October, 1918 
591 
FOREST AND STREAM 
them on the hook. The meat of the craw¬ 
fish is a clean, pure white in coloring and 
as a troll in connection with a spoon and 
a bit of red rag make another kind of a 
bass killer; although usually the crawfish 
serves the purpose of a bait for still fish¬ 
ing. There are various ways of using them 
in this manner, the best I have found in 
localities where it is permissible is to fix 
your sinker well back from the bait, say 
from sixteen to twenty-four inches, and 
cast them well out to the places where you 
figure the bass to be feeding, allowing them 
to sink and rest on the bottom, their nat¬ 
ural haunts. The bass when feeding on 
this bait are well aware of their habits 
and seek them on the bottom of gravel 
shoals or among rocks. By fastening the 
sinker well back it allows your bait almost 
their natural freedom and their activity 
attracts the bass; this plan will work only 
on gravel or sand shoals where there are 
no large stones or brush as it is natural 
for the crawfish to seek the shelter of any 
protuberance, and should there be any¬ 
thing of the kind about it will result in a 
snagged tackle. Therefore when rocky, 
brush strewn pools are being worked it 
will be compulsory for the angler to use 
a float for his bait, being careful to have 
it just clear the bottdm. If fishing about 
logs and stumps from a boat or the shore, 
fish with a short line that will assure com- 
ilete control over the lure at all times. 
When the fish strikes a crawfish he should 
)e given time before “snubbing,” the same 
is a live minnow. To prove the popular- 
ty of the crawfish as a bass bait it will 
only be necessary to dissect any of the 
lass taken from the streams where this 
iait is found at any time of year when the 
varmth of the water allows their pres¬ 
ence; it will be noticed that most of the 
ish contain a stomach full of this bait. 
TNSECTS also form a good part of the 
[ bass’s subsistence when obtainable; 
grasshoppers, crickets and bees are all 
avorites with the Honorable Mr. Small 
douth. The best time to give the grass¬ 
hopper a try out 
will be in the 
late summer 
months when the 
streams are low 
and clear and the 
fish are ready to 
rise at almost 
anything with a 
bit of color and 
action. At this 
time of the sea- 
in when the bass are most active they have 
eaned up their supply of minnows and 
rawfish in the pools, then a large deli- 
itely colored grasshopper will almost cer- 
dnly bring results. When a fish strikes 
a bait of this kind he does so witl\ the 
same idea as on an artificial fly—he takes 
it with the express idea of bolting it down 
without any preamble—so he should be 
handled in about the same manner and 
should be “snubbed” at the rise. Set the 
hook into him as you feel the first rush, 
otherwise the empty hook will be the only 
thing to bear witness of his patronage. 
There are two kinds of grasshoppers 
best suited for fishing, some people argu¬ 
ing for the one and some for the other, 
but I have had a long line of experiences 
and, summing everything up, can find no 
noticeable difference as to their effective¬ 
ness. There is one kind which is abso¬ 
lutely useless as bait, and that is the big 
black and gray fellow one finds hopping 
about in the stubble of the new mown 
meadows and in the pastures where the 
grass has been cropped close by the cattle. 
It is an easy matter to distinguish this 
worthless, unwieldy chap as he does not 
fly at all, but hops about, easy to capture. 
The other two are of the flying kind, as 
one will soon learn to his discomfort 
should it chance to be one of those broil¬ 
ing, hot days that settle themselves so 
thoroughly over the unbroken wastes of 
the gray, dead-colored harvest field where 
these lively “hoppers” of ours delight to 
disport themselves with their dry rattle 
of wings and lead us merrily about to the 
huge delight of the harvest hands in the 
adjoining fields. The larger of the two is 
about two inches long and a dark gray or 
dusty color, the under part of his wings 
nicely marked with yellow and black; the 
other one is smaller, about an inch to an 
inch and a half in length and the body 
sometimes marked in a bizarre fashion, 
green, yellow and black stripes circling his 
body and transparent wings. This is the 
best description I can give of the two, but 
to any one seeking this sort of bait it will 
not be difficult for them to quickly dis¬ 
tinguish them. 
The large dark “hopper” it must be un¬ 
derstood is a quick, high flier and if any 
quantity of them is desired, it would be 
the best plan to provide one’s self with a 
net of some sort (the same kind I recom¬ 
mended for capturing the small frogs 
should be carried at all times by one ex¬ 
pecting to use a variety of bass bait), and 
some close, well ventilated contrivance in 
which to keep your captives. A good con¬ 
tainer which I have used with the best of 
results might be constructed from a heavy 
piece of drilling or canvas, or just as good, 
procure one of those muslin bags which 
are used as sugar containers, and have a 
.draw string about the neck of it. Never 
be so careless as to use a paper bag for 
grasshoppers, as I did once upon a time; 
when I hunted up my “hopper” bag it was 
only to find the entire side gone and also 
my hard earned bait. They are good at 
that sort of thing. I have seen them eat 
wooden handles of farm implements nearly 
away and therefore they will bear close 
watching no matter where they are con¬ 
fined. The best places to use grasshoppers 
are about logs and old stumps, in eddies 
beneath banks and leaning grass, or in the 
feed channels of the larger pools; in the 
last named places it is a good plan to use 
a float and drift the bait down quietly. In 
all events place the “hopper” bait as dain¬ 
tily and nearly like a bass fly as possible, 
for they are the nearest thing to the arti¬ 
ficial bait that exists in the natural bait 
line. The pleasing coloring of the lure and 
its lightness makes it an interesting one to 
use. A light fly rod of four ounces or 
less, light leader and small hook are the 
proper settings for this good old bait of 
our boyhood achievements. 
T HERE is another bait that must not 
escape our attention when on the 
subject of insect bass offerings. This 
is the cricket, that little black chap who 
serenades beneath your bedroom window 
every night throughout the summer time. 
At certain times of the season, especially 
in small stream fishing, the cricket appeals 
to our friend bass with marked effect. The 
bait is even a more delicate one than the 
grasshopper, which to my way of thinking 
is the chief drawback in its favor for 
general work. A very small sized hook 
should be used with this bait, a No. io 
Carlisle, not over a No. 8 at any rate, and 
the lightest sort of tackle. Crickets are 
found beneath old stumps or ground 
chunks in the woods and pasture lots and 
are more difficult to handle than any 
other bait I have ever had to do with, 
owing to their rapid fire antics. A bag 
similar to the one mentioned for grass¬ 
hoppers will be the best method of • con¬ 
fining them and when removing one to 
place on the hook be careful not to open 
the bag wider than just enough to allow 
one of the active little fellows to appear 
at a time. Around the back water that 
borders old stumps and logs, under banks 
and among the weedy coves, are the places 
best adapted for their use. Should the 
angler happen to find a school of the small 
mouth gentlemen and use a little care with 
this bait, in season he is almost sure of 
taking a good creel. August and Septem¬ 
ber are the best months for the cricket 
bait, when the streams are low and clear. 
Another highly favored bait is the white 
grub found in old sod and beneath partly 
buried ground chunks and stumps through¬ 
out the woods, also in well rotted logs and 
bark. They are good spring and summer 
bait and can be collected at most any sea¬ 
son of the 
year when the 
frost is out of 
the ground. 
They mix in well with an angle worm 
offering and are easily kept for some length 
of time without any special care other than 
filling the can or box where confined with 
pieces of heavy sod or punk or rotting 
wood. Not more than one grub should be 
used at a time for covering the hook and 
then threaded directly through from end 
to end so as to appear natural. 
(to be continued next month) 
