APPENDIX. 



HINTS TO ANGLERS. 



1. For any kind of fishing, the choice of a proper hook is 

 most important. The barb should have a needle-like point 

 and should lie in the same plane with the shaft; and the 

 size of the hook must be suited to the nature of the angling 

 and the bait used. 



The fine point of the hook soon becomes dulled by con- 

 stant wear, and, although it may be filed down again to a 

 point, it is never the same, and should properly be discarded, 

 especially when one fishes along a stony bottom. 



More fish are lost by using blunt hooks than from any other 

 cause. 



Double gut hooks are to be preferred, the gut being, as 

 nearly as possible, the colour of the water. Gimp hooks are 

 uncertain in their action, as the gimp is liable to tear asunder 

 at any moment. This is more particularly the case when 

 they are not carefully dried out after being used. 



One good hook with double gut should catch one dozen (?) 

 bass; it should then be inspected, and, if the point be dull, 

 thrown away. 



Hooks which are a year or more old, even if they never 

 have been used in the water, will not last as long as those 

 freshly made, the gut becoming brittle, and the shellac 

 about the shaft disintegrated. 



The best hooks are those prepared by the angler him- 

 self, wound with silk and black shellac, from the best qual- 

 ity of gut. 



For some reason, the black hook is more durable than 

 that of a bronzed or silvery colour. 



2. Do not angle with dead or half-dead bait, because 



