As you continue tying flies you will either see, or will encounter in your reading, patterns for the flies we are now tying which differ from the patterns which I am giving you. For one fly there may be a different type of body; for another the wing material may be different, and so on. In your travels around the country and in the smaller towns and villages you will frequently run onto variations of well-known fly patterns which the fishermen of a particular locality are accustomed to make. I would advise you not to discard the standard pattern, which you have tied and tried in your own locality, in favor of such local variations. It is well to listen to what people say about patterns that are being used in any locality you visit. It is also advisable, whenever you are fishing in a locality which is new to you, to find out what patterns are being used successfully in the locality and, for your own fishing in that area, to make up flies with the variations that are locally recommended. The people who live there and fish there, have found through trial and error the patterns which are the best producers in the waters of that locality, and you should take full advantage of their experience and knowledge. Maybe the bucktail is tied under the hook to cover the barb and make it a weed-less fly. Perhaps the wing or tail is unusually long, or unusually short. Maybe the fly is without wings, without hackle, or without the tail called for in the standard pattern. Whatever the variation, there is undoubtedly a reason which justifies the particular alteration of the pattern in that area. I wouldn't think of dressing a fly with wings or ribbing, even though the standard pattern calls for such wings or ribbing, if I know that the effect will be to ruin the usefulness of the fly in the water where I am fishing at the time. If the fish will take the fly with a variant type of body, it is certainly proper to tie and use the variant form. But unless I am convinced that the fish will take the variant form and refuse a fly tied in accord with the standard pattern, I'll always use the fly tied in accord with the standard pattern.

In this lesson we shall learn to tie a different type of body, and to illustrate this we shall tie a Grey Hackle, Braided Body. You will find this lesson helpful whenever you wish to tie a braided body fly or helgrammite pattern, whether you use floss on smaller sizes of hooks or tie with raffia on the larger sizes of hooks. Both types of materials have been used for many years.

Take a No. 10 hook, with a regular sproat length shank. Use 000 black tying silk.
For the tail use 6 or 8 fibres of barred hackle. Select fibres which are free of web. The length of the tail should be aproximately the length of the body of the fly, the length of the shank of the hook.

After tying the tail, cut 8 or 10 inches of dark brown floss and 8 or 10 inches of green, (preferably insect green) floss from the spools. Tie both colors of floss on together at the bend of the hook and wrap the tying silk to the point 1/4 inch from the eye of the hook, and attach the silk there with a half-hitch.

The two double-strands of floss will be used to form a braided body. In braiding the body keep the darker color on the top of the shank of the hook, the lighter color on the under side. Now, let's begin the braiding process. Take the double strand of brown floss in your right hand and the double strand of green floss, the lighter of the two colors, in your left hand. Carry the brown floss away from you over the top of the shank of the hook and carry the lighter color, the green floss, away from you under the shank of the hook. Now the free ends of both are extended on the far side of the hook, away from you, with the lighter color under the darker color. Carry the green floss over the top of the brown floss, going over the brown floss toward the bend of the hook, make a complete wrap around the brown floss and bring the green floss back under the shank of the hook. Bring the brown floss back over the top of the shank of the hook. When both of the double strands of floss are back on the side closest to you, carry the green floss over the brown floss and make a turn around the brown floss by going over it toward the bend of the hook. Then carry the green floss under the brown floss toward the eye of the hook. This may seem a bit complicated but the process is to carry the lighter color over the darker color toward the bend of the hook, both on the near side of the shank of the hook and on the far side of the shank of the hook, and then come back under the darker color toward the eye of the hook. Each turn and wrap around the darker color should be made at the side of the shank of the hook, to show the weaving at that point. Continue the process until the body extends to the point where the tying silk is attached to the shank of the hook. When you have completed the weaving of the body on the shank of the hook, there will be a distinct division of two colors on the top and bottom of the hook. The green floss will show on the underside of the hook and the brown floss will show on the top of the hook.

You may have to work on this quite a bit to perfect the weave.

Always remember the turn around the brown floss must be made at the side o£ the hook away from you, then brought to the near side and the same procedure repeated there. The turns must be made the same on both sides of the hook or you will find that some of the brown floss will slip around and under the shank of the hook. As you make each wrap, hold the strands firmly to avoid any slippage of the body. Slippage, also, causes you to have colors in the wrong place.

If, when you finish the body of the fly you find that it has slipped around a bit, force the colors around to their proper places with your thumb and forefinger. I do not suggest doing this on more than the first three or four flies of this type that you tie. By the time you have tied several you should be able to wrap them tightly so that the body will not slip.

When you have completed weaving the body material on the shank of the hook, cross over the four strands of floss with the tying silk and wrap it around 3 or 4 times, finishing with a half-hitch. Cut off the remainder of strands of floss.

Select a barred, or plymouth rock, neck hackle. Use a saddle hackle, if you have no neck hackle that is real dry. Take off all of the fuzz and webby fibres. Check the hackle for length and, then, tie the hackle feather on and wrap it, tying it on dry. Make 5 turns around the shank of the hook in the same place, cross over with the tying silk, wrap 3 or 4 turns, make a half-hitch, cut off unused portion of hackle feather. Taper the head of the fly, whip finish, lacquer head. You have finished the fly.

If you wish to have a larger body, you may use two double strands of brown floss and two double strands of green floss. Or you may wrap some white wool along the shank of the hook before you wrap on the floss. Do this, however, only in case a larger body is desired.

Another very good idea is to make the body more flat than it is upon completion of wrapping on the body material. To do this you may take a pair of pliers and squeeze the body, before you wrap on the hackle. This pressure with the pliers will flatten out the body and it will continue to remain in this shape. If this is done, only enough pressure should be applied to make the top and bottom flat; it should not be flattened to the point where the fly looks like it is on edge.

GREY HACKLE, BRAIDED BODY (Dry)

Hook:               No. 10 - No. 16
Tail:                  Grey hackle fibres, 6-8
Body:               Braided floss; dark brown top, insect green under.

**Hackle: Barred hackle, tied dry

*Other body color combinations:
                        Black and white
                        Black and green
                        Red and orange
                        Black and blue dun grey
                        Brown and orange
                        Brown and yellow
                        Red and yellow
                        Brown and blue dun grey

** Other hackle used:
                        Brown
                        Black

When another color of hackle is used the name of the fly is also changed to correspond with the color of the hackle.

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