THE BASSES AND THEIR ALLIES. 



Forest and Stream Supplement No. 9. 



THE LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK BASS (Micropterus salmoides), Fig. 1.— This 

 well-known and widely distributed game fish has received a varied assortment 

 of names, among them being the following: Bayou bass, green bass, moss bass, 

 Oswego bass, river bass, Huron, trout, chub, Welshman and jumper. The great 

 expanse of waters inhabited by the species and the irrepressible tendency of the fish- 

 erman to name every strange fish he sees without asking any questions about its pre- 

 vious history, will sufficiently account for the range of local designations applied to 

 the large-mouthed bass. Only two root names have more than a limited distribution 

 —bass and trout, and the former has the more extensive application. 



Distribution. — The large-mouthed black bass inhabits fresh-water lakes, ponds and 

 streams from Manitoba on the north 

 to Florida and Mexico on the south, 

 preferring bayous and sluggish 

 streams. In the Gulf States it is fre- 

 quently found in the brackish water 

 of river mouths. The species is not 

 indigenous to New England and the 

 Middle Atlantic States, but has been 

 freely introduced in those regions, 

 and has become thoroughly adapted 

 to its new surroundings when placed 

 in lowland streams and ponds. In 

 mountain lakes and brooks the species 

 would be quite out of its element. 

 There is, we think, no other common- 

 wealth in the United States which 

 surpasses Florida in the number and 

 size of its large-mouthed black bass. 



Size.— -It is in Florida that the 

 species attains to its greatest size, as 

 attested by the mounted head in 

 Forest and Stream office of an in- 

 dividual that exceeded 23 lbs. in 

 weight. The average weight in 



Southern waters is below olbs., and in the North it is still less. In length the fish may 

 reach 3ft. and upward. Wherever found the growth of the bass will depend upon the 

 amount of suitable natural food in the waters, particularly minnows, frogs and craw- 

 fish. 



Movements— This bass is a very active fish, and its movements are affected by sea- 

 sonal changes and by the daily exigencies of feeding and the demands of the 

 spawning season. In rivers which become polluted there is a prompt effect upon 

 their bass, which seek to avoid the impurities even to the extent of migration, should 

 this become necessary. 



Season. — The open season for this species varies in the different States, and in some 

 waters there is no close season at all. In the States which have protective laws the 

 season opens earliest in Wisconsin, 

 where it begins May 1, and latest in 



Rhode Island, where the date of ij^ /^/ 



opening is July 15. In most of the I^Lk/iT ' . / 



States the fishing begins May 30 or 

 June 1 . It would be wise to continue 

 the close season even in the Northern 

 States a little later, for even in Lake 

 Superior black bass have been found 

 heavy with spawn in the month of 

 July. 



Food. — The young of the large- 

 mouthed species seek animal food at 

 a very early period of their existence. 

 They'have'the reputation of being 

 more destructive to one another and 

 to the young of their own species 

 than the small-mouthed bass. This 

 liking for living prey grows with age. 

 Minnows of all kinds, crawfish , frogs, 

 insects and their larvae, and in fact 

 aquatic animals of all kinds, suitable 

 in size, go to form the varied diet of 

 this active and powerful species. 



Habits. — The black bass feed both 

 at the surface and on the bottom, and pursue their prey with wonderful activity. 

 Insects and frogs are freely taken at the surface and even sometimes above the sur- 

 face of the water. Crawfish, helgramites and insect larvee generally are sought for 

 under the rocks, which form their hiding places. When surrounded by seines or 

 caught bv the hook this species will often leap 5 or 6ft. above the water. In northern 

 waters where the difference between summer and winter temperatures is very great, 

 the large-mouthed bass seeks deep water with approaching cold, and in the severity 

 of the winter hibernates in the mud. We have already mentioned the fact that this 

 species prefers still waters. It particularly delights in the shelter of stumps, 

 logs and overhanging banks. It con- 

 ceals itself among aquatic plants 

 which shelter schools of small fry 

 upon which the bass feeds. 



