216 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



resounding splash just where it should. The bass 

 rises instantly, misses, comes again before you can 

 breathe twice, and lo, is on. Another battle. Another 

 victory. A third fish comes to net before the light 

 fades from the western heavens and Night reigns 

 supreme. 



No man may tell when Night arrives any more 

 than he can say when Day is born. So gradual, so 

 imperceptible is the change that it takes us all un- 

 awares. The lone fisherman suddenly discovers 

 that he can no longer see the marging weeds, that 

 Day has fled; it comes to him with a shock, and he 

 sits up, keenly alive to the situation. From some- 

 where out on the lake comes the sound of a great 

 splash, for leviathan feeds in the night time. There 

 is a quick, nervous in-take of breath. "O-o-o-o-o-o, 

 e-e-e-e-, suppose he gets on!" "Splash!" Right by 

 the boat, too ! "Splash I" Probably where the first 

 one 'rose. "Splash!" This time the thud of the 

 glowing lure striking the water. It is a good cast, 

 but the eager rodster has no time to felicitate him- 

 self upon his skill, for the fish is hooked. 



When will the epic of the fighting bass be written ? 

 Who will write it? Good Doctor Henshall has 

 tried his hand, and has given us the story in packed 

 sentences that glow, but shall I be tried for 

 heresy? he has failed to do justice to the bronze- 

 back warrior. Now, Reader, roll all the accounts 

 of bass battles you have ever read into one, multiply 





