34 THE AMERICAN TROUT. 



night or two to work themselves clean, and then placed 

 in other moss sprinkled with milk. They become strong, 

 light colored and lively, and should be threaded on a fine 

 hook by passing the point in at the head of the worm 

 and out half-w^y down the side ; then in, half up the 

 side of another, and forced nearly to the head. Worms, 

 if cast as in fly-fishing, are very attractive, and will fre- 

 qiiently kill an immense number of fish. There is much 

 skill in casting so as not to tear off the bait, and yet to 

 cover an extent of water 



In rapid streams, whether with bait or fly, always fish 

 down stream ; there is less noise, the line is kept taught, 

 the fly looks more natural, and unless the wind is strong 

 against you, it will be much easier and pleasanter fish- 

 ing. Move the bait continually; keep it in motion 

 under all circumstances ; this is the great secret of bait- 

 fishing. 



I have also heard of shrimp preserved in whisky 

 being used, and think they might answer for fish that 

 have just run from the salt water; but as frequent 

 experiment with the live shrimp has proved their inferi- 

 ority to minnow, I have little faith in them. 



The trout is admitted to be the most beautiful of all our 

 fish ; not so large nor powerful as the salmon, he is much 

 more numerous, abounding in all the brooks and rivulets 

 of our northern States. He lives at our very doors ; in 

 the stream that meanders across yon meadow, where the 

 haymakers are now busy with their scythes, we have 

 taken him in our early days ; down yonder in that wood, 

 there is a brook filled with bright, lively little fellows ; 

 and away over there we know of pools where there are 



