BLACK BASS FISHING 301 



BLACK BASS FISHING 



IN THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



From the Files of the Buffalo Commercial I borrow the following 

 description of the habits, haunts, and modes of taking the Black and 

 Oswego Bass — if different they be, as I believe they are in the Niagara 

 river. It is by the same distinguished sportsman and sound naturalist 

 to whom I have before alluded in my article on the Pearch. 



I prefer quoting him to writing of this fish myself ; as although not 

 unacquainted with his habits, I have never yet myself enjoyed the 

 pleasure of catching him either with the fly, the spoon, or the 

 shiner : 



" The Oswego Bass and Black Bass bear so strong a resemblance to 

 each other, that not one fisherman in ten knows them as distinct en- 

 tities. In form, color, weight, and habits, the two are almost per- 

 fectly identical ; and yet their differences, though minute, are striking 

 and essential. An Oswego Bass, when placed by a Black Bass of the 

 same size, is readily distinguished by his more forked tail, his greater 

 thickness of shoulder, his coarser scales, and, above all, by his mouth, 

 which, when open, is nearly twice as large as that of the Black Bass. 

 In Lake Ontario, the Oswego Bass is abundant, and the Black Bass 

 comparatively rare. In Lake Erie, the Black Bass greatly predomi- 

 nates, and it may be doubted whether the Oswegonian — like certain 

 citizens of the Ontario shore — is not an interloper in our waters, who 

 has found his way to us from below, through some canal. However 

 this may be, he is certainly right welcome ! 



" The Black Bass is our chief object of pursuit — his capture is our 

 dearest triumph — his captive form our proudest trophy. When word 

 first comes, in June, that the Black Bass bites in our river, what a 

 Stir there is among our anglers ! — what questioning as to the when, 



