the strong roots
of the yellow lily.

It is logically certain your fish is well hooked. You cannot pull two
strong, sharp hooks through that tightly closed mouth without fastening
at least one of them where it will do most good. Oftener both will
catch and it frequently happens that one hook will catch each lip,
holding the mouth nearly closed and shortening the struggles of a large
fish very materially. On taking off a fish and before casting again,
see that the two lower hooks stand at right angles. If they have got
turned in the struggle you can turn them at any angle you like; the
twisted wire is stiff enough to hold them in place. Every angler knows
the bold, determined manner in which the mascalonge strikes his prey.
He will take in bait and hooks at the first dash, and if the rod be
held stiffly usually hooks himself. Barring large trout, he is the king
of game fish. The big-mouthed bass is less savage in his attacks, but
is a free biter. He is apt to come up behind and seize the bait about
two-thirds of its length, turn and bore down for the bottom. He will
mostly take in the lower hooks however, and is certain to get fastened.
His large mouth is excellent for retaining the hook. As for the
small-mouthed (Micropterus dolomieu, if you want to be scientific), I
have found him more capricious than any game fish on the list. One day
he will take only dobsons, or crawfish; the next, he may prefer minnows,
and again, he will rise to the fly or a bucktail spinner.

On the whole, I have found the pork frog the most successful lure in
his case; but the hooks and bait must be arranged differently. Three
strands of fine wire will make a snell strong enough and the hooks
should be strong, sharp and rather small, the lower hooks placed only
half an inch apart and a small lip hook two and a quarter inches above
the middle one. As the fork of the bait will not reach the bend of the
middle hook, it must be fastened to the snell by a few stitches taken
with stout thread and the lower end of the bait should not reach more
than a quarter of an inch beyond the bottom of the hook, because the
small-mouth has a villainous trick of giving his prey a stern chase,
nipping constantly and viciously at the tail, and the above arrangement
will be apt to hook him at the first snap. Owing to this trait, some
artificial minnows with one or two hooks at the caudal end, are very
killing--when he will take them.

Lake, or salmon trout, may be