ARTIFICIAL LURES FOR BLACK BASS 



bass frequently starts for a lure before it reaches 

 the water; perhaps every casting-lure ought to 

 be constructed with reference to this fact. The 

 coaxer has taken many good fish during its short 

 life, and may be recommended in confidence. In 

 Eastern waters, the smaller size should be used, 

 while the larger size is successful in better adapted 

 Western and Southern waters. 



The Mohawk darter (No. 8) is a flat metal min- 

 now, nickel-plated, and is drawn through the water 

 by a wire hinged somewhat back from the extreme 

 front end. By this arrangement an oscillating or 

 darting motion is given, while a slight twist in the 

 tail tends to keep the lure slowly turning over. In 

 principle this device has much to commend it, and 

 its killing quality is not limited to black bass ; salt- 

 water fish strike at it readily. It should prove a 

 very efi'ective lure for striped bass. 



The best of the several varieties of artificial frogs 

 now offered the angler is the hollow rubber frog 

 (No. 9), and there are times when these imitations 

 wiU prove excellent lures. I have found that frog 

 with the brown back and cream-colored belly the 

 most successful, although my habit is to paint my 

 artificial frogs in careful imitation of the animals 

 native to the waters I am fishing. And it is also 

 good sense to paint both sides of these lures in 

 imitation of the belly of the frog only, since frogs, 

 either natural or artificial, when cast by an angler, 



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