BLACKER'S, ART OF FLY MAKING, &c.,

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

I know not how to apologise for submitting a Second Edition of this little Book to the notice of the Angling few, after the appearance of so many by clever writers, except the many calls I had for it, and a sincere desire of improving farther upon a craft that has not hitherto been clearly promulgated by a real practitioner; consequently my great object is to benefit and amuse my readers, by giving them something practical, which at the present time may be particularly wanted by those who love to make their own flies, whose wants, without doubt, will be found sufficiently supplied in this book; the tyro will appreciate it as valuable to him, and the senior angler who may, perchance, be in possession of it, and who may be singularly fond of making his flies, and amusing himself dyeing the hackles and colours, &c., will, I am persuaded, consider it a treasure.

My endeavours have been unceasing for many years past, in striving to please the great Salmon Fishers and Trout Fishers of this Country, and I must confess that my labours have not been in vain; they have generously conferred upon me their very kind patronage and good will, benefits for which I hold them in very great estimation. Under these circumstances, I have taken much pains to write the book in a befitting manner to suit their tastes and purposes, although my inability in many instances has been an obstacle, nevertheless with all my faults I claim the title of Fisherman, an humble and unimportuned name which no reasonable dispensation can deprive me of.

From my boyhood, I took great delight in ranging along the banks of the beautiful and romantic streams of my native land, Ireland; and having also been for many years a skilful Fly Fisher of no little commendation, in both Great Britain and Hibernia, it is my desire to impart to the world, plainly and easily, the knowledge I have acquired, that all those who wish to become masters of the art, may, by patience and practice, and a close adherence to the instructions I shall lay down, derive the fullest benefit from my experience.

I have endeavoured in the following treatise on Fly-making, to divest the subject, as far as possible, of all technicalities and superfluities; at the same time, I have entered into such full details in the construction of the Fly, that by adopting the process I have pointed out, and following the instructions I have given, the aspirants to the art of Fly-making may speedily become proficients.

In this little book there will be found nothing imaginary, but it is purely written from the practice of angling, so that I may without scruple, justly entitle it The Art of Fly-making, Angling, and Dyeing of Colours. It is also interspersed with many useful remarks that will no doubt agreeably entertain my readers.

No man has taken such pains to improve upon the angler's craft as I; on every article in the whole range of fishing tackle I have made some improvement on rods, flies, lines, reels, and tackle of every sort; and in these pages have left a lasting memorial of my handicraft to the fly-fisher, from whom I have hidden nothing that might retard him in his progress, and who will appreciate it for the great deal of matter propounded in little compass to prevent incumbrance; that the lovers of fly fishing, which has superior claims, may have an opportunity of keeping it in their side pocket,—to be convenient and handy when on their piscatory excursions, the exercise and variety of which will be found advantageous to the health, and the calming of the mind—things not to be purchased; enjoying at the same time the harmonious notes of the warblers of the grove, and musing upon the diversity of the prospects around, while straying along the beautiful streams and vallies of this delightful country.

The list of flies I have given, will be found very valuable, and the tyro will take great delight in imitating these flies necessary for use, and suiting the colours exactly to each, keeping to their symmetrical forms as they appear with his light materials. This beautiful branch of fly-making, peculiarly my own, cannot fail to perfect the angler who is scientific and ingenious, the result of which will be never-failing success.

I have added to the art of fly-making full instructions, and the most approved receipts for dyeing mohair, pighair, feathers, and other materials most useful and appropriate for imitating the natural flies and stuffs the most killing for Trout and Salmon; and which will retain their brilliancy through all the vicissitudes to which they may be exposed.

To bring the Engravings of the flies to the greatest perfection, I have stood at the elbow of the artist who executed this part of the work, that they might be turned out exact to my own models, which renders them and the descriptions more intelligible, as the shade in the fibre of each feather is shown in the plate, in the clearest and finest manner imaginable, that it may be properly seen how these artificial flies are constructed,—the resemblance of those beautiful ones, the productions of the Great Author of Nature, that Trout and Salmon do love to feed upon.

I have also given the principal rivers of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, with the flies best adapted to each, which will enable the fisher to have all things in readiness on his arrival at their localities, and sally out on the finny tribe fearless of disappointment; and for the younger branch of anglers, I have shown the various sorts of fish, with the tackle and baits best adapted to catch them.

The catechism of fly making which I have introduced will be found very curious and instructive to the young beginner, and will afford him every opportunity of retaining the whole process, that when rehearsed in the mind, and perfectly understood, he may apply, with more certain facility, the hand to both material and hook.

List of Plates.

