146 Book of the Black Bass. 



Most writers of that time devoted their attention ex- 

 clusiTelv to the salmon and hrook trout among the fresh- 

 water ganie-fishes. or to the striped hass, hluefish and weak- 

 fish, among the salt-water species. While acknowledging 

 the game qualities and fine sport afforded the angler by 

 these different species, and which acknowledgment is 

 founded npon ample personal experience with them all, 

 I regard the black bass as one of our gamest fishes; and 

 an experience of more than ioity years has convinced me 

 that the sport afforded by it is not surpassed by the pursuit 

 of any other member of the finny tribe. 



Thirty years ago a person entering a tackle shop in a 

 western town and inquiring for black bass tackle, would 

 be presented with a rod from twelve to sixteen feet long, 

 weighing from one to two pounds, a large brass reel, with 

 a handle like a coffee-mill crank, a line more suitable for a 

 chalk line, and a large ungainly hook with a side bend — 

 and all this formidable array of clumsy apparatus to do 

 battle with such a thoroughbred and noble foe as the black 

 bass ! Combination rods, general rods, perch rods, cheap 

 striped-ba:3s tackle, et hoc genus omne, had been, as a rule, 

 manufactured for the western market, and sold for black 

 bass fishing. 



This was the more surprising as the black bass inhabited 

 so many of the waters of the Union, from Xew England 

 to Florida, and from Maryland to Missouri. He was, 

 moreover, the acknowledged peer of the brook trout for 

 gameness by those who knew him best, and it was "a con- 

 sumination devoutly to be wished" that as much skill 

 should be displayed in his capture, and as elegant and as 

 suitable tackle employed for the purpose as in the case of 

 his speckled rival. 



Those enthusiastic and observant anglers who learned 



