74 Book of the Black Bass. 



CHAPTER VI. 



HABITS OF TliE BLACK BASS. 



" * * * they mutually labor, both the spawner and the melter, 

 — • to cover their spawTi with sand, — • or, watch it, — or hide it in 

 some secret place, unfrequented by vermin or by any fish but 

 themselves." — Izaak Walton. 



Spawning and Hatching. 



Black bass are very prolific, the females yielding fully 

 one-fourth of their weight in spawn, or from two thou- 

 sand to twenty thousand eggs, according to age and weight. 

 The eggs are of the adhesive or glutinous class, and can 

 not be manipulated in the same way as those of the salmon, 

 trout, or shad (which latter are non-adhesive and sepa- 

 rate) by the fish culturist. The eggs are inclosed or en- 

 veloped in a glutinous matter of an adhesive character, 

 which sinks at once to the bottom of the nest and become 

 glued to the pebbles, rocks, sticks, etc. 



The period of spawing extends from early spring to mid- 

 summer, according to the section of country, and tempera- 

 ture of the water, and without regard to species; in the 

 southern states occurring as early as March, and in the 

 northern states and Canada, from the middle of May until 

 the middle of July, always earlier in very shallow waters, 

 and somewhat later in those of greater depth. 



In Waukesha County, Wisconsin, I observed a difference 

 of from one to four weeks in the time of spawning, in the 

 numerous lakes of that locality, owing to the difference in 

 temperature of said lakes, caused by their varying depths. 



The bass leave their winter quarters in deep water about 



