Part 3

TO MAKE THE PALMER, OR DOUBLE-HACKLE FLY.

You tie on the hook firmly as before, and prepare two hackles for the fly, as you may see in the plate of Feathers, two hackles tied together at the roots, which keeps them on their sides evenly while rolling them on; you hold the hook by the shank in your left hand, tie in the hackles, the inside downwards, that when tied on and finished, the outside of the feathers appears to the eye (see the hackle tied in at the points, and the body and tinsel rolled on, at the bottom of the plates of Trout Flies for the season); tie in the tinsel to the body, and the peacock's harl, or mohair, or floss silk, to form it, at the same place--turn the hook in your fingers, and hold it by the bend; take the harls in your right hand, and roll them up to the head, or mohair, or your floss silk in the same way; take a turn of the tying silk over, with a running knot, clip off the ends of the harl, (leave a little of the end of the shank of the hook bare to finish on, or you will not be enabled to roll the two hackles neatly up to this place). Next, roll the tinsel over the harl, and tie, slope it as you go up; then take hold of the hackles in your right hand, and roll them over the body close beside the tinsel slopingly, taking care at the same time to keep the third or middle finger of the hand the fly is held in tight against them at each turn, and roll them closer as you go up to the shoulder, pull them tight here, and if there are any fibres left on the stem of the hackle that are superfluous, pull them off, still keeping your finger against them, and holding hard the hook; now take a roll or two of the tying silk over them and the knots, give the stem another pull to tighten them, and clip it off, tie down the head neatly with two running knots, and varnish it; press the fly between your fingers to slant the hackles downwards; and if any of the fibres of the hackles stand the wrong way cut them off, although, if they are rolled evenly together on their sides or back, you will turn the fly out correct,--see the beautiful Palmer in the plate, with the hook tied in on the back, which is a perfect model,--these hooks are tied together on the same piece of gut first, and then make the fly over them. It is difficult to perform this job until you know how to make a palmer on a single hook.

The foregoing is my favorite way of making a palmer, but you must be proficient before you can manage it well. I will here show how it can be made in a very easy manner, when you are able to handle the materials, and tie on nicely. When you have the hook and gut neatly tied on, take two hackles, and tie them in at the end of the shank by the roots on their back, tie in the peacock harl and tinsel to rib it at the same place; holding your hook of course by the bend in the left hand, take hold of the two hackles in your pliers by the points, and when the tinsel and body is rolled on, turn the hackles over the body close with the tinsel on their backs slopingly, till you reach the tail; here let go the pliers, and they will hang with the ends of the hackles still in them, till you take two turns of the silk over them, clip off the ends of the hackles, and tie it neatly with two running knots, lay on a little varnish; the fly will look rather rough in this method when finished, but with a little pain you will soon accomplish it; press down the fibres with your fingers, and cut away the superfluities. You should have a palmer ready made before you always while making this fly, which will facilitate you in your progress.

When you find it difficult to place on the hackles first while you are making a fly, pull off one side of the fibres, and lay two evenly together, and draw them back at the points where you tie them in, as the hackle in the plate of Feathers, and roll them always slopingly over the body to the shoulder, on their edge with the outside of them next the head; and, according as you come up to the end of the shank, roll them closer, which makes the fly appear full there, press them well down with your fingers, (see the three-hackle, or Palmer Flies for Trout, 7, 8, and 9). The hackles of these three flies are beautifully struck.

HOW TO MAKE THE SALMON FLY, AS SHOWN IN THE BEAUTIFUL PLATE OF ENGRAVINGS ON SALMON HOOKS.

