Calico Bass 



numbers are every year transplanted from the ponds about Mere- 

 dosia by the United States Fish Commission. 



Grass bass, barfish, strawberry bass, bitterhead, banklick bass, 

 and lamplighter are names which have been applied to this fish; 

 in fact, all the names of the crappie have been applied to this 

 species, but the names in most general use are calico bass and 

 strawberry bass. 



It reaches a length of a foot or more, in Lake Maxinkuckee 

 we have seen specimens 14 inches long and weighing a pound. 

 The usual size, however, does not exceed 10 or 12 inches and a 

 weight of half a pound. As a food and game-fish the calico 

 bass does not differ appreciably from the crappie. Their habits 

 are essentially the same, both preferring the quiet waters of 

 bayous, ponds and lakes, though this species is more often seen 

 in clearer, colder waters. 



At Cedar and Maxinkuckee lakes, in northern Indiana, the 

 calico bass affords much sport to the angler. They bite best in 

 the early spring, in June, and again late in the fall. They may 

 be taken still-fishing with grasshoppers, worms or live minnows, 

 or by trolling with live minnow or spoon. They will at times 

 rise to the artificial fly and we have seen some fine catches 

 made in that way. Trolling is a favourite mode of fishing for 

 this species and the crappie at Lake Maxinkuckee. They take 

 the lure with a rush and vim which promises a more exciting 

 fight than really develops, for they soon give up completely and 

 are lifted into the boat without a struggle. At Cedar Lake they 

 are fished for from flat-bottomed skiffs and from sail-boats, with 

 bait of minnows, worms or pieces of fish. When fishing from 

 a sail-boat the angler uses two lines with spoon-baits or "whirl," 

 by means of which large catches are made. 



Colour, silyery-olive, mottled with clear olive-green, the dark 

 mottlings gathered in small irregular bunches and covering the 

 whole body; vertical fins with dark olive reticulations surround- 

 ing pale spots; anal marked like the dorsal; a dusky opercular 

 spot. The calico bass and the crappie resemble each other closely, 

 but are perfectly distinct and well-marked species. The easiest 

 way to distinguish them is by means of the dorsal spines, the 

 crappie having only 5 or 6, while the calico bass always has 7 or 8. 

 The different colouration, particularly of the anal " fin, and the 

 difference in the anterior profile are also constant and important 

 differential characters. 



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