STRATEGY 149 



fishing for bass is, compared with trouting, in its first 

 tooth stage. In other words, if some anglers loudly 

 proclaim that the east wind bloweth when they are 

 bassing with flies it is due, not to the bass but to the 

 angler. 



True one seldom gets the big, old, granddaddy bass 

 of 'em all on a fly, neither do the bigger trout come to 

 the net by the same route, but the average of the 

 stream or lake can be caught on flies and are on certain 

 waters. Is it entirely because of certain local peculiari- 

 ties of fish, water or conditions that fly fishing for bass 

 is practiced so successfully on such widely separated 

 waters as, to mention a few: the upper Mississippi and 

 Illinois rivers in the Middle West; the Susquehanna, 

 Potomac and Delaware in the East; the Current and 

 St. Francis in the Ozarks; the Belgrade Lakes in 

 Maine? I think not. Bass fly fishing has long been 

 practiced and studied in these places, hence the success. 



Aside from its beauty and charm wading a stream 

 makes for success. In the first place a stream that is 

 of wadable depth is ideal for fly fishing and the angler, 

 moving slowly and quietly, with only a portion of his 

 body above water is, as old Dennys put it, less likely 

 to " offend the fearful Fish's eye." 



SEASONS, WEATHER, ETC. 



As a general rule the trout fisher can go a-fishing 

 earlier with his flies than the angler who fishes for 

 bass in northern North America. A great many of 

 our good bass streams are in civilized territory and 



