Tbe Best of the Bass 135 



have found it works well. Of course a bass swal- 

 lows a minnow head first, but I don't want him to 

 swallow it. That means a mangled bait and more 

 or less trouble to recover the hook. The number 

 of minnows is limited ; therefore I want, if possible, 

 to make one minnow kill two fish. When a bass 

 grabs my minnow, I strike smartly and take chances. 

 A fish so hooked forces the minnow up the gimp 

 and out of the way, and so may preserve it for another 

 turn. The third cast provokes a faint strike, not 

 at all like the aggressive dash of the bass. A turn 

 of the wrists makes a swift commotion of waters, fol- 

 lowed by a peculiar steady strain. At the first purr 

 of the reel the dog cocks his ears and eyes the wav- 

 ering silk with keen interest. The rod goes steadily 

 backward, and foot after foot of silk rises from the 

 water. Then the gimp, and then a long, olive-green 

 form, trim as a torpedo boat Two long, snipy jaws, 

 a lean bony head, a glowing eye, and flick ! The 

 mangled minnow follows the slack line into the sun- 

 light as the fish vanishes with a marvellous sweep. 

 A gar, and where two or three of this kind are gath- 

 ered together is no place for a decent fisherman with 

 only a dozen minnows. The gar is a curious but 

 utterly useless fellow, a loafer and a provoker of scaly 

 language withal. Seldom will a hook hold in his 

 bony jaw, and should it hold he affords but brief 

 play. When recovering your hook his mouth feels 

 like a barbed-wire fence, with a cat-brier hanging to 

 it ; so wise folk only shoot, spear, or heave rocks at 

 him. The dog is disgusted he knows all about 

 gars and the talk which they incite. He also has a 

 shrewd idea of what is coming. 



