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Fly Tying Glossary
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Sail Wing:
A fly wing, upright and usually made of a single
white hackle tip.
Salmon Blue:
Color - Watered out light blue. May have
greenish tinge. Represents the back color of a
fresh caught salmon.
Salmon Fly:
Any of the brilliantly dressed flies used in
salmon fishing. Also, one of the many names
given to large insect hatch species such as the
Giant May or the Giant Stone.
Scalet Ibis:
Bright red feathers from wings and body of this
South American bird are used for winging
materials, tails, shoulders and some soft
hackles. Feathers are soft, fine for wet flies.
Ibis is nearly impossible to obtain now that the
bird is highly protected and is becoming rare.
Substitute dyed red hen hackles or dyed red
goose wings.
Scaup:
This duck provides excellent body and wing
feathers for fly tying. Colors range from grays
to dark browns. Slate gray of the primary wing
feathers make excellent dry fly wings.
Scotch Brilliant Tinsel:
Finely embossed tinsel.
S.D. Blue:
Silver Doctor Blue. Very light blue.
Seal:
Seal fur is of translucent consistancy and is
usually of a brown color with varying shades.
Ideal for dubbing.
Seal-Lite:
Commericial man-made fiber resembling seal fur
used in body dubbing. Trade name.
Sealtex Rubber:
Trade name of a rubber like that found in
surgical gloves.
Sea Trout:
The Char, Salvelinus fontinalis, or Brook Trout
with sea going tendencies.
Seclin:
Plastic leader material, as Nylon. Early trade
name. Seclin bodies of flies are made by
wrapping closely together, this Seclin or other
plastic transparent material over a colored
base. The color shows through the clear plastic.
Sedge Green:
Color- This one is in the eyes of the beholder.
Usually means an irridescent dark green.
S.F.:
Side feathers, or flank feathers.
Sh.:
Abbreviation for shoulder.
Shellback:
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.
Shoulder:
The area just behind the head of a fly. Also,
two short matched feathers applied in this area
are referred to as shoulders.
Shoveller:
See - Spoonbill.
Side Feathers:
Another name for flank feathers. See - Flank
Feathers.
Sides:
Usually found on salmon fly patterns. Found on
the mid portion of wings, usually of Jungle
Cock, Wood Duck side feathers, or other brightly
marked feather, placed to split the side profile
of wing materials. May be short or as long as
the wing. Sometimes called Splits, Strips or
Stripes.
Silhouette:
The outline or general appearance of a dry fly
perched on the surface film as it appears to the
fish. Should present a likeness of the insect
being represented.
Silver Fox:
Provides light gray body fur. Tails range from
white to gray with white tipped hairs.
Simple Wings:
Formed usually of paired feathers or paired
feather sections. May be upright, slanted, down
or spent, or a combination of these.
Single Wing:
Term refers to two wings, one per side. See -
Double Wing.
Skater:
Large, heavily hackled fly. An attractor type
fly, which may be blown across the water surface
by wind as Variants and Spider flies.
Shuck:
Discarded nymphal case left behind by emerging
aquatic insects.
Skunk:
Coarse black and white hair similar to black
bear in texture. Used for tails, wings, legs or
antennnae.
Slip:
Section of wing feather. A matched pair of slips
form the wings for most dry flies or other
winged flies.
Snell:
A section of leader material affixed to a fly
hook which provided an early method of attaching
the fly to a leader. Early snells were made of
silkworm gut, later of Nylon.
Snipe Rump:
A bluish tinged feather with dark blue, ending
with a brown-tan tip. Used in hackling some
British flies such and Snipe and Purple.
Snippet:
British term. A small portion of hair or fur cut
from an animal pelt. A snippet of hair.
Soft Hackle Flies:
Wingless, subaquaeous insect replicas having
hackles of very soft, pliant feathers of
Partridge, Woodcock, Grouse, Snipe and Starling.
