When I started trying to tie flies some 35 years ago, there were no fly fishing periodicals. Outdoor magazines had stopped running articles about the sport. In short, fly fishing was at low ebb.

The spin-fishing craze was sweeping the country. Magazine editors, fish management personnel, and nearly everyone else associated with sport fishing jumped on the bandwagon. The new way was in. Fly fishing was obsolete, old-fashioned, archaic, defunct and worse.

I became hooked on the sport some years earlier and being more bullheaded than most (I was still trying to become reasonably proficient with a flyrod), resisted the trend. I can't cast a spinning outfit to this day.

The upshot of all this was that in order to have flies to fish with, I had to learn to make my own and, since magazines were of no help, I started trying to buy books on the subject.

Publishing firms had, of course, lost interest in the sport so my purchases were mostly limited to out-of-print and used volumes. Fortunately a mail order dealer who specialized in such items took an interest and started writing whenever he acquired something he thought I could use.

It didn't take long to realize that they were written for readers more advanced than I was. I just didn't have a sufficient grasp of the fundamentals to properly interpret their instructions.

I remember thinking that if I only learned one thing from each book it might be worthwhile. I guess I purchased every one he turned up for me.

Sure enough, it seemed like each author, more or less inadvertently, let slip something that helped me understand a little of what he was saying or clarified something I had read earlier.

It wasn't all bad, however. Besides ending up with a well-rounded education in fly-tying, I was introduced to the vast field of fly-fishing literature. Books purchased for the dollar or so apiece that was the going rate then, were the start of an angling library that has grown to some 400 volumes.

The frustration of those early years was brought to mind recently when a reader took the trouble to write and point out that my instructions for tying a fly in "Two Flies That Can Make You Look Like An Expert, the Badger Sportsman for March, 1985, were far from clear.

Much to my chagrin, I realized I was doing what had seemed so frustrating when I encountered it in other writers years ago.

This effort will go into detail on fly tying procedures that ordinarily aren't covered in articles and books. I have done this a couple of times in the last several years but will try to go even more in depth this time and, if necessary, with a follow-up. To do so in every article on fly-making would seem repetitious to reguIar readers or experienced tyers, but to any one new to the craft these instructions should be helpful.

Perhaps saving this piece for future reference wouldn't be a bad idea.

First of all you must be able to see what you are doing. Adequate lighting is important, of course, but even more so is the background you are tying against. A plain white covering for your table will make the fly you are working on stand out like it is illuminated but you would lose it trying to tie against a dark, figured, or just plain cluttered surface.

I use freezer paper. It is plain white, inexpensive, wilI protect the table from cement spills or similar calamities and can be obtained at any grocery.

Use extra fine wire hooks for dry flies, size 16 or larger. Regular wire is all right for 18 and smaller. Use regular or extra stout for wet flies in all sizes. "Dry" is fly fishing terminology for flies designed to float and "Wet" designates those that are to be fished underwater.

Secure the hook in a vise with the eye toward your right, if you are right handed, and the hook shank parallel to the table top. Most vises are made so they can be reversed for left-handers. In that case the eyed end will be towards your left.

Leave a little of the point exposed and work around it. Burying the whole point in the vise jaws will result in more cracked or broken hooks than most of us like. One is too many, especially if it gives way with a good fish on.

Make all wraps in the same direction. This helps insure a secure fly. Winding in one direction and then the other loosens the fly.

Traditionally, all winding is done clock-wise, that is if you are looking at the hook from the eyed end. This means if you are right-handed, you will be wrapping thread and other material over and away from you. Left-handers often work with the vise turned so the hook extends to the left and wind over and towards themselves.

Occasionally, you will read instructions that say to counter wrap (wind in the opposite direction) quill bodies with fine wire to reinforce them. Don't do it. You will only loosen the fly. Coat the quill body with fly head cement (lacquer) instead. This will strengthen it and accent its chitinous appearance.

After the hook is secured, make a base by coating the shank with fly head cement. Then, starting at the eye and wrapping over its free end, spiral thread along the hook back to what will be the rear of the body and half-hitch. This will be at the start of the bend, just above the barb. Not the point, the barb. Now coat this winding and shank with cement again.

This procedure is absolutely necessary on all flies. It keeps the completed fly from slipping on the hook. The only exception is when spinning hollow hair to make hair bodies. Even then the initial clump must be tied on over a thread base so the hair that is spun on later can be secured.

When making the base it is good practice to make a turn or two close up against the hook eye so that any gap left when the eye was formed is closed. If left open your leader may be cut or the fly may slip off.

Use regular nylon tying thread when you can get it, not mono cord. Regular thread is multiple strand. Cement penetrates it better. A good all around size is 3/0.

Don't use waxed thread. Cement won't penetrate wax at all or hold thread that has wax on it. Varnish will but it dries much too slowly for our purpose.

In the old days when tying thread was silk, it was waxed to deter rotting and varnish was used for cement. This was the only reason for using wax. With nylon thread there is no benefit.

Don't let your bobbin hang and spin free. This untwists and weakens the thread.

