88 ROD AND RIVER 



to rise again at a fly for a considerable time 

 The tempering of metal is at all times a task 

 which requires much skill and care ; and in so 

 minute an article as a fish-hook, the skill and care 

 demanded are necessarily very considerable. We 

 will suppose that a fisherman purchases a dozen 

 or two flies. The first one he hooks a fish with 

 breaks or bends, and he loses the fish. Let him 

 be very sure that all the other hooks will serve 

 him the same trick, for all were doubtless tied 

 from the same packet, and the whole batch pur- 

 chased by the flymaker was bad. If a hook is 

 good, it will neither break nor bend, be it ever 

 so small, unless very extreme force is used. On 

 the other hand, if it is bad, it can be readily 

 bent or broken with the fingers. I therefore 

 recommend my readers to make experiment for 

 themselves when purchasing flies. They will 

 avoid very much disappointment, to say nothing 

 of expense, by following out my advice, which 

 is very simple. I may also here observe that 

 it is ever a good habit to examine the hook, 

 and also the gut-cast, each time a fish is landed. 

 To do so is no trouble ; not to do so is to 

 perhaps run the risk of losing a fish and a cast 

 also. 



The metal in a hook should be no more 

 than is absolutely necessary. The hook is not 

 the lure. It is the hook and gut which rather 



