TRODUNG FOR BASS 249 



your troll has engaged them. Yet those underwater 

 weeds, scientific names of which are unknown to me, 

 are not the worst enemy of the trolling bass fisher; 

 the large root of the water lily, even the leaf stem, 

 is worse; might just about as well be anchored to the 

 root of a pine stump so far as yielding or becoming 

 disengaged is concerned. There is no weedless 

 trolling lure worth the name. If the troller hooks 

 up a weed there is just one thing to do, stop and reel 

 in if he can, back up if he must, and clear the hook. 

 I have trolled successfully in waters where it seemed 

 to me that half my time was put in clearing the hook 

 of weeds. Remember th-at bass like to lie in such 

 submarine forests, the angler has that for his 

 encouragement. 



Sometimes, early in the morning, bass seek the 

 shallows, gravel beds or sand banks. I have never 

 found casting from a boat overly successful for 

 those shallow water fish, as they may be termed for 

 convenience; perhaps if one were to cast an exceed- 

 ingly long line, upwards of 150 feet a somewhat 

 difficult task for most of us when sitting in a boat 

 they might be taken. Now, strange as perhaps it 

 may seem to the reader, I have experienced little 

 difficulty in taking them with a distant spoon, fluted 

 spoon rather than conventional lure. I let out all 

 my line, empty the spool in fact save for a few yards 

 reserved for safety, and troll forth and back over 

 those beds. Ordinarily there is little or no danger 