Reproduction and Q-rowth. — The 

 spawning season of the two species 

 of black bass is about the same, be- 

 ginning in May and continuing until 

 July. The eggs are adhesive, adher- 

 ing to stones until hatched, and are 

 deposited in shallow water on a 

 gravelly bottom in shallow nests, 

 which some writers believe is pre- 

 pared by the female before the male 

 joins her. Major Isaac Arnold, Jr., 

 U, S. A., described the nest building 

 habits in Forest and Stream some 

 years ago, and a reference to his ob- 

 servations will be found, also, in the 

 Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion for 1882, p, 113. The males fight 

 for the possession of the female, the 

 successful suitor is said to help ber 

 eject the eggs by biting or pressing 

 her belly, and the operation may con- 

 tinue two or three days, after which 



the female alone continues to guard the nest from the numerous enemies of the eggs, 

 among which are the crawfish, and certain fishes. The period of incubation lasts 

 from seven to fourteen days, depending on the temperature of the water, and the 

 young bass remain in the nest about a week or ten days. Cannibalism in this species 

 is more pronounced than in the small-mouth and causes serious loss. Birds, frogs 

 and snakes destroy vast numbers of the young and make it necessary to protect them 

 by means of brush or some other shelter. At three years of age the large-mouth 

 species in suitable waters will weigh from 2 to 4lbs. At the age of about two weeks 

 the young measure nearly three-quarters of an inch in length. 



Game Qualities. — It is believed by some anglers that the large-mouthed bass is in- 

 ferior to the small-mouth in vigor and fighting qualities, a belief for which there is, 

 so far as our experience goes, no foundation. In this opinion we are not alone, many 



Fig. 1. Large-Mouthed Black Bass (Micropterus salmoides). 



Fig. 2. Small-Mouthed Black Bass (Micropterus dolomieu). 



Fig. S. Young of the Small-Mouthed Black Bass. 



eminent authorities on American game fishes, both among the older writers and those 

 who are now contributing to the literature of angling, holding it with us. De Witt 

 Clinton, Richardson, Thompson, Herbert and many others have put on record their 

 estimate of the game qualities of this species, and Henshall, the apostle of the black 

 basses, admits no superiority of one over the other species. 



Food Qualities. — The flesh of the large-mouthed bass is white, firm and well 

 flavored, the fish wherever it is known ranking as one of the best of the fresh-water 

 species. The methods and means employed for the capture of the basses are set forth 

 further on by a master hand, but we will call attention here to some early accounts of 

 trolling. In 1815 De Witt Clinton published some remarks on the fishes of the western 



waters of New York in the "Trans- 

 actions of the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society of New York," Vol. 

 I. He says: "It affords fine amuse- 

 ment to traill for the black or Oswego 

 bass when passing over Oneida Lake; 

 even when the boat is in full motion 

 they bite with avidity at a red rag 

 tied to a hook." Richardson, in the 

 "Fauna Boreali-Americana," 1836, 

 states that the Huron (the large- 

 mouthed bass) "readily takes a hook 

 baited with a small fish and a piece 

 of white rag trailled after a boat as 

 in fishing for mackerel." 



The Small Mouthed Bla.ck Bass 

 (Micropterus dolomieu), Figs. 2 and 

 3. — One of the early common names 

 of this species is found in the writings 

 of Cuvier, who styled it the "grow- 

 ler," which is equivalent to the 

 French grogneur, a grumbler. Cuvier 

 supposed that the name growler was 

 given to the fish because of a certain 

 noise which it produced resembling that of the drumfishes and the gurnards, but he 

 had no proof of this. The Greek name grystes signifies growler. It appears that 

 this name growler was pretty generally associated with the black bass in the time of 

 Cuvier. Rannesque mentions the names lake bass, big bass, spotted bass and achigan. 

