Fish and Fishing 



skin, could be filled with a light pliable substance, 

 it would obviate such a difficulty. 



The soft-rubber imitations of frogs, dobsons, 

 crawfish, grasshoppers, and worms, are not yet 

 made well enough to deceive even a fish. 



They are clumsy and so cheaply made. 

 Imitations "^ doubt by machinery, as to be worse 



than useless. They are only success- 

 ful when played skilfully in rapid 

 motion, and the fish go for them 

 suddenly. These smaller lures 

 should be made, like flies, by 

 hand, of material that will give 

 a more natural appearance, and 

 the forms designed in a taking 

 manner. A good frog, modeled 

 in the attitude of swimming with 

 a single hook on its back, would, 



no doubt, take fish, and plenty Hand-made spinners 



of them. As now made, they are ^°' ^ckereL^^' 

 nothing near what the minnow is 

 capable of doing. After all the efforts made to 

 lure fish, the old-fashioned, plain, sim- 

 ple spoon, with but a single hook, 

 either cast or trolled, without bait or 

 feathers attached, and placed in the hands of 

 an angler who knows how to properly use it, 

 will do wonderful things that would surprise 

 the novice who uses the most complicated 

 and advanced tackle. That is why so many 

 will not give a trial to new things, and the 

 manufacturer goes on producing unusual lures; 

 178 



Use, Not 

 Ornament 



