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THE END OF THE FISHING SEASON Reflections of a Sportsman About the Denizens of Minnesota Waters Nt iring the lawful end of the fishing season it may he unite apropos to give a resume of the years i och in this line especially api ertiiniiig to hat favorite of ninetynine out of one hundred anglers the black bass writes Sandy Criswold in American Field While tin fishing for bass in Nebraska waters which are neither plentiful nor alluring was generally about the same as it usually is it has furnished no jxjtentiai data as to the character f tin season and consequently w turn to Minne ¬ sota which contains more natural bass fishing than any state in tin Tninn for the sort of inforina Mon that carries conviction with it itFred Fred Goodrich wio owns a snug Inme upon th romantic shores of laki Karinis in tin Gopher atato has spent the last six or eight summer up there Mr Goodrich is an inveterate bass fish prmaii and a devoted student nf the piscatorial irt and therefore an authority who i word can relied upou In an interview a day or two a o Fred and I thrashed the ijmstimi over tluiroiiKliIy and arrived at the final opinion that the seasoii just closing had been the poorest siiul most un ¬ satisfactory of any in that region for a great many years owing primarily to the erratic and nndepend able condition of the weather but in a measure to many other causes causesAfter After June 20 said Fred the bass fishing at Karonis and at all the fine lakes iu this system was incredibly poor and surprising as it may seem owing to a grasshopper plague These insects cam into our section in a veritable storm snd on certain days passed over in dense and tre ¬ mendous waves I made careful observations and the surface of Lake Kanmis was covered by count ¬ less millions of them From July 1 up to August 20 the bass seemed to feed solely and continually on these insects which art always a favorite menu of these and many other species of game fishes fishesThis This same condition existed almost without exception over a greater portion of the state lloliver and Big Hirch lakes for some uuaccouut ibl roasun escaped the plague aud here bass taking was a profitable pleasure lloliver and Big Birch are among the many lakes alxiut Payues ville and these two wen the only waters where gtod catches could be made throughout tin sum ¬ mer season At all other jwints the bass fishing was the poorest I have ever experienced in Minne ¬ sota sotaTHE THE FISHING IS NOT YHAT IT WAS WASAnd And these grasshoppers which as I remarked before came iu countless myriads were not of tin species that destroy vegetation as nil the crops es ecially the corn throve in grand shape and did not seem to be affected by the pest iu any locality localityI I might add that walleyed pike and crappie fishing was also at a low ebb and even the al ¬ ways hungry and savage pckerel seemed to bf reluctant about taking ones lure and it mattered little what was offered them After August in however these fishes rose fairly up to their cus ¬ tomary form but only for short periods on favor ¬ able days Bass fishing too also improved per ¬ ceptibly after this date but even at that it wa extremely poor I fished diligently for three or four hours at a time over grounds that were in every way most favorable for these finicky fish but my catches never exceeded three or four head and ofteuer 1 had none at all not even a strike Live bait was absolutely worthless and had it riot been for the wooden minnows there vould have been weeks for a time when a oass would not rise It was useless to fish with live minnows even iu deep water or along the tule edges or the bars There were some isolated days when you could take one or two possibly more on the little grass frog but these were few and far between The surface bait and pork chunk seemed to be the most attrac ¬ tive and killing lure The same condition pro vailed with all varieties of game fish On the whole the season of 1918 was the poorest Minne ¬ sota had known for years yearsWhat What is a game fish This question Fred and I discussed quite exhaustively and while there were many viewpoints to the question we decided that it was best to leave the answer to the craft gen ¬ erally To search among the works of the tx st anglers and naturalists of recognized authority seems to be the only means of reaching an im ¬ partial conclusion and sometimes this recourse is far from satisfactory satisfactoryOne One proposition to lie advanced is that all fish that will take the hook and fight at all are game This is quite contrary to the general belief as I understand it but the principle is sound Still anglers have arbitrarily divided fish inU two classes game fish and those not game and it is the dividing line which forms a subject of unending controversy It is policy for us to recognize tin customary use of the word tmd select the fish which we will call game gameWe We agreed Unit a fish in order to be game should be edible and have the quality of coyness at rising to tin lure and be imbued with the courage to maktr a valiant struggle after striking
