402 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1921 
FIREFLIES CATCH BASS 
W ILLIAM P. OSBORN, ’24, of the 
New York State College of For- 
estry, has some advanced and entirely 
original ideas in making nature sup- 
ply the office performed by artificial 
contrivances in the way of fish hooks. 
Izaak Walton probably never dreamed 
that the battery in the tale of a fire- 
fly would lure the wily bass at night 
with its intermittant illumination. But 
the imagination of William P. Osborn, 
who has adopted forestry as his chosen 
profession, reaches into unexplored 
fields, beyond which the fisherman’s 
fancy, as active as it may be, has never 
soared. 
By imprisoning fire-flies in a small 
glass phial and rigging the phial with 
an ingenious arrangement of hooks the 
black bass has been found to exhibit 
fatal and unwonted attraction for the 
phosphoric scintillations emitted by the 
jocund fire-fly held within the glass bot- 
tle. According to Mr. Osborn’s state- 
ment, he has seriously disappointed 
many a sturdy bass who with visions 
of delight and great rapacity swallowed 
hook, line and sinker whenever in the 
night time the inventor has invaded 
the waters of bass territory with his 
lure. 
Mr. Osborn states: “The lure for 
night fishing which I contrived last 
summer is effective yet simple in con- 
struction. An ordinary tubular pill bot- 
tle is fitted with a harness of gut to 
which are fastened three pronged 
hooks, two on the sides and one at 
the end. The bottle is then equipped 
with a swivel similar to a wooden min- 
now. Before using, four or five good 
sized fire-flies are placed in the bot- 
tle and the bottle is corked tight. 
“This lure has been used with good 
success in trolling and casting from the 
shore. Bass fall for it and I should 
think pickerel would also. The only 
drawback is that new fire-flies have to 
be placed in the bottle every fifteen or 
twenty minutes. To overcome this, I 
E are depending upon the 
friends and admirers of our 
old correspondent Nessmuk to make 
this department worthy of his 
name. No man knew the woods 
better than Nessmuk or wrote of 
them with quainter charm. Many 
of his practical ideas on camping 
and “ going light ” have been 
adopted by the United States 
Army; his canoe has been preserved 
in the Smithsonian Institution; and 
we hope that all good woodsmen 
will contribute to this department 
their Hints and Kinks and trail- 
tested contrivances. — [Editors.] 
substituted some Radiolite luminous 
buttons, sticking them to the insides of 
the bottle with the luminous side next 
to the glass. This makes a permanent 
bait.” 
DRY MATCHES 
S OMEWHERE in your camp outfit 
have a little canvas bag, in it put 
a spool of stout linen thread, thim- 
ble, a package of strong needles, a lump 
of beeswax, some shellac in a metal can 
with screw top, a spool or two of silk 
twist, also your medicine and first aid 
kit and what little personal belongings 
you need, such as tooth brush, comb, 
glass, etc. * 
This little ditty bag will in time, if 
you make a habit of carrying it, become 
the one important article in your pack 
sack. You will go to it for almost all 
emergencies and in this connection let 
me caution you to have in it a package 
of matches, which we will call your 
“last resort package,” to be used only 
when you cannot get a fire in any other 
way. 
To prepare these matches, mix up 
some thin shellac and dip your matches 
head first in it for at least half the 
length of the stick; let them dry 
thoroughly, then pack them in a little, 
light, flat, metal cigarette box with 
sheets of oiled silk between layers of 
matches; pack this box tight full, so 
that the matches will not shift or rub; 
now tie the box up tight with a string. 
Now get a sheet of oiled silk and wrap 
your box in the silk, doubling the ends 
in so that several thicknesses of silk will 
cover the box at all points. Now tie 
this silk tightly with a network of pack 
thread or similar small cord, and re- 
member that the tighter you tie it and 
the more compact you make it the more 
waterproof it is. 
If you fix this package of matches 
up right you can fall into the river with 
them as often as you want to, and when 
you unpack them they will be as dry 
as tinder and always ready for busi- 
ness. There are many other ways of 
carrying matches, but you will find this 
method to be most satisfactory. 
Ross Merrick, Wash. 
KEEPING THE DUFFLE DRY 
K EEPING the duffle in your canoe 
dry during the most severe rain- 
storm may be accomplished by 
the use of a good tarpaulin and a cou- 
ple of stout sticks. Most canoeists 
carry their equipment in duffle-bags. It 
is a simple matter to wrap these duffle- 
bags in a tarpaulin. Take care to see 
that at least one side of your bundle 
is thoroughly covered. Then cut two 
sticks of sufficient length to span the 
width of the canoe, leaving a clearance 
between the sticks and the bottom of 
about three or four -inches. Place your 
bundle on these sticks and lash it firm- 
ly in place. Then let it rain: you will 
have dry equipment when you make 
your evening camp. And at night 
your tarpaulin, reversed, will do duty 
for you as an efficient ground-cloth. 
E. S. Shepard, Wash., D. C. 
COTTER PIN ROD TIP 
W HEN you break the tip of your 
fishing rod and the day’s sport 
appears to be jeopardized just 
when the fish were biting well you need 
not despair if you took the precaution 
of putting a few cotter pins, of a size 
to correspond to the ring tip of your 
rod, in your pocket before starting out. 
Take one and spread the points apart 
as shown in the illustration, then in- 
sert the broken end of your rod tip be- 
tween them and bind it securely in place 
with a piece of your fish line. 
