HOOKS. 27 



off close, disengage the waste end from the eye of the hook, 

 and re-knot. With larger flies and stout gut the jam can 

 generally be loosened by merely pushing the gut backwards 

 through the eye, but this is a matter of unimportance, as in 

 either case the operation is only one of a few seconds. 



The perfecting of the jam knot for the trout-fly was the 

 ingenious discovery of Mr. Alexander J. Campbell, and with- 

 out it I do not hesitate to say that the general acceptance of 

 the system of turn-down eyed hooks which I am now san- 

 guine enough to hope for, could never have been anticipated. 

 The inconvenience— trifling though it was in comparison 

 with previous methods of attaching eyed hooks — of tying 

 the jam knot in the presence of the fly-wings and hackles, 

 was originally one of the serious obstacles to be over- 

 come. This ' knotting-on difficulty ' has, in fact, hitherto had 

 a large share in preventing the adoption of the eyed-hook 

 principle. 



Now, however, that this difficulty has been effectually over- 

 come, and a perfect form of attachment as well as a perfect 

 hook are within the reach of fly-fishers, the result can hardly 

 be doubtful. Indeed, the advantages of attaching the fly direct 

 to the casting-line are so obvious, and the disadvantages of the 

 old lapped-on gut system so self-evident, that only one result 

 could well follow. Amongst these disadvantages it may be 

 instanced : — 



A. That when once the 'gut hook" artificial fly gets 



' worn at the head ' — which in actual work very soon 

 occurs —it becomes thenceforth worthless. 



B. And when another fly is substituted, the gut must be 



soaked first (in practice generally in the saliva of the 

 mouth) to enable it to be properly knotted on. If 

 this soaking, or sucking, be not thoroughly done the 

 fly will most likely whip off. 

 c. But even after properly knotting the two gut links 

 together, it is ten to one that the link on which the 

 flv or hook is lapped does not correspond with that 



