THE BASSES: FRES H-W ATER AND MARINE 



novel sight to see these anglers advancing down 

 the river like a line of skirmishers, with three arched 

 rods, curling lines, and lures, spotting the lip of 

 an eddy, the outer curl of a riffle, or the quiet 

 water lying just beyond a baby boulder, with a 

 sort of automatic precision of distance and move- 

 ment that was as wonderful in its mechanism as 

 it was pleasant to look upon. 



The river lay about sixty feet below the " fish- 

 ing-box," and was reached by a path which wound 

 under a culvert built by the railroad company over 

 the little stream that glittered down the ravine to 

 the south of the camp. At the spot where this 

 brook plunged over the rocks into the river, the 

 bass in midsummer could always be found feeding 

 upon the small dace and other minnows that lay 

 in the shallows at its mouth; and it was here that 

 our anglers always made their first essay upon the 

 bronze-backers. 



Having adjusted their rods, soaked their casts, 

 and in other diverse ways completed their bodily 

 and fishing rigs, they started for the river, and 

 in a few moments were abreast of the mouth of 

 the small stream before mentioned. They had de- 

 cided, before starting out, to fish down stream in 

 company, but as Mendy was slightly in advance, 

 and the spot was tempting, he made a cast across 

 the widest part of the little bay, and the response 

 came quickly to his army-worm in the form of a 



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