Up to this point you have had three lessons. These lessons should be taken seriously because they provide the basis for all of the tying you will do. As long as you continue to tie flies you will be using the various processes which have been described, and you will also tie the three flies a great many times. All three of the patterns are used wherever fly fishing is done, whether in lakes or streams. These first three lessons should not have been whisked through in one evening. Each fly should be tied at least twelve times before going on to another lesson. Many times a set of instructions like these is picked up and gone over too hastily. Then, when the person fails to get the desired results, he condemns the instructions, saying they are no good. It is the same as a well-made fly rod in the hands of a novice. If used properly, the rod will give years of excellent service in fishing. An experienced person using the rod can cast seventy or eighty feet with comparative ease. But the beginner picks up the rod and because he cannot cast fifty feet on the first or second try, he says the rod is no good. That is clearly unfair to the rod and to the person or company making it, because the fault is solely that of the person who is trying to use it without first learning how to make it perform properly. And it is the same with the tying of flies. A great deal of thought has been given to preparing these lessons for you and many weeks have been spent in wording the instructions so that anyone from a youngster to an oldster can learn how to tie flies by reading and following them. These instructions have been read by people interested in tying flies who have never before tried to tie one, to make sure that the wording is clear and simple. There is really nothing too difficult in the lessons. But the instructions must be read carefully and each step followed and practiced a number of times if the desired results are to be obtained. Candidly, we believe that anyone can learn to tie flies from these instructions if he will read them thoughtfully, study the diagrams and practice on each of the steps that are described.

The fly to be tied in this lesson is the Wooley Worm. If used properly, this is an exceptionally good fly which you can use to advantage on many occasions. And, as in each of the previous lessons, in tying it you will learn another new process in the tying of flies.

For this fly it is suggested that you use either a No. 8 Sproat hook or a No. 8 hook that is 3X or 4X long in the shank.

For the tail of this fly use about 6 or 8 fibres of barred, or Plymouth rock, hackle fibres. The fibres should extend from one-half to three-quarters of an inch beyond the bend of the hook. Remember that the fibres should be straight out, an extension of the shank of the hook.

In tying this fly, the materials for the body, the ribbing and the hackle are all tied on, together, at the bend of the hook. The materials required are about 6 inches of medium black chenille for the body, about 6 inches of medium silver tinsel for the ribbing, and one barred or plymouth rock, neck or saddle hackle feather for hackle.

Cut off the required lengths of chenille and tinsel and select a barred hackle feather of the proper size, gauging it for size in the manner described in earlier lessons. When you have selected the hackle feather, grasp the tip of the feather between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand. Then, place the quill of the feather between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand, take hold of it with your fingers at the spot just below the tip of the feather, where you are holding it with the fingers of your right hand. Now, with the fingers of your left hand held together, draw them down the quill of the feather to its base. This will make all of the fibres of the hackle feather stand out vertically from the quill. The object is not to remove any of the fibres from the quill, but to make them stand out straight.

Next pick up the piece of chenille and hold it fairly close to the end. With the nails of your fingers pull or pick some of the short fibres from the tip end of the chenille, exposing the two threads which are the center core of the chenille. Always remove some of the fuzzy material at the end of a piece of chenille before tying it on the hook. If you do not remove the fuzz at the end, the chenille makes a bulky spot on the body of the fly; and it is also quite possible that the chenille will slip and completely unravel when the fly is being fished. Stripping off the fuzz on the end takes but a moment, and it makes a better looking fly which is less likely to fall apart.

Lay the stripped end of the chenille and one end of the piece of tinsel on top of the tip of the hackle feather, matching the ends of the three materials with the shiny side of the hackle out, facing you, tie them on, together, at the bend of the hook. Be sure that you have tied on the tip of the hackle and not the butt end of the hackle. The reason for tying in the tip of the feather at the bend of the hook is to place the shorter fibres of hackle at the rear of the fly when they are wrapped on. On a Palmer-tied fly the hackle fibres should not extend out from the hook at the rear of the fly as they do at the head of the fly; and, as you have no doubt noticed, the fibres of a hackle feather are usually shorter near the tip of the feather than they are at the base of the feather.

