90 ROD AND RIVER 



to whether eyed hooks or hooks tied on gut are 

 the better. Eyed hooks are, where a single fly 

 is used on the cast, very much in favour nowa- 

 days, and they have very much to recommend 

 their adoption. They may be said to be an 

 innovation of recent years ; yet in a very excel- 

 lent little work, entitled * Halcyon ; or, Rod-Fishing 

 in Clear Water/ by H. Wade, published over 

 thirty years ago, the author recommends that 

 eyed hooks should be used for salmon-flies. He, 

 perhaps, little thought, when he advocated their 

 adoption, that they would come into so general 

 use. 



The advantages which may be claimed for 

 eyed hooks are as follows : 



1. There is no gut to perish, and unless the 



dressing is worn out, the flies, therefore, 

 last for an indefinite time. 



2. They are not so readily flicked off. 



3. Flies tied on them are very portable ; a 



stock sufficient to last a season may be 

 carried in a small box which would easily 

 fit into a waistcoat-pocket. 



4. There is no gut to tangle. 



5. They are also, as a rule, better made. 



Against these may be set the following dis- 

 advantages : 



i. They are heavier, and require more hackling 

 to keep them afloat. 



