140 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



twisting a very thin line. If by imperfect play 

 the amateur fails to make the spinner spin, it at 

 once becomes ineffective, and often after the cast 

 the gang-hooks get entangled with the leader, so 

 far as my own experience goes. 



No such defects will be found with the "darter." 

 The amateur can play it with ease; in fact, you 

 can just let it loose in running water, near or far, 

 and it gayly swims along near the surface of its 

 own free will from place to place, just like the 

 natural minnow. When grabbed, the hook holds 

 securely, is quickly released, and ready in a second 

 to resume operations. Its natural attitude in the 

 water, its effectiveness, is not interrupted for a 

 moment by not spinning or working right. This 

 same happy condition for the angler's comfort 

 applies equally well to the different size "feather" 

 and "terror" minnows, which, immediately they 

 touch the water, work right, and continue to work 

 right till grabbed by the fish. 



After finding the two and three inch darters 

 so effective for browns and rainbows, I concluded 

 that the big five-inch silver shiner and gold chub, 

 used for pike, muskellunge, and salmon, would be 

 vastly improved if made on the same lines, having 

 a powerful hook of large bend placed right under 



