HOW TO MAKE NATURE LURES 163 



delight. By far the greatest number of anglers 

 who write me for advice are doctors and dentists 

 who want to make their own baits. 

 For the construction of floating lures, the prin- 

 cipal materials are cork, used for backs of frogs and 

 minnows, bodies of crawfish, hellgrammites, crick- 

 ets, and grasshoppers. Next come hard, heavy wood 

 for bellies of frogs and minnows, so as to balance 

 and make the baits float without turning over and 

 to swim upright; metal-sheets, tinsel, soft wire, 

 varied colored raffia grass, a large variety' both in 

 size and color of hackle feathers ; thread, silk, mer- 

 cerized cotton, and worsted of many colors and 

 thicknesses, eyed hooks of every description, oil- 

 paints and artist's brushes, good spar varnish, 

 white shellac, turpentine, alcohol, black wax, white 

 wax, various grades of sandpaper — and an assorted 

 variety of bristles, thick, thin, white and black. 

 For my own requirements, I must keep a full 

 stock of feathers, complete skins of game-birds, 

 from turkey to quail, from wild goose to numerous 

 species of ducks, and many other birds, also some 

 remnants of furs, tails of deer, skunk, fox, squirrel, 

 and hogs' bristles. These must all be kept in glass 

 or tin-covered jars to be free from moths. It is well 

 to know how to use Diamond dyes, and to keep 



