134 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



in various sections of the North American con- 

 tinent. It will be seen at once how very evidently 

 impossible it would be to exactly imitate any 

 particular one for general use in all localities, and 

 I believe the plan I have adopted is the. best, 

 viz., to make red and gold, blue and silver, the 

 principal colors. No colored representation, how- 

 ever perfect, can produce the silvery or golden 

 sheen of these fish as observed in the water. All 

 the artist can do is to convey what is called the 

 "general effect" of glistening brightness. Salmon 

 flies are an example of an attempt to get at the 

 effect mentioned. I have tried everything with 

 the limited materials at command, even to making 

 a floating painted small minnow, copied exactly 

 from the colored pictures, with the belly creamy 

 white in place of shining metal. Trial after trial 

 with all the skill I know, proves that it does not 

 seduce trout. Immediately a change is made to 

 the shiny terror minnow, I get strikes from chub, 

 pickerel, perch, bass, or trout, whichever I am 

 fishing for. I have finally concluded that my con- 

 fidence in a metal body shows it to be by far the 

 best, so that the shiny devil, hackle minnows, 

 various-sized terrors, and feather minnows can- 

 not be improved as far as I am concerned. 



