The Sunfish Family 29 



old rule when done understandingly. It has 

 been ridiculed by some anglers who do not seem 

 to have a clear conception of it. They claim 

 that by lowering the tip it gives sufficient slack 

 line to enable the fish to free himself. But if the 

 rod is bent, as it should be, the simple lowering 

 of the tip with a short line merely relieves it 

 somewhat from the weight of the fish; there is 

 no slack line, nor could there be unless the rod 

 is lowered until it is perfectly straight, which no 

 wide-awake angler would permit. As the fish is 

 in the air but a second or two, the careless 

 angler simply does nothing, which is, perhaps, the 

 best thing that could happen for him. 



Trolling is practised from a moving boat along 

 the edges of weeds or rushes, or in the neigh- 

 borhood of gravelly shoals and bars or rocky 

 ledges. The bait may be a minnow or a very 

 small troUing-spoon ; if the latter, it should have 

 but a single hook. The revolving spoon is 

 itself the lure, and any addition of a bunch of 

 feathers, a minnow, or a strip of pork-rind does 

 not add to its efficiency in the least, and more- 

 over savors of pot-fishing. A rod and reel should 

 always be used, as trolling with a hand-line is 

 very unsportsmanlike. 



