34 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



indeed its destruction and extinction from our 

 streams would be a most desirable thing. Like 

 the common eel it is nocturnal in its habits, mov- 

 ing about the deeper parts of the bed of rivers in 

 sluggish places which are haunted by suckers and 

 other coarse fish. It is only the very young that 

 is used for bait, the best size being about five inches 

 long. These are usually found in black muddy 

 sand close to the shore of slow-moving backwaters 

 of rivers, and a shovel is all that is necessary to 

 capture them. Dig deep, best under several inches 

 of water, and throw the mud upon the dry bank, 

 then search through it with the hands for the 

 wrigglers. They are more slippery and agile than 

 the eel, and of all live bait the most diflScult to 

 impale on the hook. A dead one is no attraction 

 to the bass; its wriggle only is the attraction. 



By the time this is in print I shall have perfected 

 a floating lamprey; at present my artificial, while 

 very natural in appearance, is the only non-float- 

 ing bait I have made. It wriggles all right, but 

 must be kept moving or it sinks to the bottom, 

 with the same difiicult}^ to recover as the natural 

 bait. I shall work on this bait till I succeed in 

 producing a lamprey that wriggles and at the same 

 time floats in suspension about mid-water or near 



