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With Rod and Gtin in Nezu England 



All along the St. Lawrence basin in Ontario may be found lakes teem- 

 ing with gamy bass of both species, and where the bait-fisher or fly-fisher 

 can fairly revel in piscatorial delight. And the St. Lawrence itself, under 

 the happy auspices of the St. Lawrence River Angling Association, is 

 beginning to furnish good fishing and to remind old bass anglers of the 

 once glorious fishing possibilities of the most beautiful river on the globe. 

 Oh, the halcyon days of yore on its placid waters and along its green 

 shores ! 



And I have found the noble bass as abundant and gamy under the 

 pines and palmettos of Florida as in the shade of the firs and birches of 

 Canada. I have had glorious sport with a hastily-tied fly of almost any 

 color, or even with a bit of white or red cloth tied to the hook, taking them 

 up to twelve pounds, and on one occasion, fourteen pounds. 







The Large-Mouthed Beack Bass. 



The maximum weight of the large-mouthed bass in northern waters is 

 seven or eight pounds, while in the Gulf States they grow much larger, 

 and in Florida reach the enormous weight of twenty pounds. I think this 

 difference in weight is accounted for by the fact that while both species of 

 bass hibernate in the north, the large-mouthed bass (the only species in the 

 Gulf States) is active during the entire year, with an abundance of food at 

 all times — consequently this species is there of much larger growth. 



A marked instance of the hibernation of bass may be found in Canadian 

 waters, in the western part of Lake Erie, about Pelee island and the Bass 

 islands of Put-in-Bay. The islands forming this bay have a sub-structure 

 of cavernous limestone, while running out from them in various directions 

 are reefs of this same cavernous lime rock. These reefs lie in from ten to 

 twenty or thirty feet of water, and the small-mouthed bass of western Lake 

 Erie hibernates in their convenient and suitable holes and crevices. 



In the spring, usually in May or the latter part of April, the bass 

 emerge from their winter quarters and linger about the reefs until the 

 water increases in temperature sufficiently to enable them to depart for 



