THE AMERICAN ANGLER. 



Vol. 26. 



JUNE, 1S9G. 



No. 6. 



FISHING FOR BLACK BASS ON THE MAUMEE RAPIDS, OHIO. 



BY J. R. GUNCKEL. 



There are but few American rivers 

 ^vhose early history is as interesting, 

 and upon whose banks greater battles 

 were won and lost, than the Maumee 

 river. The divine, the philosopher, the 

 poet, the artist, and the statesman, from 

 ■earliest dates have enjoyed many days 

 of recreation fishing in its limpid waters. 



Taking its rise among the rich farm- 

 ing lands of the original Western Re- 

 serve, it flows with alternate smooth 

 and broken current in a winding north- 

 easterly direction, through verdant val- 

 leys, thriving towns and villages, lin- 

 gering in shaded woods, playing capric- 

 iously in front of hamlets; now dividing 

 and hastening around wooded islands, 

 and for many miles rippling over rocky 

 projections forming the fainous Mau- 

 mee rapids, then peacefully flowing 

 below Forts Meigs and Miami, the city 

 ■of Toledo, until finally its waters are 

 lost in Lake Erie. 



If the secret charm of the romantic 

 ■delineations of fishing episodes consists 

 largely in the picturesque and scenic 

 grandeur of the location of the waters 

 fished, the Maumee rapids should be 

 placed among the noted scenic spots of 

 the land. The pleasures of angling in 

 its rapidly flowing stream can better be 

 appreciated or understood by the angler 

 who has stood in its shallow waters, and 

 cast his lure above the eddying pool and 

 watched with eager eyes the line in its 

 haste toward the dark spot below. No 



one can ever forget the pleasurable ex- 

 citement and ecstacy the strike of a 

 three-pound bass produces, and later 

 when playing him in a swift running 

 stream ; and long will he remember the 

 intense enjoyment that thrilled his soul 

 and senses when he triumphantly con- 

 quered the hero of the rapids. 



The Maumee rapids, so famous for its 

 black bass fishing, begins at the old 

 Station Island, above Waterville, Ohio, 

 and has a fall of eighteen feet to the 

 mile in a distance of seven miles, to 

 Maumee City. The bed of the riv^er is 

 blue limestone, and the greater portion 

 is as smooth as a well-made sidewalk, 

 with here and there riffles and crevices 

 forming dark pools which frequently 

 receive the eager angler unawares. 

 From July to November the rapids can 

 be waded the entire distance with rub- 

 ber boots, except the crevices and pools. 

 It is during these months the small 

 mouthed black bass remain on the 

 rapids, much to the delight and sport of 

 the angler. To the lover of nature it 

 is difficult to say which challenges the 

 most admiration, the many changing 

 riffles with the sound of running waters, 

 the long, narrow, deep pools, the shale 

 cliffs above, the graceful lines of hills, 

 the many shadows of wild birds over 

 the green meadows, or the rich farming- 

 lands which hein the banks all along 

 the river's course. 



Marvelous are the fish stories which 



