The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-24
WHEN OTHER LURES FAIL.
Device That Sometimes Tempts the
CaprtciOus Appetite o. Fish.

There come days in languorous Jun" when
neither bass nor pickerel nor pike will bite
at any Of the accepted lures and the angler
is forced to Use his ingenuity or 60 to camp
fishless. 1t is too early In the year for that
standard resource, the grasshopper; 1t Is
out OF season for frogs or crawfish.
Perhaps helgramite or two may Be
found by overturniug rocks on the edge
OF the water and they may tempt a strike.
but the chances are against them. Naked
spoon and strips Of pork will alike fail Of
their object.
1t Is on such days that the experience
OF the angler Of years comes into service.
He knows that there are two or thres times
in a season when fish will not bite at any.
thing at all, but his life has taught him
that fishing must not be given up in dis
gust unit everything has been tried. and it
sometimes happens that lure will prove
successful for no other reason than that 1t
is novel. rr
OF this class is the simple strip OF red
flannel dragged along the top Of the water,
or the white rag with piece Of red tail
sewed to il, and this device has been known
to take half a dozen fish when they would
not look at the most tempting natural
and artificial bats ever thrown at them.
In most Of the northern lakes swims
fish called perch, though 1t is not really
a perch, but swimmer. halfway between
the perch and the bass In shape and char:
acter. This perch has round body and
q mouth much like tho mouth OF the bass
and its ventral fins are OF beautiful scar
let. The skin before and behind these
fius is of snowy Wilderness.
Now, these perch will bite at any time and
all of the time il they are awake. The
man who has exhausted the resources Of
his tackle box cannot do better than dig into
q rotten log with his knife and get out q
fat grub or two. With these he will be able
to take three or four Of the scarlet-fnned
perch.
into their backs Just where the head joins
the body, he will out OF the fms. leaving
attached to each fin q strip OF white
skin two inches long and half an inch wide.
Taking the spoon from his line and sub
stituting plain hook therefor, with 4,
small sinker three inches above II, he will
place one OF the fins on the hook, sinking
the barb in at the juncture OF I'm and skin,
leaving the skin to hoat outward like
snowy tail. -.
the bait travelling at depth Of two feet,
| he will find that the odds are that some
| scornful pirate which has disdained all OF
it's other temptations will 60 for the fins
| as II there were nothing else to eat IN the
world.
u
excita because Of their color or because
Of the strip of white skin behind them, or
because the fish know that they are parts
Of a perch which they could not catch Il
It were alive, At any rate. 1t is lure which
prove effective when all else has failed.
Bass, pickerel and pike will take It with
equal avidity according to the manner
in which 1t Is handled. For pickerel, which
are close to bank early in the spring. 1t
FL, NhA r
face, az IL it were living and skipping from
wavelet to wavelet. For pike II must be
sunk deeply and reeled in slowly; the pike
is a logy fish and does not much care whether
its food IL alive or dead.
/. This is bait to be resorted to early In
the year, when frogs, grasshoppers. but.
terfiies, moths and other insects are not ia
be had easily, and knowledge of it's EN-
cheney has saved more than one deserving
angler from being whitewashed.