WHIPPING. 53 



killing a salmon is, until you kill him with a fly of your 

 own making." 



I shall not attempt to give any directions with regard to 

 making flies, for no man ever yet learned to tie them from 

 books. I make but one observation, and that is well 

 worth attending to. The first operation in the construction 

 of a fly is that of whipping the gut firmly on to your 

 hook : if this is not well done, all your subsequent operations 

 will but lead to disappointment ; for when after all your 

 trouble and labour you have hooked a fish, he will walk off 

 with your feathers, tinsel, dubbing, hackles, and hook, 

 leaving you fishing rod in hand to admire the far end of 

 your casting line twirling gracefully in the air. To 

 avoid this misfortune, I have found it to be a good plan 

 to whip the gut on five or six hooks at a time, and then to 

 varnish the whipping with the best opal varnish, and hang 

 them up in the sun for a day or two to dry, before I 

 proceeded any farther in the manipulation of the fly. 

 The only piece of advice I shall give with regard to tying 

 flies, is to do the same thing or to see it done ; for as I 

 said before, it is well worth attending to. 



I have said that each man making a tour to the rivers 

 eastward of Quebec, ought to have twelve dozen of flies 

 ready to begin with, and that in addition he ought to 

 have all the materials for tying more. It is very likely 

 then that I may be asked for a list of these materials, and 



3 



