FOREST AND STREAM 
1033 
BAIT ANGLING FOR BLACK BASS 
THIS ARTICLE TELLS YOU HOW TO EQUIP YOURSELF 
IN GOING AFTER THE GAMEST FISH THAT SWIMS 
By Black Bass. 
T HE Fourth of July is the generally accepted 
time among black bass fishermen as the 
date on which to start night fishing, or 
casting. Earlier than that, as a rule, the waters 
have not warmed up enough to bring the bass in 
to the shores in their nightly pilgrimages for 
frogs and crawfish. The frogs have just about 
gotten settled on the edges of the deeper water 
and at the mouths of brooks, etc., previous to 
this time having been far up the brooks in the 
shallow and stagnant water. Craw¬ 
fish have just become brave enough 
to venture forth from their homes 
under rocks and sunken logs in 
search of food in the dark hours. 
About this time it is very likely that 
some night when there is a gentle 
southwest wind blowing the bass will 
come in with a rush, and he who hap¬ 
pens to be on the spot on this night 
is pretty sure of a number of hours 
of wild sport, while previous to this 
time one might fish the whole night 
through and get not even one strike. 
Of course, on occasions, from the 
first of the season a “stray” or two 
may be run across, hardly enough, 
however, to cause one to lose hours 
of sleep and spend it in hard work 
in the darkness on the lake. Later 
though, one does not think of the 
work when the chances of success 
are great, and even though the trip 
be barren of results one feels that 
they have had their chance and does 
not regret the time expended. Bait 
casting has become such a popular 
sport during the last few years that 
perhaps it is superfluous to speak of 
the outfit needed for night fishing. 
During July there is really no ques¬ 
tion that frogs are better than artifi¬ 
cial baits at night on nearly all oc¬ 
casions, but at the same time they are 
hard to secure and plugs make a 
good substitute. The most universal¬ 
ly used method of hooking a frog is 
through both lips with a single hook, 
but unless the fisherman understands 
the game thoroughly it will prove to 
be almost impossible to hook the fish 
with this style of tackle. Bass do 
not take a frog by the head at the 
first attempt, many fishermen going 
so far as to say that they do not eat 
the frog at all, but just strike at it 
in the desire to kill. This, however, 
is a fallacy if we can take the fact 
of frogs being found in bass’s stom¬ 
achs to the contrary. The fact re¬ 
mains, though, that the frog is al¬ 
ways taken in the middle, or else the 
bass follows it up and takes one or both legs in 
its mouth first. 
This simply means that if the fisherman strikes 
when the fish is first felt it is almost certain that 
the bait will be pulled from the fish’s mouth. 
In the use of frogs during the day the method 
is to count ten seconds from the time the fish 
takes hold until the time the fisherman strikes, 
and this same rule works out fairly well at night; 
but the best way is to let the fish have the bait 
at first with a slack line, at the end of ten sec¬ 
onds lift the rod slightly and “feel” if the bait 
is held securely. If so drop the tip of the rod 
about six inches and strike hard. The cartilage 
about the mouth of a small mouth bass is tough 
and it requires a good blow to set the hook prop¬ 
erly. 
There is a style of arranging the rig, however, 
that will prove to be much more certain than the 
single hook. 
Take two heavily snelled hooks, cut off the 
snell of one so that there are not more than five 
inches remaining, bind the end of this snell to the 
shank of the other hook so that it will form a 
set of trailing hooks about four inches apart, with 
the rear hook facing down. 
These may be bound with silk thread and var¬ 
nished or cemented with an elastic cement, which 
will render them perfectly secure and waterproof. 
Place the upper hook through both lips of the 
frog, so that the frog will not fill with water, and 
the lower hook through one of the legs as near 
to the foot as possible, with the hook, as before 
mentioned, facing down. 
When the fish takes hold strike quickly and 
the rear hook will almost invariably take effect; 
if the leg itself is not taken the hook will usually 
land in the outside of the jaw. 
To be entirely human it is always well to kill 
the frog before impaling it upon the hooks. 
As the frog at night is a favorite small mouth 
bass food it would be just as well to try out the 
small mouth bass waters first, should the body 
of water fished contain both the large and small 
mouth species. 
The haunts of the small mouth are in the 
deeper, cooler waters off the rocky shores, and 
with the aid of a few split shot on the line the 
bait can be gotten well down into these depths. 
If, when the first fish is taken, it is found that 
it was caught on or near the surface it is just as 
well to discard the sinkers and use the frog. 
If no fish result from a thorough fishing of the 
deep waters the large mouth ground should be 
visited, muddy bottoms and among the lily pads 
and pickerel weeds, where it sometimes happens 
that all the small mouth bass have congregated 
in the search for some particular kind of food— 
very likely frogs. 
In using plugs, or wooden baits, at night it is 
generally best to use the surface variety, although 
there are times when only the under 
water will be successful. In their 
use the fish must be “searched out; 
that is, their places of feeding on that 
paricular night, or rather the places 
where the style of bait used will ap¬ 
peal to them, must be found. If the 
whole night be before one it might 
be well to start on one shore and 
fish the whole length of it, taking in 
all the kinds and conditions of bot¬ 
tom and shore line in the process; or 
if time be limited try various places 
thought to be good. For instance, 
first try a rocky point, then a muddy 
cove, a level stretch of grassy shore, 
etc., casting fifteen or twenty times 
in each. When the fish are discov¬ 
ered stick to that particular spot until 
assured that there are no more left 
there, after which try some other 
spot that was formerly successful. 
Should a frog be heard croaking on 
the water’s edge row over to that 
place and cast four or five times di¬ 
rectly at the frog. Very often a bass 
is lying in shallow water waiting for 
him to start to swim. In that case 
the bass is sure to mistake the bait 
for the frog and start to demolish it. 
On moonlight nights always try to 
cast towards the moon, if it be low 
in the sky. Otherwise a shadow will 
prevent the fish from rising. As an 
example, when the moon is rising 
cast along an east shore; when set¬ 
ting, along a west shore. After the 
moon is high it makes very little dif¬ 
ference which way the casting is 
done. If no fish are biting while the 
moon is up it is very likely that they 
will start as soon as it sets, and vice 
versa. As a rule if they are taking 
hold before the moon rises they will 
stop as soon as it shows above the 
horizon. Just why this is so no one 
can tell. Bass have their hard and 
fast rules, most of which are utterly 
incomprehensible to humans. This 
strange method of feeding works out 
much the same way with the wind. If 
the wind be from the east and no fish 
are feeding it is very likely that should it swing 
to the west they will start immediately, not one 
or two at a time, but all of them as a body, al¬ 
though the two varieties of bass, large and small 
mouth, very often feed under opposite conditions. 
For this reason it is best to fish different shores; 
deep water and rocks for small mouth, and 
muddy coves for large mouth. 
A favorite trick of the large mouth bass is to 
hang around the edge of pickerel weeds waiting 
for a frog or a minnow to make a movement, so 
these weeds should be fished thoroughly, which 
will prove to be a rather hard task on a dark 
night unless gone about in the right way. 
The edge of the weeds must be “felt’ out with 
the bait and once located try to make the bait 
travel along the edge, rather than away from 
them. In this way the whole ground is covered 
instead of a patch here and there. 
It is a good idea also when casting along an 
(Continued on page 1070.) 
From An Oil Painting by Louis Rhead. 
The Superb Gameness of the Black Bass Makes Him the Favorite of the 
Whole Angling Fraternity. 
