Notes and Queries 
showed larger fish and more of them than his 
did. The old gentleman, for he was one to 
the bone, never would admit that the seductive 
quality of the earth worm did the work, but 
attributed our larger catch entirely to the fact 
that we followed him down the stream, and 
that he had put the water in better fishing 
condition by disturbing it. We believed him 
then and still do, and always prefer following 
rather than leading an angler down stream, 
provided, of course, that the water fished is 
not narrow between banks, in which case the 
fish are extremely scary and scud away, up or 
down stream, too frightened to take a lure 
until considerable time has elapsed. 
An incident which occurred to us many 
years ago, and printed in our journal at least a 
decade ago, will bear resuscitation in connec- 
tion with this subject. We had gone to Pleas- 
ant Stream, Lycoming county, Pa., for an 
outing with a young friend who had never 
trout-fished before. Arriving at a favorable 
point to enter the stream, and the day being 
very warm, we thirsted for the swash of the 
stream on our legs, and stepped into a little 
rapid, about five feet above a pool, which was 
ten feet wide and fifteen feet in length. Here 
we made up our friends’ cast of flies and pad- 
dled around, in all probably consuming ten 
minutes. Our movements clouded the water 
below with the drift we made, so that we 
could not see the bottom of this usually 
pellucid pool. Upon completing the cast, we 
swung the rod to feel the action of it, and the 
leader fly lit not more than eight feet from 
where we stood, and was immediately taken 
by the largest trout (1% lbs.) that we killed 
during our outing of a week. That fish was 
hunting for food, which he knew was always 
found in a changing and disturbed condition 
of the water. 
It is the practice of our most experienced 
salt water fishermen, when they. are after 
flounders particularly, to anchor a few rods 
down tide from where the oystermen are 
dredging, and when these cannot be found at 
work, we have known occasions when the per- 
sistent and deserve-to-be-rewarded anglers 
have taken a rake in the boat with them, 
and did their own fouling of the water by stir- 
ring up the bottom of the fishing grounds. 
From these instances, of old-time occurrence 
on this side of the water, it would seem that 
our English brethren are at this late date just 
finding out the efficacy of some American 
259 
methods of fishing. Inthe case of trout fish- 
ing, the results following one angler leading 
the other is certainly an argument in favor 
of down-stream vs. up-stream fishing.—ED. | 
Erratic « Rising ’’ of Black Bass. 
A correspondent wrote recently to a sports- 
man’s paper asking a solution of the annexed 
puzzle, but it seemed to bewilder the editor 
(for he made no attempt at replying) as well 
as the querist; it certainly does many other 
anglers besides myself. I want to know why 
it is that black bass will take the artificial fly 
in some lakes and not in others, all of them 
located but a few miles apart, and the bass in 
them all being surface feeders. I never saw 
THe AMERICAN ANGLER until last week, but, 
judging from the practical answers to your 
correspondents, I have come to the right place 
for information. Ip lets MDE 
New York, July 30. 
| Thanks for your confidence and good words, 
but we fear we shall fall below your standard 
after you read our notes on this subject. First, 
we believe that black bass, especially the 
small-mouthed variety, will take an artificial 
fly in alf waters they live in, if fished for un- 
der proper physical and atmospheric condi- 
tions. Second, we do not think that you have 
given the fish a fair trial with the feathers, 
hence have come to a hasty conclusion in the 
matter. 
We commenced our fly fishing for black bass 
in 1873. It was at Westport, on Lake Cham- 
plain, and at the mouth of a small brook 
emptying into the lake. Here we caught, on 
sober dressed flies tied on No. 4 Limerick, 
eleven bass, averaging one pound each, in 
less than an hour. From 1873 to 1895, we 
have fished for black bass nearly every sea- 
son, in waters located from the Mississippi to the 
Atlantic, and from Maine to Virginia, and in 
these sections have never failed to boat more or 
less of these fish with artificial flies whenever 
the conditions were favorable. We have 
taken them in midsummer, in late November, 
and in one instance (experimentally) as early 
as March, when the ice fringed the banks of 
the pools on the Schuylkill river, just above 
the city of Philadelphia. You will under- 
stand that we never essayed to catch this fish 
with the feathers unless the environment was 
favorable; and now as to these conditions: 
There are times when the black bass will 
take the fly, particularly in running waters, 
at all hours of the day,in the glare of sun- 
light nearly as fiercely as under a lowering 
