The Bass Family 89 



No fish will rise to the artificial fly except in 

 comparatively shallow water, or when near the 

 surface, and this is especially true of the white- 

 bass when it resorts to the depths after the 

 spring run is over. I remember a striking in- 

 stance of this that once occurred in Wisconsin. 

 I was fishing for black-bass in the Neenah chan- 

 nel of Lake Winnebago during the May-fly 

 season, when the black-bass were taking the 

 artificial fly right along, being near the surface 

 feeding on the natural flies, though the water 

 was quite deep, with a rocky bottom. A party 

 of bait-fishers anchored near my boat, and began 

 fishing with heavy sinkers, as the water was very 

 swift, and with small minnows for bait. The 

 white-bass were not slow in taking the proffered 

 minnows, and they caught a goodly number, but 

 not a single black-bass ; nor did I take a single 

 white-bass during several hours of fishing, for 

 they were lying among the rocks at the bottom. 



In the rocky coves about the Bass Islands 

 of Put-in-Bay, on Lake Erie, I have had really 

 good sport, in the summer months, bait-fishing 

 for white-bass, with light tackle, the fish running 

 about two pounds ; but with the fly my success 

 was generally nil, as they were in deep water, 



