HOW TO USE NATURE LURES 157 



several rose just above here!" "Well, I can't get 

 'em, with anything!" "You would," I replied, 

 "if you fastened that cap of yours on the leader 

 and take off that chunk of beefsteak; then there 

 would be some chance to get trout." "Oh," said 

 he, "I'm sick of casting and changing flies; I want 

 to choke them with this." I have seen numberless 

 examples of this same attitude — aside from the 

 country worm-plugger — of many expert fly-fisher- 

 men, who, if unsuccessful with dry and wet flies, 

 turn to what they term, "the inevitable worm," 

 and that usually fails too. 



It is this attitude which I wish to counteract 

 with my nature lures by filling that void when 

 trout refuse flies. In bygone days I did as the others 

 do, "turned to worms," and failed; but now, with 

 a selection of surface and bottom lures, when 

 these adverse conditions arise, I can and do cap- 

 ture more and larger fish with the lures than I 

 usually do with flies. As explained in almost every 

 chapter of this book, the reason is obvious: trout 

 are sometimes gorged with flies or feeding below on 

 other food which my lures correctly imitate; not 

 only in appearance, but in action; so that if they 

 are used by this new method, success will be ac- 

 complished that would be impossible in other ways. 



