Small-mouthed Black Bass 



"The black bass is eminently an American fish; he has the 

 faculty of asserting himself and making himself completely at 

 home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave and unyield- 

 ing to the last when hooked. He has the arrowy rush of the 

 trout, the untiring strength and bold leap of the salmon, while 

 he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. He will 

 rise to the artificial fly as readily as the salmon or the brook trout, 

 under the same conditions; and will take the live minnow, or 

 other live bait, under any and all circumstances favourable to the 

 taking of any other fish. I consider him, inch for inch and 

 pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims." And there are 

 few, if any, who will be disposed to take issue in this matter 

 with so experienced and expert an angler as Dr. Henshall. 



The black bass is found in most suitable waters from Lake 

 Champlain westward to Manitoba and southward on both sides 

 of the mountains from James River, Virginia, to South Carolina 

 and the Great Lakes to northern Mississippi and Arkansas. 

 Through the operations of the Federal and various State Fish 

 Commissions it has been introduced into many waters to which 

 it was not native. It was planted in the headwaters of the Potomac 

 as early as 1853, and since then it has been successfully intro- 

 duced into many waters in New England and other states east of 

 the Alleghanies, into many of the Western States, and in Eng- 

 land, France, Germany, and other foreign countries. 



In nearly all the localities where the black bass has been 

 planted it has done well, and it is now an abundant species 

 not only throughout its natural habitat but in many other places. 

 It is by preference a fish of the clear running streams, and clearer, 

 colder lakes. In the North it is equally abundant in lakes and 

 streams, while in the southern part of its range it will be found 

 only in the cooler streams which possess a good current. 



The habits, game qualities and food value of the black bass 

 are so well known, and so much has been written about this 

 splendid fish, that a lengthy presentation of the subject is not 

 given here. 



This fish varies greatly in size in different waters. The 

 maximum weight seems to be about 5 pounds. An example 

 caught in Lake Maxinkuckee, i8| inches long, and 12 inches in 

 circumference, weighed 4 pounds. The largest ever taken in that 

 lake weighed about 5 pounds. 



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