232 CASTING TACKLE AND METHODS 



ing at the ends of the day, the morning hours as a 

 rule being the most successful. Correspondents 

 often write asking: "How early should I get out on 

 the water?" My answer is a stock one: "Before 

 the crow crows." Get out, in hot weather, when 

 the sky first begins to tingle low down in the east. It 

 is worth something to see the miracle of the rising 

 sun from the vantage-ground of a wide-reaching 

 lake, even if you take no fish, but the true angler 

 will take fish, understanding his business. The 

 world is so quiet at; that hour, even in the wilder- 

 ness, that the fisherman finds himself in a strange 

 realm, and if a man after Isaak Walton's heart, 

 forgets rod and reel for a time. Just to sit, forget- 

 ful of previous existence and unregardful of the 

 future, is one of the inalienable rights of an angler. 

 Next in value to the morning are the evening 

 hours, say 7 o'clock to dark; sometimes darkness 

 itself offers inducements, as was pointed out in the 

 chapter on night fishing. Any wind is a good wind 

 when fish bite. A high wind acts as a deterrent, 

 stirring up the water and driving the fish deep down. 

 A spell of cold weather also somehow seems to 

 effect the fish, for they rise less freely if at all. A 

 close, mizzling August day is the day of all days; 

 strike that and you will have a record catch. Just 

 before a thunder storm all fish are voracious, bass 

 being no exception to the rule. A friend of mine, 

 an aged angler, says, "Bass can't help but bite be- 



