FLIES A1ND FLY FISHING. 95. 



longer than the generality of bought ones, and are not so 

 liable to draw; but where a really practical fisherman 

 has tied flies for many years for sale, and in very large 

 quantities (supposing I approved of his imitations), I 

 would rather use his flies than those tied by myself or 

 any amateur, for this reason a professional fly-tyer who 

 makes a great number of flies, and makes them all good 

 representations of actual flies, is sure to have a much 

 better stock of materials than the amateur, and his flies 

 are consequently more uniform. 



A large proportion of the flies sold are tied by women ; 

 and, although they tie with great neatness, a woman's 

 wrist is not strong enough to insure a fly not drawing ; 

 for in whipping the gut on to the hook, the strain on the 

 silk, and that strain as great as it will bear, ought never 

 to be slackened in the very slightest degree from the first 

 turn of the whipping until it is finished off. If a man 

 did this part of the process, a woman might finish the fly; 

 but where they do part, they invariably do the whole ; but 

 I believe that it requires a fisherman to tie a killing fly, 

 even when he has a pattern to copy from. 



In regard to a fly's killing, great neatness is only 

 necessary, as far as it is required for security from drawing, 

 or to make the imitation more perfect ; as for instance, 



