NATURAL BAIT VS. FLIES FOR BLACK BASS. 
BY ‘* JUMBO,” 
Almost ever since I was old enough 
dS 
‘‘reach the trigger ’’—and I won’t 
to ees 
more—I 
crack under the wing any 
have angled for nothing else, and had 
I not used bait I would have been de- 
prived of not less than one-half of my 
lifetime’s sport. 
Why? 
Because with us, z. ¢., on the Poto- 
mac, Shenandoah and Susquehanna, we 
begin fishing in April, during which 
month the black bass will not take the 
fly. May is a close month. In June 
they will take the fly. InJuly, August 
and the first half of September you 
can’t catch enough fish to ‘‘color”’ the 
pan, even if your brain will stand the 
frying it would get on our rivers dur- 
ing that period from the sun. ‘The last 
half of September, October and No- 
vember (and, this winter, December 
and January) they don’t think much of 
the fly, but can always be had with the 
minnow. 
Young anglers who have sat around 
and heard the ‘‘ gang’”’ discourse dur- 
ing the winter, very often get the im- 
pression that the bait fisherman is one 
who thinks more of the quantity he 
gets than the high art of getting them. 
I contend that it requires more skill in 
fishing for black bass, as we do it, with 
bait than with a fly, and my argument 
issthiss 
Any one with ordinary intelligence, 
and a real desire to learn, can, under 
proper instruction, learn to cast a fly 
sufficiently accurate in a single day for 
-all practical purposes in open water, 
where the black bass are usually found. 
I have known lots of men to learn to 
cast fifty feet in much less time. Fly- 
OF BALTIMORE. 
fishing means that your forward cast 
is made with the thumb! and wrist, el- 
bow close to your side, and the flies de- 
livered upon the surface with more or 
less lightness, according to your prac- 
tice andexperience. (The biggest bass 
I ever took with the fly was when the 
back cast fouled a bush, and, when 
pulled loose, went forward with as great 
a splash into the water as the leader 
and gang of flies were capable of pro- 
ducing). Ifthe bass is there, and de- 
cides it is something he wants, he takes 
right hold, and you half turn your wrist 
to the right and there you are. If he 
misses, the back cast is involuntary and 
usually high. If he is hooked or not 
you know it at once, ana you can tell, 
if you are old enough, within four 
ounces of what he will weigh. It won’t 
go down with me to tell how you played 
him, and all that sort of thing, because 
I have seen him brought to the net too 
often. You just reel him in as fast as 
your reel will turn, and that’s the end 
of it. 
By the way, did you ever see any old 
stager ‘‘ play” a bass, or know any one 
to voluntarily give a bass any more line 
than he forced from you, to prevent losing 
your tackle? I never did, and I have, 
fished with many old, young and mid- 
dle-aged. Now for the,bait-fishing. 
You select a lively minnow, hook 
him through the /7/s from a single oo 
Kirby, Aberdeen, or whatever your 
fancy is—we use no gangs. Then, with 
your thumb on the reel, you cast him 
where you think your game is. The 
bait is allowed to sink near the bottom, 
and you immediately begin to reel in 
slowly. Possibly before you begin to 
