177 



A Scotch correspondent writes : "Dear Sir, Fishing from Aultnagil- 

 lagach Inn, Sutherland, on Tuesday last, my father and I caught with fly in 

 Loch Urigaill 211 trout, weighing 4 81b. The best previous take appears to 

 have been 180 trout, 39lb., in 1874." 



The size of wire I find best here is No. 8 Pennell sneck, unless there is almost a 

 total absence of wind. I inclose pattern and fly, which I dress for my own use, 

 which I have never seen used by anyone but myself, although I daresay it is 

 not new. I find it a capital fly." 



The fly our correspondent sends is dressed on one of Mr. Cholmondeley- 

 Pennell's new turned-down eye hooks, and is made thus : Body, scarlet wool, 

 ribbed with five turns of flat silver tinsel ; the wings are set on upright, and are 

 made from hen pheasant wing a delicate feather, by the way, which might be 

 much oftener used in trout fles than it is; a black-red cock's hackle at shoulder. 

 It is a good pattern evidently. We should be glad if our correspondent would 

 give us his opinion of Mr. Pennell's new hook. . . [EDITOR, Fishing Gazette.} 



5th June, 1886. 



MR. PENNELL'S TURNED-DOWN EYED-HOOKS. 



SIR, I have much pleasure in complying with your request that I should 

 give my experience of Mr. Pennell's turned-down eyed-hooks. .... 

 I bought a packet of No. 6 Pennell snecks (eyed) at the beginning of the 

 season in order to test the eyed system. I have since ordered all the larger 

 sizes, which I think will be useful for this district, but I only received them a 

 few days since. 



So far as my experience has gone, I have everything to say in favour of 

 the eyed hooks, and think their chief advantages are : 



(1) After the gut has once been thoroughly soaked, the flies can be 

 changed five or six times as quickly as those dressed on the old wires, and the 

 bob fly can be changed as easily as the tail fly. 



For using the old wires, unless they are fastened on in the old fashion with 

 a loop, the bob flies, after once having been taken off the cast, are useless ; 

 besides, half the gut is wasted in fastening on the bobs. 



(2) As Mr. Pennell says, in your issue of 24th April, "If the colour and 

 thickness of the link of gut next the fly are matters of such vital moment, with 

 a view to the concealment of the lure, of what paramount importance must it 

 be to avoid the necessity, once and for all, of attaching the flies by a separate 

 strand of gut, always unsoaked, constantly of a different thickness, and often of 

 a varying colour ? The continuity of the cast is broken at its most critical 

 point." 



I have often experienced myself the inconvenience of having all my flies 

 of a certain pattern dressed on the same thickness of gut, which one often has 

 to put up with when buying flies in a hurry. 