When a vise fails to hold hooks securely, it usually means there is a buildup of dried cement on the inside of the jaws. Scraping with a knife blade will make it grip like new. The same is true of hackle pliers. Although, with them it is usually a piece of feather stuck to the pad.

The next step is tying on the tail, if the pattern calls for one. Dry flies almost always have tails. Wets may or may not. As a rule of thumb, dry fly tails are as long as the hook shank and wet fly tails shorter.

Dry fly tails should extend on about the same plane as the hook shank. Any spread should be laterally since the tip of the tail helps support the fly on the water and the fish sees it from underneath. Wet flies are viewed, at least theoretically, from the side so their tails are more apt to be set on edge, especially when made from feather sections.

The tail is tied on where the rear of the body will be, with a thread wrap and a half-hitch right on top of the previous half-hitch. Cement this half-hitch also.

The next operation consists of tying on the body material. When bodies are made of more than one material, all of it is tied on before any is wound. What is to be wound last is tied on first.

For instance, say you are going to make a yarn bodied, gold ribbed, palmer fly (a palmer fly is one that has hackle wound the length of its body). The tinsel is secured first, then the hackle feather, then the yarn.

The tinsel is tied on with a thread wrap and half-hitch and left sticking out back of the hook bend. The hackle feather is prepared by stroking with thumb and finger to make its fibers extend at right angles to the stem, or nearly so. It is then tied on by its tip and left extending in the same manner, wet fly concave side towards the hook and dry fly concave side out. Then the yarn strand is tied on.

All are secured in the same way, with a thread wrap, a half-hitch and a drop of cement. Cement can be applied with a bodkin (dubbing needle) or a toothpick. The last half-hitch should be where the body will start, just across the gap from the hook barb.

Now the thread is spiraled along the hook to where the front of the body will be tied off. This is halfway to the eye for a dry fly and three-quarters of the way for a wet. Half-hitch it here and put a drop of cement on the half-hitch.

Just a brief explanation about palmering: A palmer fly is one that has hackle wound so as to have legs projecting the full length of its body. Usually the feather is spiraled over some other material, although it can be wound densely and compose the whole fly. The one we are describing is the former.

Now wind the yarn forward to where the thread is secured. Tie down with a thread wrap and a half-hitch. Grasp the feather butt with a hackle plier, wrap a turn or two just back of the yarn body until it starts to wind on edge and then spiral it forward over the yarn body (three or four turns is about right) and tie off in the same way. You keep from winding down the hackle fibers by wrapping the tinsel with a zig-zag motion. Cutoff the excess yarn, feather and tinsel. Cement these knots.

You could, if you wish, tie the tinsel on and wind it before the feather but once you get the hang of zigzagging while winding it through the feather you will tie down hardly any feathers and have a more secure fly. Stray strands that do get wound down can be picked out with a dubbing needle or scissors point.

If you are making a conventional dry fly, tie the wings in place after the body material is secured to the rear of the hook and the thread is advanced half-way up the shank but before the body is actually wound.

On these, wing material is tied in place horizontal to the hook shaft with the tips extending beyond the eye. They are secured with a couple of thread wraps, a half-hitch and cement right on top of the half-hitch previously made halfway between the bend and the eye. Then the tips are lifted upright and held there by winding thread in front and half-hitching and then again in back. Cement these windings and the wing base well.

Dry flies will alight and ride best if the wings slope slightly forward.

Cut off the wing butts about halfway between the wing base and the bend. The body is then wound forward over these effectively tapering it a little thicker at the shoulder than the rear like a natural.

Next, two hackle feathers are selected. They should be stiff and glossy, from the neck of a rooster selected for this purpose. Your best bet, at least for starters, is to buy these feathers from a dealer.

The fiber on hackle feathers should be one and a half to two times as long as the hook gap. They are prepared by stroking to make the fibers stand out from the stem and trimming the soft webby ones from the butt. Use a scissors and do this so there is a row of stubby barbules along each side of the stem butt.

Hold the two feathers back to back, convex sides together, parallel to the hook and tie them on your side of the hook with the tips projecting beyond the bend and the butts at the base of the wing. Wrap thread around the trimmed butts and the hook back of the wing and half-hitch it, then ahead of the wing around the hook and trimmed butts again and half-hitch. Cement these windings thoroughly.

Hackle is wound one at a time by grasping the feather tip with a hackle plier and winding around the hook up close to and behind and ahead of the wing until most of the feather is used up. Tie off ahead of the wing with a couple of thread wraps and a half-hitch. Do this with both feathers. Cement the windings. Cut off and discard the tips.

Make a head with thread wraps, tie off with a whip-finish and cement this thoroughly.

Wet flies are customarily hackled after the body is completed and winged after that. The body is tied off about two-thirds of the way up the hook shank with thread wraps, a half-hitch and cement. Only one feather is used for hackling. It is prepared in the same way as for a dry fly and is tied on similarly just ahead of the body but with the concave side towards the hook. This is to make the hackle fibers slope rear-ward when wound which is traditional for wet flies.

The wing is tied on after the hackle is wound, and this too slants rear-ward. The butt will extend out over the hook eye but is trimmed back and concealed by the fly head. Cement all knots and the head winding thoroughly.

There will be more about winging and hackling in a future article.