Black bass

“ As the black bass is a fly-taking fish and a strong fighter, it is as valuable to the angler as a trout and is highly esteemed. Bass-flies are sui generis, but incline more to the nature of salmon-flies than trout-flies. An artificial frog cast with a fly-rod or very light spinning-rod is also a favourite lure. For the rest the fish will take almost anything in the nature of worms or small fish, like its cousin the perch. A 4 lb bass is a good fish, but five-pounders are not uncommon. ”

“ I have known bass to be caught on a bare bright hook, and the funny stories one laughs at about wintergreen berries and fish scales proving attractive bait are not so much out of probability.
In the Southern States a belief exists that bass are always on the feed when the moon is above the horizon, particularly at rise and set; many old experienced fishermen will only fish during the last quarter until the new moon. The same variety of ideas exist regarding rain; one angler believes that bass will not bite before a rain, another during a rain, and still another after a rain. ”

“ Both species occasionally ascend rivers, and attempts have been made to cultivate British bass in freshwater ponds with success. Two species of black bass (Microptĕrus salmoides and M. dolomieu) , American freshwater fishes, are excellent as food and give fine sport to the angler. The former is often called the large-mouthed black bass, from the size of its mouth. Both make nests and take great care of their eggs and young. The Centropristis nigricans, an American sea-fish of the perch family, and weighing 2 to 3 lb., is known as the sea-bass. ”

“ For more than two miles of this lovely stream any man who knows how to handle a rod or throw a fly can land, or at least hook, some of the liveliest two to three pounders he could wish for, and although bass vary in their tastes at different periods of the day, I know nothing better than the common trolling spoon as a regular thing. ”

“ The hook is of the most vital importance to the fisherman, and the best shape is that where the point of the barb is turned round towards the shank. First class hooks are always japanned or black; the inferior ones are blued, and these, if subjected to a heavy strain will straighten right out. The black bass is extremely liable to cause this, as it always struggles hard both in and out the water from the moment of hooking to the final gasp. A hook with the proper bend will never pierce foul, but will strike right through the mouth, never springing out. ”

“ Black bass is one of the most prolific varieties of our fresh-water fish. Their natural increase is so great and their growth so rapid, that it has never been an object to [256] fish culturists to attempt their artificial propagation. When the spawning season draws near, they select, guided by natural instinct, with great care for the purpose of propagation, certain portions of the river having a pebbly or gravelly bottom. From these they remove carefully all sediment, weeds, and sticks. ”

“ In speaking of black bass I am not dealing with the large-mouthed variety that are found in both Northern and Southern waters, and which grow in the latter to a very large size, but only with the small-mouthed family inhabiting the streams or lakes and ponds of the North, and which are large when they reach four pounds in weight. ”

“ Black bass choose a place for their spawn-beds where the water is shallow and the bottom is a sandy gravel. They leave their winter quarters in deep water a month or six weeks previous to spawning. The eggs hatch in from one to two weeks, according to the temperature. Bass are very prolific, yielding fully one fourth their weight of spawn. ”

“ The fishing is much like black-bass fishing in fresh waters, and the snook takes the bait in its mouth in much the same way as a bass, starting off at once with a great commotion if near the surface. Its desperate and vigorous spurts and rushes are apt to put one's tackle in jeopardy if the fish is large, and it must be handled with caution and skill. ”

“ Still-fishing is the same for either species of black-bass, but as it is usually done from an anchored boat on Northern lakes, where the large-mouth bass is of greater size and weight than the small-mouth bass, somewhat heavier tackle may be used than recommended for the small-mouth. ”

“ During that time I have seen a world of excitement and adventure, and have performed some exploits of which any fly-rod might be justly proud. I have hooked, at one cast, and successfully landed, two black bass, weighing together eight and a quarter pounds; I have so often been dumped in the cold waters of mountain lakes and streams that it is a wonder my ferrules were not rusted out long ago; I have been dragged about among snags and lily-pads, by enraged trout, pickerel and bass ”

