Claudia June, aged 9, of Ogden$ Utah For her question:

What makes the fish bite?

A fish bites for the same reason you do. He hopes to get a mouthful of food. Most fish have sharper teeth than you have. They also haw a great number of these sharp little teeth. True, a fish snaps his toothy jaws more often then you do. He has no hands to examine his food. When he sees something that looks like food, he snaps at it hopefully.

And this is why we can catch him on a hook. A hungry fish will bite at anything that looks good to eat, Often he finds himself fooled. For some clever fellow has fixed a hook onto his dinner. He swallows the dinner, hook and all. The next thing he knows, the fisherman is hauling him in on the end of a line.

And, no, this does not hurt the poor fish. Or so the experts tell us. His nervous‑system.is not the same as ours,‑ A hook in the mouth would cause us great pain". The fish hardly feels it, He is far more bothered at being high and dry in the air. For he suffocates when he has no water to breathe.

Now, why do fish seem to bite for some fishermen and not for others? This depends a good deal on how smart the fisherman is. He needs to know something about fish in order to get them to bite at his hook. He needs to know what they like to eat and where they are likely to be.

All any fisherman needs, apart from know‑how, is a rod, line and hook. A cane 9 to 10 feet long will serve as a rod. He can buy a very fancy one or make one from a sapling. He needs a length of strong line. He needs a steel hook for the end of the line. He may also use a lead sinker to lower the hook in the water. And he will need a cork floater to bob above the hook.

Most important is the bait. For no fish in his right mind is going to bite at a plain steel hook. The bait is the food that fools the fish.  A good fisherman knows that a walleyed pike is most likely to bite at a gob of juicy wriggly worms. Perch and sunfish are more likely to bite at just one wriggly worm, There are all kinds of bait to fool the fish. Some fishermen use fancy lures made of fur, feathers, plastic and pointed bits of painted wood. The fish bite at these lures because they look like food.

Sometimes no fish bite even when the fisherman has the best bait and the most expensive kit. He may have been too noisy and frightened the fish away. Or maybe he is fishing where there just aren’t any fish. A smart fellow knows that fish hover around the deep holes in the bends of streams. They also have their favorite spots in the lakes. So, if you really want a fish to bite, you had best find out where the fish in your own streams and lakes like to gather.

When you know what fish like to eat and where they hover, you may be sure that sooner or later a hungry one will bite at your hook. Fish are not smart enough to know that you are planning to fool them. So go right ahead and have fun. Fishing is one of the greatest sports in the world. Anybody can try it. And the fish will bite for anybody smart enough to fool them,