BLACK BASS. 219 
July bj sportsmen with the fly. They may be captured 
by casting the fly as for salmon or trout, and this is by 
far the most sportsmanlike way, but the most destructive 
and usually resorted to is trolling. For casting, a two- 
handed seventeen foot salmon rod is preferable, while for 
trolling, a short bass rod is the thing. By anchoring 
your boat to the windward of a shoal, or by walking out 
on some point of rocks, you can command a great extent 
of water with your fly -rod, and have royal sport alone, 
whereas for trolling an oarsman is indispensable. 
The flies to be used are the ordinary small-sized salmon 
flies, not too gaudy, though the first dropper and tail fly 
may be larger and made of white and ibis feathers 
mixed. In casting you will use your ordinary cast, but 
in trolling you may attach five or six flies to a long sal- 
mon leader at equal distances, and will frequently take 
several fish at a time. My experience has convinced me 
that a number of flies attract fish, whether trout or bass, 
and the more you can conveniently use tlie greater will 
be your success. 
Black bass abound in the northern waters, where they 
are invariably trolled for with two rods, one on each 
side of the boat, in the same manner as in taking pick- 
erel, but two rods are a great additional trouble, for 
when a fish strikes one the other has to be reeled up by 
your boatman, lest the hooks sink to the bottom. If the 
boat is kept in motion, it is almost impossible to reel in 
a large bass, and would make a labor of a pleasure, even 
if he should be eventually captured. 
A small trolling spoon i,s excellent bait, probably pre- 
ferable to the fly at all seasons except the middle of 
