'ARTIFICIAL BAITS 107 



mouth as soon as it is struck because it is edible, and, 

 finally, owing to the tough rind, it can not be pulled 

 from the hook. 



Pork rind is used in a great many ways. It can be 

 bought at the tackle stores in strips, chunks, and 

 "hams," and it is used mostly in these forms. The 

 strips are about three inches in length and about half 

 an inch wide at the upper end, tapering gradually to 

 a point at the lower end. In this form it is very dead- 

 ly as it possesses a snake-like movement in the water 

 that is irresistible to the average game fish. 



The strip is mostly used with a small single or 

 tandem spinner and a fly usually a weedless red 

 Ibis. The spinner gives a fin-like movement, the fly 

 mats down on the pork, the latter wriggles, and the 

 whole lay-out bears a close resemblance to a crippled 

 minnow, whose head is "all over blood" as a small boy 

 would say, which is a choice morsel to any game fish. 

 This spinner, fly, and pork strip combination is, of 

 course, used mostly as an underwater bait, and will be 

 practically weedless. For casting up to the edge of 

 weed-beds and in the pockets it has few equals. In 

 addition to the regular spinner and fly combination* 

 there are also a number of very ingenious hooks made 

 especially for pork rind. 



The strip that is sold in bottles is much better than 

 that packed in salt and sold in boxes as it has more 

 wriggle; it is also superior to any that you can cut 

 yourself as it is cut by special machinery and the pre- 

 serving liquid not only preserves but adds to its flex- 



