Hints & Tips 

3-HINGE FIRE RACK BY GEO. K. PARKER The accompanying simple kink is a great help on a camping trip of any kind. It is easy to carry and will save many a turned-over coffee pot or frying pan. You take three 8-inch strap hinges and just put a stove bolt through the middle hole and you've got the dandiest little fire rack ever made. When not in use it can be folded and carried in coat or grip.

THE NATURAL POTHOOK BY F. H. BOHM Trim a green limb, as long as desired, with the exception of a piece of one branch left near the butt to form a hook. Then cut a deep notch near the other end of the stick, hang the bail of your kettle in the notch and hook the other end of the stick over your crane. You will find this a first rate pothook, saving the carrying of metal hooks or chains. This Kink is probably already known to a good many old-timers, but lots of campers do not seem to have heard of it.

DRIVING STAKES BY ARTHUR W. STEVENS All of us who have ever tried to drive a forked stake into the ground in building a rack, crane or the like, have found it difficult to do without splitting the fork. If instead of a fork a straight piece with a prong on one side is used, it will serve the purpose just as well and be much easier to drive. The sketch will make this clear. Also if the top of the stake is carved with a jackknife or sharp ax before driving, it is not nearly so apt to split. This applies as well to tent stakes or any other stake that is to be driven.

WEAVING A TEMPORARY MINNOW NET
BY H. A. PETERS Were you ever without a minnow net, for some reason or other, while on a fishing trip, when one could not procure one for many miles; and not only that, but you found that the "big ones" just wouldn't bite on anything else but a minnow? If you have never been in that predicament you are indeed more fortunate than I, for such were the conditions my camping party was in last summer up in Wisconsin. We had a very nice net when we started out, but the third day in camp the net, somehow or other, got too near the fire and almost all the netting burned off. Of course, it was not anyone's fault, but that did not matter. We had to have a net. We each had a landing net, but we found it impossible to catch minnows with them because of their size. After looking over my outfit I found a secball of twine and I decided to try to make a net. I did this as follows: After cutting off all the net that remained on the ring, I fastened ring and pole to a tree at a convenient height. Then I cut a number of pieces of twine about three feet long and fastened them to the ring as in Fig. 1.

Starting at A, Fig. 2, I took one string from each adjacent pair and tied a simple double knot in them. After finishing the first row I made the second, third, etc., as in Fig. 2. After making about seven rows I decided to taper the net down. This was done by making the mesh smaller (that is, tying the cords closer together) ; also by cutting off, say six strings, from six pairs, at equal distances apart in the same row, as at A, Fig. 3. The knotting was done the same as before until a single line was reached. Then by taking one string each side of the single one, I tied the knot so that it came even with the rest in the same vertical row. Then I tied a second knot with the single line and one of the other two and cut off the single line short as at B, Fig. 4. Continuing in this manner, cutting six pairs from every horizontal row, I soon had the diameter of the hole in the bottom about eight inches. Then removing the net part from my landing net, I fastened it to the bottom of the minnow net by means of small hooks and my net was complete as in Fig. 5. It took quite a time, but we were certainly rewarded for our work. Of course, it required patience but where is there a good fisherman who lacks that? The author used this net the entire summer, but has not seen it fail yet. So, brother, if ever placed as I was, just remember this Kink and you will catch your minnows.

THE PALOUSER BY A. W. STEVENS The palouser is a very simple and efficient candle lantern well known to the miner and woodsman. It may be made of any good-sized tin can, but a lard pail, about 5 Ib. size, works best. Select a point in the side of the pail a little more than half way down and directly under one of the ears that holds the bail. Cut a slit whose length is a little greater than the diameter of a candle. Then cut another across it at right angles. This forms four points which may be bent inward. A candle thrust through the hole is prevented by these points from slipping out, and it may be pushed farther in as it burns off. Loosen the bail from the side on which the hole has been punched. Squeeze the ends a little closer together and hook the loose end under the flange in the bottom of the pail. This forms a handle by which the pail may be carried on its side and the lantern is complete. The bottom of the pail forms a reflector and makes it 'a real searchlight. Although the whole front is open, it will burn in almost any wind because there is no other opening to carry the draft past the flame. As to the spelling of the name, I am not sure, as I have never seen it in print. The great agricultural region of the state of Washington is known as the Palouse (pronounced paloos), and in the Northwest everything of a rural nature is supposed to have come from the Palouse region. It is, therefore, not improbable that the name originated there.