Flies are normally two part. Just a simple body
of floss or fur and the hackling. Some have
three parts - an added thorax of fur.
sp:
Abbreviation of specie or species as in Baetis
sp.
S.P.:
Silver Pheasant.
Spade Hackle:
The shoulder hackle of game cocks, between neck
and saddles, of a rounded shape.
Sparkle Yarn:
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.
Specie Flies:
Imitate individual species of insects.
Speck:
Abbreviation for speckled.
Spent Wing:
Wings usually make 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.
Spey:
Method of tying certain salmon flies, the most
distinguishing feature of which is the palmered
hackle tied in at the tail by the butt end of
the hackle, then spiralled forward ending up at
the head with the smaller or tip end of the
hackle, making the fibers longer at the rear end
and shorter near the fly front.
Spey Hackle:
Another name for saddle hackle of a soft nature.
Originally Spey hackles came from the side tail
feathers of a rooster. Substitute most any long
fibered soft hen hackle. Colors vary with dyes
used. Heron hackles often used in "Spey" flies.
Spey 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.
Spider:
Specific tie of a fly pattern wherein the
hackles are over-sized, even two or three times
larger than normal. Flies tied in this manner
can be skittered across the surface, or the wind
will blow them.
Spike:
A type of throat, beard or chin hackle usually
made of hair and tied perpendicular to the hook
shank. Clipped off square on the end. Used
rarely in some salmon and streamer flies.
Spin:
To attach hair such as deer body hair to a fly.
See - Spun Hair.
Splayed Hackles:
Hackles tied in with concaves outward.
Split:
Small sections of wing or tail feather, usually
used to form part of a shoulder or represent a
mid-line on a wing.
See - Strips.
Split Feathers:
Process used primarily when tying Matuka style
flies. Grouse or Partridge tail feather is split
down the rib and the two halves tied in to the
fly back to back.
Split Hackle:
Process of cutting a hackle feather into two
halves, cutting lengthwise down the center rib.
Used when palmering small flies.
Split Wing Dry Flies:
Originated about 1850.
Spoonbill:
Duck, also called - Shoveller. The reddish brown
breast feathers of the drake are used as winging
material for some streamer and wet flies.
Spoonwing:
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.
Sprig:
British term. A feather or hackle fiber or
fibrils.
Spring:
A Dee type tie with wings slightly divided.
Normally refers to salmon flies.
Spring Salmon:
A Dee type of tie, wings are slightly divided.
Spun Fur:
Furs in various shades and colors can be
purchased from suppliers. It appears like yarn
or wool. Eliminates time consuming blending and
dubbing.
Spun Wool:
A commercially made wool yarn especially for fly
tyig. A better grade of wool with longer fibers
than ordinary yarn.
Squirrel:
Red, Fox, Black and Gray squirrels provide tails
which are a standard in the fly tier's kit.
Comes in grays, browns, and blacks. Some have
white tips on the hairs. Used mainly as winging
material, especially in streamers.
Stacked Fur Dub:
Formation of a ball or succession of balls of
fur and piling them one on top another to form a
high or built-up thorax. Balls are formed by
alternate horizontal and vertical spinning of
fur on dubbing thread.
Starling:
Super gray feathers with lighter markings come
from this bird. Used in wings for small wets and
drys.
Steelhead Fly:
Any fly dressed on larger, stronger hooks used
in the angling for Steelhead trout. Many
specific and unique dressings exist for this
type of fly. See - STEELHEAD pattern listing.
(publisher note, refers to the book.)
Stiletto:
See - Bodkin.
Stillborn Flies:
Insects only partially out of the nymphal case
during a hatch. Appear to be stuck at some stage
of emergence. Two basic forms are found:
1. Free wing - both wings are clear of shuck,
but abdomen is still encased.
2. Trapped wing - one or both wings are still
encased in the shuck.
Usually these are noticed dead or nearly dead
from their struggle to emerge. Trout appear to
recognize the plight of these would-be emergers
and feed freely on them.
