Healthful Sports for Boys

by A. R. Calhoun

CHAPTER V

LET'S GO A-FISHING—SOMETHING ABOUT BAIT

Do not despise the earth worm. Scientists tell us that without this creature's work in preparing the soil, but little of the earth's surface would be fit for cultivation. To its voluntary efforts we owe our supplies of vegetable food, but not satisfied with this, we conscript him that he may help us to catch fish.

Some boys, and men too, make hard work of getting worm bait, but in this, as in everything else, it all depends on how one goes about it.

If you are going a-fishing in the morning, secure your bait to-night. Worms are nocturnal, and they come out of their holes at night, provided it is not too dry on top. The ideal time for scooping them in is about dusk, after a long warm rain. Get a lantern and with it carry your bait can half filled with wet moss or soft moist earth. You will find, if the conditions are right, swarms of worms along the edges of beaten paths, or in the short grass alongside. Usually the worm has one end of its body in a hole, and as it is very alert, you must catch it before it has time to think, perhaps I should say, to act. For this purpose the bait gatherers will do better in pairs. One holds the can and lantern, while the other seizes the worm. Always grab the worm at the place just above the earth.

Worms, I mean bait worms, are not all of one family, nor is each family equally inviting to fish. The red, fat fellows never come amiss, but the light, flabby kind afford no great lure for even the hungriest sort of a fish. The worm that keeps its tail a-wiggling after he is on the hook, is just the thing. The manure worm, the marsh worm, and a worm found at the root of the sweet flag, all make good bait; but the best of all is the night-crawling earth-worm.

ANGLE WORMS

are best kept in a tin box in which a number of holes are pierced to admit air, but they must not be so large as to let the worms out. Moist, but not too wet wood or other moss is better than earth as a nest for worms, if they are to be kept some time. Keep your bait box in a cool, damp place, and whenever you want worms, lift the moss and you will find the worms hanging to it.

Soap suds or luke-warm water, if poured over a place where there are worms, will bring them to the surface. If at the same time you pound on the ground, it is said their egress will be hastened.

SLUGS AS BAIT

The hellgrammite, a black, ugly slug to be found under stones in summer streams, is the most tempting bait you can offer a black bass. After a time the hellgrammite comes to the surface and takes to the air as a beetle, but in that state he interests the naturalist rather than the fisherman.

GRUB WORMS

are the larvae of beetles, and may be found about manure heaps and in rotten logs. They make good bait for trout, bass, perch, cats and other fish, and they may be kept, but not for long, in the manner described for worms.

GENTLES,

or the grub of the blue-bottle fly, are an excellent bait for trout, though they are not good to look at nor pleasant to handle. These can be cultivated by placing offal in a tin can, and keeping it where it will be safe from rats or mice and inoffensive to the nostrils of passersby. In this the blue-bottles will lay their eggs, which will soon develop into gentles. They can be kept in a box filled with moist sand or bran. If kept too long they will start off as flies.

THE KATYDIDS,

which raise such a racket from the trees, particularly at night and after the middle of July, are rather hard to get, but they pay for the trouble, particularly if you want to tempt pike or pickerel.

BLACK CRICKETS

are always abundant in pasture fields, and are tempting to all kinds of fish, but particularly to bass and trout. They should be kept in a roomy box with chips and stones to hide under at the bottom; otherwise, they will kill and eat each other.

THE GRASSHOPPER

is nearly as good as the cricket, and it is easily captured and kept. They will live for some time in a box filled with green grass. FROGS,

if not too large, are a standard bait for pike, salmon, pickerel, and bass. Frogs are best caught with a net, but they will take a small hook baited with a bit of red flannel, or they will bite without the hook. Be careful in fastening the frog to your hook not to injure it so that it cannot swim. The hook through the web of the hind feet, or through the skin of the back, is, I think, the best way.

"LIVE" MINNOW

are easily procured, and, on the whole, they make the most reliable bait. A small, fine-meshed net, fashioned like a sieve and handled by two, is one of the best means of collecting minnows. They should be kept in a bucket and taken out with a scoop made of meshed wire, and the water should be frequently changed.

CRAWFISH,

to be found under stones in many shallow brooks, make a good bait. Keep them in a box filled with wet moss or aquatic plants.

By dead bait is meant bits of pork, fresh beef, or even other fish cut up into tempting morsels for "skittering"; that is, where you cast your line with a sinker, and then haul it in over the water, usually by lifting the pole, walking back, or reeling in; a dead frog or a dead fish is just as good as a live one.

Boys, as a rule, prefer to fish with bait, leaving artificial flies to the seniors. Any small live creature will answer for bait; even mice have been used with good effect, and cheese, if it can be kept on the hook, is eagerly swallowed, in bottom fishing, by carp and catfish. When I was a boy we used to string our catches, through the gills, on a cut switch, but if it can be had, a fish basket is better.

FISHING TACKLE

should be considered. This is of every variety, from the bent pin fastened to a string, and the string fastened to a stick, which most of us began with, up to the elaborate and costly rods, reels and flies of the wealthy sportsmen. Boys, who seldom use reels, will find the bamboo, which is sold cheap, the lightest and strongest rod for general use.

Hooks are of endless size and variety, as are fishing lines. These must be bought with regard to the kind of fish they are to be used on, and of these, boys on the ground are the best judges. But let me urge this: When the fishing season is over do not throw your pole, line and hooks carelessly to one side, but clean them, wrap them, and put them away in safety for another season. The boy who does not take good care of the tools that give him pleasure is making a bad preparation for the serious business of life. Summer [Blank Page]