process of joining sections of different feathers, and/or colored feathers, by intertwining the barbules, in order to form a complete multi-colored wing section.

back, aft, or hind portion of fly body from thorax to tail.

sections cut from feathers, both sides of which are equal in length and in coloration, with three to five fibers on each side. The cut sections are in the form of a "V" with section of the center rib intact.

a needle with a handle, to be used e.g. for applying head cement, picking hair out, etc..

in fly tying, the wing is the fly part meant to imitate the wings of insects or (in the case of streamer type flies) the upper portion of the body and tail of baitfish. Fly wings are made from a variety of materials including feathers, hair, plastic films and other natural and synthetic fibers. With respect to a hook as viewed from its side, the three basic types of fly wings and their orientation are: down (horizontal, parallel to the shank), up (vertical, perpendicular to the shank) and spent (horizontal, perpendicular to the shank, tips opposed).

made of two matched feathers such as duck breast placed concave to concave. These are whole feathers. Often made from Goose Rounds. Tied abut 45 degrees angle downwing.

process of winging flies using feather fibers or poly fibers, looping the material up from the body. Eight to twelve fibers or poly fibers separated, form divided loop wings. Used on dry flies and emerger patterns.

arranged vertically, usually supporting the hackle in parachute flies.

usually formed with two matching feather sections, one over the other, laid flat on the fly body, concave sides down. Used mostly to simulate stone flies. Also refers to wings placed concave upright or downwing, not divided or flared.

wing made of breast or flank feather tips and the fibers of which are rolled between the fingers to remove the natural curvature of the fibers, then tied in, used mainly to make double winged flies.

term for wing which slopes forward over the hook eye.

a fly wing, upright and usually made of a single white hackle tip.

wing formed with two matched wing sections placed downwing with concave sides together.

feathers from the wings of a blackbird are used as a substitute material for rarer and moreexpensive feathers.

wings usually made of hackle tips, sometimes of feather sections or hair. Simulate the wide spread wings of dead spinners and drakes. Usually applied with one or two wings out each side of thorax.

formed by using two pairs of feathers per side. Sometimes called: double wing.

use of hair fibers instead of feathers to form the wings on a fly.

the term refers to a fly having two wings, one per side. See: double wing.

type of wing applied to "Spey" salmon flies. Matched short pair of feather sections placed in a near flat, tent type, close over fore-body, extending to hook bend, but not beyond. Usually of bronze or brown mallard with slight graying at the butt ends.

see: upright wing: wings tied perpendicular and upright to the hook shank. Used mainly in dry fly construction.

the American variety of the common elk (Alces alces) in Europe: it is the largest species in the deer family.

wings formed from a bunch of hackle fibers or from any feather, where the fibers are bunched together.

found in some salmon fly patterns where a base wing is surmounted with other feathers or combinations of feathers.

strips or strands of peacock herl or sword feathers form the entire wing, as in the Alexandra; emu and ostrich herl also used.

composed of entire feathers such as Golden Pheasant tippet, Jungle Cock or Bass rounds. Usually set upright in pairs.

a component of a dry fly body, usually made of a bright material and tied on top, to simulate the wings of the insect not yet deployed. See: stillborn.

wonder wings originated in the early 1920s. They are formed by reverse pulling hackle fibers and tying the tip end and pulled down fibers, with butt end up. Butt end is cut off, leaving a filigre type effect of the remainder. A pair of such make wonder wings. Extended Mayfly bodies are made similarly. See: reverse pull.

found usually in salmon fly patterns. Single strands of various colored feathers are "married" or "welded" together to form a multi-color strip for winging of certain salmon and trout fly patterns.

formed usually of paired feathers or paired feather sections. May be upright, slanted, down or spent, or a combination of these.

wings formed with two matched wing sections placed downwing, on wet flies or streamers, with concave sides outward, with tips of sections pointed upwards. The slight division formed allows wings to "work" in water action. Also divided wings can be placed upright on dry flies as separated wings.

usually body feathers, with center rib, but to shape and size desired to use as fly wings, placed usually upright and divided on dry flies.

