i io PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



From the well-advertised success of artificial baits 

 there is danger of the novice in bait casting looking 

 upon natural bait as old-fashioned and more or less 

 useless. This, of course, is a mistake. Every experi- 

 enced caster knows lakes and streams that are noted 

 as "live bait waters," for the simple reason that in 

 that particular locality natural bait is always more 

 successful than the artificial. Besides the bait ques- 

 tion is a seasonable one. In many places the fish prefer 

 artificial bait one time of the year and live bait an- 

 other. A well-known example is Lake Chautauqua, 

 New York. Here, according to the local experts, the 

 muskellunge strikes best on spoons in September and 

 shows a decided preference for minnows later in the 

 season. 



Surely the caster who pins his faith to one style 

 of bait, natural or artificial, is missing some good fish- 

 ing; besides he is neglecting his education. 



MINNOWS 



The small fish's place in the general scheme of things 

 apparently is to supply food for larger fish, so they 

 are produced in enormous quantities. This is especi- 

 ally true of most minnows, which are not necessarily, 

 as some folks believe, young fish, but a family of fishes 

 known as Cyprinidae. The proper term for young 

 fish is "fry." 



The Cyprindiae family consists of about forty genera 

 and one hundred and thirty species, some of which 



