It will prove more successful
on perch, catties, chubs, etc., than on trout, however. By this plan, I
have kept a camp of five men well supplied with fish when their best
flies failed--as they mostly do in very hot weather.

Fishing for mascalonge, pickerel and bass, is quite another thing,
though by many valued as a sport scarcely inferior to fly-fishing for
trout. I claim no especial skill with the fly-rod. It is a good day
when I get my tail fly more than fifteen yards beyond the reel, with
any degree of accuracy.

My success lies mainly with the tribes of Esox and Micropterus. Among
these, I have seldom or never failed during the last thirty-six years,
when the water was free of ice; and I have had just as good luck when
big-mouthed bass and pickerel were in the "off season," as at any time.
For in many waters there comes a time--in late August and September
when neither bass nor pickerel will notice the spoon, be it handled
never so wisely. Even the mascalonge looks on the flashing cheat with
indifference; though a very hungry specimen may occasionally immolate
himself. It was at such a season that I fished High Bank Lake--as
before mentioned--catching from twenty to fifty pounds of fine fish
every morning for nearly two weeks, after the best local fishermen had
assured me that not a decent sized fish could be taken at that season.
Perhaps a brief description of the modes and means that have proved
invariably successful for many years may afford a few useful hints,
even to old anglers.

To begin with, I utterly discard all modern "gangs" and "trains,"
carrying from seven to thirteen hooks each. They are all too small and
all too many; better calculated to scratch and tear, than to catch and
hold, Three hooks are enough at the end of any line and better than
more. These should be fined or honed to a perfect point and the abrupt
part of the barb filed down one-half. All hooks, as usually made, have
twice as much barb as they should have; and the sharp bend of the barb
prevents the entering of the hook in hard bony structures, wherefore
the fish only stays hooked so long as there is a taut pull on the line.
A little loosening of the line and shake of the head sets him free. But
no fish can shake out a hook well sunken in mouth or gills, though
two-thirds of the barb be filed away.

For mascalonge or pickerel I invariably use wire snells made as
follows: Lay off four or more strands of fine brass wire 13 inches
l