May 14, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
389 
Bait Fishing BcW the Soffade, 
While all kinds of rods are used for black bass by 
anglers, the perfect one is a petfect trout rod, not too 
light not too limber. If the natural cane is Used, let 
it be as limber as possible and furnished with a feel, 
for although sotne men use stiff poles without reels, 
and claim to find sport in "snakin' 'eiil oUt," they have 
no idea of the spott of fighting a bass on a good rod, 
and they need a nlissiondrv to teach them that in "snakin' 
'ein" they may get a fish, if its jaw holds, but as for 
sport, they get none of .it. The rush, the leap to the 
sUtface, the strategy needed to keep the bass from the 
brush or weeds, and above all the thrills which run 
through the line to the rod and into the angler's forearm, 
are akin to the ecstacy which the soldier feels in battle. 
It is a battle, but with an. inferior being both mentally 
and physically, and therei'ore what O'Hara calls '"the 
rapture"of the fight" is only proportionate to that where 
the man meets his equal. Let the "snaker" learn to 
vise pi-opei- tackle and give the bass a chance to fight 
for its life, and he will find that he never knew the real 
pleasure of "goin' a-fishin' " befol'e. 
For bait fishing below the surface, an ordmary trout 
reel and line is the best, say a click reel, fol- I do-love 
"the song of the reel." Avoid all triple hooks and all 
"sute thing" devices; they are unworthy of a sports- 
man who proposes to pit his skill against that of his 
game. JUst as the field sportsman despises the man 
who takes a pot shot at a bevy of quail on the ground, 
or the man who snares the ruffed grouse, so does the 
angler feel contetapt for all hooks which look as if m- 
, tended to jig a fish, or .take one foully m the side or 
belly if it approaches his bait. Personally I prefer the 
Sproat hook for either trout or bass; it is springy and 
does not break readilv nor straighten out. A hook that 
breaks is preferable to one that bends. The Sproat has 
no side twist, like the Kirby, and is a good "central 
draught" hook— that is, a pull on the line pulls in the 
direction of the point of the hook. I class the Edgar 
barbless hook with abominations because it has a snap 
to hold the fish on; of course a barb does the same 
thing, but not in the same manner. Use a leader 4 to 
6ft. long, and a float if you must, but it is of doubtful 
utility when a reel is on the rod. , , 1 1 
In the last article of this series the food of the black 
bass is mentioned, and in bait fishing below the surface 
the dobson, or, as it is called, helgramite, is about the 
best; see cut on page 346. It is the larva of_ a great 
neuropterous insect which flies at night and is rarely 
seen. It lives under stones in running brooks and is 
caught by placing a net below and then lifting the stone. 
These things have jaws that can pinch one's finger hard 
enough to make the angler wish he had been careful. 
Take the critter by the thorax, the horny segment back 
of the head, and insert the hook under its hmd end and 
bring it out next the head. Don't hook into the soft 
abdomen, and look out that your bait does not reach 
the bottom and shirk its duty by hiding under a stick 
or stone while you sit aloft wondering why the bass 
do not care for dobson, vide the old print of the angling 
philosopher who is reading a book while his bait, a 
frog, has climbed a stump and sits contentedly in the air. 
Crawfish are excellent bait, especially when soft; this 
is the "crab" of fresh water, improperly (m English) 
SO called. They should be hooked in the thorax and 
never be allowed to touch bottom, or they will desert 
your service, as has been explained. Somehow all these 
creatures seem possessed with a desire to fish for them- 
selves rather than for man, and the angler must thwart 
that desire. ^ 
Angle worms may take an occasional bass, but are not 
worth bothering with. The minnow comes in a good 
third among the baits used in still-fishing. In England 
the name "minnow" is applied to a species of fish as 
distinct from all others as are trout and perch. In 
America the word is applied indiscriminately to most 
all small fishes, and in the rural districts is corrupted 
into "minny," and I've even heard of planting a brook 
with "trout minnies." Using the word in the American 
sense we find that our minnow net has brought in an 
assortment of small fishes. Handle them carefully and 
return what are not needed. Soft-finned baits are the 
best, and of these the suckers are the hardiest; if there 
are plenty of these take no other. Perch and sunfish 
live well, but do not invite the bass as soft-finned baits 
do. "rhe spawn-eater of the Hudson, Notropis hudsonius, 
which ranges from Lake Superior to New York, and in 
the coastwise streams to Georgia, is fairly hardy on the 
hook, and so is the horned dace or northern chub; but 
•weakest of all is the shiner, Notemigonus chrysoleucus. 
i have tried to avoid all scientific names, but in this 
■case there is no other way to indicate the fish meant. 
