TROUT FISHING. 175 



most likely be off again directly ; though, if you can 

 tow your minnow into a rougher place, without giving 

 it any sudden motion, the fish will most likely follow 

 it there, and be still more easily deceived than in the 

 smoother water. To get your bait, use a silk casting 

 net, and remember, that the chief art in throwing it is 

 to hurl the right hand well round horizontally, instead 

 of inclining it upwards. Keep your bait, with bran, in 

 any thing but tin or metal, which is liable to heat in 

 warm weather. This, I believe, is all that need be said 

 on the best mode of trolling. 



I have sent for, and read, the whole of this article, on 

 the subject, to his piscatorial reverence, who, after the 

 most rigid criticism that he could make, approved of it 

 in the extreme, as well as of the improvement in the 

 tackle, with which, before he would pronounce his judg- 

 ment, he fished for a whole morning. The previous one, 

 on fly fishing, I have submitted to the very best fly 

 fisher I ever saw ; but as it would ill become me to repeat 

 his remarks, I must leave the correctness of it to the 

 judgment of the reader. 



There are generally known three other modes of 

 trolling. The first is the diving minnow, which is 

 precisely on the same plan as the gorge-hook for pike. 

 This answers well in very deep holes, where you may 

 frequently kill trout when the sun is too bright for the 

 more common mode of trolling. On this plan, you 

 must, of course, loosen the line, and allow the trout 

 some time to pouch his bait. The second is the artificial 

 minnow, which is the worst of all ; because it does not, 

 in general, spin so well; and, particularly, because it 

 is too frequently made of hard materials, on which a 

 fish, unless very hungry, will seldom close his mouth 