A CAMP KNIFE BY JOHN B. COWING The above diagram shows a camp knife to be made from a piece of broken handsaw blade or from a carpenter's steel scraper blade, with a sole leather handle riveted on, and the handle sandpapered and varnished with good rod or spar varnish. This makes a light but useful knife, good for general use, but not in tended for splitting bones or wood. The knife can be cut from a piece of tempered steel with cold chisel and file and after riveting on the handle, the knife can be ground and finished as desired without any additional tempering, as it is not necessary to draw the temper to cut the knife to shape. A grindstone, with water, should be used to finish the blade to avoid drawing the original temper.

A HANDY CAN-HANDLE KINK BY W. A. STOWE When a sportsman starts out on a trip, be it long or short, he tries to keep down weight and bulk of his outfit to as little as possible, and yet leave out nothing that will be necessary to his comfort or pleasure. But when the time comes to pack up his duffle for the return trip, the enthusiasm that attended the start is lacking. Then he would like to just walk away and leave most of his stuff lie where he got through with it. I have found a little Kink that costs nothing and helps a little toward this desirable end. Many sorts of provisions and groceries are now packed in friction top tin cans of various sizes, syrups and cooking fats, for instance. Save three or four of these of the sizes you will need most, and when you take a camping or canoe trip leave your stew kettle, coffee pot and such utensils at home and take these cans instead. The Kink consists of having two or three wire bails or handles for making use of these cans. You can make these bails in a few minutes with a small pair of pliers, and they will last for years. Any wire that has a little springiness is all right; piano wire or old bicycle spokes are perhaps the best. Make three or four different sizes, but of such size that they will go down in the can they are in^ tended for so that the cover can be put on. Then you can fill your cans with milk or soup or coffee, for instance, push the bail down into the can, put on your friction cover and you can safely pack those cans of liquids anywhere or let them roll about in the bottom of your canoe. When you want your hot stuff you pry off the cover, pull up the bail and hang the can over the fire. The spring of the wire holds the bail up and the ends against the sides of the can where the eyes in the ends of the wire catch under the rim of the can. The bail automatically spreads to diametrically opposed points, therefore the can will always hang plumb from it. When your trip is over you keep the bails and can the cans. The cut explains the device sufficiently.

A CAMP CANDLESTICK BY V. J. NICHOLS A candle holder in camp ? Sure thing. Take a split stake, a bit of birch bark, and there you are. The diagram shows the combination better than words.

HOT BISCUIT TO ORDER BY E. S. BROOKS Did you ever wish you had some warm biscuit for supper when on a fishing trip and nowhere to bake them? Well, try this. Make a rather stiff dough of your pancake flour, stiff enough so it will hold its shape. Then take a stick on which there are a couple of prongs two or three inches long. Place the dough on the stick above the prongs, passing the stick through the center of the dough. Tie a string to upper end of stick and hang it before your fire. Give it a twist or two so it will revolve, thus turning all sides to the fire.- If it begins to burn move it a little farther from the fire. Will bake in ten to fifteen minutes. Keep the dough revolving all the time or it will bake on only one side. Don't hang it over the fire, but at one side and about ten inches from the ground.

