i8 PRACTICAL FLY FISHING 



which will rise freely to a large red and gray fly, made 

 of Macaw, or parrot and Silver Pheasant or Guinea 

 Fowl. . . . There is also a fish called " Trout " to 

 the southward, which is certainly not a trout, though 

 I do not know its correct appellation, which is eagerly 

 pursued and considered a game fish." The " trout," 

 of course, is none other than our friend the large- 

 mouthed black bass. 



Brown in his "American Anglers Guide" (1849) 

 went the limit in misinformation by stating that " the 

 black bass has a swallow tail." 



Dr. Bethune, the first American editor of Walton's 

 " Angler," a bookish man and a good fisherman, had a 

 better idea of the bass than any of his contemporaries. 

 In one of his notes (1848) he says: ". . . it 

 is impossible to refrain from a brief notice of that fish 

 which is, next to the Salmon family, most prized by 

 the American angler in fresh waters. Angling for 

 him may be begun in June, when he is to be found in 

 about 14 feet of water, among the grass. . . . Nothing 

 can exceed the vigor and liveliness of his play; for he 

 will try every art, even to flinging himself high out 

 of the water, that he may shake off the hook; and the 

 rod must not be kept perpendicular, but moved in 

 various directions, and sometimes even partly sub- 

 merged, to counteract his rushes, and hold him under 

 the surface. . . . The bass takes the fly freely; a 

 favorite fly being made on a stout hook (the fish's 

 mouth is large) with wings of scarlet cloth and a body 

 of white feather. Other colors have been tried though 



