FLIES 77 



STYLE 



Good winged bass flies are tied with the wings " re- 

 versed." That is, the wing is first tied under the body 

 and then reversed and tied over the body making them 

 much more durable. 



Wings are usually placed where wings ought to 

 be, but for fishing in weedy places bass fishermen 

 often have the wings " inverted " tied on the 

 under side to cover the hook point and act as a weed 

 guard. Another method much used on the Illinois 

 River, is to tie a few horse hairs on the hook shank, 

 immediately under the eye, of sufficient length to ex- 

 tend over the hook point. Either method, I believe, 

 is superior to a wire weed guard. 



Hackle flies, which are almost as good for bass as 

 for trout, are tied without wings and the hackles (hair- 

 like " legs ") are on the upper part of the body only. 

 Palmer flies are similar but have the hackles the entire 

 length of the body and are often finished off with a 

 short red tail, which I believe adds to their attrac- 

 tiveness. 



Trout flies tied on long shank hooks are often very 

 effective when there is a hatch on but the hooks must 

 be of good quality. 



SNELLED, LOOPED AND EYED FLIES 



I do not like snelled flies and intend to never use 

 another one. My experience is that the snells give out 

 before the fly, leaving an otherwise good, but useless^ 



