248 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
March 30, 1895. 
br weighted bait, a reel should be on the rod, only letlfc 
e used as little as possible. 
First, as to fly casting. There are many reels on the 
market. The English click, with solid plates and spool, 
operated by a guarded plate, is the best of the old style 
spindle reels, and the American "Expert," the best of 
all, as it is easy to clean, strong, tight and having an 
openwide spool, give the line a chance to dry. 
It is an easy matter to get a good fly rod nowadays, but 
until recently there were few good far-casting lines on the 
market. Now, just as every gun has its peculiar load of 
powder, wads and shot, so every fly-rod has its peculiar 
taper of line which can only be determined by trial. To 
do this, get a long, heavy line, say as large as No. D, or 
even No. C, and cast with this until the rod can handle 
no more. Then you have its capacity with a line far too 
heavy for actual use, "because the splash of its fall would 
disturb the water. Reel up half the length of the rod, 
and, for ordinary trout fishing, lap on a length and a half 
of the rod of line size No. F or No. G. Neither line needs 
to be tapered. They must be lapped together, as you can- 
not splice the plait. This can be done either by sewing 
the lines with a fine number of thread or as follows: End 
on two pieces of twine to the two ends of the two lines, 
strain both while you work from a small screw hook 
in the woodwork of a window to the chair of which you 
are sitting. You can tighten by moving the chair. 
Begin to whip about the middle of the overlap of the 
lines, marked as in figure 2. Whip towards one end for 
a quarter of an inch, then a half hitch, or nip on y our 
quill clip to hold things while you cut the end of the 
lines slanting. Go on and finish with the draw-out knot. 
Eepeat end for end for the other line, beginning close up 
to where you commenced your first whipping and working 
in the opposite direction. 
Then lap a short band to strengthen the join where the 
two lappings impinge, and when the strain on the lines is 
loosened you have a very strong splice as shown in figure 
4. Now thread the line on the rod and try how it works. 
You will find that the heavy main line goes out strongly 
by reason of its weight, takes out the light line with it, 
and when fully extended, sends out the light line sharply 
and smartly. You will also find that you have full 
mastery over the light line, and that you have gained 
about a length of throw in your cast. Now for another 
winning. I am going to tell you how to finish your line 
with a three plait of graduated gut, laid in without a 
knot, to which the regular leader for the flies is to be 
fastened. 
Take three strands of moistened gut, which shall, 
when laid together, be a trifle less than the size of your 
light line. Lay them around the light line for about an 
inch and a half, and put on a temporary lap about a 
quarter of an inch from the upper ends of the gut. Lap 
the loose end of the fine line along one of the strands of 
gut, and make the ordinary three-ply plait for an inch or 
so, drawing tight at every stroke. Now leave the end of 
the light line out and continue plaiting the gut for a 
couple of inches as shown in figure 5. Bend on a tempo- 
rary lap or keeper. You can now strain the plaited gut 
over a hook against the line, clip the upper ends of gut 
off close up to where the line came in, but irregularly, 
g o that there will be a taper when you lay on the perma- 
nent lapping where the line and gut join at A in figure 
5. This should end on the single line. Now cut the end 
of the line off, bend on a permanent lapping where this 
line ceased to follow the plait, and your stretch of gut 
plait is started; that is at B, in figure 5. 
Now there are three strands of gut, each presumably of 
about equal length. Let the longest one stand and"clip 
the other two so that they run in thirds as at X in figure 
5. Have your links of gut ready, wrapped in a wet cloth, 
and when you get within an inch or a little over of the 
end of the link in plait, lay a new strand alongside and 
work in with the short end as shown at C in figure 5, and 
then leave the short end out of the six plaits as at D in 
figure 5. You can commence with a longish end of the 
new strand between your finger and thumb, and draw 
it down and in after laying four or five plaits down. 
Once started, the length of your plait is a question of 
choice and industry, but anywhere from four to nine feet 
will go. Work slowly, for a mistake in the laying cannot 
be mended. I need hardly tell you to graduate the size 
of your gut at distances nor to work with moist gut, but 
don't clip an end until you are about finished, then 
stretch the plait with from three pounds down of dead 
weight for half an hour, the full length being wrapped in 
wet cloths and then ring the ends pretty close with a 
sharp pair of scissors. If you are plaiting in very fine 
gut at the end, use a lighter drawing weight, but don't 
clip too close, for the plait will draw with use and you 
will have to go over it for loose ends once in a while. 
