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Lost Secrets Of The Smallmouth Bass: Book Excerpt

If you are like me, (a smallmouth bass fishing fanatic), you try to read and discover everything you can about this amazing fish.  I was excited to edit this book and bring it to you for your enjoyment on Kindle.

I wanted to give you a taste of what “Lost Secrets of the Smallmouth Bass” is about and encourage you to check it out.  Besides, $1 of the sale price goes to supporting this site and our Facebook page. So I’d appreciate you helping a struggling fisherman out!

Most of this book is taken from a book written over 100 years ago and is fascinating to look at where smallmouth bass originated from, what live baits were used and the stories of smallmouth fishing adventures around Georgian Bay.

Lost Secrets Of The Smallmouth Bass: Book Excerpt

With the exception of the speckled trout, no fish are so fond of clean, cool water as the smallmouth bass. Unlike their brethren, the largemouth bass, they delight in water flowing over clean sand and rock ; and it is only when hard pressed for food or frightened by storms that they resort to weed-beds and muddy pools.

In small inland lakes they may always be found wherever there is the least sign of a current, or where eddies form in narrow channels between islands, and around broken rock, where, owing to the conformation of the surrounding land, the water is more or less agitated. At the entrance of creeks or of small streams, especially if the water be pure and limpid, they may generally be found for days together.

In running streams they may be seen on bright days, their heads directed towards the current, their golden fins wavering ever to and fro, their mouths half-open, and their crimson gills moving gently in and out, reveling in the clean water and liquid motion; and they will keep themselves suspended in mid-stream apparently for the mere pleasure of living in aerated water.

In the heat of a summer’s day they generally resort to sheltered spots, where they hide until the sinking sun, with its long shadows, enables them to emerge from their hiding places and obtain food. As a rule, they feed from two hours before until an hour after sundown, probably as long as they can see their prey. Just about dark, when their only chance of obtaining food is by watching the top of the water against the comparatively bright background of the sky above, they may be seen taking flies from the surface of still water. Their presence may be recognized by the characteristic swirl which is always seen when they are feeding in this way; they do not jump, like other fish, but move in a semi-circle and seize the fly or insect without emerging from the water.

Give this book a read. If you love learning about smallmouth bass and its history, you’ll enjoy this book.

It is amazing how observant the original author was and how much he learned with the little knowledge of biology, genetics and habitat they had at the time.