GRASSHOPPERS FOR BAITS. 157 



sfa, wherever there are branches hanging on 

 the water, rocks or other substances in it and 

 above the surface. On them first drop your bait, 

 and by a second motion cause it to descend on to the 

 surface of the water. Do this, whether your baits 

 be grasshoppers, flies, caterpillars, beetles, or any 

 living thing liable to be blown or fall from banks, 

 branches, leaves, rocks, roots, or piles into the 

 water. I need not explain it is apparent the 

 rationale of this practice. You will see that you 

 are following nature. Mr. Daniel says, " Grass- 

 hoppers from June, until September, are to be 

 met with in every pasture field or meadow, espe- 

 cially in a hot dry summer,- but most plentifully 

 in a kind of old, short, mossy grass. The middle 

 sized, and the greenest are the best, and may be 

 carried in a box with a notch cut in the edge, 

 wide at top, and narrow at bottom, which, by 

 lifting up the box-lid gently, leaves space just 

 enough for the grasshoppers to creep out, which 

 they will do separately. Some anglers take off 

 the legs in baiting with them, but they answer 

 better whole, if properly placed to stand on the 

 back of the hook, which should be entered under 

 the head and lodged in the body. This is a fine 

 and tender bait, and is generally taken by many 

 kinds of fish, in clear streams, about mid- water, 

 with a hook, No. 6, a fine gut-link, and one small 

 shot. Grasshoppers may be preserved in fresh 