After attaching the three pieces of material at the bend of the hook, make 3 or 4 turns of the tying silk around them at this point and complete the wrap with a half-hitch. Spiral the tying silk around the hook to a point 3/l6ths of an inch from the eye of the hook; make a couple of turns around the shank and fasten the silk there with a half-hitch. Each of the three materials will be wrapped separately to this point near the eye and there tied off, so this is where the tying silk will be next used.

The next step is to wrap the black chenille on the hook. Wrap each turn very close to the one before it, continuing until you come to the spot where the tying silk is. Cross over the chenille with the free end of the tying silk and tie off the material, making 3 or 4 turns and a half-hitch. Cut off the surplus end of the chenille.

Go back to the bend of the hook and take hold of the butt of the hackle feather which is tied on there. Make 6 or 7 turns of the hackle around the hook, winding it in evenly-spaced spirals up to the point where the tying silk is attached to the hook. Note that on this fly the hackle is not wrapped on top of itself but is wrapped around the shank of the hook in evenly-spaced spirals beginning at the bend and ending near the eye of the hook. In wrapping the hackle in this manner there is no need to use the hackle pliers; you can hold the butt, or the base, of this hackle feather between your fingers and have good control of it as you make the wraps. There are several points to bear in mind when wrapping on hackle in this manner. Make 6 or 7 turns around the hook. Wrap the hackle around in spirals which are evenly spaced, the same distance apart. This fly is a wet fly, so the shiny side of the hackle must face the front of the fly as you wrap it on.

When you have wrapped the hackle the required number of turns around the shank of the hook, on top of the chenille body, and brought it up to the same spot on the hook where the chenille was tied, carry the base of the feather slightly forward and cross over with the tying silk, tying off the hackle at the same spot as the chenille. After putting on a half-hitch you can cut off the excess of the hackle feather. When hackle is tied on the hook in this manner it is called "Palmered hackle," and the fly is commonly referred to as a "Palmer-tied" fly.

 
The last step in making the body of this fly is to wrap on the silver tinsel ribbing. Take hold of the tinsel between your fingers and carefully wrap it, in spirals, around the shank of the hook, laying it on between the spirals of hackle fibres. If you simply wrap the tinsel around without placing it between the spirals of hackle you will find that many of the hackle fibres are held down, rather than sticking straight out from the body of the fly. In wrapping on the tinsel ribbing I suggest that you work it back and forth a little as you wrap. In this way you will free some of the hackle fibres that would otherwise be held down by the tinsel. When you have wrapped the tinsel to the spot where the tying silk is, tie the tinsel off with a few wraps of the tying silk and a half-hitch. Now, check the body of the fly to see if there are any number of fibres of hackle that are held down by the tinsel. If so, you may take your dubbin' needle and pick them out, releasing them so that they will stand out straight. After this is done, taper the head of the fly with the tying silk and put on the whip finish. Be sure to use the fly head lacquer to seal the head of the fly.

As I mentioned before, this fly is called a "Wooley Worm." It resembles a caterpillar. I have used this fly in both lakes and streams, in waters at sea level and in high lakes. The fly may be tied in sizes ranging from No. 6 through No. 14, but for general fishing the No. 8 and the No. 10 sizes are the best. The fly is a wet fly. Both the chenille and the wet-tied hackle make the fly one that absorbs moisture and that, together with the weight of the tinsel, tends to sink the fly under the surface of the water.

WOOLEY WORM (Wet)

Hook:               No. 8—No. 10 Sproat, to 4X long
Tail:                  Barred hackle fibres, 6-8
Body:               Black chenille, full body
Hackle:             Barred hackle, tied Palmer
Ribbing:            Silver tinsel, medium

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