OUTWITTING THE BAIT STEALERS. 123 



very troublesome in such pools as that in which 

 the stump rested, nibbling at and taking off the 

 worms almost as fast as one can bait. How- 

 ever, they dare not go to the bottom where the 

 larger fish stay so, by putting on a heavy sinker 

 which carries the hook down swiftly, one can 

 usually circumvent them. A small hook and 

 heavy sinker are therefore the two essentials for 

 catching the fish which I was seeking. Most 

 sunfish have a small mouth in proportion to 

 their size, and if the hook be so large that they 

 cannot take it in they also soon strip it of bait 

 without being caught. 



At the deep hole farther up the creek the 

 worms were to-day used in vain. They did not 

 once tempt the goggle-eyes which there abide. 

 With a fat grasshopper I was more successful 

 and with it landed two. 



Back again at the submerged stump I fished 

 for twenty minutes without a nibble. Then with 

 a big wriggling worm I got a strike and far up 

 in the air I saw the biggest goggle of the day. 

 He had come loose from the hook, but too late 

 to fall into the water. For an instant only he 

 appeared above my head then with a thud went 

 down somewhere far back in a dense thicket of 

 young willows and horse-weeds. Dropping my 

 pole I began a search, bending down the wil- 

 lows and weeds and scanning closely each square 

 foot of earth. It took ten minutes, but back 