A TIN CAN OUTFIT BY F. W. KENDALL This outfit is made from used cans from the household supplies. The tools used are a tack hammer, an old pair of shears, a pair of pliers and a nail. The time of making is about four hours, with no cash outlay. The outfit is intended for two people, but with the addition of cups and plates, a couple more may be served. To make the stove, get two gallon fruit cans and cut out the tops and bottoms, leaving the seamed edges for stiffness. Cut the cans up the sides to the top, then each way close under the rims, leaving half the top uncut. Straighten out the cut flaps. Place the caps about 16 inches apart, then measure for the side pieces. Seam on these and pound flat. Cut a piece of tin for a spider brace to go on the top. Make this an inch large all around and then cut in gashes so the tin may be bent about the wire rims of the holes. Bend down the ends of the spider over the sides of the stove, punch holes through the ends and through the seams. Make wire staples of hay bale wire, or the like. Place these in holes and hammer the ends tight down. Use small round boxes for the stovepipe. Cut out the bottoms and hammer the edges flat. One can is cut off at an angle for the stove collar. Place the oblique end against the stove and mark for the smoke hole. Cut out the tin so as to leave a half-inch margin from the line. Score this margin to the line every half-inch, making tabs to hold the pipe in place. Bend every other tab out, then place the pipe inside these and bend all the tabs to fit. Fasten the point of the pipe and the lowest tab by a stable rivet. Crimp one end of each box so that they fit one over the other. Use pieces of tin for stove covers. Dig out the dirt under the edge of the stove when in use for draught. The fry pan is made from an octagon of tin with one side made double into a socket for the handle. This handle is made by forming a tin tube with the end hammered flat and bent to shape. Use small can for cups so that they will nest. The handles are detachable. Make these of strips of tin doubled over twice and pounded flat, then formed to shape. The spring of the handle keeps them firmly on the cups. Hammer the rims of the pails flat so the liquids will pour better. Make the bails of any annealed wire bent to fit. Additions may be made to this outfit to meet the user's needs.

HACKSAW FISH SCALER AND KNIFE BY A. P. JONES I am enclosing sketch of a home-made fish sealer and knife which has given me better satisfaction than anything I have found in the stores. Referring to the diagram, A is hacksaw blade, 9-16 in. wide, 14 teeth to the inch, 2^4 in. long outside the handle. The teeth on the blade point towards the handle. B is hardwood handle, 2^ in. long. Slot with hacksaw; insert blade; rivet as shown, and wind with No. 22 copper wire. Grind the back of the Wade to a knife edge if desired. I have found the size here given large enough for ordinary fishes with scales not easily detachable. Of course a machine hacksaw blade may be used. I use an "all hard" blade with sharp teeth.

A TWIG CUP HANDLE BY H. N. CRAMER The easiest drinking cups to carry on a camping trip are those made without any handles, so that they nest one in the other. These cups have the added advantage that they have no seams or rivet holes to leak. Once in a while you want to dip up something hot, however, and then the lack of a handle on your cup is a disadvantage. If you are up against this predicament, just cut a small, flexible, Y-shaped twig. Have the ends of the Y long enough so that each of them will go clear around the cup. You will find that a single knot will hold the ends of the twig and the stem then forms a handle by means of which you can dip up your hot tea without any danger to your fingers.

RAPID FlRE FISH CLEANING BY G. H. STROHM Don't scale your bass or clean him. Just lay him flat on his side and make a clean cut through the skin from head to tail over the backbone. Do the same thing on the under side, but slightly, just breaking the skin. Cut the skin also around the head and tail as indicated by the dotted lines in the diagram. Grasp the point of the skin at the top of the head between knife blade and thumb. One good pull and that side is skinned. Do the same with the other side. Then slice off a nice strip of boneless flesh on each side and throw the rest to the birds. You can do this without cutting into the entrails at all. At first glance this looks like a waste of good bass meat, but one really loses very little and does away with all bother on account of the bones. If you really want your appetite whetted you should see the job done by a Canadian guide at lunch time when everyone is too hungry to wait for the eats.

THE SELF-PULLED WINDING KNOT BY CHARLES F. SPEORL Here is a simple and effective way of making the concealed finish on rod windings : Lay your winding silk along the rod in a loop as shown in the first diagram. Then go right on winding over this loop. When the winding is as long as you want it, break the silk, leaving an end a couple of inches long. Bring this end (B) through the loop. Still holding onto end B to keep the winding taut, pull steadily on end A. This will pull the loop back under the winding. When the end of the loop has been pulled about half way through, cut both ends of the line that are left projecting and your winding is fastened both neatly and securely. Be careful not to pull the loop too far through, as this would leave the beginning of the winding insecurely fastened.

