August, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
423 
spoon merely under the water, a matter 
of one to three feet, and, of course, in 
trolling inshore waters this is all right. 
But for deep trolling when the fish arc 
running deep the spoon must be gotten 
down. In the case of the basses, the 
wall-eyed pike and the lake trout when 
they are in deep water, to get the spoon 
down close to the bottom is an act of 
wisdom. Then, too, there is the matter 
of spoon size — and in mentioning this 
spoon size it should be remembered that 
it is just as well for one of the above- 
mentioned fishes as the other. For mus- 
callonge, pickerel and pike fishing, when 
I use a casting rod I prefer the Number 
5 size of spoon, but for deep trolling the 
spoon must be of a larger size, the idea 
being that the larger the spoon the more 
light it will throw. A Number 8 and 
often a Number 12 are about right for 
very deep work. A nickle-plated spoon 
sheds a most desirable glitter, and I have 
used the white-enamelled spoons with 
deadly accuracy in many lake depths. 
1 HAVE mentioned in the above the 
average every-day spoon, but there is 
another spoon that is excellent for all 
deep water fishes such as the basses, the 
wall-eyed pike and the lake trout. I re- 
fer to the wobbling or darting spoons 
which any well-supplied angling estab- 
lishment should have in stock. Instead 
of revolving on a shaft one way, as do 
the ordinary spoons, the wobbling and 
darting spoons have an eccentric motion 
darting now this way now that. It 
should be remembered that some of the 
earliest spoons belong in this class, in 
fact, the first spoon made was no less 
than a darter. Buell (who invented the 
spoonhook) happened to be out fishing one 
day and, while in his boat, dropped a thin 
bladed tea-spoon overboard. As it whirled 
toward the bottom he saw a large lake 
trout seize it. That at once gave him an 
idea, so he filed off the handle of a spoon 
close to the bowl, drilled a hole there and 
put in a ring with a swivel to it. To the 
other end of the bowl of the spoon he 
soldered on a single hook. He connected 
his line to the swivel and in his trolling 
thereafter had such singular success that 
a vast business, remaining to this day, 
was founded. Many of the darting 
spoons of today are like the Buell spoon, 
such as the Old Lobb, the Onondaga re- 
volver and darter, the Oneida revolver 
and darter, the Canandaigua lake trout 
spoon (an old-time favorite), and many 
other types of like spoons made in all 
sorts of materials from pearl to copper. 
Mosi of the above never were patented, 
and, so far as I know, all spoon manufac- 
turers have had their fling at making 
them. However, as a rule, the old-time 
names are applied to them, for lack 
of better ones perhaps. 
No doubt the success of the wobbling 
or darting spoon is its erratic motion. 
Ferhaps the fish believe it to be a dis- 
abled minnow frantically trying to make 
headway in the water, when, on the im- 
pulse of the moment (impelled by a de- 
sire to obtain a hasty meal) the preying 
fish descends upon it, open- jawed. In 
all events the darting spoons should' not 
be left out of your fishing equipment. 
I LLUSTRATION (A) will show you how 
to troll when deep fishing for any of 
the deep-run fishes. The way to go about 
it is as follows: To the end of a line 
suitable in strength to the fish you are 
after attach what is known as a dipsy 
sinker, the pear-shaped sinker shown in 
the drawing. It should weigh not under 
eight ounces, as that weight of sinker is 
needed when you troll in the great 
depths. To prevent twisting or kinking 
of the line attach the sinker to a swivel. 
It is well to use swivels at all intersecting 
points to prevent kinking. 
Four feet up on the line from the 
sinker is attached the branch line shown 
in the drawing. It should be three or 
even four feet in length. It is attached 
to the main line by a swivel and the 
hook to the line should be swiveled in. 
This to prevent the minnow from turn- 
ing. In the illustration is shown but one 
branch line, with a suitable-sized minnow 
attached. But it should be understood 
that it is possible to attach more branch 
© 
lines to this main line, say one or two 
more, each one being three or four feet 
above the other line and as long as the 
firs branch line. Thus you have three 
points of attraction, where, with but one 
branch line and lure you have but one 
center of attraction — in other words, 
three lures are easier seen in the water 
than one. It is possible to have one 
branch line baited with a glittering 
shiner, and the two branch lines above it 
having spoons, although it should be re- 
membered that the trolling speed when 
operating this rig is not great. Now as 
to trolling: Let this line with its eight 
ource dipsy sinker down into the depths, 
aiming to get it down close to, if not 
actually scraping the bottom. Louis 
Rht-ad, the well-known angling writer, 
prefers to have this sinker just barely 
dragging on the bottom. However, I am 
free to state that if you should want 
to have the sinker drag on the bottom it 
is best to have the lowest branch line 
a matter of five or six feet up on the line 
instead of three or four feet. The rea- 
son for this is quite obvious. As your 
line goes down start to row the boat. 
Know your depth* by having previously 
tested it out as I have stated. When 
you come to the place on your line 
indicated by the tied-in string then un- 
reel no more line but hold it there and 
troll from that point. Remember then 
that the line is either at a steep angle 
when trolling or very nearly up and 
down. When trolling, the branch lines 
will straighten out, being more or less 
horizontal in the water. If you wish to 
fish along a certain stretch, instead of 
pulling up the line, when you get at the 
end of the run, simply keep on trolling 
but make a wide circle and then come 
back over the same locality. Don’t be 
afraid to go back and forth over a strip 
of choice water many times, and try 
many depths from near the bottom to up 
to twenty feet from the bottom. 
N OW as to hooking on the minnow for 
this work. In the illustration (B) 
is seen a gang hook attached to a 
copper wire. When putting on the dead, 
or preserved, minnow work it into the 
flesh of the side and insert it forward 
until it comes out at the mouth. Then 
the gang will lie close to the flesh, and 
the copper wire, coming out at the min- 
now’s mouth, is bent in a loop, and here 
the line is tied on. When wishing to put 
on another minnow simply straighten the 
bend in the wire and run it through an- 
othei minnow as shown. The average 
fisherman would merely use a single 
hook, hooking it in at the fish’s mouth, 
with none in back of the minnow. Many 
fish would thus be lost, but with a hook 
in back the short-biters are captured. 
In the illustration (C) is shown another 
method of having both a front hook and 
back hook in one. A wire, you will note, 
attaches the two hooks. Both are wound 
on with waxed-silk thread, and to bind 
it still firmer file nicks on both wire and 
hook-shank, though not so deep as to 
cause a possible breakage at any point. 
The process of deep fishing that I have 
explained is just as good for the large- 
mouth bass as for the lake trout and the 
wall-eyed pike. What applies herein 
to one applies to the other. You can, 
therefore, follow this method of fishing 
and the same lures for any species. 
It is not necessary that the minnows 
you use in this method of trolling should 
be alive. The only time you use live min- 
nows is when still-fishing. Minnows al- 
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