128 PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING 



While the parent fish is guarding the nest it does 

 not feed, but will attack anything coming into the 

 vicinity, and in some parts of the country unscrupul- 

 ous fishermen take advantage of this fact by dropping 

 their baits on the spawning beds. 



The eggs hatch on an average in about ten days 

 and as the young are not supplied with a large yolk 

 sac like the fry of most fishes they are helpless for 

 about the first week. This is why it is doubly a crime 

 to catch parent fish during the nesting season. The 

 young feed on small crustaceas, and other minute or- 

 ganisms and reach about five inches in length the first 

 year and about a pound in weight the second. There- 

 after they gain about a pound a year under favorable 

 conditions. 



The maximum normal weight .for small mouth bass 

 is about five pounds; for large mouth in northern 

 waters about seven pounds. Those that exceed these 

 weights are "freaks" and are not nearly as plentiful 

 as fishermen's yarns would lead one to believe. 



The growth of fish depends on the abundance of 

 food, the temperature of the water, and the extent of 

 range, the latter being apparently the most important. 

 At any rate, bass from large bodies of water are always 

 larger than those of equal age taken from smaller 

 areas. In small ponds, under natural conditions, bass 

 grow very slowly, sometimes not at all. In the South 

 where food is plentiful and the fish do not hibernate 

 in the winter the large mouth bass has been known 

 to reach twenty pounds in weight. The largest small 



