ANGLER'S FLIES AND HOW TO TIE 



same end, Dr. Harry Gove puts a double band 

 of silver and scarlet at the middle of the body; 

 he is a great believer in iridescence and its 

 positive effect upon the nervous excitability of 

 a trout, which goads it into striking. (You may 

 recall ^Elian's reference to the fish being "at- 

 tracted and maddened by the color" of the arti- 

 ficial lure.) These procedures are logical enough 

 because no matter what may be the color of their 

 backs, the underbodies of natural flies generally 

 are light and mostly of a silvery or golden sheen. 

 (See Gay's reference to "his gaudy vest," in 

 next chapter.) 



Very full bodies may be padded with cotton. 

 In tying herl bodies, strip some herl from your 

 green peacock or from your ostrich feather, then 

 catch two or three of them together and to the 

 shank at their tips with your ty ing-thread; 

 after thus bunching them they may be stroked 

 between thumb and finger toward the butt, to 

 make them more fluffy; and they may be 

 twisted together a little before you begin wind- 

 ing all at once around shank of hook. When 

 making silk bodies, untwist the two strands of 

 floss, lay them together and wind smoothly and 

 flat without twisting. Some materials for hairy 

 bodies, as mohair or pig's wool, fur, or a piece 

 of feather, are wound on by first either twisting 

 them about the tying-silk, or spinning or inter- 

 weaving them between its strands; this is 

 217 



