364 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



other aquatic plants are well grown, they will be found 

 near them, feeding on the minnows and small fry which 

 congregate there. When the ephemeral flies of early 

 summer appear, the Bass will then be found where these 

 are most numerous; and they, at this time, feed at the 

 surface. 



I was once fly-fishing for Bass in the Neenah Channel, 

 at the outlet of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. The stream 

 was quite swift, with a rocky bottom, and the surface was 

 covered with May-flies, upon which the Bass were feed- 

 ing. I was enjoying royal sport, using a cast of two 

 brown hackles, and frequently fastened a fish to each fly. 



A boat-load of rustic anglers, with tamarack-poles and 

 short lines, seeing my success, dropped down abreast of 

 me, and anchored within fifty feet of my boat. They 

 were using small minnows for bait, with heavy sinkers on 

 their lines, which, of course, carried the bait to the bot- 

 tom, where were feeding schools of White Bass (Roccus 

 chrysops). As I took only Black Bass from the surface, 

 they caught nothing but White Bass at the bottom. They 

 could not understand it, and I did not enlighten them, 

 for I had no desire to see my pet fish "yanked out" by 

 tamarack-poles and tow-strings. I left them, shortly, in 

 the glory of " snaking out " as they called it the un- 

 fortunate White Bass, wondering, meanwhile, why they 

 could not catch Black Bass like " that other fellow." 



But do we really know any of the conditions favorable 

 or unfavorable for angling? We are told that fish will 

 not bite when the water is rendered high and turbid by 

 freshets ; during a thunder-storm, with heavy rain ; on 

 dark, cold days, with a blustering East wind; and on 

 bright, still and hot days, when the water lies unruffled, 



