The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-07-08
HAVE GREAT STRENGTH.
Black Bass Show Wonderful Vitality
 and Fight for Hours.

ANh'NANpH NNSue.J AOI. NGW 1OGh 0un.
 Excepting for the fortunate few who can afford to pay extravagant prices for salmon rivers, North America has no finer sport to offer the fishermen than fighting the small-mouthed black bass.
 From the fair. light green little chaps of half a pound up to the muddied black, battle scared veteran of eighty pounds,
 these fish are all full of fight just as long as they retain their tenacious hold
 upon life.
 A couple of lads here who were re- turning from a successful days sport, let down their string of half hundred fish for washing before their boat reached shore As their last fish had been caught 20 minutes previously, they were justified in thinking there was not a great deal of animation in the bunch However couple of three-quarter-p pound fish at once concluded to make further struggle for life, and made off with the whole catch towing behind.
 The floating mass was sighted next morning, and after a chase taken up by the boat livery men. The two runa- ways were lively and vigorous and lived
 for some days in the boatmen's fish box,
 until they were wanted by one of the
 hotels.
 Just by the way of experiment a fisher man once sat in the bow of a four-o cared skif holding a steel rod to which d four or five-pound bass had been made fast, and allowed the creature to do what 1t would For the whole of the June after noon the boat was never still The power- full fish, with the hook in his lower jaw, lowed it around and about and varied his performances by occasionally coming to the surface and indulging in series of ac- robatic leaps.
 After five hours of this work the man | forced the fighting, and brought his prey 1 to the side. No sooner, however. was the
 strain relaxed than the hook slipped out
 of the elongated hole in it's jaw, and the
 bass jumped gayly out of the met and was lost after all.
 In the clear spring water of these moun- | tain lakes the vigor of the well nourished. | handsome fish almost passes belief Their
 muscular build and great fin surface make them superior to the members of the
 salmon family in resisting power and | their dashing, splashing habit of fighting
 is very unlike the dignihed, steady strain
 and graceful leaping of the salmon | It is decidedly unfair, however. to catch | them in the native way, with trolling | hand lines or heavy bait rods, for the bass | seems made to be hooked and played on
 something which will bring about an ap- | proXimation to equal terms between him | and the angler.
 |
 to the artificial flies in the early part of
 the season. No doubt it is true that the water may be covered with real flies upon which not sign can be discovered of a | bass making an attack. It must be under
 stood that he Is not always fond of dry l flies, but prefers that they be submerged
 and move with fair speed.
 Just now the outfit required is a light
 six or eight ounce rod good-sized reel | 15O foot Of n iph niI N1 ell ct. q | leader and a brace of flies, one on a large 1 the other on q small, hook There is moth. | ing better in these waters than d silver
 doctor and a tiny yellow May or coach. | man..
 The angler. should keep out about 1Ot l feet of the line and have the boat pass
 along slowly 30 feet from shore. or back
 ward and forward over and along bar
 as any shoa is here called This will
 keep the fly down some five inches below l the surface. 4e 1 As a rule the fish takes the flies with
 a rush, and should be struck snartly. If
 it is a large bass he makes a flutter upon
 the water and then dives. swimming
 heavily and rapidly. They often travel in l pairs and when one has been hooked the | other will frantically endeavor to follow | suit and catch on also. Or larger one 1 sees small bass struggling with some l thing to eat, and, rushing up to investi- | gate, seizes the spare fly and finds him.
 self hooked for his pains.
 | When both fish have been struck they | do not, as a rule, act singly. On the | contrary, until the come to the surface l to display their jumping powers, they
 will pull, dive and turn together in such | perfect unison that the angler will in
 manyr cases not know that he is playing
 a pair
 One day the writer spent busy three l quarters of an hour fighting a team of | two fve-pounders. which were only | brought to net with the greatest diff l ficulty.
 On another occasion, when a woman | enthusiast had with great patience, skill
 and strength played a seven-pounder al
 most to a standstill. second big fellow l snatched at the other fly. Instantly the first caught fish revived and both fish
 started off quickly. The reel was not | quite speedy enough and the eager angler | toppled heels over head into 90 feet of
 water. She pluclSily held on to her rod | however, and being able 10 float was actually being lowed off when picked up The two fish were fought after that for | a whole hour and were then unanswered | into shallow water. near a sandy beach, and literally kicked ashore by the oars man.
 | At the Pemichongon lake two men pulled their birch bark to shore at lunch time and went for a rest under the shade l of a beech tree near by without noticing