32 SALMON AND TROUT. 



defects. ... I have, nevertheless, a plain task set before me, 

 of which I must acquit myself in a plain businesslike way. 

 What I have to say — and without the saying of which this 

 chapter would have no raiscn d'etre — is that in my judgment 

 all these systems of eyed hooks are defective, and that their 

 defects have proved a bar to their general adoption ; whereas, 

 on the other hand, I believe that the system which I now 

 present for judgment to the parliament of anglers is 'free 

 from blemishes ' — a thoroughly workable and practical system, 

 complete in all its details ; that, as compared with the old gut- 

 lapping, it is more artistic, more eflficient, more economical ; 

 and that sooner or later these qualifications will force its 

 general acceptance, if not by this generation of fishermen, by 

 that which will follow it. ^ 



^^OMDEtCK* 



'^ TORS -DOWN EYHD ^ 

 XISmNG-HDOK 



I haVe entrusted the manufacture of all my patent and 

 other hooks to Messrs. Wm. Bartleet & Sons, the well-known 

 hook-making firm at Redditch, who have for several years acted 

 as my only wholesale agents, and whose success in manu- 

 facturing the various patterns leaves nothing to be desired. The 

 perfection of their fish-hooks and general fishing tackle is 

 proved by their having obtained — in addition to numerous 

 other awards— a Gold Medal at the Universal Exhibition, Paris, 

 1878, and a Gold Medal at the Berlin Fisheries Exhibition, 

 1880; whilst this year (1889), at the International Exhibition, 

 Paris, they have again been awarded a Gold Medal. 



1 The eyed-hook system is, of course, equally applicable to ' bob' flies, or 

 ' droppers,' as to ' tail ' flies, or ' stretchers.' 



