_Question._--What do you mean by Fly-making?
_Answer._--I mean the artificial assimilation of those beautiful insects
that appear on brooks and rivers during the summer season.
_Q._--What are these artificial flies used for in general?
_A._--They are principally used to afford gentlemen rural amusement and
recreation, by their taking both trout and salmon with the rod, line,
and fly.
_Q._--Name the different materials requisite for making the Artificial
Fly.
[Illustration: _To make the Trout-fly as taught in the_ CATHECHISM.]
_A._--The necessary materials for making the Artificial Fly are as
follows:--various kinds of feathers, furs, mohair, pig hair, dyed
hackles, silks, tinsel, &c., &c.
_Q._--When the tyro has all the materials prepared, and seated at the
table, how does he commence to make the fly?
_A._--First, the hook is firmly tied on the gut, and one eighth of an
inch of the end of the shank left bare to receive the wings (see plate,
hook, gut, and tail, tied on).
_Q._--How are the wings tied on?
_A._--They may be tied on the reverse way first, at the extreme end of
the shank, and after the tail, body, and legs are formed, turn up the
wings, divide and tie them down, and form the head.
_Q._--Is there any other way of placing on the wings of a trout fly?
_A._--Yes, by forming the tail, body, and legs first, and tie on the
wings last.
_Q._--Having the wings the reverse way, to appear in strict proportion
over the fly when turned, what is the next part to be performed?
_A._--Next, I take hold of the shank opposite the barb in my left, and
here tie on a short piece of tinsel for the tip, roll it over two or
three times evenly, and secure it with a running knot, immediately above
this tie on the tail.
_Q._--When the wings are tied on reversed, the tip and tail secured, how
do you form the body?
_A._--I take hold of the hook in my left hand close to the tail, and
with my right draw out a small quantity of mohair, twist it round the
tying silk close to the hook, draw it gradually full under the fingers
to taper it, I then roll it closely over the shank to the root of the
wings and fasten it. Leave a vacancy to receive the hackle if rolled on
at the shoulder.
_Q._--If there is not sufficient mohair twisted on the silk to form the
whole body, what must be done?
_A._--When the mohair on the silk becomes short, I tie it down on the
centre of the shank, and tie in the point of the hackle here (see the
second and third flies in the plate of this process), and apply a little
more stuff to fill the shoulder, leaving a little of the hook to receive
the wings.
_Q._--Having tied the hackle on towards the shoulder of the fly, how do
you strike it in its proper place?
_A._--I hold the hook in my left hand by the bend, and with the right
take hold of the stem of the hackle and roll it round the shank on its
back, and tie it down (the fly may be ribbed and hackled from the tail
like the fourth fly in the plate).
_Q._--The hackle, body, tail, and tinsel now neatly tied, how do you tie
on the wings?
_A._--I now hold the fly in my left hand by the body, drawing the fibres
underneath my finger and thumb out of the way, lay on the wings double,
catch them under the nails of the left and give two laps of the tying
silk over them, press them down at this place with the right nail divide
and let the fibres of the hackle spring up between them, cut off the
roots, lap the silk closely over the head and fasten with two knots (see
the cock tail at the bottom of this plate).
_Note._--The wings of this fly were tied on first,
as seen, and turned up last; the fuller the fly is
at the shoulder the more the wings will stand
upright on the back, and it often occurs that
when the wings of the fly lie flat on the back,
and it happens to be an end fly on the casting
line, which is usually under the surface of the
water, that the fish takes it for a drowned fly
eagerly, and the wings much longer than the bend
of the hook, this is not unnatural, as the wings
of numbers of the brown and olive flies seen on
the water have their wings much longer than the
body, and when not on the wing lie flat on their
backs.