The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-06-01
HOW TO CATCH BLACK BASS.
A Veteran Fisherman Gives Advice Re-
garding the Taking of this Carney Fish.

Among the dozen or more species of game
food fishes of the Atlantic coast in fresh
and salt water none has been found to
excel, If indeed equal, in cunning, alert
ness and stubborn fighting strength than
the black bass of our fresh water rivers and
lakes.
g The ideal baltrod is a ten-ounce split bam-
boo or Lakewood and should be nine or
nine and half feet in length. "a fly cast
ing rod is lighter perhaps of seven OF seven
and half ounces, and for easy work ought
to be ten feet long. Use the lightest silk
waterproof line in the market. and a srapid
multiplying plain rubber reel holding
seventy-fve yards. The most successful
hooks for bait fishing are the No. S, of either
Limerick or Sproat shape, strongly snelled
with treble strands of gut. There is no
need to dwell at length on the different
live bats, for the kinds, the locality where
you happen to fish must decide.
Infinitely prettier and more comfortable
to use than any form of living bait are the
artificial minnows and spinning spoons. The
former are made of waterproof silk or
metal, colered so as to closely initiate the
living thing. Among the very, best are the
Caledonians, Phantom and Devon. sold at
an average price of rs cents. Selecting a
medium size, say No. 5 or 6, be sure to get
one with short shank so that the lower
end of the spoon. just plays above the barbs
of the treble hooks. Then more seldom will
you foul weeds and grasses. and more fire.
quently will you hook the fish that escape
from the long-shanked makes. A single
split shot must always be attached to the
line about a foot from either artificial
minnow or spoon to sink it, sufficiently be-
low the surface. Yet, notwithstanding the
beauty and similarity of the tackle now
made and the convenience of using these
bats, there are many anglers who would
not for moment consider them. They are
the lovers of the dainty and brilliant-hued
artificial fly. Once having been taught to
toss the little feathered things that coax big
bass from overhanging reeds and rock with
SO slight an effort to the fisher, it is hard to
come back to any other way. It needs no
profound thought or long practice to cast,
and to cast extremely we'll at that. The
flies are sunk below not trailed along the
surface, as in salmon or trout fishing, and
are not moved SO rapidly In fishing rapid
running streams wading is the only sure
mode of reaching all the whirls and curves
in the current where it sweeps under clay
banks or curls around uplifting rocks and
s Jumps.
Under no circumstances does the black
bass feed upon carrion. Bait that even APP
pears dead is therefore useless. All articles
must be SO contrived as to simulate real,
stirring life, something that is breathing
and is trying to escape. 1t feeds only
during the morning and evening hours At
noon it lies torpid in some cold grotto at
great depth, protected from the heat of the
sun. Therefore fish from dawn till ten in
the forenoon, and from four O'Clock until
darkness. The bass feed in the shoal water;
running up often among the weeds to where
the depth is less than foot Now, most
curious habit, knowledge of which is vital
to successful bait-cast1ng or still-fishing.
When the bass has sprung upon and seized
its prey land its darting leap is like that of
a hungry panther) it does not swallow at
once. Hence the frequent complaint; II
away with my bait.n just at the critical
instant when the fish has snatched an end
Of the frog or minnow and is holding it in
his jaws, nine men out of every ten draw
back and strike. The result, is, of course,
to tear the bait from the hook, leaving the
alarmed bass to escape with its booty. In
stead of letting him off so easily as that
just wait. That is the whole secret.