SOME TINY WATERS 31 



crawled most abjectly. It is a very queer little 

 brook indeed. 



Mostly, as I have hinted, I have found the worm 

 the best and easiest bait for the brooks. The arti- 

 ficial fly may be of service in places, but it is much 

 more limited by the geography of the stream. Pro- 

 bably, if you stick rigidly to the fly, you will have 

 to leave a good half of the water untouched, since 

 you simply cannot get a fly to it. A worm, however, 

 can be insinuated into almost any nook, and, if 

 not, it can be swum downstream with the aid of 

 a small float. Other methods of getting at the 

 fish are dapping with a bluebottle, grasshopper, 

 or other handy insect, and drop-minnow fishing. 

 Both are more artistic than worm fishing, but 

 dapping may be a slow business if the trout are 

 scarce. The drop-minnow is perhaps the best 

 thing of all for brook fishing if you can get the baits. 

 I prefer the old-fashioned hook for it in such waters, 

 a No. 6 or No. 7 with a leaded shank. You can 

 make an efficient hook yourself easily with a little 

 lead wire. The hook link is threaded through the 

 minnow from mouth to tail, the lead lies in the 

 gullet, and the hook point projects from the mouth. 

 You can strike with this hook quite as quickly 

 as you do with a worm, and there is no great danger 

 of a small fish gorging the bait. For more open 

 waters, however, I rather prefer a drop-minnow 



