July 24, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Habits.— We have stated that the crappie loves still waters. It is not averse to 

 ;warm and muddy water since it may be taken in large numbers in midsummer in 

 depths of a few' feet. With the approach of cold weather it seeks deeper water, 

 because less. active and requires very little food. The spawning habits of the crappie 

 are presumably not different from those of the calico bass, and the young of the two 

 cftpeoies grow at about an equal rate. 



Game Qualities. — The crappie is a ready biter and will take the hook baited with 

 minnows or worms with great avidity. Its endurance is not very great. The spoon 

 bait is a favorite and highly suc- 

 cessful implement in trolling for this 

 fish. As an illustration of the abund- 

 ance and voracity of the crappie it 

 may be stated that two men have 

 taken a thousand crappies in the 

 course of three days' fishing with 

 hook and line. The fish will usually 

 bite at any hour of the day. As its 

 mouth is small the size of the hooks 

 must be regulated accordingly. 



"The same methods of angling are 

 em ployed for both the calico bass, or 

 Northern crappie (Pomoxys sparo- 

 mes), and the newlight or Southern 

 crappie (Pomoxys annularis), as the 

 two fishes are very closely allied and 

 their habits are similar, Both species 

 congregate in schools about brush, 

 logs and weed patches in deep holes, 

 and being not at all shy, take the 

 baited hook quite greedily, and on 

 this account are much sought after 

 by the angler who delights in quan- 

 tity rather than quality. 



'•'While the croppies axe excellent 

 pan-fishes, and the best of all percoid 

 fishes for small ponds, their game 



qualities are the least of their merits, and in order to get any sport at all in fishing 

 for them, only the lightest tackle should be employed. 



"Any light rod, as a trout bait-rod, will answer, but if only croppie fishing is ex- 

 pected, the best rod is a natural native cane 10ft. long and weighing from 4 to 6oz., 

 or even less if it can be procured. Such a rod, while being quite light, is strong 

 enough to lift the fish from the water, for the croppie gives very little play, and it is 

 usually desirable to basket as many as possible of the school while they are biting. 



"From what has just been said it will be 

 seen that a reel is not essential in croppie fish- 

 ing. The line should be about as long as the 

 rod, and of the smallest caliber — say No. 1 

 twisted silk, or so-called sea grass. Should a 

 reel be used, the line should be the smallest 

 braided silk, size H. A fine gut leader about 

 3ft, long should be used. Sproat hooks, Nos. 

 4 or 5, tied on the' finest gut snells are about 

 right. 



"Small minnows, especially 'shiners' are the 

 bait par excellence for croppies. They should 

 be hooked through the lips, unless very small, 

 when the hook should be carefully passed 

 under the dorsal fin. The smallest sized 

 sinker should be attached to the leader, a foot 



above the hook, to keep the minnow in deep water, and, usually, a light float is an 

 advantage to keep the bait at about the right depth. 



"The angler rigged as above can get considerable sport out of croppie fishing, 

 though they offer very little resistance and slide out of the water rather too easily 

 —but withal they are beautiful fishes and make a handsome basket, and are at their 

 best on the table. 



"The croppies, and especially the Southern croppie or newlight, rise well to the 

 artificial fly, and with the lightest trout tackle 

 For this fishing the 



from California to British Columbia west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Th 

 Eastern crayfishes are found in the area east of the Rocky Mountains, being scarce 

 in New England and more or less plentiful in various localities from British America 

 to Texas. In the Middle States and in Maryland and the District of Columbia the 

 subject of our illustration is a common species and reaches a large size. The 

 Potomac and the Susquehanna furnish very fine examples of this crayfish; in the 

 latter river it is particularly abundant early in June, during the shad season. The 

 crayfish is generally found under flat stones in the deeper parts of the stream, but 



sometimes occurs on muddy bottom. 

 It feeds upon water plants, small 

 fishes and various other vegetable 

 and animal substances, dead or alive. 

 , - v3K Crayfishes shed their shells and are 



most desirable for bait in the soft 

 condition. They can be obtained 

 ■-."" r v-> '-BS^ from early spring until late in the 



h.#f'" ^*e0S&&* fall. T. H. B. 



Fig. 10. Crappie (Pomoxys annularis). 



afford considerable sport. 



lightest trout fly-rods of 4 or 5oz. can be utilized to 

 advantage. A very light click reel, and a G or No. 

 | enameled silk line should be used with such a rod. 