THE LOOP WINDING PULL BY SIDNEY V. RAY One of the simplest, easiest and quickest methods of laying rod windings so as to conceal the ends is the following: The winding is started by laying the free end under and taking three to five turns over it as shown in Fig. 1. Have ready a bit of thread, either the same as the winding is being made of or, if that is too light in weight, a bit heavier. It is good policy to wax this bit of thread with ordinary beeswax. Make a loop of this bit, lay it on the rod and proceed to wrap it under the last three or four turns of the winding. (Fig. 11.) Then clip the end of your winding silk, leaving an inch or two free and holding the wrapping firmly meanwhile with the thumb. Insert this free end into the loop as in Fig. 11. Then grasp the loose ends of the loop, which should be long enough to give a secure hold, and, still holding the wrapping to prevent loosening give the loop a quick, snappy pull. This brings the loop out from under the turns which were taken over it, and with it the free end of the winding. Cut off both free ends closely and the winding is complete. Do not use the same place in the loop thread for more than one tie, as the friction of dragging the free end under wears it pretty thin and it is annoying to have the loop break just as one has nearly completed the winding.

A CAMP REFRIGERATOR BY DONALD DUNCAN Hang a covered tin bucket from the limb of a tree. Take any kind of a cloth bag big enough to just slip over the bucket. If you haven't a bag handy, a few coarse stitches with twine in a bit of old burlap will make a nice one. Put a few handfuls of dirt in the bottom of the bag, slip it up over the bucket and tie with a drawstring. Wet the dirt thoroughly and your refrigerator is complete. The wet dirt will keep the entire bag moist, and the bag in drying will cool the contents of the bucket nicely. Drinking water, milk, butter, etc., can be cooled very nicely in this manner.

A TURTLE TRAP BY WM. SIMS BUNN'  While the above may not be new to all the readers, at the same time it is worth trying for those uninitiated in this way of catching turtle. The plan is as follows : First get a rough board, say 12 inches wide and as long as the water and bottom justify. On this board nail a quantity of stout ringed hooks a few inches apart diagonally, and at the top of the board (which will be sitting in the water at an angle of about 30 deg.) tie securely a chicken or rabbit. In a day or two a gentle (?) odor will be wafted over the face of the waters which will stir up the turtles' olfactories irresistibly. They will all answer the summons of the decayed bait, and will try to climb up the board, with the result that the hooks will catch them in the foot. By way of anticipating and brushing aside any suggestion that this method is not humane, I believe any turtle would rather have a hook in his foot than through his bony mouth, and that the above method will be the less painful. Have the chicken or rabbit a few inches above the water.

TWO OLD FRIENDS BY R. T. ERVIN Take two empty wooden spools and drive either a screw or a nail through the hollow center into the side of a wall at such distance as you wish (ordinarily some five or six feet apart), so that you can stand and pass the line over one and then over the other, and back again without having to move, letting the line run off the rod onto the wooden spools. This spreads the line out, so that the air will dry it, and yet it never comes into contact with any metal substance. The other "kink" is how to tie the two ends of a silk line together so they will not slip. Tie an ordinary single loop in the end of one line. Run the other line through this, and then tie a similar loop with this end around the other line. Draw the knots tight around each line. Then catch the lines and pull them until the two ends are drawn together. It will be found that each single knot locks the other so that it cannot slip* No doubt many of your readers have used each of these "kinks," but .there are others who have not, and they may be of service to them. *Editor's Note. This is the wellknown and efficient Waterman's knot.

NEEDLES AND THREAD BY D. WIGGINS  Many of us wish to sew on a button or a patch for ourselves when out 
conversing with the red gods. We usually find that needles and thread have been left behind. In my haversack is a 
spool of linen thread, with the hole through the spool reamed out to a sufficient diameter to accommodate a paper 
of large needles folded up into a roll.

In this manner the needles are always where I need them, and are not sticking me in the back. I always have one 
threaded with a good, long thread, as when your hands are cold or you are tired, it is a great help.


