FISH AND FISHING IN AMERICA. 



BY WM. C. HARRIS. 

 (Continued from page 125.) 



In April, 1883, that sterling gentleman 

 and accomplished angler, David W. 

 Cross, now deceased and formerly of 

 Cleveland, Ohio, at my request wrote 

 an article on " Minnows as Bait," which 

 was published in The American An- 

 gler, thus supplying a long-felt want 

 on the subject. I now reproduce Mr. 

 Cross' communication, with such slight 

 alteration as recent changes in classifi- 

 cation and nomenclature of the minnows 

 have made necessary. 



There are times in the experience of 

 every angler, when not all the flies in 

 his book, nor all his skill in casting them, 

 will be rewarded by a single rise. Why, 

 nobody, it is believed, has been able to 

 tell. It may be because the fish are 

 seeking other kinds of food than flies. 

 They may be looking after minnows, or, 

 possibly, worms, helgramites, or cray- 

 fish. May it not follow, then, that if any 

 or all of these baits should be offered 

 them, with the same knowledge of their 

 habits, and the same skill in casting that 

 the expert fly-caster brings to his aid, 

 we should oftener return with a full 

 creel and a fullness of joy, instead of an 

 empty one and a sober countenance ? 



Most people will tell us that bait-fish- 

 ing is not just the right thing, but that 

 fly-fishing is. But they never tell you 

 what difference it makes to the poor 

 trout or bass, whether a false fly in- 

 veigled him through the arts of a skill- 

 ful caster, or a minnow on a chalk line 

 in the hands of an "old fogy." What 

 are we seeking ? " Recreation, sport 

 and trout," you answer. Well, recrea- 

 tion comes all the same, whether flies or 



baits be used. Pray tell us what can be 

 the difference in the sport, after the fish 

 is hooked (the same kind of tackle being 

 used), whether it was done by the lure 

 of a fly or minnow ? If both methods 

 afford equal skill and equal sport, why 

 not place them on equally popular 

 grounds ? 



Now it is of little use to write or talk 

 about the minnows to old fishermen 

 (the boy-fishermen will continue to jerk 

 as he always has jerked them out, flying, 

 with his pin-hook and bait), unless the 

 anglers can find some use for them. 



Gen. R. U. Sherman, Secretary of the 

 N. Y. State Fish Commission, writing 

 to me from the lodge of that sportsman's 

 paradise, Bisby Park, in the " North 

 Woods" of New York, said : 



" We have several lakes and ponds 

 well stocked with large trout, where, if 

 you fancy, you can sling flies all day to 

 your heart's content. You will proba- 

 bly take no fish, but then you can have 

 the satisfactory reflection that you have 

 spent your time in a sportsman-like 

 manner, and not after the manner of 

 the old fogy pot hunters. Our fishing 

 at this season in these lakes is wholly 

 at the baited buoys, and our tackle sim- 

 ply good-sized drop-lines, hooks about 

 number four, baited with minnows. I 

 aiTL old-fashioned in my notions about 

 fishing, and think a trout looks hand- 

 some flopping around in my boat, al- 

 though it may have been captured with 

 a bait." 



Here we find (and that friend found 

 at the extreme end of his angling skill) 

 that the minnow bait and the baited 

 buoys would do the business when the 