 Trout flies of neutral or subdued tints, as the gray 

 and brown hackles, gray-drake, stone-fly, blue-dun, 

 etc. , are well adapted for this fishing, but by far 

 the best fly for croppies that I know of is the 'Hen- 

 shall' bass fly, tied on a Sproat hook No. 5, and of 

 the size of an ordinary trout fly. They will rise to 

 this fly when no other will tempt them to the surface. 

 It has' a body of peacock herl, hackle of white hairs 

 from deer's tail, gray wings, and tail composed of a 

 h bre or two from the tail feather of a peacock. 



"Croppies will be found about dams, and in the 

 deeper and stiller portions of streams and ponds, and 

 especially about logs, brush, drift, etc. In such sit- 

 uations, on a breezy summer afternoon, toward sun- 

 set, the angler with light trout tackle will be amply 

 rewarded, for under these conditions fly-fishing for 

 croppies is a sport not to be despised." 



The Stone Catfish (Noturus insignis), Fig. 11.— 

 This fish sometimes grows to nearly a foot in length, 

 but averages much less. The size used for bait for 

 black bass seldom exceeds 3 or 4in. The stone 

 catfish ranges from Pennsylvania to South Carolina 

 in rivers and creeks; it is one of the best known and 

 most successful baits on the Susquehanna River, and 

 its tenacity of life makes it especially desirable. 

 There are several other species of Noturus which 

 are also called stone cats, and are used for bait. 

 In many Eastern streams the young of Noturus 

 Jlavus is suitable for the purpose, and Nottirus 

 gyrinus and other small stone cats are available. 

 These fishes are wonderfully tough and tenacious of 

 life. Little is known of their habits. They hide 

 under stones and logs, the common name being de- 

 rived from their choice of habitation. They are very 

 sluggish in their movements, and easily captured 

 when found. The common way of catching the 

 stone catfish, or stone roller, is by striking with a 

 stone the flat rock under which it is supposed to be 

 hiding. The blow stuns the fish temporarily and 

 sometimes destroys its usefulness altogether. Mr. 

 George W. Lung, of Wilkesbarre, Pa. , informs us 

 that his cousin at Wyalusing, Pa. , takes his catfish 

 with a sieve. He lifts the stone carefully, keeping 

 the sieve under it; the fish follow the shadow of the 

 stone and are easily caught in the sieve without 

 injury. 



The Pickerel Frog (Rana palustris).^ This handsome species is known also as the 

 marsh frog, tiger frog and leopard frog. It ranges from Maine to Virginia, occur- 

 ring in salt marshes and in wet meadows in the vicinity of ponds and streams. The 

 rows of dark quadrate spots on the sides and back and the bright yellow of the under 

 surface of the thighs make it a conspicuous species. Its odor is very strong. The 

 name pickerel frog is derived from its use as a bait. 



The Crayfishes (Cambarus and Astacus), Fig. 12.— The crayfishes or crawfishes 

 resemble the lobster in form, but are much smaller in size and live in fresh-water 

 streams. There are about twenty-nine nominal species of Cambarus in the United 

 States, and Astaem is represented by six species, all of them confined to the region 



BASS AND BASS ISLANDS 

 OF LAKE ERIE. 



|| THE SUNSET CLUB. — VL 



SEVERAL weeks ago the president 

 announced that the noted author 

 ; - and black bass angler, Dr. J. A. Hen- 



IIIIIP shall, would address the club at the 

 November meeting. In consequence 

 of this "standing room only" was 

 proclaimed long before the opening 

 hour. After the roll call and the 

 usual secret salutations, the president 

 said: "Brethren, we will omit the 

 general order of business as you are 

 aware we have with us two dis- 

 tinguished scientific anglers, whose 

 names are as familiar as the bait you 

 use in fishing for bass. These gentlemen are the true fishermen who find pleasure 

 not merely in well-stocked baskets of spoil, but equally in the attendant charms of 

 the trip, and who study the character and habits of the objects of their sport. 

