130 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



water, an accomplishment possessed by no other 

 bait. 



The various-sized minnows are all made in two- 

 color combinations red and gold, blue and silver 

 made so to suit the color of natural food-fish in 

 as wide a territory as the northern continent. 

 The red and gold is a greater favorite in Texas, 

 California, and Pacific coastal States, and in cer- 

 tain parts of Canada and Maine. I am told by 

 those who use them, the red and gold more nearly 

 imitates the reddish tinge of their minnows. In 

 the Middle West, from Montana to the Eastern 

 seaboard States, the preference is decidedly in 

 favor of blue-and-silver minnows, which coincides 

 with my own practice and experience of Eastern 

 waters. While I have captured both trout and 

 bass on the red and gold, I nearly always put 

 on the blue and silver, because the fish food is 

 mostly of that color. The darter minnow, a later 

 invention, not yet widely used, is without the 

 feather plume, and made in sizes 1>^, 2, 3, 4, 5 inch 

 body. It is painted to imitate young trout, perch, 

 and silversides, and relies entirely upon an exact 

 imitation of nature. The primary object of the 

 feather plumes on the back of various minnows is 

 to attract attention by the peculiar wavy motion 