RAW ONION POULTICE FOR SNAKEBITE  BY G. E. WHITMORE
[SSRsi Note: This was included as a humorous historical tidbit, and nothing more. This is not valid medical advice - aside from the  "a 
doctor should be sought as soon as possible..." part.]
Take an onion or several of them if they are small, crush or pound them to a pulp and use as a poultice on the wound 
made by the reptile. Whisky, if at hand, should be taken in moderate doses, and of course, a doctor should be sought 
as soon as possible.

Twice I have used and with good results the onion poultice on dogs that were bitten by rattlesnakes.

I also know of two persons who were bitten by rattlesnakes and whose lives were saved by no other remedies than the 
onion poultice and whisky.

One of these was a man of 76, the other was a boy of 12.

THE TIN CAN RANGE PHONE BY E. A. CROLINS  I think it best at first to give you a little history of ourselves to show 
how the kink herein described was developed.

Several members of the Fort Dearborn Rifle Club of Chicago, including myself, have been going out Sunday mornings 
for outdoor practice. As the club at present has only an indoor range, we have selected a good place along the banks 
of the Chicago Drainage Canal, just west of Argo, Il. Argo is a small town southwest of Chicago and can be reached on
the street car from where we live in about 45 minutes. We are then compelled to walk about a mile to the range.

Anybody living in Chicago will know that hills suitable for target butts are scarcer than hens' teeth in this vicinity. The 
spot which we have been using all summer is ideal as a range, owing to the fact that the engineers, when building the 
canal, obligingly left miniature mountains of clay and limestone about 25 to 30 feet high along the banks of the canal.

These make a fine backstop for even the wildest shot.

As there is no habitation or any place to keep equipment near our range, we are obliged to carry all the necessary 
articles with us, which means pack them about a mile. We have overcome this handicap very nicely as follows :

Last spring we carried a couple of two-by-fours, three feet long, and a board twelve inches wide, one inch thick and 
three feet long, out with us on our first trip. This lumber nailed together, using the two-by-fours for legs and 
sharpening same, makes a good arrangement to hold our targets. We simply drive the pointed uprights into the 
ground. When we are through we pull the whole thing up and hide it under some near-by shrubs until the next time. 
The rest of our equipment consists of some paper targets and thumb tacks.

Our rifles are .22 caliber and we use long rifle Lesmok or semi-smokeless ammunition. We shoot at 50 and 100 yards. 
Right here I wish to state that the .22 long rifle cartridge is exceedingly accurate even at 100 yards, and will penetrate 
our one-inch pine board at that distance and never even hesitate. I think that is pretty good for a .22, don't you?

Thus endeth our history. Now for the kink.

This fall the weather has been very windy, and we found it difficult and sometimes impossible to shout loud enough to 
call the shots from the target to the firing point, even with the assistance of a small megaphone.

One windy day, after all of us had strained our lungs while tending target, I began to figure out how this difficulty could 
be overcome. Suddenly I remembered the telephones I used to make when I was a small boy, out of two tin cans and a
piece of thread. This gave me a hunch, and I immediately proceeded to get busy in the following manner :

After procuring two tin cans about four inches in diameter and five inches long, I soldered two strong hooks, one on 
each side of the cans well up toward the top or opening. The hooks I placed opposite each other running lengthwise, 
with the points toward the bottom of the can.

I then purchased one-quarter of a pound of No. 5 music wire, which runs about two thousand feet to the pound and 
possesses great tensile strength. The boring of a very small hole in the bottom of each can finished the job.

The following Sunday I started out with the rest of the fellows, entertaining considerable qualms as to whether my field 
telephone would work at so great a distance. Upon arriving at the range we cut four sapling stakes about three feet 
long and drove two into the ground at each end of the range, just far enough apart to allow the cans to fit in between. 

The hooks on the cans of course encircled the stakes. We then inserted the ends of the wire through the holes in the 
bottom of the cans and after threading them through a small glass bead about one-quarter of an inch in diameter, 
twisted them around the bead. The bead was placed on the ends of the wire to prevent it from pulling through the hole 
in the can. All that was left to do was to stretch the wire tight enough to clear the ground so that it would not touch 
anything, and we were all set.

Much to our delight the telephone worked fine. Although it was a very windy day and there was considerable hum 
caused by the wind vibrating the wire, we experienced no trouble at all in communicating with each other at 100 yards. 

