SHORE CASTING 207 



bow, to a spot some two or three feet above the 

 sweeping branches. With the splash of the lure the 

 reel begins to turn and under goes the red and white 

 submerger. Comes the rise and strike. The battle 

 is joined. The bass fights for the shelter and haven 

 of underwater branches. Foiled by rod and reel, 

 he goes into the air, shaking the bright water from 

 his glistening sides, and is back into his element 

 again tugging away at the restraining line. Once 

 and again comes that wondrous leap, for an instant 

 the curving, burnished bronze body is silhouetted 

 against the green of the sweeping tree, a picture 

 never to be forgotten. Such is the leap of the river 

 bass, and the attractivity of shore-casting. 



