CREATURES THAT GAME-FISH EAT 27 



and may be kept a considerable time in damp 

 grass and rotten wood at low temperature. 



THE CRAWFISH 



In placing the crawfish second in value as a bait, 

 I do so because it is equally effective in swift 

 streams and in placid lakes over almost the entire 

 continent of North America. Indeed wherever 

 bass abide, a live, medium-sized, light brown 

 crawfish is resistless in any condition of weather 

 or season. This fresh-water crustacean is very 

 prolific in all brooks and streams of a low tem- 

 perature, and frequently in lakes. Its habit is 

 mostly nocturnal, and it burrows holes in the 

 pebbly sand as a protection from its enemies. 

 Its abode can easily be identified by the little 

 mound of fresh sand beside its hole, and if we 

 are quick in our movements we can scrape them 

 out a few inches down, wait a few minutes for 

 the water to run clear and capture them. It re- 

 quires practice to do it with success, for they are 

 nimbleness personified, running equally fast back- 

 ward or forward. Indeed, their capture, like any 

 other bait, is quite a difficult undertaking, filling 

 up the off days or early hours when bass are not 

 in a biting humor. 