"The Art of Fly Making, Angling & Dyeing of Colours. By W. Blacker,—Mr. Blacker has been a celebrated trout and salmon angler from early boyhood, and he is known to be the best maker of trout and salmon flies alive. We have never seen such flies as his, for naturalness of shape, appropriateness of colour and for beauty and solidity of finish. In making flies he has "caught a grace beyond the reach of art," and this he exhibits in the Sanspareil work before us. It contains no fewer than seventeen engravings on steel and copper, of trout and salmon flies, in every stage of fabrication, from the whipping of hook and gut together to the finishing of the head. These engravings, every plate crowded with figures, are executed after his own models and under his own Surveillance, and carefully and beautifully coloured, he standing, as he says, "by the artist's elbow." They contain coloured representations of hackles, wing-feathers, fur, silk, tinsel, in their natural state, and prepared for forming the artificial insect. His profusely illustrated instructions for making salmon-flies are entirely original there being nothing at all like them in any work extant, and he must be a dull scholar indeed, who shall not, after brief study of them, become his own salmon fly dresser. Mr. Blacker withholds no secret and spares no pains in developing by the aid of pen and pencil his own method, and we consider it the best, of making artificial flies for every variety of trout and salmon. He gives numerous, well-tried recipes for dying feathers and all other materials, the colours necessary for the successful operations of the fly-maker. He points out how rods are best made, the best sort of winches, lines and hooks, and proves himself a safe guide to the purchaser. He teaches how the rod, and line and flies, are to be used—the art of casting with them, how a river is to be fished, and how a fish, whether trout or salmon, is to be struck, hooked and landed. He describes the best trout and salmon rivers in the empire, the right season for fishing them, and gives an illustrated list of the flies, stating the materials of what they are to be made, that kill best on them. On flies, favourites of his from experience, he dwells with pleased and pleasing minuteness, and for the first time discloses how the "winged larva," a deadly invention of his own, is to be constructed. Never, was a book more honestly and conscientiously written. It glows with deep-felt enthusiasm for his art, and with a generous desire of revealing everything that pertains to the perfect acquisition of it in all its branches. It is a work of great labour and long pains-taking, unique at all points, and no one could have written it but a practical angler of long, passionate, and devoted experience in the capture of salmon and salmonidæ, and of ne plus ultra perfection in the art of making artificial flies, and concomitant fishing tackle. The work is published by himself, at 54, Dean Street, Soho, and we recommend it more earnestly than we have ever done any other work of the sort."

"I shall copy a few of Mr. Blacker's patterns as given in his recently-published and very valuable work, entitled Art of Fly Making, &c. He is by far the best flymaker I have ever known, and his opinions on flies and fly-fishing deserve the attention of us all. In the book just named he says of the Yellow Sally:—"This is the forerunner of the green drake or May-fly. The trout take this little fly freely if made after this description:—

THE ART OF FLY-MAKING,
ETC., ETC.,

To give something that will convey a durable and correct idea of Fly-making, Angling, and Dyeing of Colours to my pupils, is what I aim at, and desire they should understand: for when they are inhaling the fresh breezes on the river's bank, observing with delight the varied tints and delicate forms of the winged insects skimming the surface, and the sportive trout, pitching over and over, taking them down, this is the time, no doubt, when far from the din of a busy town they will thank me for my trouble in directing their attention to the proper shades, which is the most essential of all things in the Art to be considered. The amusement and pleasing recollections of the Fly-fisher, (when studying the various colours and materials necessary for the formation of the artificial fly—those fanciful ones which salmon take so freely, and the imitating, if possible, by the aid of these materials, those beautiful ones in Nature), will be infinitely more pleasing than can be well comprehended by a careless observer of the craft. Many a pleasant hour may be spent, that otherwise would prove tedious, when confined to quarters of an unfavourable day, far from home, looking over your dubbing book and tying a fly. It gives relief to the uneasy mind by calming the disorders that disappointments may have caused, and by cheering the hearts of those who pursue it as a relaxation and enjoyment. The recommendations on Angling are without number, and there is nothing can delight the heart of the fly-fisher so much as to see the fish rise at the flies on the surface of the water, and their beautiful appearance when landed on the bank; this, with the varied scenery which the windings of the river presents to the imagination, as you roam along, are inducements that cannot fail to gratify the admirer of sportive fish and rushing streams.

I have seen, in days when the fish are not in the humour of taking, a fly tied neatly near the tint, somewhat gaudy, will unquestionably entice them to rise, and will decidedly be more advantageous than fishing without plan. In days when the natural flies are most numerous, the trout will not take the artificial fly so freely; on the contrary, when these insects are rarely to be seen, if the angler can find the colour that is then prevailing, and imitate it, his success will be considerably increased.

