Superior Fishing / Or, the Striped Bass, Trout, and Black Bass of the Northern States

by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt

The feathers of small birds make good wings for trout flies, and there is not generally much difference in their color. Our brown thrush is nearly the shade of the English land-rail; the robin furnishes a fine and cohesive feather; the woodcock’s tail makes a pretty fly, while the mallard and wood duck are indispensable.

There are two distinct feathers from the mallard which are used for different flies; the brown and grey mallard feather, both taken from the drake, the former from the back near the wings, and the latter from the body beneath the wings. The bird must be in good plumage, and under the most favorable circumstances they are both, except in simple wings as hereafter described, difficult feathers to tie; the fibres, although very fine, being apt to separate. Another light feather, much easier to handle than the grey mallard, is taken from the back of the canvas-back, but is of rather too pale a color; that from the red-head is of darker grey. For salmon flies a larger range is requisite. The turkey of all shades, but especially the black and brown of the wild bird, is the main-stay; the golden pheasant’s tail is somewhat similar; the peacock gives us excellent feathers of many shades, and the finer herls from the eyes of the tail add lustre to a mixed wing. Peacock and ostrich herls are used for the heads and bodies of certain specimens. Ibis, macaw, guinea-fowl, blue-jay, king-fisher, parrot, are all necessary; while the Argus pheasant, although injured by the water, makes an exquisite wing, and the silver pheasant is used with effect in black bass flies.

For dyed feathers the pure white of the swan furnishes an excellent material, while crossing colors, such as yellow over ibis, produces great brilliancy. The mallard and canvas-back are also favorites for dyeing. The principal shades are yellow, blue, and purple.

We will now proceed to make a salmon-fly after the simplest plan on a large hook, and remember that the point is held down, and when the further side is spoken of, it refers to it in that position; the head is always towards the right and that is called the upper part, and towards it is above.

Select a piece of stout gut a little longer than the shank; pare down the ends with a knife; double them together so that one shall extend beyond the other; insert the picker between them, bend at the top and shape it by twisting and pinching the ends. If the hook is very large it is well to take several strands of gut and first twist them together by means of a vice fastened to each end, while they are wet and before shaping them over the picker. When the gut is prepared lay it down and take a well waxed piece of silk about six inches long, and holding the hook in the left hand, wind a number of separated coils from the lower towards the upper end of the shank, but not quite to the head. If the silk is well waxed it will remain in its place while you pick up the gut with your right hand, and lay it along the under side of the shank upon these coils. Hold it there with your left while you wind firmly and closely toward the bend; catch the last turn beneath the gut or pass a half hitch, and cut off the end. Take a fresh piece of silk, always thoroughly waxed, and pass a few turns over its end so as to fasten it; then hold a piece of tinsel four times as long as the shank between your left forefinger and the further side of the hook, just projecting above it, and nearly vertical; pass three turns over it, and wind the silk in separated or loose coils towards the head and let it hang there. Fasten the spring pliers on to the lower end of the tinsel lengthways with it, and holding the shank in the right hand, with the left forefinger in the pliers, twist several turns down and then back to form the tag, covering the edges of the first turns with the second carefully and neatly; let the pliers hang; pass the hook to the left hand; unwind the silk with the right down to the tinsel; fasten off with three turns and cut the tinsel close to the hook. Unwind from the floss-spool over your right hand a dozen strands, and smoothing them evenly together and holding them against the hook with the left, tie in the ends firmly, and again coil the tying silk toward the head out of the way. You may wind the floss with either hand or with the pliers as you please; if you wind with the right hand, hold the hook in the left and press the second finger on each turn as it is passed; this is called stopping it or using the stop. After covering about one sixteenth of an inch, seize the end between your second and third or third and fourth fingers, and hold it firmly while you bring down the tying silk and pass three turns; holding the silk in that way is called using the catch, and is difficult to acquire with facility. Cut the floss off neatly, and selecting a feather from the golden pheasant top-knot, lay it on its face,—the side of the feather which lies nearest the bird from which it is taken, is the inside or back, and the contrary side the outside or face,—and secure it firmly. Stop the tying silk and take up your hackle, which should have been previously prepared by stroking back and pulling out a few fibres toward the point, and holding it by the point with the right hand, lay it on its face with the butt towards the left so that the bare spot shall come at the upper end of the floss silk tip, and pass two turns of the flying silk; insert a piece of tinsel in the same manner parallel to and just over the hackle, and having fastened it, hold the tying silk with the catch; take up the dubbing of mohair with your right hand and spin it over the tying silk towards the left, having again taken the latter into the right as soon as you have caught the end of the mohair with the stop. Shape the mohair so that the body shall taper and twist it evenly together with the tying silk towards the shoulder, using the stop all the way, and do not carry it too close to the head; pull off the superfluous mohair with the fingers of the right hand and pass the silk four turns over the upper end of the body, and winding it towards the head slip it between the gut and the hook. In this way you can always secure the tying silk when you wish to lay down your work. Spring the pliers on to the tinsel, and with the right forefinger pass four even open coils carefully and regularly; unwind the silk, and having secured the tinsel replace it. If these coils are imperfect or irregular, neatness cannot be obtained. Having cut off the tinsel, catch with the spring pliers the butt of the hackle and follow the edge of the tinsel; rolling the hackle on its back so that the fibres shall point down the shank. When you reach the shoulder pass several turns of the hackle close above one another, and bringing down the tying silk secure the butt. If one hackle is not sufficient, and it rarely is, introduce a new hackle close above the first, precisely as you did the other, only on its back, and wind a sufficient number of close coils and again fasten it. The second hackle, if weak, may be fastened in on its back by the butt, and wound with the point.

