How to Get Them 



runs; the fish are more likely to take them. Have, 

 therefore, the flies on the move as much as possi' 

 ble. Of course, if you see a bass rising to the 

 natural fly, make every effort to get 

 .ink the ^yj^jjjjj casting distance, and drop the 

 cast in the very spot. If there is no 

 response, repeat the cast a few feet away. My 

 experience has been that bass are not often in the 

 humor for flies; only when conditions are just 

 right, on lakes or ponds, can they be persuaded to 

 rise to any extent. Your neighbors, but a few 

 yards distant, are possibly landing them right 

 along, using a shiner, and if flies will not draw 

 them up it will be an advantage to follow suit, 

 that is, if you want to land fish. 



In short, if the truth be told, the bass, both 

 large and small mouth, is a perfect live-bait fish 

 in quiet water. In running, swift and rocky bot- 

 tom water, it is a splendid fish for the fly, and 

 may be relied on to give as good an account of it- 

 self as any fish for its size. 



The bass takes best baits peculiar to the local- 

 ity. In some sections it takes a lamprey eel 

 more readily than a minnow, in others a frog; 

 but for all sections the minnow heads 

 Minnows ^^^ ^^^t of lures for black bass. The 

 first favorite is the shiner or dace, 

 whose silvery sides show brightly in the water, 

 especially so for rough, colored water, cloudy or 

 dark days. Next come the golden chubs, good 

 for bright days with clear water; their tougher 

 mouths endure the hook longer and they are 

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