In these pages will be found descriptions of Flies that will kill well in every river and lake in the United Kingdom. And those in the "Hand Book of Angling," and the "Book of the Salmon," by the celebrated "Ephemera," will also be found excellent throughout the Kingdom.

AN EASY METHOD TO MAKE THE TROUT FLY.

The tyro will provide himself with a dubbing book, containing numerous compartments, to hold feathers, furs, pig hair, mohair, hackles, wing feathers, silk, tinsel, scissars, pliers, knife, and every other article necessary for fly-making—all of which may be procured at my Shop, 54, Dean Street, Soho, with Rods, Reels, Lines, Gut, Hooks, Artificial Baits, and every denomination of Fishing Tackle, of the most superior quality in London.

Having laid out your materials on the table, seat yourself by a good light, and proceed as follows:—Take a piece of fine silk, and pin one end of it on your knee, take the other end between your left fore-finger and thumb, and with the right, take a small piece of shoemaker's wax, well tempered, and rub it all over the silk, keeping it tight in your left till it is all covered with the wax, rub it well on the end you are about to tie on the hook with, to keep it firm, for it will be found a very great object to use the wax throughout the making of the fly, as with the working of the tying silk it rubs off with the hand. There is a very beautiful silk of all colours to be had on spools, which ribbons are made of, that works very finely on the hook; when you wax it, take two or three folds of it, and pin it evenly on your knee, as before (or hold it between your teeth and twist it), twist it gently between your fingers a little so that you can wax it well, provide a piece of leather about an inch wide and an inch and a half long, double it, and lay a piece of nicely tempered wax between the folds, flatten it, and when you wax the silk, take the leather between your fingers, open the edge of it, and rub the wax on the tying silk in the same way as before, and you will not break the silk so easily, or dirty your fingers with the wax. You now take the hook by the bend in the left fore-finger and thumb, give two or three turns of the silk round the shank, flatten the end of the gut a little, which keeps it from drawing off, and tie it on underneath about half way down the hook firmly, this done, lay on a little varnish with your pencil. Take a piece of finer silk to make the fly with, and fasten it near the end of the shank, do not bring the silk to the extreme end of the shank to leave room for the wings, as they are apt to slip over on the gut if tied on too near. You strip off two pieces from the woodcock or starling wing, and lay them together evenly at the points, that the wings may be double when tied on (see the Trout-fly wing cut out of the woodcock feather, in the Plate), see that you do not make the wings too long when tying them on, let them be a little longer than the bend; press them tightly with your nails on the hook where you tie them on, and do not clip the ends of the wings with your nails, which gives them an unnatural appearance, but whether you lay them on first, or tie them on the reverse way and turn them back, make a judgment of the proper length; you now tie the wings on the reverse way at the end of the shank, with two or three rolls of the silk, give a running knot over it, and clip off the refuse ends of the roots of the feather; now before you form the body or tie on the hackle, turn the wings up in their place with the thumb nail of the right, and divide them in equal parts with a needle, draw the silk in and out between them, take a turn or two over the roots to keep them firmly in their place, and fasten with a running knot behind them next your left; then tie on the hackle, to suit the size, by the root (the soft flue previously picked off), close to the wings on its back, and give a knot over it, take the hackle by the point in your pliers, and roll it over the shank close under the wings two or three times on its side, keeping the outside of it next the wings, then draw it (the hackle) right through them, let the pliers hang with the point of the hackle in them at the head, and take two turns of the tying silk over it, fasten on the end of the shank which was left a little bare, cut off the silk and hackle points, give another knot or so to secure it before so doing, and lay on a little varnish at the head; now tie on a piece of fine tying silk opposite the barb on the shank, take two fibres of a mallard feather and tie them on about three-eighths of an inch long for tail, to extend over the bend of the hook, and with one knot tie on a piece of fine floss silk about three inches long to rib the fly; mix a little of the hare fur with yellow mohair, and draw a small quantity of it out of the lump with the right hand, take the hook by the bend in your left, lay the silk and hair over the end of the third finger, the hook being held in, twist the silk and hair together and roll it finely to the shoulder, give a running knot or two with the silk close to the hackle, take care to have a little more of the fur next the shoulder to make the body nicely tapered; you may continue to make the body from where you rolled on the hackle first, and fasten at the tail, and roll the hackle over it if the fly is to be of a long description; tail your fly, and tip it with tinsel, and with two running knots finish opposite the barb, at this point before you finish, wax your silk well, and touch with your varnish pencil: if there are any fibres of the hackle or of the wing, or the hair standing in a wrong direction, clip it off with your scissars, and your fly is completed. You may tie on floss silk or peacock's harl for the body the same as the mohair; and you can perceive that you may finish at the tail or at the shoulder, according to fancy—do not lose sight of this plan.