380 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



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. The royal Salmon and the 

 lordly Trout must yield the palm to a Black Bass of equal 

 weight. 



That he will eventually become the leading game fish 

 of America is my oft-expressed opinion and firm belief. 

 This result, I think, is inevitable ; if for no other reasons, 

 from a force of circumstances occasioned by climatic con- 

 ditions and the operation of immutable natural laws, such 

 as the gradual drying up, and dwindling away of the small 

 Trout streams, and the consequent decrease of Brook Trout, 

 both in quality and quantity ; and by the introduction of 

 predatory fish in waters where the Trout still exists. 



Another prominent cause of the decline and fall of the 

 Brook Trout, is the erection of dams, saw-mills and fac- 

 tories upon Trout streams, which, though to be deplored, 

 can not be prevented; the march of empire and the 

 progress of civilization can not be stayed by the honest, 

 though powerless, protests of anglers. 



But, while the ultimate fate of the Brook Trout is sealed 

 beyond peradventure, we have the satisfaction of knowing, 

 that, in the Black Bass we have a fish equally worthy, 

 both as to game and edible qualities, and which, at the 

 same time, is able to withstand, and defy, many of the 

 causes that will, in the end, effect the annihilation and ex- 

 tinction of the Brook Trout. 



Mr. Charles Hallock, the well-known author, angler, 

 and journalist, says: 



