The Channel-bass 195 
or sixty pounds,—the fish attaining, if current 
report can be relied upon, seventy-five or eighty 
pounds. The largest I have seen weighed sixty 
pounds. In August and September, in the St. 
Johns, the fishermen expect a second run of 
smaller fish; and the sport is good until Novem- 
ber. Anglers are told that they can be caught 
later. Possibly individuals have been, but I have 
religiously fished the mouth of the river in Janu- 
ary and did not take a channel-bass. My boat- 
man insisted that they were there, and intimated 
that they had been taken, so I concluded that 
while luck was with me in the summer I was a 
poor off-season fisherman. The average-sized 
fish taken in the rivers of Florida is from twenty- 
five to thirty pounds, and there is a remarkable 
difference in size and tastes in different localities. 
I tried several “spinners ” in the mouth of the St. 
Marys, but did not have a strike; yet on the Indian 
River I understand, on the excellent authority of 
Dr. Kenworthy, the dean of the angling frater- 
nity of the South, that this method has been 
very successful. I have seen a yellowtail hooked 
with a tooth-brush handle metamorphosed into 
a jig; yet this fish refuses a spinner. There is 
no accounting for tastes even among fishes. 