The silk being hitched under the gut cut it off and apply a new piece as you did the second, and wind it towards the shoulder, letting it hang close down to the hackle. Prepare the wings by cutting with a sharp knife a few fibres from each of two mated feathers, together with a little of the stem, so that the fibres shall not be separated, and taking one piece by the butt in the right hand, lay it on the side of the hook next to you, and holding it with the left pass two turns securely, but not so tight as to derange the feather; then catching the silk, pull the butt fearlessly into its proper place, and passing another turn firmly, hitch the silk under the gut, and bring it over the reversed way on top of the wing. Cut off the butt and taking the hook in the left hand with the head towards the left, apply and hold the other wing with the right hand. Still keeping the hook reversed and wind two turns of silk with the left hand from you, and having arranged the butt pass another turn and hitch the silk again under the gut, so as to reverse it for the second time. If the wings are in their proper place, equally on each side of the hook, restore the latter to its original position in the left hand, and having cut off the butt neatly, pass as many turns as you think advisable; then having with your nails stripped off the fibres from the butt end of an ostrich herl, tie it in with the point towards the left and the elevated ridge of its stem above. Hitching the thread again under the gut, wind with the spring pliers the herl in close coils to form the head; secure and cut it close, and then stopping one end of silk under your forefinger whip the other over it three turns and draw all tight. Apply a little varnish at the head and your fly is finished.

To strengthen the fly, it is well to use a little varnish before the head is commenced, and even before the wings are laid, but the writer’s experience goes to prove that the wings are the last part of the fly to give out. The head will be smaller if instead of the ordinary tying silk three single strands of floss are used.

To make a handsome fly, fasten the hook, the tag, the tip, and the tail as directed, then preparing an ostrich herl as for a head, tie it in and wind several coils close to and covering the butt of the tail, holding the hook in the right hand with the silk coiled up out of the way, and using the pliers to guide the herl. Secure the end, apply with the left hand at the nearer side of the hook, the tinsel, and afterwards at the further side floss, for the body. Coil the tying silk out of the way, and with the left hand wind the floss half way up the shank and secure it; then tie in a hackle and some dubbing as heretofore directed, and having spun the latter on the tying silk with the right hand, work it up towards the head for the second division of the body, and secure it firmly. Hitch the silk under the gut, and thrusting the butt of the hackle down through the gut loop, with the pliers sprung on to the tinsel, and on the left forefinger coil the tinsel up as far as the hackle; withdraw the latter from the loop, hold it and the hook in the left hand, and with the right forefinger continue the tinsel to the head. Secure it; wind and secure the hackle as heretofore, and apply a new piece of tying silk composed of strands of floss.

Select a few fibres of various feathers, which, combined, will produce a pleasing effect, and holding them all together in the left hand twist the lower half, that nearest the stem several times, and break it with the nails of the right thumb and finger, till the fibres are softened at the spot where they are to be tied to the hook. Include with them a piece of herl, and applying them with the right hand to the hook, hold them and it with the left, while you take sufficient turns of silk with the right, hitch the silk and springing the pliers on to the herl, wind and fasten the head and finish off.

There may be as many joints or divisions as fancy shall dictate; and they can be either of floss silk, mohair, or other material. To conceal the joints herl may be wound like a head or a few turns of hackle taken, or two small feathers from the golden pheasant’s neck may be applied, one above and the other below, and after being loosely tied they may be drawn down by the butts till they are separate round the entire joint. The favorite feather for the tail is the golden pheasant top-knot, but in many flies scarlet worsted is preferable, and the fibres of other feathers may be substituted. In making a mixed wing as it is called, separate the fibres as much as possible, and after the wing is fastened, a long golden pheasant top-knot tied over it will often improve the effect. It is common to add to the wing two fibres of blue macaw, one on each side, and to tie them properly the silk should be reversed by passing it under the gut, as directed for tying simple wings. Care and experience are requisite to the selection of a handsome mixed wing, and fibres of mallard or wood duck, plain or dyed, are usually a component part. Delicate feathers produce a finer effect than coarse ones.