190 TROUT FISHING 



such as I indicated in speaking" of the worm, 

 which, in its usage, the minnow closely resembles. 

 Here again the fisherman must learn to pick out 

 his individual trout ; but these little feeding spots 

 are so small that the fisherman has much diffi- 

 culty in spinning his minnow in them, and he 

 knows that unless it does spin he will frighten 

 away the fish, and certainly not capture them ; 

 and to be successful, he must be quick and make 

 the minnow spin as it enters the water, which is 

 often so shallow that there is scarce any distance 

 for it to sink ; on the contrary, it swims away just 

 under the surface, and is often in and out of the 

 water again in the brief distance of two or three 

 feet. How differently does the minnow act in a 

 large, deep, quiet pool ! Here it is thrown out, 

 allowed to sink, and then spin about down, or 

 across the pool, till some fish is hooked. When 

 the water is excessively low and bright, the spots 

 in which the feeding trout are lying are so small, 

 that it is very difficult so to work the artificial 

 minnow as to deceive the trout, and many a 

 place will be met with in which we cannot work 

 it in such a style as to warrant hopes of success, 

 in which it is obvious indeed that the staring de- 

 ception will simply frighten the trout. On the 

 other hand, from the same spot, the natural min- 

 now will surely kill the fish, because, though per- 

 haps its spinning in such spots may be by no 

 means perfect, yet, nevertheless, it being a natural 

 minnow is sufficient to make the trout rush at it. 

 It amounts to this in question of relative value of 