wings tied on flies on the sides of the shank rather than on the top side. Bird feathers are utilized rather than hackles. This style creates width to the fly and a certain amount of "breathing". Killer patterns are popular in New Zealand. Another form of Killer style places the feather wings flat on top of the fly and may be composed of two or more such feathers. This style of dressing was originated in Canada: see: Canadian Killer.

formed of fine hackle tips tied slightly forward over the eye of the hook. They tend to vibrate or move with wind and water action creating a semblence of life to the fly.

not fastened

a fishhook: a device, usually of wire, forged or unforged, designed and shaped to catch fish; consists of the following parts: eye, shank, bend, barb (if any) and point.

a hook provided with the barb.

the hook series that sets the basic: (gap width) / (shank length) ratio for each pattern.

X means EXTRA, that is a variation from the standard hook of a pattern: the number preceding the X indicates the degree of variation from a standrd hook. Absence of number indicates: 1 X; XL = extra long shank; XS = extra short shank; XF = extra fine wire; XST = extra strong wire.

a part of a feather; barbicels are tiny hook-like projections on feather barbules, which lock to keep them together: they function as a sort of natural "zipper" interlocking the adjacent barbules.

a hook with three points, usually set at 120 degrees to each other, looking like a tiny grapnel.

any thread or threadlike material wrapped spirally along the fly's body. Also: tying technique to form the rib. Ribbing is primarily to simulate segmentation; materials used are tinsels, threads, flosses and quills. Also used to tie down body or wing portions and to strengthen body forms.

hair or wool material from two sources: Angora goat: a soft long fleece wool; Angora rabbit: a very soft fleece hair. Both are used as body material in fly tying.

see: whip finisher.

tool used to assist in the tying of fly finishing knots.

tool used to assist in the tying of fly fishing knots, e.g. knotting flies to tippets.

a piece of stiff monofilament or light wire attached from the top of the hook and extending in front of the hook point and bend to the hook eye. If properly attached, a weedguard reduces the likelihood of a fly picking up weeds, yet it does not deter the hooking of a fish. Weedguards are especially popular for underwater warm water flies.

trade name of a synthetic yarn material made of long sparkly fibers used for many aspects of fly tying including wrapped bodies, spent wings, and trailing shucks. Also used for dubbing material, and mixed with other products such as flash-a-bou, for tailing.

practice of spreading out fibers or hairs when applying wings. Opposed to a tight bunch of fibers. Represents open, or, fluttering wings of an insect.

a.k.a.: gap. That's the distance between the shank (the part of the hook you tie flies on) and the point. Hook sizes are usually rated by the size of the gape.

addition of weight to fly patterns by adding lead wire, metal pins, foil, or strips of any heavy materials.

artificial fly: a fishhook dressed with suitable materials intended to deceive and catch fish; it is an artificial lure the weight of which is non essential to the act of casting, as opposed to a weighted lure such as a lead-head jig; paradoxically, added weight is desirable when presenting deeply fished flies such as nymphs.

typically a salmon fly tied around a metal or plastic tube, which is slipped onto the leader before the hook (usually a treble) is tied on, the tube being left to run free on the line above the treble hook. The advantage of this is that the tube fly is pulled down against the hook by water pressure while being fished, but when the hook is taken and the line pulled in the oposite direction, the tube has the ability to ride up the line and out of the way of the fish: this is useful when unhooking.

a traditional wet fly. The most basic version of the soft-hackle fly consists of a hook shank wrapped with thread, floss, or peacock herl and a hackle (partridge, grouse, hen or some other soft-hackled bird) wound around the forward part of the shank. Here the hackle suggests the legs or emergent wings of various insects such as caddis or mayflies.

dry fly, with a highly buoyant body based on elk or deer hair; many variants known depending on the colour of the underbody.

a kind of flies which is usually used when there is no really exact hatch to match. They tend to be flies that imitate several types of bugs at once. The Parachute Adams or the Royal Wulff are good examples of searching patterns.

a kind of flies which is usually used when there is no really exact hatch to match. They tend to be flies that imitate several types of bugs at once. The Parachute Adams or the Royal Wulff are good examples of searching patterns.

