92 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



water, saw a large pike strike at it fiercely. Such 

 was the suggestion that resulted in the "trolling 

 spoon." Traveling along another road, a group of 

 anglers were whittling out minnow shapes, and tak- 

 ing fish with the crude lures they manufactured. 

 Came the day when the two groups met, the spoon- 

 men and the minnow-makers. The result was a 

 combination lure, a minnow shaped body with whirl- 

 ing blades fore and aft. Later, quite recently, a 

 genius placed the whirling blades within an> opening 

 made in the body. There are blades of many shapes 

 and forms, though anglers believe some types more 

 attractive than others, which is true; it should be 

 added, however, that under certain conditions even 

 the most abused of lures will prove a fish-getter, 

 while the favorite will fail. There are three ele- 

 ments always entering into the problem: first, the 

 habitat and mood of the fish ; second, the shape and 

 color of the lure ; third, knowledge and skill of the 

 angler. As to which is more important I leave the 

 reader to determine. 



Why do bass strike at the strange forms the 

 rodsters affect? The answer is not easy. Person- 

 ally I believe they think if fish think the object 

 moving through the water is something good to eat, 

 though I must confess that sometimes they seem to 

 pursue simply because actuated by anger. I have 

 found the elongate body, that is, the minnow form, 

 most attractive. Why? Because it more nearly simu- 



