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blue rod has not even a fancied advantage over the most highly-polished one.

The most important rule, then, to be observed, first, last, and all the time in fly-fishing, is: Keep out of sight of the fish; this is the first and great injunction; "and the second is like unto it:" Keep as quiet and motionless as possible. "On these two" laws depends all your success in fly-fishing. Let your necessary movements be deliberate and methodical, avoiding all quick, sudden, or energetic motions. Fish see and hear much better than we give them credit for. To keep out of the fish's sight we must be screened by such natural objects as bushes, trees, rocks, etc., or by keeping well back from the brink and making long casts. In wading the stream it is also necessary to make long casts. The latter is the best plan of fishing a stream, as the angler, being so near the water, is not so apt to be seen.

It is best, always, to fish down stream, even with the wind against one, for fish always lie with head up stream, and will be more apt to see your flics. The current will, moreover, take your flies down stream, and so keep your line taut. It is also easier to wade down, than up stream. Many other reasons might be given, but these will be sufficient. Cast just below ripples and rapids, over eddies and pools, along the edges of weed patches, under projecting banks and shelving rocks, near submerged trees or driftwood, off gravelly shoals, isolated rocks and long points or spurs of land; it is useless to fish long, deep, still reaches of water.

The most favorable time for fly-fishing for Black Bass is during the last hours of the day, from sundown until dark, and also on bright moonlight evenings. On streams,

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an hour or two following sunrise, in warm weather, is quite favorable. On dark, cloudy, and cold days the middle hours are best. Bright sunny days, especially in hot weather, are not favorable to fly-fishing, except in quite cool, shady, and breezy situations. In short, the best conditions are a mellow or dusky light, a good breeze, and translucent water; while the most unfavorable are a bright sun, a still atmosphere, and a smooth and glassy surface, with the water either very fine or very turbid.

And now, in concluding this portion of my subject, let me say a parting word to the beginner: Cast a straight line; keep it taut; strike upon sight, or touch; kill your fish on the rod; take your time. It is better to cast a short line well, than a long one bunglingly. Should you cast your fly into a branch of a tree overhead, or into a bush behind you, or miss your fish in striking, or lose him when hooked, or crack off your tail-fly, or slip into a hole up to your armpits-keep your temper; above all things don't swear, for he that swears will catch no fish. Remember, yours is the gentle art, and a fly-fisher should be a gentleman.

CHAPTER XXII.

CASTING THE MINNOW.

"And as to the rest that concerns this sort of angling, I shall wholly refer you to Mr. Walton's direction, who is undoubtedly the best angler with a minnow in England."-CHARLES COTTON.

NEXT to fly-fishing, casting the minnow is the most artistic mode of angling for the Black Bass. To obtain all of the pleasure and sport embodied in this style of fishing, none but the best and most approved tackle should be employed, which should approach, in its general features of elegance and lightness, the implements used in fly-fishing.

A faithful study of the conformation, habits, and idiosyncrasies of game fish should be the first consideration of the true angler; though the average angler usually contents himself with a superficial knowledge of the ways and means of capturing and killing the finny tribe, a big catch being the height of his piscatorial ambition. While good tackle is essential to success, a thorough knowledge of the habits. of the fish is a sine qua non, without which no one can become an expert and successful angler.

Apropos of this might be mentioned the old and hackneyed story of the rustic youth with alder pole, twine string, and worm bait, and the soi-disant angler with split bamboo and well-filled fly-book, who indulged in a day's fishing on the same stream, with the result of a "big string" for

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the boy, and one poor fingerling for the disgusted sportsThe boy understood the "true inwardness" of the Trout, in which matter the discomfited citizen was lamentably ignorant, and relied entirely upon his splendid rig for

success.

Where Black Bass are plentiful, as in the quiet ponds and lakes of Western New York, Northern Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, at the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, and in the extreme South, the merest tyro, who can throw his bait twenty feet from the boat, can, when the Bass are in a biting mood, show a big catch, though he may necessarily have failed to land two out of every three fish hooked. But on small rivers, where the angler casts to the right and left and across the stream from the banks, and while wading the shallows and bars, and the Bass are shy, educated, and fully up in a knowledge of the stream in its windings, eddies, pools, and rapids, the highest skill and a thorough knowledge of the habits of the fish are indispensable to a full creel; and this, at the same time, constitutes the pleasure and perfection of Black Bass angling.

But bear in mind, that sticking the butt of a long rod in the bank, and then, while reclining under the shade of some umbrageous tree, enjoying a pipe or the latest novel while waiting an hour for a bite, is not angling, but simply loafing, and attempting to obtain Bass under false pretenses.

Casting the minnow is quite an art, as much so as casting the fly; indeed, I think there are more good fly casters than good casters of the live minnow. Mediocrity in both methods of angling is readily acquired, but great excellence and perfect skill are rarely attained in either. The two

methods are essentially and practically different, and require implements and tools commensurate with this differ

ence.

While the fly-rod is willowy and long, the minnow-rod is short and comparatively stiff; the fly-line is rather heavy and of large caliber as compared with the minnow-line, which should be as fine and light as possible, consistent with strength. The artificial fly is cast by the weight of the fly-line and suppleness of the rod, while the weight of the bait, and swivel or sinker, give the necessary momentum for casting the minnow. The fly is usually cast overhead, directly in front of the angler, while the minnow can only be cast, for any great distance, to one side or the other, or obliquely, by underhand casting.

MINNOW TACKLE.

THE MINNOW ROD.-The rod for casting the live minnow should be shorter and stiffer than the fly-rod, but of about the same relative weight; for it, like the fly-rod, is a single-handed rod. It should be from eight to nine feet long. Eight and a quarter feet is the standard length that I have advocated for many years, though the manufacturers, in order to suit all tastes, now make this style of rod from eight to nine and a half feet long. It should weigh from eight to ten ounces, no less and no more. It should be well balanced, with a stiffish back, to insure good casting, but pliable enough to respond to the slightest movement of the fish. Most of the bend and play should be in the upper two-thirds of the rod, which bend should be a true arch, and not a horse-shoe curve, as is often seen in a poorly-constructed and weak-backed rod. The best

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