66 Fly-Dressing. 



encourage any angler who has the "ambition to 

 become one of the greatest deceivers," I can only 

 say to him, as Cotton said to his disciple, " A trout 

 taken with a fly of your own making will please 

 you better than twenty with one of mine." 



I subjoin a few hints as practical in their nature 

 as possible, in the hope that the beginner may be 

 saved some needless trouble through following a 

 wrong method. 



There are several ways of dressing flies. Some 

 dressers clip the feather to avoid breaking the 

 fibre, and tie the wings on separately. I cannot 

 commend this plan. A fly so dressed is very easily 

 injured, and soon gets beyond identification by 

 either fisher or fish ; while from the very first the 

 wings lie flat on the back when the fly is placed on 

 the water, and thus rob the imitation of much of 

 its attractiveness. 



Another method consists in taking off the fibre 

 in small sections, and placing them evenly and 

 closely together until the dresser has sufficient to 

 form both wings. These he ties upon the hook 

 with four or five turns of the silk, and then, with 

 a needle dividing the fibre, and so forming the 

 wings, he whips the thread a few turns between 

 them, reversing it each time as if describing the 

 figure eight. The number of turns required depends 

 upon the fineness of the silk. 



