Flies and Hooks. ill 



The weakness due to the somewhat angular bend in 

 the old form was compensated for by increasing the 

 thickness of metal at that place, and it answered every 

 purpose, as far as I could see. The substitution of the 

 curve for the angle gives even greater strength, but it is 

 gained only at the sacrifice of the long straight shank of 

 the Sneck form a loss which the fly-tier will deplore. 



Salmon-flies are usually provided with a small loop of 

 twisted gut by which they are secured to the leader. 

 This system is open to objection. When the loop has 

 been once wet, and has become dry again, it is often 

 found to be twisted upon itself. Thereafter it will be 

 very difficult to make the fly swim upright and upon an 

 even keel, instead of which it is apt to wobble through 

 the water in a manner equally demoralizing to the fish 

 and to the angler. 



A letter, recently received from one of the highest au- 

 thorities on fly-fishing in the United Kingdom, assures 

 me that the better class of fly -fishermen throughout 

 Great Britain have abandoned the use of all gut append- 

 ages to the fly, whether large or small. The imitation 

 insect is built upon a naked hook, the shank-end of 

 which terminates in a small eye, as shown in the preced- 

 ing figure, into which the leader is tied. 



Eyed hooks are old, and have been tried and found 

 wanting. It is but another example of how slight a 

 change of structure will often convert a mechanical fail- 

 ure into a practical success. The change in this instance 

 consisted in giving the eye a bend upward of something 

 more than half a right angle. The leader, if the knot is 

 properly tied, then leads from the hook in a continuation 



