2O BOTTOM OR FLOAT-FISHING. 



lines. As commonly tied I find that stout Salmon 

 gut will break at the knot on a steady strain of 

 from 12 to 15 pounds : tied as suggested, it will 

 break at any other place in preference, no matter 

 how great the strain may be. Facsimiles of the 

 two knots, tied with the same strands of gut, are 

 ant^xed. 



New knot. Ordinary knot. 



HOOKS. 



Too much importance cannot be attached by the 

 fisherman to everything that concerns hooks. 

 They are to the angler what the main-spring is to 

 the watch, or the crank to the steam-engine the 

 very alpha of his craft. The whole art and 

 paraphernalia of angling have for their objects first 

 to hook fish, and secondly, to keep them hooked. 

 And yet, extraordinary as it may seem in such a 

 mechanical age as ours, we cannot go into a tackle 

 shop and buy a hook in which one or more glaring 

 defects or offences against the first principles of 

 mechanics cannot be pointed out. The most 

 common fault of all perhaps lies in the shape of 



