1086 
FOREST AND STREAM 
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11 THE STRIPED BASS | 
A FISH OF POETRY AND 
A PRIZE DE LUXE 
By Russell A. Bowen. || 
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... 
I N a recent issue of Forest and Stream, a 
most commendable article by Leonard Hulit 
appeared. I hope his words were read and 
digested by all. In continuation, I am saying a 
few things about the striped bass (Roccus line- 
atus) which, while fundamentally elementary in 
character, will no doubt be of interest to the bud¬ 
ding novitiate as well as the seasoned expert. 
Not always, but nearly always, the average ar¬ 
ticle dealing with things piscatorial is written 
above the head of the amateur who does not 
grasp the real import of the ideas and sugges¬ 
tions imparted and loses much because of this. 
The seasoned regular, however, absorbs it all 
and sometimes doesn’t even bother giving it more 
than a cursory glance saying, “Gosh, same old 
stuff, I’ve been through all this.” Now I am not 
trying to animadvert nor appear anilious. This 
condition actually exists and quite a number of 
my own friends are doing the complaining. They 
have even gone as far as to suggest that I write 
something along A-B-C lines regarding the sub¬ 
ject of this article. 
Of course, we all like to read the pen pictures 
about the big frothy combers that come rolling 
and tumbling in regular succession, breaking at 
our feet in fumy, spumy whirlpools. How, in 
the last stages of darkness in the early morning 
a streak of gray in the eastern sky followed by 
an aureate orb announces daylight will soon be 
(Continued on next page, middle column.) 
A Game Fish to the Very Last Pound and 
Ounce. 
SURFACE BAIT FOR GAME FISH 
THE LIFE ACTION OF ANY LURE IS 
THE SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL ANGLING 
By Louis Rhead. 
(With illustrations by the author.) 
S EVERAL bass fishermen readers of Forest 
and Stream have sent me word they don’t 
want lures that float at the surface, because 
in the waters they fish, bass take baits (live or 
artificial) under water. In order to correct any 
misunderstanding concerning my new theories I 
would have it known that “nature lures” are not, 
of necessity, surface baits, although I am con¬ 
vinced that after many successful tests of them 
that much more satisfaction to the angler is at¬ 
tained if bass or any other game fish can be 
persuaded to rise at the surface to take any lure. 
When you see a good sized large-mouth bass 
dash above water with wide open jaws after a 
floating frog, as I have seen, more than once, 
you will agree that real sport is keener when 
visible than a strike unseen under water. With 
live bait, many and varied are the stunts per¬ 
formed by fish; not so with artificial lures; they 
are almost always taken in the same old way, 
according to the methods pursued in fishing. 
It is a very easy matter, and much cheaper, by 
long shots, to make a sunken lure. It is also 
quite easy to make a floating lure sink by the aid 
of lead, but a mighty hard one to make a sunken 
lure float. The advantages of a light floating 
lure are two-fold. First, that it may be cast in 
a similar manner to a fly or worm on a long, 
lightweight rod; second, to make the lure to float 
in suspension near the bottom, or any depth of 
water you wish to tie it, so that it will not drop 
dead and still on the bed of the river, as dead 
natural baits do, and weighted artificial baits do. 
Movement or action in the water is absolutely 
necessary to success in all kinds of artificial baits. 
No fish was ever caught on a plug that was still, 
or a spoon, pork rind, or even dead minnow, 
unless they were in active movement. It is the 
activity of living bait that insures success in 
fishing. Some anglers assert they enjoy watching 
the peculiar water stunts of a popular plug now 
on the market quite as much as they do in 
capturing fish. But such fishing is not my theory 
of the aims of true anglers. 
Fishing is a science, not a moving picture show. 
Our desire is to match our wits to capture fish, 
and they try to evade capture by fair and sports¬ 
manlike methods at both ends of the line which 
gives, all must agree, the keen delight in our 
much beloved recreation. Thus it is, if an artifi- 
