THE PRIMITIVE FISH-HOOK. 



By BARNET PHILLIPS, 



SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



I HAVE before me an illustrated catalogue of modern fish-hooks 

 and angling implements, and in looking over its pages I find an 

 embarras de choix. I have no need for rods, for mine, like well- 

 kept violins, have rather improved by age. A lashing may be frayed, 

 or a ferrule loose, but fifteen minutes' pleasant work will make my 

 rods all right again. Lines are sound, for I have carefully stretched 

 them after use. But my hooks ! They are certainly the worse for wear. 

 I began my season's fishing with a meager stock. Friends borrowed 

 from me, and in replenishing my fly -book in an out-of-the-way place, 

 the purchase was unsatisfactory. As I lost more than one fish from 

 badly tempered or worse fashioned hooks, I recalled a delightful paper 

 by Mr. Froude. Rod in hand, he was whipping some pleasant trout 

 stream, near an historic site, the home of the Russells, and, breaking 

 his hooks, commenced from that very moment to indulge in the 

 gloomiest forebodings as to the future of England. 



Fairly familiar with the general character of fishing-gear, either 

 for business or amusement, I see in my book, Kirby, Limerick, 

 Dublin, O'Shaughnessy, Kinsey, Carlisle, Harrison, Central Draught, 

 as somewhat distant families of hooks, used for sea or river fishing, 

 and from these main stocks there grow many varieties, with all con- 

 ceivable twists, quirls, and crookednesses. I discard all trap-hooks, 

 infernal machines working with springs, as only adapted for the 

 capture of land animals. Somehow I remember an aggressive book, 

 given to me at an early age, which, containing more than one 



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