July 9, 1808.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
31 
TIIK WHITE PERCH. 
From Fishing industries 
HIE LAKE TROUT OK N AMA YCl'Sll. 
From Fishing Industries 
THE YELLOW BASS. 
From Fishing Industries 
There is another way to angle for this fish and get 
more sport out of it, for you have not to troll a weight 
at a great depth, and that is "baiting a buoy." Get a 
stone and fasten a line to it and let it down where the 
water is a proper depth, or where you or your guide 
know of a good place. Keep the line taut and "tie a 
stick to the upper end so that it will stand up and. 
not have line enough to drift away from over the 
stone. Next day row out and drop half a bushel of 
minnows, cut in half, over the stone. Repeat this for 
two days, and then tie the boat to the buoy and fish 
with rod, reel, a Hoz. sinker and a line minnow. Then 
you get all the fight there is in the fish, with no dead 
weight of lead. One 8-0 Sproat is the best hook for this 
work that is on the market. I have a hook made bv 
an Adirondack guide, which I have owned for over 
twenty-five years, and believe it is the best of all forms 
for lake trout. It follows the Sproat from barb to curve 
of shank, and there it broadens out. Jack Sheppard 
said it was one that he had bought, but had "opened," 
yet the shank is not as long as an 8-0 Sproat, and it has 
a flattened head. It draws into a board well, and if I 
ever again fish for lake trout at a buoy, that hook will 
be called into service. 
The Warmottth and the Rock Bass. 
These fishes are similar in appearance and habits, and 
are both good fishes, for angling and for table. They are 
a sort of connecting link between the black basses and 
the sunfishes. The wannouth, called "red-eyed bream" 
in parts of the South, is known to science as Chaenobryt- 
tus gulosiis, and the fact that it has survived that slander 
proves that it is a good fish. It has a single dorsal fin 
with ten hard and ten soft rays, and it ranges from Take 
Michigan to Texas, and in. the sluggish, streams gf the 
South it is abundant and gamy. In the North it shares 
the names of "big-mouth," "sunfish," "goggle eye," etc., 
and is an important food fish in Indiana and Illinois,' 
and it is somewhat handsomer than in Virginia and the 
South, being more deeply colored with the shades of 
blues and copper-reds. 
The rock bass, "goggle-eye," "red eye," etc., ranges 
alongside its relative, and is found from Vermont to 
Manitoba, south to Louisiana and North Carolina, being 
common west. It has a larger eye than the other, and 
its dorsal rays are XL, 10. It prefers clear waters, and 
is often found at the foot of dams in swift waters, but 
hiding among the rocks, whence its Northern name of 
rock bass. 
Both these fishes may.be taken with fly, worm or min- 
now. They fight well on light tackle, and are excellent 
pan fish, Use a No. 6 turn-down eye Pennel Limerick 
hook, and any of the worms or minnows that are at 
hand. Of course a No. 6 Sproat hook is good, and so 
are other hooks, but as I abominate all sneck or other 
hooks which have a side bend, for which there seems to 
be several reasons against their use and none for them, I 
always advise some other hook, and the Sproat seemed 
perfection until Pennel put his hook with the turned- 
down eye on the market. Good tackle, the best in the 
market, is a comfort to its possessor; fish may rush, 
sunken twigs may entangle, but the belief that the tackle 
will hold gives the angler a confidence that cannot be 
computed in the slight difference in cost between good 
and poor tackle. 
White Perch and Yellow Bass. 
These two fishes are very distant, and are put together 
because in the South the latter fish is ealled "white 
perch " They both, belong in the genus Morom* which 
has been recently separated from the genus Roccus, 
which we will consider later, but between which, accord- 
ing to Jordan, the differences are: Morone — Dorsal fins 
joined; spines strong; anal rays III., 9 — 3 spines and 9 
soft rays — * * * base of tongue toothless. Roccus — 
Dorsal fins separate; spines weak; anal rays about III.. 
12, the spines graduated; lower jay projecting; base of 
tongue with teeth. 
I am aware that many anglers sneer at such know- 
ledge because they do not possess it, and consider it 
to be of no account. My boy, never sneer at what you do 
not understand; you want to know the correct name of 
the fish you are catching, and its relationship, as well 
as its range and habits, if you have a desire to be 
classed as an angler, and have an interest in fishes be- 
yond their use as food. The common names used in 
yoqr locality may be absurd or erroneous, study their 
different anatomical variations on the lines laid down 
by Jordan, as above quoted, and a new pleasure will be 
added to the capture of fish. 