a wet or dry fly pattern that creates a fish-attracting disturbance when retrieved or worked across the current.

a fly that represents a form of food that a fish may be feeding on, e.g. an insect or a bait fish.

a type of fly that is presented to the fish below the surface of the water, usually with insect-like wings sloped backward. Wet flies are not as popular as they once were and have been largely superseded by nymphs. Generally, an imitation dressed sparsely so as to quickly sink. They usually represent nymphs and pupae that are swimming toward the surface of the water or trying to break through the surface film to become adults.

the essentials of a spey fly can be summarized as follows: long, flowing palmered hackle; constrasting throat hackle of duck flank or guinea; slim body of dubbing, floss or tinsel; tinsel or tinsel and floss combined ribbing; low set simple wings of bronze mallard.

there are basically three types of Tarpon Streamer flies: the Keys style, the Seducers and the Whistlers.

see: inverted hook bonefish patterns.

saltwater flies, typical for fishing bonefish: most of them imitate shrimps, like the the Crazy Charlie, the Gotcha and Clouser Minnow's variants. See: inverted hook bonefish patterns.

this type of fly was designed so that the hook rode above the shank in the water so that the hook would not get caught on the bottom. By adding relatively stiff wing material near the hook eye which covered the hook point, the fly became nearly weedless. Hooks are dressed to create inversion by bending the hook, by adding weighted eyes on the hook shank opposite the point and/ or by using relatively buoyant materials to cover the hook point. Any of these three techniques can cause the fly to ride inverted. If tied with sparse materials these flies can be made to sink very fast. Bonefish pattern should match the color of the bottom in the area you are fishing. Flies that hit the water with little impact are more effective than those that strike heavy and spook the fish. Clouser Minnow, Horror and Crazy Charlie are all examples of this tying style.

these flies are used in clear water where ever tarpon are found and you are sight fishing. A fisherman called Syu Apte was one of the first people to use this design in the 1950's and the Key guides in Florida have used just about every colour combination since.

system of tying dry flies without use of hackles to help them float. Developed by Doug Swisher and Carl Richards.

Trude flies have been around since the early 1900's when Alfred Trude first started using them. They are usually tied with hair wings and can be fished wet or dry. Depending on the size of the hook, they can represent a variety of insects, including grasshoppers and caddisflies.

a.k.a.:dubbing twister, dubbing whirl: a tool for making dubbing loops.

a tool which is used to twist a dubbing loop. A.k.a. twister.

a tool with a plate with several holes which can be pushed over the eye of a hook to arrange material in a bullet pattern. The material is first tied in facing forwards beyond the eye symmetrically around the shank, and then pushed backwards by the tool to form the distinctive bullet shape.

device attached to a fly tying vice that enables the post of a parachute fly to be held firmly whilst the hackle is wound around it. Also useful for holding ribs that are to be tied in later, on complicated flies.

it is performed by holding the feathers with the back parts of the pads of your fingers near where the thread will be wrapped. Make one or two very loose wraps of thread around the wing, then roll your fingers forward over the thread and pinch the thread and wing materials as you cinch the thread. This will allow the wing to be pulled down into place without rolling or twisting. This is also the method used to secure quill wings to the hook.

a long stiff hair, used for making the fly tail.

tuft of fibers of hackle or hair, downward from just back of the head of the fly. These fibers represent the legs of an insect or at times the gills of a bait fish. Beard hackling is accomplished by two main methods: A tuft of hackle fibers attached under the shoulder area. Hackle wound on as a collar, then fibers are all stroked downward and secured in that position with tying thread. Also called "chin" and "throat".

synonym of: herl.

a long individual barbule having short dense fibers, typical of peacock tail feathers, ostrich plumes, condor, etc. Used as tails and to make fly bodies.

synonym of barbicel: one of the minute hooks present on a feather barbule, for cross-attachment.

a part of a feather. Barbules are the secondary branches sticking out of the barbs (which are the primary branches). Often barbules have minute hooks called barbicels for cross-attachment.

another name for "grizzly". Barred rock feathers are from Plymouth Rock chickens.

of the vise, as opposite to the pedestal base.

