144 PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



summer by casting over bars and reefs on moonlight 

 nights. 



Late in the summer the weeds begin to throw off 

 their seeds, the water becomes cloudy, the fish seem 

 lifeless and not at all inclined to strike. Gradually 

 the water cools and the seed-spores settle to make the 

 weed beds we will cast over next season. This is the 

 time of year when "the bloom is off the water'*; the 

 fish take a new lease on life, and are hungry and full 

 of fight. These conditions with the absence of mos- 

 quitoes and flies and the bracing weather with its 

 Indian summer haze conspire to make autumn angling, 

 in many respects, the best of all the year. 



The fag end of the season toward the end of Octo- 

 ber in northern latitudes, has a few bright warm days, 

 but by this time the shallow water cools quickly and 

 the fish are retiring again to the deep holes where they 

 pass the winter. 



SMALL LAKES 



Ordinarily the small lake is a simpler problem to 

 the stranger. Small weedless lakes are in the minority 

 because small lakes are favorable to weed-growth un- 

 less they are very deep. When we do meet with them 

 it is simply a question of finding the shallow spots 

 the ledges, reefs, bars, and "shelf" and this is na- 

 turally easier than on a large body of water. Such 

 lakes are usually small mouth bass waters unless fed 

 or drained by a large, sedge lined stream or connect- 



