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He lives on U.S. highway No. 40 in West Terre Haute, Indiana, in the heart of the finest fishing country in the state.

The beautiful South Lake is near, serviced with boats and full of all kinds of game fish, large mouth bass, rock bass, walleye, bluegill, crappie, and perch. The lake was formed many years ago when gravel was taken out and the deep holes filled with water. It has been a fisherman's paradise since the fish have multiplied and grown.

Nearby also is Walton Lake, another gravel pit affording fine fishing for Izaak Walton League members and their friends. It is owned by the local chapter, which has one of the largest memberships in the United States.

Thousands of fishing enthusiasts pass Smith's home every week of the season, and many of them stop for bait and a chat with him, for he always has the finest minnows, and he knows where the fish are biting. He knows where boats are available, and fishing laws and restrictions are catalogued in his mind ready for the inquiring customer.

Smith is and always will be a sportsman himself. He loves to fish, hunt, and take part in any event connected with the outdoors. Any part of it is a hobby with him, even if he does it over and over each day, so his bait getting and selling will never become a daily grind.

TWENTY-ONE years ago Smith built his first minnow box to hold his personal supply. He spent his spare time fishing at one of the many lakes in the vicinity, and was always ready to go when one of his friends came along. His bait was ready, too, waiting in the twelve-foot box, alive, and in good condition. He filled the box only occasionally, and through correct feeding and care kept live bait the year around.

His friends began depending on him for their bait, and he started selling a dozen minnows here and there. As is the case of many hobbies that grow into something large, it was his friends that got him started making money. He built more boxes as the demand became greater.

Smith now has four sixteen-foot boxes, and he fills them several times a week in the peak season. He has a pickup truck, and has mounted barrels in the bed to keep them from turning over. He fills the barrels with the same temperature water as that to which the minnows are accustomed, for any sudden changes will kill them. The minnow buckets the customers bring are filled out of the tanks instead of the faucet for this reason. In the winter the temperature of the tanks and the faucet will be near the same, but in warm and hot weather the difference is enough to kill the minnows.

It's an amazing sight to watch the thousands of slippery swimmers darting around in their two feet of water. They seem to glide through the water with no motion except a forward streak of energy.

There are different kinds of minnows:

"Creek chubs" are on the order of bass, have large mouths, but do not belong to the game fish family.

The "slippery" belong to the sucker family, and they are also grey, short and fat.

"Shiners" are light in color, and thin.

The prices Smith charges vary from 10 cents a dozen for crappie minnows to 25 cents for the bass size. Dan doesn't count too closely, and he often lets a few extras slide out of his net. The prices he charges today are the same as he charged when he first started selling.

CURIOSITY CONCERNING Smith's methods of handling minnows is state wide. Men will stop and buy a bucket full, and remark to each other, "Look around and see if you can tell how he does it. I can't get them to live like he does." And Smith chuckles to himself, for his ways are so familiar to him that it is hard for him to believe he knows something the rest of the world doesn't. His ability to produce artificially the same environment nature planned for the minnows is the key to his success.

Cleanliness of the boxes is one of his methods of handling that lets him keep his minnows alive when other people can't. The streams that are their natural home have running water, forever cleaning itself over the rocky bottom. So he has water running into the boxes every minute of the day and night. The water is supplied by a large Dayton pump that has operated continually for the last sixteen years without breakdowns. It runs every three minutes, forcing water into the pipes that run to the tanks. A nozzle spray sends the water gently into the tank, and an overflow board at one end drains it out into a grooved ditch that carries the waste water to a sewer.

The water in the tanks never freezes in the winter, due to the continuous motion of the spray which keeps the water moving. Icicles form all around the sides and over the ground growing into fantastic shapes, but in the water the minnows swim around, unmindful of the cold air above them. The water from deep in the ground is warm enough to keep them alive even in zero weather.

Another of Smith's "secrets" is wetting his hands before he handles the minnows. If the hands are dry the scales of the tiny fish will stick to the skin and be pulled out. He has rubber gloves he uses in cold weather, and he always dips his gloved hands in the tank before he scoops out the minnows.

