698 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 2, 1908. 
rent through such places as you may think the 
trout to be in. Keep the line out of the water 
as much as you can and as near the vertical as 
the length of line you have out will permit— 
strike immediately upon a nibble. If the water 
be shallow or not very swift no sinker will be 
necessary, but in pools a shot or two may be 
needed to fish the bottom, where the best trout 
always lie. 
Contrary to usual practice, I like to use a 
long leader for bait-fishing, as well as fly, nor 
can I see any good reason for doing otherwise, 
as an opaque line dropping through the clear 
water cannot fail to alarm educated fish. 
If the stream roils quickly after a sudden, 
heavy rain—and here is where the bait-fisher¬ 
man is in a piscatorial heaven—it is best to 
wade all over the stream where possible and 
fish with a very short line, almost off the end 
of the rod, after the manner known as dapping. 
Drop your bait—worms are best—here and 
there in the most likely places behind rocks and 
in the little eddies along the shore. At such 
times big fish leave the pools and are feeding 
all over the stream, especially along the shores 
where the banks wash into the water and where 
the little runs and rills enter the stream. 
Use larger hooks and heavier tackle at such 
times, for you are likely at any moment to hook 
up with an old sockdolager who will make 
things lively. Do not he stingy with your bait 
and do not thread the worm along the hook as 
if you were stringing beads. 
Pass the hook through the worm twice, loop¬ 
ing it over the hook, and finish by sticking the 
point inside. A worm so hooked has both head 
and tail free and will wiggle most enticingly. 
Do not pack your worms in dirt or it will 
shortly be a nasty, slimy mess, but till yout bait 
box with clean brook sand, and your worms will 
be brighter and clean to handle. Worms dug a 
few days beforehand and placed in a good- 
sized box of moss will scour themselves bright 
and are much better. 
Before you start out let me give you a few 
points to remember. 
Keep the sun in front of you. 
Keep out of the water all you can. 
Move quietly and with as little fuss as pos¬ 
sible. 
Fish up stream whenever possible, unless the 
water is high or very swift. 
When you strike, do not yank—a slight twitch 
is all that is necessary. 
If you miss a rise, wait a few minutes before 
casting in that spot again. 
If you get your flies caught up a tree, do not 
yank—wait a minute for the gut to dry—then 
pull gently and they will nearly always come 
down. 
■ Carry a hook-stone—belter than a file—and 
keep the points of your hooks sharp. 
Soak your leaders and snells well before 
using. 
Do not change flies without first soaking the 
snellk—soaking in the mouth is quickest. 
'fake your time and fish each bit of good 
water carefully—the fellow who rushes a stream 
usually brings home the lightest basket. 
Do not be discouraged if trout jump suddenly 
all about you and you cannot take any—remem¬ 
ber the old Indian adage: “Heap jump, no 
bite.” 
Kill your fish as soon as captured. 
When netting fish always place the net down 
stream and let the fish drop back into it. 
Fish will keep fresh for several days, even in 
warm weather, if you rub a little salt inside: 
cut a slit down the backbone from the outside 
and fill with salt. Pack so they will not touch 
each other. 
Do not be a hog— put back all over a decent 
basket. 
Every time you get your feet into a trout 
stream, take off your hat, raise your eartlnvorn 
face to heaven and thank the good God that 
you are living. Lou S. Darling. 
Bass Lures. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
After reading Mr. Willard P. King’s inquiry 
regarding bass lures, I conclude that he travels 
some distance to the place where he goes fish¬ 
ing and has trouble keeping the minnows, etc., 
alive. 
One way of getting around this is to carry 
dead minnows and make them act like living 
fish when used for bait. I know men who 
always have a stock of preserved minnows on 
hand. They can be preserved in 1 part forma¬ 
lin and 20 parts water, or for short trips just 
pack in damp moss. 
In using them you must have some lead points 
made in this manner: Take a small pan and 
mix .either Portland cement or plaster of Paris 
to a consistency that it will not run. For trout 
use a lead pencil sharpened nice and round, 
making a hole in the plaster about one-half inch 
deep. Stick a wood toothpick in the point of 
mold, melt lead, and fill the mold. When cool 
lift out, pull the splint from the center and 
your lead is ready for use. Bend up one end 
of a small piece of wire, hook this in the loop 
on the snell, enter the wire in vent of minnow 
and out its mouth. Now thread the lead on 
snell through opening left by splint, small end 
down, insert it well into the minnow’s mouth 
and fasten it to your leader, and you have a 
diver that by a little manipulating of rod and 
line will deceive bass, trout and pickerel. The 
extra weight of lead makes it easy to cast. 
Usually when a fish strikes this lure the lead 
slips up the line. The name £iven it is the div¬ 
ing minnow. 
As to spinners, artificial minnows, etc., they 
work where fish are plentiful and food is scarce. 
In case I find time this season I intend trying 
the diving minnow for brown trout, as I have 
a couple of large ones marked down that proved 
too much for the No. 8 trout flies. 
With the aid of our representative and Com¬ 
missioner Meehan, anglers in this vicinity re¬ 
ceived fifteen cans of brown trout fry which 
we planted in a good sized trout stream where 
food is plentiful and expect in a few years to 
hear some fish stories. We took precautions to 
place two cans in a place to be fed and taken 
care of until they reach the spawning age be¬ 
fore being liberated. In this way we will have 
better results, for these will escape the heavy 
freshets, ducks and other natural enemies of 
small trout. S. D. J. 
The Royal Pastime of Angling. 
If the royal pastime of angling for the finny 
fellows is to lose none of its popularity in Wis¬ 
consin some action must be taken by the great 
body of fishermen who indulge in the sport for 
recreation, looking toward State ownership of a 
goodly number of streams. As yet the problem 
has not shaped itself into sufficiently momentous 
propositions to attract general notice among the 
anglers; but the hint has been given, and if 
those who are desirous of doing something with 
a view of preserving the trout brooks and the 
sport they afford care to enlist themselves in the 
cause of preservation a way can undoubtedly be 
found to do so. 
The State park board is desirous of securing 
tracts in the northern portion of the State 
which, if the plan succeeds, will be so conserve! 
that some at least of the Wisconsin trout 
streams will be preserved to the public.—Greer 
Bay Gazette. 
SALMON LEAPING. 
Pro a o photograph by Miss L. Eland of one of the w eirs on the Irish River Eann, an outlet of Lough Neagh. 