It is somewhat troublesome to make a plait of gradu- 
ated gut, such as I have described, but it is worth it, for 
when wet its delivery cannot be equalled for fierceness 
and lightness. You may begin with a plait of three feet, 
not graduated, and then go on if you like it. It is well 
to finish with a strand of rather heavy gut, worked in 
and lapped as the silk line was, to which you can bend on 
your regular leader with the usual water-knot, thus 
avoiding the loop. 
I have heard that gut, like horse hair, can be spun over 
a quill and was promised a lesson, but do not know how 
it is done. 
It is well to splice on 'to the other end of your heavy 
enamelled silk line, as much linen twist bass line as the 
reel will comfortably hold. It fills out the spindle, and 
comes in handy for trolling, or when you get on the big 
fish of the year that goes off with a big rush and draws 
upon the length of back line to keep him in touch with 
you. 
In'fly -casting, both for distance and delicacy, the left 
hand can do wonders with a long stretch of line, held 
between thumb and forefinger and between the reel and 
the first ring on the rod as shown in figure 6. The 
neatest way to get line out, if you have a clear space 
overhead, is by a series of dry casts in the air, not permit- 
ting any part of the line or leader to touch anything, but 
paying out line by drawing with the left hand from the 
reel and letting go when the swing of the line in the air 
gives a pull to the line on the rod. There are several very 
pretty varieties of this, like the feats of a juggler with a 
riband of paper or stiff silk, and I have seen some won- 
derful casts made when the line was sent wriggling out 
through the air by mere vibration of the tip of the rod. 
Whatever cast you make, overhead, switch or steeple, 
there should be a moment when the line is pretty ex- 
tended; then, your left hand being as shown in figure 7, 
you can let go and the slack will be taken out by the pull 
of the line that is extended, as shown in figure 8. So you 
will gain five or six feet more if you venture to hold a 
coil m your left hand. This latter is expert tournament 
work, but the touch of the left hand on the line enables 
you either to give a couple of feet and so ease a fierce cast, 
or on the other hand, to draw in and so straighten the 
line as against a vagrant puff of wind, or sharpen the 
strike of the hook by simultaneously indrawing line and 
raising top of rod, as shown in figures A and B. 
Especially in black bass fishing it is well to get your line 
out in water where there are no fish, then make a long 
cast over where they ought to be, let the flies sink, and 
then draw in in jerky style, sometimes slow, sometimes 
fast, until you get within ten feet of your fish; throw 
very quickly, as the fish will follow the line a long way 
before yielding to temptation. Having got your fish on, 
the next thing is to play him; with a limber rod, the 
more work you give it to do the better; do not try to set 
line in all the time, but let the rod bend, only giving line 
to prevent its breaking, and then as little as possible. 
Hold the rod steady and let the fish tug away. Presently 
the strain of the spring will tell on him, and the rod will 
straighten. Then is your time to get the line in board as 
fast as possible, and this is done far faster by strijiping the 
line from the first ring to the hand holding the rod 
thrown by any other. 
The disadvantage and danger in stripping the line is 
that the slack of your line must lay around loose, and is 
apt to kink and tangle. This can "be avoided by taking 
advantage of intervals when the fish is not fighting, and 
then by holding the working line between the thumb and 
second joint of the forefinger of the left hand, and laying 
the slack in a loop, checked by a little pressure, or be- 
tween any of the other fingers, and your hold on the fish 
is steady while you can regulate the tension of the slack 
of the line, and reel it up evenly, as shown in figure. 
Now for a few hints to wind up with. Always test 
your leaders. Soak them in strong coffee for twelve 
hours, and then pull against a spring balance until the 
leader breaks. Re-knot and pull again; a good bass 
eader should stand a pull of two pounds, of course a fine 
trout leader need not be so strong, but it is better to 
break them at home two or three times than to have one 
part company with that big fish on. A rub with powdered 
pumice stone will take the gloss and glitter off the gut. 
Test your flies also, and after soaking them, they nearly 
always go to the end of the shank of the hook. Don't 
throw the fly away, but whip the gut on again with fine 
waxed silk, as shown in figure A. Then reverse the gut, 
take a few turns around the hook and finish as shown in 
figure A. Graduate your leaders; fine at the end, heavy 
where they join the line. 
Be very careful as to trees, bushes, etc.. and have your 
eyes open in the back of your head as well as in the front 
of you. 
When you wish to cover a likely spot, get your distance 
in other water so as not to disturb that you intend to 
fish. Very often the unexpected will occur, and you 
will get a strike when you are not looking for it. 
For "skittering" use as light a line as possible, as the 
weight of the line will take it out. 