The last-named fish dies quickly, is very soft, and is 
■only of value as living food for what we consider to 
<be better fish. In a lake the edge of a bunch of weeds 
ijs a favorite feeding ground for bass. 
In this style of fishing, hook the fish just under the 
-dorsal fin, never through the lips, because you wish it 
(to swim in a natural manner. Many good anglers put 
<the hook in the fleshy part of the tail, but a fish so 
hooked does not swim in a natural manner; it bores 
down, stands on its head and does not conduct itself in 
a rational way; it is kept on an even keel when hooked 
under the dorsal fin. Be careful not to insert the hook 
so low as to injure the spine and thereby paralyze the 
bait. The bones of the fin-rays extend between those 
arising from the backbone; extend your fingers and 
place those of one hand between those of the other, 
and you will understand how the "intercostal" bones 
come in and how your hook will hold better if inserted 
just under the first few fin-rays and yet will not impair 
the vitality of the fish. I hope that this will be clear 
to those who have not studied anatomy, for clearness 
was intended, and not a dazzling array of scientific 
terms. 
Before stopping the discourse on still-fishing it may be 
well to say: All talk about the fish biting at certain 
times of the moon, clear or cloudy days, east wind or 
other wind, or the signs of the zodiac, is sheer nonsense. 
Go for fish in season, and trust that the fish will take 
your baits or flies. The day may not prove to be as 
good as some other days, but none of the above old- 
woman's "signs" had anything to dg yfi%\i the result. 
There is an element of chance in angling, which is one 
of its charms; the same is true of field sports, for if 
we could foresee that a day's work on stream or in 
field would yield a small creel or bag, we would decide 
not to go that day, and thereby be deprived of the pleas- 
ure of going, with its anticipations and its healthful 
change of occupation and its trip into the ozone factory 
of nature. Reduce the chase to a certainty, and its 
charm is gone. 
Trolling, 
Many troll from a boat with a hand line, but it docs 
not afford the sport that trolling with rod and reel does. 
Whatever the lure may be, it should be far enough from 
the boat to allow the fish to have recovered from any 
disturbance caused by the oars or the boat, and the dis- 
tance should not be less than 40ft. ; 60ft, is better. The 
oarsman should row slowly and lightly, avoiding all 
splashing. The angler often does his own rowing, which 
he can readily do if his oars are so rigged that they 
can be dropped without losing them. He can lay the 
rod so that a striking fish may reel off some line easily 
while he is picking up his rod. There is no need of 
striking the fish, and tlae moving boat wUl hook the fish 
if it bites fairly well. 
The long gang of hooks in triplets is killing, as it is 
intended to be, but I once said to a lad who occasion- 
ally fished with me: "Don't use that thing nor let anyone 
see it. When you get a chance burn it, for the fair an- 
gler despises such things; they are cruel and murderous 
things." 
Boylike, he did not understand, and asked: "Why do 
people use them then?" 
"Because they are afraid a fish will escape, and they 
don't propose to give a bass a chance for its life. They 
have little confidence in their own skill in taking a fish 
on a single hook, and so hope to fill its mouth with three 
hooks, set in different directions, that the fish which 
touches the bait is as good as landed. One of the charms 
of angling is its uncertainty, and if I was certain of 
landing every fish which touched my bait there would 
be no excitement in the contest, and no exultation over 
a victory." 
The boy's reply indicated that it might be so, but that 
he went fishing to catch fish, and that is what the user 
of a minnow gang does; but the boy grew to be a man, 
and learned to angle fairly, and to appreciate the lesson. 
The best bass anglers also regard the trolling spoon, 
with its mttrderous triple hook, with disfavor, and if 
they troll it is usually with a minnow, alive or dead, 
hooked through both lips. In all trolling one or two 
swivels are necessary to prevent twisting of the line, 
and the best are made of brass; they come in different 
sizes; "box" swivels not larger than No. 3 nor smaller 
than No. 6 are about right. Put one or two just above 
the bait and attach the gut leader to the swivel. If two 
are used, put an inch of gut between them. 
