Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-07-05
BITE BEST AS SUN BEARS DOWN
Rappahannock Bass Change Rules
BY WHEELER JOHNSON
outdoor Editor

BY WHEELER JOHNSON
outdoor Editor
Most Of the theories I have
heard on bass fishing stress
that the best time to catch
fish, especially in hot weather,
Is at daylight or an hour or
so before dark.
The smallmouth bass we en-
countered In a recent three
day float trip down the Rap
pahannock. apparently never
heard Of this theory. Each Of
the three days they woke up
and started biting in the mid
die of the day, even though
the temperatures must have
been In the zoos.
One of the float voyagers,
Robert Brown, garage opera
Lost Of q Series Of Two Articles on
Floot Fishing for Boss.
tor at Burke, Va. expounds q
theory that smallmouths start
biting promptly at pm, and
these bass did everything they
could to prove him right. Our
best fishing started Just about
that hour and lasted until
about 3 O'Clock. While we
fished diligently in the early
morning and at dusk we caught
few fish then.
Partners are Changed
With two canoes and four
fishermen, we changed part
ners every day so that over the
three days, each man had q
different companion. That gave
q fresh approach to fishing
techniques and styles for get
ting canoes through the riff
files. Also one got a different
conversational diet.
Brownie drew me for the Sec
ond day and Joe Mckenzie and
Art LaGarde, both composing
room employees Of The Star,
were teamed up.
We had camped perhaps 10
miles below Kelly's Ford, near
Remington, Va, where we had
put the canoes in Sunday
morning, and events proved we
needed to make q long run
the second day If we were to
reach Fredericksburg before
dark Tuesday night, so we
could load the truck we had
left there without feeling our
way.
But the stretch Of river we
were to encounter was much
more interesting than the more
or less flat reaches we had
Travelled the first day.
Rifles Come Oftener
The banks are steep In most
places, the rifles come oftener,
and the canoes have to be
lifted over and walked for
longer distances. The pools
where one wants to get out
and wade, casting carefully at
every likely spot, are found
more frequently. So all Of It
was q temptation to dawdle.
LaGarde and Mckenzie got
away from camp first and We
didn't see them again for hours.
If you like isolation, q Rap
pahannock float trip Is ideal.
After we passed O few bank
fishermen Just out of Reming-
ton, and a farmers family
that had come down to the
river to fish, the four Of us
saw no other human beings
until we met another canoe of
float fishermen not too far out
of Fredericksburg.
Brownie is an expert at that
sidearm snap cast that sends
the lure under overhanging
limbs and into the shadows q
few inches off the river bank.
'"The best fishermen say you
ought to splash water on the
bank every cast" he asserts.
Sails Line Out
Then he would sail that line
out and show Just how it was
done.
'Kerrrash 'eml" he'd mutter
as he began to reel in with a
few short, teasing witches.
But for all our techniques
or incantations we didn't do
much through the morning. We
caught q few small ones and
some bluegills, which we re-
leased.
Finally as the day grew
warmer, Brownie got a big
strike. The fish took off in e.
good run, but Brown finally
got him coming along the side
Of the canoe. In contrast to
the slightly cloudy water Of