SPINNING FOR TROUT 63 



As was intimated in the last paragraph our 

 mental concept of a spinner is a great garish 

 spoon such as the muskellunge fisherman em- 

 ploys; but the fact of the matter is, the trout 

 spinner is light enough and beautiful enough to 

 find place in the dry-fly fisherman's box of ar- 

 tistic lures. The first real spinner that ever fell 

 into my hands was sent me by a certain New 

 Mexico dentist, who, having discovered the pos- 

 sibilities of the lure in the Colorado River, made 

 what he wanted for himself. At that time such 

 small spinners w*ere not to be found upon the 

 market ; now you can get them anywhere, of any 

 material and with or without flies attached. I 

 have some pearl spoons, some silver, some 

 nickel, and some hand-made of aluminum. In 

 some the width of the spinning blade is only /i 

 of an inch, others %G and %, and from that up 

 to "full-grown" spoons. In my experience the 

 spoon should be small, not over % of an inch 

 wide and, say, % long; though my preference 

 is for one made upon smaller lines than those 

 just given. Some are made with two spoons, 

 or blades ; though I have not found them more at- 

 tractive than the single type. To-day, flies of 

 various colors can be secured, and one can even 

 use the regular eyed fly if he so chooses. 



