the rows of trout fl ies. On impulse
he made a rough count: three hundred
or so fl ies across eight pages
in the Orvis. Dan Bailey showed,
across thirteen pages, around four
hundred fi fty. The little order form
in the corner of one page was for a book
of patterns and materials for more
than a thousand classic and contemporary
fl ies.
tied together and trimmed -- feathers
(Guinea, Peacock, Silver Pheasant, Jungle
Cock, etc.), hair (Northern Whitetail,
Coastal Deer, Yearling Elk, Antelope,
Moose Mane, etc.), specimens of fur,
of silk fl oss, of chenille (Regular,
Tinsel, Short Flash, Long Flash, Ultra),
French Wire (gold, silver, copper, in
Small, Medium, and Large), and so on.
The trout fl ies have their names, though.
Hard to match them for liveliness and
unexpectedness in certain sequences
or pairings the names come in: bright
miniature assemblages of the language
into not-quite-compositions, with
their fl eeting intimations, so that