366 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



north-west, blowing great guns, and causing the " white- 

 caps " to roll furiously. It was impossible to make head- 

 way against it, so I was compelled to anchor, which I did 

 in a bight of bulrushes, in water from ten to twelve feet 

 deep, but near a gravelly bar. Here I took, in a little 

 more than two hours, twenty-five Black Bass, which after- 

 wards turned the scales at seventy-five pounds. I have 

 always considered this catch as being one of the best I 

 ever made. On my return, owing to the high wind and 

 heavy sea, it was all I could do to keep my boat from 

 swamping. 



On another occasion, on Oconomowoc Lake, I fished at a 

 rocky bar, which divided the lake into two portions. The 

 wind was blowing a half-gale from the East, and quite 

 cool ; the shallow water on the bar was churned and tossed 

 into billows of seething foam by the high wind, enabling 

 me to fish in water but a foot or two in depth ; and in a 

 short time I took nine Bass, the smallest of which weighed 

 four pounds. I was then forced to relinquish my sport, as 

 I had " run out " of minnows. 



Again, on Genesee Lake, in the same locality, I once 

 made a good catch under peculiar circumstances. On this 

 occasion I was "frogging," as this lake, at that time, 

 was famous for the quantity and quality of its bull-frogs. 

 After spearing a (l good mess " of greenbacks, I was stand- 

 ing on a sand-bar, which divides the lake into two parts 

 during low water, and was idly watching the waves rolling 

 up on the bar, which were being driven with great fury 

 by a strong south-west wind. I chanced to see several 

 Black Bass, evidently feeding in the surf; and I then be- 

 gan devising ways and means for their capture. 



Near by, was a water-logged boat, in which I saw a 



