STREAMCRAFT 



of the feather is sometimes placed uppermost for 

 wings; and, again, it may be advantageous be- 

 fore cutting the wing strips, to draw the web 

 back in mass toward the butt of the feather so 

 that its fibers stand at right angle to the quill. 

 This is done to unlock and then re-lock in a new 

 position the individual fibers of the web, which 

 are hooked together at the edges. Wings are 

 more securely fastened directly to the shank of 

 the hook rather than tied over turns of hackle 

 quill or other body material. Long narrow bits 

 of feather in the complex adornment of salmon 

 flies are sometimes referred to as tippets; so are 

 fly snells. 



Hackles are variously started at either end of 

 the fly, by securing them first either by the 

 point or butt, and two hackles may be caught 

 in and wound together; or one wound in one 

 direction around the hook and the other in the 

 opposite way. Some "strip" the hackle before 

 tying, to make the fibers stand out at right 

 angles to the quill; to do this, hold the feather 

 by its tip between the thumb and forefinger of 

 one hand, and pressing the quill firmly between 

 the fingernails of the same fingers (or thumb 

 and middle-finger) of the other hand, draw 

 down to the root. Other good tiers, as already 

 noted, press back the fibers as they wind, to 

 set them and prevent them from being wound 

 under subsequent turns. When starting a 

 214 



