FLY-RODS AND FLY-TACKLE. 



CHAPTER I. 



FISH-HOOKS, AND THE PRINCIPLES WHICH GOVERN THEIR 

 EFFICIENCY. 



THE hook is the foundation of the Angler's Art: it 

 is the point of attack. Weakness or inefficiency here 

 can be aided little by the art of him who handles it, and 

 not at all by any excellence of tackle elsewhere. The 

 most skilled can but strike at the proper moment, and 

 with the proper degree of force. 



What senses a fish has, and to what degree they are 

 developed, has been the subject of frequent discussion; 

 and while there may be and still is some doubt among 

 scientists as to what he does possess, there can be but 

 one opinion among anglers: that he is, at least at times, 

 altogether destitute of the sense of propriety. With- 

 out consultation with the angler, and without the slight- 

 est deference to his wishes, he rises to the fly or ignores 

 it, as to him seems best ; and when .he does come he 

 comes in his own way, seizing the fly with resolution 

 or diffidence, and in a manner over which the angler 

 has no control. 



Any hook which will hang together will secure the fish 

 at times, and so will a bean-pole and clothes-line; but 

 this is the art of the hippopotamus, who flounders through 



