410 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



the boy, and one poor fingerling for the disgusted sports- 

 man. The boy understood the " true inwardness " of the 

 Trout, in which matter the discomfited citizen was lament- 

 ably ignorant, and relied entirely upon his splendid rig for 

 success. 



Where Black Bass are plentiful, as in the quiet ponds 

 and lakes of Western New York, Northern Indiana, Mich- 

 igan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, at the Thousand Islands 

 of the St. Lawrence,- and in the extreme South, the merest 

 tyro, who can throw his bait twenty feet from the boat, 

 can, when the Bass are in a biting mood, show a big catch, 

 though he may necessarily have failed to land two out of 

 every three fish hooked. But on small rivers, where the 

 angler casts to the right and left and across the stream 

 from the banks, and while wading the shallows and bars, 

 and the Bass are shy, educated, and fully up in a knowl- 

 edge of the stream in its windings, eddies, pools, and rapids, 

 the highest skill and a thorough knowledge of the habits 

 of the fish are indispensable to a full creel; and this, at the 

 same time, constitutes the pleasure and perfection of Black 

 Bass angling. 



But bear in mind, that sticking the butt of a long rod 

 in the bank, and then, while reclining under the shade of 

 some umbrageous tree, enjoying a pipe or the latest novel 

 while waiting an hour for a bite, is not angling, but 

 simply loafing, and attempting to obtain Bass under false 

 pretenses. 



Casting the minnow is quite an art, as much so as casting 

 the fly ; indeed, I think there are more good fly casters 

 than good casters of the live minnow. Mediocrity in both 

 methods of angling is readily acquired, but great excellence 

 and perfect skill are rarely attained in either. The two 



