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Chapter V. 



MINNOW FISHING. 



|V4INN0W fishing, although barred on many 

 streams, has much to be said for it, if it be 

 practised judiciously and at certain times of the year, 

 as it accounts for many of the larger fish whose cannibal 

 habits have grown in proportion to their years, and 

 whose demise can in no way be regretted. It may, 

 therefore, fairly be said that the majority of Northern 

 rivers are benefited by a limited use of the minnow. 

 But its use must be limited, for it does a stream a 

 great deal of harm, if, from one end of the season to 

 the other, it is daily raked with minnows, natural 

 and artificial, of all shapes and sizes. Besides, the 

 practice is unfair to those who wish to fish the fly, as 

 trout are usually put down for some considerable 

 time after a minnow has been spun over them. 



It is, moreover, a mystery why any man should 

 wish to fish the minnow during the early part of the 

 year when trout rise readily to the fly. Spinning 



