24 THE AMERICAK TBOUT. 



in my experience is more useful, unbaited, for catching 

 snapping mackerel, young blue-fish, than for any other 

 purpose. There are the gangs of hooks, consisting of 

 two or more small hooks back to back, one of ■which 

 is inserted in the side or back of the bait, with another 

 small one further up on the line, which is inserted on 

 the lip or nose. It answers well for some kinds of fishing, 

 and for large bait, but does not work well with small 

 fish. The bait is not bent sufficiently, and does not spin 

 readily. 



Then there is the old-fashioned large single hook, 

 thrust through the mouth, down the fleshy part of the 

 back and out at the side, or out at the gills and back 

 through the mouth into the side. The objection is that 

 bait is apt to work down on the bend of the hook, or 

 the trout is apt to take off the tail of the bait without 

 being hooked. 



The other, and I think the best plan of baiting with 

 dead bait, is the same as the last, with the addition of a 

 small hook to thrust through the nose, that tends to 

 retain the fish in its place, and allow the hook to be car- 

 ried down further toward the tail, and still make the bait 

 spin well. Minnow is never properly baited, unless it 

 spins freely with every motion of the rod, and it must 

 ever be kept moving. Of course the line must be armed 

 with the swivel-trace, and in baiting with dead minnow 

 a Limerick hook should be used, when using worms or 

 grasshoppers a hook of finer wire is better. 



The dead minnow is preferable for rapid water. In 

 ponds the minnow should be alive, in which case the 

 hook is to be inserted in front of the dorsal fin, and the 



