AND OTHER SKETCHES 269 



On one occasion I hooked a small mouthed bass which, 

 after landing, tipped the scale at four pounds. I had 

 fought him for fully twenty minutes and was beginning 

 to be as tired as the fish, when, to my dismay, a second 

 whopper took my second fly. I looked upon the fight then 

 as an almost hopeless one, but fortunate for me, after 

 the first plunge, a weak spot was found and the hook 

 taken by the fresh fish was stripped at the shank, thus 

 enabling me to land my first captive, and I do not believe 

 I ever felt greater pleasure in over thirty years of ang- 

 ling experience than I did on that moonlight night on the 

 rocks near Healey Falls, when landing one of the pluck- 

 iest bass that ever set up a fight. 



I have caught as many as two dozen green bass in the 

 same stretch of water, running from one to two pounds 

 in weight, in three hours' fishing by moonlight. In fact, 

 I may say that I have caught more of that variety of the 

 bass family in those particular waters by that style of 

 fishing than by any other. 



Not only in the Trent but in other northern waters, I 

 have had equally good success in moonlight fishing. I 

 remember once, on Four Mile Lake, a few miles back 

 from Coboconk, I was anchored close to a bare rock in 

 the centre of the lake, hoping to get a good evening 

 catch. In this I was disappointed. It had been an ex- 

 cessively hot day; there was now a light, cooling breeze 

 coming across the water, and I decided to enjoy my 

 evening pipe in my pleasant resting place before return- 

 ing to camp. About nine o 'clock the moon shone out with 

 rare brilliancy and noticing one or two breaks near to 

 my rocky island, I determined on making an effort to 

 catch a few fish by Luna's light. Putting one of the few 

 live grasshoppers I had with me on the hook, I cast in 

 the direction of where I had seen the waters disturbed 

 and was soon securely hooked to a good fighting bass. 

 The rest of the story is easily told. With grasshopper, 

 dew worm, and towards the last with the white miller 

 fly, I caught nine splendid fish and was not more than one 

 hour in doing it. The following night, with equally fav- 



