The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-31
FIsaiSa ON LAKE KnuxA.
A Novel Way Of Catching Big Black Bass
 at Night.


 Sun.l
 When the cold weather comes on in the fan the Lake Keuka lover of an- giing looks forward to what is to him the most enjoyable sport of all the year. although the average angler else where would not be apt to see much pleasure in 1t. This Is fishing for black bass at night. The fishermen along the lake discovered long ago that the big gest black bass seek the deep water in the fall and do their feeding at night. It has also been discovered by them that the bass have peculiar Ideas about what they are willing to eat at night. In fishing for black bass during the day the angler on Lake Keuka meets with little success If he fishes with any of the baits that are usually killing else where, such as dobson or crawfish. These baits Lake Keuka black bass will rarely notice, and he is not partial to young frogs. The best bait for bass in this water Is a little minnow, which Is caught in creek that flows Into the lake. It Is called the streaked side. The minnows natural to the lake sinners and other kinds-are .indiffer- ently taken by the bass. During the day the angler drifts slowly in his boat along the shores. The fishing Is done in comparatively shallow water, along the outer edges of the thick growths of submerged water weeds If any sinker is used 1t is very light one. The minnow must be always lively, or the day feeding bass will not come near 1t.
 At night the fishing is done in an en- tirely different manner. Then the fish erman seeks water that is thirty or forty feet deep. Instead of 8 single hook, he uses a gang of eight or ten tied in pairs an inch apart. The hooks are but little larger than ordinary trout fly hooks. Until last. season the lure used was either a dead lake sinner or little brilliant fish known as the saw belly, or piece of fat pork, cut in a narrow strip and wound temptingly about the gang of hooks. Last season some one made the discovery that the bass, as if to keep up and add to. their reputation, for capriciousness, Would take a black. fly at night with especial avidity. The fly that seems to be the most killing is big fuzzy. thing, as long as caterpillar, and with very few feathers on it. This is tied on a large, crooked hook with long shank. Ac- cording to local angler, of, much ob- servation, this queer-looking lure re- sembles closely an insect that abounds at this time of the year on the weeds that grow on the bottom of the lake, and upon which the bass spend the night in feeding. s* fl
 If the fisherman uses the. gang of hooks and a sinner, sawbelly, or piece of pork, the bait is so attached to the gang that when it is trolled through the water it will whirl. The leader used is six feet long. When it Is fast ened to the line another line, two or three feet .}ongi is tied. To the other end of this Is attached lead sinker of about four ounces in weight. This is let to the bottom. The gang and its alluring bait play, on the water above the bottom the. length of the sinker line This rig is used at the end of a hundred feet of line. The boat drifts, or is rowed very slowly. x. sll.s
 If the fly is used, 1t is sunk to- the ay, &l,n rr,o " 'fkhvoxns 191hc being used as the leader, two feet. apart. Bottom fishing with flies is a new. art in the Lake Keuka waters, and is practiced with good success in the day time as well as at night. The gang rig never takes bass except at night. ..ue
 The black bass caught at night in the unusually deep water are in almost every instance very large. A catch of twenty made, one night at Bluff. Point weighed sixty-five pounds. Frank Griswold caught ten one night last week that weighed twenty-two pounds. Bluff Point, a. bold promontory rising more than eight hundred feet above the lakerat the junction of the west branch with the lake proper, Is the, favorite To- cality for night bass fishing AstE
 If a person is rugged and tough. and likes dash of the weird and uncariny mingled with his surroundings, he will enjoy black bass fishing at night on Lake Keuka. There Is g. chill in the wind that sweeps the lake, almost in variably from the north, that goes straight to the marrow. The nYmb- ness of fingers that follows the hand ling of wet line, and the adjusting anew of bait, is not calculated to give joy to the angler unaccustoned to this kind of fishing, but the natives to the manner born seem to dote on it. The shadows of Bluff Point are dark, and the front of the bluff itself rises. like a grim spectre on the scene. The cry of the loon, wailing, demoniacal,- and blood d-curdling, sometimes bursting upon one almost at his side, and then coming from afar with the chasing waves is among the attendant diver- sions, and one that does not add much to the cheerfulness of the surround ings. That this novel way of fishing is popular on Lake Keuka, however, was we'll testified to the other night when no less. than fifty boats were drifting about in the shadows of Bluff Point alone, each containing from two to three. fishermen. The catch of big bass that night ran far up into the hundreds. Ordinary every day black bass fishing, always good on Lake Keu- ka, is especially fine this fall