SHINY DEVILS 



Goethe says, "Encourage the beautiful; the use- 

 ful will take care of itself." 



My theory is that the useful lure is the one which 

 gets the fish to imagine it is taking its natural food 

 and grasps hold when the fish strikes. In other 

 words, a useful lure, to be a good one, must be made 

 upon the basic principle of an imitation, in some 

 way or other, of the natural food of the fish, gamy 

 or otherwise. 



Of course, if these soft metal-body devils are 

 found by other anglers to be more effective for bet- 

 ter sport and larger fish than is possible with the 

 prevailing plug lures arranged in many barbed 

 hooks, it will be a great gain in many ways. 



To be candid, there is one serious drawback to 

 these shining lures, viz. : a tendency of the metal to 

 tarnish and lose its brightness after being wet. For 

 this I can find no remedy except to dry them care- 

 fully after being used, and to keep them wrapped 

 up from light and air. I have tried the best im- 

 ported metal twist and tinsel; and it is no advantage 

 to use pure silver, as it is the most quickly tarnished. 

 The tinsel is made much brighter, when tarnished, 

 by the careful application of a little metal polish. 

 It is quite different with the feathers; they are all 

 natural and undyed, and both their form and color 

 are retained after very hard, rough usage. 



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