

A. That when once the ' gut hook ' or artificial fly gets 

 " worn at the head " which in actual work very soon 

 occurs it becomes thenceforth worthless. 



B. And when another gut-hook, or fly, is substituted, the 

 gut must be soaked first (in practice generally in the 

 saliva of the mouth) to enable it to be properly knotted 

 on. If this soaking be not thoroughly done, a plain 

 hook is unsafe for use, and a fly will most likely whip off, 



c. But even after properly knotting the two gut links 

 together, it is ten to one that the link on which the 

 fly or hook is lapped, does not correspond with that at 

 the end of the line : it is too thick, or too thin ; too dark, 

 or too light. From this results a linear disfigurement, 

 or an inharmoniousness of tint (or both) at the very point 

 where a perfect taper and complete uniformity of color 

 are of vital consequence. 



These, I say, are the most salient defects of the system, 

 almost universally adopted until the last few years, of lapping on 

 hooks and flies to separate strands of gut. Of minor, but still 

 serious drawbacks, must be reckoned the difficulty of carrying 

 about a sufficient supply of " gut hooks " or still more of flies 

 of all needful sizes, and the destructive effects of time upon the 

 contents of the ' store box.' Apart from ' moth,' this happens 

 partly owing to the ' rotting ' of the gut at the point of contact 

 with the steel hook-shank, and partly to the dessication (drying 

 up) of the wax on the lapping by which the gut is attached. 



Now all these defects defects inherent in the principle of 

 lapped-on hooks, and which cannot be gainsaid are at once 

 overcome by the new eyed -hook system. . . And in speaking 

 of the eyed hook here and throughout these pages, I would be 

 understood as referring exclusively to that form of it patented 

 in the United States and registered by a " Trade Mark " in this 

 country which is generally associated with my name as the "Turn- 

 down Eyed Hook." 



