86 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



In the writer's experience more bass are raised and 

 hooked at the moment the lure strikes the water, or 

 almost immediately thereafter, than when the bait is 

 being reeled or trolled in. Certainly a good bait-caster 

 can kill more bass by casting any certain artificial bait 

 than the fisherman who trolls the same bait. It is the 

 motion and impact of the bait upon the water which 

 arouses the fighting blood of the bass and causes him 

 to rise and strike. 



Bass as a rule strike an artificial lure from the rear. 

 Of course, when the bait is cast to one side of the fish, 

 he takes advantage of the fact that the shortest distance 

 between two points is a straight line and strikes from 

 the side. But when the bait is being reeled in a bass 

 most often comes to it from the rear. It is for this 

 reason that moderately slow reeling is always most 

 successful. If the lure is moving at too great speed 

 short rises are apt to occur, and if the bass is slightly 

 pricked it is not at all probable that he will come again. 

 Pickerel, it should be noted, almost invariably strike 

 from the side, and here again slow reeling is of import- 

 ance, for a clean miss frequently results when the bait 

 is moving too fast. 



When a bass is fastened at the end of a long cast the 

 tendency of the angler is to hurry him in to the boat, 

 where he can be played to more advantage. This often 

 results in the loss of the fish. It should be remembered 

 that a quadruple multiplying reel is of lightning speed, 

 and consequently fast cranking is not only unnecessary 

 but risky. When fishing in very weedy waters, how- 

 ever, it is often a case of speedy reeling or the loss of 



