I have a weakness for small flies, and I definitely prefer the dry fly over all others. Perhaps it is because I like to imitate actual insects on lakes and streams during the height of summer; perhaps it may be because the delicate touch required in making good small flies stimulates me. Again, it may be because I delight to catch fish with a light rod, reel and line, fine leader and small flies.

Over the years the flies I tie for myself, and use, range in size from No. 12 through No. 18. With them I expect to catch fish from eight inches to fourteen inches in length. My preference is for fish of this size. I can truthfully say that in years of fishing lakes and stream I have never brought home a limit of fish. Not that I haven't had more than a limit on the end of my line in a day's fishing; but usually I bring back to camp only the fish that have been injured, the hook having been imbedded too deep to take out without drawing blood. Somehow, in releasing fish I feel that there may be a day when I again may visit the same spot and have another battle with the same fish that I had earlier released; and perhaps the fish will have grown to an enormous size and be more of a match for me.

Fly tying, and fly fishing, is to me the greatest of fun. But, enough of this. I am going to describe the tying of a Mosquito in this lesson instead of making a lengthy talk on my ideas of fishing, so we had better get on with the fly.

Select a dry fly hook for your first fly of this pattern. We will start with a No. 10 hook, and after you have become used to tying smaller flies you may tie it on a hook of any size you choose. The hook you use should be made of either 3X or 4X fine wire. But if you do not have a dry fly hook, use a standard No. 10 hook for this lesson. After all, the object now is to learn to tie this pattern.

When you are tying flies on the smaller sizes of hooks you should cut down the quantity of materials that you use in tying the fly. This applies, also, to the size of the tying silk you use. A great many people prefer to use 000 tying silk for a dry fly of this size. However, I like to use a smaller size of tying silk because it does not make the fly as bulky. My preference, a purely personal one, is for 0000 black tying silk.

Wax the thread well. Tie the silk on near the eye of the hook, wrap it back to the bend and attach it there with a half-hitch.

Select a large barred hackle from a plymouth rock neck or from a package of hackle. On this fly I am very particular. I use a plymouth rock or barred neck of good quality, but select one of the larger hackle feathers. Take off all of the web and all of the fibres that have fuzz or web on them, leaving only the fibres that are clean and bristly to the touch. Pull 6 or 8 of these fibres from the quill of the hackle feather, and place them on the hook, at the bend, with the tips of the fibres extending out over the bend a distance equal, approximately, to the length of the shank of the hook. Tie the fibres on with the up and down sweep of the tying silk, a few turns and a half-hitch.

For the body of a Mosquito there are a number of different materials that may be used. One is black body floss with white silk for ribbing, tied with the white tying silk spiraled quite closely. Another material for the body is fibres of Malay Argus tail feather, using four or five of these fibres spiraled on at the same time. A third material is black and white tying silk, with the strands of black and white silk spiraled on quite close together to give the appearance of alternate black and white ribbing. As another alternative you may strip the fibres from a black hackle feather and a white hackle feather and use just the quills to form the body of the fly. Finally, you may use moose mane hair. For a body of this material use 2 black hairs and 1 white hair and spiral them on very evenly. A body of this material has the desired striped appearance and my experience indicates that it is the most effective imitation of the insect when fished. I also believe that it makes a neater fly than any other type of material that may be used for the body of this fly.

In tying this fly you may use any of the materials mentioned but in this lesson I suggest the use of moose mane. Select 2 black hairs and 1 white hair. Be sure that the two hairs are quite black and the other one a clean white, so that you will have as much contrast as possible. You will notice the black fibres of moose mane are smaller in diameter than the white fibres. This is characteristic of moose mane.

After cutting off the three fibres tie them on at the bend of the hook. Tie in the tips of the fibres, leaving the base of the three fibres of hair as the free portion. When tying on the tips of the hair fibres do not tie them on at the extreme tip of the fibres; leave from 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch at the tip. The tip of most fibres and hair is tender and will break easily. When the hair is tied on a little away from the tip, the portion of the hair which you wrap is stronger, and less likely to cause you trouble by breaking.

After tying on the three fibres of hair at the bend of the hook make a half-hitch and wrap the tying silk up to a point 3/l6ths of an inch from the eye of the hook. Then, grasp the three fibres of moose hair in your right hand and carry them over the top of the hook, starting a spiral toward the eye of the hook. With the left hand reach under the hook and grasp the three fibres, bringing them under and up. Be sure that the three fibres are held side by side, and that you spiral them on evenly so that the black and white hairs are visible and evenly spread. Continue to spiral them around the shank of the hook to the spot where the tying silk is attached. Cross over the hairs with the tying silk at the front of the body, make a few turns and a half hitch. Cut off the remainder of the moose hair fibres.

