Part II. I Pond Fish. 45 



The Black Bass.'' 



GENERAL HABITS AND HABITAT. 



The Black Bass is a great favorite among sportsmen, and 

 is undoubtedly the most popular game fish in Kansas, if not 

 in the United States. Many anglers and fishermen have told 

 the writer that they had rather take the Black bass on a 

 hook than any fish that swims in the inland waters. The 

 Black bass is one of the original native Kansas fishes, and at 

 one time, in the early history of the country when settlements 

 were few and far between, it was rather common in the 

 smaller and the middle-sized streams of the state. But few 

 are found in the large streams as most of these are too roily 

 and muddy during parts of the year, especially during the 

 months of May and June — the chief spawning season for the 

 Black bass. These fish are seldom taken in the Kansas river 

 between Manhattan and Kansas City. However, many of the 

 tributaries of this part of the river furnish suitable homes 

 for them. It is not the muddy bottoms of the larger streams 

 that are objected to by the Black bass so much, perhaps, as 

 the muddy water. Bass are frequently found in ponds and 

 streams with muddy bottoms where the water is compara- 

 tively clean, but they undoubtedly prefer gravelly and stony 

 bottoms as they always seem to choose such places when 

 possible. They also seek places in the ponds, lakes and streams 

 where there are plenty of aquatic plants growing; they also 

 like to stay around old tree tops, logs or brush piles that may 

 be in the water. 



Plants growing in water from one to three feet deep furnish 

 places of retreat where the bass can find shade and food. At 

 Lake View, where we had an opportunity to make studies and 

 observations on the Black bass for a period of more than 

 twenty-five years, they always, so far as we could learn, chose 

 flat sandy or gravely places where the water was from sixteen 

 inches to three feet deep, and where there were little open 

 places among the lily pads, for their spawning grounds. 



A GREAT GAME FISH. 



The writer has been fishing and angling for Black bass in 

 the state of Kansas for more than forty years, and is free to 

 confess that no fish in Kansas or any other state or country 

 (and he has fished in a good many waters and for a good many 

 kinds of fish from Mexico to Central Alaska, and from Florida 



* In this article the Large-mouth Black Bass is referred to and is the 

 one the author has studied in Kansas. The Small-mouth variety has been 

 introduced into Kansas waters but thus far has not made much progress. 



