8o THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



As noted above the present great and increasing interest 

 in the black bass and in fishing for him may be attrib- 

 uted largely to the introduction and very general 

 adoption of the short bait-casting rod. Fly-fishing for 

 black bass, since by far the greater part of bass angling 

 is done in lakes and lake fly-fishing for bass is not apt 

 to be very productive is difficult to find of a quality 

 good enough to hold the angler's interest permanently. 

 Where good fly-fishing for bass in running water may 

 be had, that method would properly be preferred to 

 bait-casting by the expert with the fly-rod. Barring 

 this, bait-casting with the short casting rod and free- 

 running reel is the most intrinsically interesting of all 

 bass fishing methods and one calculated to afford rea- 

 sonable sport under almost all conditions. 



The writer has elsewhere discussed bait-casting tackle 

 at some length ("Fishing Kits and Equipment"), but in 

 view of the fact that the required tackle and the cor- 

 rect way of casting with it are not nearly as well un- 

 derstood among anglers in general as the tackle and 

 methods for fly-casting, it seems best to include here a 

 few notes on the casting rod, the casting reel and other 

 bait-casting equipment, together with suggestions in 

 regard to the use of the rod in casting. 



The typical modern short casting rod, as distinguished 

 from the old style and longer casting rods of which the 

 well-known "Henshall" rod may be 

 . * ^ e . taken as an example, and which the 

 J5ai -x:as mg s ^ QTt ^^ ^^ j arge j y superseded, va- 

 ries in length for practical fishing pur- 

 poses from five and a half to six feet. For distance 



