94 PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



that a bass was venting his rage on the colored box, so 

 securing it, he attached a couple of hooks, and soon 

 had Mr. Bass on his string. 



This tale may not be probable, but it is possible. 

 We have seen fingerling bass make savage rushes at 

 burned Swedish safety matches the lavender colored 

 ones that smokers had thrown in the water, and al- 

 most every bass fisherman can call to mind similar 

 observations. 



SURFACE BAITS OR "FLOATERS" 



Show a collection of surface baits, without their 

 hooks, to a non-fisherman, and he would probably 

 venture the guess that they represented the life work 

 of some perpetual motion "expert" residing perman- 

 ently at Mattewan, N. Y., Dunning, 111., or some 

 similar place. Surely most of them resemble nothing 

 that flies in the air, walks or crawls on the earth, or 

 swims in the waters beneath the earth. 



The success of floating baits depends principally up- 

 on their ability to "muss-up" the surface of the water, 

 and this end is achieved by means of exaggerated heads 

 or metal collars in the non-mechanical types, or by re- 

 volving fronts, spinners, or propeller-like paddle 

 wheels in the other kind. 



Whether or not the commotion on the water made 

 by these baits, imitates the struggles of some swim- 

 ming "critter" as some claim, we cannot say, although 

 the supposition is reasonable enough, but that it often 



