SPINNING HOOKS. 485 



often to make these hooks so very rank in the barb that 

 considerable difficulty is found in forcing the barb home. 

 And it should be always borne in mind that, as two or 

 even the whole three hooks may take hold of the flesh, it 

 requires very much more force to drive two or three hooks 

 home than one, and if more than one triangle be used, 

 of course this difficulty is increased proportionally. As a 

 hard stroke is often requisite, it will be seen, too, that a 

 stouter wire should be employed in the hook than is used 

 for fly hooks, lest the hook break, which brazed hooks are 

 more or less apt to do. I think that the heat they are 

 submitted to in brazing rather over-tempers them, or in 

 some way affects the temper, and that too very irregularly, 

 for while some hooks seem to stand well enough, others do 

 not appear to do so, more particularly if they have been 

 used at all and then laid by for a time. Of all tackle 

 oldish spinning-tackle made of brazed hooks is the most 

 untrustworthy, and many a time have I rued the loss of 

 fine fish solely because I have put up a flight of last year's 

 tackle without testing the hooks or the trace fi/st. I 

 have seen one, two, and even three hooks stripped, that is, 

 the points and barbs broken off from one flight, by a 

 stroke which ought not to have broken a single hook. 

 The upshot of this is, that old spinning-tackle, particularly 

 of brazed hooks, should be always tested before it is used. 



Hooks for spinning- tackle should not have the points 

 too much elongated, as this part of the hook is the most 

 liable to break, and should not be too long or slender ; 

 neither should the barb be too long or too fine either, as 

 both point and barb often come into contact with bony 

 and rough work, and should be constructed accordingly. 



Hooks for pike-spinning in particular should always be 

 of stouter wire than others, as the mouth of the pike is so 

 gristley as to require an extra hard stroke ; and it is par- 

 ticularly essential that they should be not too long or fine 



