THE BLACK BASSES 



and tasteless pickerel is preferred by some good 

 people of New England to the black bass. De 

 gustibus non est disputandum. But when the voracious 

 pickerel is declared to be a better game fish than 

 the black bass, and that its introduction into the 

 waters of New England was unfortunate, and in the 

 nature of a public calamity, I am compelled to ad- 

 mit that comparisons are odious indeed, or even 

 that total depravity still exists in the twentieth 

 century. 



As before mentioned, some waters that were 

 stocked with black bass may now be barren, which 

 would, of course, account for the angler's ill luck. 

 This would very likely be the case where isolated, 

 weedy ponds, without large bottom springs, were 

 stocked with the small-mouth bass, such waters not 

 being at all suitable for that species, and it would 

 only be a question of time before they would cease 

 to exist. Only the large-mouth bass can thrive in 

 such ponds. The small-mouth bass prefers rocky 

 streams, and comparatively large ponds with inlet 

 and outlet streams of pure water. While the large- 

 mouth bass will make their nests and deposit their 

 spawn upon a bottom of clay, or even mud, the 

 small-mouth bass preferand require sandy or gravelly 

 situations, which, if not available, will ultimately 

 end in their extinction. 



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