of the vise.

name used to describe a large number of surface bass flies usually tied with hollow hair (such as deer hair).

term used by Francis Francis to differentiate two types or shades of Bustard feathers. May also refer to the Lesser Bustard.

british reference to silver or gold thread. That is: thread with a fine silver or gold tinsel wrapped on a thread.

any fly which can be fished either dry or wet. Example: Lutz Bi-Fly, or Renegade.

a fly with both light and dark coloured hackles to give good visibility in both light and shaded water.

the word has two meanings: an instrument or machine for weighing, and a small, rigid plate forming part of the external body of a fish.

the short side of a duck or goose primary wing feather, stripped off the feather with some of the ribbing intact. Used to simulate tails, legs, antennae and other parts. Sections of this material are used on top of some streamers to simulate dorsal fins of bait fish. Often tied reversed, with the fibers facing forward to toward the eye of the hook. Can be found dyed in many different colours. See: chinese Biots.

strip of fibers taken from the short side of a primary duck flight feather, used to simulate extended dorsal fins of baitfish.

brilliant feathers (dark gray with bluish tinge) of the drake mallard wings. These are the secondaries of the flight feathers.

a tool of fly tying which holds spools of thread, wire or floss. It allows the thread to be dispensed with a controlled tension.

another term for a badger hackle or feather. Also spelled as: broma.

in artificial nymphs, the gills are represented by tufts of fibers or tiny feathers along sides or top of abdomen. In streamers, they are represented by red beard hackle and by contrasting color strip approximately where gill cover would terminate on a bait fish.

see: brown mallard.

the silken fibre obtained from the intestines of the silkworm: chiefly used in the making of fishing tackle: silk strands used for leaders before eyed hooks became popular.

procedure of tying wing feathers onto a fly body in a flat style rather than on edge. Produces thin side lines of various colors or effects, better representing the thin side lines of bait fishes. Used primarily in streamer patterns.

the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill.

a soft, pliant leather from antelope, sheep, goat.

a very fine mylar synthetic hair that is packaged in hanks and comes in a variety of colors, including metallic and fluorescent varieties. It is very useful for tying flies with a lot of sparkle and glitter.

all metal flexible cord of small strung beads; cut in pairs and tied to simulate buggy eyes on a fly.

a strong cord made from the intestines of sheep and used in surgery. Term also given to silkworm gut. Actually a comparatively heavy silk used prior to nylon material for leaders.

acronym for: cul de canard. These feathers are found near the preen glands on most birds, primarily ducks. The unusual structure of the feather itself provides floatation. What keeps the CDC feather afloat is thousands of tiny barbules extending from each of the many tiny shafts of the feather. These barbules tend to rest in the surface tension of the water better than any other feathers. In addition to that, the many barbules trap air bubbles, creating buoyancy similar to an air mattress.

there are two types of wax: the beeswax type used to coat the tying thread, and the dubbing wax, which is tacky and used to dub fur.

special tacky wax used to adhere dubbing material to the tying thread.

a special wax to apply on the tying silk or thread, to make it sticky, so that the dubbing material adheres better.

a wool, cotton, silk, or rayon yarn with protruding pile. An essential component of the Woolly Worm and Woolly Bugger patterns.

a loose, floppy artificial chenille with pearlescent filler strands. Comes in numerous colors; Adds flash and action to large bodied flies.

short pearlescent-fibered plastic chenille used for nymph streamer and woolly bugger bodies.

another plastic chenille material, used as a substitute of Estaz. Stiffer than Estaz, some nice colors, but not as high quality as Estaz.

translucent plastic chenille, used for bodies of streamers, woolly buggers, for the thorax of nymphs, nymph bodies, and egg flies. Long fibers can be trimmed. Comes in a wide variety of steelhead colors and there is also a line of many colors in holographic called Metallique Estaz (TM).

metallic fibered chenille used for streamer bodies.

literally: a girdle, i.e. a band of material around the waist; in fly tying, a portion of fly body between collar and butt, usually made of bright material.

