178 



(3) The flies last much longer when dressed on the eyed-hooks ; as, of 

 course, the gut can always be changed when it becomes worn, which is often a 

 very great boon when one is fishing with one's last fly on a pattern that is 

 killing well. I do not find that if the gut is properly attached to the wire 

 it wears out sooner, if as soon, as it does with the ordinary wires. I have 

 fished five or six hours against a strong head wind without re-attaching 

 the fly. 



(4) They are much more easily carried about, and there is, of course, no 

 gut on tHem to deteriorate with keeping. . . . TRUTTA. [Extract.] 



1 7th June, 1886. 



[As regards the hooking powers of eyed-hooks turned-up or turned-down, 

 our experience is that they are the same, and Mr. F. M. Halford confirms this. 

 Mr. Halford informs us that he finds the jam-knot perfectly secure when used 

 with Mr. Pennell's ' fine-eye ' hooks, but that it is not safe with the ordinary 

 eyed -hook of commerce. EDITOR, Fishing Gazette.] 



HOOKING POWER OF EYED-HOOKS. 



SIR, As I observe you ask the opinions of fly-fishers who have practically 

 tested the hooking power of eyed trout-hooks, I have no hesitation in assur- 

 ing you that, in my experience, they both " hook " and " hold " at least as well 

 (if not better than) any of the old-fashioned hooks lapped on to gut. 

 Repeated trials of one against the other leave no doubt whatever in my mind 

 on this point. 



Their other advantages have been well summarised by your correspondent 

 " Trutta," whose favourable judgment I cordially endorse. 



As in your correspondent's case, however, my remarks apply solely to 

 Mr. Cholmondeley-PenneH's hooks with turned-down eyes, bought from 

 Farlow's. 



I have no faith in any of what you iustly call the " ordinary eyed-hooks of 

 commerce," the eyes of which are for the most part turned up a principle to 

 which I have the utmost objection and so large as to be both unsightly and 

 incapable of attachment by the Jam Knot. 



I inclose my card. I am, &c., 

 July 3rd, 1886. BLUE UPRIGHT. 



Testimony in favour of strength of jam knot, &c. [Extract.] 



# * * 



It has been advanced in favour of the eyed-hook that it is more economical, 

 that the flies are not so liable to flick off when casting, and that the jam knot 

 is a more secure fastening than the gut attached to the hook in the old 

 system. With the last of these assertions I fully concur. I fished two days 

 with a Greenwell's Glory without requiring to retie the jam knot. And at the 

 end of that time, before the drawn gut broke at the eye, the steel yard I was 

 testing it with registered within an ounce or two of three pounds. 



3rd July, 1886. H.H. 



