II 



SOME FLY DRESSING 



EXAMPLES 



I. IRON BLUE. 



If I had postponed the publication of " Minor Tactics of 

 the Chalk Stream " for a year or two there is one dressing, 

 that of the iron blue dun, given as a winged fly on p. 28 

 of that work and so illustrated as the frontispiece, for 

 which I could have substituted a far better dressing of the 

 nymph type. Here it is: 



Hook. — No. 00 round bend. 



Body. — Mole's fur on crimson tying silk, well waxed, the 

 silk exposed for two or three turns at the tail end. 



Whisks. — Two or three strands of soft, mobile, white 

 hackle, quite short. 



Legs. — The very short, nearly black, hackle from the 

 throat of a cock jackdaw, not exceeding two turns. 



There is nothing very new in this dressing. The use 

 of the jackdaw's throat hackle for the Iron -blue has long 

 been known as Yorkshire. The only novelty in my 

 pattern is the use of a hackle so small as to suggest legs 

 only. In Yorkshire it appears to be used for wings. 



I dressed a couple on gut one May afternoon going down 

 in the train, and next morning, seeing the iron blue on but 

 neglected, and being convinced by the character of the rises 

 that the trout were taking it under water, I soaked my 

 pattern, and as soon as it was soft enough I tied one on 



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