British term: a small portion of hair or fur cut from an animal pelt. A snippet of hair.

e.g.: cluster of hairs.

small clipping tool to cut tippet material and the like.

a streamer tied to work with the hook point up instead of the traditional downward look, thanks to the position of the barbell eyes on the hook shank; the body comprises a mix of bucktail, synthetic hair, crystal flash, flashabou, etc.. See: inverted hook bonefish patterns.

style of hackling. Same as palmered hackle, but in case of cockatoosh style, hackle is wound on shank only, with no body underneath other than a possible single thread wrap.

a fly part, usually the rearmost projection from the shank of the hook.

term for a "V" formation of tail material: the process is named: "pontooning".

type of fly, usually a baitfish imitation, with a hair back and/or wing. A streamer fly tied to imitate a fish. This fly usually features a long segment of hair, layed back from the eye to the bend of the hook. That hair often is from a deer's tail.

the most common adhesive is the head cement; strong ones are the so called "super glues" (cyanoacrylates: CA); also used the epoxy glue (2 components).

referred to feathers, the term means: breast feather and neck feather of the Golden Pheasant. Colors range from yellow-gold to deep reddish-gold with two black bars. Used as a whole feather it is called a tippet. When a few fibers are used they are called tippets. Found in fly tails, wings and shoulders. One or two fly patterns call for hackling of tippet. Whole feathers are used in wings of many salmon flies.

the neck skin of a chicken or other birds, with hackles still attached; the neck consists of two parts: the nape, which is the back of the neck, comprising small hackles (size 18 and smaller) and the butt, comprising larger hackles (size 16 and larger). Synonym: cape.

method of completing the head of a fly. Basis of the whip finish is a number of winds over the final end of the thread so that the end is locked down inside the wraps. Whipping can be done by fingers alone or by the use of any number of commercially made tools.

keeping of fly tying materials, especially furs, hair and feathers safely is a problem of all fly tyers. Recommended use of air tight or plastic bags or tins. Use moth flakes, napthelene, borax or some insect repellent to keep out moths and their destructive larvae.

term referring to a bird: the types of feathers which cover the body and collectively give the bird its distinctive shape.

tool designed to hold the hackle back from the hook eye when tying the finish knot.

a material that can be slipped over the hook shank or wrapped around the hook when the core is removed. It combines refractive light effects with tubes for the bodies of flies and is often used as the underbody for "Zonker" flies. See also: Mylar tubing.

three strands of tinseled thread twisted together.

a fly part, found mostly in salmon patterns. Stiff pair of usually feather center ribs, tied in at head and extending back and over wings of the fly.

main portion of fly wrapped on or around hook shank. Materials used are fur, floss, wools, herl, quill or tinsel. May be jointed by herl warps and veiled with feathers, or have parts separated by hackle wraps. Fore and aft bodies are portions extending before or behind the center joint.

fly bodies are tapered usually small at the tail and larger at the head end. Some are tapered in cigar shape, small on each end with larger area in the center. Tapering is an effect to match the body shape of the insect being represented.

process of building a body extension out beyond the bend of the hook to simulate the extra long bodies of some mayflies. Wire, monofilament and deer body or bucktail hair are usually used, with material wound on the base thus provided. A.k.a.: extended body.

process of weaving two different colors or materials on a hook shank resulting in a dark top and a light bottom or creating side lines of contrasting colors. Makes a firm, strong body. Example: Bitch Creek Nymph and Sandy Mite.

a fly body prepared using a stripped ostrich or peacock herl. The body has a thin profile and appears distinctly segmented.

process of building a body extension out beyond the bend of the hook to simulate the extra long bodies of some mayflies. Wire, monofilament and deer body or bucktail hair are usually used, with material wound on the base thus provided. A.k.a.: detached body.

a.k.a.: to dress the hook.

