One of the most generally used flies is the Black Gnat. In my opinion it belongs in the bracket of the first five flies. But the fly is not always given the credit it deserves. A great many fly fishermen do not use it when they should. Perhaps I should apologize to them and say that they are unaware when it may be used most effectively. One of the periods that I have found it to be most effective is at dusk. Other fishermen, too, have found that, instead of a light-colored fly, a black fly is best just at dusk. It is true, of course, that when it is getting dark you can see a white fly on the water more readily than you can see a black one. But I suggest that you try this experiment. Fill a crystal-clear glass with water, take it outside the house and hold it up above you; look up through the water at its undersurface. The top of the water from this direction, is like a mirror. In a stream or a lake the undersurface of the water appears in the same way to a trout. And, as a fish sees it, a white fly on the surface of the water does not show up as well as a dark fly would. Try the glass of water just at dusk.

There are a great many ways to build a Black Gnat fly. You may use black hackle fibres for the tail and silver tinsel for the tip. You may use black chenille, black floss or black ostrich herl for the body. Dyed black primaries, natural grey primaries or dun grey primaries may be used for the wings. Either natural black or dyed black hackle fibres may be utilized for the hackle at the front of the fly. I prefer a dressy pattern for this fly, one which imitates the insect as closely as possible. I like silver tinsel for the tip, black ostrich herl for the body, natural grey primaries for the wings and natural black hackle for the front of the fly. The size of the fly to be used depends entirely on the hatch found on the water which is being fished. I use nothing larger than a No. 12 and as small as a No. 18 hook, but do not let the size of the fly be controlled by what someone else does; you can best be the judge of the size that should be used. You may make the fly in sizes ranging from No. 8 or No. 10 down to No. 18. Each of the sizes is good at times.

For the first fly of this pattern that you tie I recommend a No. 10 hook. With the tying silk at the bend of the hook cut about 4 or 5 inches of narrow silver tinsel from the spool and tie it on at the bend of the hook. Leave the tying silk at this spot as it will be used here when the tinsel has been wrapped. Wrap the tinsel, clockwise, down the hook about 3/l6ths of an inch and then spiral it back up to the tying silk; cross over the tinsel with the tying silk, take 2 or 3 turns around the tinsel and the hook so that the tinsel is held tight to the hook and then a half-hitch. Cut off the unused portion of the tinsel.

Cut 2 or 3 fibres from a black ostrich feather. Tie them on at the bend of the hook. Be sure you tie the base, not the tips, of the herl fibres to the hook; the base is the strongest portion of the fibres and it can be wrapped on with less danger of breaking. Wrap the tying silk up to a point about 3/l6ths of an inch from the eye of the hook, and hold it there with a half-hitch. Wrap the fibres of black ostrich herl together from the bend of the hook toward the eye. Wrap clockwise, each turn very close to the one preceding it, around the shank of the hook to the spot where the tying silk is attached; cross over the herl with the tying silk, take 2 or 3 turns around it and make a half-hitch. Cut off unused pieces of herl. With the herl wrapped close together you get a full body, which is desirable on this fly. Notice that there are minute fibres which stick out from the shank of the hook.

When the fly is submerged in water these fibres will "breathe, giving an action similar to a living insect. When you retrieve the fly in the water the fibres bend and the body becomes quite thin. When the fly is motionless in water the fibres stand out, but move with the water currents to give the effect of increasing and decreasing the size of the body.

Select a matched pair of duck primary wing feathers, natural grey in color. A matched pair means two feathers one of which has been taken from the left wing and the other of which has been taken from the right wing of a duck. The two feathers must be alike in size and the "curl" of the two feathers must be the same. Unless the feathers are carefully matched as to size and as to curl you cannot expect to get a good pair of wings for your fly.

Place the two feathers beside each other on the table in front of you, with the curl of the feathers up and with the tips of the feathers pointing away from you, the butt ends of the quill nearest to you. You will notice that the quills of these feathers are not directly in the center of the feathers, but each quill is slightly off center. As laid out in front of you the quills of each feather should be on the inner side, toward the space between the two feathers. With the feathers laid out this way you are ready to prepare the feathers for use.

