138 SCIENCE OP FISHING. 



States, makes it possible for almost everybody to be a bass 

 fisherman if he likes, and the number of fishermen who 

 seek this fine fish is greater perhaps than the number of 

 devotees of all other kinds of fresh water fishing combined. 

 In the northern half of the Mississippi valley almost every 

 angler is a bass fisherman. The fact that so many means 

 may be employed in capturing this fish is also very much in 

 its favor. The small boy and the grown still-fisher get their 

 share, the live bait fisherman and the artificial bait-caster 

 find this fish their most worthy quarry and the fly-caster also 

 finds that these fish take the fly well and afford a sport un- 

 rivaled in its line. 



No other fish of its size can or will put up such a fight 

 for its liberty when hooked as the black bass and this is a 

 claim that few will dispute. And after capture too it does 

 not take a back seat for it is a fine food fish. 



Fishing with natural bait is perhaps the most common 

 way of taking these fish, anyway it was until in recent years. 

 Small frogs and minnows are the most taking baits for the 

 big fellows and a fish of any size up to five inches may 

 be used as bait. Any black bass large enough to be taken 

 will try to eat a five inch minnow without any hesitation 

 whatever. For this kind of fishing a bait rod of eight or 

 eight and one-half feet, weighing about seven or eight ounces 

 according to quality, a quadruple casting reel of the eighty 

 yard size, a raw silk line of small size sixty or eighty yards, 

 and a box swivel, with a No. 2 hook on a short double gut 

 snell is about the proper tackle. For large bass of the South, 

 or for frog casting use hooks of about 1/0 size. If the fishing 

 is about grass and lily pads, you can use a weedless hook. 

 If you use frogs for bait, or artificial baits, you will want a 

 much shorter and stiffer rod than for minnows and other 

 natural baits, but the frog-casters are in the minority. 



Ordinarily one will do his best fishing in morning and 

 evening, but natural bait can be used throughout the entire 



