22 MINNOWS AND 



with these Water-witches I have killed, and seen 

 killed by others, very many more fish than have 

 been missed. Incredible as this may sound, it 

 is strictly true, and is attributable, I apprehend, 

 to two things only : 



The spinning apparatus being placed at the 

 head instead of at the tail ; and 



The method of arranging the hooks. 



The excellence of these two things is very 

 obvious. First, as regards the spinning of the 

 bait. 



I do not mean to assert that its rotatory 

 motion through the water is qnicker than 

 where the tall is made the momentum — sup- 

 posing that tail to be large enough, and the 

 Minnow properly weighted. 



The tails of all the artificial IMinnows, Kill- 

 devils, or by whatever name they may be 

 known, antecedent to those hereafter to be 

 described, are often in the way, not of a run, 

 but of a catch. Although a fish of prey, 

 whether Trout, Jack, Perch, or Eel, invariably 

 swallows his honne bouche head foremost, and 

 consequently seizes his prey either by the middle. 