The Northern white perch, M. amencamis, ranges 
along the Atlantic Coast from Nova Scotia to South 
Carolina; it is a fish of brackish water, which ascends 
streams and breeds freely in fresh-water ponds. They 
grow to over 2lbs. weight, and are a good and gamy 
fish, taking fly, live or dead bait, and putting up a 
stiff argument against a light rod. They have no black 
stripes on their sides like the next species, which, as I 
have said, are called "white perch" in the South, but 
which all angling books call "yellow bass." 
To avoid confusion, I must mention another fish 
which is known as "white perch" along the Ohio River. 
This is the fresh-water drum, Haploidonotus 'grituuicus. 
also called sheepshead on the Great Lakes, gaspergon 
in the extreme South, croaker and thunder-pumper in 
the Middle Southern States. These names, like, that of 
drum, relate to the sounds it makes. It is never eaten 
about the Great Lakes, where it is tough. In the 
South it is a better fish, if small, and is eatable, but not 
in the first class. 
The yellow bass M. interrupla, gets its specific name 
from the broken, or interrupted, black stripes on its sides. 
THE 1'UMPKIN-SEED OK SUNFISH. 
From Fishing Industries 
"It is found throughout the lower course of the Missis- 
sippi, ascending the tributaries, which are deep and slug- 
gish, but not running past rapids or into the upper 
courses of the rivers. It probably enters salt water, but 
of that we have no certain information. * * * The 
criterion by which it may be distinguished from the 
white bass is the low membrane connecting the two 
dorsal fins. Its color is yellow, not silvery, and. the 
black stripes are very prominent." 
That the names "perch" and "bass" are applied to the 
same fish in different localities is not strange, when we 
consider that both are modifications of the Dutch 
"barsh." The name "bass" is more frequently applied 
to fishes in the North than in the South, where most 
of the spiny finned fishes are called perch, with a 
descriptive or qualifying front name. Hence our "yel- 
low bass" of the North becomes a "white perch" in the 
South. I have had good sport with this fish in Bodeau 
Lake, La., where it took fly and bait well, but as it loves 
deep water the flies must be allowed to sink in summer 
time. A minnow is more killing, but it does not seem 
to care for the top-minnow, the little fellow with a long- 
nose, and a broad blue-black band along its side, but 
the red-sided minnow is a favorite. This fish cares little 
for angleworms, but the angler needs some to catch min- 
nows with. 
When this Southern white perch strikes a minnow it 
is like the strike of a pickerel, there is no nibbling, but 
a line cutting through the water will be the first intima- 
tion that a yellow bass has hold of the minnow. 
The White Bass and the Striped Bass. 
Here again are two distinct fishes which have their 
popular names mixed, just as we have seen in the case 
of the white perch. The scientists have all the kinks 
straightened out, even if they have several names for one 
fish, for they follow the name with that of the author 
who gave it. Thus: The lake trout, Salmo nainaycush , 
Block; Salmo amethystus, Mitchell, De Kay; Salvelinus 
namaycush, Nilsson, Jordan, etc., and so we know the 
record of names, which, by the way, are often changed 
in order to tack on the name of some man who thinks he 
has discovered a slight difference in a genera or species. 
The rule is that the specific name first given must not 
be changed if that name can be found. The .specific 
name is the last one, but any duffer can change the first 
or generic name, and trust to having followers who will 
recognize his distinctions. 
I had no intention of going into ichthyology, but 
having got in will try and swim out. Here is a family, 
the Salmonidae, meaning the salmon-like fishes. Then 
comes the genera; the Coregonus or whitefishes, with 
toothless jaws, and the graylings with teeth: the Sahnos 
with certain dental formations and the S-alpelmi, which 
differ in teeth and scales. After this these genera art- 
divided into species, as Salmo salar, trie salmon; Salmo 
fario, the brown trout, etc. This is equivalent to "Smith, 
John" and "Smith. James" in the city directory. 
The white perch and the yellow bass of the North 
have, beea shown %Q bear the sa,rne. popular name South 
