950 FISHES — CENTEARCHID^. 



finest of the American fresh water fishes ; it is surpassed by none in boldness of biting, 

 in fierce and violent resistance when hooked, and by a very few only in excellence npon 

 the board." Parker Gilmore ("Ubique") says: "Ifear it will be almost deemed her- 

 esy to place this fish (Black Bass) on a par with the trout; at least, some such idea I 

 had when I first heard the two compared ; but I am bold, and will go further. I con- 

 sider he is the superior of the two, for he is equally good as an article of food, and much 

 stronger and more untiring in his efforts to escape when hooked." Mr. Gilmore again 

 says : " Americans have reason to be proud of the Black Bass, for its game qualities 

 endear it to the fisherman, and its nutty, sweet flavor to the gourmand." 



Now, while salmon fishing may be the highest branch of pisoatorial sport; and while 

 trout fishing in Cai ada, Maine, and the Lake Superior region justifies all the extrav- 

 agant praise bestowed npon it, I am inclined to doabt the jadgment and good taste of 

 those anglers who snap their fingers in contempt tf Black Bass fishing, while they will 

 wade a stream strewn with brush and logs, catch a few trout weighing six or eight to 

 the pound, and call it the only artistic angling in the world ! While they are certainly 

 welcome to their opinion, I think their zeal is worthy of a better cause. The Black 

 Bass is eminently an American fish, and has been said to be representative in his char- 

 acteristics. He has the faculty of asserting himself and making himself completely at 

 home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave, and unyielding to the last when 

 hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of a trout, the antiring strength and bold 

 leap of a salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics peoaliarly his own. 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 circum- 

 stances favorable to the taking of any other fish. I consider him, inch for inch and 

 pound for pound, the jgamest fish that swims. The royal salmon and the lordly trout 

 must jield 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 re- 

 sult, I think, is inevitable, if for no other reasons, from a, force of circumstances 

 occafcioned by climatic conditions and the operation of immutable natural laws, such as 

 the gradual drying up and dwindling away of the small trout streams, and the conse- 

 quent decrease of brook trout both in quality and quantity ; and by the introduction of 

 predatory fish in the same waters with trout. Another prominent cause of the decline 

 and fall of the brook trout is the erection of dams, saw mills, and factories upon trout 

 streams, which, though to be deplored, cannot; be prevented; the march of empire and 

 the progress of civilization cannot be stayed by the honest, though powerless protests 

 of anglers. But, while the ultimate fate of the brook trout is sealed beyond peradven- 

 ture, 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 

 extinction of the brook trout. 



As T have stated long since in the Forest and Stream, the Black Bass will exhibit game 

 qualities that will at once convince and surprise the most skeptical salmon or trout 

 fishers, if they will angle for him with as suitable and delicate tackle as they employ 

 for his more favored congeners of the tribe Sdlmonidm, It is high time, then, that 

 anglers and sporting writers should accept the situation, accord to the Black Bass his 

 just due, and acknowledge him as the coming game fish of America." 



As to the edible qualities of the Black Bass little need be said. Aside from its at- 

 tractiveness to anglers as a game fish, its flesh is of the very best. " Few better pan 



