REELS, LINES AND BAITS 129 



tion to these there are three well-known surface baits. 

 The first of these is an imitation made of cork and felt 

 of one of the favorite pork-rind baits of the Western 

 bait-caster. The body is made of white enameled 

 cork with small side wings of red felt and it has a 

 tail of red feathers. Its imitative purpose is two-fold, 

 to represent a large insect while in the air (on the the- 

 ory, a true one, that a bass sometimes starts for a bait 

 while it is still in the air) and a minnow when in the 

 water. Whether the bait actually fills this rather 

 versatile bill is a question; there is no question, how- 

 ever, about its catching bass. This bait, too, is prac- 

 tically weedless, more so than any other surface bait, 

 and, consequently is a good one to use when the bass 

 are lying close in-shore among weeds and rushes. It 

 is a single-hook lure but is generally used with an aux- 

 iliary trailer-hook, in which form it is most success- 

 ful, three out of five bass being taken on the trailer. 



Another surface bait is what has been called " plug 

 shaped," is principally white in coloration, and derives 

 its bass-attractive motion from a metal collar placed 

 well forward. This bait is universally and very suc- 

 cessfully used by the devotees of surface bass fishing. 

 Of all surface baits this one is, perhaps, the best cal- 

 culated to arouse the well-known pugnacious instincts 

 of a black bass, and his fighting blood will often cause 

 him to rise to it when a smaller or less conspicuous 

 lure would receive scant attention. 



One of the first top-water baits to receive the ap- 