“ The habits of the black bass may be described as generally bad. It is a fish devoid of any of the cardinal virtues. It is ever engaged in internecine war, and will any day forego a square meal for the sake of a fight. It gorges itself like a python, and when hooked is as game as a salmon, and quite as vigorous in proportion to size. In the Potomac it has been known to weigh as much as six pounds, but bass of that weight are very rare, from three to four pounds being the average of what are known as good fish. These afford excellent sport, and are taken with a variety of bait. ”

“ You know in advance what the big-mouthed black bass is going to sing—there is only one regular song for a bass singer to [Pg 60] sing. From time to time insidious efforts have been made to work in songs for basses dealing with the love affairs of Bedouins and the joys of life down in a coal mine ”

“ They were approaching the great kelp beds, and the boatman was getting ready the anchor.
You anchor for black bass fishing, and the boat end of the anchor rope has a buoy attached to it which can be flung overboard, so that the boat may have freedom of movement when the fish is on the hook.
"This is about the best spot," said Joe. "Shut off the engine, Micky, and get ready to heave."
The tune of the little engine ceased, and the Sunfish was suddenly surrounded by a great silence, broken only by the far-off crying of gulls and the hush of the surf from the coast of the island. ”

“ It does not make the small-mouth bass a gamer fish by disparaging the large-mouth. As I have said elsewhere, if the large-mouth bass is just as game as the small-mouth, the angler is just that much better off. [35] As prejudice and ignorance go hand in hand, we are not surprised when we hear persons—I do not style them anglers—call the small-mouth the "true" black-bass, implying that the large-mouth is not a black-bass, but is, as they often say, the Oswego bass, which is, of course, absurd. ”

“ I have never known a black-bass to sulk like the salmon by lying motionless on the bottom. He is never still unless he succeeds in reaching a bed of weeds. He is wily and adroit, but at the [15] same time he is brave and valiant. He seems to employ all the known tactics of other fishes, and to add a few of his own in his gallant fight for freedom.
As a food-fish there is, in my estimation, but one fresh-water fish that is better, the whitefish of the Great Lakes. ”

“ As a commercial fish it is taken in nets in the North, and in fyke-nets in the southern extent of its range. On northern lakes it is often taken by anglers when fishing for black-bass, and being a strong, vigorous fish with the family habit of [235] boring toward the bottom when hooked, it furnishes fair sport, and with considerable jeopardy to light tackle, when of large size. The angler is at first elated with what he imagines to be a fine bass until its identity is established, when his enthusiasm gives place to infinite disgust. ”

“ However grand, sublime, and impressive such scenes truly are, they do not appeal profoundly to the angler. He must have life, motion, sound. He courts Nature in her more communicative moods, and in the haunts of the black-bass his desires are realized. ”

“ As teachers of patience [Pg 131] in fishing, black bass are at the head of the list. They are so whimsical that the angler never knows whether on a certain day they will take small live fish, worms, frogs, crickets, grasshoppers, crawfish or some other outlandish bait; and he soon learns that in the most favorable conditions of wind and weather they will frequently refuse to touch bait of any kind. In their intercourse with fishermen, especially those in the early stages of proficiency, they are the most aggravating and profanity-provoking animal that swims in fresh water. ”

“ Micky, the boatman, having seen that the buoy end of the mooring rope was foul of nothing, and ready to be cast overboard at a moment's notice, was cleaning up the little engine, and Joe, crouching with his gaff beside him, and his chin on the starboard gunnel, was brooding upon the waters.
"I'm thinking it's a good day for the bass," said Joe in an undertone, half to himself and half to the Colonel. "Water's got the feel of bass, this greasy swell keeps the kelp movin' just about enough to make 'em comfortable in their mind, and I haven't seen no durned sharks about." ”

