June 14, 1913 
FORRST AND STREAM 
751 
The Australian Bass 
{Percolates fluviatilis) 
By H. K. ANDERSON 
T he Australian fresh water perch, which has 
been called by David G. Stead, F.L.S., Fish¬ 
eries Expert to the New South Wales Gov¬ 
ernment, and member of the U. S. Fisheries Con¬ 
gress, the “Australian bass,” is our best indige¬ 
nous fresh water fish. In appearance it is not 
unlike the bass of America, and for the table 
we know nothing which can surpass it. Its flesh 
is white and flaky with a delicate flavor, lacking 
the “dryness” so noticeable in rainbow trout (in 
this country at all events). 
The Australian bass frequents deep waters, 
in the summer lying near the surface, under 
overhanging banks, rocks or bushes on the look¬ 
out for food—insects, beetles, frogs, young birds 
Our bass is a grand sporting fish and in¬ 
habits all the streams running eastward in New 
South Wales and well up into Queensland. It 
grows to very considerable size, the largest on 
record having been caught this year, about S'/i 
pounds, while several others a little smaller were 
caught about the same time. 
A 4-pound bass is considered a large one, 
and anglers are well satisfied if they land a 
3-pounder or two during a day’s fishing. The 
plan usually adopted is for two anglers to work 
together from a light skiff. One sits well back 
in the boat facing the bow so that he can see 
where he is going and watch the angler, and 
gently propels the boat from one likely spot to 
‘DO YOU CALL THIS FISHING WITH A FLY, SIR?” 
brought along by the current or the wind, and 
for smaller fish of any kind on which he preys. 
In the winter the bass retires to deep water, 
and prior to our very necessary close season 
being enforced, was frequently caught all through 
the winter with natural bait. It was most un¬ 
sportsmanlike, as the fish were more or less 
gravid, out of condition and unfit to provide 
sport or palatable food. 
We now have a close season from June 30 
to Oct. 31, which carries the fish well over the 
spawning season. The majority of our bass 
spawn in September and early October. The 
eggs are very small, and somewhere about 60,000 
are deposited by each female. They are de¬ 
mersal and adhesive and adhere to logs, rocks, 
etc., at or near the bottom of the pools. 
Mr. Stead has in view some experimental 
work in connection with our bass, and already 
has some in captivity in natural ponds through 
which a gentle stream, regulated at will, is al¬ 
lowed to flow. It is his intention to go in for 
pond culture in respect to these fish, leaving 
them to spawn and fertilize the eggs in a natu¬ 
ral manner, then remove the parent fish from 
the pond. 
another, while the angler sits on a raised seat 
in the nose of the boat and covers all the water 
within reach with his fly or spinner. 
As the bass in summer lies near the bank 
in the shade of bushes, rocks or overhanging 
banks or rushes, the boat is usually moved very 
slowly up or down stream within easy casting 
distance of the bank, and the fly or spinner is 
cast right to the edge, either a fly-rod or Ameri¬ 
can bait-casting rod being used, according to 
the snagginess or otherwise of the water. If 
snaggy a heavy spinner is out of place, as it 
is impossible in many places to work it among 
the fallen timber, hence most successful anglers 
use a very light spinner made with a thin brass 
wire shaft and aluminum “propeller” and tied 
with peacock feathers streaked with red and 
white. This is cast like a fly, and although 
measuring two to three inches is no heavier than 
an ordinary salmon fly, and if manipulated with 
skill and care will not injure an ordinary single- 
handed trout fly-rod. The writer's Crown 
Houghton rod, used as above for years, is still 
as straight as the day it was made. It has 
caught, spinning as above, a very large number 
of bass, probably running into four figures, and 
almost as many trout on the fly, the largest 8 J 4 
pounds, in March last, so it is evident that the 
spinner has no ill effect on a light fly-rod. 
A friend of the writer’s has just returned 
from a trip in the Hillgrove district where he 
had some splendid bass fishing on the Upper 
Macleay River. The stream runs through a deep 
valley densely timbered, and the descent to it 
is down the side of precipitous mountains. 
Reaching the bottom it was necessary to 
ride along the bank, forcing a track through the 
undergrowth, until a spot could be found where 
a shelving gravelly beach ran down to the water. 
Here the anglers put up their rods and rode 
out into the stream as far as convenient without 
getting wet and fished far from the saddle. Al¬ 
most the first cast brought a fish and the fun 
was fast and furious. The bass had never seen 
a spinning bait of this type before, and came 
at it viciously, sometimes following it right up 
to the horse’s legs, and when retrieved to make 
a fresh cast, the disappointed fish could be seen 
swimming around looking for the vanished bait 
which his own tardiness had allowed to escape 
his maw. 
On one occasion the angler hooked a good 
fish, which charged straight toward him and be¬ 
came entangled in the horse’s legs. After some 
engineering it was disengaged and brought to 
the net. It weighed nearly four pounds. The 
total catch of bass for three days’ fishing was 
one hundred, twenty of which weighed over 
three pounds. Every stream on the whole of 
the eastern watershed of New South Wales 
teems with bass, and it is only necessary to 
travel thirty or forty miles from the city of 
Sydney to find good sport. 
The Anglers’ Casting Club. 
Chicago, Ilk, June 6 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Scores for June i are as follows: 
Quarter-ounce 
Ames . 
Burke . 
Gray . 
Hartley . 
Johnson . 
Kleinfeldt . 
accuracy: 
.9V.3 
.9S.0 
.97.5 
.98 5 
.98.0 
. 9J.5 
Juarter-ounce distance: 
Ames . 
Kleinfeldt . 5f 0 
Lingenfelter .li-.J 
Lingenfelter . 
Loes . 
yialone . 
Town .. 
Wagner . 
Wernecke - 
Loes 
Town 
97.7 
98.0 
68.4 
98.4 
96.1 
97 8 
. 59.5 
.130.9 
First Channel Bass. 
The 1913 channel bass season on the New 
Jersey coast opened promisingly. The following 
catches have been recorded at Corson’s Inlet: 
June 5. 20 pounds 2 ounces taken by R. N. 
Helfenstein; June 6. 47 l 4 pounds taken by R. N. 
Helfenstein ; June 6, 33)4 pounds, taken by Phil 
Schraidt. 
Hours for visitors at the New York Aquar¬ 
ium have been extended from 5 p. m. to 6 p. m. 
for the summer season. 
Omaha leads all the cities in the United 
States on the value per capita of manufactured 
products, leading Chicago or New York by 
about 75 per cent. 
In Elk River Game Preserve, B. C., elk 
have increased to such an extent that some 
people are clamoring for an “open season.” 
