CHAPTER If. 



THE CHANNEL BASS. Scixnops oscellata. Gill. 



^Called red drum on the Virginia Coast; spotted bass or spot, in South Carolina 

 red bass or channel bass, in Georgia and Florida; red fish, in New- 

 Orleans. 



It is a stoutly built, thick bodied fish, with large head ; color va- 

 ries with the water it inhabits, those taken in the ocean surf are of 

 a golden hue on the sides ; back, reddish brown ; belly, white; 

 taken in or near fresh water they are copper red ; all have the 

 black spots near the tail, sometimes three or four in number. 

 Scales, large, on a twenty pound fish the size of a nickel coin and a 

 hoe is often used to remove them. These scales are used to some 

 extent in Florida for ornamental work. 



In size the red bass runs from one pound weight to fifty; the 

 largest being taken in 'summer and autumn. Those of four to six 

 pounds usually run in schools of a dozen or more, and are called "school 

 bass." The larger specimens from twenty to forty pounds are com- 

 monly found singly or in pairs, and go by the name of " channel 

 bass." In the list of fishes collected at Wood's Holl, Mass., the red 

 bass do s not occur, though some southern forms have been found 

 there. Captures of this fish have been reported at Barnegat Bay, 

 which is perhaps the northern limit of its summer migration. 



In the winter and spring we find this bass coming into the bays 

 and inlets with the tide and ranging along the shores and on the flats 

 in search of food, which consists of small fish, principally mullet, 

 mollusks and Crustacea. It is a fish of omnivorous and huge appe- 

 tite, a bold biter, and has none of the shyness of the striped bass, 

 frequently taking the bait alongside the boat. ^ When anchored 



