HOOKS. 45 



shilling's to ninepence per dozen ; and the same 

 of the present O'Shaughnessy, from four shillings 

 to one shilling ; and I would never object to 

 double the money for good hooks. Never would 

 I use those made out of wire ! By the way, I 

 by no means approve of Kirby's hooks for flies — 

 even his Carlisle bend ; they are, perhaps, the 

 best for bait fishing, and, indeed, are more sure 

 to hook a fish than any other kind, because that 

 portion of them between the bend and the point 

 does not lie in the same plane with the shank, 

 and they therefore will not draw between two 

 soft surfaces, without the point penetrating one 

 of them. Yet that very form prevents flies 

 dressed on them from swimming so straight 

 as they would do on a hook that lies flat ; 

 nor is the shank end tapered, so as to allow of 

 the fly being neatly finished at the head. Taylor 

 says, they are more likely to break the hold than 

 flat-hooks; nor is their temper (for they are of 

 mere blue-steel wire) equal to many others, — 

 still less to O'Shaughnessy's or Sell's. 



Perhaps the best hooks for very small trout 

 flies are Adlington and Hutchinson's Kendal 

 Sneck Bend, Nos. 2.1.0. and 00, which latter, for 

 their size, the very smallest, are the strongest of 

 the kind (w re) I ever met with. But, not being- 

 tapered at the shank end, I should only use them 

 for hackled flies and for Palmers, the natures of 

 which I shall explain hereafter. 



