FOREST AND STREAM 
1133 
not be credited with human intelligence but in 
this case they seem almost to possess it. 
However, they have not become quite so used 
to a wabbling spoon, and on cloudy days, par¬ 
ticularly in the latter part of September, good 
catches of bass, both large and small mouth, 
can be made with it. Bass at that time have 
come into the shallower waters in pursuit of 
minnows and small sunfish, and should necessity 
arise, the smaller members of their own family. 
To represent minnow either the pearl or silver 
£ 4 % 
ft 
VI 
be controlled by the length of line out. If it 
goes deeper than this take in line, if nearer the 
surface let out line. 
When a fish once does take hold it is well to 
remember as near as possible at what speed the 
boat was traveling and how much line was out 
at the time. It will very likely help to pick up 
spoons can be used, but if the silver be slightly 
tarnished it will do better work in the sun than 
it would were it highly polished. The reflection 
of the sun from a polished silver spoon is 
dazzling in its intensity, blinding even to the 
human eye above water, and as a fish well knows 
no minnow ever shone like that, it will prove 
to be more of a source of fright to them than 
attraction. Such a spoon should never be used 
in a bright sun. 
Pearl is somewhat better under these circum¬ 
stances, as a silvery fish’s scales have a tint 
somewhat similar to the greenish blue flash of 
mother-of-pearl. These spoons prove fairly 
good on sunny days and almost perfect on cloudy 
ones, that is, as far as any trolling bait can 
prove perfect for bass. 
Pearl spoons are rather light in weight, and as 
manufactured have more of a decided curve than 
those of silver and brass which causes them to 
ride much higher in the water, therefore it is 
advisable to attach a small keel sinker to the 
line two or three feet above the bait, or if a 
leader is used, which will be of advantage, the 
sinker may be placed just above it on the line. 
A keel sinker has the advantage of not only 
keeping the bait down but of preventing the line 
from twisting, the latter a very good feature in 
itself. 
Brass and copper spoons seem to be good imita¬ 
tions of sunfish and small perch. If the day be 
dull row ashore on some sandy beach and rub 
a handful of sand on them for a minute or so 
and they will have a streaky polish that will 
be a much better attraction to bass than If they 
were highly finished. 
Silver and brass spoons are heavy enough, as 
a rule, to travel at a proper depth without the 
aid of a sinker in ordinary trolling, unless, of 
course very deep water is fished, say thirty feet 
or more, then the boat must be rowed very 
slowly, which serves to retard the action of the 
spoon, or else a sinker of a weight sufficient to 
get it to the level desired must be used. 
Almost any shore is good for trolling pro¬ 
viding the water is of a fairly good depth, an 
average of twenty feet will do. If the water be 
of this depth the bait should travel at least ten 
feet under the surface. The bait depth may 
the next one, for it shows at what depth the 
fish are apt to be feeding. 
Although the short rod of five and a half feet 
or so is generally advised as the ideal one for 
trolling it is not in reality the one that best 
answers the purpose for trolling of this char¬ 
acter. 
The most sport is always obtained from a rod 
that is as long as it is practicable to use under 
the circumstances. At the same time no one 
can deny that it is a hard proposition to manage 
a fish at the end of a forty-foot line with a rod 
of five and a half feet. A rod of such a length 
has little or no “play” to it, and play is absolutely 
essential to handle a fish at such a distance (a 
common distance in trolling) from the boat. 
A fly rod cannot be used for the reason that 
it has no backbone to stand the strain of the 
length of line and the heavy spoon. It is neces¬ 
sary, then, to have a rod that will combine both 
backbone and length, and a bait rod of about 
eight feet in length will answer the question 
perfectly. The material of preference is steel; 
Drawing by 
C. H. LOCKWOOD. 
wood rods cannot stand the weight very long 
without warping slightly. 
The reel should be quadruple multiplying, and, 
as it is a bait rod, of course above the hand. 
It may have a wide or deep barrel, as pre¬ 
ferred, but the deep barrel has a shade the better 
of it as one does not care particularly about 
spooling the line when a fish is hooked and has 
to be fought to the boat for such a long dis¬ 
tance, and if it be not spooled evenly when using 
a low barrel the line is very apt to pile up and 
stop the action of the reel when the fish is still 
ten yards or so from the boat, necessitating the 
landing of the fish hand over hand the rest of 
the way. The deep barrel allows plenty of 
room for the line to pile up as much as it 
pleases without interference. 
A medium sized linen line is best for the work, 
a silk one will not stand the wear and tear for 
a great length of time without showing signs of 
deterioration. 
Leaders should be smoked or mist colored and 
the longer the better, many fishermen claiming 
that the longer the leader the more fish caught. 
This very likely has some foundation on fact, as 
fish cannot seem to see a leader nearly as quickly 
as they can a line, even in the deepest waters 
of the lake. 
A Freely Offered Suggestion to Anglers of Meditative Mind or 
Drowsy Habit. 
