162 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



the large-mouthed species in all of these comparatively still 

 waters, and very much larger in Florida and the Gulf States, 

 a heavier rod may be employed than in stream-fishing. 

 The "Henshall rods" alluded to above, when of the maximum 

 weight of nine or ten ounces, are certainly heavy enough to 

 meet the requirements of anyone, and for the Large-mouthed 

 Bass of Florida (running up to twelve or fifteen pounds or 

 more), such a rod is not too heavy, and is powerful enough 

 withal to kill fishes of other species of twenty or thirty 

 pounds weight. I am now speaking particularly of bait-rods, 

 though a fly-rod need be no heavier and will be found just 

 as effective. 



There is a method of lake-fishing, however, that differs 

 from ordinary Black Bass angling, and requires a somewhat 

 different rod. I allude to the fishing about the Bass Islands 

 in the western part of Lake Erie. The Small-mouthed Bass 

 of this locality hibernate under the numerous ledges and cav- 

 ernous, limestone reefs projecting from and lying between 

 these islands; and when the Bass are coming out of their 

 winter-quarters, in April and May, and just before going into 

 them, in September and October, the fishing is very good 

 about these reefs and ledges; but the Bass disappear from 

 them during the summer months, being then absent on their 

 spawning and feeding grounds in other portions of the lake, 

 or up the streams. 



There are a great many anglers who frequent Pelee, Kel- 

 ley's, and the Bass Islands, about Put-in-Bay, every spring 

 and fall, for this reef-fishing. Some of them are veterans in 

 the sport, having made these semi-annual pilgrimages for 

 twenty-five or thirty years. 



As a rule, Lake Erie anglers use a very short, heavy, and 

 stiff natural cane rod, and for this reason: The Bass lie 

 close to the reefs and under the ledges, in water from ten to 

 twenty feet or more in depth, and in order to get the bait 

 (minnow) down to the reef as quickly as possible, and to 



