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Show ! t BLACK BASS BY NIGHT. Lake Kt-nkn rilnrmcn lluve m Singular t.l Citoliliis Them. BlacU !.!; it.- .tn' br ni-jht during the fall is a -;;t:iri p-.-ciiliar to Lake Iveuka, it b'jin,' ih belief of the fishermen along the hike, which results would seem to justify, t!int the biggest black basa do their feeding at night during that season. sea-son. The bass evidently have peculiar , ideas, too. iilxiut what they are willing to try in the way of something to eat ; at night. In fishing for black bass dur-i dur-i ing the day the angler on Keuka is particular par-ticular to have the choicest of live bait minnows, crawfish or dobeon. Minnows j are the bait most used. I The fisherman drifts slowly In hia boat along tbo shores, following the. ! curves of the quiet coves and rounding i the many points that jut into the lake ! on both sides. He keeps his line in ; about twenty feet of water, aud uses no : Binker, or, if any, a light one. The bait ; : must be constantly lively on the hook, i or the bass will not come near it At night the fisherman seeks places where i the water is forty or fifty feet deep. Instead In-stead of a single hook and a live bait he ; uses a gang of at least tea hooks, tied in 1 pairs an inch apart. They are tied to ! strong gut, and are but little larger than ! an ordinary trout fly hook. The bait i used is golden shiner, wliich is caught , in the lake. It is hooked to the gang at the lip and tail, in a curve, so that when it is trolled through the water the bait will whirl, the Bhiner, of course, being dead. Where the leader, six feet long, and the line are joined another line is attached. This is six or eight feet long. To its pendant end is attached a half pound lead sinker. This is let to the bottom. The gang and Bhiner play in the water the length of the sinker line above the bottom. This rig is used at the end of 130 feet of line. The boat drifts or is rowed very B.owly, The black bass that are caught by this peculiar tackle in the great depth of water where it is used are always immense im-mense specimens. A catch of twenty made by Doc Stephens at Bluff Point the other night weighed sixty-five pounds. The same rig has been tried time and again iu the day time, but with little success. Bluff Point, a bold promontory rising more than 800 feet above the lake, at the junction of the lake proper and its west branch, is the favorite locality for night bass fishing. The shores are rocky and the water deep. If a person is rugged and tough, and likeBa dasli of the weird and uncanny mingled with his surroundings, he will enjoy black bass fishing at night ou Lake Keuka. There is a chill in the wind that disturbs the lake's surface that goes straight to the marrow. The numbness of lingers that follows the handling of a wet line, and the adjusting anew of a bait is not calculated to give joy to the ordinary angler. The shadows of BlulT Point are dark, and the frontof the bluff itself rises like a grim specter on the scene. The cry of the loon, wailing, demoniacal, blood curdling, sometimes bursting upon one almost at his side, and then coming from afar with the chasing waves, is among the attendant diversions, and one that does not add much to the cheerfulness of the surroundings, nor add zest to the sport. That this novel way of basa fishing is popular on ,Lake Keuka, however, was well testified to the other night, when no less than fifty boats were drifting about in the shadows off Blue Point, each containing from one to three fishermen. The catch of big bass that night ran far up into the hundreds Ordinary everyday black bass fishing, always excellent on Lake Keuka, was never better than it is this fall. Iiam-mondsport Iiam-mondsport Cor. New York Sun. |