"When it comes to handling a fish with rod and reel, 
no matter how one is fishing or what the fish may be, 
do not indulge in "plajang"' for the salce of playing; 
give line when you must and reel in when you can, but 
beware of the rush of an apparently exhausted fish as 
you put the net under it. Often it seems played out, 
and has turned on its side as it nears the boat, but takes 
alarm at the net. Then keep it from getting under the 
boat, if possible, and let it have only such line as it 
fights for. A free line gives the fish rest. If near a bed 
of weeds, keep the fish from them and get the boat 
away from them and fight it out in open water, always 
keeping a strain on the rod. 
Dropping the Tip of the Rcxi. 
Thus far, in these two articles on the black bass, I 
have agreed with Dr. Henshall; but now we differ. He 
says: "If the bass breaks water, the best plan is to 
lower the tip so as to slacken the line, and immediately 
raise the rod and tighten the line when he strikes the 
water again; for if he falls on the tightened line he 
is most sure to escape; this is one of his most wily 
tricks." This is crediting the bass with a knowledge 
born of an experience which it has not had. The fish 
only knows that something is pulling on its jaw, but 
does not know that there is a line extending from that 
jaw to a rod which is out of sight. When the fish in 
despair shoots up into the air to escape it drags the 
end of the line up with it, leaving a bight in the water 
which the rod cannot make taut before the fish de- 
scends, because the resistance of the water to the line 
prevents it, and when the fish descends the line is slack. 
A leaping bass will not be in the air more than three 
seconds, and as it has dragged the line with it there 
must be some slack when it descends. Therefore, if the 
angler lowers his tip, the fish has still more slack. Sev- 
eral angling writers have followed the Doctor in this 
matter, but I cannot. 
Some years ago the late Francis Endicott and I were 
fishing on Greenwood Lake, near New York city, and 
I was rowing. We always preferred to do without a 
boatman because . of freer conversation, and we took 
turns rowing— that is, in theory — but he was not mus- 
cular nor a good oarsman; therefore at this particular 
time I was rowing. Frank sat in the stern trolling flies 
over the port side, nautically speaking, while I had the 
butt of my rod under my right knee and over the left 
one, trolling on the starb'd side. A bass took my fly, 
and I dropped the oars, telling him to reel in, so that 
his flies might not foul the bottom nor my line, and then 
the struggle began. The fish leaped into the air and went 
its way. Then came a war of words about lowering the 
tip. We were old fishing chums, and in all matters re- 
lating to salt-water fishijjg I deferred to him, but fresh 
water was another thing. 
"Do you know why you lost that big bass?" he 
asked, in a manner that indicated that he knew. 
"Yes, the hook did not hold; it tore out somehow, 
but it did not strike a taut line when it leaped, and it 
did not 'shake the hook from its jaw like a bulldog' 
when in the air. I know what you think, but you believe 
a whole lot of things about black bass fishing that are 
not true. Think for a moment — " 
"Reel in," said he; "I've got a strike." He had a 
gamy fish on; it made three leaps, and he finally landed 
it — a big-mputb of nearly albs. "There!" said he, tri- 
umphantly, "that bass leaped from the water three times, 
and I lowered the tip each time, and there it is in the 
boat." 
I had put tlie net under the fish and landed it. Pick- 
ing it up, I showed Frank that it was so firmly hooked 
in the upper jaw that only the breaking of the hook 
could have divorced the fish from him. That afternoon 
he lost several fish by lowering his tip, and each time 
his attention was forcibly called to the fact. My own 
rule is never to give any slack line; if forced to yield 
line do so, but keep a strain on the fish and keep the 
fish busy all the time. 
Grasshoppefs,lCrickets and Frogs* 
Grasshoppers and crickets should be used on smaller 
hooks than most other baits, because a large hook tears 
them, and they should be kept alive and allowed to swim 
on the surface. If there is either current or wind to 
carry the insects away from the boat they are often 
very killing baits in the late summer and autumn months, 
when they are of good size. 
If a frog is to be cast, it should be hooked through 
the lips, allowed to sink a little if it will, and then slowly 
brought to the boat by short jerks to imitate the swim- 
ming of the animal. 
