Start the waxed tying silk (See Diagram 4, page 21) 1/8" from eye of
hook, Fig. 1. Wind tying silk (A) down shank of hook, and with last two
turns tie in tag material (B) Fig. 2. Tags (see diagram 1) usually
represent the egg sac on the female of the species. Chenille, wool,
gold, silver, silk, herl, or various other materials are used for tags.
(Ribbing, if used, is tied in just before the tag material.) Tie in tail
(C) Fig. 3 (see Fig. 4 Bucktail, Diagram 3, page 15, for directions, how
to hold the tail. Take from one to four turns with the Tag Material (B)
around the hook, take a couple of turns with tying silk (A) around the
loose end of (B) and cut off (B) as Fig. 4. Take about three or four
turns towards the eye of the hook with (A), with two more turns tie in
the body material (D) Fig. 4. Wind (A) back to the starting point, take
a half hitch and let hang. Wind body material (D) to where (A) was left
hanging. Wind (D) back and forth several times to form a tapered body,
fasten with two or three turns and a half hitch with (A) Fig. 5. Next
take hackle (E), and strip off soft web fibers on dotted line, Fig. E.
Hold hackle {23} (E) by the tip with thumb and finger of the left hand,
with the shiny side of the hackle to the right, place the butt
diagonally under the hook and take four or five tight turns and a half
hitch with (A) Fig. 6. Be sure that the hackle is tied on edgewise with
the shiny side to the front. Now grasp the tip of the hackle with the
hackle pliers and wind four or five turns clockwise around the hook. If
the hackle starts winding edgewise it will go on without any trouble, if
not better take it off and try again until you get the knack of tying
the butt in at just the right angle. Take three or four turns over the
hackle tip with (A) and clip off the tip close as Fig. 7. With the thumb
and finger of the left hand, reach from under the hook and pull all the
fibers down to the bottom, take three or four turns over them with (A)
towards the barb of the hook, to hold them in place, and to keep them
pointing well back, as Fig. 8. Next take a pair of matched (one right
and one left) turkey, goose, or other wing feathers, Fig. A, and cut a
section from each about 1/4" wide, place the two sections with tips even
and concave sides together as Fig. B. Cut off the butt ends to the right
length, that is so that the tips come even, or a little beyond the bend
of the hook. Place on top of hook as Fig. 9 and tie on the same as
previously explained in tying hair on Bucktails (Diagram 3, page 15,
Figs. 4 and 10). Finish off with a smooth tapered head, two or
three half hitches {24} and a couple of coats of good head lacquer,
Fig. 10. Many patterns are tied palmer, that is the hackle is wound the
whole length of the body. Many of the dry flies are tied this way,
especially the Bi-visibles. To tie a palmer hackle, prepare the hackle
by holding the tip of the hackle between the thumb and finger of the left
hand, and with the thumb and finger of the right hand, stroke the fibers
back so that they point towards the butt, instead of towards the tip, Fig.
C, Diagram 4. With the shiny side of the hackle up, strip off the fibers
from the bottom side as Fig. D. Now tie the hackle in by the tip as
Fig. 11. Make the body the same as before. Wind the hackle spirally around
the body and tie off the butt, Fig. 12. To make the hackle more full near
the head, one or more hackles are tied in at the same time as Figs. 6
and 7, the palmer hackle is wound to within 1/8" of the eye and the butt
tied in and cut off the same as the tip was cut off Fig. 7.
{25}
[Illustration: Page sized photograph of wet flies tied by the author.]
{26}
[Illustration: Page sized photograph of feathers.]
{27}