180 



6th. Flies on eyed-hooks stand an immense deal of whipping in drying 

 them, while the gut-hooks continually break just at the junction of hook and 

 gut. 



7th. Eyed-hook flies are so much more conveniently carried about with 

 one when fishing than hooks with a coil of gut attached. 



All these are immense advantages. . . . [Extract}. F.R.C.S., July 

 loth, 1886. 



I am glad to see that Messrs. Warner and Sons have shown their usual 

 good sense by falling in with your excellent suggestion as to numbering hooks. 

 The plea of most of the other manufacturers is absurd ; a circular to their 

 customers notifying the change and showing the different sizes for the new 

 numbers would meet all objections, and the cost of this would not be breaking. 

 I have tried different kinds of eyed-hooks, and I must say that Mr. Pennell's 

 appear to me out-and-out the best as far as shape, bend, and turn of eye are 

 concerned. The only thing required to make them very near perfection is (i) 

 to make the barb much smaller, and (2) to make the distance from point to barb 

 shorter. This latter would follow as a natural consequence from the first 

 improvement, as, the barb being lower, it would not require so long a slope in 

 order to obtain the necessary penetrating power ; there would then be more 

 room between the barb and the bend, which would, I think, be another advan- 

 tage. 



GREEN WREN. 



Oct. 30, 1886. 



TYING FLIES ON EYED HOOKS. 



* * * 



I tie my own flies, and certainly in this respect the eyed hook has a great 

 advantage. When one has some half-a-dozen fragile articles to attach to a tiny 

 bit of wire, it is a vast convenience to be able to dispense with the gut. It 

 is one trouble less. [Extract}. H.W., 26th June, 1886. 



I have lately tried Pennell's eyed hooks on some lochs in the North, and 

 I was very satisfied with them. 



I tie my own flies, and in this respect there is no comparison, and I hope 

 I shall never have to use the old style of hooks again. [Extract}. J.H.W., 

 Sept. l8th, 1886. 



" Before many years are passed the old-fashioned fly, dressed on a hook 

 attached to a length of gut, will be practically obsolete, the advantages of the 

 eyed hook being so manifest that even the most conservative adherents of the 

 old school must, in time, be imbued with the most salutary reform." 

 F. M. HALFORD, Floating Flies and How to Dress Them, p. i. 



