414 Book of the Black Bass. 



now, should be used. The Une in each instance heing the 

 same as reeonunended for casting the minnow, except where 

 no reel is used, when the smallest size twisted silk line, 

 Xo. 1, is the best. 



Still-fishers usually employ the float and sinker, and 

 they may be used or not, according to circumstances, 

 though one of the chiefest delights of the still-fisher is to 

 watch the maneuvers of his float. Where the stream is 

 shallow and full of snags, or the bottom covered with moss 

 or grass, a float is necessary; and where the current is 

 quite swift, or the water deep, and the bait-minnow large 

 and strong, a sinker must be used to keep it beneath the 

 surface. 



Baits akd Baiting. 



Willie a minnow is the best bait for casting, other baits, 

 as the helgramite, crawfish, frog, cricket, grasshopper, etc., 

 are as good, and sometimes better, for still-fishing. As a 

 rule, the bait that is the most plentiful in the waters fished 

 will be found the most successful. The helgramite is a 

 capital bait, either early or late in the season, when the 

 bass are on the ripples on in shallow water. It is a flat, 

 dark, repulsive-looking worm, some two or three inches 

 long, and a half-inch wide (the larva of the homed corj-- 

 dalis), and is found under boulders, flat stones, decaying 

 timbers, etc., in shallow streams. It is variously called 

 helgramite, dobson, hellion, kill-devil, grampus, crawler, 

 etc., and is best hooked by passing the hook under the cap 

 covering the neck, from behind forward, bringing the hook 

 out next to the head. 



The crawfish, especially when casting its shell, when it 

 is called " peeler " or " shedder," is a good bait. In its 

 usual state it is best hooked through the tail; peelers can 



