480 A SPRUNG HOOK. 



open fishing : no boughs, no stones, no roots, nothing but 

 water and gravel. Here he rose and hooked a fish of about 

 a pound and a half. 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 I ' said my friend, I really think there 

 must be something in i t .' 



* 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, and I 

 have already slightly noted this instance. 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 imme- 

 diately, 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 con- 

 siderable. I speedily changed flies, taking one from a 



