HINTS ON FISHING 139 



that it is better far to fish than to merely catch fish. 



However, hope long deferred makes a disgusted fish- 

 erman, and a reasonable number of strikes and fish is 

 necessary to the angler's happiness. To get these 

 requires some luck, some knowledge of fish and waters, 

 some idea of the general rules of the game, and the 

 latter is all any writer can hope to impart. The per- 

 son who takes up bait casting must be something of 

 a student, and as he progresses he will find the great- 

 est pleasure of fishing is to work out his own prob- 

 lems as they arise. 



The main attractions to fish are water of equable 

 temperature and food, and this fact should always be 

 kept in mind by anglers fishing strange waters. For 

 this reason, very early in the season fish are more 

 likely to be found in the shallower water, because shal- 

 low water warms more quickly and therefore the 

 weeds begin to grow sooner. The high temperature 

 warms the larvae of insects, dormant Crustacea, and 

 other creatures into life and the minnows are usually 

 attracted to such places to feed on the Crustacea (min- 

 ute shrimp-like or crab-like organisms such as water 

 lice, etc.) and these Crustacea and minnows are the 

 staff of life of all game fishes. It is very simple. 



So the first place to try on a big lake in the early 

 season is the shallow, weedy portion. These places 

 on large lakes will often be found near the inlet or 

 outlet if they are surface fed or surface drained. 



For shallow water fishing, especially for bass, noth- 

 ing quite equals a surface bait of some kind. This 



