274 FLY-FISHING. 



percha copy must be resorted to per force, unless 

 what is known as the "Phantom Minnow," is pre- 

 ferred. The latter is the most perfect of all such 

 imitations, retaining the natural skin and scales of 

 the fish, and possibly some little of its smell. 



The squid, whicli is a Scandinayian invention, 

 although usually thought to be American, is supposed 

 to be the original imitation of the minnow, and it 

 remains the most successful of them all in certain 

 lines of fishing. In trolling for blue-fish, the angler 

 could not do without it, and it has taken innumer- 

 able striped bass and Spanish mackerel. It is made 

 of many diSerent materials, that in use for blue- 

 fish being the common pewter one, although often 

 an ivory squid is more killing, or one of bone or 

 wood. For lake trout, the ivory squid is frequently 

 better than any other bait, and for Spanish mackerel 

 the red-colored bone, or one made from the heart of 

 the red cedar is the favorite. The general rule for 

 the employment of all these is the old one : on dark 

 days use the light-colored squids, and on bright 

 days the dark. 



Although to the artistic angler there is no music 

 like that of the old-fashioned click-reel, certain im- 

 provements have been made in it which cannot be 

 disregarded. There were two objections to the an- 

 cient form of trout reel ; one was that the line wuj 

 apt to catch round the handle, and the other tliat 

 the line would rot if not dried after being used. To 

 remedy the former defect, the handle was sunk in 

 the reel plate, and to meet the latter diflBculty, skel- 