 He also refers to it as the painted-tail or bridge perch, the yellow bass, gold bass, 

 brown bass, dark bass, minny bass, little bass, hog bass, ye] low perch, black perch, 

 trout pearch, black pearch, streaked-head, white trout and brown trout. The small- 

 mouth in the Southern States is called trout-perch and jumper. It is the mountain 

 trout of Alabama and the bronze backer of some anglers. The name black bass, or 

 small-mouth black bass, has a wider distribution than any of the others, and is 

 the most appropriate designation for the species. 



Distribution. — The small-mouthed 

 black bass is a native of the upper 

 parts of the St. Lawrence basin, the 

 Great Lakes and the Mississippi basin. 

 East of the Alleghanies it occurs nat- 

 urally in the headwaters of the Chat- 

 tahoochee and Ocmulgee rivers. In 

 the region east of the Alleghanies 

 and north of these streams the species 

 is not indigenous, but has been so 

 extensively introduced as to nearly 

 double the field of its distribution. 



Size. — This species is smaller than 

 its large-mouth relative, seldom ex- 

 ceeding 81bs., and usually averaging 

 2-Jlbs. A 2^1bs. fish will measure 15 

 inches. Mr. Al. B. Crooker, of Au- 

 rora, 111., saw a small-mouth bass 

 weighing 71bs. 6oz., and measuring 

 23in., which was caught in the Fox 

 River. This was an unusually large 

 specimen for the locality. 



Movements.— The small-mouth bass 

 is a lover of clear, rapid-flowing 

 streams, and greater elevations than 

 those in which the large-mouth thrives. Being fond of pure water, it is sometimes 

 forced entirely out of a stream by pollutions. It hibernates in the winter and comes 

 into the shallows during the spawning season. It is governed, also, to a great extent 

 by the presence or absence of suitable food. 



Season. — There is no difference in the close season between the small-mouth and 

 the large-mouth species; the two spawn at the same time and in similar situations. 

 Fishing begins in most of the Eastern States May 30 or June 1. In Rhode Island the 

 close season lasts until July 15; in Maine, Massachusetts and Virginia until July 1, 

 Localities. — The localities in which the small-mouth bass abounds are so numerous 



that we can not mention them in de- 

 tail. In the Adirondacks they have 

 been introduced, according to Mr. 

 Mather, in Raquette, Forked, White, 

 Fourth, Bisbee, and other lakes, 

 and in Black and Moose rivers, and 

 Partlo Pond. They abound in nu m- 

 erous small lakes in Massachusetts, 

 some of which we have already men- 

 tioned in Forest and Stream. In 

 the headwaters of the Delaware the 

 species is particularly plentiful and 

 the Susquehanna furnishes numerous 

 localities where excellent fishing is 

 the rule; the region between Port De- 

 posit and Columbia is famous for its 

 fine bass fishing. Virginia has a good 

 supply of this fish in the Shenandoah, 

 the James, the Roanoke and the Hols- 

 ton rivers, and in the upland streams 

 generally. Among the Virginia ang- 

 lers noted places are Eagle Rock, 

 Gala Water and Craig's Creek. Peak 

 Creek, at Pulaski, contains nothing 

 but small-mouth bass. In the sum- 

 mer of 1862, according to Professor 

 Putnam, a specimen of this species was caught in Massachusetts Bay. It was very 

 much emaciated and so changed in general appearance as to be almost unrecogniz- 

 able, evidently not relishing its salt water experience. The small-mouth has been 

 introduced into England and Germany. In 1882 Max von dem Borne received a small 

 number of black bass from the United States. In the fall of 1884 he had 1,200, and 

 in August, 1885, he had obtained more than 22,000 fry. These fish have been sent also 

 to the Zoological Garden at Amsterdam by Mr. Blackford. 



Food.— The food of the small-mouth black bass is the same as that of the large- 

 mouth. It has the reputation, however, of being less cannibalistic in its tendencies, 

 and its smaller size limits its power of overcoming large fishes. The young have been 

 successfully fed on fresh water crustaceans, including Daphnia and Cyclops. 

 Habits.— The habits of the two species do not differ greatly, but the small-mouth 



