414 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



52. STRAW BASS 



MICROPTERUS SALMOIDES (Lacepede) 



(Plates 1 and 29) 



The Large-mouthed Black Bass is everywhere abundant in suit- 

 able waters from Canada and the Red River of the North, south- 

 ward to Florida, Texas, and even into Mexico. It prefers lakes, 

 bayous and other sluggish waters, and in the small lakes of the 

 Upper Mississippi Valley it is most abundant in those of moderate 

 or shallow depths. It is one of the best known game fishes and re- 

 joices in a great number of vernacular names, among which may 

 be mentioned bayou bass, slough bass, lake bass, cow bass, large- 

 mouth black bass and Oswego bass. In the south it is absurdly 

 called trout, green trout, chub and welchman. 



At Lake Maxinkuckee it is very abundant and is the game- 

 fish most frequently caught by anglers. It is caught the whole 

 year round, and is the principal species taken in ice-fishing. Dur- 

 ing the seining operations in 1899-1900, 1506 specimens were 

 taken, the greatest number secured at one haul being 100. In 

 1906, the young of this bass were exceedingly abundant, so much 

 so that they crowded along the shores, and made up the larger por- 

 tion of catches obtained by fishermen seining for minnows. On 

 August 10 of that year people seining along the south shore of 

 Outlet Bay with a common minnow seine got 150 young straw 

 bass at one haul. 



The Straw Bass is well distributed throughout the lake. Dur- 

 ing the summer the large ones are often seen near shore where 

 they spend their time over the shallow weedy bars. They are 

 also found on various bars out in the lake, the Weedpatch, the 

 Flatiron and Sugarloaf, being favorite fishing grounds. With the 

 approach of cold weather, after the water has cooled down con- 

 siderably, they may often be seen in shallow water not far from 

 shore. They come up to shore in considerable numbers at night 

 when the weather begins to get cold. There appear^ to be a slight 

 tendency in this fish to migrate down to Lost Lake during the win- 

 ter, and to return to the larger lake in the spring, as occasionally 

 schools of large fish may be seen — usually late at night or early in 

 the morning — drifting down stream in September and October and 

 coming up stream m the spring; and there are almost always dur- 

 ing fall and spring good schools of young bass in the Outlet. This 

 migration is relatively unimportant however, when it comes to 

 considering the main mass of fish in the lake. The schools of fish 

 in the Outlet are never so large nor continuous as to form what 



