84 SECOND BIENNIAL EEPORT [W. VA. 



West Virginia has been very properly called the "birthplace of rivers." 

 Almost innumerable streams, originating in the mountains, have their source 

 at the very top of lofty mountain peaks, and flow in all directions, some send- 

 ing their waters into the Atlantic ocean and some into the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Amid these mountains and along these beautiful streams are scenes of nature 

 unsurpassed in America. It is rather remarkable that some of these rivers 

 were not stopped in their course to pause here and there to form great lakes 

 and beautiful ponds, but nature has seen fit to allow them to proceed unmo- 

 lested to the sea. The absence of large lakes in, and of similar bodies of water 

 bordering on the state, has eliminated commercial fisheries of any particular 

 value from West Virginia. However, there are to be found over one hundred 

 species of fishes in the waters of the state, among them some of the finest and 

 most valuable game and food fishes inhabiting the waters of the United States. 

 The most important of the game fishes are the two species of black bass, viz., 

 the small-mouth black bass and the large-mouth black bass; the brook trout, 

 and the rainbow trout. The principal food fishes are the wall-eyed pike, white 

 cat, channel cat, rock bass, white perch, suckers and a few others of value. All 

 of these, with the possible exception of one or two, are supplied upon applica- 

 tion to the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 



The black basses are quite well distributed throughout the state and are 

 sought after by anglers as much, if not more, than any other game fish in the 

 state. Dr. James A. Henshall, the author of the "Book of the Black Bass," 

 in writing of this species, states: "The black bass is eminently an American 

 fish; he has the faculty of asserting himself and jnaking himself completely 

 at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave and unyielding to the 

 last when hooked. He has the arrow rush of the trout, the untiring strength 

 and bold leap of the salmon, while he has a system of fighting peculiarly his 

 own. He will rise to the artificial fly as readily as -the salmon or the brook 

 trout, under the same conditions; and will take the live minnow, or other 

 live bait, under any and all circumstances favorable to the taking of any other 

 fish. I consider him, inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that 

 swims. ' ' This fish, however, is not native to many streams of the state. It 

 w r as introduced into the headwaters of the Potomac about 1853, and later in 

 other streams, and is now to be found in the principal streams of the state. 

 The small-mouthed' black bass (Micropterus dolowieu) is found principally in 

 the streams of the higher altitudes of the state. Streams of swift current and 

 rocky bottom, like those of the Cheat river and Greenbrier river, are con- 

 ditions favorable to this fish, while the large-mouth black bass (Micropterus 

 salmoides} is more generally found in the lower altitudes and in streams of 

 a more sluggish current. In the streams directly tributary to the Ohio river 

 the large-mouth black bass is found to be more abundant than elsewhere in the 

 state. The average size of the small-mouth black bass, caught in the streams 

 of the state, is about one pound, while the largest caught, of which the writer 

 has any authentic record, weighed five pounds and nine ounces. The average 

 weight and size of the large-mouth bass will perhaps exceed slightly that of the, 

 small-mouth bass. 



As there appears to be some difficulty, by many anglers in the state, in dis- 

 tinguishing between the two species of black bass, the following is a short 

 description as given by Jordan and Everman : Smallmouth black bass : 



