The Black Bass as a Game Fish. 349 



the bass, and a large, long mouth, capable of swallowing a 

 bigger fish than a black bass of equal weight. The mouth 

 of the bass is very wide, for the purpose of taking in craw- 

 fish with their long and aggressive claws, and not, as sup- 

 posed by some, for the swallowing of large fishes. The 

 black bass gets the best of other game-fishes, not by devour- 

 ing the fishes themselves, but by devouring their food. For 

 this reason, more than any other, they should not be intro- 

 duced into the same waters with brook trout. The pike or 

 pickerel is the bluefish of fresh waters, and in dental ca- 

 pacity and destructive possibilities is not far behind it. 



The brook trout, I think, is the most beautiful of all 

 fishes, as a fresh-run salmon is the handsomest and most 

 perfect in form. The salmon is a king, the brook trout a 

 courtier, but the black bass, in his virescent cuirass and 

 spiny crest, is a doughty warrior whose prowess none can 

 gainsay. 



I have fished for brook trout in the Avilds of Canada, 

 where a dozen would rise at every cast of the fly, and. it 

 would be a scramble as to which should get it — great lusty 

 trout, from a half pound to two pounds in weight — but the 

 black fly made life a burden by day, and the mosquito by 

 night. The glory and beauty of the madly rushing stream 

 breaking wildly over the great black rocks, and the quiet, 

 glassy pools below reflecting the green spires of spruce and 

 fir, availed nothing to the swollen eyelids and smarting 

 brow. 



I have east from early morn till dewy eve, on a good sal- 

 mon stream in New Brunswick, for three days in succession 

 without a single rise. I have east standing in a birch-bark 

 canoe until both arms and legs were weary with the strain, 

 and then rested by casting while sitting ^^ — but all in vain. 

 The swift-flowing, crystal stream reflected back the fierce 



