987 
FOREST AND STREAM 
EVOLUTION OF BAIT ANGLING 
WORMS, LIVE BAIT, WOODEN MINNOWS, PLUGS, AND NATURAL 
IMITATION LURES DISCUSSED BY AN AUTHORITATIVE WRITER 
By Louis Rhead. 
H OW vividly I can remember in my childish 
days the sage advice my old grandad 
gave, “never kill your worm by hooking 
it—a kicking worm to a trout is like a red rag 
to a bull.” The wise old man must have been 
familiar with gentle Izaak’s counsel: “hook your 
frog as if you loved him.” 
As a method, worm fishing for a time in this 
country is almost dead. Even the kiddies now 
pride themselves on being dry-fly anglers—at 
least they make the attempt. As a fine art worm 
fishing here was never even understood in its 
perfection—much less practiced, like the great 
Scotch angler, W. C. Stewart, claimed it could 
be. And to-day, were it not that I have many 
objections to the use of worms (chief of which 
is the universal habit of trout gorging them, 
making it impossible to unhook the many small 
fish without murdering them) I am confident 
that a careful scientific study as to means and 
tackle would produce a more deadly effect on 
trout than any other enticing lure, in any season 
or conditions. And the same is true of live min¬ 
nows, equally deadly as a bait, if properly han¬ 
dled in a scientific way. While worms are just 
as plentiful as in the old days, minnows are be¬ 
coming scarcer every season. Indeed, every live 
bait for bass and trout, because of its scarcity, is 
better left alone, that game fishes may feed to 
thrive and grow big. Many signs point straight 
to the wisdom of present day popularity of ar¬ 
tificial lures, good, bad and indifferent. The dis¬ 
cerning angler will do well to make a distinction 
between what is now sold, and ask himself, would 
he, were he a fish, be likely to grab most of the lures 
now sold. It is natural to suppose that anglers 
want to catch big fish, and plenty of them, but 
if they will stop to think a while, they will right¬ 
ly conclude that some lures now are doing in¬ 
calculable damage to the sport of the future. Not 
only the unnatural appearance of these baits 
works harm, but the three, four, and five monster 
treble-hooks will in time defeat of itself the ob¬ 
ject of which we desire, viz.: ideal sport, humane 
fair play—methods whereby the angler and his 
quarry are equal in a fight. 
Suppose we do lose a fish on a single-hook 
lure; we surely have the advantage, for we know 
where the fish abides and we may try again. But 
the truth is, we do not lose a fish any more on 
a single hook than on a double or treble. Judg¬ 
ing from the cuts displayed in old books forty 
years ago, we see that flies, spoons and lures 
were exceedingly attractive. Handmade by ex¬ 
pert anglers, though crude in form and color, 
they did attempt and succeeded in imitating live 
baits fairly well. We know they caught fish and 
big ones, too, in bygone days. It is quite true 
there, were more fish and fewer anglers. But 
that is the very reason why, to get the best re- 
This Is Published Simply to Show How Near to 
Nature the Artificial Frog Appears. 
suits, we should endeavor to improve instead of 
deteriorating in our use of lures for game fishes, 
and not evolve backwards. 
I well remember, twenty-five years ago, how 
the plug lure began its career in the western 
states. It grew rapidly in popularity and I admit 
it still remains so. Whether its changing form 
and color will continue from year to year as in 
the past, remains to be seen. It all depends upon 
what the future angling sportsman does really 
consider legitimate sport, and if such lures still 
continue to attract fish. 
What makes trout superior to bass as a game 
fish is the former’s aristocratic preference for 
Drawn by Louis Rhead for Forest and Stream 
Grand Dad’s First Lesson on Worm Fishing. 
flies and minnows, with a sort of disdain for 
such a peculiar article of food as plugs appear 
to be at the present time. No trout has ever yet 
been known to strike at a bass plug. No trout 
lure has been invented that could take the place 
of artificial flies, live minnows and worms. I 
am sure the right fly has not been evolved that is 
even approximately successful to entice the 
gaudy bass. 'Neither are the present bass lures 
worthy to compare with other modern innova¬ 
tions. When such are produced and in general 
use, it may perhaps not result in many more fish 
captured, but it certainly will be a more agree¬ 
able pastime and a much higher style of fishing 
that tends to greater pleasure in the sport. 
The dry-fly method was not the invention of 
one man, but rather a gradual development of 
centuries. Izaak Walton advocated it. He said, 
“drop your fly softly on the surface and let it 
float.” When we consider the Jock Scott salmon 
fly was invented by a common gillie or guide 
sixty years ago, and that no salmon fly has since 
been made to equal it, or near so good, we do 
not wonder that improvement has been made in 
other details of our craft in later years. All the 
same, conditions rapidly change, not for the bet¬ 
ter, by any means. The growth of sporting en¬ 
thusiasts, the rapid advance of civilization in and 
near virgin waters—the cutting of trees, and se¬ 
rious accumulation of pollution, make new and 
better angling methods imperative; if not, we 
shall find fish and fishing no good whatever. 
The evolution of artificial baits is not going to 
be the invention of one man, or many men at 
one time, but rather a gradual development 
through various stages to a sane sportsmanlike 
method, worked on the basic principle of exact 
imitation of game fish food in form and color, 
capable of being made by the angler and the 
manipulation of his rod tip to act alive in the 
water exactly similar to the way all fish food 
does in its natural element. The spoon as a lure 
has had its day, simply because its use was con¬ 
fined to trolling, the least scientific method in 
angling. The progenitor of the plug was casting 
the bacon rind or pieces of fish cut to shape in¬ 
tending to imitate the belly of a fish, a very good 
method still in practice, and very effective for 
pike and pickerel. Nevertheless, a primitive 
method and not so effective for bass, and trout 
not at all. Spinning the artificial minnow for 
trout is a poor and ineffective method, possibly 
due to the minnows being so unlike nature. 
By comparison with the live minnow (even 
if dead, yet fresh) the artificial trout minnow is 
often worthless. When properly played in right 
places, the natural minnow is at all times a safe 
and deadly lure for trout as well as for bass, in¬ 
deed for all game fishes. For that and many 
other undisputed reasons, what I claim to be an 
advance in the right direction is that the best 
lure is one that imitates the minnow exactly in 
form, color and action in the water, and the same 
may be said of other imitations of live baits, 
frogs, crawfish, helgramites. The few artificial 
nature lures that illustrate this article are beyond 
question true to life in form and color. With 
an artistic manipulation of the rod tip they can 
easily be made to act exactly like a living bait, 
so the angler has an interest in the game of a 
double, treble value. He is provided with an 
imperishable, almost indestructible line, his fish¬ 
ing ideals are higher, more artistic, and his bait 
acts as a lure instead of to scare his quarry. 
It might on the face appear presumptive for 
one angler to assume all the rest were practising 
inferior methods. But if the thoughtful angler 
(Continued on page 988.) 
Artificial Nature Frog as It Appears in Water— 
Artificial Nature Minnow Which Has Cap¬ 
tured—Three Different Species of Tint, 
Bass and Wall Eye. 
