90 PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



rear, while the muskellunge most often from the side 

 and upwards. 



We once brought up the question of how a fish hits 

 a bait with a grizzled old guide, and he agreed that 

 they generally strike as stated above. However, he 

 added: "Sometimes they sees it an* hits it an' that's 

 all there is to it," which was his way of expressing 

 a truism laid down by Samuel Camp that "a fish usual- 

 ly knows that the shortest distance between two points 

 is a straight line." 



We quoted this to old Pete in our discussion and he 

 came back with this: "An* that's a helofa sight more'n 

 some folks knows." 



The way a fish strikes a bait, has considerable bear- 

 ing on hook placement, and the position of the hooks 

 on a bait is of more importance than the number or 

 style of hooks. The hooks must be placed with a "kill- 

 ing angle"; that is, so attached that they present at 

 least one barb to the fish that strikes no matter how 

 he does it. 



Since a fish must necessarily strike a surface bait 

 from below, most "floaters" are made with belly-gangs 

 or hooks attached to the bottom of the bait. 



Underwater plugs usually have hooks attached to or 

 suspended from the sides. Sometimes they have as 

 many as two gangs of trebles on each side, which, to- 

 gether with a tail gang, makes 15 barbs, which is ob- 

 viously overdoing a good thing. 



Those with two side -gangs at the very most, and a 

 tail gang, hook just as many strikes and in our ex- 



