Bait Angling for Common Fishes 



way out of the difficulty is to cut from 

 the gills to the mouth. Catfish are most 

 tenacious of life, such a cut seems to have 

 little or no effect on them. If the same 

 were done to trout it would die immedia- 

 ately. If an eel is skinned without other 

 injury to it, leaving the head intact, it will 

 live for some time after the operation. I 

 invariably kill my trout at once, with a few 

 raps on the head, before basketing, for two 

 reasons ; one that they may not escape, and 

 also it is a nervous strain to have them 

 kicking in the creel while casting the fly; 

 but above all it is more humane to at once 

 kill every fish of any kind, and have done 

 with it. Like other edible creatures, fish 

 are provided mainly for the sustenance of 

 man, after being caught. 



Of the many methods of capture, an- 

 gling for them is the most humane. If 

 they escape capture by man they eventually 

 will be eaten either by their own kind or 

 other species. 



The pike is no sentimentalist when he 

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