puncture is made through that part intended for the 

 head of the bait, where the hook is inserted. This is 

 thrown with great effect by the enthusiastic wielder 

 of the rod and some creditable catches have followed 

 its use." 



My son listened attentively to what I had to explain 

 regarding bait for the bass, which he amusingly said 

 reminded him of the experiences of Uncle Scott 

 Lightner, who always had a hard time getting bait. 

 On one occasion the latter had gone fishing with a 

 bucket of toads for bait. He had waited and watched 

 the greater part of a long hot day for the bass to 

 strike, but was not rewarded by any captures. Taking 

 a board from a farmer's fence, Uncle Scott drove 

 four nails into it, to each of which he fastened a 

 fish line two feet long. On the end of each line he 

 tied a hook and baited them separately with toads. 

 Placing the board thus prepared into his boat, he 

 pulled out into the middle of the broad part of the 

 river and put it overboard to float down stream, 

 expecting surely that each toad-baited hook would 

 have a bass on it when the board had floated down 

 a couple of miles. Uncle Scott then proceeded far 

 below the point of starting and waited until nearly 

 dark, when, tired and discouraged, he rowed the boat 

 out to meet the floating board .with its lines, hooks 

 and fish. Instead of finding a bass on each hook 

 as anticipated, as he approached the object of his 

 genius he spied the four little toads, with hooks and 

 lines attached, all sitting up on the raft happily and 

 contentedly floating down the placid river. With the 

 light heart and gentle nature that belongs to the 

 true fisherman, Uncle Scott laughed heartily at the 

 funny sight which met his gaze, and in the face of 



38 



