254 AMERICAN FISHES. 



the favorite fishing-ground of that good sportsman and great states- 

 man, Daniel Webster ; in the Callikoon and Beaverkill on the east, 

 and the fine Pennsylvanian streams on the west of the Delaware ; in 

 the net-work of lakes and rivers which renders Hamilton County in 

 New York the angler's earthly paradise, or in the swift Canadian 

 streams which swell the St. Lawrence, from the Michigan westward to 

 the Sault St. Marie, and upward to the head of Lake Superior, sport 

 is certain. 



The implements of the Trout-fisher are similar, except in size and 

 power, to those used in the capture of the Salmon ; but as less strength 

 is necessary to subdue, so is, perhaps, even greater delicacy requisite 

 to ensnare him. 



The Trout-rod should be twelve feet long, and as pliant, almost, as 

 a coach-whip, equally bending from the butt to the tip. It should be 

 composed of hickory, lancewood, or bamboo, with a solid butt of ash, 

 at the extreme lower end of which should be attached a simple click- 

 reel with a balance handle, but without a stop, capable of containing 

 thirty yards of London made hair and silk line, tapering equally from 

 the reel to the point. The bottom, or leader, as it is called generally 

 in America, should consist of about five yards of round tapering silk- 

 worm gut, and the flies should be three in number. Plain rings should 

 be used on a fly-rod, and not the new tubular metallic guides, which 

 stiffen it too much, and prevent its equal curvature under a strain. 



For bait-fishing, spinning a minnow, or daping with a grasshopper, 

 a stouter rod may be adopted, similar to that used for ordinary fresh- 

 water, or shoal salt-water fishing. 



The best baits are the Salmon-roe, prepared as I have described it, 

 common brandlings or dew-worms, and any small fish, and especially 

 its own young fry, which may be used either dead on spinning tackle 

 such as is described above, or alive, hooked through the back under 

 the first dorsal fin, and sunk with shot to within a few inches of the bot- 

 tom. In this mode, the slightest possible quill float should be adopted. 

 The spinning is by far the more sporting and exciting method ; and in 

 large streams running directly into salt water, where the finest and 

 ■greatest Trout are found, and where they do not willingly rise to the 

 fly, none is much more killing. In addition to these, a grasshopper 

 dropped deftly on the surface just before the nose of a fat, basking, lazy 



