CHAPTER XXI. 

 FLY-FISHING. 



THE literature of Black Bass fishing may truly be said to 

 have been evolved during the past decade. Previous to this 

 period very little mention was made of the two species of 

 Black Bass by our angling authors, and that little was mis- 

 leading, incorrect or glaringly false in most instances, and 

 related, almost without exception, to bait fishing. Fly-fish- 

 ing for Black Bass, although then practiced by a few ang- 

 lers, was apparently unknown to writers on angling. In- 

 deed, it was doubted by many, and denied by most anglers, 

 that the Black Bass would rise to the artificial fly; but this, 

 in my opinion, was due more to prejudice than to the result 

 of actual experience, and viewed in the light of our present 

 knowledge of the subject, this opinion is certainly strength- 

 ened, if not confirmed. 



Up to that time the brook-trout was deservedly the pride 

 arid idol of the fly-fisher, and it was deemed heresy to cast 

 the fly for any other fish, with the exception of the salmon. 

 But while yielding to none in my love and admiration for 

 the brook-trout, it is a pleasure for me to state that, in my 

 opinion (based on a large experience), there are no waters 

 inhabited by the Black Bass, large or small mouth, where 

 it will not rise to the artificial fly at some season of the 

 year, subject to certain states and conditions of the water, 

 etc., and this is as much as can belaid for the brook -trout, 



as all unprejudiced trout-fishers must admit. 



(171) 



