Bass, Pike, Perch, and OthersHenshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Science
Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others
Henshall, James A. (James Alexander)
Fishes; Fishing
With a light fly-rod of four or five ounces, and corresponding tackle,
and trout flies on hooks Nos. 5 to 7, the rock-bass is not a mean
adversary. It rises to the various hackles, and to such flies as
coachman, brown drake, gray drake, and stone fly, especially toward
evening. The flies must be allowed to sink with every cast after
fluttering them awhile on the surface. For bait-fishing a trout bait-rod
of the weight just mentioned, with a reel of small caliber and the
smallest braided silk line, will be about right. Sproat hooks Nos. 3 to
4 on light gut snells tied with red silk are the best. Live minnows
about two inches long, carefully hooked through the lips, are to be
lightly cast and allowed to sink nearly to the bottom and slowly reeled
in again. Or if a float is used, the minnow may be hooked just under the
dorsal fin. A small float is necessary when white grubs, crawfish,
cut-bait, or worms are used as bait. On lakes it is readily taken by
trolling with a very small spoon, about the size of a nickel, with a
single Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hook No. 1 attached.
A rod nine or ten feet long cut from the small end of a native cane
pole, weighing but a few ounces, with a line of sea-grass or raw silk
about the length of the rod, will answer very well for bait-fishing.
This is the tackle mostly used by boys in the Middle West, and it might
be profitably employed by boys of larger growth.
A dozen "red-eyes," gleaming with green and gold, on the string of the
boy angler, is something to be proud of. He gazes with fond admiration
on the wide-open crimson eyes, which to him seem more precious than
rubies. He admires the bristling fins, the gracefully sloping sides, the
gaping mouth and forked tail, with boyish enthusiasm and appreciation.
Although hot and tired, and with many a scratch and bruise on hands and
feet, such trifles are lighter than air, and do not admit of a moment's
consideration. Seated on a rock at the margin of the stream, with the
string of fish in the water, he feasts his eyes on the finny beauties
with the conscious pride of well-earned success and the happy
culmination of his outing. In imagination the battles are all fought
over and over again. He knows just where and under what condition and
circumstance each fish was caught, as, with bare toes, he separates and
indicates the individual on the string. That largest one was hooked
under the dam beside the big rock. The next in size was taken among the
roots of the old sycamore at the bend of the creek. Another and still
another from the deep hole under the rocky cliff. Oh, the joyous days of
youth and going a-fishing in the glad springtime of life! And then,
having laved his swollen feet in the cooling stream, he washes the blood
and scales from his hands, scrapes the mud and slime from his well-worn
clothes, shoulders his lance of elm, and starts for home, bearing his
trophies with as proud a mien as a warrior of old returning with the
spoils of war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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