39 2 Black Bass Fishing. 



Suddenly the float disappeared, the point of the rod was violently 

 pulled into the water, and Luke, awakening, took in the situation, 

 and with a savage jerk, struck a large fish which threatened to pull 

 him from his perch. Indeed, he was forced to follow it into the 

 water to save his tackle. 



Luke, seeing them approaching, cried out appealingly : 



"Wat I gwine to do wid dis fish?" 



" Keep your pole up, and lead him out to "the shallow water." 



Finally, after a few minutes more of great effort, and much 

 floundering of the fish, he succeeded in getting the fish into shallow 

 water, and drew it out on the shore, a channel cat-fish, weighing fully 

 ten pounds. 



" I got de boss green bass, too, Mars' Nash," said he, as he drew 

 his fish-string out of the water and displayed a large-mouthed bass 

 of four pounds. 



"And the only large-mouthed bass caught this morning," said 

 the Professor. "Now, Ignatius," he continued, "lay it side by side 

 with your heaviest small-mouthed bass, and you will readily see the 

 principal points of difference. In the first place, Luke's fish is more 

 robust, or 'chunkier,' yours being more shapely and lengthy. Then 

 Luke's bass has much the larger mouth, its angle reaching consider- 

 ably beyond or behind the eye, while in yours it scarcely reaches 

 the middle of the eye ; thus it is they are called large and small- 

 mouthed bass. Then the scales of Luke's fish are much larger than 

 those of yours, for if you count them along the lateral line you will 

 find only about sixty-five scales from the head to the minute scales 

 at the base of the caudal fin, while there are about seventy-five on 

 either of your small-mouthed bass. You also observe that the scales 

 on the cheeks of Luke's fish are not much smaller than those on its 

 sides, while on your fish the cheek scales are quite minute as 

 compared with those on its body. 



"As for Luke's big-mouthed bass," continued the Professor, 

 "I've taken them in Florida weighing about fourteen pounds. I 

 used a ten-ounce rod for those big fellows ; I could have killed them 

 with this little rod by taking more time and muscle, and uselessly 

 prolonging the struggles of the fish, but I deem that unsportsmanlike." 



"I've heard," said Ignatius, "that most of the Florida bass are 

 taken with the hand-line and trolling-spoon." 



