Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 238, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1915 — INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE CITIES Grand Rapids Man Studies Fishing in Par! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INTERESTING ITEMS FROM THE CITIES

Grand Rapids Man Studies Fishing in Par!

GRAND RAPlDS.—Several years ago, when the outcome of a fishing trip to h|ia was entirely a matter of conjecture, Leo F. Troy, better known among his piscatorial associates as “Hard Luck” Troy, because of the frequency with which he returned from.

angling excursions without results, conceived an idea which has since made him quite famous. In the parlor of his residence he installed a glass tank 2 by 2 by 5 feet. The, installation was made in the fall of the year. In the'tank he placed several large and small mouth bass of medium size and members of other fish families common in. the north temperate zone. All winter long during the day and at night'he cultivated

the acquaintancestiip of the fish. Once firmly established in their good graces, Troy took steps to solve a problem which had perplexed him for years and which is the cause of disappointment for the average unsuccessful angler. He wanted to know the most expeditious way to bait a hook with a minnow in order to catch bass. With this-idea in mind he dropped several chub minnows in the tank. In a moment they had disappeared. Several more were dropped, and Troy was surprised a moment later to see one of the number, minus its tail and badly cut, belly up toward the surface. A second later it disappeared in the maw of one of the bass. Observations were continued, and Troy eventually learned that the bass would never take the minnow tail first. So on his next excursion, instead of thrusting his barb through the head or nose of the minnow, he caught it about the middle and just under the back fin, thus giving a bass a chance at the head. The difference in hooking soon showed results, and when Troy finished the trip he had succeeded in catching more and better bass than he had on any other trip of his career.