172 WORM AS BAIT 



knowing it to be useless, the angler does not 

 then adopt this method. But in clear water, 

 salmon are now and again attracted from sheer 

 curiosity : the fish 'nibbles gently at the trail- 

 ing worm-tail, but oftener than not, drops it 

 and has to be drawn out a second and a third 

 time before actually taking the worms into 

 his mouth. Still, the fact remains, that the 

 fish, given ample time, will sometimes swallow 

 down the whole bunch, though whether the 

 worms sa taken (eliminating the hook) would 

 remain in the stomach is doubtful. Fish, it 

 may be said, have great facility for disgorging ; 

 at any rate, no alimentary matter is ever found 

 in the intestines of salmon (including kelts) 

 which have been in the river for any length of 

 time ; therefore, it seems reasonable to con- 

 clude that the salmon does not swallow this 

 bunch of worms because he needs food. 



Another bait is the " prawn," a useful lure 

 at times, but of all unnatural curiosities em- 

 ployed by the salmon angler this is, perhaps, 

 the most preposterous. To begin with, a 

 prawn in any case is not natural to fresh water, 

 and when boiled assumes an unnatural colour ; 

 added to which, the movement imparted to it 

 by the angler (it is dragged tail foremost against 

 the current) is false to nature. But under 

 certain water conditions the prawn excites the 



