BAITS FOR. BLACK BASS 



charged an exorbitant price, sometimes as high ass 

 three dollars a hundred for live minnows, crayfish* 

 or lamper-eels, half or more of which are apt to die 

 before the fishing day is over. Personally, how- 

 ever, I may say that some of the most enjoyable 

 hours are those passed in the capture of live baits. 

 It fills up the off days or early hours when the bass 

 are not in a biting humor, and, best of all, it will 

 make one independent of the local bait-peddler, 

 who, of all human beings, has the least conscience 

 anent crime within the law. Live baits are easily 

 obtained. 



The Lamprey 



First, the so-called lamper-eel, which is not an 

 eel, but belongs to a very low Order of water ani- 

 mals, having no bony skeleton, no gills, ribs or 

 limbs, and being a naked, eel-shaped creature with 

 a sucker mouth, the lips of which are fringed with 

 fine hairs. It inhabits the fresh water of rivers and 

 brooks and gets its living by attaching itself to 

 other fishes, feeding upon them by scraping off the 

 flesh with its rasp-hke teeth. They are usually 

 found in the mud close to the shores, and a shovel 

 is all that is necessary to capture them. Dig deep 

 and throw the mud upon the dry bank, and search 

 thoroughly through it with the hands for the wig- 

 glers. They are more slippery and agile than the 

 eel, and of all live baits the most difficult to impale 



41. 



