150 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



less, just what fish will respond by the peculiarities 

 of the water; so I provide the special lure they 

 prefer. Exceptions occasionally occur to that rule, 

 for fishing is an exceptionally surprising game. 

 Trout are erratic, doing stunts and things you 

 least expect. At one rushing torrent I hooked a fine 

 rainbow on a little silver terror, and felt confidently 

 sure that was the bait for him at another similar 

 place. But here the terror failed. I knew fish were 

 there, so I put on the trout cricket. This was in 

 June, long before crickets were abundant, yet the 

 cricket got the rainbow where the terror failed. 

 This and some other experiences go to show that 

 two lures are wise at times; though as a rule I 

 prefer only one on the leader, and change it ac- 

 cording to circumstances as they arise. When 

 more than one lure is used on the leader, the snell 

 attachment should be eight inches long. The reason 

 is that at that length the lure will not so easily 

 twist around the leader, there is more room for 

 the fish to grab it, and it stays out better. It is dif- 

 ferent with a second artificial fly, a three-inch snell 

 is enough not to entangle with the leader. If two or 

 three are put on the leader, the space apart must be 

 two feet, or even more when a long leader is used. 

 The foregoing applies to surface fishing only. For 



