156 PLAYING THE MINNOW. 



The latter method would not only make such a splash and 

 distubance that all the fish within sight would instantly 

 scuttle off in alarm, but the minnow would be so 

 mutilated and injured after two or three casts, as to 

 keep the angler doing little else than applying fresh 

 baits all day long. 



From the top of the stream commence to play the 

 minnow by gently tugging it towards you, across and 

 against the current, dragging it about a foot or so at a 

 time ; at the same tune allowing the stream to carry it 

 a little downwards and around you, in the form of a 

 semicircle ; remembering all the while to keep the 

 point of the rod as near to the surface of the water as 

 possible, so as to retain the bait spinning not higher 

 than mid-water. If the rod be kept elevated, it will 

 draw the bait towards the surface at once. When the 

 minnow has nearly completed its circuit, and is ap- 

 proaching the side, the angler should gradually step 

 back a few paces, in order to keep out of sight of any 

 fish that may be following it into the shallows, as in 

 nine cases out of ten they do, and only seize it when close 

 in shore. Therefore always allow the bait fairly to reach 

 the edge before lifting it out of the water, and before 

 doing so, remember to draw in the same quantity of 

 slack line as was given out when the bait was cast, 

 so as to shorten the line again to the length of the rod. 

 Lift it then quietly from the water and prepare for the 

 next cast, which is to be accomplished in the same 

 manner as before. Having made the first cast in the 

 shallow above the pool, where a trout on the feed often 



