CHAPTER III
How to Dress Flies with the Wings in the Natural Position
The generally accepted method of dressing a trout fly is to put on the wings first. This is perhaps the best plan when making an imitation of one of the Ephemeridæ, but it is impossible to put the body on after the wings, if the wings are placed in the natural position in the case of any fly not belonging to this family. The hackle must also be put on before the wings, so it will be seen that putting on the wings is the last operation in dressing one of these imitations.
I have never myself used a vice in fly-dressing, and think that it is a great advantage to be able to dress a fly without using one. Any one who can dress flies well without a vice will be able to dress them even better with a vice, and will be able to dress flies at all sorts of odd times and places where a vice could not be used; while he who has never dressed flies without using one, will find that the imitations he produces are anything but neat, when he first tries to make them without his vice.
Alder and Caddis Flies.
These flies, as I have already explained, have their wings in the position shown in [Figs. 3 and 4].
Give a few turns of the tying silk round the shank of the hook, beginning near the eye and leaving enough room to put on the hackle and wings. Carry it down the shank in the Alder, going just beyond the bend, and in the Caddis-flies generally stopping well short of it, so that the body may be perfectly straight.
The material for the body and the tinsel, if used, should now be tied in. I find it best to tie the tinsel in first, not straight out from the hook, but diagonally, as, if put on in this way it lies much smoother in the first turn than if tied in quite straight.
If the body is to be made of wool or hair, the tying silk should be waxed again at the part nearest the hook for about two or three inches, and the material spun on it.
When I began fly-dressing I found this spinning on of the “dubbing” a great stumbling-block. In all the books I have read the directions on this point are simply, “Spin the ‘dubbing’ on the tying silk,” and I had not the least idea how this should be done. As others who wish to make their own flies may also find this a difficulty, I will try to explain the method which I have found the easiest.
If Berlin wool is used, a piece should be broken off and the strands separated from each other. The strands should then be laid together and pulled into short pieces until the whole is in one mass. This should then be teazed up with the nails of the thumbs and first fingers until it is of an even consistency. A small portion of this should then be taken to make the body of each fly. This should be teazed up again, and made to taper gradually to a point at one end, and applied to the tying silk with the taper end towards the hook, as shown in [Fig. 9]. All “dubbing” should be teazed up and applied in this way.