6 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 94, 1890 



Gibraltar, Green, Rattlesnake, Sugar, Ballast, East, West 

 and Middle Sisters, Hen. and Chickens and other islands 

 in American waters, most of them lying within a radius 

 of half a dozen miles from Put-in-Bay. Pelee is the 

 largestof the group, embracing some 10,000 acres, Kelley's 

 is a third as large, North, South and Middle Bass are still 

 smaller, with the rest dwindling in size to the bare rocks 

 called Old Hen and Chickens, outcroppings from the 



These islands are all formed of solid limestone rock, the 

 larger ones being well wooded and overlaid by a rich cal- 

 careous soil well adapted to fruit and grape culture, and 

 are covered with orchards and vineyards in a high state 

 of cultivation. 



The northerly shores of the islands, being exposed to 

 the fury of the northeast gales, are bluffy, precipitous and 

 water-worn, but slope toward the southern exposures, 

 ending in the sheltered coves in gravelly and sandy 

 beaches. 



The channels between these islands are comparatively 

 shallow, the bottom, where exposed to the cm-rents, being 

 rocky, but in sheltered situations is covered with clay. 

 Long rocky reefs and ledges extend from the shores and 

 crop up between the islands, many of them, like the water- 

 line rocks of the Bass Islands, being cavernous; Kelley's 

 Island, however, is composed entirely of cornif erous lime- 

 stone. 



The surface and rocks of these islands and reefs exhibit 

 the most remarkable and beautiful examples and evi- 

 dences of so-called glacial action to be found 'in the world. 

 And now having cracked off the geological shell of the 

 nut we come to the kernel or meat — black 

 bass fishing. 



As you are all aware, the fishing along 

 these reefs in the spring and fall is very 

 fine (and before the days of pound-nets was 

 simply grand), while during the summer 

 months it is nil. Have you ever paused to 

 ask why? Have you ever thought how 

 voraciously the bass bite for a couple of 

 weeks in April and May, or in September 

 and October, but cease biting in June, 

 July and August, usually the best bass 

 fishing months in the year in other locali- 

 ties? Well, I have thought about it a 

 good deal, and it puzzled me exceedingly, 



I have asked old Lake Erie anglers to 

 account for it. I have questioned the mar- 

 ket-fishermen about it, but all in vain. 

 The queries and answers have been some- 

 thing like this: 



Q. Why do black bass appear on the 

 reefs in spring? A. To spawn. 



Q. Did you ever see a black bass spawn- 

 ing on the reefs? A. Can't say I ever did. 



Q. Did you ever see a black bass rest on 

 the reefs? A. Think not. 



Q. Do they resort to the reefs in the fall 

 to spawn? A. No, unless they spawn twice 

 a year, which they don't. 



Q. Then why do they come to the reefs 

 only in spring and fall? A. Ask me an 

 easy one. 



Q. Do you think they resort to the reefs 

 to teed? A. Perhaps they do. 



Q. What food do they find on the reefs? 

 A . Don't know. 



Q. Did you ever see them feeding on the 

 reefs, A. No. 



Q. Then why do they go to the reefs at 

 all? A. Give it up. 



Q. Where do they go in summer? A. To 

 deep water. 



Q. mat for? A. To feed, I guess. 



Q. What food do they find in deep wa- 

 ter? A. I pass. 



Q. Do you know where this deep water 

 is? A. No. 



Q. Do you know where they are to be 

 found in summer? A. No. 



Q. Do you know where to find them at 

 any season? A. Yes, on the reefs in spring 

 and fall. 



And this is all the information I ever got 

 from anglers or fishermen. Then I began 

 to reason it out. First, as to spawning. 

 Lake Erie is a large body of water, quite 

 cold even in summer. The spawning of black bass 

 occurs in the spring or summer, depending on the cli- 

 mate or temperature of the water, and cannot occur in 

 Lake Erie before June or July; but long before this they 

 have disappeared from the reefs, ergo, they do not spawn 

 on the reefs. 



Next, as to food. Bass caught in the spring on the reefs 

 seemed to have very little food in their stomachs, an oc- 

 casional crawfish, or perhaps a minnow. From my own 

 observations, and from all I could learn from others, there 

 seemed to be a scarcity of food on the reefs. Then I 

 hauled a collecting seine on all the beaches and available 

 places about the islands, and found that minnows were 

 few in species and scarce in numbers. I also found after- 

 ward that during the fishing seasons the minnows for bait 

 were brought from Sandusky and Port Clinton, owing to 

 their scarcity about "the Bay." Crawfish were also 

 scarce; ergo, the bass do not go to the reefs to feed. And, 

 as the black bass is not a deep-water fish, and as its food is 

 not found in deep water, therefore it does not go to deep 

 water in summer. 



With my collecting seine I took a few young black bass, 

 probably two dozen, hatched the previous summer, and 

 a few two years old. They were taken, or rather found, 

 at but one place, among the grass and weeds of Put-in- 

 Bay harbor. This proved to my mind, conclusively, that 

 only a few stragglers spawned about the beaches or shal- 

 low reefs about Put-in-Bay, while the main army went 

 somewhere else to breed and feed during the summer 

 months. 



