An Easy Method To Make The Trout Fly
(See Plate.)
The tyro will provide himself with a dubbing book, containing numerous
compartments, to hold feathers, furs, pig hair, mohair, hackles, wing
feathers, silk, tinsel, scissars, pliers, knife, and every other
article necessary for fly-making--all of which may be procured at my
Shop, 54, DEAN STREET, SOHO, with RODS, REELS, LINES, GUT, HOOKS,
ARTIFICIAL BAITS, and every denomination
of FISHING TACKLE, of the most
superior quality in LONDON.
Having laid out your materials on the table, seat yourself by a good
light, and proceed as follows:--Take a piece of fine silk, and pin one
end of it on your knee, take the other end between your left fore-finger
and thumb, and with the right, take a small piece of shoemaker's wax,
well tempered, and rub it all over the silk, keeping it tight in your
left till it is all covered with the wax, rub it well on the end you are
about to tie on the hook with, to keep it firm, for it will be found a
very great object to use the wax throughout the making of the fly, as
with the working of the tying silk it rubs off with the hand. There is a
very beautiful silk of all colours to be had on spools, which ribbons
are made of, that works very finely on the hook; when you wax it, take
two or three folds of it, and pin it evenly on your knee, as before (or
hold it between your teeth and twist it), twist it gently between your
fingers a little so that you can wax it well, provide a piece of leather
about an inch wide and an inch and a half long, double it, and lay a
piece of nicely tempered wax between the folds, flatten it, and when you
wax the silk, take the leather between your fingers, open the edge of
it, and rub the wax on the tying silk in the same way as before, and you
will not break the silk so easily, or dirty your fingers with the wax.
You now take the hook by the bend in the left fore-finger and thumb,
give two or three turns of the silk round the shank, flatten the end of
the gut a little, which keeps it from drawing off, and tie it on
underneath about half way down the hook firmly, this done, lay on a
little varnish with your pencil. Take a piece of finer silk to make the
fly with, and fasten it near the end of the shank, do not bring the silk
to the extreme end of the shank to leave room for the wings, as they are
apt to slip over on the gut if tied on too near. You strip off two
pieces from the woodcock or starling wing, and lay them together evenly
at the points, that the wings may be double when tied on (see the
Trout-fly wing cut out of the woodcock feather, in the Plate), see that
you do not make the wings too long when tying them on, let them be a
little longer than the bend; press them tightly with your nails on the
hook where you tie them on, and do not clip the ends of the wings with
your nails, which gives them an unnatural appearance, but whether you
lay them on first, or tie them on the reverse way and turn them back,
make a judgment of the proper length; you now tie the wings on the
reverse way at the end of the shank, with two or three rolls of the
silk, give a running knot over it, and clip off the refuse ends of the
roots of the feather; now before you form the body or tie on the hackle,
turn the wings up in their place with the thumb nail of the right, and
divide them in equal parts with a needle, draw the silk in and out
between them, take a turn or two over the roots to keep them firmly in
their place, and fasten with a running knot behind them next your left;
then tie on the hackle, to suit the size, by the root (the soft flue
previously picked off), close to the wings on its back, and give a knot
over it, take the hackle by the point in your pliers, and roll it over
the shank close under the wings two or three times on its side, keeping
the outside of it next the wings, then draw it (the hackle) right
through them, let the pliers hang with the point of the hackle in them
at the head, and take two turns of the tying silk over it, fasten on the
end of the shank which was left a little bare, cut off the silk and
hackle points, give another knot or so to secure it before so doing, and
lay on a little varnish at the head; now tie on a piece of fine tying
silk opposite the barb on the shank, take two fibres of a mallard
feather and tie them on about three-eighths of an inch long for tail, to
extend over the bend of the hook, and with one knot tie on a piece of
fine floss silk about three inches long to rib the fly; mix a little of
the hare fur with yellow mohair, and draw a small quantity of it out of
the lump with the right hand, take the hook by the bend in your left,
lay the silk and hair over the end of the third finger, the hook being
held in, twist the silk and hair together and roll it finely to the
shoulder, give a running knot or two with the silk close to the hackle,
take care to have a little more of the fur next the shoulder to make the
body nicely tapered; you may continue to make the body from where you
rolled on the hackle first, and fasten at the tail, and roll the hackle
over it if the fly is to be of a long description; tail your fly, and
tip it with tinsel, and with two running knots finish opposite the barb,
at this point before you finish, wax your silk well, and touch with your
varnish pencil: if there are any fibres of the hackle or of the wing, or
the hair standing in a wrong direction, clip it off with your scissars,
and your fly is completed. You may tie on floss silk or peacock's harl
for the body the same as the mohair; and you can perceive that you may
finish at the tail or at the shoulder, according to fancy--do not lose
sight of this plan.