Chapter 20

How to Fish for Black Bass

Pound for pound, Black Bass are the gamest fish in Maine.

BILL GORMAN > Fishing for black bass — smallmouth and largemouth — has taken off in popularity since L.L. wrote this. Bass are thriving in our clean and productive lakes and rivers, they’ve adapted well in our warmer waters where trout and salmon struggle, and their voracious feeding makes them eager participants in our angling sport.

The season opens late. In Maine, bass can not be taken with bait before June 21st. However, three per day may be taken with fly from June 1st to June 20th. If you have never done fly fishing for bass you have missed a lot of fun.

During the first of the open season (June 1st to July 10th) I use flies. Later when the water gets warm, bass feed on or near the bottom and will notice bottom activities more quickly than disturbances on the surface.

Live minnows and frogs are excellent bait for bass fishing. A minnow three inches long is large enough. If you use frogs, choose the small ones. Hook minnows and frogs through both upper and lower lips, pointing hook upward under lower jaw. Start fishing immediately after hook is properly set.

This trolling reel was the personal property of L.L. Bean. It is model No. 67 - Long Beach.

For equipment a rod of medium stiffness, 9 feet long will prove satisfactory. Line should be of 15 lbs. test. Sinkers should weigh about one ounce.

If worms are used, those that are clean and bright will prove most satisfactory. Use a No. 1 or No. 2 hook with gut snell. Put the worm on corkscrew fashion so that about half an inch of worm projects below the point of the hook. When completed, no part of the hook should show.

You can often get a bass to take artificial bait by trolling with colored minnow or a red and white plug.

A very enjoyable day may be had by making up a picnic party. Your Guide will take along everything necessary for a bass chowder. All you have to do is catch bass and meet at the prearranged camp site. Bass makes the best chowder of any fish that swims.

BILL GORMAN > Bass are found in 613 lakes and ponds in all sixteen of the state’s counties and in several of our large rivers, comprising more than five hundred thousand acres of waters in all. Regulations have evolved to sustain bass fishing while allowing more access to this great family sport. And the tackle has evolved dramatically, allowing the kid with a worm and bobber, the bait fisherman, and the fly-fishing purist to all pursue bass as they like.