TACKLE AND FISHING GEAR. 31 



fcrmity and extreme perfection, both in taper and tint, are 

 most desirable. 



The following independent testimony lately published by a 

 well-known sportsman and first-rate fly fisher, writing under the 

 signature of 'Blue Upright,' more than bears out, in every 

 particular, my high estimate of the advantages of the turned- 

 down eyed trout hook, in favour of which as my own 

 'bantling' I might perhaps be supposed to be unduly 

 biassed : 



' Mr. PenneWs turned-down eyed trout hooks. 



1 Having followed with great attention and interest the recent 

 articles in your columns on the subject of the Turned-down Eyes 

 for Trout Hooks, I had some flies dressed on Mr. Pennell's pattern, 

 sizes 00,0, i, and as I have been using them for the last week, 

 alternately with the ordinary flies lapped on to gut, so as to contrast 

 them fairly, perhaps some of your readers may like to know the 

 result of this practical trial, after reading a good deal which has 

 been merely theorising. 



' I may say, then, at once, that the result of the week's fishing, 

 during which my worst day was four brace and my best nine brace, 

 is, on every point, favourable to the flies tied on turned-down eyed 

 hooks. 



' I may summarise these points as follows : 

 I. The flies never " flick" off. 



' 2. They can be changed attached and detached in less than 

 half the time. 



' 3. They are stronger ; because whenever the gut gets at all 

 frayed at the head it can be at once shifted (re-knotted on), whereas 

 with flies lapped on to gut the weakening at the head commences very 

 soon, especially after catching a few fish, and any change involves 

 sacrificing the fly ; consequently the fly is, in many cases, used 

 long after it has become weak. But beyond this there is, I think, 

 an actual extra strength imparted by the form of knotting to the 

 eyed hooks Mr. Pennell's "jam knot ''as compared with the 

 ordinary lapping. This is conclusively shown by ihe fact that 

 whenever, owing to the flies getting fast in bushes, &c., a deliberate 

 ' break ' has become necessary, the fracture has never once 

 occurred at the actual point of junction or, in other words, at the 

 knot ; nor have I met with an instance of the knot slipping. 



