FISHING A RIVER FROM A BOAT 191 



angler will find a deep hole, usually below the creek's 

 mouth; there cast, early in the morning and again 

 late in the afternoon, according to the feeding habits 

 in that particular water. Just why minnows make 

 their way down to the mouths of such brooks is not 

 clear, but they do, many of them becoming food for 

 hungry bass and pickerel. Now I have learned, 

 when casting, to expect one or more fish from those 

 pools and seldom am I disappointed. After the 

 rodster has had some experience in stream fishing 

 from an open boat, he will come to cast where the 

 fish lie, well nigh instinctively. The true angler 

 almost u feels" the proximity of a bronze-back war- 

 rior. My only hope is that the foregoing remarks 

 may aid the reader to become acquainted with this 

 most fascinating of ichthyic sports, fishing from a 

 boat where the tide bears you along. 



Remains but a few words regarding playing and 

 netting the capture. Elsewhere in this volume there 

 is a chapter upon the subject together with some 

 remarks upon landing tools; this, then, is only sup- 

 plementary to what was said there. Ordinarily the 

 angler will experience little trouble in hooking the 

 fish, the current and the fish itself will attend to that 

 part of it; but he may find it somewhat difficult to 

 play his capture in the circumscribed area, where all 

 aids and advantages are upon the side of the bass. 

 If the rodster lay a long line, and the water is 

 "snaggy," as it is in nine-tenths of the Middle West 



