344 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



The fish played smartly for a minute. My friend looked 

 round at me triumphantly. " What do you think of Snooks 

 now ? " The words had scarcely passed, when the fish made a 

 slight but sudden plunge, and off he went, leaving the fly in 

 almost precisely the same condition as the other two. 



" Snooks ! " roared I, for I began to get vexed. 



" Confound it ! " said my friend, " I really think there must 

 be something in it." 



" Hem ! " I said ; " never mind ; mount another. Use up 

 the whole dozen while you are about it." 



" Yes, and then send the flies without points back as a 

 present to Snooks I suppose, and ask him what he thinks 

 of it." 



" Oh, he'd ask you in return what you could expect for 

 eighteen pence," I said. 



I need not say that Snooks lost a customer. The above is a 

 simple fact, and my friend would verify it. 



On another occasion I was fishing on the Test. I had not 

 had very good sport, but the fish began to rise well at the 

 yellow dun, and I mounted a fly from a fresh dozen I had 

 bought a few days before. I caught two fish immediately, 

 playing them but lightly. I hooked and lost another ; and the 

 fish were rising so well and boldly all over the water, that I got 

 excited with the sudden advent of the sport, and forgot to look 

 at the fly as I usually do after losing a fish. I made four throws 

 and hooked or scratched and lost four good fish in succession. 

 Then it flashed across me that something was wrong with the 

 hook, and on looking at it, I found the hook so far opened that 

 the odds against hooking a fish with it were very considerable. 

 I speedily changed flies, taking one from a more trustworthy 

 lot, and I took three or four other fish without an accident of 

 any kind, when the fish left off rising. 



The only means of guarding against such a loss is for the 

 angler always carefully to inspect his fly after losing a fish. But 

 he should always, when at leisure, try his hooks, as above 

 recommended, and throw into the fire all such as are untrust- 

 worthy. Never keep them, but destroy them utterly, or they 

 are sure to turn up when they shouldn't, and do mischief in 

 some way. Added to this, let anglers have their tackle made 

 of the very dearest hooks they can buy in the market, and give 

 particular directions as to the sort and shape of their hooks, for 

 tackle makers are mostly very careless on this point, and as 

 they are the only persons who can profit by cheap hooks, they 



