METHOD OF BAITING THE MINNOW. 183 



at the mouth of the minnow, run it right through 

 the body, and bring it out about a quarter of an 

 inch from the tail, leaving the minnow as nearly 

 as possible in the curve represented in the fore- 

 going figure. The object of having the minnow in 

 a curve form is, that it may turn round when it 

 is drawn against the stream, and this can be 

 better accomplished by a small curvature than a 

 large one. If the body of the minnow is almost 

 doubled up, the spinning is horrible to behold, 

 and much more likely to alarm than attract a 

 trout ; the smallest curvature will do, and the 

 hook should protrude freely. The upper hook is 

 then stuck through the lips, which completes the 

 process, and the angler should, before commencing, 

 draw it through the water, to see that it spins 

 properly. 



Some anglers use a much larger hook for the 

 lips than we have indicated ; acting upon the pre- 

 valent opinion that trout invariably seize and swal- 

 low their prey head-foremost, and that there should 

 therefore be a large hook there. So far as our ex- 

 perience goes, this opinion is incorrect. We have 

 frequently caught trout with numbers of minnows 

 and other small fish in their inside, nine out of ten 

 of which were swallowed tail-foremost ; and this is 

 only natural, as it is hardly to be supposed that a 

 minnow will look a trout in the face till the latter 

 swallows him ; and it is equally improbable that the 

 trout will let the minnow out of his mouth when 



