Inner side
Outer side
The writers prefer to dress their flies to gut, 4x being the most suitable grade; but good hair, if it can be obtained, will be found delightful to fish with, as a cast made from it falls so very lightly on the water; and, even when the hair has become thoroughly soaked, the droppers, unlike those tied to gut, have no tendency to twist round the cast, but stand well out from it.
The most satisfactory tying silk is Pearsall’s “Gossamer,” which is standardized in shades. A shade card is illustrated and the numbers appearing after the various silks mentioned in the text correspond with the numbers above the various shades illustrated.
In dressing the flies the silk is in all cases waxed with transparent wax; and, where it is stated that such and such a silk is to be well waxed, the result should be a shade or two darker than an ordinary waxing would give.
In the dressings of most of the winged flies it is laid down that either the outer side or the inner side of the quill feather used should in the finished article appear as the “under side” of the wing of the artificial. The reader will easily understand which is the “under side” of the wing of the artificial if he remembers that it is that side of the wing which would touch the water if the fly were “spent” and floating thereon.
Although the primary quill feathers are almost exclusively recommended for the wings of most of the winged patterns, the secondaries will often do equally well.
The correct shade of dubbing for the bodies of flies, where coloured dubbing is specified, can often be obtained to most advantage by a mixture of two or more shades. For instance, the dubbing for the Winter Brown is a mixture of brown and maroon wool, while the dubbing for the Green Insect is a mixture of green and yellow wool.