Now, the truth of the matter seems to me to be this: 

 The small-mouthed black bass of western Lake Erie 

 hibernate under the ledges and cavernous reefs about the 

 islands. In the spring, after the first fine weather in 

 April or May, when emerging from their winter quarters, 

 they bite ravenously for a week or two, or may be two or 

 three weeks, until the weather becomes still warmer, 

 when they cease biting suddenly and depart toward their 

 feeding and spawning grounds, wherever that may be. 



After the cold northeast storms in September, they 



again congregate on the reefs, preparatory to going into 

 winter quarters, and bite until cold weather sets in, when 

 they disappear under the ledges and reefs. As I said be- 

 fore, there are a few stragglers from the main army that 

 spawn about "the Bay," and remain there during the 

 summer, and some of these are caught by perch anglers 

 during June, July and Augnst. 1 "killed a f ew myself 

 about the gravelly bars of Gibraltar in July, but they 

 were poorly nourished. 



In conclusion, I will repeat the hope I expressed at the 

 beginning, that some of the veteran anglers here assem- 

 bled will help me out with my theory, and ascertain, if 

 possible, where the small-mouthed bass of the Bass Islands 

 resort during the summer months for spawning and feed- 

 ing. They are to be found somewhere, in comparatively 

 shallow water, perhaps at the head of the lake, about the 

 bays, or up some of the streams; probably they follow 

 the bank cashiers to the Canadian shore. At the next 

 meeting of this club I shall expect some information on 

 this subject." 



The president made some pertinent remarks touching' 

 his knowledge of black bass, but before he concluded 

 loud cries were made for the venerable Judge Potter, and 

 when the noise had partially died out the judge, in his 

 usual quiet way, spoke as follows: 



"I have listened with a great deal of interest to the re- 

 marks of Dr. Henshall. whom I deem to be the best 

 authority on the black bass and whom I have sincerely 

 thanked since reading the book by which he brought into 

 prominence this gamiest of the fishes in any water. I 



DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL. 

 [From "More About the Black Bass," by courtesy of Messrs. Robert Clarke & Co.] 



was raised in a trout country, but since my experience 

 with the black bass I have yielded to him the palm for 

 being the gamiest fish that I have ever encountered. The 

 interest and intense excitement never ceases from the 

 moment he is hooked till he is brought to grass or shakes 

 the hook out of his mouth, which with me frequently 

 happens. Other anglers may boast of never losing a fish, 

 but I think he who never loses one must be entirely de- 

 void of sensibility. There is something more than 

 mechanical manipulations in handling this fish. It is 

 impossible to avoid some anxiety in the operation, which 

 tends to unman a very nervous angler, while the phleg- 

 matic one may be able to carry a steadier hand; you 

 never know what a black bass is going to do after he is 

 hooked. He sulks, he runs, he tries to extricate the 

 hook by rubbing against any substance near at hand; he 

 rushes toward you to see what a slack line will do; fail- 

 ing in this he leaps 2 or 3ft. out of the water, opens his 

 mouth, shakes his head and then, if he gains any slack, 

 is the point of danger against which it is difficult to 

 guard, and there is where I have lost many a fish. I tell 

 you, Mr. President, a 5 or 61 bs. small- mouth bass, well 

 fed upon crayfish in the cold waters of Lake Superior, is 

 an ugly customer to encounter. After employing all his 

 tactics to disengage the hook from his jaws he seems to 

 yield (only playing possum) and may be quietly led to the 

 boat, and when you think it safe to apply the landing 

 net he gives a spring, frequently landing in the boat, but 

 quite as frequently going clear over it and escaping. 

