The Channel-bass 195 



or sixty pounds, the fish attaining, if current 

 report can be relied upon, seventy-five or eighty 

 pounds. The largest I have seen weighed sixty 

 pounds. In August and September, in the St. 

 Johns, the fishermen expect a second run of 

 smaller fish ; and the sport is good until Novem- 

 ber. Anglers are told that they can be caught 

 later. Possibly individuals have been, but I have 

 religiously fished the mouth of the river in Janu- 

 ary and did not take a channel-bass. My boat- 

 man insisted that they were there, and intimated 

 that they had been taken, so I concluded that 

 while luck was with me in the summer I was a 

 poor off-season fisherman. The average-sized 

 fish taken in the rivers of Florida is from twenty- 

 five to thirty pounds, and there is a remarkable 

 difference in size and tastes in different localities. 

 I tried several " spinners " in the mouth of the St. 

 Marys, but did not have a strike ; yet on the Indian 

 River I understand, on the excellent authority of 

 Dr. Kenworthy, the dean of the angling frater- 

 nity of the South, that this method has been 

 very successful. I have seen a yellowtail hooked 

 with a tooth-brush handle metamorphosed into 

 a jig; yet this fish refuses a spinner. There is 

 no accounting for tastes even among fishes. 