 Angling has many charms and those whose knowledge of fishing is confined to hold- 

 ing a cane pole and angling for perch and sunfish or like non-game creatures find it 

 dull and uninteresting, but these true disciples of Izaak Walton never know a weari- 

 some hour in the longest day. If the sport is tame and fish not hungry there is to 



them an exhaustless and ever new source of 

 pleasure and study of the great book of nature 

 temptingly unfolded before them. They are 

 familiar with the natural history of fish, and 

 it is through such men that we learn their 

 ■Jtt^T''"'-^. secret movements and habits. Brethren, I 



have the pleasure of introducing Dr. Henshall, 

 of Cincinnati." 



After the deafening applause had died down 

 to an echoing sound the genial Doctor stepped 

 to the rostrum, and after thanking the mem- 

 bers for the unexpected ovation, said he would 

 talk about the "Bass and Bass Islands of Lake 



fish (Noturus insignis). E ^ years ag0? saM Dj , Henshall) j m - 



joyed some fine sport in fishing for small- 

 mouthed black bass about the islands of Lake Erie, but at that time I gave no especial 

 thought to the peculiar features of that fishing as compared to that of other portions 

 of the country. Afterward, however, when I began to make a special study of the 

 black bass I could not reconcile some of the habits of the black bass as I remembered 

 them in the western part of Lake Erie with those of the country at large, and re- 

 solved that if the opportunity ever presented itself, to give some time and investiga- 

 tion to what I considered the aberrant features of the habits of the black bass of the 



Bass Islands. 



During the past summer and fall I spent four 

 months in yachting, canoeing, fishing and collecting 

 in the waters of the western portion of Lake Erie, 

 and endeavored during this time to form some theory 

 in regard to what I have just called the aberrant 

 features of the habits of its black bass. 



It is but the beginning of an attempt, however, 

 and I now venture to address this honorable club on 

 this subject in the hope that some of the veteran 

 anglers here assembled will help me out with it. 

 I desire particularly to hear from my friend, Judge 

 Potter, who has had so many years of experience in 

 these waters. 



To begin at the beginning, the surface geology 

 of the western portion of Lake Erie presents some 

 very remarkable, peculiar and interesting features. 

 As you all know, there are several theories regarding 

 the origin of the Great Lakes, but we will confine 

 our remarks to Lake Erie in general and its western 

 portion in particular, and without going into or sup- 



E or ting any theory in reference to its physical pecu- 

 arities — whether they are the result of icebergs, 

 glaciers, or the tail of Ignatius Donnelly's comet — 

 we will take the facts as we find them to-day, 

 without troubling ourselves about the remote ages 

 when the skating was better than the fishing. 



Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, 

 being but 230ft. deep, while Lake Huron, above it, is 

 800ft. deep, and Ontario, below, is 450ft. in depth. 

 Now, whether these lakes were originally or abor- 

 iginally the channel or bed of a pre-glacial river 

 (whatever that may mean), and Lake Erie has since 

 become silted up with the debris of the waters above, 

 or become filled up with the crumbling and washing 

 away of the Laurentian Hills to its present level, or 

 whether its basin has been excavated from the 

 sedimentary rocks by the advance or retreat of great 

 continental or local glaciers, or whether eroded by 

 the churning or grinding of immense ice fields and 

 ice bergs floating about in a pre-glacial sea, in which 

 the black bass had no existence, are matters that do 

 not concern our present purpose, though they may 

 serve to oceupy your minds while waiting for a 

 bite near some of the Bass Islands, of Lake Erie, 

 with the grooves and striations and other evidences 

 of the rocks in plain view. 



So dismissing all consideration of the several 

 theories to account for the islands, reefs and shores 

 of Lake Erie, with their concomitant features of 

 drift, blue clay and boulders, we will take them as 

 they exist to-day in defiance of upheavals, glaciers, icebergs and cataclysms which 

 occurred at a time when the only sport seems to have been tobogganing on a grand 



Fig. 12. Crayfish (Cambarus affin-ts). 



scale. 



At the west end of Lake Erie, which is also its shallowest portion, and in close 

 proximity to the cities of Sandusky, Port Clinton, Toledo and Monroe, lies an exten- 

 sive group of islands, several of them inclosing the historic waters of Put-in-Bay, 

 one of the most charming and beautiful bays on the continent, dear alike to the tourist, 

 the yachtsman, the canoeist and the angler. 



From the observatory in Put-in-Bay Island (South Bass can be seen Pelee and Middle 

 islands) in Canadian waters, and with North, South and Middle Bass, Kelley's, Starve, 



