18 



If this be thrown with a sweeping surface draw 

 under trees or bushes, it is almost irresistible. 

 On the spoon I always run a lamper or a min- 

 now, and for slow water, like the stream at Milton, 

 or for lake fishing, I manufacture one as follows : 

 A spoon not more than three quarters of an inch in 

 length. If you cannot buy one so small, get one 

 made by some working jeweller or metallist. Then 

 slide a round black bead as large as a pea on your 

 line just above your hook, letting the spoon be 

 above it. This will be found to spin in the slowest 

 water, and, as every bass fisher knows, the slower 

 the rate of progression, the better, so long as the 

 spoon is spinning. I seldom use any sinker at 

 Milton Lake, there being little or no current, and 

 the trees as a rule keep off any wind. In the stream 

 I generally drift down, letting my line float in 

 front of the boat, and getting well down stream 

 troll back up stream, to drift down again. For the 

 benefit of the tyros I may here remark, that suc- 

 cess in trolling for bass, I think, depends largely 

 upon a perfect knowledge of the depth of water, 

 and that the bait should be kept about eighteen 

 inches from the bottom all the way. I study the 

 pools in my favorite streams, locating them by 

 trees, etc., on the bank, and then judge the depth 

 my bait lies at by the angle at which my line runs 

 from my mouth or pole to the water. This will, 

 with a little practice, tell me at what depth my bait 

 is swimming. Dobsons and small bull-heads I 

 obtain by striking the large rocks in the rifts and 



