Conditions which Govern Biting of Fish. 325 



feeding on insects and flies which were being blown into 

 the water by a brisk wind. 



I proposed fishing back over the same ground to the evi- 

 dent disgust of the Captain. But I began casting between 

 the bulrushes and the shore, in the shallow water under 

 the lee of the bank, and fastened to a large bass at almost 

 the first cast. The Captain followed my lead; and, on 

 atriving at our original starting-point, a few hundred yards 

 distant, we had taken fifteen fine bass. The three boats 

 had made the entire circuit of the lake, and the six anglers 

 in them, fishing on the usual grounds, had not, altogether, 

 taken half as many fish, when they joined us for luncheon. 



In lacustrine waters, black bass first appear in the shal- 

 lowest portions, where the water is warm, and feed upon 

 Crustacea, moUusks, etc., retiring to deeper water as the 

 season advances. When the patches of rushes and other 

 aquatic plants are well grown, they will be found near 

 them, feeding on the minnows and small fry which con- 

 gregate there. When the ephemeral files 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 feeding. 

 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 bottom, 

 where were feeding schools of white bass {Roccus chry- 



