BAIT CASTING FOR BASS 



strument which is called a rod by the bait caster 

 of today. The rod has changed, and the reel, and 

 also the forms of the lures employed. 



Just when bait casting began we cannot be sure, 

 but the weight of authority ascribes the origin of 

 the art to the South, more especially Kentucky, 

 where good bass streams were known by our fore- 

 fathers. These gentlemen, no doubt, used rods cut 

 from Southern cane brakes. No doubt they were 

 long; no doubt, also, they were not long enough to 

 get jthe bait out far enough to reach a shrewd and 

 wary fish. 



It was an old watchmaker of Kentucky by the 

 name of Snyder, who, in the early part of the last 

 century, invented the smooth-running 1 , narrow, long- 

 barreled reel which would enable him to place a bait 

 at a considerable distance from him and still retain 

 communication with the aforesaid bait. Twenty 

 years ago I saw one of these old Kentucky reels 

 which was then said to be more than fifty years 

 old. I have seen many old Kentucky reels which 

 were twenty, thirty, and forty years of age. 



There were several watchmakers of Kentucky 

 who by and by went into the business of making 

 fine casting reels in Lexington, Frankfort and 

 other cities of the old state. We have never had 

 handsomer specimens of the reel-maker's art than 



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