10 GENERAL EEMAEKS. 



bedded ia deep mud, a terror to their smaller 

 brethren and a prize to the unrefined fisherman who 

 looks to the profit to be derived from their heavy 

 carcases ; and that other coarse and ill-shapen crea- 

 tures are taken in the net ; but the only fishes that 

 the true angler can regard as objects of sport aro 

 the pike-perch, and the black bass. 



The pike-perch, which is variously termed the 

 pickerel, pike of the lakes, glass-eye, big-eyed pike, 

 and pickering, is taken in immense numbers in Lakes 

 Erie and Huron, was formerly numerous in the 

 Ohio, and inhabits to a greater or less degree the 

 ponds or sluggish waters of that section. It is a 

 savage fish, biting voraciously at bait or troUing- 

 tackle, and where better fish are scarce, is regarded 

 as a piscatory delicacy ; but its play is weak and 

 dull, and as it is taken with strong tackle, its capture 

 requires neither the skiU nor experience that lend 

 the principal charm to angling ; and by comparison 

 with sea-fish, its flavor is coarse. 



Captured mainly with the all-devouring net, it is 

 salted and packed for winter use as our cod or 

 mackerel are preserved, and constitutes at Sandusky 

 and some other places an important object of com- 

 merce. 



The black bass, a fish that, from its abundance in 

 their country, Americans may claim as peculiarly 

 their own ; a fish that is inferior only to the salmon 

 and trout, if even to the latter ; that requires the 

 best of tackle and skill in its inveiglement, and exhi- 

 bits courage and game qualities of the highest ordei'— 



