164 THE PRACTICAL ANGLER 



then put up our rod ; by the time this was done the 

 bottle had secured a dozen, which we commenced 

 fishing with, and then set the bottle again. Now this 

 is very convenient, and wastes less time than any 

 other method of catching minnows, and for the 

 minnow-fisher the bottle is a great invention. 



When minnows are intended to be used imme- 

 diately, they may be captured with a small hook. 

 The best way of doing this is to take a hook, and 

 attach to its shank three or four small pieces of gut, 

 with a pair of small hooks, say No. 11, attached to 

 each, which should hang from an inch to an inch 

 and a half below the single hook. This latter is 

 then baited with a small piece of red worm ; and 

 when the minnows are clustered about it, it is pulled 

 out with a jerk, and the angler will generally get two 

 or three minnows hooked by the outside of the body. 

 The object of this is to get small minnows, as the 

 bait is usually seized by the large ones, to the ex- 

 clusion of those which the angler wishes to capture. 



Those anglers who have the command of a piece 

 of water can always keep a supply of live minnows 

 by enclosing them in a wire box, which should be 

 sunk to the bottom of the water by a weight, and 

 raised when the minnows are wanted. But as num- 

 bers of anglers do not reside at the water-side, and 

 when engaged in a day's trouting cannot afford to 

 spend half of it in catching minnows, they should 

 always be provided with a plentiful supply of salted 

 ones, which will be found much more deadly than 

 the best imitations that ever were made. As min- 



