48 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



The broken end of the snell still shows a portion 

 of shellac coating." 



" I never thought of that before," remarked 

 Shiner. " No doubt many flies are cracked off 

 from the same cause." 



" Without a doubt, as you say. I know a lady," 

 continued the Doctor, "who, as Walton says, 

 ' has a fine hand,' and who superintends an ex- 

 tensive artificial fly establishment — and who has 

 written the best book ever published on the sub- 

 ject of artificial flies — who personally inspects 

 every fly turned out by her tyers. And, more- 

 over, she varnishes the head of ever)^ fly herself, 

 in order that not the least particle of shellac may 

 touch the snell. Such careful supervision and 

 honest work, to c^uote Walton again, ' like virtue, 

 bring their own reward,' " and the Doctor resumed 

 his casting with another fly. 



" \A"ell, Doctor, I sympathize with you ; but 

 my snells are clear-quill and no varnish. I may 

 throw off a minnow once in a while by a very long 

 cast, but it is soon replaced, and costs nothing. 

 And, speaking of casting, I observed that you 

 made half a dozen casts to reach yonder rock but 

 sixty feet away, while I placed my minnow, by 

 a single cast, a hundred feet in the other direc- 



