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"QUEER BAIT" 



BY W. M. HART 



XACTLY six years old. 

 All I knew then was 

 to dig a few angle or 

 earthworms, put them 

 pure and unadulterated 

 in my breeches pocket, 

 and hie me to the canal 

 which ran close to the 

 old farm house to fish for sunnys, perch, 

 or, if in great luck, a pickerel (not over a 

 foot long), the head (as usual) constituting 

 nearly half its length, and from the time I 

 used to steal (or rather hook) needles from 

 my mother's work basket, and made a little 

 thick dough to inveigle the gold and silver 

 fish from the little pond, I found that, as 



others have, a good old "standby" for 

 fresh water fish the angleworm under 

 ordinary conditions is the bait. This is an 

 endless subject to write on, and I don't 

 doubt but that this article will be severely 

 criticized, and that other articles on the 

 same subject will follow. 



It has always been exceedingly inter- 

 esting to the writer, the many and varied 

 ways, and the many and varied sorts of bait 

 used to tempt the fish, in some cases of 

 the same species, and within a few miles of 

 each other, and I take pleasure in relating 

 a few experiences. I recall when quite a 

 youngster, stealing from my bed at 3 A.M., 

 and tramping five miles to a pond (in 



A LAKE IN THE TRITON CLUB S PRESERVE 



