SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 375 



trial, and in selecting his artificial baits, every spinner will, per- 

 haps, be wise to follow his own particular fancies. Amongst 

 recent patents and inventions, however, which the Fisheries 

 Exhibition brought into notice, may be mentioned Hardy 

 Brothers' ' Halcyon spinner,' and Watson and Sons' ' Cleopatra' 

 bait, with pliable joints of polished metal (figured in the dia- 

 gram), Mr. Jas. Ogden's ' Premier spinner,' and Messrs. Cum- 

 mings' (of Bishop Auckland) ' Quill minnow.' Diagrams of the 

 two last-named minnows of the smallest sizes will be found 

 figured under the head of ' Stream Minnow-Spinning for Trout.' 

 There is no difference in the modus operandi as regards 

 artificial baits, it is merely necessary to substitute them for the 

 natural bait and flight, leaving the spinning trace in all respects 

 as already described. 



STREAM MINNOW-SPINNING FOR BROWN TROUT. 



This is the only sort of fishing that I am aware of in which 

 an artificial bait may really be used with satisfaction and 

 success, and it is probable that, as a matter of fact, many more 

 trout are actually killed in the streams with the brass minnow, 

 or some other artificial imitation of the real fish, than with the 

 minnow itself. But despite the dictum of Mr. Hewitt Wheatley, 

 whose ' nymphs ' and ' water witches ' were, I must say, most 

 graceful, and beautifully drawn, I am disposed to think that 

 this artificial inequilibrium results rather from the additional 

 trouble involved in obtaining and baiting the natural minnow 

 than from any intrinsic advantage which the artificial imitation 

 possesses. Be this as it may, however, I shall begin with the 

 natural bait, on the principle, if upon no other, that the original 

 should take precedence of the copy. 



The difficulty has always been to find a tackle which 

 whilst placing the lead in bait's belly, and at the same time 

 obviating the necessity, common to most minnow tackles, of 

 detaching the flight from the trace before baiting will spin the 



