Fish-hooks. 39 



course of human events this could not last, since makers 

 of cheap goods are just as anxious to sell them as the 

 makers of the best ; and now bronzed hooks of all 

 grades of excellence are on the market. 



Some fancy that the bronzed hook is less visible to the 

 fish, and, therefore, better than the black-japanned hook. 

 Experiment leads me to think this a mistake. I have ex- 

 amined the two side by side through strata of water from 

 one to five feet in thickness, lighted from above as in 

 nature, viewing the hooks from below at various angles, 

 and could see no material difference in this respect. 



To test this, two hooks were chosen, one bronzed and 

 the other black japanned, of the same size. Large 

 sizes No. 4 were taken, since the existing difference, 

 if any, would be the more apparent. As the question 

 was under consideration with relation to fly-fishing, 

 each hook bore a fly of the same size and composition, 

 of the variety known to salmon fishermen as the " Black 

 Fairy " tail golden pheasant topping, yellow tag, black 

 mohair body ribbed with oval silver, black hackle, and 

 brown mallard wing in which one-half of the wing is 

 tied on one side and the other half on the other side of 

 the hook, so that the wing closely covers the upper half 

 of the body like a peaked-roof shed quite convex on the 

 ridge-pole line. 



How often do actual experiment and the unexpected 

 go hand in hand together ! Even though the unex- 

 pected be not found, still, to borrow the language of the 

 old nursery rhyme, more often than not "the subject 

 suggestively turns to matters not thought of before." 

 So it was in this case. That the difference in the visi- 

 bility of the two hooks was so slight as to be immate- 

 rial, was expected and readily determined. 