Of course, it was not as distinct as a regular telephone, but by speaking slowly and distinctly we could understand 
everything that was said with very little repeating. We found that loud talking caused too much vibration and that a 
normal tone of voice worked much better.

The total cost of the outfit was about 50 cents and about thirty minutes' labor, but it certainly paid for itself the first day.
It not only made our muting pleasanter, but relieved the strain on our vocal organs.

One word of advice to anyone who desires to make a telephone of this character: Considerable care must be taken in 
handling this fine music wire, as it is steel and has a tendency to curl and kink. However, should you kink and break 
the wire, it makes no difference, as the damage can be easily repaired by simply tying the ends in a figure eight knot. 

Confidentially, I wish to state that we had four knots in our line before we had it installed, but it did not seem to affect 
the transmission of sound in the least. 

In taking the phone down, all we did was to unhook the can at one end and wind the wire around it. After binding the 
wire tight around the can with a rubber band and placing everything in a small cloth bag the phone was ready to be 
transported home. The whole thing is not very large and does not weigh over a pound.

THE ALDER BAIT BY HAROLD W. GREENE  When I saw your article in the March OUTER'S BOOK about the
Fishing Kink Contest, I called the Littlest Lady's attention to it, and she said, "Why not describe the Alder bait?" The 

Alder bait is one of those makeshifts that you stumble upon while knocking about on the lakes and streams. One day I 
packed the cooking outfit and fishing tackle into the canoe, handed the Littlest Lady into the bow, and stepping in,
shoved off. It's only a little stream, but very pretty, and the only nice one within our reach for the occasional Saturday 
afternoon and Sunday that we have to ourselves.

After paddling about three quarters of a mile upstream, trolling and casting for pickerel on the way with indifferent 
success, we came to our usual camp site. The Littlest Lady laid out the kit while I gathered wood for the "Injun" cook 
fire, and after eats had been disposed and camp tidied, the Littlest Lady wanted a lesson in bait casting. So the canoe 
was hauled way ashore to give plenty of room, with no obstruction on the bank. This made good casting across the 
river.

The rod is a Jim Heddon and I had on a Dowagaac minnow when she cast, and did it well, too. But she failed to retrieve
it fast enough, so the plug got hooked on the bottom. I cut it loose and she cast again, but let it overrun, and it landed 
in the brush on the other side. Once more I rescued it, and in a short time it was hung up again, so I decided to 
overcome this nuisance.

I cut a young alder shoot about a half-inch in diameter and three or four inches long, notched it around about a 
quarter of an inch from the larger or butt end and with the end of the line bent two half hitches into the notch. This
worked fine the first time, for it floated, while the bird's nest was straightened out, but it darted and revolved so in 
retrieving that the line was all kinked up into snarls. 

I cut the line about two inches above the half hitches and whipped out the kinks, then fastened the ends with a swivel 
between (illustration No. 1) to overcome the kinking. Then I gave the Littlest Lady another illustration in the art of 
placing the bait and thumbing the reel, and showed her how to spool level while retrieving. The stick dove and darted 
this way and that so well that I decided to cast again, and in retrieving to show her a little tip work.

Well, I placed that stick in a nice little hole just at the roots of a tree on the opposite bank, where some brush overhung
the stream and made a shady little nook (you know exactly that kind of a hole), and just as I placed the thumb down 
hard I gave a steady upward tip motion while bringing the rod back to my left hand (I always hold the rod in my left 
hand while retrieving), which caused the stick to dive and dart to the left. 

Bang! A pickerel struck; and twice now I felt him snub the stick before I could get it in for another cast.

"Well," says I, "that must look pretty good to him." So we sat down and talked it over. You know that the young shoots 
of alder are a dark bronze green and when the bark is cut the white wood shows up very distinctly. There must have 
been just enough white showing on that stick and it wasn't too  conspicuous in the water, so I figured that must be the 
reason that he struck, considering the indifferent success we had on the way up. 

