B A I T-F ISHING FOR BLACK BASS 



waters of the Delaware; on other rivers, where the 

 bass are very nvimerous and shoulder and fight each 

 other for food, it seldom, if ever, occurs. 



Casting the Minnow 



The most admired and skUful method, but the 

 least followed on Eastern waters, is that of 

 minnow-casting for bass. Like fly-casting it can- 

 not be taught by description or diagrams. Briefly 

 and rudely told, the angler stands on the bank of a 

 stream or lake, or in a boat, with a rod about seven 

 feet in length, which is held tip-down three or four 

 feet from the body, either to the right or the left, 

 then with an upward swoop brought to about the 

 height of the head, with the tip pointing in the 

 direction of a rising bass or where one is supposed 

 or hoped to be, the line running free from the reel 

 imtil just a moment before the lure strikes the 

 water, when it is stopped by the thumb of the 

 angler. A few practical lessons on the stream 

 will soon perfect the novice if he has the material 

 in him; if not, he had better stick to his stUl-fishing 

 or to drifting his minnow bait down stream, with 

 his bait-bucket fxmibling between and around his 

 legs. 



The merest bungler as a rod-fisher should not be 

 discouraged, for black bass are frequently caught 

 without using rod, line, hook, or bait. In the upper 



3 33 



