16 



THE SMALL-MOUTHED BASS 



smelling it, sometimes actually sucking it into their mouths 

 and ejecting it with evident disgust; and then, suddenly, 

 like a flash, they will all disappear. 



Doubtless for this reason also it is difficult, though not 

 impossible, to take bass with a trolling spoon. If one moves 



Fat-head Minnow 

 (From Photograph by B. A. Bensley) 



slowly, the fish has ample opportunity to inspect the bait; 

 if rapidly, so as to confuse its judgment, the chances are 

 that it will, in striking, miss the hooks; so that, if one must 

 get his fish by the barbarous method of trolling, he should 

 be careful to regulate his pace, and use the very smallest 

 of spoons. 



As to the statement which has frequently been made, 

 that frogs form a large portion of the diet of bass, 

 especially in inclosed lakes, it is doubtful if such be the case. 



Frogs live in marshy 

 spots or near weed-beds 

 where there is little or no 

 current and the bottom is 

 covered with several inches 

 of slime and mud, and is 

 strewn with dead branches 

 of trees and sunken logs; 



in such places the water is stagnant, dirty, and warm, and 

 is never frequented by the small-mouthed bass; although 

 his near relation, the large-mouthed bass, haunts such 



