Brook Fishing for fTrout. 
Concluded from page 6C0. 
One of the oldest and fondest beliefs of the 
tyro fisherman is that the flies should be danced 
over the water. Do not do it. Let your Hies 
float or drift quietly with only an 
occasional • very gentle twitch. 
You can make your casts land 
much more lightly and, if desired, 
cause any fly to float on the sur¬ 
face by first making a few false 
casts in the air before allowing 
the flies to drop on the water. 
This dries the flies and spreads 
their hackles, but it must be done 
carefully and gently lest you 
whip them off. This is the 
method employed in dry fly-fish¬ 
ing, at which the English are so 
adept, and is the most interesting 
and fascinating phase of the 
sport. It is particularly effective 
late in the season, when most of 
the fish are in the deeper waters 
of the pools and quiet reaches, 
and fish are often taken in this 
way when other methods are 
hopeless. 
When fishing the dry fly it is 
of great advantage to rub the line 
with deer fat and touch the fly 
with paraffin oil, or other prep¬ 
arations made for the purpose, as 
this renders them buoyant and 
prevents them becoming water- 
soaked. When fishing the rips 
or rapids, where you will always 
find the most fish early, in the 
season, it is the wet or sunken 
fly that does the business. Con¬ 
trary to general and popular be¬ 
lief, it is the cross-stream cast 
that is the most successful. As 
a rule the fish will be lying in the 
•back eddies formed here and 
there and in the “suck-backs” 
behind rocks. If the stream be 
not over wide and you are fishing 
along one shore, cast clear across 
to the opposite bank, holding 
your rod well up, so that the 
belly of the line will not strike 
the water and sweep your flies 
along too swiftly. Let the flies 
sink and the current swing them 
down and across to your side 
keeping the line as taut as you can without 
pulling on the flies. Do not cast directly at or 
into the spot where you think a fish is lying, 
but a little above and beyond him, wording the 
flies through where you think he is. 
If there be rocks showing above the water, a 
very deadly cast is to drop your flies upon the 
rock and then gently twitch them off. 
If the edge of the stream be bushy or over¬ 
hung with branches and fair casting is difficult, 
quiet water—the rest is easy. Should you use 
fly spoons or spinning baits, the same manner 
of procedure holds good as for fly-fishing, ex¬ 
cept that you should always cast with your line 
wholly Tinder control and start the lure toward 
you just before it hits the water. This will 
cause it to enter the water in 
motion and adds much to its life¬ 
like appearance. 
If you are a bait-fisher, you 
will find the best bait to be 
worms, crickets, grasshoppers, 
grubs, and the little brown brook 
minnows called mullychubs. It 
is illegal to use nets in waters in¬ 
habited by trout for the purpose 
of catching bait, but these little 
minnows, when pursued will hide 
beneath stones and may easily be 
captured by striking the stone 
sharply with another, so as to 
stun them. If properly handled 
they are quite as good dead as 
alive, for if they are baited by 
first passing the hook in near the 
tail and working the minnow 
along the bend of the hook, so 
that the point comes out at the 
mouth, they will spin freely in a 
current or when drawn through 
the water. Use a swivel between 
your line and leader, however, 
for if you do not the spinning 
minnow will soon turn your 
leader into a sad mess of kinks. 
Minnow bait works best by 
casting across stream and allow¬ 
ing it to swing down and across 
the same as wet fly-fishing. Do 
not strike immediately upon a 
bite when using this bait, but 
allow the fish a preliminary nib¬ 
ble or two. Grasshoppers and 
crickets are most successfully 
used on pools and cast after the 
manner of flies, allowing them to 
float along on the surface, and 
the more they wiggle and kick 
the better it is. If small hooks 
are used, and they are hooked 
once through the belly, they may 
be cast, if gently done, quite as 
well and accurately as a fly. In 
using these baits a box with a 
small hole and sliding cover will 
be found most convenient. 
When using worms, the best 
rule to follow is to use as- short a line as possible 
and to keep it fairly taut at all times. Results 
seldom follow from allowing the line to trail 
promiscuously down stream, for the swirling 
current will twist and curl it about, so that your 
strike, if you ever feel it, will almost invariably 
be too late. If the stream be very clear you 
will always do better by casting your bait here 
and there, more or less after the manner of a 
fly, allowing it to swing naturally with the cut- 
careful WORK REQUIRED HERE. 
it is possible to work your fly into many likely 
places by hooking it lightly into a leaf. Let it 
run down stream and the pull of the water on 
the leaf will carry your fly along naturally and, 
when it has reached the desired spot, a slight 
jerk on the line will free the fly. Switch or 
roll casting is invaluable at such times, and 
when properly done will land a fly lightly and 
accurately under overhanging branches on the 
opposite side, which could not be reached other¬ 
wise. 
When you strike a fish do not attempt to haul 
him through the water willy-nilly, or you are 
more than- likely to tear the hook out. Give 
him line, keeping the rod bent in an easy strain, 
and work him down stream into a back eddy or 
