Bait fishing

“ It is chiefly by the judicious use of ground baits, and by fishing at a proper depth, that one angler is more successful than another, although fishing with the same baits and within a few yards of each other. If a place can be ground baited frequently fish begin to come there regularly for food. Care must be taken not to glut the fish, and the bait upon the hook ought to be more attractive than the bait flung into the stream. The ground bait most in use includes bran mixed with clay, and made into balls of about the size of a pigeon’s egg. ”

“ If the fish are biting well he tears from one end to the other of his long rows of traps, playing a fish here, hauling one out there, setting a trap that has been sprung by the wind or the too eager wriggling of the bait, and on most fishing days, whether the fish bite well or ill, he has to constantly make the rounds of his holes, inspecting his hooks to see if the bait has escaped or been stolen, handling new ones in the icy water and skimming the young ice from the holes across his fishing. ”

“ In the fishery for sardines for canning, bait is almost as important as the boats and nets. In no other net fishery in the world is bait so extensively employed and so essential to the success of the industry. The scarcity of bait is always a serious matter in the fishing districts, curtailing the catch, reducing the income of the fisherman, and often producing distress among the fisherfolk. ”

“ Casting the menhaden bait is similar to casting the float and sinker, only the power is enormously increased and deficiencies proportionally magnified. The line is wound up till the bait, if a single one, is almost two feet from the tip, the rod is extended behind the fisherman, who turns his body for the purpose, and then brought forward with a steady but vigorous swing that discharges it without a jerk, like an apple thrown from a stick by rustic youths. ”

“ At this time the trout are pretty evenly distributed along lake shores and streams, choosing to lie quietly in rather deep pools and avoiding swift water. A few may rise to the fly in a logy, indifferent way; but the best way to take them is bait-fishing with well-cleansed angle-worms or white grubs, the latter being the best bait I have ever tried. They take the bait sluggishly at this season, but, on feeling the hook, wake up to their normal activity and fight gamely to the last. ”

“ In fishing for the whiting the amateur should use a hand-line about twice as stout as very thick twine, and with two hooks (not over large these latter, as the whiting has not a very large mouth) . Bait one hook with a worm and the other with a “white” bait, to give the fish a choice, as they are fastidious, and it is curious that on some days you will find they will take the one persistently when they will not look at the other. By a white bait I mean a piece of sprat or herring. The white bait takes best when the sea is thick and disturbed, as its glitter is seen by the whiting far off. ”

“ A jointed-rod is convenient for carrying, but if one lives within walking or driving distance of his fishing a rod in one piece, such as is easily made from a slender bamboo with an elastic tip of good wood spliced on, is as good for bait-fishing as any. If besides bait-fishing one desires to use the fly, then the best rod is a rather stout fly-rod about ten feet in length, because it can be used for bait-fishing, while a bait-rod cannot be used to cast a fly. ”

“ Ordinary black bass tackle is quite suitable for either fish, with fly or bait. Braided linen lines are preferable, however, to silk ones, as the latter soon rot in salt water. A gut leader about four feet long and snelled hooks, Nos. 1 to 3, are all right for bait-fishing. The best bait is a small sardine, anchovy or mullet, though the casting spoon, with a single hook, or a pearl squid of small size may be used if kept in constant motion on the surface. ”

“ Night and morning is the best time for bait fishing, unless the weather be cold; then from about 3 to 6 p. m. For fly fishing, two hours after sunrise and one hour or two before dark will be found the most tempting time.
In lake fishing it is always best to run out to the [Pg 22] deep water and fish in towards the shallows or feeding grounds, as the boat being in the deeper water is not so conspicuous to the fish in the shallows. When a bass is hooked, I always work toward deep water, so as to play the fish freely and avoid snags, rocks, weeds, etc. ”

“ It seems to me that in spinning for pike the very reverse holds good to the ascertained facts of live-baiting. In the latter form of fishing you must have large baits to catch large fish. Mr. Jardine’s 37-pounder was caught with a 1⁄2-lb. roach. Some anglers—Mr. Pennell is one—use and recommend jack up to 2 lb. as lively bait for their big brothers and parents, but in spinning you must use a small bait. If it is a spoon, or an imitation fish, anything over three inches and a half is a waste of money and a menace to good results. Pickled dace or roach should never exceed five inches. ”

“ Every boy knows what still fishing is. It is the common method of baiting our hook, casting it from the shore or from a boat and waiting for a bite. In still fishing it is customary to use a light sinker to keep the bait near the bottom and a float or “cork” which serves the double purpose of keeping the bait away from snags, stones, or weeds on the bottom and also of showing us when we have a bite. The more expert still fishermen never use a float, as they prefer to tell by the pull on the line when a fish has taken the bait. ”

“ I prefer myself—and so I am sure do all true sportsmen—to give the animal or fish I endeavour to capture a fair chance of escape, or, in other words, fair play, which is the true principle of all sport. In live-bait fishing for jack the same means are used as for perch, only that your cork float must be larger, as must the hook, and this latter must be gimp-fastened, as the jack would make short work of gut. Of course a larger bait is used for jack than for perch, and, indeed, at this period of the year, a large bait is rather “killing” than otherwise. ”

“ The angler will find the rud worth his attention; the tackle must be strong, but fine, with a quill float, and a hook proportioned to the bait; the same ground-bait is to be used as for carp and chub, fishing about the same depths as for the latter, except on the ground, for they feed naturally near the surface; they will in this way take red-worms, gentles, wasp-maggots, caddis, and red-paste. Some use a ground-bait of boiled malt, and prefer a small red worm to any other bait. ”