The small net he uses to dip up a bunch is made of knotted fishing cord fastened to a wooden frame. It has a metal handle, and with it he dips in and raises up as many as a hundred at one time. The different sizes and kinds are kept in separate tanks, so when the customer tells him what he wants, Smith goes to the tank containing the right kind, dips up some, wets his hands, and counts out the number and slides in a few extra.

THE CUSTOMERS bring in many different kinds of buckets to carry the bait in. Some are expensive ones made by commercial firms; others are made from twelve-quart galvanized buckets from a hardware store. A lid is attached, to keep the minnows from flopping out. Holes are punched in the lid to supply the air.

Smith feeds his minnows once a week. Many people make the mistake of feeding them too often. He sprinkles the feed, quick oats, bran, or corn meal on the top of the water, and they jump after it, making small splashes as they hit the water.

Smith knows every stream of running water in his part of the country, and he has permission from the farmers to seine their streams. He doesn't pay for this privilege, for he is as popular with them as he is with the fishermen. His rules of conduct for himself and the boys he takes with him are very strict. He protects the farmer's crops, and never helps himself to roasting ears or watermelons. He is careful crossing fences, and reports any broken places he notices. He cleans the drift out of flood gates, and the farmers appreciate this as few of them have hip boots. And so he is welcome wherever he goes, for he is the farmer's friend, and not a destroying force.

One day when he was seining in a creek north of Rockville, Indiana, he heard a voice calling, "Hold on, Johnny, hold on." He ran to the scene and saw a boy about six years old standing on the shore reaching a stick out to a floundering youngster in the water. The three-year-old had slipped off the bank and likely would have drowned if Smith hadn't come along.

Once he saw a cow mired in quicksand. He sent for help, and soon the cow was free. He had saved valuable livestock. The cow would have been lost if she had not been helped immediately.

When the water is up in the spring he has a hard time getting minnows, but as the water gets lower, they are easier to find and get.

SMITH'S HOURS are from 4 o'clock in the morning until late at night. Often after he gets in bed he hears a horn honking, and he gets up to get bait for another customer. Then when he gets back to sleep, likely as not another bunch comes down and gets him up again. He takes it all good naturedly, for he knows the men and he enjoys seeing them again.

Doctors, lawyers, men from almost every walk of life are his daily customers. Ages vary from the small fry "going fishing with Grandpa" to the older men and women who like to spend a quiet hour waiting for a bite. He knows most of them by name, and remembers to ask about their families. He jokes about their luck last trip, and even if it was bad, they like to know he takes enough personal interest in them to remember.

Smith shares the latest news of large catches, and his friends look to him for advice about kinds of equipment to buy for particular fishing Spots.

His wooden minnow tanks last about ten years. They never need sealing, for the cracks are kept swollen by the water. A new one is filled several days before minnows are put in it, and the water soon has the cracks tight. The boxes, or tanks are built out of cypress, fir or pine. Two-inch dried boards are used, and the cost of building a box has increased from $25 when Smith started to $50 for the new ones. He uses four twelve-inch boards sixteen feet long. A two-by-four goes on the top for more depth. A screen is made to fit the top to keep the minnows from jumping out and animals getting in to eat the fish.

The neighborhood cats loaf around the boxes waiting for the live fish that might jump out. They sit quietly for hours, their eyes on the boxes, waiting waiting, ready to jump if one should get out.

Some of the drawbacks to this hobby or business are the cold water in the winter and the long hours. Smith wears rubber gloves, but they don't keep the hands warm in freezing weather. And even if the customers are old friends, it is annoying to get out of bed at all hours.

IN ALL his work Smith is helped by his wife, Jessie, who has worked as hard as he has to build up the present business. She sells the minnows when he is gone, and she enjoys the work as much as he does. The bookkeeping falls to her, and she shares everything except the actual seining. Her kitchen gets overflows of bakery goods from the baker who is their customer; from the gardener come out of season vegetables; she gets fish from the fortunate fishers, complimentary tickets from the theater manager, and so on down the line. She always has a quiet smile for everybody, and without her constant help, Dan would not be able to carry on.