FOOD 15 



After a period of rough weather, during which the 

 bass seeks deep water, its stomach usually is filled 

 with organic matter, intermingled with mud. Whether this 

 contains nourishment of any kind, or is taken merely in a 

 medicinal way (just as some animals eat grass and earth 

 when sick) is a question which can be decided only by expert 

 biologists with the aid of the microscope. 



Doubtless, when very hungry, it will, like other fish, 

 eat anything which comes in its way; and so one finds, 

 though rarely, that it has been living on crickets, moths, 

 grasshoppers or other insects; if pressed hard, it may even 



eat dead minnows or any kind of refuse; but, ordinarily, it 

 is very fastidious and prefers to chase live minnows and 

 crayfish and capture them alive. It is probably for this 

 reason that still-fishing for bass is not usually very success- 

 ful unless the bait shows signs of life; and although one 

 may take them with dead minnows, pieces of clam, and even 

 with dead worms, when they are exceptionally hungry, yet, 

 as a rule, the bait must be not only alive, but arranged 

 in the most tempting manner, in order to insure their 

 capture. 



This is particularly true on a bright day, in clear water, 

 when, if a dead minnow be dropped amongst a shoal of bass, 

 they may be seen approaching the bait, one after another, 

 so closely as to give one the impression that they are 



