14 SALMON AND TROUT. 



the fly to lose its correct horizontal position, or turn ever so 

 slightly ' head down,' and the line of ' pull ' when the hook 

 point strikes a fish's mouth is more direct and therefore more 

 deadly. It produces, in fact, in this respect the same result, 

 in a somewhat greater degree, that is arrived at by lapping the 

 gut underneath instead of on the top of the shank of the hook 

 a point, by the way, never to be lost sight of by the fly tyer. 



Turned -down looped hooks, as well for sea trout as for 

 grilse and salmon flies, have been made to my patterns and 

 instructions by Messrs. Harrison & Bartleet, of Redditch, who 

 are now manufacturing them, under the name of the ' Pennell- 

 Limerick ' bend, in various sizes, both single and double. 

 They also manufacture them plain (as shown in the diagram) 

 without metal eyes or loops. The bend of these hooks, 

 which is a variation of existing recognised bends, is one that 

 I think will commend itself to the practised eye without 

 much argument. The bend has been designed to combine 

 in a mechanical form the three great requisites of penetra- 

 tion, holding power, and 'flotation.' The last-named, which 

 sounds rather Irish, is a question of the general contour of the 

 shank. It will be seen that in the patterns in the diagram 

 the hook shank itself or rather that part of it on which the 

 fly is tied is very nearly straight, whilst in the Limerick 

 bend the shank is commonly slightly more curved, or, as it is 

 termed, hog-backed, which when exaggerated, as it frequently 

 is in the so-called Limerick hooks, supplied by the fly tyers, 

 has the effect of preventing the fly swimming or floating 

 perfectly straight, and, indeed, when the stream is strong, 



FIG. 15. DEFECTIVE OR HOG-BACKED-SHANKED HOOK. 



an excessive ' hog-backedness ' will not unfrequently cause it 

 actually to spin. 



