ON EAPID STEEAMS. 189 



fishing. I commonly use the same rod for both. 

 The line should be of platted silk, steeped in oil. 

 Fishermen use the natural or the artificial min- 

 now some only the former, and others both. 

 The natural minnow has, in my opinion, greatly 

 the superiority in killing powers ; but it has the 

 disadvantage of the bother of carrying the min- 

 nows themselves, and of frequently putting them 

 on the hooks. As to the particular tackle to be 

 used, I shall leave the fisherman chiefly to please 

 himself from the fishing-tackle shops, merely enu- 

 merating what have appeared to me the most 

 essential points on the subject ; and those apply 

 equally to the natural and artificial minnow. 

 When the water is low and bright, the artificial 

 minnow should be small. It should be so made 

 that it will spin the instant it is in the water ; its 

 own weight should suffice ; it must be heavy to- 

 wards the head, so that if it be cast from one and 

 dropped in any little spot, by a sort of dragging 

 sweep, it will come head-foremost into the water 

 and with great rapidity spin immediately, instead 

 of tumbling first to the bottom like a bar of lead, 

 and then wabbling about. Again, in its spinning, 

 it should revolve in a straight line, not roll, or 

 assume a cork-screw sort of motion, and its re- 

 volutions should be rapid. Working a minnow 

 in a little rapid stream, and working him in a large 

 dull one, are totally different practices. On the 

 rapid stream the majority of the trout, and the 

 largest trout are not caught in the big pools and 

 stickles ; on the contrary, the killing spots are 



