MUSKELLUNGE AND LIVE BAIT 



minnow in position; but I like to fasten the minnow 

 to the hook with a few turns of copper wire. Un- 

 doubtedly, the double hook, a hook to hold the head in 

 position, is an aid. It will be objected that such a rig 

 kills the bait. To which I would say that a minnow 

 will not outlive a half-dozen i co-foot casts, anyway. 

 Be sure the minnow is wired to the hook, if you are 

 not well supplied with bait. Where the head is held 

 by one hook and the trailer pierces the rear of the 

 minnow, short-biting fish are apt to be hooked. 



In hooking a minnow for casting, where a gang is 

 not used, the hook should be inserted in the mouth, 

 out through the gills, and back through the body. 

 Quite often when so hooked, the minnow slips down 

 and whirls when drawn through the water, and unless 

 the swivel above the leader works easily, the line will 

 twist and kink. The gang arrangement is more satis- 

 factory, for, by hooking through the head with one 

 hook and through the body with the other, the minnow 

 is held in shape as long as it lasts. No caster need be 

 told that under the stress of continuous casting a 

 minnow will not last long. A simple hook through the 

 head may tear out at the first cast. Of course, the 

 fisherman soon learns to favor his bait in casting, 

 starting carefully and slowing up easily. 



A minnow quietly dropped at the edge of a weed- 

 bed from a distance of loo or 150 feet is almost cer- 

 tain to stir a 'lunge to attack if he be in a feeding 

 mood. Few men can cast a live minnow with grace 

 and precision these days, for correct minnow-casting 

 is all but a lost art among us. I have before stated, 

 and I wish to re-emphasize it here, there are fewer 

 good casters of live minnows to-day than of lures. 

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