SPINNING FOR TROUT. 85 



or deep, the fish congregate, as the thick, swollen streams 

 cannot be stemmed, and are therefore avoided. Here 

 the fish fall an easy prey to the mid- water or minnow- 

 fisher, as what is known as minnow daping or dabbing 

 (i.e., giving the bait the slow, whirling motion of a sickly 

 fish) often produces exceptionally heavy takes, even when 

 the water is bank full, and, figuratively speaking, as 

 thick as a "pea soup." But this method of extracting 

 fish at an undue advantage we detest, as being unsports- 

 manlike in the extreme. We have frequently observed 

 individuals (we do not say fishermen) upon hooking a 

 fish in such circumstances, with the strongest possible 

 tackle, literally turn tail upon the water by shouldering 

 the rod and walking away until the hooked fish "flaps" 

 high and dry on the bank. It is some consolation, how- 

 ever, that these gentlemen (?) occasionally catch a "tar- 

 tar" in the shape of a hidden stump, root, or pile, in 

 which case the diversion is pleasantly varied by a "flap ; * 

 or snap of the tackle, and total loss of bait. 



We do not encourage minnow fishing in temporarily 

 discolored water. It is too sure a way for real sport. Ab- 

 solute certainty in the pursuit of game destroys the keen- 

 ness, and takes oif the edge, so to speak, of one's feeling 

 of enjoyment when supcess is in no way dependent upon 

 personal skill. With the finest tackle, in clear water and 

 weather, there is more real satisfaction to be derived from 

 the successful capture of a fine, well-fed fish than in forty 

 such taken by unfair means. The minnow-spinner, in 

 clear and rapid streams, should always, where practicable, 

 cast up-stream, bringing the bait across and down by a 

 judicious working of the rod from the wrist. As a rule, 

 drawing against stream should be avoided. It is un- 

 natural for a deformed or sickly fish to attempt any feat 

 of the kind; and not only this, when spinning the natural 

 minnow the force of the current causes the bait to assume 

 a very unnatural attitude in the water, especially when 