British term for fly tier.

the process of building fishing flies using thread and various materials.

term given in England to the process of picking out the guard hairs or fur bodies or wool bodies to create a semblence of legs or a larger thorax on some flies such as nymphs. A.k.a. tease.

ribbing material such as tinsel or wire wrapped in the opposite direction of the hackling. Process binds palmered hackles more securely to the fly. Used mainly in Atlantic salmon Spey fly construction.

one type of feathers found in bird wings.

a long feather or feathers placed on the very top of a wing section on flies. Golden Pheasant crest is used predominently on salmon flies. Also referred to as the "crest" of a fly.

mane and tail hairs from horses, mules and the like, are very long and strong and can be used to weave the bodies of the woven-body flies.

a growth of long hair on the back of the neck and the shoulders, characteristic of various animals, esp. horse and lion. Also: an Irish term for tufts of mohair on the top side of a fly body of some salmon flies.

the trade name for a synthetic stringy material used in many streamer patterns to add flash and color.

a bluish tinged feather with dark blue, ending with a brown-tan tip. Used in hackling some British flies such and Snipe and Purple.

trade name for a synthetic material similar to floss, used to build up fly bodies.

on a hook, the curved portion connecting the shank and the barbed or pointed projection.

on a hook, the curved portion connecting the shank and the barbed or pointed projection.

the most common types of hook bends shapes are: round, keel, carlisle, sproat, limerick, kirby, aberdeen, wide gap, o'shaughnessy. According to the hook main plane, the bend can be: straight, kirbed, reversed.

one type of feathers found in bird wings.

special tie of a fly which has hackling both at the aft or bend portion of the hook, and also at the head. Creates great flotation and was originally designed for fast, rough waters. Example: the Renegade.

acronym for: Daylight Fluorescent Material, usually of floss. Trade name: "Gantron". Two main types used as fly tying materials are DFM and DRF (Depth Ray Fire).

two parts with diverging tips, such as tail fibers and wings that spread apart as they leave the body.

term given to the back covering over the entire body of some nymphs and larva and reproductions of shrimp, scuds and sowbugs. Formed by tying fibers of feather or hair or flosses at the tail and laying over entire body, tying again at the head. Normally ribbing is applied over the material.

a nymph pattern that has a flashy material substituted for the wing case, such as reflective mylar.

hackle tied with concave side toward the head of the hook.

abbreviation of dubbing, or to dub or dubbed. Process of applying fur to a waxed thread and then winding on shank to make a body form.

colloquial for dubbing.

refers to a fur material, or mixture, or blend of furs, suitable to making fur bodies for flies. This material is wrapped onto a thread (commonly using wax) and wrapped around the shank of the hook to imitate the abdomen and/or thorax of an artificial fly.

the process of twisting fur on to a waxed thread in order to make a workable substance for application as a fur body. Sometimes refers to the process of picking out hairs or fibers from fur bodies with a dubbing needle to form pseudo legs or to enlarge thorax areas of fly bodies. Other materials such as Kapok are also used as dubbing material.

a method of preparing dubbing material ready for wrapping on the hook shank. A full, balanced chenille-like rope is obtained, to use as a dubbing and/or to reinforce materials such as peacock herl.

flexible translucent plastic material that comes in sheet form. Cut into thin strips and tied over a mylar tinsel base. This material glows and reflects light. It is also sometimes called: "Lazer Wrap".

yarn that imitates the drifting eggs that trout and salmon eat during the spawning runs. Comes in a variety of colors.

type of fly with nymphal shape and stubby downwings; imitates mayfly hatched underwater swimming to surface. Emergers float in, rather than on, the surface film.

trade name for a chenille which uses colored fine plastic strips for the barbules. Can be found at many craft shops and yarn stores.

a synthetic material used for making floating flies like a suspender buzzer or nymph.

trade mark: a foam comprising a closed cell foamed cross-linked ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) resin; an extremely buoyant foam with great fly tying potential.

the act of applying materials to a hook to construct a fly; also the materials except the hook, which comprise the finished fly; synonym: fly tying.

a grouping of similar elements: e.g. a bunch of hairs.

e.g.: to tie the fibers down.

lateral part. On birds, the areas below the wing along each side; also the contour feathers that cover the bird's flanks.

threadlike component of a substance; in a feather, it is synonym of barb.

hackle fiber.

combined sections of different feathers, and/or colored feathers, by intertwining the barbules, in order to form a complete multi-colored wing section. Example: Parmachene Belle.

a small fibre; also the subdivision of a fibre, in vegetable fibres and man-made fibres; also a hackle or feather fiber.

