mean to imitate. The most useful silks are 

 those of the following colours : straw, brim- 

 stone, fawn, light and dark Esterhazy, light 

 and dark orange, light and dark purple, dark 

 puce, black, different shades of yellow, crimson, 

 red, and brown. The strongest in proportion 

 to its substance, the finest and the best silk for 

 fly-dressing, is to be procured at Worcester, 

 and you must ask for that sort which is 

 used by glovers in stitching ladies' finest kid 

 gloves. The silk of this sort, which is com- 

 posed of two twists, will be found the most 

 useful for general purposes. 



