double hook, which if propertly set, has 
the holding power of a hook twice the 
size of one of the hooks of which it is 
made. 
HERE are several divisions under 
which flies are entered. The chief 
ones are hackles, palmers and winged 
flies. A hackle is a fly having a body 
of peacock herl or silk floss or wool 
with a rooster hackle wrapped around 
the top of the body so that the fibers 
stand out like ribs of an umbrella. 
This form of fly may be tied with or 
without a tail. A palmer is practi- 
cally the same as a hackle except that 
the hackling runs down the length of 
the body, terminating at the tail end. 
Winged flies, which comprise the larg- 
est number, have either single or di- 
vided wings at the head. All flies, 
with a very few exceptions, have some 
hackling. 
For years back it has been the cus- 
tom to make flies up on a short snell 
or gut, with a loop for attaching to 
the loop on the leader. In fact most 
of the wet flies to be obtained in tackle 
shops now, are tied in this manner. 
The standard length of snell used on 
gut flies is about four and a half 
inches. Fly makers in general try to 
keep their snells the same length, in 
order that their flies may fit into any 
of the fly books on the market. 
Since the advent of dry fly fishing 
in America, however, the angling pub- 
lic has gradually become familiar with 
the eyed fly. Men who fish both dry 
and wet are now asking for eyed wet 
flies as well as dry. The day will prob- 
ably come when snelled flies will be as 
obsolete as finger hooks on bait-casting 
rods. 
There are many reasons why the 
eyed fly is far superior to the snelled 
one, but the most important one is that 
the angler using an eyed fly knots it 
directly to the leader and ties a fresh 
knot each time he starts fishing. The 
eye on a Pennell eyed hook is smooth 
and has no sharp edges, and therefor 
furnishes no sharp edge to cut the gut, 
as the unprotected end of the shank of 
a plain hook does. This means a lot to 
the angler who is in the habit of not 
allowing his line to lengthen  suffi- 
ciently on the back cast, before coming 
forward. 
HE resultant “snap” of such a 
course of procedure: has the same 
effect as cracking a whip—the end of 
the whip lash becomes frayed, and in 
the case of the fly, the gut also be- 

comes frayed at the head of the fly and 
the fly usually parts company with the 
leader when the hook is set in a fish. 
All this is obviated by the use of the 
eyed fly. If the angler finds the gut 
becoming worn at the eye of the fly 
(as rarely happens) he can simply re- 
tie his knot and pursue his casting 
without fear of losing the first fish he 
sets hook into. 
Another advantage of the eyed fly is 
its compactness. A gross or more may 
be carried in a small tin or aluminum 
box, whereas the angler must take a 
large bulky leather book with him if 
he desires to carry six dozen or less 
of the snelled flies. Another point well 
worth considering in connection with 
eyed flies is that the double loop of 
snell and leader is done away with and 
the fly alights much more softly on the 
water, because there is no loop just 
ahead of it to cause a disturbance in 
the water. 
HE difference between wet and dry 
flies is as great as the difference 
between wet fly and dry fly fishing. 
Wet flies are sometimes called “flat 
flies,” because they are usually dressed 
flat without divided wings. The En- 
glish idea of a wet fly is the correct 
one. The hook should be heavy and the 
dressing light in order to be in good 
keeping with wet-fly practice. Wet fly 
fishing is sunken fly fishing and a fly 
that goes down when it strikes the 
water is more successful than one that 
rides on.or near the surface, when the 
wet method is employed. Also, a 
lightly dressed fly is more nearly a rep- 
lica of a drowned insect than one 
having a lot of hackle and wings. The 
tendency on the part of American fly 
tiers is to over-dress wet flies, packing 
them with thick hackles and upholster- 
ing their bodies with about twice too 
much material. When a fish strikes 
such a fly, it is very apt to get a mouth- 
ful of feathers and no hook. The 
hackle on an artificial fly corresponds 
to the legs on a natural insect. There 
are six legs on a natural insect, and if 
the artificial imitation is tied with a 
stiff cockerel hackle, put on very spar- 
ingly, it will much more nearly ap- 
proximate the real thing and corre- 
spondingly be more effective than if it 
is tied with a bunch of loose, fluffy hen 
hackle. This applies even more to dry 
flies than to wet flies. 
Dry flies are tied on a light wire 
hook and have a pair of divided wings, 
cocked at right angles to the shank. 
They are intended to imitate the living 
: 
7 
insect as nearly as possible in color 
and conformation. The hackles on a 
dry fly should be as stiff as possible; 
the points should stand well away from 
the body of the fly, as the hackle is the 
means whereby a dry fly floats. Clip 
the hackle from a fly, and no matter 
how much wing and body it has, the 
fly will go down. 
OFT hen hackle has the same ef- 
fect; it absorbs water and the fly 
will not stay on the surface, though it 
be saturated with oil. Remove the legs 
from an insect and it will be unable 
to stay on the surface, also, because 
an insect floats by spreading its legs 
and covering as much of the water as 
possible. Many dry flies are tied in the 
form of palmers or hackles in imita- 
tion of caterpillars and are very ef- 
fective. As with wet flies, some floaters 
are tied with a tail and some without. 
The materials used in both wet and 
dry flies come from varied and widely 
removed sources. A complete list 
would cover many pages and would in- 
clude fur, from the mole to the moose, 
and feathers, from the humming bird 
to the ostrich. Briefly, some of the 
materials that enter into the making 
of artificial flies are as follows: Water 
fowl feathers of all sorts, cockerel 
hackles, starling wings, peacock herl 
(the long fibres of a peacock’s tail! 
feathers), ostrich herl, grouse, wood-| 
cock and pheasant feathers, dyed swan 
feathers for fancy flies; the fur of the 
mole, rabbit, muskrat, fox and hair 
of the deer and moose, silk floss (the 
kind used for embroidering), chenille, 
horsehair, mohair, pigs’ wool, worsted 
yarn and fine silk thread. | 
It would be a difficult task indeed, 
for one to compile a list of all the 
known patterns of flies in use today,| 
and if he were to describe them all it 
would take him many hours. Each 
year new patterns arise; some of them 
are phenomenal killers for a season or 
two and then in some mysterious man- 
ner, seem to lose their efticacy. 




UT there are a certain number of) 
popular favorites which remain 
constant in their fish-taking qualities 
and in the esteem of anglers through. 
out the land. Here is a list of. flies 
that may be purchased at almost any 
tackle shop in a locality where bass| 
and trout are to be found. They are¢ 
always reliable and will take fish, one 
day or another throughout the length 



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