Rely on your rod and your wrist. Give the spring of 
the rod fair play, and if it breaks, that settles it. Only 
never hold a stiff wrist, and wait for a lull in the contest 
before you gather line in. Don't pull at one end when 
your captive is tugging at the other. 
In netting a fish don't try to take him with the net, but 
hold it so that you can drop him back into it. Keep the 
left hand still until he is inside the bag, then raise quickly. 
After considerable experiment I have found that the 
best costume for fishing is a knickerbocker, made with 
a very tight knee and no over hand, but wrinkled up the 
thigh to give ease in action. You can make a very good 
article out of a pair of trousers by putting them on inside 
out and hoisting the legs sufficiently and then basting in 
the knees, cutting waste cloth off and then reversing and 
finishing with buttons and holes on the outside. For 
dry fishing, as from a boat, I like gaiters, but for river 
fisning, wear woolen stockings and cheap tennis shoes; 
the rubber soles give a splendid hold on slippery rocks, 
and when they wear smooth you can roughen by cris- 
crossing with a saw or a red hot wire. I never try to 
keep my feet dry; with tennis shoes you will walk your 
legs dry in ten minutes after you are out of the water. 
Be careful, however, never to sit still in wet clothes, 
as in a carriage. Then change before you start driving. 
Gray John. 
In North Carolina Waters, 
Newbern, N. C, March 16. —Speckled perch are a 
gamey fish, and now take bait freely in Bryce's creek, so- 
called, though it is a deep and crooked stream, which 
would reach forty miles or more if the kinks were 
straightened out. In some places it is said to be fully 100 
feet deep, and will average eight. It is noble for a creek 
and the quantity of black bass, ring perch, sobins, cat- 
fish, and pickerel which it harbors is something immense. 
It is the finest fishing stream in this section, empt}ung 
into the Trent River, some two miles above Newbern. 
From now until May, rod fishing will be fine. Speckled 
perch, locally known as chinquapins, are closely allied to 
the croppies of Minnesota, and the sac-a-laits of Lake Pon- 
chartrain, La. running from a poun l to two pounds in 
weight, seldom larger. They take cut bait, minnows and 
angle worms. 
New River, as I wrote the other day, is a grand fishing 
water, where weak fish and black bass (Dr. Henshall's 
specialty) can be caught within an horn's sail of each 
other. 
The Newbern Fish anl Oyster Fair this season was 
something to be proud of, despite the fortnight of cold 
weather which immediately preceded it, although not 
quite up to the seven previous exhibits. At some fairs as 
many as nineteen varieties of oysters, as well as eighty 
varieties of salt and fresh water fish, all taken in neigh- 
borhood waters, besides clams, crabs, scallops, mussels 
and terrapins, were shown. These annual fish exhibits 
are becoming a more popular attraction even than Black- 
ford's Fulton Market trout openings on April 1. 
Dr. J. West Roosevelt and C. Stewart Davidson, of New 
York, are now here. Shepard Knapp and F. A. Coudert, 
Jr., have been shantying on New River, below Jackson- 
ville, since January 1. Chas. Hallock. 
Black Bass Fishing at Night. 
Seeing Mr. A. N. Cheney's article about black bass in I 
the, issue of January 19, I will give you an account of 
what I know about fishing for black bass at night with 
rod and reel. In the month of August, 1893, Professor 1 
Jos. Andrews, of Pittsburgh, Dr. J. G. Phillips and the 
writer, of Allegheny, took a fishing trip for black bass up 
the Castleman River to Fort Hill on the B. & O. R. R., 100 
miles from Pittsburgh,. Professor Rhinehart, of Pitts- 
burgh, was encamped there with his family, whom we 
went to visit. We ha I good luck with them, making 
some good catches, but Professor Rhinehart's time to fish 
was after 8 o'clock in the evening. He would go up 
stream about a mile and then fish down, and get in about 
10 o'clock with a nice string of black bass, weighing from 
three-quarters to one and a half pounds each. He caught 1 
as many as nine in the time mentioned. They were 
taken with a fly; the one used with best success was the 
white miller. An accident occurred to Professor Rhine- ! 
hart which made him feel a little awkward. He had con- I 
structed a live box out of a barrel bored full of small i 
holes, which he sunk in the stream with some large 
bowlders. We had three dozen or more Live bass in it to 
take home with us; so in the morning before we left the J 
Professor and one of his sons went down the stream to 
string the fish for us. While getting the barrel out of the I 
water they let all the fish escape. We had a good laugh 
and went home empty-handed. P. F. S. _^ J 
