The boy's own guide to fishing, tackle-making and fish-breeding .. by Keene John Harrington

Author:Keene, John Harrington
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fishing
Publisher: Boston, Lee and Shepard
Published: 1894-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Black June, — same as for trout. No. 3 hook.

Cowdun, — brown wings ; greenish-yellow worsted body ; brown hackle.

White Miller, — body, white wool and silk-ribbed gold tinsel, or orange silk ; hackle, white ; wings, white.

Seth Green, — body, green silk ribbed with yellow silk; wings, brown (buff turkey tail); hackle, brown. No. 3 hook. These are sufficient to begin with.

In using the fly for bass, somewhat similar tactics to those in vogue for trout are employed. Of course the thing to do first is to ascertain beyond peradventure that bass are present. The fly is cast in precisely the same style as for trout; but it is allowed to sink several inches at least under water before it is drawn back by little jerks towards the caster. In deep

water it is advisable to close a small split shot about a foot above the hook, so that the line is sunk a foot, or even two, beneath the water. The small-mouth black bass is usually found over a rocky bottom, near old submerged trunks of trees, and in deeper water generally than its confrere of the "large-mouth" species. But both take the ily greedily at times; and when either is hooked, there is quite a "" circus" on hand to deal with. Especially is this so with the small-mouth fish. He is the very bull-dog of the water. As soon as the hook pricks him, the line runs out with startling rapidity; then he leaps from the water, following this up with other leaps, sometimes to the number of six, or even more; and it is necessary to be patient and wary if you would secure the fish in the end. I do not think any fish that swims is superior to the black basses in fighting-power on the hook.

By the way, the young angler is sometimes puzzled to know how to distinguish between the /arg^e-mouth and the Jwa/Z-mouth fish. Let him do it by observing the feature that gives them their colloquial names. The large-mouth has a proportionately much larger mouth, extending to

the outer orbit or rim enclosing the eye, whilst in the small-mouth, the mouth only extends to a line drawn perpendicularly through the centre of the pupil of the eye, and in addition there is a spot of red in the eye of the latter.

All the various black basses of fresh water in this country have been decided by authoritative naturalists to belong to one of these species: either Micropterus salmoides (the large-mouth), or M. dolimeu (the small-mouth black bass).

I have at times dressed the flies I used with a slip of lead on the hook shank under the body; but it has the disadvantage of interfering with the casting. The fly does not alight so softly, and cannot be propelled through the air so readily. The movement in bass-fly casting should be almost exactly like that in throwing a ball; and I suppose my boy readers know how this is done overhand.

Perch will take the fly in summer in any waters where they are numerous.

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