CREATURES THAT GAME-FISH EAT 83 



the best live bait, for pickerel in weedy parts it 

 gets a quick response. Large chub, all three species 

 of trout, and both species of bass feed on this in- 

 sect whenever chance occurs, which is quite often 

 because the riverside is a fruitful feeding-ground. 



THE LAMPREY 



This most excellent bass bait is another of limited 

 service. Bass and chub seem to be the only fish 

 that take it with any degree of certainty. Its 

 peculiar wriggle while swimming is its best point, 

 for it is an awful pesky live bait to get snagged 

 on the bottom. We are obliged to keep the live 

 lamprey on the move all the time or good-bye to 

 our tackle. The lamprey-eel (often known as the 

 "lamper") belongs to a very low order of animals, 

 having no bony skeleton, no gills, ribs, or limbs, 

 and being a naked eel-shaped creature with a 

 sucker mouth, the lips of which are fringed with 

 fine hairs. It inhabits the fresh cold waters of riv- 

 ers and brooks, and gets its living by attaching it- 

 self to other fishes, feeding on them by scraping off 

 the flesh with its rasp-like teeth. Adults attain to 

 a weight of several pounds and two feet in length. 



This creature is the only one I would never think 

 of breeding or transplanting for food purposes, 