“ Unquestionably the same species present a very different appearance in clear, limpid streams, and in muddy, sluggish brooks. Black Bass are said to possess of themselves the power to change their color at will, and have been known to do so repeatedly when confined in a vessel of water. ”

“ They range from one to five pounds, are good biters and make a noble resistance to avoid the landing net.
Large-mouthed black bass (trout of the South) exist in great numbers in the lakes and streams of the State. In very clear lakes and streams they are not disposed to indulge in artificial baits. As fighters they are unworthy of the notice of experts. ”

“ Fish both see and hear well, and the idea that they cannot see is based upon the great difference visible between an artificial fly and a real one. As a matter of fact few men could tell the difference between them when in the water, the surface being covered with froth and suds from an eddy or foam and bubbles from a rapid, the surface ruffled by a fresh breeze, and shadowed by drifting clouds. I have frequently seen bass dart like an arrow and seize the bait from a distance of thirty feet. ”

“ The black-bass is far less destructive to fish life than any of the fishes mentioned; on the contrary, it suffers the most in a mixed community of fishes, and is the first to disappear. There are small lakes in Canada and Michigan where the brook-trout and black-bass have coexisted from time immemorial without jeopardy to the trout. There are small lakes in Wisconsin where black-bass and cisco, with other species, have coexisted for all time ”

“ Under such circumstances it is a good game-fish, eager to rise, bold to a degree, and fights to a finish. [169]
Most of the flies used for black-bass, as coachman, polka, oriole, professor, Abbey, etc., are successful, as well as the hackles of various shades, and occasionally red ibis and stone fly. The late afternoon hours are to be preferred for fly-fishing. The flies should be allowed to sink with each cast, after being fluttered on the surface a few seconds.
In the absence of a more suitable rod, a light one of native cane, nine or ten feet long, will do good service without a reel. ”

“ It will take any kind of natural bait, and rises well to the artificial fly.
A rather heavy black-bass rod or a light striped-bass rod is required for the large fish of the bays and estuaries, though ordinary black-bass tackle will answer for those of less weight at the mouths of streams, or in fresh water, to which it often resorts. A good multiplying reel and fifty yards of braided linen line are sufficient, though one hundred yards will not be amiss, as large fishes of other species are very apt to be hooked in Florida waters. ”

“ The aptitude of the black-bass to rise to the artificial fly is not questioned by the twentieth-century angler, though it was considered a matter of doubt by many anglers during the last quarter of the nineteenth. The doubt was mainly owing to a lack of experience, for fly-fishing for black-bass was successfully practised in Kentucky as early, certainly, as 1845. ”

“ As a game-fish the black-bass has come into his inheritance. As the French say, he has arrived. With the special tools and tackle now furnished for his capture, he has proved my aphorism. "Inch for inch, and pound for pound, he is the gamest fish that swims." When I ventured this opinion twenty-five years ago, there were no special articles made for his capture except the Kentucky reel and the McGinnis rod, twelve feet long and fifteen ounces in weight. ”

“ Last season I only met three strangers at the lake, but they never seemed to catch anything beyond eels, turtles, sun-fish, and a few two inch bass, the name of which they did not even know, and I got into their bad graces by telling them they ought to return the bass into the lake. They thought I was a crank, in fact one of them told me so. These men were salt-water sports, and one man who came there from Newark, N. J., was actually baiting with shrimps for fresh-water bass and had no less than eight hooks upon his line, all baited with shrimps. ”

“ Captured mainly with the all-devouring net, it is salted and packed for winter use as our cod or mackerel are preserved, and constitutes at Sandusky and some other places an important object of commerce.
The black bass, a fish that, from its abundance in their country, Americans may claim as peculiarly their own; a fish that is inferior only to the salmon and trout, if even to the latter; that requires the best of tackle and skill in its inveiglement, and exhibits courage and game qualities of the highest order—{11}fairly swarms in the upper central portion of North America. ”