TROUT-HOOKS 85 



entering too minutely into detail by thus arguing 

 on the merits and demerits of such an apparently 

 insignificant article as a fish-hook. It is, never- 

 theless, a by no means insignificant matter, for 

 what is the use of anything else in the way of 

 fishing-tackle being good and carefully selected, if 

 the hook is not equal to the occasion ? I com- 

 menced my remarks, so to speak, from one end 

 of the link between the angler and the fish the 

 rod. I might just as reasonably have commenced 

 at the other end of it the hook ; for from the 

 hand of the fisherman wielding the rod to the 

 hook in the mouth of the fish, rod, line, gut, and 

 hook form, as it were, one link ; and it is of the 

 greatest consequence that that link should be as 

 perfect as possible throughout its entire length ; 

 it is therefore by no means a matter too trifling 

 to overlook, as to whether a hook is good or 

 bad. When fish are small, it perhaps matters 

 but little ; where, however, the reverse is the 

 case, and they are big and strong, bad hooks tell 

 their own tale soon enough, and a sorry tale it 

 often is. 



Now, the shape of a hook should be such that 

 the point will readily enter the mouth of a fish, 

 and by means of the barb, retain its hold when 

 once the latter has passed through the flesh. 

 Trout-hooks are invariably small, and the smaller 

 they are the greater the necessity for their being 



