BLACK BASS AND TROUT COMPARED 



On the Hook 



Similar in many respects as the trout and black 

 bass are in their stream habits, the resemblance 

 ceases when they are fastened to the hook, and their 

 intelligence in the uses of devices to free themselves 

 shov/s greatly to the advantage of the bass. The 

 trout are by far the less intelligent or ingenious 

 in the arts of escape; they seem to rely solely upon 

 their strength of muscle and obdurate resistance, 

 showing no trait of the resources of the black bass 

 to free themselves from captivity. The black 

 bass are gifted in this respect; they leap repeatedly 

 from the water into the air, and frantically try to 

 eject the hook from the mouth by violently shaking 

 the body, — not the head only, as many anglers 

 assert: they cannot shake the one without the 

 other. They rush around deep-lying or outcropping 

 rocks in their efforts to cut the line, and go down to 

 the bottom and " jigg, jigg, and jigg," much, as 

 I have before said, like a dog tugging at a rope held 

 by the hand. None of these devices is resorted to 

 by the trout. It never leaps into the air or comes 

 to the top of the water when the hook is fast, unless 

 compelled to do so by a strong pull on the line by 

 an over-eager angler. The black bass leaps into 

 the air on a slack Hne. 



With these attractive traits it is not strange that 



61 



