410 
FOREST AND STREAM 
SEPTEMBER, 1917 
SEPTEMBER FLY FISHING FOR BASS 
THERE IS MARVELOUS SPORT AWAITING THE ANGLER WITH THE FLY 
ROD IF HE WILL STUDY THE HABITS OF THE SMALL MOUTH PATIENTLY 
By “RUBE” WOOD 
A S fall approaches sportsmen can get 
ready along the streams of the north¬ 
ern and middle states for excellent 
fly fishing for small mouth bass. At this 
period the streams will have reached their 
normal stage, and will also have attained 
their greatest clarity. There is marvellous 
sport awaiting the angler with the fly rod 
if he will only study the habits of small 
mouth bass, and that can be done only on 
the streams. 
In spring the instant that small mouth 
bass fail to strike at flies on certain streams 
the angler at once gives up hope of ever 
being able to take them in that manner. 
But just a wee bit more study given to 
the fish, and that much patience added to 
it, and it will yield him sport in this line 
which he has never before anticipated with 
this elegant bronze battler. Small mouth 
bass can be made to take flies in fairly 
deep water, but when in these streams they 
are in striking humor recovery should not 
be too rapid. If the water is over ten feet 
deep it will pay to give them plenty of time 
to make the dash for the lure. But as mid¬ 
summer advances the fish leave the deep 
water in streams, and at certain times of 
day seem to revel in fast shoals. If the 
water is deep in any part of the rapid and 
very rough, they appear to like it all the 
better, especially so when a log, tree or 
rock promises a propitious hiding place. 
Fishing barren water on his first outing 
is what drives the tyro frequently from 
angling for small mouths with flies. Some¬ 
times very large fish are to be found in fast 
water, and there they will rise to flies 
when they would not look at them in a 
placid hole. The cast should be as usual, 
below the obstacle, at the smooth part of 
the riffle, recovery slow, but with the tip a 
saltatory motion should be given to the 
feathered deceits. 
Due stress must be laid on the fact that 
bait casting and fly casting are two differ¬ 
ent arts. Furthermore, some consideration 
must be accorded to this condition, that 
flies customarily offered at the sporting 
goods stores are not small mouth bass 
flies, nor do they resemble the little flies 
upon which these bass at times feed, but 
are merely replicas on an enlarged scale of 
trout flies. 
Contrary to the creations of the tackle 
makers a number 4 hook is none too small 
or too large for a small mouth bass. Flies 
tied in proportion on this size hook are 
more nearly the dimensions of the willow 
flies, when they are most appealing to the 
red-eyes family. The salmon fly tier has 
approached the real thing—coloring and 
shape far closer than the putative bass fly 
tier. Most small mouth bass anglers favor 
the salmon pattern; and the one Butcher is 
not only a killer in fall, but performs won¬ 
derfully at all seasons of the year. So 
much have the salmon patterns come into 
vogue for this purpose that up-to-the-min¬ 
ute fly tiers are modeling every fly for bass 
according to that pattern. Babcock, Lord 
Baltimore, Black Dose, Silver Doctor, Jock 
Scott, Colonel Fuller, and Theodore Gor¬ 
don s patterns of the bumble puppy afford 
a selection of small mouth bass flies that 
are killers nearly every fishing day of the 
season. 
I have seen a Butcher fished with in 
Ozark fast waters—the greatest small 
mouth rivers in the world—for an entire 
week, and the user of it excelled everybody 
in camp both in number and size of catch. 
Individual selection is for the strong 
single gut leader; for when you have to 
rough it with the red eyed gentleman it is 
either in the swiftest water, or near obsta¬ 
cles that immediately demand something in 
the tackle way superior to the ordinary. 
Too many of the common double gut lead¬ 
ers hide imperfections of the single strand. 
As for the proper fly rod; manner of 
fishing and the stream should regulate 
your choice. If your water is full of im¬ 
pediments in the way of rocks and snags— 
swift water—and you are fishing from a 
boat a rod heavier than five ounces is the 
proper one. Where wading is feasible, 
and though the stream is fast, and free 
from snags and rocks, the lighter the rod 
you use in such proportion will the pleas¬ 
ure of the sport be increased. The hand¬ 
made one of split bamboo should have pre¬ 
cedence over any other. Too many, how¬ 
ever, are ruining expensive rods by the 
use of spinners. They will soon put a bow 
in the best hand-made light bamboo rod. 
In fighting small mouth bass more liber¬ 
ties may be taken in roughing the fish than 
with trout. That strong mouth willl stand 
more. In deep water due precaution should 
be exercised when the valiant little bronze 
warriors indulges in one of these bewilder¬ 
ing. gyrating dives! for, if there is any¬ 
thing beneath th& surface around which it 
can entangle the line it will positively make 
for it. 
They are adepts in freeing themselves 
from the hook when in aerial flight. The 
line should not be too taut, not perceptibly 
slack. In either case the fish will gain 
freedom. If you are fighting red eyes in 
fast water, fight them high on the water, 
and it will insure a quicker killing—espe¬ 
cially if it is a fish that adopts that slow, 
tantalizing method of utilizing the current 
in battle by laying cross stream. Fish in 
shallow water will leap more than in deep 
water, if the bottom is clear of enticing 
obstructions. 
In the engagement give the red eye the 
same light equipment that you give fonti- 
nalis, and you will discover a finny warrior 
that is skilled in every point of the fighting 
game. 
