THE BASSES: FRES H-W ATER AND MARINE 



ble as a mountain-lake fish. The excellence of 

 Philadelphia poultry is well known. Before send- 

 ing his chickens to the market the Pennsylvania 

 farmer coops them up and feeds them richly for 

 a week or two, that they may gain fat and be- 

 come free from all barnyard taint. I have read 

 that in Germany, the execrable carp, so popular 

 as a table-fish in that country and so abominated 

 by American fish-eaters, is treated much in the 

 same way as the Pennsylvania farmer treats his 

 chickens. 



Many anglers and I humbly hasten to place 

 myself among them believe that fishing for 

 black bass is more enjoyable, and can be more 

 frequently indulged in without palling, than 

 even angling for trout, for his big brother, the 

 lordly salmon, or for the acrobatic leviathans of 

 the Southern seas. The only qualification of 

 this opinion I am inclined to make is that fly- 

 fishing for black bass in running water, wad- 

 ing as in trout-fishing, must be understood as 

 the special factor justifying the above sweeping 

 statements. 



It will not be amiss, even at the risk of repeating 

 myself from former notes on the black bass, to 

 state more fully the reasons why the black bass is 

 such a favorite fish among anglers. 



