THE BASSES: FRES H-W ATER AND MARINE 



have a persistent way of landing on their backs. 

 When I make a frog, therefore, he has no back. 



The phantom minnow (No. 10), hollow, made 

 of silk, and painted in Various colors, is very fre- 

 quently a successful lure for black bass. The blue- 

 back, silver-belly coloration has proven most useful 

 in my hands. The gang-hooks should be removed, 

 and a single hook substituted. This single hook 

 I attach by cutting a very small slit in the belly of 

 the minnow, passing in the head of a good-sized 

 needle-eyed O'Shaughnessy hook, and fastening 

 the hook by means of fine piano-wire to the cross- 

 bar in the mouth of the minnow. A second hook, 

 similarly attached, may be located in the tail of the 

 minnow, if desired; but as a rule the hooks which 

 are placed in the centre of the lure are those which 

 take the fish. All game-fish have the habit of 

 attacking their prey from the side, after which the 

 victim is turned and swallowed head first. 



The pilot (No. 11), and the similar devices 

 known as the turn-a-frog and pilot spinner, are 

 extremely ingenious little articles by which a lure 

 or bait may be made to swim deep or on the surface. 

 They are made of aluminum, are small, light in 

 weight, do not interfere with distance or accuracy 

 in casting, and will positively prevent a spinner or 

 spoon from twisting or kinking the line. 



There is very great difference between the 

 management of live bait and artificial lures in 



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