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Foreword - In this authentic and carefully compiled work by Roy Patrick, the author presents all the details of the fascinating art of fly tying in a new and intriguing manner. Having known the author for many years, having used many of his excellent patterns, and appreciating the painstaking work which has gone into his continual research in every angle of the art, I cannot recommend this book too highly.

01. Grey Hackle - EQUIPMENT. For the tying of flies you should have a good vise, a pair of pointed scissors and a pair of hackle pliers. These three tools are very necessary for your fly tying. Also, be sure that they are the best you can possibly buy.

The scissors should be sharp pointed. In using pointed scissors it is possible to place the point of the scissors in a very small area and to cut small portions from any place on the fly.

02. Brown Hackle - Before you start on the second lesson you should have tied several of the Grey Hackle, yellow body flies to get the feel of tying. The more flies you tie the easier it will become. It is always a good idea to tie enough of each one of the patterns in each lesson to acquaint yourself with the materials. Make sure you will not have to go back over the instructions each time you want to tie a particular pattern. After you have completed these lessons you should have a good idea how to tie most of the patterns and be able to remember the materials used in tying them.

03. Professor - In the two previous lessons you have been told to place the hook in the vise and cautioned that you must tighten the jaws of the vise firmly on the hook to prevent it from slipping. You have also learned to measure off and wax the thread. You have been given a description of the method of attaching the tying silk to the hook, and told to wrap the tying silk back to the bend of the hook and attach it there with a half-hitch.

04. Wooley Worm - 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.

05. Adams - 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.

06. Black Gnat - 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.

07. Nylon Nymph - Many people fish all of their lives, buying and using various lures, flies, worms, eggs or other bait, without ever realizing that a little time spent in studying the habits of the fish and the insects that are active in the water would pay large dividends in fishing success. If they would spend a little time this way, every now and then, they would return home many times, happy with their catch instead of nothing. The checking of insect life on the stream, or in the lake, is not foolishness in any sense of the word. It may very well provide needed information as to what will be effective to produce fish on that particular day in the water which is being fished.

08. Black Ant Nymph - In this lesson we are going to tie two different forms of the same basic pattern fly, the Black Ant. One is a nymph form, the other a spent wing type. Both the nymph and the spent wing forms are very good and they may go well together. I have seen times when it is possible to successfully use the nymph form of the fly, with the body made of tying silk, in the early morning; and, then, after the sun has been up for a few hours, when the fish are feeding on the Surface, to change to the spent wing form with equal success.

09. Silver Doctor - I have seen more than a dozen and a half different patterns of the "Silver Doctor" fly; and there are probably as many more of the same general type called "Doctors" of other kinds. The materials used in tying these patterns are many and varied; and the usefulness of the various patterns seems to depend greatly upon the locality in which they are used. A "Silver Doctor" pattern that is good in Colorado may be of dubious value in British Columbia. The same is true of either pattern used in the central or northern states.

10. Mosquito - 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.

11. Pink Lady - As your fishing experience grows you will find, as others have, that conditions vary on different bodies of water. Each lake or stream has its own peculiarities. With a hatch visible on one lake a particular pattern of fly will be sure to produce any number of fish or strikes. But upon another lake no more than half a mile away there may be no sign of an insect hatch and the fly of the pattern mentioned will be useless.

12. Grey Hackle - 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.

13. Orange Shrimp - One of the best steelhead flies for the Pacific Coast and the Northwest, in both winter and summer fishing, has been the pattern known as the Orange Shrimp. There are quite a few variations of the pattern. With the advent of the new type of dyes this fly is now very commonly tied with fluorescent chenille instead of the older, less brilliantly colored wool. Both patterns are given at the end of this lesson. We shall tie the fly in order to become acquainted with the appearance of the body and the way it is tied, and to learn about the use of hair wings.

14. Pacific King - One of the most usable flies that I have ever placed on the end of a line is the pattern you are going to tie in this lesson. The fly was perfected in 1940, with the help of a very avid fishing associate of mine, a forest ranger in the central high Sierra country. We developed this pattern through trial and error, trying a pattern and then making slight changes. The entire summer season passed before we settled down to this one pattern. Still not being satisfied, the fly was given three more years of experimental use.

15. Grey Widow - In this book each lesson describes either a new process, or method, of tying material on the hook or calls for the use of a material different from any which has previously been used. Some of the flies which you tie in these lessons may be used for all-around fishing, wherever you are; others will be used only for specific types of fishing.

16. Lord Hamilton - The fly we shall tie in this lesson was perfected by Ralph Wahl of Bellingham, for use on the Skagit River, Washington, in fishing for winter steelhead. The method of tying, which gives the fly unusual sinking ability, is the reason for the choice of the fly for this lesson.

Over the years many fly fishermen have lamented that unless they use flat lead of wire along the hook they are unable to make a fly that sinks readily. Making a fly that will sink quickly is simple, however, if one remembers that the sinkability of a fly depends upon the type of materials used in tying it.

17. Mcginty - Even though you have a large assortment of flies you will many times wish that you had a fly which represents a bee, with a black and yellow body. Watching the fish take bees which drop on the water while they are showing no interest whatever in any fly you offer them is a maddening experience, I know.

Without instruction in tying this pattern of fly you may wonder how a body of alternating colors can be tied. Once you understand the method you will see that it is easy to do, and you will want to have quite a few copies of this fly on hand, for use on lakes and streams.

18. Coho Fly - The silver salmon, or coho, fly is used extensively in the coastal waters of the Pacific, from southern Oregon to Alaska, in Pudget Sound and other inland tidal waters of Washington and British Columbia. The fly is a popular one among the fishermen who go after the fighting silvers and is productive of many fine catches each season. The reason we are tying the fly in this lesson, however, is because it demonstrates the use of tinsel alone as body material and, shows how to apply a three-color wing on top of the shank of the hook.

19. How To Apply - In this lesson we shall alter the plan of instruction somewhat. Instead of tying one fly which illustrates a new tying process or the use of materials not previously discussed, with a detailed description of each step in the tying of the one fly, we shall take up several different parts of flies, describe the materials used and explain only how the particular parts are tied, without attempting to go through all of the steps in tying the complete fly.

Appendix - I doubt that any one person could assemble complete and accurate information about all of the fly hooks that are made in the three countries—Norway, England and France—which are the major producers of such hooks. I, for one, do not desire to even try to describe all of the fly hooks produced by the better known hook manufacturers of these three countries. As this book is for beginners, I am sure that some information relating to hooks is needed here. But, as the book is designed for beginners, I believe that the discussion of hooks in this appendix should be kept at a basic level.

THE END