The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-12-08
NIGHT FISHING.
4 Novel Way Of Catching Big Black Bass
in New York state.

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4 Novel Way of Catching Big Black Bsss
in New York state.
When the cold weather comes on in
the fall the Lake Keuka lover of
angling looks forward to what is to
him the most enjoyable sport of all the
year, although the average angler
elsewhere would not be apt to see
much pleasure in it. This is fishing
for black bass at night. The fisher.
men along the lake discovered long
ago that the biggest black bass seek
the deep water in the fall, and do their
feeding mostly at night. 1t has also
be1n 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
bats that are usually killing else
where, such as dobson or crawfish.
These bats 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 a creek that flows into the
lake. 1t is called the streaked side.
The minnows natural to the lake
sinners and other. kind-are indiffei-
emily taken by the bass. During the
day the angler drifts slowly in his boat
along the shores. The fishing is done
n comparatively shallow water, along
the outer edges of the thick growths of
submerged water weeds. If any sink
er is used it is a very light one. The
minnow must be always lively, or the
day-feeding bass will not come near it.
At night the fishing is done in an
entirely different tanner. Then the
fisherman seeks water that is thirty or
forty feet deep. Instead of a 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 deal lake sinner
or a little brilliant fish known as the
sawbelly, or a piece of fat pork cut in
a narrow strip and wound tenn ptingly
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 a big fuzzy thing. as
long as a caterpillar, and with very
few feathers on it. This is tied on a
large, crooked hook with n long
shank. According to a local angler of
of much observation, this queer-look-
ing lure resembles closely an insect
that abonnds at this time of year on
the weeds that grow on the bottom of
the lake, and upon which the bass
spend the night in feeding.
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 fas-
tened to the line another line, two or
three feet long is tied. To the other
end of this is attached a 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.
If the fly is used: it is sunk to the
in the same way, three flies be-
ing used as the leader, two feet apart.
Bottom fishing with flies is a new art
the Lake Keuka waters, and is prac-
tised with good success in the daytime
as well as at night. This gang rig
never takes bass except at night.-N.