Reader, you will have an idea of the sorts of materials you require for the different processes on each hook in the plates, as the models were tied by me in strict proportion, and are most exquisite engravings: You take a piece of twisted gut to form the loop on the fly, double it over a needle, or "picker," to form an eye, and pare off the ends slantingly to lie nice and even when tied, as you may see in Plate I. on Salmon Hooks; wind your waxed silk round the shank of the hook about four or five times, before placing on the gut; hold the hook in the left hand near the end of the shank, lay the gut-loop underneath, and hold on between your finger and thumb tightly, to prevent it turning round when you lap the tying silk over it, and keep shifting your fingers down the shank out of the way of the tying silk in its progress to the tail, which you will see in Plate I. You now draw out a small piece of yellow, or red mohair, keep it tight between the nails and tie it on, first tip the fly immediately under the tail, as in Plate I.; you make it even with your scissars at the point, as that tail is seen; you now take a piece of yellow or orange floss silk, and lap it from the tail about two-eighths of an inch up to where you see the hackle and tinsel tied in, Plate II.; after having tied the hackle and tinsel on as you see it there, (you may draw the point of the hackle back, as the hackle prepared in the plate of Feathers, instead of cutting it at the point, as you may see also the hackle cut, in the plate of Feathers). You now shift your finger and thumb up the body a little, and just where you finished the knot over the floss silk twist a little pig hair round the tying silk sparingly, and roll it over the shank to the head, or within the eighth of an inch of the head, as you may see in Plate II.; you now take the two pieces of tinsel in the right hand and roll them up slopingly to where the silk is hanging, Plate II., and whip it down; you next take the stem of the hackle in the right hand, and roll it evenly beside the tinsel on its side, or partly on its back (this is done by giving the stem a gentle twist in your fingers) till you bring it to the head where there may be two or three extra rolls of it given to make it full at the shoulder, or where you tie on the wings, (see the hackle, beautifully rolled on from tail to shoulder, Plate III). You now take a piece of mallard feather, stripped off with your nails, and press it small at the end of the roots where it is to be tied on, (see the Mallard Wing prepared in the plate of Feathers); you strip another piece like it, and lay them even together; you take the other two pieces in like manner and do the same, so that each wing, when tied on, will be double; you now take the fly, Plate III., in your hand between the nails close to the shoulder, and wax well the piece of silk that hangs here; you take up one wing and lay it on at the off side, and give two whips of the silk over it tightly, holding on at the shoulder well with the left hand, to keep the wing from turning round under the belly; you now take up the near side wing, and lay it on in like manner, whipping it twice over, and then a running knot, (see the Mallard Wings, tied beautifully on, Plate IV.); and in that plate you see the root ends projecting over the loop, cut them off, and finish it with three or four turns of the silk, and two knots, close to the root of the wings to make all even.

I will now proceed to show how the other three flies are formed--5, 6, and 7.

These may be termed middling gaudy, and are famous for the rivers in the north of Scotland, or the clear waters of Ireland. You perform the operation of tying on the hook as Plate I; tip the fly at the tail, and tie on a topping; take a piece of black ostrich or peacock harl, tie it in at the roots, and roll it evenly over the shank two or three times (see the harl tag, Plate V); tie in the hackle above the ostrich tag, leave it hanging, and roll the twist up the body, previously formed of floss silk nicely tapered (see the Body of Plate V); take the hackle in the right hand, and roll it evenly with the tinsel, and fasten it as Plate VI; leave the silk hanging here to tie on the wings and the head. The wings of Plate VII, may be seen tied on the reverse way, and the body and hackle formed afterwards; they are now ready to turn back in their proper place to hang over the body, this is done by turning them neatly up with the thumb nail of the right hand, and laying them evenly on each side of the fly, with the best side of the feather out. The spots and shades which are perceivable in the wings and hackles of all the engraved specimens of fly, are shown to great perfection--I have described the whole of them, to match the shades exactly, so that it is impossible to go astray when tying on each fibre of feather.

We will now return to Plate VI, and teach how it is to be winged--You cut off a strip from the turkey tail feather, which must be unbroken, as a whole wing; after measuring the proper length of it for the hook, you draw each piece small with the nails where it is to be tied on, as the strip is broader at the root, so that, take it on the whole, it must be narrow where this piece of feather is made small at the roots, as seen in the plate of Feathers, to keep it so whole, touch it with a little varnish, and let it dry a little on the table.

You take hold of the fly in your left hand, close to the head, draw the fibres of the hackle out of the way by placing them under your fingers; take the wing in your right hand and lay it on, catching it between the left finger and thumb on the top of the hook tightly, and give two rolls of the tying silk over it; take up the other wing, like the last, and lay it on the near side, and lap the silk over it in like manner (renew the silk with wax before the wings are tied on); you now may tie on a few fibres of golden pheasant neck, and tail feathers at each side of the wings just put on, and a piece of macaw feather at each side; head it with ostrich, or roll a little pig hair round the silk sparingly, lap it over twice, and finish by giving two running knots over it close to the root of the wings (see the wing of the middling plain Salmon Fly, Plate II, immediately above the Sea-Trout Fly and May Fly.)

