Fish-liooks. 23 



lelogram in his mind, and at once determine sufficiently 

 for all practical purposes the relative length of the side 

 parallel with the flat surface to that perpendicular to it. 

 To sum up : any hook in which the side parallel to the 

 flat surface is not longer than that perpendicular to it, 

 is of vicious construction and should be rejected. 



It was my purpose to prepare a table from actual 

 trial, giving the number of pounds and ounces which 

 each variety of hook shown in Fig. 4 required to bury 

 it to the barb by a direct pull on its shank. But delay 

 in gathering together all the varieties, and of uniform 

 size so as to admit of fair comparison, together with 

 further reflection on the subject, have convinced me that 

 such a table would not be worth the space it would oc- 

 cupy. Each can determine the matter for himself, as 

 far as it can be of any practical importance, by the ap- 

 plication of the preceding simple rule. 



Any of the forms of hook shown will take fish at 

 times, nor will the general average of the catch of one 

 so greatly exceed that of the other provided always the 

 fish are rising boldly. But if they are timid and take 

 the fly gingerly, or if they are rising but seldom and 

 the prospect of sport is poor, then, when the discour- 

 aged angler is apt to allow his attention to be distracted 

 from his flies and be backward in responding to an offer, 

 heed of this point will make a marked difference in re- 

 sult. And this brings me to the point which was the 

 prime impelling cause of this inordinately long preamble. 



It is not my purpose, and I beg in no part of this 

 book to be understood to play the Sir Oracle for 

 that is at the same time to play the fool. I recognize 

 the wide divergence of opinion as to many points en- 

 tertained by my confessed superiors in the art of fly- 



