By the time you reach this lesson you will have become familiar with a number of the fundamentals of fly tying, and you should feel that you are making substantial progress toward your goal of learning how to tie all types of artificial flies. If you are really interested in tying flies, you will want to know about all of the processes that are used in making different patterns, and will soon be watching others for variations in methods. For a fly tyer there is always something to learn, both through your own tying, and from observing the way that other people tie their flies. All good fly tyers do not tie their flies in exactly the same manner. I have found that I can learn a lot from other fly tyers, and sometimes it is from a fly tyer who has had less experience than I have had. Some others do their tying steps a little differently and all of the variations are a lot of fun to learn, once a person has fully grasped the fundamentals of tying.

One of the most effective flies that I have ever used is the "Adams." It is effective in all types of waters, whether low lakes, high lakes, slow or fast streams. If you tie the flies with which you fish, it would be a good idea for you to tie some Adams flies for your use. I would class it as a necessary fly. All three of the recommended sizes may be used. Give this fly a chance to prove that it is as good for your fishing as it has been for mine.

I much prefer to tie this fly very dry, taking great pains in selecting the materials, as well as in tying them, so it will be a good floater.

To acquaint you with this pattern without making it too difficult for you to tie, I suggest that you first use a No. 10 hook. If you find that it is easy for you to tie with this size, then you may tie it on a smaller size hook; but do not attempt to tie the smaller flies until you feel sure that you have mastered the larger sizes. In time you will be able to tie the very small sizes, but I strongly urge that you do not try that yet.

With the No. 10 hook you may use either 2/0 or 3/0 black tying silk. Although the finer 3/0 silk is better for this size it is not essential that you use it now, although you will eventually want to use the smaller size of silk on this size of fly.

For the tail of the fly take 8 or 10 fibres of barred hackle and place them on at the bend of the hook. The tail on this fly should be about the same length as the shank of the hook, a little longer than the tails of the flies that you have previously tied. The longer tail makes this particular fly ride better on the water.

With the tail tied on and a half-hitch taken, you are ready to prepare the material for the body of this fly. Take a piece of muskrat hide, or pelt, in your hand an pick or pull some of the fur off the hide or pelt. Never cut the fur from the hide; always pick or pull it off. Doing it this way the fur you use will not have dull, blunt ends.

One thing that I have stressed in the earlier lessons is to be sure to wax your tying silk with a good quality of fly tyer's wax. I suggest that you get a wax of the same type that I use, somewhat on the tacky side but not to the point of being so tacky that everything will stick to the wax. It is difficult to keep every piece of material from sticking when the wax has the consistency of glue. But the wax must provide a resistant coating on the silk which will hold dubbin' fur when the pattern calls for it. In making the Adams fly you will see why I suggest a fly tying wax having more resistance than many you will find on the market. The wax which I use is firm on the outside but it is tacky on the inside, remaining this way for a long time. It is a wax that has been carefully prepared for the more exacting tyer who wishes the best in results.

Be sure that the tying silk on this fly is thoroughly waxed. If in doubt, you may apply more wax to the silk after it has been attached to the hook by rubbing the wax over it while the tying silk is pulled out tightly from the hook.

What you are about to do is to "spin" the fur on the waxed tying silk. This process is sometimes called "dubbin' " the fur on the thread. Fur, or other similar material, "spun" on a thread in this manner is known as "dubbin' " and a fly made with this type of material is referred to as one with a dubbed body.

You may have read elsewhere that the best way to spin fur on a thread is to lay a thin line of fur on a wool trouser leg and then, placing a piece of waxed silk on top of the fur, to twist the ends of the silk in opposite directions while keeping the waxed thread very close to the fur. I find no fault with this method; it is very good. However, I am suggesting to you the method which I use in tying my own flies, a method which I have found to be much faster and easier. It gives approximately the same result and it isn't as confusing to one who is just learning to tie flies.

Pick up the pieces of fur that you have pulled off the muskrat pelt and, with the palm of your left hand facing upward, place the fur in the palm of that hand. Spread it out in a line not to exceed 22 to 3 inches in length. Spread it out very flat, using your right hand to get it properly placed.

With the fur placed in a thin line in the palm of your right hand, take hold of the free end of the tying silk with the fingers of your right hand and pull it out quite tightly. Now, bring the palm of your left hand up under the tying silk, as close to the bend of the hook as possible, with the fur in the palm of your hand in line with the extended tying silk. With the thin line of fur touching the underside of the tying silk, twist the fur and the tying silk together. The wax will make the fur adhere to the tying silk. Be sure that the fur is spun on the tying silk right up to the shank of the hook. See that the fur is spun on the tying silk as evenly as possible from one end to the other. Be sure that you do not twist, and work the fur around, too much. After the fur has been twisted on the silk most of it will stay there (unless you work it too much), but there will always be a few wisps that will come off.

When you have the fur spun on the tying silk wrap the dubbin' on the hook, spiralling it around the shank to a point not less than 3/l6ths of an inch from the eye of the hook. Be sure that you leave enough space for the wings, the hackle and the tapered head. Fasten the tying silk there with a half-hitch after removing from the silk any of the dubbed fur not needed to make the body. Now, as you look at the body it may appear rather ragged to you. You may pick off some of the bumpy portions but the best idea is to leave it ragged. A ragged body will imitate an insect much better than you may think. You may also notice that some of the guard hairs of the fur are sticking out from the body. Do not pull these out. Leave them where they are.

