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Joininga hooktoa lineisanadmirableworkofingenuity,

imagination, and perfection. The resultis a small, barely

distinguishablelumpoflinedrawnupintoa neat,tightroll.

hidingtheexperiencegatheredoverthousandsofyears;soit

shouldcomeasnosurprisethatthereissucha varietyofknots
usedforthispurpose.Thesizeofthehook,itsshape,thetype
ofline,andmanyotherdetails,whichmayat firstappear
irrelevant,combineto telltheexpertanglerwhethertouseone
knotoranothertogivehima perfectlyharmoniousfusingof
hookandline.
Therearebasicallytwotypesoffishinghooks:thosewith
aneyeattheendandthosewithout.andtherearedifferent
knotsforeachofthesetypes.Technicallyspeaking,fishing
knots do not constitute a new category but simply a
regroupingaccordingtotheuseforwhichtheyareintended.
Asweshallsee,allhookknotsfallintothecategoriesthathave
already been discussed: theycanbe classifiedas stopper
knots,hitches,loops,etc.
Forthesakeofclaritywehaveusedlargehooksandheavy
ropein theillustrationsin thischapterinsteadofthematerials
familiartoanglers.Thiswillmake themovementsandthe
structureoftheknotssimplertofollow,butobviouslya great
dealofpracticeandsubtletyofmovementwill beneeded
whenworkingwithsmallhooksandgut.