28 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



While the crawfish is an expert swimmer, it 

 rarely leaves the bottom to swim in mid-water 

 or near the surface, but crawls slowly in search 

 of food among the stones and sand. It feeds mostly 

 on small fish, dead or alive, and, like marine crus- 

 taceans, is very pugnacious, with frequent combats 

 among its own kind or with other creatures it hap- 

 pens to meet. It is rarely seen by day, and little 

 is really known of its natural habits except in 

 confinement. As a bait, its best qualities are the 

 lively kicking movement and hardihood after 

 being hooked, and the prolonged time it takes 

 while swimming downward from the surface after 

 the cast. Bass will dash after it on its journey 

 down, and it is generally perfectly aware of them, 

 so, on reaching the bottom, it will instantly crawl 

 under a stone out of reach. The amateur soon 

 learns that it is best to keep this nimble bait swim- 

 ming free from the bottom. It swims along entirely 

 with its tail, the numerous legs being used only 

 to balance the body, and it is for that reason I 

 have, after many trials, succeeded in making the 

 artificial with a disjointed tail to move up and 

 down from the body, giving a lifelike appearance 

 to the lure if played properly in working the an- 

 gler's rod-tip. In its natural environment the craw- 



