186 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



of the O'Shaughnessy pattern, or the regulation hook for ex- 

 portation. The Virginia hook, and the Sproat and round 

 bends of Redditch, are the best that I have seen. 



The foregoing cut, representing the samples of two hooks, 

 was clipped from a recent number of the FIELD, and as it 

 embodies philosophy founded on experience, I give it, refer- 

 ring to the cut, as follows : 



" Now I have this autumn devoted particular attention to 

 this subject, i. e., hooks. I have been fishing with Hutchin- 

 son's Limerick and Sproat bends (I may remark that I can 

 not speak too highly of the latter for its prehensile capabili- 

 ties), and the following is the result. In seven consecutive 

 days' fishing I hooked thirty-six fish, and of them landed 

 twenty-seven. I was broken four times. Once my single 

 gut, with which I always fish, was frayed by a heavy fish 

 against sharp boulders, and three times the hooks were the 

 traitors two were Limericks, and one was a Sproat. Three 

 out of thirty-six is too large a proportion, and it is very de- 

 sirable to reduce it. Even in fishing with single gut, the 

 heaviest fish, if properly handled, barring the circumstances 

 of snags or boulders, seldom succeed in breaking the line. 

 But what handling will save a hook ? One will go some- 

 times, and most unaccountably, probably from being fixed so 

 as to allow the fish to wrench, jerk, or squeeze it. The first 

 step to a cure is to find the weak point. 



" The only Sproat hook which has broken with me went at 

 the point a. I think it is an admirable form of hook, al- 

 though I tried it first as an experiment this year, with much 

 prejudice against the looks of it. It is less apt to break than 

 the Limerick, both from its form, and because the pull, #, c, is 

 nearly in the direction of the point, whereas in the other the 

 line of pull, c?, e, forms an obtuse angle at the point e. Of 

 the thousand and one Limerick hooks which I have seen bro- 

 ken, either against stones or in fish, by far the greater propor- 

 tion have failed at the point /, where in good hooks to a 

 less, and in bad to a greater measure the wire is reduced in 



