CHAP. XX, 



Knots. 



281 



objectors have abandoned their position. To make this matter 

 complete I quote the following from " Tank Angling ." : ( 



" I prefer eyed hooks whenever I can use them because hooks draw 

 so terribly in India that you can never trust a whipped hook a second 

 season, even though you have bound it yourself and know it is thoroughly 

 well done. I have heard tackle shops complained of because of their 

 cheaply tied hooks, whereas it was not the tying that was really to blame 

 but the climate. If you are fishing with a worm you must have whipped 

 hooks because the eye presents an obstacle that you cannot pass the worm 

 over. But for a paste bait and for a fly the eye is no objection, while it has 

 this great advantage, that it cannot draw, and you can and should tie the 

 gut on fresh just before fishing, so that you may know it is not rust-eaten 

 but is thoroughly trustworthy. 



" Eyed hooks are made in different ways, with the metal eye flat with 

 the shank, or say at right angles when the hook is lying on its side on 

 the table, this is called needle eyed ; with the eye 

 inclined towards the barb which is called turn down ; 



with the eye inclined away from the barb which is 

 known as turned up. Their respective advantages are 

 discussed at length in * The Badminton Library.' 

 Without bringing the controversy into these pages I 

 will simply say that whichever hook you have you must 

 accommodate your tying to it so as to make the point 

 of tension on the line parallel to the point of the hook. 



"If the hook is needle-eyed pass the gut through 

 from either side of the eye and without going round the 



shank pass it through the same way a 



second time, and then tie a common 



single knot with the short end round the 



long end of the gut, and pulling it tight, 



work it close up to the metal eye and 



snip off the end. 



" If the metal eye is turned down first 



insert the end of your gut on the upper 



side of the eye, that is the side furthest 



away from the barb, and passing it once 



half round the shank put it again through the eye from the 



lower side, so that both ends of gut come out at the upper 



side of the eye, then with the short end of gut tie a single 



knot round the long end of gut, pull tight, work up close, and 



snip off the end as before." 



If the metal eye is turned up vary the tying so that the result shall be, 

 as in the illustration, to keep the pull and the point of the hook parallel. 



