water practicable.

I find it a good plan to let the bass have the bait from two to ten
seconds, according to the way he takes it; then strike at once,
giving him line freely, but keeping the thumb on the reel as a drag.
Click reels are an abomination. I never jerk the rod, but hook with a
twist of the wrist, remembering the golden rule that from the moment
a bass takes the bait until he is landed _the line must be kept
tight_, as one second of slack line will lose him. The point of the
rod I keep bent by the pull of the fish, which is made to fight for
every inch of line. I reel in whenever practicable and kill the fish
on the line.

I never let a fish get among the weeds; I coax him off if possible,
but if this is not practicable, I give him the butt, and either get
him away or break the pole, which is preferable to losing the fish by
weeds or snags. When thoroughly exhausted, I land him, of course, but
am never in a hurry. If a pole net be used I sink it under him and
gently lift it until the fish falls into it.

In order to appreciate black bass fishing to the full, considerable
attention most assuredly must be paid to suitable tackle. Any boy may
catch sun-fish, suckers, or trout with a bean pole, a piece of cord
for a line and a rude nondescript bait. Black bass are a fish of an
entirely different type, and the day when a black bass rod was
considered to mean one weighing two pounds and measuring sixteen
feet, with a chalk line, and a reel like a small clock, is delegated
to the far off past of ten years ago. Some few of the old anglers
made their own rods, and scored heavily in their takes of fish, to
the wonder and amazement of the other fishermen who still adhered to
the old heavy pattern.

My idea of the best rod for black bass fishing is the happy medium
between the trout fly rod, and the trout bait rod. The one I
generally use is eight feet three inches long, weighs nine ounces, is
three-jointed, the balance perfect, and the bend true from tip to
butt. It was made by H. H. Kiffe, 318 Fulton street, Brooklyn. I have
killed many bass with this rod during the past two seasons, some
weighing as high as four pounds, and have also caught pickerel
weighing eight pounds with the same pole. The butt is white ash, and
the second joint and tip finely selected lancewood. The butt has a
wound grip, and the metal tip is of the four-ring pattern, the
strongest and lightest made. I prefer standing guides. Some people