In addition to muskrat fur there are a number of other furs which may be used for this purpose. All of these are furs that may be of them. Others include the underfur of the polar bear, black bear or brown bear, the fur of prime rabbit in its various natural colors, as well as the fur of squirrel, fox, otter, beaver and seal. There are also a few others, less commonly used, furs that serve this purpose and may properly be used in tying flies of this type. Although you may not have been aware of it there is a fuzz on the hide of a deer, at the base of the deer body hair; this fuzz is one of the materials which may be used for dubbed body material when a pattern calls for one properly used on the bodies of flies. However, this paragraph is here only for your information and for future reference; I do not suggest that all of these furs may be used on the Adams fly which we are tying in this lesson.

You are now ready to place wings on this fly. I personally like, on this fly, an active or upright set of wings. These are wings which are upright and divided. The wings of this fly are made of the tips of barred hackle feathers. The best hackles for this are the short hackles at the base of a barred or plymouth rock neck. The base of the neck is the portion which was close to the comb of the rooster, where the hackles are short and stiff. It is permissible to use tips from saddle hackle; but the "right" feathers for the wings of this fly are those from the base of the neck, because these have the short fibres needed. Select 2 short-fibred, barred hackle feathers. See that they are of the same length and shape. Place them back to back, with the dull side of the hackle on the outside and the bright, or shiny, sides of the feathers on the inside. Hold the two feathers, back to back, between your fingers over the top of the hook, at the spot where the tying silk is attached, to measure the length of the wing. The wing should be a little shorter than the length of the hook when angled up over the body of the fly. Now, hold the feathers, between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand, on top of the hook at this spot, and with the up and down sweep of the tying silk tie them on tightly, ending with a half-hitch. With the thumb and forefinger of your right hand take hold of the hackle tips and bring them to an upright position. Holding them there wrap 2 or 3 turns of the tying silk in back of the two upright tips, making complete turns around the hook at the base of the tips, between the spot where the body ends and the spot where the wings are tied. Wrapping the tying silk in back of the wings gives a good base for the wings, holding them in the upright position. With a little practice you will find that this process is quite simple. After making the turns in back of the wings, bring the tying silk in front of the two wings and make a half-hitch.

The next step is to put on the hackle of this fly. Select 2 hackle feathers, one a barred neck hackle and the other a brown neck hackle. Be sure that you have a balanced pair, of the same length from base to tip and with fibres of about the same length. The hackles should be as free of web as it is possible for you to find. Strip the fuzz and webby fibres from the base of the feathers, making sure that all of the webby fibres are removed. You are now ready to attach them to the hook at the spot just in front of the wings. The hackles must be placed on the hook so that they are tied dry, to give the fly every possibility of floating on top of the water. Tie the hackle feathers on with the tips extending toward the bend of the hook and the cupped or concave side—the dull sides—of each toward you. Both of the hackle feathers may be tied on the hook at the same time, if you believe that you can perform this operation without letting the feathers turn. I prefer to tie both hackle feathers on at the same time, but after they are tied on the hook to wrap each one separately instead of wrapping both around the hook at the same time.

With the two hackle feathers tied on the hook, the next operation is to wind the hackle on. First, with your hackle pliers, grasp the tip of the barred hackle; take one turn around the hook in front of the two wings; then make 2 turns around in back of the wings; then make 1 final turn around in front of the wings, and tie off the hackle. Next, with your hackle pliers grasp the tip of the brown hackle and make 1 turn in front, 2 turns in back, and a final turn in front of the wings, and then tie off this hackle.

This is a total of 8 turns around the hook with the two hackle feathers, 4 turns around with each. Having completed these wraps and tied the hackle on, you may cut off the excess pieces of both the barred and brown hackle feathers. Now, with the thumb and forefinger of your left hand pull back all of the hackle fibres and make a few turns of tying silk at the base of the hackle, so that none of the hackles will be in the way of the tying silk when you make the whip finish on this fly.

Taper the head of the fly. Be sure the head is tapered from the base of the hackle to the eye of the fly. Complete the fly with a whip finish.
Lacquer the head of the fly. When the lacquer is almost dry on the head spread the wings just a little and with the fingers of your right hand, pull all of the hackle forward so that the fly will have every opportunity to stay on top of water. With all of the fibres free the underwater appearance is that of a heavy foot pattern of an insect. This fly has a neutral color; it is buggy, an excellent fish-getter.

After you have become adept at making this fly you may want to vary the body by using other types of fur as dubbin'. While musk-rat fur is the standard for this fly, you may use any fur that is of a natural grey color. One interesting variation is to use mole fur. If you do, I would suggest that you use a very sharp razor to cut a strip of mole hide, from 1/l6th to 1/8th of an inch wide, leaving the fur on the skin. Tie this strip on at the bend of the hook and spiral the tying silk to the spot at which you will place the wings of the fly. Then, wrap this strip of mole skin, with the fur out, around the hook, one turn next to the other, spiralling it to the spot where the tying silk is attached. This will give a full-bodied fly, somewhat different in appearance, that might prove to be just the fly that is needed on one of your fishing days.

Another variation of the Adams pattern is also given in the second pattern below. You will notice that this pattern includes a tip, and that different materials are used for several of the parts. Wool yarn is used for the body instead of dubbed fur. This makes the pattern a little easier to tie than the one given in this lesson. The second fly may or may not be as effective as the one you have tied, depending on the circumstances under which it is fished.

ADAMS (Dry)

Hook:               No. 10 - No. 14
Tail:                  Barred hackle fibres, 8-10
Body:               Muskrat fur dubbin'
Wings:              Barred hackle tips, tied upright and  divided
Hackle:             Barred and brown, tied together; tied dry

ADAMS (Dry)

Hook:               No. 10 - No. 14
Tip:                  Gold tinsel, narrow
Tail:                  Golden pheasant tippet fibres, 6-8
Body:               Grey wool
Wings:              Mallard breast, bunched and divided
Hackle:             Barred and brown, tied together; tied dry

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