Stoat:
Term given to the summer coat of the Ermine or
Weasel, which in summer is creamy to
brownish-white. The winter coat is vey white.
The tail tip is black all year.
Storage:
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 larva.
Straddle Bug Style:
A fly tied in reverse. Head and hackle at the
bend of the hook and tail fibers at the eye of
the hook. British usage.
Straw:
Grass and grain straw is used sometimes for fly
bodies. Not very durable, it should be ribbed
with wire or tinsel or thread for strength.
Comes in many colors and has a special sheen not
found in other materials. Flax straw is one of
the strongest and most pliant.
Streamer Fly:
A fly with hackle wings, representing a
baitfish.
See also - Bucktail Streamer and Bucktail Fly.
Streamer Jig:
Lightly weighted at the head only, streamers
which may be fished in a dip and rise fashion
simulating feeding minnows. Developed by Joseph
D. Bates Jr. and Loring A. Dodge.
Strip:
Small section of wing feather inserted in middle
of fly wing to simulate the mid-line or
median-line of bait fish. A contrasting color
dividing a wind.
See - Split. Used mainly in salmon and steelhead
flies.
Stripe:
See Strip and Split.
Stripped Herl:
Ostrich or Peacock herl which has had the flue
removed. Stripped herl is used to make quill
bodies on flies like the Mosquito. Also used to
simulate feelers and antennae.
Strip Wings:
Two matched sections of wing or tail feathers
mounted as a pair on a fly. Example: Matching
sections from a Turkey feather from each wing of
the bird, so that lengths and curvatures are as
near opposites as possible. These sections may
be mounted back to back to form a closed wing,
or may be mounted from front to front to form
splayed or divided wings.
Strung Hackle:
Commercially prepared hackles selected and bound
together with a string binding - strung. Care
must be taken by the purchaser to examine the
hackles to see that a fairly equal amount of
right and left feathers are included, as some
strings come with all of either rights or lefts,
and do not lend themselves to happy tying.
Style, Fly:
Describes generally the outstanding feature of a
fly, as, hairwing, downwing, feather wing,
parachute, all hair, silver body, or no hackle,
etc.
Sub Imago:
Stage of a Mayfly when just emerged from the
nymphal case. A burdensome, dull colored stage.
Flight is sluggish and usually toward streamside
wooded area. Also call - Dun.
Substitutes:
Any like or similar materials may be substituted
in fly patterns. Some examples are: Silk floss -
Nylon floss.
Natural colors - Dyed colors.
Barred or speckled feathers - A similarly marked
feather.
Special pattern feather - Pantone marked plain
feather.
Natural furs - Synthetic furs.
Woodchuck hairs - Chipmunk tail.
Jungle Cock eyes - Lacquered and painted
hackles.
Furs - Man-made fibers such as Sealex.
Hackle - Man-made fibers or hair hackles.
Hairs - Man-made fibers, Nylons, etc.
Wools - Man-made fibers, Mohlon or Orlon.
There is no limit to imagination or
improvisation in the art of fly tying.
Substitute for Badger, Furnace, Coch-Y-Bondhu or
Greenwell Hackle:
Use a similar color feather and interwind black
ostrich herl to obtain the black center list
effect when applying hackling. To substitute for
wings, use a solid color feather and dye-mark
the black center stripe, carefully, with dye
marker pen.
Summer Duck:
Another name for Wood Duck from which comes the
lemon- yellow side speckled feathers.
Swan:
Swan plumage is next to impossible to obtain. A
suitable substitute can be found in both wild
and tame goose feathers. The side and shoulder
feathers, with the rib in the center, provide
matched sides for winging smaller flies, or for
wing materials for salmon patterns. Often found
in most any color, they take dyes easily.
Swanundaze:
One of the many man-made plastics. Similar to
leather craft lacing. Made in round, oval,
flattened forms and comes in many shades of
brown, olive, yellows, etc. Used mainly as body
material for nymphs and gives a good
representation of segmentation.
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