220 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



on a broad, sluggish river it might be resorted to 

 with success). Unfortunately I have never had the 

 high privilege of trying out my night theories on 

 such water. I have night fished with live bait more 

 or less, but can not now remember of any great suc- 

 cesses on small streams, I mean with bass. On a 

 river possessed of a comparatively slow current I 

 would imagine that two anglers could have unlimi- 

 ted sport, though I am inclined to the opinion that 

 ordinary river fish are not so much given to the 

 night feeding habit, at least in the Middle West 

 where the most of my bass casting has been done. 

 Whether or not bass resort to night feeding from 

 choice is an open question, in my opinion the habit 

 is born of necessity. Many a so-called bass-less 

 lake or fished out water, may be rife with ichthyic 

 life between the hours of 9 and 3 A. M 



Of course the fish do not feed "any old place" 

 after nightfall any more than they do at any other 

 time during the 24 hours. The feeding grounds 

 must be discovered. Prospecting for bass is almost 

 as fascinating as prospecting for gold, and a whole 

 lot more satisfactory. (I never discovered any gold, 

 the kind that men barter soul and honor to secure, 

 but in ichthyic gold I have long been a multi-million- 

 aire.) Bass feed where food is found. It does not 

 sound very wise or learned, but it is the key to suc- 

 cessful casting night or day. Locate the schools of 

 minnows, where insect life is born, where cray-fish 