The reader will perceive in this plate ON SALMON HOOKS, that I have just described a garden, as it were fully cultivated, there is hardly a space left waste, like the broad fields of industrious England, whose sons "never, never shall be slaves." All the other plates are likewise full of useful matter, which will prove my hard labour, and at the same time show that I have hid nothing from the Fly-Fisher in all the processes.

If the fly (Plate V., ON SALMON HOOKS) is winged with feathers, like the Irish gaudy wing, prepared in the plate of Feathers, it will be found to approach near the gaudy fly at the bottom of the plate, with "picker" at top.

I will now describe the process of making the Gaudy Salmon Fly, the plate of which is invaluable to the Salmon fisher:--

PROCESS OF MAKING THE GAUDY SALMON FLY.

(_See Plate._)

You commence by tying the hook and gut firmly together, and that it may be more easy and convenient to the reader to accomplish this process of making the Gaudy Salmon Fly, I will tell how it is done in my own favourite way.--Take the hook in the left hand and hold by the shank immediately opposite the barb, here fasten on a piece of fine tying silk, finer than you tied the hook and gut on with, tie on a piece of tinsel, and roll it over the hook three or four times to tip the fly; place the nail of the left thumb on it, and tie with one knot (see the tip on the first fly in the plate, just below the ostrich tag); take a middling size golden pheasant topping, and tie it on just below the ostrich tag with a piece of tinsel, about a finger length, to rib the body (see the tinsel); take a hackle to suit the size of the hook, draw it a little back from the point, that is the fibres (see the hackle ready to tie in at tail in the first fly); take a fibre of ostrich, tie it on, and give two or three rolls of it from you, and as you turn it over keep the soft pile of the feather towards the tail, as this will make the tag appear even, and give a running knot, the less knots the better at this point to prevent clumsiness; now take a piece of pig hair, and twist it round the tying silk (see the pig hair round the silk, and the hackle tied on just above it), roll the pig hair over the body, giving it a turn or two between the ostrich tag and the hackle, that when the hackle is struck it may appear from the centre of the fly to the shoulder; the pig hair is now on, roll the tinsel over it slopingly till you come within the eighth of an inch of the loop; take hold of the end of the hackle in the right hand, and roll it up on its edge, or partly on its back, in rotation with the tinsel, and tie it down with two knots, clip off the end of the hackle and tinsel.

If the fly is to be made with the hackle struck only round the shoulder (see hackle tied in at shoulder, on the second fly in this plate. I have not numbered the three flies on this plate, to distinguish it from the plate of AN EASY METHOD OF MAKING A SALMON FLY.) See pig hair body and tinsel rolled on; shift your hand up the hook in the left, and hold by the middle, take the hackle in the right, and roll it from you closely round the shoulder, (see hackle tied in at shoulder), leaving at the same time enough of the hook bare at the end of the shank to tie on the wings, and to roll on the jay feather (see jay hackle ready), the hackle supposed to be rolled round the shoulder, cut off the tinsel and pig hair which you see on the piece of silk, leaving another piece attached in the same place to tie on the wings (see the piece of tinsel and pig hair left at the head ready to be cut off, and the silk hanging to tie on the wings--second fly).

