8 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



tution of a necessarily more or less yielding and elastic curve for a per- 

 fectly straight and rigid shank, cannot but affect adversely the pene- 

 trating powers. As regards the penetration of the point itself, it is 

 clear that, other circumstances being equal, the smaller the hole to be 

 made the less will be the force required to make it ; and also that a 

 long straightly tapered point, like that shown in figure i, will penetrate 

 more easily than a shorter and " blunter," or hoUo'wed-out point of the 

 form represented in figure 3. This latter principle, is merely, in fact, 

 a converse application of the mechanical truism, that what is gained in 

 speed is lost in power. If two barbs are of the same maximum 

 diameter, and one is twice as long as the other, the longer barb will 

 for practical purposes penetrate with half the pressure required by the 

 shortei-. 



Again, with regard to the " point-side" of the barb (r d in diagram), it 

 is obvious that in order to insure a firm and deep penetration this side 

 must be of a proper length. The want of length in this part of the 

 hook is one of the faults of the " Sproat-bend" which is exaggerated 

 for sake of illustration in figure 3. 



Holding po'voer, — To illustrate this I shall take a case which is both 

 the most common in practice and will admit of a theoretical demonstra- 

 tion : that of the hook having penetrated quite through the lip of the fish, 

 so that the point protrudes. In this case it is evident that, when once 

 hooked, the nearer the point approaches the shank of the hook, the 

 less chance must the fish have of escaping. This will be seen by car- 

 rying the principle to the extreme limit — and assuming that the point 

 was so bent in after hooking as actually to touch the shank ; the fish's 

 lip would then be enclosed in a complete triangle, from which, of 

 course, there could be no possible escape. 



Strength. — It is obvious that those portions of the hook w^hich are 

 nearly or quite in the same line as the penetrating cr holding force, have 

 little or no strain to bear. This is the case with the shank and with 

 the short or point- side of the hook shown in the engraving fig. i. The 

 strain, therefore, is thrown on the top side, and more especially on the 

 angle yj and it is precisely in this point that the common sneck-bends 

 have hitherto failed in practice. So marked has been this failure 

 that I have known three Salmon to be lost within an hour, with sncck 

 JioolvS, all by breakages at the angle in question. 



Lightness and neatness. — The lightest form of hook, other points 



