August, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
471 
to make the plug swim at three different 
depths. Any fairly stout wire will do. 
This lure, “my own invented torment,” I 
have named the “Yellow Peril.” I have 
had more strikes on this plug than on all 
my other lures combined. 
The two lures described above swim 
under water, and go deeper the faster they 
are reeled in. As soon as reeling is 
stopped, they come to the surface. They 
are best used in water of three feet deep 
or more. In shallow water, when reeled in, 
they go to the bottom and catch on weeds, 
stones, and the various other obstructions 
that lie in wait for the angler. 
Some form of mother-of-pearl lure is 
desirable. Mine is made of part of a knife 
handle, two and three-quarter inches long, 
and three-eighths of an inch wide. 
Through the holes at either end, originally 
drilled for the rivets of the knife-handle, a 
wire is passed, terminating in a loop at each 
end. A brass swivel is attached to one of 
these loops, and between the other loop and 
the end of the mother-of-pearl is a quar¬ 
ter-ounce weight to give sufficient momen¬ 
tum for a long cast. A single hook, or a 
triangle, is to be attached to the brass 
swivel. This lure is to be cast, and at once 
reeled in, as its weight causes it to sink 
just as soon as its motion ceases. When 
drawn rapidly through the water, this lure 
resembles a silver-sided minnow. 
S PINNERS of one shape and another 
are sometimes good killers. A bass 
fly tied on a Sproat hook from num¬ 
ber two to 2/0 is attached to a short wire, 
with a snap loop at each end, and with 
space enough between for the spinner. 
Good flies for this purpose are the Mon¬ 
treal, Silver Doctor, Parmachene Belle, 
Brown Palmer or Hackle, Coachman, etc. 
To make one good kind, take a piece of 
sheet aluminum and cut it into the shape 
indicated. With the point of your knife- 
blade drill holes large enough to allow the 
wire to slip through easily. Now bend the 
short pieces you have just bored so that 
they form a right angle with the main 
part of the spinner. If a wire is passed 
through these holes, the aluminum shape 
will spin readily when blown upon. Take 
a piece of the wire about two and one-half 
inches long, and bend it into a snap loop 
at one end. Take a small bead and slip it 
on the wire down to the snap loop. Follow 
this with the aluminum spinner, and this 
in turn with another small bead. If you 
wish to make the lure heavy enough for 
a longer cast, substitute a large shot, 
drilled through, for each bead. Now bend 
the straight end of the wire into a simple 
loop, for attaching the line. It is now 
necessary to bend the flanges or wings of 
the aluminum shape in such a way as to 
cause it to revolve when drawn through 
the water. Bend one wing partly to the 
right, and the other partly to the left, so 
that the resulting 
shape resembles a 
screw-propellor, until, 
as you blow upon it 
from the front, the 
aluminum spins very 
readily. 
I will not take time 
and space to describe 
th6 making of other 
kinds o f spinners. 
Consult any good 
tackle catalog and a 
little study will en¬ 
able you to make 
almost any spinner 
you may see there. 
Remember to test 
out your product in the bath tub, or 
elsewhere, adjusting it until it works in a 
satisfactory manner. When the fishing sea¬ 
son comes, and you are at the water side, 
you do not wish to waste time unnecessarily 
by having to finish tackle only partly com¬ 
pleted. Such delays should be avoided. 
L L 
the 
baits 
thus far 
describ e d 
are of the 
under¬ 
water variety, suitable for deep water, 
but not for the shallows, where some 
kind of surface plug is advisable. 
One good such variety is the straight 
plug with a wooden collar. The handles, 
such as department stores attach to bundles 
for convenience in carrying, are excellent 
for the purpose. Remove and straighten 
the wire of the handle, the wood of which 
is about four inches long, and of the proper 
diameter, three-fourths of an inch. Pass 
the wire through the hole running length¬ 
wise of the wood cylinder, and make a loop 
at the front end. Cut off the other end of 
the wire, leaving enough to make a small 
loop, by means of which a triangle hook is 
to be fastened to the plug at the end. This 
one hook is perhaps enough, though a hole 
may be bored through the plug, one and 
one-quarter inches from the rear, end, and 
single or triangle hooks, one on each side, 
attached to wire loops which are secured to 
the wire running lengthwise through the 
body of the plug. 
The diameter of the wooden collar should 
be one and one-half inches. A thickness 
of half an inch gives weight enough to se¬ 
cure distance in casting. I have found a 
glistening white body and a blood-red 
collar a taking combination. 
I have a plug of this description before 
me, as I write, on which are plainly dis¬ 
cernible the tooth-marks which a muscal- 
longe made. When reeled in rapidly, this 
plug gets up quite a commotion, the 
“wash” caused by the collar suggesting a 
El 
r~) 
/"V 
A.'*/ 
4 * ! • I 
/x^ x \ 
n 
Spinners cut from sheet aluminum 
and bent at the dotted lines 
small animal making frantic efforts to get 
out of the wet. 
I AM going to describe' another kind of 
surface plug. The wooden “department 
store” handle, described above, may 
be used as the foundation, but the 
ends should be worked to a blunt point, the 
whole receiving a cigar shape. A spinner 
is attached at the head. 
In painting all these lures, which require 
it, use paint well thinned out, and put on 
thin coats, 
a 1 1 owing 
each to 
dry thor- 
o u g h 1 y, 
before ap¬ 
plying the 
next. Ap- 
p 1 y first 
the white 
or yellow 
paint, 
w hichever 
the ground 
color may 
be, and over this paint the head red, 
or put on black rings as may be de¬ 
sired. It is neater to adjust the parts, 
hooks, collar, etc., disassemble these, do 
the required painting, then re-assemble. 
In this way you avoid a messy result. If 
you use constant care in your work, you 
will turn out a result agreeably surprising 
to yourself, both as to appearance and 
game-taking qualities. 
