268 
Intinois NATURAL History Survey BULLETIN 
Vol. 26, Art. 2 
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Table 22.—Efficiency of natural baits (mostly alive) and of artificial baits for casting 
rods and fly rods used for catching largemouth bass at Ridge Lake, 1942-1949 (from Durham 
& Bennett 1951: 7). 
Desirable bass are those of 10 inches or longer. 
Bass or 10 
INCHES OR BAss oF Tora. Carcu 
a |. Man- LONGER Less ae Ned 
oh ‘N UMBER Havas ee ESIRABLE ez 
[yre or Barr OF se 10 TO 
TRIPS | EisuInc ss Incues, Pe Bass 
Number ee NuMBER : Number a 
Fish Hour _ 
hie TE See ——_——|___—_-|-_—_—__|— path 
Live and other nat- 
ural baits........| 1,847 6,252 830 | 7.53 1,383: |\1 to 1.67 | -2eens 0.35 
Casting-rod lures. .. 744 2,188 768 | 2.85 2h1: 1.1 160527 979 0.45 — 
Fly-rod lures....... 800 2,150 672 | 3.20 626 | 1 to0.93 | 1,298 0.60 | 
ae 3,391 | 10.590 | 2,270| — 2,220 = 4,490 | “=e 
obvious that fishermen had more confidence 
in live baits, for bass as well as bluegills, 
than in artificials; they used live baits 
during nearly three times as many hours 
of fishing as either casting-rod plugs or 
fly-rod lures. The catch rate (bass per 
man-hour) for each of the two groups of 
artificial baits was superior to that of the 
natural-bait group, table 22. The figures 
in this table, however, may not be a fair 
representation of the relative efficiency of 
the baits, because fishermen had a tendency 
to try artificial baits at the start of each 
fishing period, then switch to natural baits 
if the artificials were ineffective, and, if 
the natural baits also failed to catch fish, 
still continue to use them. Thus, it was 
possible to build up many “low catch” 
hours to be assigned to fishing with nat- 
ural baits. 
In laboratory experiments, Brown 
(1937: 53-4) discovered that the large- 
mouth bass is able to distinguish colors 
quite readily, particularly red. His experi- 
ment suggests that the color-distinguish- 
ing ability of the bass eye is comparable 
to that of the normal human eye when 
the latter is covered with a yellow filter. 
The following quotations are from Brown 
(1937: 53-4): 
“Freshly collected bass which have been 
in the laboratory no more than two days, 
and fed Daphnia during that time, are 
most attracted by red, then in order of 
decreasing attraction of the colors used 
came yellow, white, green, blue and black. 
“Red appears to be the outstanding 
color, as such, in the responses of the bass. 
This color is easily and readily selected 
from everything else, with the exception 
of violet.” 
Colors seemed to be of some importance 
in stimulating the Ridge Lake bass to 
strike. While our records of the colors 
of casting-rod plugs and fly-rod lures used 
by fishermen at Ridge Lake are incom- 
plete, the available data indicate that, in 
plugs, red and white combinations at- 
tracted more fish than any other colors 
or combinations; silver alone and black 
alone in that order were next in apparent 
effectiveness. For fly-rod lures, yellow 
was the most effective color; a total of 
285 bass were caught on fly-rod lures 
listed as yellow or as combinations of yel- 
low with other colors. White or com- 
binations of white with other colors were 
next in effectiveness, followed by com- 
binations of various shades of brown. 
After studying the catch records of in- 
dividual fishermen who fished the lake 
often, it was apparent that skill played a 
important role in bass fishing. For ex 
ample, in 1949 the average rate of catch 
of bass for all fishermen was 1 pound i 
7.1 hours. One man who fished the lake 
14 times throughout that summer had 
catch rate for bass of 1 pound in 1.7 
hours, while another who fished the la 
20 times had a catch rate of 1 pound i 
11.1 hours. Both were experienced en 
thusiastic bass fishermen, both used art 
ficial baits and knew the lake well. Y: 
one man was more than six times as e 
cient as the other in catching fish. 
During the first few days of publ 
fishing in each year at Ridge Lake, t 
