30 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



fish cannot fail to see them quite a distance 

 away. 

 Large, full-grown specimens are not common 

 until late in the fall after the trout season closes, 

 and for that reason they are not so popular for 

 trout as for bass. Sometimes they come out dur- 

 ing July. When they do, I consider them superior 

 to any other bait (except minnows) for brown 

 trout during the daytime. My artificial cricket 

 made in three different sizes of cork bodies was 

 highly successful with brown trout as early as 

 June 3, of last year. This is one of the few instances 

 where the artificial is of greater service than the 

 natural bait, as it is also more durable, for the 

 cricket, when hooked, is very tender, and is easily 

 flipped off, besides being repeatedly nipped from 

 the hook by the fish. A very few casts will find 

 this bait limp and almost lifeless. For trout fish- 

 ing the smallest size is much the best. Bass seem 

 to prefer a good big size, running up to the sur- 

 face after it as they do after a fly. In Lake George 

 I caught bass on crickets in water thirty feet deep. 

 The most fruitful hunting-ground for crickets is 

 under corn shucks and piles of decaying weeds 

 or other vegetation. If the reader will carefully 

 examine the representation of the artificial cricket 



