ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 157 



with loops ; then three dozen small toppings for the tails. 

 Then he looks out for a good quantity of claret seal's fur, 

 with tinsel to match. Then three dozen claret hackle, 

 three dozen jays, or black, or what-not for shoulders, and 

 then he makes up three dozen piles of assorted wings. 

 Having his various materials sorted out before him on the 

 table, he begins and whips on his three dozen tails, one 

 after the other ; then three dozen bodies ; then three 

 dozen strips of tinsel and hackles to match ; and, lastly, 

 three dozen assorted wings. In this way, if any difficulty 

 or error occurs in one body, hackle, or wing, &c., it is 

 corrected by experience in the next, and the constant 

 doing of the same thing gives wonderful dexterity and 

 certainty, which an amateur can hardly obtain. 



Now, one great object in tying a salmon fly is to leave 

 nothing but the feathers, &c., it is tied with visible ; all 

 lashing and fixing materials should be concealed until the 

 extreme head of the fly, where the loop is reached, when the 

 least bit of the hook may be left to finish off the lashing. 

 Consequently, as you finish off one operation, you cover 

 the lashing of that finish with the material of the next 

 operation. With the salmon fly, you begin, as in the trout 

 fly, at the tail. Very many flies have what is called a tag. 

 This is a turn or two of fine tinsel or thread, and the same 

 of floss silk. First, you tie on the end of the tinsel, and 

 work the tying silk back. Take two or three turns of the 

 tinsel, and tie it off, tying on the end of the floss at 

 the same time, and work that off in the same way. Then 

 you tie on the tail, making it set as well as you can in a 

 straight line with the hook, and curving delicately up- 

 wards. Having tied that on securely you may touch it 

 with varnish. Then take a bit of the strongest ostrich 

 harl you can find (black is usually employed), and tie the 



