18 Fishing in North Carolina. 



the ice at the edge of a pond, paddled up the 

 "run" towards the source, and caught them with 

 a piece of red flannel for bait on the coldest sort 

 of day. A small red-fin is a dangerous bass bait, 

 and probably his big kinsman would also take 

 care of him if tempted. 



All varieties will readily take artificial bait, 

 in trolling or dibbling, and will greedily attack 

 any live bait, such as small fish, frog, bug, bird 

 or fly. In fact, any moving object will be looked 

 into, whether red rag, white pork, tin cup or 

 painted cork. His fancy requires no tickling 

 with dainty things so long as the object is on 

 the move — he only insists on the delusive pleas- 

 ure of believing that the bait is alive, and he 

 will rush it. If you have failed to hook him 

 with several kinds of bait, he will occasionally 

 jump into your boat, ostensibly for the purpose 

 of seeing if any other kind of bait is handy. 



They are so voracious that it is difficult to 

 fill them, but they are not voracious when play- 

 ing with your bait, because you never know 

 when to strike him safely. Often, he will take 

 your cork under, bass-like ; another time he will 



