THE PERCH FAMILY. 105 



vogue. He is also trolled for with large gaudy flies — sold at 

 the tackle stores expressly for the purpose — ^from four to six 

 of them being attached by single lengths of gut to a long 

 salmon casting-line. But the neatest way of taking these fish is 

 practised by a veteran angler, who spends part of his summers 

 in Trout-fishing on Manitoulin Island ; to vary his amusement 

 he takes Black Bass from the shore, with a stout trout-rod. 

 They rise so readily at the artificial fly, that it is almost 

 unsportsmanlike to kill them in any other way. In trolling 

 for these fish, a, stout rod of ten feet and a good multiplying 

 reel, containing from fifty to a hundred yards of plaited silk 

 line, are required ; a pair of swivels are necessary when using 

 the spoon, but may be dispensed with if trolling with flies. 



Written directions for trolling from a boat are hardly 

 necessary, as the boatman, who is generally acquainted with 

 the feeding-grounds, rows over the most likely places. When 

 a Bass is struck, the boatman should cease rowing, and as the 

 fish is generally securely hooked if trolling with the spoon, 

 there is little chance of his escape, except from undue excite- 

 ment, or unskilful handling on the part of the angler. In 

 trolling with a gang of flies, it is best to have a landing-net 

 about eighteen inches in diameter. 



With all the game qualities of the Black Bass, his capture 

 by trolling with spoon or flies does not afford the pleasure 

 that taking fish from the shore does; there is no skill 

 required in finding the game, for that is done by the boat- 

 man ; striking is not necessary, as the fish hooks himself, and 

 as for killing him, you must take him, to get him off the 

 hook. So, in going out with a boatman who knows the 

 waters, it necessarily follows that the merest bungler is as 

 apt to have as good a catch as an expert angler. It is 

 exciting certainly, when trolling with flies, to have two or 

 three plucky fish on at the same time, fighting hard, and 



