178 MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL FISHING. 



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 

 numbers 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 

 minnows shrivel up considerably when salted, a 

 size larger should be selected for this purpose than 

 those intended to be used fresh. If meant to be 

 used within four or five days they should be put 

 in the strongest pickle, and they will be almost as 

 good as fresh ; but if not used in a few days, they 

 become soft and quite useless. For keeping they 

 should be placed in a jar, with layers of salt 

 between them and the brine poured off as it 

 accumulates. 



The great objections to salted minnows are, that 

 they dry into mere skins, so that it is exceedingly 

 difficult to get them to spin properly; and that 

 they are very tender, requiring great care in using, 

 and even with the greatest care they will not last 

 long j and the angler, if possible, should always be 

 provided with a plentiful supply of live ones, as 

 they are undoubtedly the best. For containing 

 them when angling there is nothing better than an 

 oblong tin box (the invention of a very ingenious 

 angler, the late Mr. Darling of Edinburgh), which 



