296 
FOREST AND STREAM 
JULY , 1917 
BASS AS GAMY FIGHTERS 
WHEN, WHERE AND HOW THEY FEED. HOW 
THEY TAKE A PLUG AND WHY WE LOOSE THEM 
N UMEROUS experiments I made with 
plugs last fall helped a little to solve 
the vexing problem of why I fre¬ 
quently lost 9 bass out of io strikes—which 
many expert plug fishermen must undoubt¬ 
edly experience. It will be necessary first 
to explain some of their peculiarities and 
characteristic hab¬ 
its, and the ways 
bass use to gain 
their natural food. 
The following re¬ 
marks are set 
down after some 
careful study and 
with the hope that 
they will encour¬ 
age other angling 
readers of Forest 
and Stream to 
contribute their 
experiences, s o 
that through joint 
action there may 
be devised plugs 
more perfect as 
lures than any yet 
invented. 
I would decid¬ 
edly prefer hav¬ 
ing bass exclu¬ 
sively taken on 
the fly, but such I 
fear will be im¬ 
possible at least 
’til they are more 
inclined to feed 
on natural insects, 
which at present 
is only on rare oc¬ 
casions. You will 
often see large in¬ 
sects (drakes) 
floating alive at 
the surface un¬ 
molested, right 
over where you 
are certain bass 
are located. We 
all know large 
bucktail flies and 
spinners only get 
responsive strikes 
or a rise when in 
active motion. 
U n question - 
ably the greatest 
. food consumption 
of bass aie min¬ 
nows, the young 
of catfish, sunfish, 
perch, chub and 
dace. These are pursued with relentless 
vigor towards evening and through the 
night, mostly in the shallows. In the day¬ 
time, if bass feed at all they scour the 
lake or river bed for insect creepers, of 
which myriads are constantly emerging 
from the weed, sand or pebbles, to ascend 
By LOUIS RHEAD 
upwards for a change into the flying insect. 
Crawfish, helgramites and young lampers 
creep from their hiding places mostly after 
dark, and they also furnish what may be 
called “bottom food” for bass. 
We should libel the bass to call it a 
“hog,” for I never caught one stuffed full 
up to the eyes with food, such as frequent¬ 
ly occurs with trout. But trout in May 
and June feed all the time, day and night, 
yet still respond for more. Bass are more 
often unresponsive; in other words they 
are not always feeding and won’t respond 
’til they take a notion. Failing to get a 
strike on lampers from three nice bass 
plainly seen in the water, I threw in the 
last live uninjured lamper; it floated, kick¬ 
ing, Jght by the fish in plain sight, but , 
without a move on their part—about 2 
o’clock in the afternoon. At 7 that even¬ 
ing I caught all three fish on an artificial 
crawfish. 
At rare inter¬ 
vals bass will take 
toll on movable 
surface food — 
young muskrats, 
frogs, grasshop¬ 
pers, and the like. 
It is certain the 
lively action of 
these creatures in¬ 
duce bass to run 
up and strike. 
Without doubt, 
this surface food 
forms the basis, 
or rather the rea¬ 
son, why plugs 
entice bass—some¬ 
times pickerel and 
pike, the latter 
more especially 
when use|d ac¬ 
cording to the 
trolling methods. 
I have often 
watched how 
slowly bass move 
towards live, even 
kicking, bait that 
is allowed to float 
gently through the 
w a t e r. But the 
quicker you move 
live bait, the more 
rapid is the strike 
of the fish. It is 
almost certain 
bass would not 
touch a “still” 
plug. — Action 
alone gets the 
strike. The plug, 
no matter what 
shape or color, if 
taken at all must 
hook the fish in¬ 
stantly or you lose 
it, and for that 
reason if bass 
grab plugs from 
the side, which I 
believe they do, 
then the right 
hook should be so 
attached to plugs as to take hold and keep 
them fast. 
My studies have proved it not necessary 
to disguise or hide the hook from the keen 
vision of a fish. I am fully convinced that 
the hook, or numerous hooks, do not in 
(continued on page 312) 
HAUNTS OF BASS AND PIKE 
Fish shallows with minnows, grass with frogs and rocky spots with 
helgramites and crawfish. Remember these insects creep from their 
hiding places mostly after dark, and they also furnish “bottom food” for bass. 