At the base of each duck primary feather there is a certain amount of fuzz and a number of fibres at the base of the quill have edges which are rough and fuzzy. With your scissors cut along the quill of each of the primary feathers to remove the fuzz and all of the fibres upon which the edges are not entirely smooth. You cannot make proper wings on your flies with rough-edged or fuzzy fibres. In years of experience I have found that when the size of the flies tied is not larger than No. 8, about 8 sets of fly wings is all that one may expect to obtain from a pair of first flight primary feathers. The smaller the flies tied the more sets of wings you may expect to make from one pair of feathers. If the flies tied are all very small ones, the maximum number that you can get from a very good set of primaries is about 12 pairs. When you get close to the tips of a primary feather there is less curve and the fibres are more course. This portion of the feather, with flat, course fibres, should be thrown away. There is inevitably a certain amount of waste in all hackle and wing material. It is better to throw away more of the material than is absolutely necessary and have good flies than it is to save all you can and make just as many flies as possible out of each piece of material. If you use the poorer material, your flies will show it; they will not look right and they will not perform for you the way they are supposed to perform.
 
The next step is to measure and cut off the wing segments to be used on the fly. You will probably want to read this paragraph very carefully two or three times to fully understand the process. Also, you should study the illustrations. These, too, will help you to understand this operation. In tying a fly on an ordinary sproat hook, or any hook which is 2X long, the width of the wing should be the same as the distance between the shank of the hook and the point of the barb of the hook on the fly you are tying. In teaching many fly tying classes I have found that even the teacher may learn a few tricks from an eager pupil, unbeknownst to the pupil. In one of my classes a student did a little experimenting on his own and taught me a much simpler way to instruct beginners how to gauge the size of the wings on the fly that is being tied. One evening I was just about at wits end to explain, more graphically, how to measure the material for the wing. I had stated that the width of the wing should be the same as the distance between the shank of the hook and the point of the barb, but many of the students were having trouble gauging this by eye. Then I saw one of the students take a hook of the same size as the one in the vise, and place the shank of the hook at the bottom of the fibres of the primary feather. Then, he turned the barb up over the fibres and very carefully pierced the fibres of the feather with the point of the barb. This gave him the exact width required. When you first start measuring off the fibres for wings you may use this method to get the right width. Later, when you wish to tie quite a few flies of the same pattern, you can cut all of the fibres off the quill of the feather with a pair of scissors and then separate the portions for the wings with a dubbin' needle. Cutting and measuring off all of the wings at one time eliminates a lot of unnecessary movement and saves time. Also, you will find that your measurements are more uniform when you cut and gauge all of the wings at one time. At this time you may either cut off a single segment for one wing or you may cut all of the fibres from the quill. And, you may either use a hook to measure the width of the wing or you may gauge it by eye and separate the fibres with your dubbin' needle. At this stage I would recommend, however, that you use a hook to measure the width and cut off a single wing segment at a time.

From the primary feather on the left side in front of you cut a segment of the desired width and lay it on the table with the same side of the feather facing upward, and the tip of the wing segment away from you and curved to the left. Now, from the primary feather on the right side in front of you cut a segment of the desired width and place it on the table, to the right of the other segment, with the same side of the feather facing upward, and the tip of the wing segment away from you and curved to the right. Be sure that the left wing tip curves to the left side and the right wing tip curves to the right side as you place them on the table.

Pick up the wing segment on the right side and place it on the ball of your left forefinger, with the curved side of the segment down. The curve of the segment should be the same as the curve of your finger and the wing segment should lie right on the ball of your finger. Now pick up the wing segment on the left side and place it on top of the other wing segment, with the curved side of the segment facing upward and the tips of the two segments together. With the left-hand segment on top of the right-hand segment the curve of the two segments will be away from each other; the concave sides will be out, the convex sides together. When the segments are placed on the fly the wings will, thus, be separated, giving the appearance of active wings. When you have the pair of wings in this position, take them between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand and place them on top of the hook to check them for length. Hold them so that the tips of the wing segments are immediately above the bend of the hook and, with a rolling motion, measure back to the spot where the tying silk is attached to the hook, which should be about 3/l6ths of an inch from the eye of the hook. This is the proper length for the wings. Now grasp the two wing segments firmly between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand and place them in position over the top of the hook at the spot where the tying silk is attached. With the shank of the hook between the balls of the fingers of your left hand and the wing segments held firmly upright over the hook, bring the tying silk up between the ball of your thumb and the near side of the hook and down between the ball of your forefinger and the far side of the hook, in a straight up and down movement. Great care in placing, and tying the wings, on the hook is very important. When you make the first two or three turns with the tying silk it should be with an up and down sweep, up between your thumb and the shank of the hook and straight down between your forefinger and the shank of the hook; up and down, up and down. Keep a firm grip between the balls of your thumb and forefinger. Bring the tying silk up and draw it down tightly, without releasing any of the pressure between the balls of your fingers. Take 3 or 4 turns with the tying silk before you release the pressure of your fingers on the wings. Before completely releasing the pressure of your fingers on the wings, however, make 2 or 3 more wraps in front of the wings, toward the eye of the hook. Do not go in back of or over the first 3 or 4 turns with these additional wraps; place them slightly in front of the original wraps. If you go back with these additional wraps, which are to insure that the wings are firmly attached and will not slip, you are most likely to split the wing segments, or cause them to roll out of the upright position. If this happens it is the tyer's fault, and not a defect in the material that causes it.

