38 THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLER. 



GUDGEON.* These little fish, in common with min- 

 nows and other small fry, frequent main rivers and 

 tributaries alike in incredible numbers, migrating in 

 shoals. They are extremely prolific. Their chief use to 

 the angler is for bait for the larger species of fish. 



Onusf (Leuciscus cephalus). Chub frequent deep and 

 rapid waters. They rank among the very coarsest of 

 fresh-water fish; nevertheless, they are not to be found 

 in stagnant, foul, or habitually discolored water; indeed, 

 it is rarely they flourish except where they have the ad- 

 vantage of a constant supply of food, as is the case in the 

 vicinity of the rapid passage of a volume of water. In 

 lakes, ponds, or canals, these fish are rarely found. Their 

 "holts" in small rivers are usually deep still pools, those 

 sheltered by overhanging trees or bushes being their 

 chosen resort, especially when the stream is powerful just 



* The only counterpart we have, from an angling standpoint, of this 

 little fish, on the natural history and capture of which pages have been 

 written by English angling authors, is the gudgeon of the waters of 

 Baltimore ; when in season many dozens are caught on a tide with a 

 light red and running tackle. The fish of the text belongs to the 

 carp family and delights in running streams, while those of the United 

 States are caught in deep tidal waters and are apparently anadromous. 



t The nearest approach we have in the United States to the chub 

 of England is the Semitolus corporalis, commonly called chub in this 

 country. This tish does not differ in habits, mode of feeding, etc., 

 from that one described by the author. I have found it, in email 

 streams, to be extremely shy and to insure success have been com- 

 pelled to creep stealthily to the bank and to avoid casting a shadow 

 over the water. When hooked it will give delightful play, often leaping 

 once or twice out of the water, but its resistance is of short duration. 

 .They are struck mostly in the riffles where they take the fly somewhat 

 fiercely, the reverse occurring in the quiet pool, their action then being 

 somewhat sluggish. I have caught them weighing two pounds, but 

 they reach nearly double that size when their habitat is the deep 

 stretches of water above the dams of the upper rivers of the Northern 

 States. It is this fish and its congeners that are rapidly disappearing 

 in the States east of the Alleghenies under the onslaught of the ferocious 

 black bass. 



