IN THE MATTER OF FLIES 



you find shallow ledges of rocks where the water 

 is not over five or six feet deep; and if less, the 

 better for your outlook. True, the bass, lacking 

 a food-supply in such places, wiU forage near the 

 shore, particularly around the aquatic vegetation 

 in the httle bays, and, more hkely, even than there, 

 at the mouths of small brooks that flow into the 

 lake. Under such conditions, get out of your boat, 

 put on your wading-trousers, and approach the 

 spot within fifty to sixty feet — black-bass fly- 

 fishing requires long casting. Let your flies sink 

 an inch or two, and then draw your cast slowly 

 in, with the dropper just touching the surface 

 of the water. Should you see the swirl of a rise, 

 cast instantly into it and let your flies sink at 

 once. 



If black bass are caught on lakes with the arti- 

 ficial fly on a bright day, the occasions are excep- 

 tional, and the fish are taken only when cloud 

 shadows are passing now and then; but when the 

 gloom of the fading day spreads over the water, 

 or before sunrise, the bass feed, and at such times 

 they, like all other fish that come to the surface, 

 wiU take a trailing lure, be it of feathers, of metal, 

 or of Nature's build. I have caught at least 

 twenty species, including thirteen varieties of 

 Southern salt-water fish, with the artificial fly, and 

 never failed to lure any fish to the moving 

 feathers, provided the water was clear enough for 



