HINTS TO YOUNG ANGLERS. 103 



the leaf, so that it will drop in the water, and but 

 seldom will the fish hesitate to rise, and on such 

 occasions will yourself fail to strike successfully. 

 Now for hint number two : when I have been unable 

 to get a strike minnow fishing, I have stimulated the 

 trout's appetite, by taking a worm and hooking it 

 transversely across the center, so that when your 

 minnow is put on, both sides of the worm hang on 

 eithe*' side of his head. If fish reason, I suppose 

 they thus argue: That fellow is going off with a 

 prize ; if he was not in good health, he would 

 scarcely have such a voracious appetite. It's evident 

 Mister Fisherman has played no tricks on this chap. 

 So at him he goes, and tyro's basket becomes 

 heavier by another fish. Not to keenness but to 

 accident I made this discovery. I had fished most 

 unsuccessfully for several hours, having changed 

 from worm to minnow and vice versa ; in one of 

 these alterations, being careless from want of suc- 

 cess, some worm was left on the shank of the hook 

 after I reverted to the minnow: the hint was not 

 lost, and often afterward practiced. 



