Process Of Making The Gaudy Salmon Fly
You commence by tying the hook and gut firmly together, and that it may
be more easy and convenient to the reader to accomplish this process of
making the Gaudy Salmon Fly, I will tell how it is done in my own
favourite way.--Take the hook in the left hand and hold by the shank
immediately opposite the barb, here fasten on a piece of fine tying
silk, finer than you tied the hook and gut on with, tie on a piece of
tinse
, and roll it over the hook three or four times to tip the fly;
place the nail of the left thumb on it, and tie with one knot (see the
tip on the first fly in the plate, just below the ostrich tag); take a
middling size golden pheasant topping, and tie it on just below the
ostrich tag with a piece of tinsel, about a finger length, to rib the
body (see the tinsel); take a hackle to suit the size of the hook, draw
it a little back from the point, that is the fibres (see the hackle
ready to tie in at tail in the first fly); take a fibre of ostrich, tie
it on, and give two or three rolls of it from you, and as you turn it
over keep the soft pile of the feather towards the tail, as this will
make the tag appear even, and give a running knot, the less knots the
better at this point to prevent clumsiness; now take a piece of pig
hair, and twist it round the tying silk (see the pig hair round the
silk, and the hackle tied on just above it), roll the pig hair over the
body, giving it a turn or two between the ostrich tag and the hackle,
that when the hackle is struck it may appear from the centre of the fly
to the shoulder; the pig hair is now on, roll the tinsel over it
slopingly till you come within the eighth of an inch of the loop; take
hold of the end of the hackle in the right hand, and roll it up on its
edge, or partly on its back, in rotation with the tinsel, and tie it
down with two knots, clip off the end of the hackle and tinsel.
If the fly is to be made with the hackle struck only round the shoulder
(see hackle tied in at shoulder, on the second fly in this plate. I have
not numbered the three flies on this plate, to distinguish it from the
plate of AN EASY METHOD OF MAKING A SALMON FLY.) See pig hair body and
tinsel rolled on; shift your hand up the hook in the left, and hold by
the middle, take the hackle in the right, and roll it from you closely
round the shoulder, (see hackle tied in at shoulder), leaving at the
same time enough of the hook bare at the end of the shank to tie on the
wings, and to roll on the jay feather (see jay hackle ready), the hackle
supposed to be rolled round the shoulder, cut off the tinsel and pig
hair which you see on the piece of silk, leaving another piece attached
in the same place to tie on the wings (see the piece of tinsel and pig
hair left at the head ready to be cut off, and the silk hanging to tie
on the wings--second fly).
The first fly, which we made above, is now no other in appearance than
the third fly at the bottom of the plate, which shows hook, body, and
tinsel. We now come to the most critical part of tying on the gaudy
wings firmly, (see mixed gaudy wing ready to tie on). You take a
neck-feather of the golden pheasant with a piece of silver pheasant
tail, a piece of peacock wing, a teal feather, and a piece of wood-duck,
&c., lay them all evenly together, and break the fibres between your
nails, when you tie them on the hook to make the whole small, as you may
see done at the root of the wing in the plate; take another golden
pheasant neck feather, and prepare it exactly like the last, that the
wing may be the same at each side when tied on; you now take hold of the
fly in the left, the fibres of the hackle remaining under your finger
and thumb, cut away the bit of tinsel and hackle-stem first, take the
wing in your right, and lay it on the best side next you, and hold it
tight with the left finger and thumb nails; give two laps of the silk
over it, press it down tightly with the thumb nail, and take another
turn of the silk, place the third finger against it to keep it on, till
you lay on the off side wing; take it up as you did the other, and tie
it down at the small part of the end, on the off side, hold it tight
between the left finger and thumb, pressing it at the same time well
down with the thumb nail of the right, take two rolls of the silk firmly
over it, hold on manfully with the left, and give it another nail or two
with the right thumb, make a running knot, lay it down awhile to rest
your fingers; clip off the roots left hanging or projecting at the head
closely (be careful always to leave enough of the hook bare to receive
the wings, or you cannot manage it easily), now take two or three turns
more over the head to make it tighter and even, leaving a little bit of
the point to stand out; you then take a strip of macaw, and tie it on
each side, clip off the ends, take an ostrich harl and tie it on about
the centre of the head, and roll it over from you two or three times,
the downy part of the stem next the loop to keep it all the one way, and
when up to the root of the wings, take the silk which hangs here lap it
twice over, and give a running knot; clip off the silk and end of the
harl, lay on a little varnish very lightly at the point, and where the
silk has been just tied down, keep the varnish off the ostrich harl; you
may take a little pig hair, and twist it round the silk, roll it over
the head very sparingly, and finish at the root of the wings in the same
manner, laying on a little varnish.
