BUSTARD FISHING AND MINNOW SPINNING. 43 



are his minnows. Artificial minnows of a dozen different 

 kinds will kill, and some of them notably the " Devon " 

 and the blue " Phantom " will sometimes kill very well, 

 but the natural fish is always to be preferred before the 

 finest imitation, or spinner, ever yet invented ; and the 

 fresher the minnow the better : that is, he should, if possible 

 (and there is no difficulty about it), be alive and having all 

 his silvery sheen about him up to the moment when you put 

 him on the hooks. Kill him by a fillip on the head before 

 you impale him, though observant fishermen are agreed that 

 it is doubtful whether fish have more than the dullest sensi- 

 bility to pain. It is within the experience of many anglers 

 the writer amongst them to have hooked fish which have 

 broken away with hooks and tackle, and to have caught 

 them immediately afterwards with the purloined property 

 in their possession. 



There are various ways adopted by different fishermen for 

 keeping minnows alive, or at least fresh, at the river side : 

 you may preserve them in salt, which is never very satis- 

 factory, because they lose colour and become soft : if you 

 are obliged to preserve them, do so in spirits of wine. They 

 will, however, keep alive for the best part of a day in an 

 ordinary soda-water bottle, with a hole through the cork, if 

 the angler keeps moving and so sufficiently aerates thewater. 

 The best plan indeed, the only thoroughly satisfactory and 

 comfortable way is to put your live minnows in damp 

 moss, which should not be wet, only fairly damp, and enclose 

 them in an ordinary May-fly box. With a few dampings 

 in the course of a day they will keep alive and retain their 

 sheen excellently, if you are careful not to let a hot sun fall 

 upon your box for more than a minute or so at a time. The 

 modes of baiting a minnow and the varieties of flights used 

 are very great, but all of them are similar in principle, the 

 main object being to produce an effectual spin and to pre- 



