THE AMERICAN TROUT. 33 
or even tbe line may be lost, but you will save your rod, 
while otherwise you would probably lose both. 
In landing a fish, Avait till he is pretty well exhausted, 
bring his mouth above water and keep it there till he is 
drawn into the net, and warn your assistant to remove 
the net at once if he gets his head down. By diving 
after him with the net, the assistant would certainly not 
catch the fish and might tangle one of your other flies. 
The fish should be led into the net, and the latter kept 
as still as possible ; he knows as well as you do what it is 
for, and if his attention is drawn to it, will dart off as 
madly as ever. 
There are occasions and situations where a fly cannot 
be used, and a minnow — called down East, from the Indian 
name mummy chog, a mummy — cannot be obtained. In 
such cases it becomes necessary to fall back upon first 
principles. A grasshopper, twitched along the surface of 
the water in a way called skittering, is an effective bait, 
although an imitation grasshopper, as well as an imita- 
tion minnow, does not answer and will not deceive trout. 
Salmon and trout roe are used, and it is said, contrary to 
the writer's experience, with great success. Gentles, 
which are grubs hatched in meat that has been fly- 
blown, are a favorite bait in Europe ; but, in spite of 
their beautiful name, are horrible objects and not in 
vogue with us. Caddies, or the larvae of the Phry- 
ganidoB in their cases, are also in use there, but not 
here. We must, therefore, have recourse to the angle- 
worm. 
The finest worms are to be found in tanyards ; they 
should be placed on the top of damp moss, left for a 
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