On the Mosquito the wings are what are known as "active wings." They stand upright and spread, as though in action. In making active wings on a dry fly care should be taken to select hackle of the right type and size. I prefer to use short neck hackle feathers, to be found on the cape. The hackle should not be more than 1 inch in length. If you do not have a neck, or a package of neck hackles, in your materials, it is permissible, of course, to use saddle hackle tips.

If you have a plymouth rock, or barred, neck, look carefully at the feathers. You will notice that there is a definite curve from the base of the hackle feather to the tip, so that the tips of the feathers point, more or less, toward the center of the neck. Pull a very small hackle feather from the left side of the neck and another of the same length from the right side of the neck. When placed together the curve of the two feathers should be the same. Now, grasp these two hackle feathers with the concaved, or cupped, sides of the hackle feather on the outside; the bright, or shiny, side will be on the inside and the dull side on the outside. Look at them carefully, because the markings will be good on both sides of the feathers. Holding the feathers between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, with the cupped surfaces on the outside, you will see that there is a small V formed by the two feathers, the tips of the two feathers inclining away from each other. Now, check the wings for length. When the wings are tied in place their tips should not extend much beyond the hackle that you are going to place on the fly. So the length of the wings should be the same as the overall length of the hook upon which the fly is being tied.

After gauging the length of the wings hold them between the fingers of your right hand and place them on top of the shank of the hook, immediately in front of the body. Now, grasp the wings between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand and hold them firmly in place and, with your right hand, take the tying silk and go up between the ball of your thumb and the shank of the hook. Bring it straight up, then down on the other side between the ball of your forefinger and the other side of the shank of the hook, make 4 or 5 turns, tying on the wings firmly; then, make a half-hitch. At this point the wings extend over the body. Now grasp the wings between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand and bring them forward into a straight upright position. Now wrap the tying silk around in back of the wings; make 4 or 5 circles in back of the wings and around the body of the fly. This will help to brace the wings in an upright position. After you have done this bring the tying silk in front of the wings, make 2 the base of the wings, extending turns and a half-hitch.

Extending in front of the typing Cut off the base of the wings, Silk.
For the hackle of this fly carefully select a good dry neck hackle of the proper size. Pull off all of the web or fuzz, and with the concave, or cupped side of the feather facing you, place it on the shank of the hook in back of the eye. Then, with the tying silk make 2 or 3 wraps around the hackle and the shank of the hook and finish with a half-hitch. Cut off the base of the quill. With the hackle pliers grasp the tip of the hackle feather, make one complete turn in front of the wings, with the concave, or cupped side of the feather facing to-toward the eye of the hook. Then, bring the hackle feather around in back of the upright hackle wings, to bring wings up a little more into an upright position. Take 2 turns around the shank of the hook in back of the wings, and then bring the hackle forward and make 2 more turns in front of the wings. This makes a total of 5 turns of the hackle feather around the shank of the hook. After you have made the 5 turns, bring the tip of the hackle feather forward a little, cross over with the tying silk, make 3 or 4 turns around the shank of the hook and a half-hitch. Then cut off the tip of the hackle feather that is held in the hackle pliers. Grasp the hackle and wings between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand, bringing them back toward the bend of the hook, so that the materials will not be in the way as you taper the head of the fly. Taper the head of the fly very carefully, making sure that the larger portion of the head of the fly is next to the hackle and tapers to a point next to the eye of the hook. When you have a good tapered head make a half-hitch and a whip finish.

When this is completed with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand grasp the center of the body of the fly, enclosing the two wings and hackle between the two fingers. Now, bring your right hand forward toward the eye of the hook, letting all of the fibres and the wings slide through your fingers as you bring your hand forward. In doing this you will bring both the hackle fibres and the wings into an upright position. When this has been done, separate the wings to whatever width or V-shape you wish and apply lacquer to the head of the fly. As you apply the lacquer to the head of the fly the lacquer will go into the tying silk along the base of the hackle and the base of the wings; and this will hold them in the upright position in which you have placed them.

Place the fly on a toothpick and let it stand until the lacquer is dry. Then remove the fly from the toothpick and, after making sure that the eye is open and free of any residue of lacquer, place the fly on the table in front of you. You will find that the tail of the hackle will support the fly, if you have used the proper "dry" materials. This is the sign of a good dry fly.

As mentioned before this fly is what is called an "active wing." It is very good when you have an active hatch of mosquitos on the water.

MOSQUITO (Dry)

Hook:               No. 8 - No. 18
Tail:                  Barred hackle fibres, long and dry; 6-8 fibres
Body:*             Black and white moose mane fibres;
                        2 black and 1 white
Wings:              Barred hackle tips, upright and divided
Hackle:             Barred hackle, tied dry

*Other bodies: Black floss, white silk ribbing; Malay Argus tail fibres; Black and white hackle quills; Grey dubbin'.

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