The first fly, which we made above, is now no other in appearance than the third fly at the bottom of the plate, which shows hook, body, and tinsel. We now come to the most critical part of tying on the gaudy wings firmly, (see mixed gaudy wing ready to tie on). You take a neck-feather of the golden pheasant with a piece of silver pheasant tail, a piece of peacock wing, a teal feather, and a piece of wood-duck, &c., lay them all evenly together, and break the fibres between your nails, when you tie them on the hook to make the whole small, as you may see done at the root of the wing in the plate; take another golden pheasant neck feather, and prepare it exactly like the last, that the wing may be the same at each side when tied on; you now take hold of the fly in the left, the fibres of the hackle remaining under your finger and thumb, cut away the bit of tinsel and hackle-stem first, take the wing in your right, and lay it on the best side next you, and hold it tight with the left finger and thumb nails; give two laps of the silk over it, press it down tightly with the thumb nail, and take another turn of the silk, place the third finger against it to keep it on, till you lay on the off side wing; take it up as you did the other, and tie it down at the small part of the end, on the off side, hold it tight between the left finger and thumb, pressing it at the same time well down with the thumb nail of the right, take two rolls of the silk firmly over it, hold on manfully with the left, and give it another nail or two with the right thumb, make a running knot, lay it down awhile to rest your fingers; clip off the roots left hanging or projecting at the head closely (be careful always to leave enough of the hook bare to receive the wings, or you cannot manage it easily), now take two or three turns more over the head to make it tighter and even, leaving a little bit of the point to stand out; you then take a strip of macaw, and tie it on each side, clip off the ends, take an ostrich harl and tie it on about the centre of the head, and roll it over from you two or three times, the downy part of the stem next the loop to keep it all the one way, and when up to the root of the wings, take the silk which hangs here lap it twice over, and give a running knot; clip off the silk and end of the harl, lay on a little varnish very lightly at the point, and where the silk has been just tied down, keep the varnish off the ostrich harl; you may take a little pig hair, and twist it round the silk, roll it over the head very sparingly, and finish at the root of the wings in the same manner, laying on a little varnish.

I will here repeat the tying on of the gaudy wing, with two or three fibres of various sorts of feathers, &c., which may be a little more easy to accomplish than the foregoing to the young beginner.

When you have the tail, tinsel, and hackle put together on the hook, and the eighth of an inch of the shank left bare to receive the wings; wax the silk well that it may make the head firm, and proceed thus.--First strip off two fibres of the peacock's wing feather, and place them with three or four fibres of brown mallard, and the same quantity of spotted turkey tail, add to it a piece of neck and tail feather of the golden pheasant, with a little guinea hen, teal, and red macaw feather, yellow, orange, and blue. Keep these all even together, and break them at the roots like the gaudy wing in the last plate, and divide them in equal parts; now having mixed both your wings alike, take up one wing in your right fore-finger and thumb nails and hold it tightly, take up your fly with the left hand, and with the right hand place the wing on at the off side, laying it under the fore-finger of the left hand, and with the right hand give two turns of the tying silk over it, at the same time holding on tight between the nails of the left hand, and press it down with the thumb nail of the right, which keeps the head firm; then in like manner take up the other wing and place it on the near side, keep the wings the same length, and to extend two eighths of an inch longer than the bend of the hook, having taken two laps over the near side wing, cut off the root ends at the head closely, holding tight with the left-hand nails, and press both wings down tightly with the right thumb nail; wax the silk well here, and lap it over the part where you cut off the ends evenly; bring the silk down on the gut and give three or four rolls of it just below the point of the shank to guard it from friction when throwing the fly; bring the silk up again close to the root of the wings, and tie on a fibre of blue and yellow macaw tail feather for horns, let them be the eighth of an inch longer than the wings, clip off the ends; take a jay feather and prepare it, tie it on at the off side of the head with the bare side next the belly of the fly, roll it with the right hand over the head, about three turns, and lap the silk over it while under the nail of the left; cut off the stem, lay on a blue kingfisher feather each side, tie on a black ostrich harl, give three or four rolls of it over the head, letting the stem be next to the root of the wings as you roll it, take it under the nail of the left thumb, and lap two turns of the silk over it close to the root of the wings, and with the finger and thumb press up the fibres of the ostrich towards the wings, to make it stand even in its proper place; cut off the silk, and lay on a little varnish at the point of the head, and your fly is completed.

As it is my intention to instruct the reader in every point necessary for his benefit, according to my own knowledge and experience, throughout the pages of this book, it affords me much pleasure to be enabled to do so, and to offer something to the fly-fisher worth having, there is scarcely a page he opens that he will not find something valuable to himself, if he is a real lover of the art. "There is a pleasure in angling that no one knows but the angler himself."

I will now show how the India-rubber Green Drake is made, with a cock-tail, like the beautiful engraving in the plate, (see Green Drake). The Grouse, and Golden Plover hackle may also be made in a similar manner, to suit fine evenings in the summer, without the tail.