92 J FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC. 



the habits of the trout, all the skill, all the energy, 

 possessed by the most accomplished angler are 

 merely thrown away in the use of such tackle ; no 

 angler, not even James Baillie, could fill even a small 

 basket in clear water with such tackle. We have 

 given illustrations for the very purpose that anglers 

 may compare their flies with them, but it is impos- 

 sible that fishing-tackle makers can take the care 

 necessary to make proper flies, dress them on the 

 finest gut, and sell them at the present price. 



Several flies are always used together, and the 

 method of joining them, or, as it is usually called, 

 making up the fly-cast, is a point of some importance. 

 The two things most necessary are neatness and 

 firmness. We have before mentioned that the gut 

 on which the flies are dressed should be the very 

 finest, and it is equally necessary that the threads 

 used to connect them be of the same description. 

 The folio wing illustration will assist us in explaining to 

 the reader the proper mode of making up a fly-cast. 



The thread of gut on which the tail-fly is dressed 

 is here indicated by the letter a; those on which 

 the bobs or droppers are dressed by b and c. Com- 

 mence operations by joining the ends of the threads 

 of gut a and & together ; you have now a fly at both 

 ends. Next take a thread of gut and join it to & a 



