342 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



only half a hook. This I have seen on many occasions, when 

 not the slightest blame was due to the angler, save for his buy- 

 ing untrustworthy hooks. As a rule, the angler should always 

 try his hooks. Stick the point carefully into a piece of soft 

 deal, and then give the gut a smart (not too smart) tug, and if 

 the hook stands you may fairly rely upon it. This is advisable 

 with all hooks, for, though good tackle makers, as a rule, do 

 usually buy good hooks, and pay a fair price for them, a few 

 bad hooks may creep into every packet. 



But, if an over-tempered hook be a nuisance, an under- 

 tempered one is ten times more so. An under-tempered hook 

 springs or opens with very little persuasion ; that is, the bend 

 and shape of the hook is destroyed, the point stands outward, 

 the efficiency of the hook is gone, and an entire change of fly is 

 necessary. It is not of the slightest avail to bend the hook 

 back into its place again, as, having once been sprung, it will 

 spring again much more easily. The point off your hook is not 

 as bad as a sprung hook. What can be more annoying than to 

 find the fish well on the rise at some particular fly, to hunt out 

 perhaps one solitary specimen of the fly from a half-forgotten 

 corner of your book, and then, after taking a fish or two, to find 

 the hook sprung ? 



I will illustrate the nuisance of bad hooks by two short 

 anecdotes. In the first instance the hooks were either over- 

 tempered or made of downright bad stuff. It is immaterial 

 from which cause they broke ; it is sufficient that they were 

 bad hooks. A friend of mine, who owned some fine trout- 

 fishing where the fish ran heavy, was a little inclined to be 

 economical in the purchase of his tackle, and took it into his 

 head one day, several years ago, to buy some flies of a tackle 

 maker who was notorious for selling cheap rubbish. I will not 

 give his name, even though he has long since retired from 

 business, but will call him Snooks. I am not aware that any 

 tackle maker of eminence can lay claim to the appellation, and, 

 therefore, my words will offend no one. Coming to me one day, 

 rubbing his hands, my friend displayed some very nice looking 

 flies. " There, old fellow, look at that. Eighteen pence a 

 dozen. What do you think of that, eh ? " 



' Think ? " quoth I. " Cheap and nasty, for a certainty." 



" What fault can you find with them ? Aren't they well 

 tied ? " 



" Oh, they look well enough," I answered. 



" Look well enough ! Of course they do ; and they'll stand 



