386 Book of the Black Bass. 



ably ignorant, and relied entirely upon his splendid rig for 

 success. 



Where black bass are plentiful, as in the quiet ponds 

 and lakes of Indiana, Michigan, 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, edu- 

 cated, and fully up in a knowledge of the stream in its 

 windings, eddies, pools, and rapids, the highest skill and a 

 thorough knowledge of the habits of the fish are indispen- 

 sable 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 imibrageous tree, enjoying a pipe or the latest novel 

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

 ply 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 excel- 

 lence and perfect skill are rarely attained in either. The 

 two methods are essentially and practically different, and 

 require implements and tools commensurate with this dif- 

 ference. 



While the fly-rod is willowy and long, the minnow-rod 

 is short and comparatively stiS ; the fly-line is rather heavy 



