Fish and Fishing 



active leaper, barring the ouananiche, of all our 

 game fish. 



In form and color it is about the ugliest game 

 fish, the caudal, rear dorsal, and anal fins being 

 out of proportion to what otherwise would be a 

 shapely form; nevertheless, the black bass fills 

 a most important space in the angler's sport, for 

 if you hook even a two-pound bass in a running 

 stream, you are at once aware you have engaged 

 a fish and a jolly "kicker" at that. Just as soon 

 as it feels the barb, out of the water it shoots, giv- 

 ing the rod, reel, and angler such a lively time that 

 one cannot but admire its pluck even unto the 

 moment you rap it on the head. 



Even in quiet lakes, its leaps and surges are 

 admirable, where otherwise most trout are tame. 

 Yet, with all this, in fishing streams where both 

 are common, when I hook a bass I always regret 

 it is not a trout. Some writers — one especially — 

 have made a sort of demi-god of the bass; but 

 few anglers who have opportunities to fish for 

 salmon — both sea and landlocked, as well as trout, 

 even brook trout — will leave them for the bass. 



The reason, I suppose, is that bass are not al- 

 wa3's willing to take a fly, and one is more sure to 

 get them on live bait. The ordinary size of an 

 adult fish is two to three pounds, though specimens 

 have^been taken up to eight pounds. In Florida, 

 the large-mouthed grows larger. Eight-pounders 

 are not unusual in the St. Johns River; specimens 

 have been recorded up to twenty pounds, caught 

 in the lake at Gainesville, Florida. The bass do 

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