HOOKS. LINES AND LEADERS. 



53 



and is used on all first-class hooks. Cheap ringed hooks that 

 sell for five cents a hundred or thereabouts, all have spear 

 points and are formed entirely by machinery. They will do 

 for such fishing as chubs, sunfish, catfish, suckers, and that 

 kind, but they are not as strong as the hand-forged hook 

 and heavier and larger ones must be used. A hollow point 

 hook has the inside of the point, between the extreme point 

 of hook and point of barb filed out to a nice curve and the 

 hook below the barb is also shaped by filing or grinding. 

 The cheap ringed hooks are invariably japanned black, but 

 the good hooks are blued or bronzed. 



[A//LLJAMS 



CDGAR. 



Barbless Hooks. 



The length of shank makes this difference; it weakens 

 the hook if too long, allowing it to spring and let the fish 

 slip off, but it also enables the angler to extract it readily 

 without getting his fingers in the fish's mouth. They also 

 save bait when using worms, as the bait slips up the shank 

 of the hook and is less mutilated by the fish. The longest 

 shanked hook is the Carlisle. It is rather weak and not 

 good for heavy fish; also has a strong side bend which few 

 anglers approve of. 



The end of the shank may be finished in several ways; it 

 may be ringed, by turning the end of the wire so that it 



