232 Book of the Black Bass. 



barrels, are thoroughly tested by causing them to sustain 

 a strain, twice or thrice as great as they are usually put to 

 in actual service, and the extra care and manipulation, and 

 the superior stock used in the construction of such hooks, 

 make their cost somewhat higher; but this extra amount 

 is money well expended, for the angler can rely upon them 

 with the utmost confidence, provided they are the product 

 of the best makers; there is but one thing left to decide 

 his choice among such hooks, viz., the peculiar bend or 

 form given to the hook, of which there are several that 

 are good enough. I might add, that all first-class hooks 

 are japanned, or bronzed, and that a blued hook is always 

 of an inferior quality. 



The most approved hooks for black bass, are the Sproat, 

 O'Shaughnessy, Dublin Limerick, Cork-shape Limerick, 

 round bend Carlisle, or Aberdeen, and hollow point Lim- 

 erick ; they are best in the order named. 



As regards the shape and bend of a hook, ray first choice 

 for black bass angling is the " Sproat bend," and the next 

 best form, in my opinion, is Ihe " O'Shaughnessy." In 

 general form and bend the two hooks are identical, but 

 their difference consists in the form of barb, and direction 

 of the point. In the latter peculiarities, the Sproat is 

 fashioned after true scientific principles, being a central- 

 draught hook; that is, the short, squarish, or somewhat 

 angular barb, terminates in an abrupt point, which, if con- 

 tinued upward, would intersect a line drawn from the 

 extremity of the shank and continuous with it. In other 

 words, the direction of the point of the hook is toward 

 the end of the shank. 



^Vhen the Sproat hook is tied on a sneU, and the point 

 of the hook is held against the ball of the thumb, and 

 traction made on the snell, the direction of the point of 



