Casting the Minnow. 385 



CHAPTER XXII. 



CASTING THE MINNOW. 



"And as to the rest that concerns this sort of angling, I shall 

 wholly refer you to Mr. Walton's direction, who is undoubtedly 

 the best angler with a minnow in England." — Charles Cotton. 



Next to fly-fishing, casting the minnow is the most ar- 

 tistic mode of angling for the black bass. To obtain all 

 of the pleasure and sport embodied in this style of fishing, 

 none but the best and most approved tackle should be em- 

 ployed, which should approach, in its general features of 

 elegance and lightness, the implements iised in fly-fishing. 



A faithful study of the conformation, haljits, and' idiosyn- 

 crasies of game-fish should lie the first consideration of the 

 true angler, though the average angler usually contents 

 himself with a superficial knowledge of the ways and means 

 of capturing and killing the finny tribe, a big catch being 

 the height of his piscatorial ambition. While good tackle 

 is essential to success, a thorough knowledge of the habits 

 of the fish is a sine qua non, without which no one can be- 

 come an expert and successful angler. 



Apropos of this might be mentioned the old and hack- 

 neyed story of the rustic youth with alder pole, twine string, 

 and worm bait, and the soi-iiisanf angler with split-bamboo 

 and well-filled fly-book, who indulged in a day's fishing 

 on the same stream, with the result of a "big string" for 

 the boy, and one poor fingerling for the disgusted sports- 

 man. The boy understood the " trne inwardness " of the 

 trout, in which matter the discomfited citizen was lament- 



