126 PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



There is a great difference of opinion among anglers 

 as to the relative gameness of the two varieties. Our 

 personal opinion is that the difference is greatly ex- 

 aggerated. The small mouth is a faster fish and a 

 better leaper, but the large mouth is stronger and 

 heavier for his age. When taken from the same 

 waters little difference will be noted between them, al- 

 though this is hardly a just comparison as the small 

 mouth will usually be taken from the colder portions 

 of the lake or stream. The small mouth's reputation 

 as a fighter has also been favored by the fact that he 

 is usually taken from fast water where the angler must 

 not only fight against the fish but against the "pull" 

 of the stream as well. We would rather catch small 

 mouth bass, but we consider the large mouth the more 

 valuable fish of the two because of his greater adapt- 

 ability and more general distribution. 



Bass spawn in the spring, as early as March in the 

 South and as late as July in the far North. The 

 weather and the character of the water have much to 

 do with the spawning time. For instance, in Lake 

 Como, a shallow weedy lake in southern Wisconsin, 

 we have observed bass spawning three weeks before 

 they started at Lake Geneva, a deep cold lake. Geo- 

 graphically, these waters are only a few miles apart. 



Fortunately, black bass are very prolific. A female 

 will frequently yield as much as twenty-five per cent 

 of her weight in eggs. Large mouth bass spawn in 

 marshy spots usually and build their nests on the 

 roots of aquatic plants or will construct one of small 



