88 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



"Never neglect to test the end of your line before 

 you attach the lure/' a bit of advice which if acted 

 upon, will save the bass-caster many a lure and per- 

 haps the largest fish of the season. The whipping 

 out of the line wears the end to such an extent that 

 it becomes rotten. If you can break the line with 

 your hands it should be broken before you attach the 

 lure. Sometimes twenty feet can be so removed; 

 sacrifice it ruthlessly, lest you mourn loss of lure or 

 loss of fish or both. 



To illustrate : Some years ago I invested a great 

 big round dollar in a rubber frog, a lure which is 

 very dear to me for lake fishing. Standing upon the 

 shores of a wilderness lake, the only rubber frog 

 within a hundred miles on the end of my line, I said 

 to my companion boastingly, "See me touch the edge 

 of that weed-bed out yonder." Now the weed-bed 

 lay more than 100 feet distant, so I threw all of my 

 strength and skill into the cast. The frog hit the 

 weed-bed, but the line had parted Just back of the 

 leader. I spent that vacation without a rubber frog 

 but I had learned my lesson. I found upon examina- 

 tion that fully fifteen feet of the line was rotten and 

 worthless. Test the line carefully, thoroughly and 

 often. 



There remain but a few things to mention in clos- 

 ing this chapter. Did you ever lose a pike by having 

 the fish "strike over," cutting the line? If you have, 

 you promised yourself never to fish again without a 



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