CHAP. VII. 



Standards of Sizes of Hooks. 



121 



The Snecks are again Pennell's turn-down eyes, up-turned shank, 

 and the electro of them is from the firm of Messrs. William Bartleet 

 and Sons. That of the Kirby's is my own electrotype of a card of 



or? 



r 



SCALE OF SNECK BEND HOOKS. 



hooks specially made up for me by Messrs. Hutchinson and Son, 

 Kendal. 



So much for the size or bend of the hook. Revert we now to the 

 thickness of the wire, a point of considerable importance to the angler, 

 for we get Mahseer trebles made of a wire so thin that they are quickly 

 demoralized by the Mahseer's power of compression elsewhere spoken 

 of, and others again that run into extremes in thickness ; and it would 

 be a great thing for anglers if they could rely on their Mahseer hooks 

 being always of the proper thickness of wire. An angler setting up a 

 Mahseer kit for the first time, and simply ordering his tackle from 

 a book, cannot possibly be expected to know the gauge of the wire of 

 which the hooks should be made and naturally depends on his tackle- 

 maker to see him right in this matter. Not infrequently he orders his 

 tackle, or his good old aunt orders it for him as a gift, from the shop 

 near his own home which he was known to trust to for all the trouty 

 triumphs of his youth. Not infrequently said tackle-maker, however 

 good in other respects, has no special knowledge of Mahseer hooks, 

 and the result is disappointment grievous to think of. Whereas if the 

 said tackle-maker knew, he would tell his hook-maker what sort of hook 

 he wanted for making up his tackle. Representing this difficulty to 

 Messrs. R. Harrison, Bartleet, and Co., wholesale manufacturers, 

 Metropolitan Works, Redditch, they were good enough to tell me and 

 allow me to quote that the gauge of wire, Sheffield hook gauge, not the 