From my experience in teaching, I have found that for the beginner this method of tying on the wings is much more easily mastered than the method which places the wings in a tipped forward position when they are first tied on. Under my method the wings are first tied on in a normal upright position and the forward tip to the wings is given in a later step. Using the other method I have found that beginning students so many times become disgusted in tying wings because the wings split, the fibres separating and spoiling the shape of the wing. I sincerely want my students to enjoy tying flies, and I want them to learn how to tie them as easily as possible. If they want to try other tying methods, and to develop their own habits of tying, that is permissible. I do not find fault with other tying methods but I do not want to use methods which will tend to discourage beginners. So the simpler the method of tying the more rapidly will the beginner progress and the more he will enjoy his fly tying. The method I have given seems to eliminate a great deal of the difficulty of splitting wings, so I prefer it. If using this method you find that the wings do not stay in an upright position, split apart, or roll out of position, it is because you have not fully followed the instructions, and not the fault of the method or of the materials used. Try the process again, more carefully. I assure you that you can make excellent wings this way if you follow these instructions carefully.

After you have made the wraps which fasten the wings firmly in place you should cut off the base of the fibres, which will be sticking out over the eye of the hook when you have completed tying on the wings. Trim these fibres off as closely as you can without cutting the tying silk. This makes it possible for you to make a neat taper on the head of the fly.

Select a natural black hackle feather, gauging the length of the fibres as you were instructed in the first lesson. As this is to be a dry fly be sure that the hackle fibres of the feather you select are as free of web as possible. Cut all of the fuzz and the wet fibres from the base of this feather. Leave only the very stiff, dry fibres on it. Place the hackle feather on the side of the hook, with the tip of the hackle extending out along, and beyond the bend of the hook, with the under or concave side — the dry side — of the hackle out, facing you. Tie the hackle feather on just in front of the wings. Tie the hackle in very tightly, finishing with a half-hitch; then, with your sharp-pointed scissors, cut off the surplus portion of the feather in front of the point at which the hackle is tied to the hook When this is done clamp the hackle pliers on the tip of the hackle feather and wrap the hackle 1 turn in front of the wings. Then, lift the wings with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand and make 2 turns of the hackle in back of the wings, then 2 more turns of the hackle in front of the wings. I make only 5 turns of hackle on the ordinary patterns of flies, either wet or dry. The purpose of hackle on a fly is to represent the legs of an insect or bug, to look like its footpattern or, perhaps, an overabundance of feelers. Too much hackle on a fly spoils the effect, makes it look like a brushpile. When you have taken five turns of the hackle—one in front of the wings, two in back of and at the base of the wings, then two more turns in front of the wings—cross the tying silk over the quill of the hackle and tie off with several wraps and a half-hitch.

When this is completed you should taper the head of the fly and put on the whip finish. To complete the fly you must lacquer the head, so the tying silk will be sealed down. The whip finish will hold the materials on, but to make certain that the tying silk will not unravel I always apply lacquer to the head of the fly. There is never a worry after that.

One of the tricks of fly tying which I have found to be very good is to put the finished fly on a toothpick to dry. I keep a box of round toothpicks on my fly tying desk. When I have finished tying a fly and before I lacquer the head, I take one of the round toothpicks, dip the tip of it in the fly head lacquer and bring it out. There is one drop of lacquer at the end of the toothpick. I place this drop of lacquer on the head of the fly. The lacquer will go through the tying silk and to the base of the wings, if the fly is one with wings. Then I wipe the toothpick clean, using a soft absorbent material, and stick the end of the toothpick through the eye of the fly. Then I push the other end of the toothpick into a piece of balsa wood, a bar of soap, a cake of fly tying wax or a cardboard box. The fly need be kept this way but a very short time. When I take the fly off the end of the toothpick the eye of the fly is open, without lacquer or any other substance obstructing it.

Many times you, no doubt, have bought flies the eyes of which are blocked, so that you cannot get the leader through the eye. If, in tying your own flies, you use a toothpick in the manner I have described, the eyes of your flies will always be open and ready for use.

BLACK GNAT (Dry)

Hook:               No. 10 - No. 18
Tip:                  Silver tinsel, narrow
Body:               Black ostrich herl, full
Wings:              Natural grey duck primaries, tied upright and divided
Hackle:             Natural or dyed black hackle, tied dry

A tail is optional on this fly. If a tail is desired, use 6 or 8 fibres of black hackle fibres.

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