I will here repeat the tying on of the gaudy wing, with two or three
fibres of various sorts of feathers, &c., which may be a little more
easy to accomplish than the foregoing to the young beginner.
When you have the tail, tinsel, and hackle put together on the hook, and
the eighth of an inch of the shank left bare to receive the wings;
wax the silk well that it may make the head firm, and proceed
thus.--First strip off two fibres of the peacock's wing feather, and
place them with three or four fibres of brown mallard, and the same
quantity of spotted turkey tail, add to it a piece of neck and tail
feather of the golden pheasant, with a little guinea hen, teal, and red
macaw feather, yellow, orange, and blue. Keep these all even together,
and break them at the roots like the gaudy wing in the last plate, and
divide them in equal parts; now having mixed both your wings alike, take
up one wing in your right fore-finger and thumb nails and hold it
tightly, take up your fly with the left hand, and with the right hand
place the wing on at the off side, laying it under the fore-finger of
the left hand, and with the right hand give two turns of the tying silk
over it, at the same time holding on tight between the nails of the left
hand, and press it down with the thumb nail of the right, which keeps
the head firm; then in like manner take up the other wing and place it
on the near side, keep the wings the same length, and to extend two
eighths of an inch longer than the bend of the hook, having taken two
laps over the near side wing, cut off the root ends at the head closely,
holding tight with the left-hand nails, and press both wings down
tightly with the right thumb nail; wax the silk well here, and lap it
over the part where you cut off the ends evenly; bring the silk down on
the gut and give three or four rolls of it just below the point of the
shank to guard it from friction when throwing the fly; bring the silk up
again close to the root of the wings, and tie on a fibre of blue and
yellow macaw tail feather for horns, let them be the eighth of an inch
longer than the wings, clip off the ends; take a jay feather and prepare
it, tie it on at the off side of the head with the bare side next the
belly of the fly, roll it with the right hand over the head, about three
turns, and lap the silk over it while under the nail of the left; cut
off the stem, lay on a blue kingfisher feather each side, tie on a black
ostrich harl, give three or four rolls of it over the head, letting the
stem be next to the root of the wings as you roll it, take it under the
nail of the left thumb, and lap two turns of the silk over it close to
the root of the wings, and with the finger and thumb press up the
fibres of the ostrich towards the wings, to make it stand even in its
proper place; cut off the silk, and lay on a little varnish at the point
of the head, and your fly is completed.
As it is my intention to instruct the reader in every point necessary
for his benefit, according to my own knowledge and experience,
throughout the pages of this book, it affords me much pleasure to be
enabled to do so, and to offer something to the fly-fisher worth having,
there is scarcely a page he opens that he will not find something
valuable to himself, if he is a real lover of the art. "There is a
pleasure in angling that no one knows but the angler himself."
I will now show how the India-rubber Green Drake is made, with a
cock-tail, like the beautiful engraving in the plate, (see Green Drake).
The Grouse, and Golden Plover hackle may also be made in a similar
manner, to suit fine evenings in the summer, without the tail.