A better way to use a small, lively frog is to hook it 
well into the fleshy portion of one thigh near the back- 
bone. They are often hooked in the middle of the back, 
but that may paralyze them, as any spinal injury is apt 
to do. Therefore it is better to put the hook in the 
thigh, hooking from the under side; the frog can then 
swim well, and is neither paralyzed nor drowned. It is 
then necessary to see that your bait does not reach the 
bottom and hide there. 
Skittering. 
In the North this mode of fishing is sometimes used 
for pickerel, but is practiced little, if any, by bass fish- 
ers. In Arkansas and in Louisiana I have watched na- 
tive anglers taking bass in this manner. They used cane 
poles with strong lines tied to the tips, and the line 
brought down and tied again to the butt, in case the 
pole broke. They worked from the shore, or from a 
boat, skipping a spoon or a minnow over those parts 
of the water which were free from weeds. It is quite 
hard work, and involves much entanglement among 
the weeds, but is quite successful. There was no chance 
in those shallow, weedy waters to give a fish a fight- 
ing chance for its life, and so it was "yanked" in by 
main strength. It did not appeal to me as a mode that 
promised much sport, so I did not try it. 
Bobbing, 
Many years ago, while fishing on Bistineau Lake, in 
Louisiana, with that excellent colored fisherman, Augus- 
tus Caesar Trulo, who was embalmed in the amber of 
Forest and Stream Feb. 12, '98, he asked: "Did yo' 
ever fish fo' trout wid a bob?" I had bobbed for eels 
with a bunch of worms, but bobbing for black bass, 
his "trout," was a new proposition, and I wanted to 
know all about it; but beyond the fact that "it is made 
ob a deer's tail, sah, an' is dragged behin' de boat" the 
information was not intelligible. He showed me one 
afterward, and it proved to be a great triple hook partly 
hidden by the hair of a deer's tail, and having several 
streamers of red flannel trailing behind — a home-made 
article which is said to be effective in the waters of that 
region. Dr. Henshall says it is common in Florida. 
Casting the Minnow. 
This is a mode of bass fishing which may be termed 
the highest form of bait fishing, because it requires skill 
which cannot be mastered in a day. It requires a shorter 
and stiffer rod than the fly-caster uses, and a master 
hand which cannot only make the cast, but can control 
the running of the line from the reel after the cast is 
made, and therefore it takes rank as one of the most 
expert forms of angling. 
Here I want to digress to say that the average man 
who fishes is a trifle behind the average man who goes 
afield with a bird dog.i He looks more to restdts than to 
means. The same man who would not take a pot shot 
at a woodcock or a bevy of quail on the ground will 
often take a fish in any way that he can get it, and will 
use gangs or other murderous implements in order to 
make a good showing. It is much better to leave these 
devices to the market fisher, who uses nets after dark, 
and who can sell you some fish to take home to show 
as your own catch, than it is to fish in ways which are as 
effective in the .hands of any duffer as they are in those 
of an expert. The gunner glories in his skill in stop- 
ping the evanescent snipe while on the wing simply be- 
cause it requires skill; therefore the angler who can 
properly cast the minnow from a free-running reel a 
distance of 40yds., and land it where he chooses, has 
a right to be proud of his skill. 
To cast the minnow there is no better rod than that 
known as the "Henshall black bass rod." It is made or 
kept in stock by all the large dealers, and is named after 
the inventor. It is 8ft. 3in. long and weighs poz., more 
or less, according to material. Details of construction 
cannot be entered into here, but any dealer will supply 
the rod, or the amateur maker may find the formula in 
Henshall's book. _ 
The reel must be a free-running multiplier, and be 
placed under the rod on a line with the guides and above 
the hand. The minnow is reeled up to the tip of the 
rod and the reel is turned up so that the thumb can 
regulate its speed and slightly check it if it runs faster 
than the line goes out, for if it does that the line will 
"back lash" and the flight of the minnow be stopped. 
In casting to the left the angler drops the point of the 
rod near the ground and smartly swings his hand to the 
left shoulder, giving the bait an upward throw into the 
distance. If the cast is to be made to the right he brmgs 
his right hand to his left elbow, with the rod pointing 
downward, and makes the cast by a sweep of the arni 
which ends with its extension, and the hand at a level 
with his eye. If the cast is to be straight in front he 
faces to the right or left and repeats one of the casts, 
but must not try to cast over his shoulder, as the fly- 
fisher does. In a general article like this only general 
