198 TROUT FISHING 



away from the trout ; but on no account let him 

 stop still in the water, for the moment he stops and 

 ceases to spin, the hesitating trout will determine 

 on not taking him, and will swim away from him. 

 The fisherman will readily hit on all these and 

 many other plans of manoeuvring his minnow, 

 which will follow to him as a matter of course, 

 from the consideration of the simple principles on 

 which he is working. If I might mention what 

 has appeared to me the most common error of 

 fishermen as regards the spinning minnow, it is 

 in supposing that the large and grand pools are 

 the particular spots of all others best adapted to 

 the minnow hence they go on from one pool to 

 another, fishing these, and little or nothing else. 

 It is true, I grant, in these large pools you may 

 often take a good fish or two ; your doing so, how- 

 ever, is a matter of verygreat uncertainty; whereas 

 I am certain, as regards rapid streams, that those 

 grand pools are not the most sport-giving places 

 for the minnow ; on the contrary, the best fish 

 and the greatest number of them are to be caught 

 by looking out closely for them in every little 

 hole or hover, every little sly, lurking, and feed- 

 ing spot. The trout are not only lying in these 

 choice places, but are eager for food, and will be 

 assuredly taken by the minnow. To depend on 

 these spots for sport is almost to insure it; to 

 confide in the deeper and larger pools, often few 

 and far between, is to rest our trust on an 

 apparently grander support of which early dis- 

 appointment will prove its unworthiness. 



