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had a large fellow, and, handling him 
with extra precaution, finally landed a 
nice bass of three-pounds weight. Of 
course this is not an extra large bass, 
especially of the large-mouthed variety, 
but it was much larger than any I had 
taken up to this time. 
I turned matters over in my mind, 
and concluded that if a three-pound 
bass could take a frog of the size I had 
used, perhaps there were bass that 
could take a still larger one. Acting 
upon this theory, I procured and used 
frogs as large as I could handle upon 
my rod. From this time on I caught 
nothing but large bass, seldom getting 
any less than three pounds, and from 
that up to seven and a quarter, the 
largest one taken. 
This then was the kind of bait I had 
on hand, and of course the intervals 
between strikes were considerable. 
Uncle, however, succeeded in getting 
one three pounder close to the boat 
upon one of his awkward casts and, 
wonderfully encouraged, worked away 
with right good will. 
Just as it began to get dusk and the 
: at 
shadows from the trees deepening the 
twilight that had already spread oyer 
the lake, giving a peculiarly lonesome 
effect that water always has upon the 
approach of night, Uncle succeeded in 
getting out the longest cast he had yet 
made—about seventy-five feet. Un- 
fortunately, or perhaps I should say 
fortunately, his reel over-ran and back- 
lashed for him. Patiently he set about 
untangling his line; I resting the oars 
and holding the boat stationary. He 
worked at it for some time and at last 
said: ‘* Well, Billy, I shall have to set 
down to it!” at the same time seating 
himself and putting on his spectacles. 
It was a bad tangle and took quite a 
spell to loosen. 
The American Angler 
Everything has an end, and after 
quite a long time he stood up and com- 
menced reeling in the slack. This was 
completed in a moment or two, but the 
hook and bait refused to come. 
‘‘Guess I’m stuck in the moss, Billy ’’; 
said Uncle, ‘‘ you will have to row in.” 
Just about this time Uncle’s load of 
moss developed a very frisky motion 
and commenced making things very 
lively at the other end of his line. 
‘¢Great Jehosaphat! there's 
thing on there,” said Uncle. — 
I had already realized this, and had 
commenced pushing for deep water, 
where we might be free from anything 
that would interfere with playing the 
fish; or, perhaps I had better say, free 
from anything to prevent the fish play- 
ing with Uncle. 
The very moment Uncle realized he 
had hooked a fish, he commenced reel- 
ing in and giving the butt, only to have 
the reel handle jerked out of his hand 
and his knuckles severely rapped, as 
Mr. Bass made a lunge for deep water. 
A repetition of this several times and 
Uncle grew very much excited, and 
would try to go to the bass by way of 
the line, running the rod up under his 
arm, where the reel and butt would 
wildly wave in the air, threatening 
every moment to break off, but a vigor- 
ous warning from me and back he 
would go to the other end and again at- 
tempt to reel in, with the same old re- 
sult of having the reel handle jerked 
out of his fingers. Down the rod he 
would go once more, the reel wildly 
waving in the air, and again I would 
warn him and back he would come to 
repeat the same old tactics. By this 
time I had reached pretty deep water, 
and at times all Uncle could display of 
his whole outfit above water was the 
hand grasp and reel. 
some- 
