Conditions which Goyekn Biting ob Fish. 331 



night, they seem to feed more especially on moonlight 

 nights. Still, I do not attribute this fact to any influence 

 possessed by the moon beyond the light it affords to enable 

 the fish to find their prey. I have often observed that 

 during the season of full-moon, fish were more apt to be 

 sluggish and ofE their feed during the day time; and this 

 I have always attributed to the fact that they did their 

 feeding mostly at nights, at such times. Many anglers only 

 fish from the last quarter until the new moon — that is, 

 during the " dark of the moon." 



A perfect day for fishing might be described as a warm, 

 pleasant day, with a balmy, invigorating breeze ; a mellow 

 sunlight, not too bright, produced by a somewhat hazy 

 atmosphere, or by drifting clouds; when the season has 

 been neither too wet nor too dry; such a day as makes it 

 a pleasure for one to breathe, and inhale with delight the 

 odors and fragrance of forest, field, and stream. 



Not a day that produces a feeling of exquisite languor, 

 and disposes to delicious, dreamy reveries, like the stimu- 

 lant effect of an opiate; but a day when the atmosphere 

 seems filled with some indescribable aerial stimulant, that 

 acts upon the brain, nerves, and circulation like sparkling 

 wine ; that rouses the energies and spurs the nerves, pulses, 

 and muscles to action; such a day as makes one desire to 

 laugh, to sing, to leap, to caper, to race through the 

 meadows, to indulge in sudden impulses, in short, to make 

 one feel a boy again. 



Such a day, when the water is semi-transparent or trans- 

 lucent, and of such a temperature when it is most pleasant 

 to bathe in — such a day, I say, is sure to be a satisfactory 

 one to the angler, and the fish will be pretty sure to bite. 



On a day such as I have just described, I once made my 

 largest catch of black bass, though I have always been 



