NEW YORK, AUGUST 3, 1912 
Vol. LXXI. No. 4162 
WEEKLY. $1.00 PER YEAR 
A FISHERMAN ON FISHING. 
Bait and Fish Habits. 
The first requirement for fishing is good tackle. If 
one wishes to cast bait he should get a bait-casting 
rod, either split bamboo or steel, with a good triple 
reel and a good linen braided line, 50 yards. Next in 
importance is bait. The 
one most common in use 
here is called Dowagiac 
in different colors, with 
two, three and fi v e 
hooks; some are heavy 
and sink as soon as they 
strike the water, while 
others float, and there is 
very little difference in 
their catching quality, al¬ 
though one should have 
both, as some days fish 
(bass, pickerel and pike) 
do not come as near the 
surface as other days. 
Then there is what is 
called moonlight or 
luminous bait for night 
fishing, which gives off a 
white glow in the water 
.after dark. This is very 
good bass bait. Live 
bait is always good, 
either minnows or frogs. 
I have the best catches 
with frogs of any bait I 
ever used for bass. 
Earthworms are the best 
x bait for wall-eyed pike 
that we can get. This 
bait we use in this north 
land as a trolling bait, 
using 75 or 100 feet of 
line, with a No. 5 lead 
sinker to hold bait down 
to bottom. Bait No. 
6/0 or 7/0 hook with as 
many earthworms as one 
can make stay on the 
hook, the larger the ball 
of worms the better; 
then select the deepest 
parts of lake or stream 
and row slowly, and if 
the wind blows quite 
hard so much the better, 
and if you do not get 
the pike it is because 
there is no pike there. 
Pickerel are caught 
either casting or trolling, 
and with either live or 
artificial bait. This is a 
deep water fish, but they 
come to the shallows to 
feed, and this' habit 
makes them easy t o 
catch. Different lakes have to be fished differently; 
for instance, one lake is situated in an open country 
with scant timber, and here the fish are provided for 
by nature with an abundance of water vegetation where 
fish can feed and hide, while another lake is in thickly 
wooded country where numbers of trees have fallen 
into the water, and there are sunken logs for the fish 
to feed around, and for hiding places. In making a 
study of fish habits in the lake where I am situated I 
first learned what they were feeding on, and when I 
had solved this question I also learned where to get 
them easily. Out of 28 bass caught on different days, 
24 had the remains of crawfish, commonly called crabs, 
in their stomachs, and here is where I “got next’’ to 
their feeding and hiding places. The habit of the 
crawfish is to live on the bottom of the lake or 
stream, and it is never found far from cover as a 
hiding place, and therefore the bass is lying under or 
near these old logs and tree tops and large rocks, 
lying in wait for the crawfish to appear. Here let me 
relate a little experience that happened to me when I 
first discovered what the bass were feeding on. I 
gathered a large can of the crawfish, thinking all the 
time I was going to make a great catch of bass. Next 
morning I loaded the boat with tackle and my can of 
crawfish, and started out, and at 5 P. M. I had not 
had a single strike. In going ashore for lunch and 
rest I found a small grass frog. Using this for a bait 
I started out and landed 
a seven-pound bass on 
the second cast. I quit 
crawfish as a bait right 
there and have stuck to 
frogs for live bait since. 
For brook trout an 
•outfit is more expensive 
than for bass or pike, 
for there is the added 
expense for creel and 
waders which is indis¬ 
pensable, for to fish for 
brook trout one must 
wade to get the best re¬ 
sults ; then you have 
both sides of the stream 
in easy reach, which 
cannot be done while 
fishing from the banks, 
for it is literally true 
that the best place is on 
the other side of the 
stream. Besides, the 
route is shorter to the 
wader than the dry land. 
Trout are caught with 
trout flies which can be 
bought at any store 
where there is fishing at 
a cost of five or 10 cents 
each, while earthworms 
and grasshoppers are as 
good as any bait used. 
The trout is the most 
gamy fish of all, and the 
true fisherman gets a 
great deal of sport land¬ 
ing them. The best fish¬ 
ing grounds that I am 
acquainted with are in 
the northern part of 
lower Michigan, for we 
have our streams and 
lakes stocked every year 
by the State fish hatch¬ 
ery; besides Michigan is 
the home of the above 
named fish. The water 
is cool, which makes the 
fish firmer and of better 
quality than the warmer 
waters of the south; 
anywhere north of Grand 
.Rapids, Mich., east or 
west, it is equally the 
same. While the upper 
Michigan fish are su¬ 
perior to ours, there is the one great drawback, lack 
of accommodation and traveling facilities. 
Grand Traverse Co., Mich. G. l. huey. 
R. N.-Y.—Still another type of fishing is that in¬ 
dulged in at this season by many New Yorkers—the 
sea fishing on the fishing banks. An astonishing num¬ 
ber of steamers, motor boats and sailing craft are en¬ 
gaged in this traffic. 
SUMMER DAYS ALONG THE BROOK. Fig, 346. 
