Bait Angling for Common Fishes 



holes, a hand line and sinker, fixed with 

 a " spreader " and snells, and although it 

 does not come under the head of tools, a 

 fire. The spreader is a piece of brass 

 wire about a foot long, turned with a pair 

 of pliers to form an eye in the middle to 

 attach the line, and an eye in each end to 

 fasten the snells. Spreaders that have 

 a swivel in the middle of the wire and un- 

 derneath it an eye, so that three snells may 

 be used, may be found at the shops. The 

 bait is the small white grub most easily 

 found in dead and partly rotten second- 

 growth pine trees or logs, from which it 

 has to be cut out with an ax. The man 

 who catches perch for market does not trou- 

 ble himself to provide more than two or 

 three grubs, for as soon as he catches one 

 fish, he has two baits, using the eyes after 

 the fish is dead, for bait. When the 

 spreader is thrown through the holes cut 

 in the ice there is nothing to do but to 

 wait for a bite. If a perch takes one bite 

 the matter is settled it is only necessary 



34 



