54 THE SMALL-MOUTHED BASS 



ing the stones gently, so as to prevent clouds of mud from 

 rising and obscuring the view, numbers of these animals will 

 be seen scuttling away in all directions, but it requires some 

 skill and practice to seize them, even when using a small 

 dip-net. 



The best way to obtain them in any quantity is to take 

 a wooden box with a number of inch augur holes bored in 

 its side, place it in the water, loaded down with small pieces 

 of broken stone, and put in small pieces of refuse of any kind, 

 such as the heads or entrails of fish. If left over night such 

 a box will be found next morning filled with crayfish. It 

 should then be lifted out quickly on shore and dumped on 

 an open space, where the crayfish may be easily captured. 

 For minnows, a small seine may be used, twenty or thirty 

 feet long, if large quantities are desired; this, however, re- 

 quire two or three men and a boat, if the water be deep, 

 and also some experience. 



For the beginner, the easiest way to get minnows is to 

 use a rod, line, and the smallest minnow hook available, 

 from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in length, and bait 

 the hook with a minute fragment of a dung-worm, the head 

 being the best part. One may catch two or three dozen 

 minnows in this way in an hour, and most of them will be 

 uninjured by the hook. 



Anchor a boat over a weed-bed where the water is about 

 six feet in depth, and stir up the mud at the bottom with a 

 paddle or oar; this causes a great number of food particles 

 to hang suspended in the water and attracts minnows from 

 the surrounding vicinity; when the water becomes clear 

 one has no difficulty in catching small perch and minnows. 



Sometimes minnows swim about in large shoals, and 

 in that case a large dip-net may be used. This is made of 

 a wooden hoop, three feet or more in diameter, with a piece 

 of mosquito-netting sewn to the hoop in the form of a very 

 flat cone, so as to bag down about eight inches or a foot. 



