FOREST AND STREAM 
1087 
cial nature lure is attached to the line by a three- 
foot gut leader two feet from the bottom, its 
weight gives buoyancy to enable it to stay sus¬ 
pended from the bottom and the life action given 
it by manipulation of rod tip. 
This life action of any bait is the very soul 
of fishing, and without it either artificial or 
natural baits are more or less ineffective. After 
you have hooked any species of live bait, watch 
its action immediately it touches the water, 
whether it be minnow, frog, crawfish, helgramite 
or grasshopper. Each one of them at once takes 
every means in their power to rapidly get back 
to their natural habitat, and these movements 
are exceedingly enticing to all game fishes. 
From the moment your hooked crawfish drops 
on the surface it begins to move its legs and 
tail while it slowly sinks to the bottom and 
hides under a stone, its natural habitat. If bass 
are within sight they are almost sure to dart 
after it with wide open mouth to pouch it; then 
slowly they move away, taking perhaps twenty 
feet of line without any real active resistance on 
their part. 
That is the time to strike and drive the barb 
home, with the result Mr. Bass is taken unawares. 
Instantly he finds out the trick played upon him, 
he starts off on a crazy fight to get free. I 
have had large bass leap clean out of the water 
after my floating frog. If bass sometimes rise 
to the surface after a natural insect and arti¬ 
ficial fly, it seems plausible it would do likewise 
to a frog and certainly to a grasshopper, minnow 
or even crawfish. It is only the latter that habi¬ 
tually abides in deep water. 
I have just returned from several successful 
trials of a new small crawfish, lifelike enough 
to deceive either angler or fish. It captured 
bass in two ways. One being cast as a fly with 
only a light buckshot placed on a six-foot gut 
leader to slowly sink near the bottom and slowly 
brought back to the surface, which procured the 
desired strikes. Another way was by trying a 
round half-ounce sinker at end of line to lie on 
the bottom, with a short three-foot gut leader 
fastened two feet above. This latter method 
proved much the better one, because it floated 
in the water and by rod tip manipulation acted 
like the natural bait. Every one of these nature 
lures has captured the game fish they are in¬ 
tended for. 
It is the soundest of logic, that game fish must 
be conserved and not used as baits, for if you do 
use live baits in ratio with the growth of anglers, 
you will not only stop fish from getting large in 
size and plentiful, but you will gradually ex¬ 
terminate the game you desire to get and defeat 
your own ends. It is very gratifying to learn 
from many sources that nature lures and nature 
flies are a distinct success. The famous “London 
Field” in a long review gives the highest praise. 
Sir Edward Grey, an ardent angler and British 
Foreign Secretary, sends word, “After the war 
is over he will be glad to try nature flies.” Dr. 
Henry Van Dyke, ambassador at The Hague, 
writes, “I must confess, after reading ‘Trout 
Stream Insects,’ makes me long for a few days 
fishing more than ever; I mean not fishing in 
a canal, but fishing in a live stream.” 
THE STRIPED BASS. 
(Continued from preceding page.) 
with us. And the ambient atmosphere, laden with 
the aroma of the deep, fills our hearts and souls 
with the joy of life and living. Well, if you are 
intent upon hooking a striped bass, all that has 
been said in the preceding paragraph, and more, 
will be yours. 
After a sharp fight with a good-sized striped 
bass, in which man is the victor, the sight of this 
magnificent specimen heaving and gasping on the 
sands is one that will remain indelibly fixed in 
the minds of all who have taken part in or wit¬ 
nessed such a struggle. Those wonderful nar¬ 
row, braid-like longitudinal stripes, usually seven 
or eight in number, seem sparkling with silver or 
diamonds and emeralds as the sun covers him 
with her effulgent rays. Its symmetry, markings 
and satin-like sheen, to my mind, make the 
striped bass one of the most characteristically 
handsome, picturesque and interesting fishes any¬ 
where, aside from its great gameness, lavish play, 
and luxury to the epicure. Nor should we forget 
the beautiful color blendings on his back of black, 
blue and green, running down to a bluish-gray 
at the sides, to a belly of chaste satin white. The 
scales are rather large and hold a metallic-like 
lustre; with sharp-edged serrated gill-covers. 
The front dorsal fin is composed of seven spinous 
or spiked rays, with two spines almost concealed. 
There is no chance whatever in the world of con¬ 
founding this fish with another. It is in a class 
by itself. It has a personality all its own, so the 
chances of making a mistake in distinguishing 
him are narrowed down to nil. 
On the coast of the broad Atlantic from Port¬ 
land way to Norfolk our striped friend frequents 
the tidal waters and estuaries which empty on 
the coast between these two places. Its limita¬ 
tions are not, however, confined to these localities 
as it is very often found in a most perfect state 
in the rivers and along the coast north and south 
of the places named. 
That the striped bass affords excellent sport, 
we all, of course, know. And when his propor¬ 
tions attain the importance of ten to forty pounds 
the skill and mettle of the angler is brought to 
a test supreme. In muscular power, which he 
seems to have in abundance, the striped bass is 
the equal of the salmon, but, of course, lacks the 
caudal power for leaping, which is so palpable in 
the form of a salmon. 
The bass is not given to itinerancy or vagrancy. 
His habits are most domestic. He can usually 
be found at home. In the case of the female the 
eggs are deposited in fresh and brackish water; 
never in the sea as some suppose. 
During November it is usual for the bass to 
shoal and assemble in brackish water ponds, or 
the back waters of tidal rivers, in the bays and 
bayous of rivers having an outlet to the sea, 
after which time, of course, it will not take bait 
until the following spring, after having spawned 
and returned to active waters. 
These lustrous beauties simply delight in rocky 
shoals, and when in such spots strike and flap 
their tails and brush their scales in excited ani¬ 
mation in their prospectings for Crustacea, of 
which shedder crab and soft-shell crabs are con¬ 
sidered by them morsels of great delicacy. 
They are enabled by their extreme swiftness 
and power to raid perniciously and with impu¬ 
nity disable menhaden, spearing shrimp, crabs, 
shedder lobster, etc., among the breakers as they 
lash and lave along the rock-bound shores of our 
coast. It is at such times, when the sea is in a 
turmoil or unduly agitated, that casting becomes 
more attractive and animated and offers more in 
the way of pleasure, indubitably more, than the 
angling for many other game fish. 
The Bass Almost Invariably Takes the Frog From Behind. 
(Drawn for Forest and Stream by Louis Rhead.) 
