BASS FISHING IN SPRINGWATER. 



J. A. MACKENZIE. 



Southeast of Aylmer is a group of ponds 

 known as Springwater. These ponds are 

 the home of numerous small mouth black 

 bass. It was there I first learned to love 

 this noble game fish, and to angle for him 

 in a sportsmanlike manner. 



A bass angler goes through several 

 stages of development. First he uses a 

 cane pole and a click reel, for ordinary 

 bait fishing; then the light, pliable fly rod 

 and cast of dainty flies; to be suc- 

 ceeded, when occasion requires, by min- 

 now casting. The selection of a rod is 

 important. It took me weeks of careful 

 study of magazine articles, catalogues, 

 etc. At last I decided on a Bristol steel fly 

 rod, 9 feet long and weighing 8]/> ounces, 

 as the most durable rod for the money. 

 If the angler can afford it, a good split 

 bamboo makes an excellent rod, but re- 

 quires careful usage, and costs as much as 

 4 or 5 steel rods. /Niter all, if you can get 

 the same action and balance in the steel 

 rod, where is the advantage in buying a 

 split bamboo? Eight or 9 ounces is light 

 enough for bass fishing. The rod must 

 have enough backbone to cast the heavy 

 bass flies, although small flies on Nos. 3 

 to 5 Sproat hooks are most successful 

 here. An important point is the size of 

 line required. I use a No. 3 enameled 

 silk line, a lighter one not casting so easi- 

 ly, as it has not weight enough to bend 

 the rod, and thus make it do the work. 

 Smaller sizes might be used with lighter 

 or longer, and consequently more pliable, 

 rods. I advise every angler to learn to 

 tie his own flies. Throughout the long 

 winter evenings to tie a few flies is a fore- 

 taste of coming sport. They can be made 

 works of art, giving much satisfaction and 

 pleasure to the maker. White Leghorn 

 cocks are cheap and so are diamond dyes. 

 The best Sproat central draft hooks cost 

 about a cent apiece. A small double gut 

 loop is better than a snell, and is easily 

 put on. The rest can be learned by tak- 

 ing apart a few ready made flies. Many 

 varieties are not needed and only cause 

 confusion. A few white millers and royal 

 coachmen, tied on numbers 1, 2 and 3 

 hooks, for dusk and moonlight evenings; 

 also for dark days; with some Parmachene 

 belles, professors and grizzly kings, on 

 numbers 3 and 4 hooks, for stormy weath- 

 er and cloudy days, complete the list of 

 winged flies required; while black, brown, 

 gray, red and yellow hackles, especially 

 the brown and yellow, are perhaps the 

 best killers on all kinds and. conditions of 

 water. As a rule, the larger bass are not 

 caught on flies. A small fly, say on a 



number 4 or 5 hook, is taken more into 

 the mouth and more fish are hooked with 

 small flies than with large ones. It also 

 casts much better with a light rod. Hooks 

 should be kept sharp, and none but those 

 of the very best makers should be used. 



To become a good fly caster requires 

 practice. There are but 2 motions, an up- 

 ward and backward motion, which re- 

 trieves the line, and a forward motion 

 which casts the fly out over the water. In 

 the former be careful to bring the rod only 

 to the perpendicular or slightly past it, 

 for if brought farther back the line will 

 fall on the ground and a hook or a fly be 

 lost in the forward cast. Also give suffi- 

 cient time for the line to straighten out, 

 between the backward and the forward 

 movements. A friend to prompt one 

 would be of great assistance. Both mo- 

 tions should be from the elbow, easy and 

 steady. No great strength is required, the 

 spring of the rod doing all the work. 



Fly fishing is the highest attainment in 

 the angler's art, but not the most difficult 

 to acquire. Casting the minnow from a free 

 running reel, with its delicate thumbing, 

 is too difficult for many of the older skilled 

 fly fishermen to attain. As with trout, 

 there are many times when bass will not 

 rise to the fly, and then the angler must 

 resort to bait or go with an empty creel. 

 If a bass once sees the angler nothing can 

 tempt him to take the bait. In order to 

 be successful the bait must be got out 

 away from the boat or the shore where the 

 angler is standing, and the farther away 

 the better. The old school anglers still 

 use 16 and 18 foot cane poles to effect 

 this, but the bass are becoming educated, 

 and minnow casting offers an effective, 

 graceful and more sportsmanlike way of 

 presenting the bait to such noble game. 

 With a short, moderately stiff rod. a free 

 running reel and a fine, hard braided silk 

 line, the novice is equipped to begin prac- 

 tice. Fasten on a y 2 ounce lead sinker, 

 reel it up to the end of the rod, extend the 

 rod to the right to a point nearly touching 

 the ground, reel uppermost, thumb lightly, 

 touching the spool with hand opposite the 

 right hip. By an upward, sidelong but ' 

 easy and steady sweep send the sinker to 

 the left, the hand traveling across the 

 body until opposite the left shoulder. The 

 spool must be delicately thumbed until 

 the lead is about to light, and then 

 thumbed hard. This prevents it from turn- 

 ing too fast and tangling up the line. 

 When I first practiced this method of cast- 

 ing I found it difficult. I learned, how- 

 ever, after many trials, if the reel was per- 



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