To compose the fly, take a piece of gold tinsel, and cut a long strip of
light india-rubber very thin, hackle, wings, tail, and all laid down
ready,--tie the gut on the top of the hook, to project about
three-sixteenths of an inch below the bend, or tie the gut underneath in
the usual way, and lay a piece of gut on the top somewhat thicker, to
work the tail upon, (see the tail in the engraving,--look often at the
flies to refresh the memory); take three hairs of the mane of a black
horse, and tie them on the end of the piece of gut, about an inch in
length, let the silk be fine and well waxed, then tie in the end of the
gold tinsel, and the finest end of the piece of india-rubber at the
tail, that the thick end may be towards the shoulder to make it taper;
after the body is made very even with a little yellow floss silk, hold
the fly by the shank in the left hand, with the nails in close contact
with each other, and roll the tinsel closely up, shifting your hand;
this fastened down with the tying silk, take hold of the india-rubber in
the right, and the extreme end of the gut tail in your left nails; warm
the rubber a little in the fingers to soften it, draw it out to its full
extent, and roll it over the end of the gut, and at every roll keep the
third finger of the left hand tight against it to prevent it starting,
move the nails up the hook as you proceed with the rubber to the
shoulder; give two laps of the tying silk over it, and a running knot.
The body now formed, take a very light brown grouse hackle (see the
grouse hackle prepared in the plate of Feathers,--the partridge and the
plover hackles are prepared in the same way, and all feathers of this
shape for the throat, you may either draw them back at the end, or cut
them like the wren tail feather), and tie it on at the shoulder, roll it
about three times over on its back, keeping the fibres down towards the
left under the fingers, tie the stem with a running knot, and do not
give too many laps of the tying silk at the head to make it bulky, for
it occasions the wings to turn round on the hook, as then there is no
foundation for them, but when they are tied hard on the hook, they sit
firm--you can not wing it neatly otherwise; to prevent a vacancy at the
shoulder, lay on a little yellow-green mohair to fill it up, and roll
the hackle over it, you may now guard the gut with the silk before you
tie on the wings, do not allow the body of the fly to come too close up
to the head, or as I said before, you cannot tie on the wings properly.
Now take the dyed mallard feather for the wings, strip two pieces off,
and lay them together for one wing, and two pieces for the other wing
in like manner; hold the body by the left close to the head, and lay on
the off side wing first, hold it tight under the nails of the left, and
take a turn or two of the silk tightly over it, take up the other wing
and lay it on, catching it under the nails of the left, taking two turns
more over it in the same way, and press it tight down with the nails of
the right thumb, give another turn or two of the silk, press back the
roots of the wings with the thumb nail of the right, cut them close off,
roll the silk evenly over it, and give two knots, now take a peacock's
harl, tie it in by the root end, and roll it over the head two or three
times towards the wing, and tie it firmly here with two knots of the
tying silk, cut off silk and harl, lay on a little varnish, and your fly
is completed; press up the head to make it look even, cut off all
superfluous fibres that may stand uneven, so that all will appear like
the plate.
There is another excellent way of making a body:--thus, take a piece or
length of very flat gut, and soak it well in hot water till it becomes
soft, tie it in at the end of the tail as you did the india-rubber,
form a body nicely tapered of straw, roll some white floss silk over it
at intervals, roll the soft gut closely over it to the head and tie it
fast; then put a small partridge hackle round the throat, and wing it
the same as before. Before you lay on the straw, cut it taper to suit
the size of hook you are using, gold-beater's skin rolled over flat gold
tinsel is also good.
I will here teach the making of the beautiful WINGED LARVA, specimens of
which are shown in the plate with the May Fly. There is nothing can
exceed the beauty of these flies, and as artificial specimens for
killing fish during easterly winds they are invaluable.
It was in a strong east wind which lasted some weeks, five or six years
ago, that I had such great success with this sort of fly in the river
Tweed; grilse, sea-trout, and river-trout took it greedily. The two
engravings in the plate of these flies are very beautiful. It would be a
general killer in heavy running rivers under trees, or in rapid
streams.