HOOKS WITH LARGE EYES. 29 



hand, and pull the gut end D. The knot C will then slip 

 to the eye, and, with a little assistance, will pass over it and 

 form itself into the jam knot (shown on a bare hook in 

 Fig. 19). It is made in a very few seconds, and is really 

 very simple; but I must repeat the warning that it is only 

 safe when the eye fits the gut. It should only be used on 

 flies, not on bare hooks. Quite ^in. of gut-end should be 

 left with this knot. 



Mr. Hall's hooks have rather large eyes, and it is usual to put 

 the end of the gut through the eye, round the shank, and back 

 through the eye again, and then tie as shown in Fig. 20. The 

 gut is thus double just above the eye — a decided advantage; but 

 I confess I do not like the clumsy appearance of these large 

 eyes. It is easy to thread the gut through them, and they are 

 therefore much liked by anglers whose sight is not good. As 

 the gut passes twice through the eye, I generally use this kind 

 if either the fly is large or the eye unusually large for the 

 gut. 



Floating Flies. — The chief peculiarities about flies dressed 

 to float are in their having rather more hackle — cocks' hackles 

 being mostly used — than is found on wet flies; and upright, 

 divided wings, which steady the fly as it falls through the 

 air, and cause it to drop lightly, legs first. (The hackles cause 

 it to float — not the wings.) The fly is then said to cock — i.e., 

 the wings cock. I do not propose to give any directions for 

 tying these flies, but merely the dressings. Fly- tying would 

 almost necessitate a treatise by itself, and the most I have been 

 able to do is to give in Chapter lY. some diagrams showing how 

 the most simple fly — used for lake-fishing — may be tied. When 

 the reader has mastered that, he can then teach himself to tie 

 chalk-stream flies, if he likes. But he will be foolish if, in that 

 case, he does not provide himself with Mr. Halford's " Floating 

 Flies, and How to Dress Them," which is most exhaustive, and 

 the work on the subject. My difficulty was to know what flies 

 to omit, and I took counsel with Mr. Halford, who, after con- 

 sulting with Mr. Marryat, probably the most experienced 

 chalk- stream angler living, most kindly drew up for me the 

 following list of the best twelve flies for Hampshire streams. 



