LET US GO AFIELD 



It takes two men to go bass fishing, one to row the 

 boat and one to do the casting. It is rather difficult 

 to handle the boat and cast at the same time. In 

 the best form of practice the caster should lie thirty 

 or forty yards outside the edge of the rushes whose 

 pockets he is intending to work. If he is alone in 

 his boat he may drift in too close, and so frighten 

 the fish which he is approaching. The boat should 

 advance slowly, and each little inlet among the 

 rushes should be tapped with the bait. The best 

 part of the sport is the savage rush with which the 

 bass strikes the lure on the surface. Sometimes he 

 will cast the white water far on either side of him 

 as he seizes what he takes to be his prey. There 

 are underwater lures, and in live bait fishing one 

 often has the bass strike below the surface; but 

 the surface work is the cream of bait casting, be- 

 cause thus one sees the strike of the quarry itself. 



Most bait casting is done on lakes, and there are 

 thousands of lakes in America which still offer 

 sport and may do so forever if we practice any 

 moderation and if we follow up fish culture as it 

 should be followed. Sometimes, however, one 

 wishes to cast for bass while floating down stream 

 in a boat. Not long ago I saw a very good little 

 wrinkle mentioned in a sportsman's paper. The 

 writer described the use of a common garden rake 



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