“ For bait-casting the necessary implements are a large reel, running on steel pivots, two hundred yards of flax line attached to a 7° hook with a round head, and a rod of not over nine feet in length, with a large agate funnel top. With such tools experienced fishermen can cast a slice cut from the side of a menhaden, and weighing about three ounces, two hundred, aye, nearly three hundred feet into the curling breakers of the Atlantic ocean, and kill bass that will pull down the scales at fifty, sixty, and seventy pounds. ”

“ Bait casting is as a rule a very effective method of catching fish, especially in shallow lakes and where fly fishing is not practised. In deep water, trolling or still fishing are usually the best methods of catching fish and often the only methods that will be successful. Trolling consists simply in rowing or paddling slowly with the bait or spoon trailing behind. It is not a scientific way of fishing and requires but little skill. When the fish strikes, it usually hooks itself and all that remains is to reel it into the boat and land it. ”

“ Rod fishing is done in comparatively deep water on the rocky reefs or shelly banks along the keys, from an anchored boat. Any natural bait, as a small fish, crab, crawfish, or conch, will answer, though a small fish, as the mullet, sardine, or anchovy, is the best. When of large size the gag is a very gamy fish, and must be handled very carefully to preserve one's tackle intact. ”

“ Though I have said that I never see the fishermen off the pond I do see them sometimes fishing for bait. They cut a big hole in the ice for this, one big enough to let that monster pickerel that is never caught come through, and through this they drop to the bottom a big hoop net. This they bait with cracker crumbs and now and then pull it eagerly to the surface, often with many shiners in it. There are small ponds that are famous for being rich in bait alone and from these the wiser fishermen draw their supply. ”

“ The noblest of fish, the mighty salmon, refuses bait utterly, and only with the most artistic tackle and the greatest skill can he be taken; the trout, which ranks second to the salmon, demands an almost equal perfection of bait, and in his true season, the genial days of spring and summer, scorns every allurement but the tempting fly. The black bass prefers the fly, but will take the trolling spoon, and even bait, at all seasons ”

“ For instance, the cunner and sheepshead are expert bait stealers. With their incisor teeth their habit is to pinch off barnacles and other mollusks from their attachment to rocks and old timbers, and so they nip off the clam or crab bait from the hook with but little disturbance. A trout takes a fly or bait with a vigorous snap, without investigation as to its nature, and a black bass does much the same, giving immediate and unmistakable notice to the angler that there is "something doing." ”

“ If he is an adept he will drive the greasy bait straight and true directly to the desired spot, and if the weather is favorable and the fates propitious, he will bring up some scaly monster of twenty-five or mayhap thirty pounds, who will start seaward with bait, and hook, and line, and only be persuaded, after many efforts and determined rushes, that it is in vain. The strong ocean breeze will play with his hair and the salt spume wet his cheek ”

“ In worm fishing never attempt to fish down, but always up a stream, and when you are aware that you have a bite, slacken your line a little in order to give time to the fish to gorge, then strike quickly, but not too hard, and land your prize without delay; you need not make more than two or three casts in one place, because if there is a fish he will in those casts either take or refuse your bait. ”

“ This bait is then dropped into holes between the weeds or rushes, and is worked up and down by the lifting and fallin- of the rod-point, the lead within the bait causing it to shoot and dart along as though the fish were alive. When a pike seizes it, ten minutes must be allowed for him to pouch, when the angler must strike firmly, hold on, and get his fish out as well as he can. It is by no means the pleasantest method of fishing, as the waiting is tedious. The fish constantly runs the line foul of the weeds, &c. ”

“ All require for their performance the use of a rod, a line, a hook, and a bait. The first is bottom-fishing, which nearly resembles that mode of sea-fishing with the handline, which we have just described. It consists of angling near the bottom of the water, with worms, gentles, bread, paste, and other animate and inanimate baits; it is the simplest, most common, and most primitive mode of angling, "first learned, and last forgotten."
Trolling is more difficult. It is performed in mid-water, that is, neither at the surface, like fly-fishing, nor at the bottom, as the preceding kind. ”

“ By dead bait is meant bits of pork, fresh beef, or even other fish cut up into tempting morsels for "skittering"; that is, where you cast your line with a sinker, and then haul it in over the water, usually by lifting the pole, walking back, or reeling in; a dead frog or a dead fish is just as good as a live one.
Boys, as a rule, prefer to fish with bait, leaving artificial flies to the seniors. Any small live creature will answer for bait; even mice have been used with good effect, and cheese, if it can be kept on the hook, is eagerly swallowed, in bottom fishing, by carp and catfish. ”

“ If you are fishing in running water, drop the bait quietly into the water and so manage the rod that it shall neither hasten nor hinder the movement of the bait, which should travel as nearly as possible as it would if it were not upon a hook. All the time you are to keep as much as possible out of sight. When you feel the pluck of the fish drop the point of your rod and wait a second or two before you attempt to strike the hook into the flesh. ”

“ Fly casting is the most scientific method of fishing and gives the greatest pleasure to the fisherman after he has once become an expert. No matter what method we follow in fishing, we must never try to catch fish by any method which the laws may prohibit, such as spearing, set lines, or nets. Each state has its own laws which the fisherman must learn and obey.
Worms are the best all around bait for fishing. They are as a rule easily obtained and may be kept for a long time. ”

“ Of course there are a multitude of other baits which are sometimes preferred, but these will rarely fail if the fish are at all inclined to feed. The best general ground-bait is that already mentioned in bottom fishing, though all sorts of other matters—as grains, barley-meal, pollard, boiled wheat, &c.—are sometimes used. Roach, when feeding near the surface, will sometimes take a fly, as indeed will most fish. ”

“ There is often great difficulty in obtaining bait, particularly during a storm, which is the time that it is most needed, as the fish bite best in rough weather, and on going from the cities it is well to pack a few hundred menhaden in a box with ice and sawdust, and thus insure a supply for some days ahead. ”