wrapping technique; separates and secures the fly's parts.

a twisted strand made from natural or synthetic fibers or a combination of both types.

e.g. the fly tying thread.

a Nylon-acrylic yarn used in pupa wing cases and bodies. Provides the translucency required for a good match to the natural. Also called: Dazzle and Souffle Yarn.

a thin worsted yarn, of two threads, used for tapestry and embroidery; also formerly for making fringes, laces, vestments, hosiery, etc..

this material, which reflects light, can be used for tails, bodies, wing cases, or wings.

an Estaz substitute. See: Estaz.

also called: tying silk; the continuous filament, usually multi-stranded fiber, used to bind the parts of a fly together; made of nylon or silk in various colors and sizes. Some threads are pre-waxed. Size identifications usually follow a number pattern, with the 8/0 being very fine, the 6/0 intermediate and the 3/0 quite thick.

small wire used to weight fly bodies; comes in three basic diameters.

metal wire.

a woollen fabric or stuff made from well-twisted yarn spun of long-staple wool combed to lay the fibres parallel.

a type of feathers which is hair-like and grows along the fluffy down feathers. The soft, marabou-like attached feather of pheasant, grouse, and partridge or turkey body or tail feathers. Usually a pale to dark blue-gray in color. Used for winging flies and nymphs. Turkey filoplume has become a common substitute for marabou feathers, available in many colors. Also, an improper term much in use by fly tiers, for "aftershaft".

see also: over, done.

flies that are used after dark, in deep water, or where visibility is not very good. The large bead-chain eyes and the bulky dressing, create underwater vibration. The bead-chain eyes make the fly dip every time the angler pauses on the retrieve, thus giving a jigging motion. The large wing and bulky body generate sound waves in low-visibility water so tarpon and other species can find it.

synthetic hair used as a replacement for bucktail. Very durable, with a large variety of colors available.

synthetic hair used in tying streamers and salt water flies.

commercial name for a colorful synthetic filament (a thin flexible tinsel) material used in fly tying for adding flash to streamers as well as other patterns.

old British term for the soft underfur of an animal pelt. A.k.a.: underfur.

a fly that looks like a piece of flesh that has been ripped off of a salmon.

a type of wing feather; synonym of secondary feather.

a lustrous 1 to 4 strand flat yarn made from silk, rayon, nylon and other fibers, available in many colours and used for building fly bodies. Known also as body silk.

the property of a material that emits light of a visible colour when ultra violet light falls upon it. Examples: Gantron and DFM.

is the emission of an electromagnetic radiation by a substance that has absorbed radiation of a different wavelength. In most cases, absorption of light of a certain wavelength induces the emission of light with a larger wavelength and lower energy.

the thickest part of the feather's quill nearest the bird's body.

an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon objects especially for delicate operations, as by surgeons.

expression used as a synonym of phosphorescence, which is a process in which energy absorbed by a substance is released relatively slowly in the form of light. The "glow-in-the-dark" materials are "charged" by exposure to light.

rayon based floss body material laced with metallic fibers, used for leech bodies, woolly buggers, etc..

see: stillborn.

a standard embossed tinsel.

plastic translucent braid used for nymphs, streamers, and salmon flies.

a material that mimics the behavior of light on fish skin. The color of the materials changes from a deep, radiant hue to a frosted look, depending on how the light hits the material.

feather or fur fibers. Also it refers to the tail of a fly.

a small fly-wheel fixed on the spindle of a spinning-wheel to maintain or regulate the speed. A.k.a.: twister, dubbing twister.

the tendency of a body to float or to rise when submerged in a fluid.

a young domestic cock, not older than one year.

a fly pattern, intended to represent the homonymous amphipod crustacean, commonly but mistakenly known as "freshwater shrimp".

is the portion of the hook between the eye and the bend, where the body of the fly is usually tied.

the hook shank can be regular or forged; it can be straight or bent down or can have a kink (or crimped or hump).

registered trade name: a synthetic material, usually a dye or color, which has high light reflective properties. See: DFM.

from the verb: (to) spin - spun - spun.