USE OF NATURAL BAITS. 125 



regardless of the species of fish. The small shiner, about 

 four inches long, is the best bait, especially on dark days, as 

 the silvery sides makes it more conspicuous. The fish should 

 be hooked through the lips, if a single hook is used, and the 

 hook should be put through from the under side, so that the 

 point of the hook will be up and not so likely to catch weeds. 

 In this way the fish will live for a number of casts and a 

 live fish makes a more attractive bait. The small golden 

 chubs and black chubs are hardier and live longer than the 

 shiner, and they make good bait, but are not as good for 

 dark days or cloudy water as the shiner. The small striped 

 minnows, the real minnows, are very good bait also, if they 

 can be found growing large enough, but they are very tender 



Hook Baited with Minnow. 



and do not live long, so it is best to hook them through the 

 body and use them as dead bait. A bass, in taking the min- 

 now bait, seizes it from behind or from the side and runs 

 some distance with it, then stops and, turns the fish end about 

 to swallow it head first. This is the time to strike. If he is 

 stopped before this he will give a tug at the bait and should 

 be given some slack line. The same method of baiting and 

 hooking of the fish applies to the capture of all kinds of fish 

 with minnow bait. 



There are several rigs made for use with a dead minnow 

 or other bait and designed to spin the bait. They are espe- 

 cially good for trolling for muskellunge, pike and lake trout. 

 The best known of these is the Archer Spinner, which con- 