 I often in trout fishing, on the north shore of Lake 

 Superior, have hooked a black bass, though they are not 

 abundant there, and when I did I knew I had half 

 an hour's job on my bands, if not more, as they will fight 

 twice as long as the trout, and with twice the tact and 

 vigor. I feel like the boy who flung back into the water 

 a nice trout, saying he was fishing for eels and not for 

 trout. With an 8oz. rod and a small gnat or midge fly, 

 the chances are in favor of the bass. I have noticed an 

 account somewhere, where black bass have been caught 

 in the winter, but I have never seen them caught at that 



season of the year in this section. 'Where do the black 

 bass go m summer?' asks my friend Dr. Henshall. They 

 don t go anywhere. They stay about the reefs and the 

 recesses of the broken and rocky coasts of the lake. The 

 old Hen m the Hen and Chicken group, lying north- 

 westerly from Put-in-Bay, is a favorite resort for them in 

 the months of July and August and early September. I 

 have visited these islands, and finally, all the rocky shores 

 m these clusters of islands at the head of Lake Erie, 

 where in the deep waters surrounding them, in a calm 

 day I could see most enticing bait or lure, placed near 

 their noses, not one would open his mouth; they would 

 turn up an eye, wag a ventral fin, as if in scorn of the 

 tempting morsel. Any one who has seen a black bass or 

 a speckled trout and observed the gravity of his counte- 

 nance when declining to take a fish hook in his mouth, 

 the facial expression of disgust and scorn will unrival 

 that of Meg Merrilies, and he will feel as if he was in the 

 presence of more than animal intelligence. Why doesn't 

 he bite? There is something about fish life that is inex- 

 plicable to us. We know their habits, but their inner 

 consciousness no one has vet been able to discover I 

 have sometimes thought that their indisposition to take 

 the bait m the summer was owing to a certain condition 

 of the water. The lake is surrounded by forests, and the 

 islands are covered with trees. About the first of Julv I 

 have often observed, floating in the water of the lake, 

 and more especially about the islands, a sediment hav- 

 ing the appearance of pollen from the trees; after a 

 while this substance settles to the bottom, from which 

 arises a gas, as seen by bubbles arising to the surface. 



At these times many dead fish may be 

 seen floating in the water, and they are 

 mostly confined to bottom feeders; the bass 

 seldom die from this cause, not being bot- 

 tom feeders, but their health and condition 

 must be seriously affected from this cause, 

 depriving them of their appetite, when food 

 becomes repulsive to them. Later, in Sep- 

 tember and October, when the water has 

 become purified, their appetite returns and 

 they lay in a stock of food preparatory to 

 their hibernation for the winter, and as' the 

 nights grow colder and the November frosts 

 appear they retire to deeper water or the 

 caves in the rocks, from which they emerge 

 in April or May and are ready to break their 

 long winter's fast. They breed in May and 

 June, at which time they seldom take any 

 food, and at the close of the breeding sea- 

 son the poisoning of the water occurs with 

 the effects as stated. I dnlv speak of the 

 black bass of Lake Erie, as I have had very 

 little experience with any other. WitJi 

 these I have had a pretty close acquaint- 

 ance for more than fifty years, commenc- 

 ing at a time when 500 small-mouth bass to 

 two rods in an afternoon among the rocks 

 and reefs around Kelly's Island, Lake Erie, 

 was an every-day occurrence, but since 

 then sad havoc has been played with them 

 by the commercial fishermen, with fyke 

 and pound nets." 



Three hearty cheers were given for Dr. 

 Henshall and Judge Potter. "We hope," 

 said the president, "often to have the pleas- 

 ure and honor of your presence in this 

 hall." The club then adjourned to its pri- 

 vate parlors, where they feasted upon rock 

 sturgeon and other fresh- water delicacies 

 furnished by the newly initiated passenger 

 agents, Shearman, Brown and Smith. 



J. E. GUNCKHL. 



Notes on Bl 4ck BASS.-The north branch 

 of the Susquehanna River, in the vicinity 

 of Wyalusing, Pa., is a famous stream for 

 small-mouthed black bass. Several years 

 ago their abundance became noteworthy 

 and agentleman at Ulster had the curiosity 

 to weigh the fish that were carried past his 

 office by anglers during the season. He 

 weighed l,8001bs. and had reason to believe 

 that three times as many more were taken 

 in other directions. Some of the eddies 

 near Wyalueing have large beds of fine, 

 clean gravel at the lower end and supply very favor- 

 able spawning grounds; the bass collect in such local- 

 ities in large numbers. Black bass will not take the 

 hook in winter, nor will they bite in May when suckers 

 are biting. When crawfish are shedding the bass will 

 take them more greedily than at any other time. At the 

 period when frogs drop their eggs these fish will not bite 

 at anything else. Along some parts of the river where 

 the bottom shoals off gradually a river weed grows luxu- 

 riantly in summer. When the water rises slightly it 

 often backs over this grass, and in this biding place the 

 bass collect to prey upon minnows and other food. By 

 skilfully poling a boat along the edge of the grass the fish 

 will run out and try to jump over it, and frequently fall 

 into the boat. One of the expert fishermen of Sugar Run, 

 Bradford Co. , Pa., caught 15 one evening by this method. 

 —Geo. W. Lunu (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.). 



St. Lawrence River Bass.— Messrs. J. B. Crook & Co. 

 send us a note from a Cape Vincent, N. Y., correspon- 

 dent under date of July 18: Fishing good on Saturday, 

 July 12, Mr. Weeks, of Brooklyn, got 18 bass weighing 

 321bs., total catch 87 weighing 5 libs. Mr. O'Donohue, of 

 New York, got 51 bass weighing 491bs. Very few fisher- 

 men here; patronage all along the river very light so far. 

 Weather while 101° in New York did not get above 85 

 here. Same day it was 101° in New York I slept at night 

 under a sheet, a double blanket and a coverlid, and was 

 comfortable. The figures and facts I give you are 

 strictly reliable. I give no number or weight of fish un- 

 less I count and see the weight myself, so you can rely 

 upon it and not put it in the same categorv as the fishing 

 of Com. Erhardt, as published in a recent New York Sun, 

 which story was a ridiculous lie.— G. C. B. 



Delaware River Bass Fishing is the best known for 

 years, A report about it next week, 



