78 FAMILIAR FISH, THEIR HABITS AND CAPTURE 



cat, which reaches a weight of 150 pounds. They are 

 practically much alike in appearance, with very few 

 marks to distinguish them one from another. The 

 most common variety are known as bullheads, or 

 bull pouts, and are found in all waters. They never 

 exceed 3 or 4 pounds in weight, and are usually 

 much smaller. All varieties are decidedly a night- 

 biting fish, being generally caught at dusk or after 

 dark. It is scarcely necessary to state that this 

 family has a skin, not scales. The best as food fish 

 are the channel cats, which are slender in form and 

 silvery in color, while those next in value are called 

 bullheads and are mostly dark-colored and chunky. 



The fresh-water sheepshead, or drum, is also a 

 very commonly distributed fish, being found in all 

 large bodies of water, either lakes or rivers, from 

 the Great Lakes in the north to the Rio Grande in 

 the south. Properly a bottom fish, they range from 

 1 or 2 to 40 or 60 pounds in weight. In shape 

 they are somewhat similar to a black bass, but decid- 

 edly humpbacked ; their color is a silvery white. 

 The second dorsal fin is much longer, almost reach- 

 ing the tail, and the nose is very blunt, the upper 

 jaw overhanging the lower. The mouth is smaller 

 than that of the bass. They make a peculiar grunt- 

 ing or croaking noise, which gives them the name of 

 drum. They will often follow under a boat for some 



