When you are going to go all reckless and say something like “it's the best in the world”, then you are in great danger of making a total arse out of yourself. However, since in this case the Eze-Lap Hook Hone is the best hook sharpener in the world I can say it and so say it I will. Unfortunately it also has an appalling name.

And a somewhat confusing one too, I might add. It was only by consulting an online dictionary did I discover that “lap” means, “to polish (a surface) until smooth” (in America). And note well the misspelling of the word “easy”. Someone should tell them.

I first came across the Eze-Lap Hook Hone in one of Steve Parton's catalogues (Steve, in case you are from outside the UK, is an importer and manufacturer of fishing tackle, supplying mainly the trade. He's an ex-STANIC instructor of some note, pioneer of “fishing the rudder”, responsible for the interest in float-tubing in the UK – so he can sell more I suppose - and is well known for having strong opinions). In his catalogue Steve said, “The Eze-Lap Hook Hone is the best in the world”.

And so I bought one.

This was actually rather a long time ago, at least ten years, maybe more. In fact it must have been more since I remember that the main reason I bought a sharpener in the first place was because I was reading a book by Arthur Cove and he stated that one should “sharpen hooks before, during and after fishing”.

I have owned three or four of these sharpeners incidentally. It's not that they don't last; they do, in fact they actually get better with age (like me, perhaps). No, it's just that I lose them. The last one I lost in New Zealand along with my tippet material, gink, forceps and a zinger. I had girlfriend once who said that you only lose things when you don't need them anymore. She was wrong. And yesterday as if to prove this fact, I bought myself yet another Eze-Lap Hook Hone.

The interesting thing is that at least three of them have been different. One version sported a half-hearted attempt at a hook disgorger that was a bit of plastic attached to the end. In practice it was completely useless and necessitated that the sensible angler remove it out of embarrassment, something that in fact proved quite a stressful and challenging business. For a start the usual cutting methods were completely ineffective and ironically blunted all knives. The only recourse was for the angler to take up arson and ignite it. As part of the procedure one had to endure various finger burns and at one point everyone must evacuate the building.

The current model, I notice, does not support these activities.

My previous Eze-Lap Hook Hone, admittedly, was slightly better than this current model: it had a tiny hole in the handle that I could use to partake in some sort of technical bondage operation that only anglers fully understand. And it worked for a little while too and was only lost when I was, but even this didn't stop “the Universe taking it back”.

Six-pound Sean once asked me how to use a hook sharpener, and I don't think that he was being obtuse either. And it's a good question, one that I was going to answer, but a quick visit to the “sharpener people” www.eze-lap.com (don't expect too much here incidentally) gave this advice:

1. Grasp the point of the hook between forefinger and thumb as if to squeeze the point.
2. Force the Eze-Lap between your thumb and finger so it contacts the point or barb. Your thumb and finger act as a sharpening guide to achieve the right angle.
3. Test the point on you thumbnail. If it skids on your nail under very low pressure, sharpen it again. Be very careful not to puncture your nail with the ultra-sharp point Eze-Lap will give your hook.

• The Eze-Lap Model "S" pocket clip tool has a small flat area with a groove on the back of the sharpener. A hook is sharpened by rubbing the point back and forth in this groove, with the final finishing strokes made into the point.

OK that's fine, but the current thinking is not to test the hook on the back of your nail; this will take the edge off and let's face it if your hooks are so blunt that the are not digging into your nail (even before sharpening them), then it's time to change makes or get a lesson in backcasts :-)

The industrial diamond coated groove is what makes this baby tick by the way and remember light gentle strokes will give you the sharpest meanest edge.

Every angler should have one.

Paul