778 FISHES — AMIID^. 



" We have a fiBh here that we call ' John A. Grindle ', bnt what his other names may 

 be in different parts, if they are found there, I do not know. They grow up to ten 

 pounds weight, and are perfectly worthless except for sport, but for the latter they are 

 grand. They are far ahead of onr trout, I beg your pardon, you say we must not call 

 them trout any more but black bass. Well our black bass then, or any other fish I 

 know of. 



" Grindle or John A., as we familiarly term them, are my favorite fist when I want 

 a day's sport, for they are dead game, never giving up until tired out, and it takes a long 

 time to tire him. Of course the man who fishes for the pot swears when he gets a John 

 A., and then breaks his head, bnt the pot-fisher don't want gameness or sport, though 

 he thinks he wants the latter ; meat is what he is after and a John A. bothers him. A 

 favorite place for onr fish is across the river and through the thickets to Lawrence lake, 

 which is so surrounded by swamp that it is difficult to approach, but which is 

 much frequented by anglers in season. Our manner of taking the Grindle is usually 

 with a reed pole, with or without a reel, and with a strong hook and line baited with 

 a live minnow, which we cast and troll. 



" John A. is a terrific biter, and as fierce a fighter as I ever knew, and he lasts. One 

 day last week I killed fourteen, weighing from three to seven pounds apiece, and one 

 of these fish fought me over half an hour. Think of that ! half an hour's exciting fun, 

 alternating between hope and fear and then crowned with success. This is a delight 

 that the pot-fisher never felt with his stiff pole twitching out his little fish before he 

 fairly feels them, in his haste to get another. Having told you so much about them, I 

 will now try and give you a description of the fish as far as I am able, not being a 

 scientist ; but hope that you may be able to recognize it and tell us something of it. 



" John A. is a soft-finned fish, not a spine about him. His body is round and long, like 

 a pike or jack, and has heavy scales, which are round, that is have no prickles like a 

 perch or bass. His tail is rounded, bnt not evenly ; it is as if the lower portion was 

 worn off, but the young ones are so, and I think it natural. His head is covered with 

 hard plates, and looks like the head of a reptile ; it has two sets of teeth, with some 

 on the roof of the mouth and others back near the gullet. There is but one fin on his 

 back, but it runs nearly the whole length of it, and is soft and of even height. The 

 lower fins are large and a pair in the middle of its belly. There is sometimes a black 

 spot as big as a quarter of a dollar on its tail, and we call them John A.'s and ' Spotted 

 Grindle,' according as they have or are without the spot. They live a long time out 

 of water. There, that is as near as I can come to his likeness, unless I add that it has 

 an expression of ferocity in its whole look." 



Mr. Hallock (Sportsman's Gazetteer, 324), thus remarks concerning 

 this fish : 



" They take frogs, minnows, and sometimes the spoon. Their habitat is deep water, 

 when they drive everything before them. Their teeth are so sharp and their jaws so 

 strong that they have been known to bite a two-pound fish in two the very first snap. 

 The young when about six inches long make a famous bait for Pickerel and Pike, Put 

 a hundred in a rain barrel and you can keep them all summer without change of water. 

 For the aquarium, the young have no equal, bnt nothing else but snails can live in the 

 tank. He will kill a lizard or any other living thing the instant it touches the water." 



According to Dr. C. C. Estes (Hallock, 1. c.) : 



" WhUe the parent remains with the young, if the family becomes suddenly alarmed, 



