DKESSING OF FLIES, 101 



To dress trout flies in a superior style : When 

 the hook is tied to the gut and ready for the wings, 

 cut with a pen-knife two wings close from the rib of 

 the feather, lay the one piece upon your left fore 

 finger, and the other exactly upon it, with the two 

 insides together, then close your thumb upon them, 

 and place the hook below, pressing it up close to the 

 wings ; and while held in this position, lay the tying 

 thread round over it> press the point of your finger 

 closely on the tying thread, and while in the act of 

 drawing tight, also cause it to draw the wings straight 

 down together on the hook so as to prevent its ruffling 

 or twisting them to one side ; then lap the thread 

 once or twice more round on the same place to secure 

 the wings, and letting the wings escape from your 

 fingers, divide them asunder, and cross them round 

 between with the tying thread, and they will stand 

 up unruffled in the texture, a beautiful model of the 

 living water fly.* 



One may even go the length of cutting the two 

 wings from the two corresponding feathers of the 

 pair of wings from the same bird, but this is extreme 



* John says truly, that to give any practical idea by mere 

 description of the manner of dressing flies, is a difficult matter ; and 

 though his description to a dresser may be pleasant and intelligible, 

 to a novice it cannot be so. An angler will learn more in the art of 

 dressing by a half hour's lesson from a regular hand than a half day's 

 reading of clear English on the subject. (Eon.] 



