WHIPPINGS, SERVINGS, KNOTS, ETC 71 



ordinary browned freshwater hook is inconsiderable, parti- 

 cularly if the hooks are smeared with vaseline or other 

 grease. Hooks are so cheap that a rusty one can be thrown 

 away without a very serious pang. The Pennell-Limerick 

 hooks (fig. i) are good for sea fishing, but I rather prefer for 

 the purpose a rounder and wider bend with a twist in it, 

 shown in fig. 2, and usually called a curved Limerick. It 

 is a fine hook for holding mussel bait. Sea fish have large 

 mouths, and hooks with a twist are more likely to catch hold 

 than those which are flat, while the loss of penetration is not 

 sufficient to be of any importance with fish which have soft 

 mouths. A sharp point will make up for it. Always carry 

 a watchmaker's file and a fragment of a hone to renew the 

 points of large and small hooks respectively. Note if there is 

 any rust where the gut or snood is tied on, and when this is 

 apparent, at once retie. 



Another most excellent hook is the common round bend. 

 The one shown in fig. 3 has the flatted head I have re- 

 ferred to. 



If the ordinary sea fishermen's snooding is tied on a flatted 

 hook, it should be fastened on by one of the methods shown 

 in the illustration (p. 72), though it is far neater whipped on. 

 If gut is used, it may be knotted on as illustrated, but whipping 

 is neater, and as lasting if effectively done. In the latter 

 case, the end of the gut should be first placed between the 

 teeth and lightly bitten, so as to roughen it a little this 

 to prevent it slipping. Both the shank of the hook and the 

 end of the gut should be waxed before being laid together, 

 and any grease on the hook shank carefully removed. There 

 is nothing more annoying than to lose a good fish by the 

 hook slipping away from the gut. 



For tying gut on to eyed hooks there are a great variety 

 of knots ; several of them are equally good, and I confess 



