400 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1919 
HOW TO IMPROVE IN BAIT CASTING 
PASSING ALONG SOME INFORMATION OF PRACTICAL VALUE TO THE BEGINNER 
AND TO THE MAN WHO HAS BEGUN BUT FINDS THAT HE BEGAN WRONG 
BY GEORGE S. BROWN 
1 HAVE done so much bait casting and 
read so many articles on the sport 
that there are times when I almost 
feel sure that every fisherman is efficient 
in this line. At times I almost begin 
to think that another article on the 
whys and wherefores of this especially 
attractive and effective method of lur- 
ing game fish would be superfluous. 
Then when I arrive at the point where 
I am nearly sure that the foregoing is 
a fact, something happens and when I 
recover from the hypnotic state that I 
fall into, I discover that I have added 
a new member to the crowd who spurn 
all baits other than artificial ones. Yes, 
I return from a trip after bass and as 
I lay a couple of good ones on the grass 
where the live bait fisherman can see 
them without straining his eyesight, he 
gets interested and so do I. 
If there is anything good in the sport- 
ing line, it surely should be passed along. 
Bait casting is one of the 
good things. “Smiling 
Bill” Vogt passed it to me, 
and to the day when I 
make my last cast, there 
will remain in my being 
a great kindness for the 
chap who put me next to 
the sport wherein the 
short rod takes an equal 
rank with the firearms in 
the sportsman’s cabinet 
and in his estimation. 
What “ Smiling Bill ” 
passed to me, I in my turn 
have passed to many oth- 
ers. And when you ini- 
tiate a fellow into the 
mysteries of bait casting, 
and do it correctly, you 
are in duty bound to ex- 
act some sort of a promise 
that he will always put 
back the little fish, be sat- 
isfied to take home but a small string, 
and also impress upon his mind that 
he must do his share towards helping 
to keep the fishing good by planting fish 
for future sport. 
This article is intended for the begin- 
ner or for the person who has already 
begun but finds that he began wrong. 
There may be some who consider them- 
selves nearing the expert line that might 
pick up a scrap of information from 
this article. If this does not prove to 
be correct, there is much pleasure to 
be derived from constructive criticism 
backed up with evidence. At any rate, 
I am going to talk to the beginner and 
with the memory always in mind of what 
puzzled me when I made a start at 
casting, I will do my level best to start 
the new man right. 
If you are an absolute stranger to 
the art, your very first question will be: 
“Why take up casting, anyway?” And 
I will answer that the average fishing 
trip is a pretty slow time. Waiting, 
waiting, waiting for a bite. And the bite 
you get is very liable to- be given you 
by a helgramite you have let loose in 
the boat. You get sunburned. You get 
cramped. You get sore. You get a 
fish once in a while perhaps, if one takes 
a notion to start out and hunt for your 
bait. 
Now, bait casting is not a waiting 
game if you play it right. Instead of 
dozing away in an anchored boat, you 
would be accurately shooting your art- 
ificial lure into every spot where a bass 
might be lurking. You would enjoy 
just being able to drop the bait where 
you wished it to go. And best of all, 
you would be hunting for the fish, not 
waiting for him to come to you. 
Furthermore, the stringing of night- 
crawlers, and hooking of frogs, dobsons 
and crickets would be a thing of the 
past, for nothing but artificial bait should 
be used. Your rod in a bag, and a tin 
box containing your reel and lures make 
up all the baggage you have to carry. 
And if you are at all familiar with 
the habits of bass, no still fisherman 
need worry you as to results. If you 
get at all proficient in handling your 
artificial lures, no live bait will take any 
more or larger fish than the wooden baits 
will, in the same waters of course. 
Just to work up your enthusiasm a 
little bit, I will state that down here 
in the eastern part of Connecticut the 
bass are not so numerous that you can 
catch them in any old way at any old 
time. If you bring in four or five bass 
and amongst them have a three pounder, 
we consider that you have done very 
well; and you have. 
In one of the numerous lakes where 
all kinds of fishing is done and done 
every day, I skipped over and tried my 
hand with the wooden minnow. I left 
the lake just ninety minutes after arriv- 
ing there. I fished about forty-five min- 
utes, and being alone, had to row my 
boat and cast as best I could. Numbers 
of fishermen had been there all day and 
the largest bass I saw them have was 
a two-pounder that I weighed for them. 
My short stay netted me four bass and 
they weighed as follows: 2%, 2%, 3hi 
and a full 5-pounder to close the score. 
A total weight of 13% pounds for the 
four bass. A still fisherman would never 
have secured those four fish from that 
lake in so short a time if he spent a 
dozen seasons there. The reason why is 
obvious. Those four fish or any other four 
fish like them wer^ not all in one spot. 
They were widely scattered and in the 
short time I was on the lake, I covered 
twice as much water as those who had 
been there all day. 
One word more before I start on the 
outfit and how to use it; for I want you 
to be really sincere and a true con- 
vert. If you fish in water 
that has never had any 
bait casting done in it — 
and there are many such 
places still — you are dead 
sure of lots of sport. Don’t 
let anybody make you be- 
lieve that bass in such and 
such a lake won’t touch 
artificial lures. If there are 
any bass in a lake or river 
and you handle the art- 
ificial bait skillfully, you 
will get all that you or 
any other sportsman are 
entitled to. There are off 
days, of course, but there 
are on days, too, and 
plenty of them. Now let’s 
get busy. 
HE first thing you 
need is a casting rod. 
Any kind of rod will 
not do. If I were arguing with skilled 
bait casters , I might go into details about 
why you should get a rod of certain 
length and quality, but I am talking 
to beginners now; so I advise you to gel 
a split bamboo, two piece rod of five and 
one-half feet in length. You can do no 
better than place your order for a good 
No. 4 Casting Rod, which will cost 
you about $6.00. For a reel get a quad- 
ruple, multiplying bait casting. Now you 
cannot walk into a store and buy any 
reel that is a quadruple multiplying 
and do casting — that is, real casting. 
You have got to have one of the better 
grade, costing from 6 to 25 dollars. You 
cannot cast with any kind of line that 
you happen to get hold of. No matter 
how excellent the balance of your outfit 
may be, if your line is not adapted to bait 
casting, you won’t cast worth mention- 
ing. Get 100 yards of No. 4 Square 
Braid. After you have worn this line 
out, for your next one, get the same 
