14 



Fly-rods and Fly-tackle. 



" Penetration. Cceteris paribus, the penetrating power 

 of any hook will be greater in proportion, as the angle 

 of impact the angle, that is, at which the point of the 

 hook strikes the fish's mouth coincides with the direc- 

 tion of the force applied (i.e., the pull of the line) ; or to 

 illustrate this by a diagram : 



d 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



The dotted line a e represents the direction of the ap- 

 plied force ; the penetration will be greater as the direc- 

 tion of the line of the point c d is coincident with that 

 of a e. In Fig. 1 these two lines actually correspond, and 

 if there were no other matters to be taken into consider- 

 ation, this hook, so far as penetration depending on bend 

 is concerned, would be mechanically perfect. Fig. 2 rep- 

 resents a hook in which the converse of the above prin- 

 ciple is illustrated. 



"These principles hold good equally in the case of 

 hooks the points of which are crooked or turned side- 

 ways, as in the Kirbys and Snecks, the penetration dimin- 



