Concerning Flies 199 



What a wet fly ought not to be. 



It should not be dressed heavily, with 

 stiff, solid, and too formal wings. If each 

 wing is double, still more objectionable is 

 the fly. It should not be too heavily hackled, 

 or too full-bodied. Finally, it should not 

 have much tinsel ; since there, in a nut- 

 shell, you have the kind of fly I would 

 rather run a mile from, than fish a minute 

 with. 



Consequently ; the wings should be spare, 

 the hackle likewise; the body of the fly 

 thin, rather than stout ; and tinsel ; if it 

 be employed at all, always used very 

 sparingly. 



N.B. The wings of a fly should never 

 be longer than the hook. I go further, and 

 assure the reader that, for forty-five years, 

 I have appreciated the value of a wet fly 

 dressed with only one wing, tied in a bunch, 

 and placed upright. 



The softer the feathers, of which both 

 the wings and hackle are composed, and, 

 consequently, the more the individual move- 

 ment the fibres are capable of, as the fly 

 is making its way quietly down stream, the 

 more attractive and killing is that artificial 

 wet fly. 



I have seldom dressed river-trout flies 



