COARSE FISH AND FLOAT FISHING 

 GENERAL! Y. 



TACKLE. 

 HOOKS. 



In every description of float-fishing, as in trolling and fly- 

 fishing, though in a somewhat lesser degree, the hook plays the 

 part of Hamlet, and although having already dealt with this 

 subject in extenso in Vol. I. pp. 4-33, and in the present Vol. 

 pp. 74-7 in reference to trolling hooks, I do not purpose now to 

 go into what may be called the rationale of hook making as 

 applicable to float-fishing especially, the arguments in one case 

 practically hold good in another. 



What is the best hook ? The hook that kills best with the 

 artificial fly will evidently, so far as kiUing powers go, catch the 

 most fish with the worm or gentle. The only points in which 

 some slight modification of the practical application of the 

 principles alluded to may be necessary in the case of float- 

 fishing are the length of the shanks and turned and needle- 

 eyed hooks. The latter present few of the advantages which 

 the fly-fisher, having regard to his special art, may recognise in 

 them, and the former — that is the length of the shank — is one 

 entirely of convenience, depending upon the nature of the 

 bait used, and the necessity of concealing the whole of the 

 shank, as compared with the importance of missing the smallest 

 number of bites. It is almost a self-evident proposition that a 

 long-shanked hook of the same size and shaped bend will have 

 greater penetrating power than a hook with a shorter shank. 