Naturally we decided to make that stick into a bait. The Littlest Lady was very interested and brought all my gear to me.
I searched through the mess and finally found a plug with a double hook put on with a screw-eye, which I unscrewed 
and put into the middle of the alder stick and had a bait something like illustration No. 2.

I sure landed that "pick," and it was what we call a "whalloper," a little over nineteen inches long, measured from the 
rod butt to the third winding up. I didn't have the scales along, but I'll bet that he weighed well, if I told you, you might 
think I came from Tennessee as Dock Gushwa says in his article on "A Trip on the Kankakee."

We catch lots of small ones here (Rhode Island), but never keep one under ten inches, even though we go home 
without any fish. A pickerel over eighteen inches in this locality is a whale. So now you know just why it was that we 
didn't broil him right away. You see we knew there was sure to be a crowd at the boat house about the time we would 
get back.

The little stick worked so well on that occasion that I decided to try it out again under different conditions and in 
different waters. I gave it that tryout in a pond about five miles upstream. On this occasion we took along all of our 
gear so as not to get skunked, but we didn't have to use anything but the little alder stick and I made a fairly good 
catch. Several times now I have taken my rod, reel and line, a swivel and the double hook to some pond or stream, cut 
an alder sprout for the bait and had fairly good luck, and didn't have to swear and prick my fingers untangling a snarl 
of plugs.

No, I haven't given up plugs. I use them all I can and keep getting new ones. But now I know that when it's "go light" I 
can take along a spoon bait in my hat band and a double hook to make the alder bait and get fish without making the 
air blue over tangled baits.

LIGHTING FIRE WITH WATER BY WALTER RADEMAKER  One time when out in the woods I found I had no matches. Looking for my burning glass I found I had lost it. How was I to start a fire? I took a leaf from a tree, looped the stem as in the illustration and dipped it in a brook. The drop of water caught in the loop made a perfect miniature lens. This I used as a burning glass. I first lit a cigarette with it and used the cigarette to light my fire. This may seem hard but proves very simple. A blade of grass or a bit of wire may be employed for the same purpose. If wire is used, see to it that all grease is wiped off first, as the water will not stick to form the necessary lens drop.

MACARONI FOR BAIT BY GILBERT DUST  Get a dime's worth of macaroni and put it in a pan of cold water,
breaking the macaroni into lengths of about three inches. Put it on a fire and allow it to get hot through, or until it is 
tough and limber and then take it off and pinch into lengths of about one and one-half inches and it is then ready for 
use.

To bait your hook simply string on like a worm and you will doubtless find you have a good all-around substitute for 
such fish as channel cat, white perch, buffalo, carp and suckers.

AN EXCELLENT PERCH BAIT BY R. B. HOCKINGS  Anglers who have fished for perch, find it very disgusting to keep changing the water on minnows every little while, and then having some of them die; having to put their hands in the pail to catch a minnow, and having a lot of trouble getting minnows at all when they want to go fishing. So I have a kink to tell you that will relieve you of all further trouble of this kind. I was visiting with an old angler a short time ago and we got to talking about bass, pickerel; in fact, all kinds of baits. After talking a while I got him to tell me how it was he always managed to catch so many perch. He said he always used to use minnows until recent years, and always with pretty good success. But one day, as he was walking along the street, he saw a piece of tinfoil lying on the sidewalk. He picked it up and began to smooth it out, when a thought came to him. Why not use tinfoil instead of minnows? He made up his mind then and there to try it the next day. Bright and early the next morning he rowed out to his favorite fishing spot to try out his new bait. He dropped anchor, got out his poles, then took a piece of tin foil about 1^2 inches square (Fig. A in sketch) and rolled it (Fig. B in sketch). Then took his hook and hooked it in about the middle of the rolled tinfoil. Then he twisted it about three times and bent the corners down on one end, making it pointed so that it looked about the shape of a minnow (Fig. C shows it completed). When this was done he tossed it into the water and in just a few minutes he was rewarded with a nice, big perch, and in a very little while he had a big string of fish. Then, too, he was able to catch from five to six perch on the one tinfoil bait, where with minnows, one perch usually meant one or more minnows. Anyone trying this kink will find it an interesting, excellent and inexpensive perch bait.

End of Text.
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