FOREST AND STREAM 
985 
EVOLUTION OF BLACK BASS ANGLING 
BY THE AUTHOR OF THE “BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS," WHOSE EFFORTS IN 
BEHALF OF THE BLACK BASS FOR FORTY YEARS HAVE NOT BEEN IN VAIN 
T HIS article, as its title suggests, will be 
rather retrospective, and somewhat per¬ 
sonal, as it is written more especially for 
the information of the angler whose experience 
dates back no further than the last decade or 
two. 
Forest and Stream was founded in 1873. Previ¬ 
ous to that date none of the angling authors as 
Brown, Herbert, Norris or Scott, seemingly, ever 
caught a black bass; consequently, that fish either 
was not mentioned or was given but a few re¬ 
marks quoted from other sources. Their books 
were devoted mostly to salmon, trout and salt¬ 
water fishing. Robert B. Roosevelt, however, in 
1862 and 1865, in his two books on fishing in the 
Great Lakes and Canada, gave a few pages to 
black bass fishing in that region, but mostly in 
regard to trolling. 
When Forest and Stream was founded the 
black bass was confined to its original habitat in 
the Mississippi Valley, Great Lake region and 
the south Atlantic states, except those that found 
their way through the Erie canal to the Hudson 
river. A few had been planted in ponds in the 
New England states from New York waters, 
and a few were also put in the upper Potomac 
river from West Virginia. The United States 
Fish Commission had been established a year 
before, 1872, but had not begun their distribution 
to new waters. 
As the black bass is native only to North 
America the early English colonists of the south¬ 
ern states, in lieu of any other name, called the 
large-mouth black bass “trout,” as a tribute to its 
gameness, and perhaps as a reminder of the trout 
of their native land. But however that may be, 
it is known as “trout” to this day throughout the 
southern states. A bird cannot fly so far but its 
tail follows it, and in this instance it seems a fish 
is amenable to the homely adage. 
About 1800 M. Bose, a French naturalist, sent 
a drawing and description of the South Caro¬ 
lina large-mouth bass to the eminent ichthyolo¬ 
gist, Lacepede, of Paris, who subsequently ob¬ 
tained specimens of both species of black bass. 
He was the first to bestow scientific names on 
both the large-mouth and small-mouth bass in 
1802. Then the American naturalists and a few 
foreign ones got busy, and from 1817 to 1880 
nearly fifty Greek and Latin names were pro¬ 
posed by them for the two species of black bass. 
This embarrassment of riches and confusion of 
nomenclature existed until 1881, when, in the 
“Book of the Black Bass,” I restored the prior 
names of Lacepede, and by which they are known 
to-day. 
The first account of black bass fishing of which 
I have any knowledge is that of the Philadelphia 
naturalist, Bartram, who in the narrative of one 
of his. botanical expeditions to Florida, before the 
American Revolution, described “bobbing” for 
black bass by the natives of that state. Thirty 
years ago and since I have seen the operation 
exactly as related by the old botanist. 
“Bobbing” is a very rude and primitive mode 
of angling, if it can be called such, but it is very 
successful as to results. A man seated in the 
stern of a boat paddles it noiselessly along the 
fringe of lily-pads and water-lettuce, while the 
fisherman in the bow handles a rod or pole 18 
to 20 feet long with a line of two or three feet, 
on the end of which is the “bob,” consisting of 
a triangle of hooks covered by a piece of deer’s 
tail and a strip of red cloth. This is “bobbed” 
on the surface .of the water occasionally, and 
then held a few inches above it until it is grabbed 
by a black bass, which is hauled in unceremoni¬ 
ously, and so on— ad libitum, ad nauseam and ad 
finem • 
In the early day mentioned the end perhaps 
By Dr. James Alexander Henshall. 
justified the means, but “bobbing” can hardly be 
included in the category of legitimate sports, 
though it is just one remove from the practice 
of yanking the large-mouth bass from the lily- 
pads with a five-foot rod and a wooden minnow 
bristling with a dozen cheap hooks. 
I have not been able to find any account of 
black bass fishing by the early English settlers, 
but coming from the land hallowed by the mem¬ 
ory of Izaak Walton, they doubtless became ard- 
Dr. James A. Henshall, “Father” of the Black 
Bass, and a Distinguished Writer on 
Angling Topics. 
ent anglers for the large-mouth bass under the 
name of “trout.” 
At the time when Bose sent the drawing of 
the large-mouth bass to Paris, in 1800, the anglers 
of the “blue grass” section of Kentucky were 
practicing black bass fishing as an art. As no 
suitable rod was obtainable at that time, they 
used from 8 to 10 feet of the top end of the 
smallest native cane, weighing from 3 to 5 ounces. 
Such a rod was pliant and resilient, with an 
action not unlike the stiff fly rod now employed 
for dry fly fishing. 
They used the single-action reel, purchased or 
hand-made, which was lashed to the butt of the 
cane rod, until the multiplying reel was invented 
and made by George Snyder, of Paris, Ky., about 
1805, and later by other expert watchmakers of 
central Kentucky. As the supply of these reels 
became augmented its use soon became common 
with the bass anglers of Kentucky, southern Ohio 
and Indiana. To this reel more than to any 
other appliance, is due the subsequent popularity 
of black bass angling. As evidence of its adapta¬ 
tion to the work required, it has held its su¬ 
premacy for a century. 
For many years after this period there was no 
other important advance made in black bass fish¬ 
ing, and anglers were forced, as I was, to make 
their own rods. The only tackle available was 
that made for salmon, trout and salt-water fish¬ 
ing. 
Forty years ago, or to be exact, in 1875, I be¬ 
gan a series of articles in Forest and Stream on 
black bass angling, in order to place it on a 
higher plane of sportsmanship by the use of more 
suitable and efficient tackle. The methods and 
appliances in use were inadequate, and not in 
accord with the true spirit of angling as com¬ 
pared with salmon and trout fishing. The only 
article made especially for bass fishing at the 
time mentioned was the Kentucky reel, though 
the Buell spoon, with a single hook, was em¬ 
ployed in trolling for black bass on wide waters 
in certain states, but it was made more especially 
for pickerel fishing in western New York. 
At that time the trout fly-rod was 12 feet long 
and heavy in proportion. It was even a matter 
of controversy in the columns of Forest and 
Stream, as to whether or not the black bass 
would rise to the fly, although fly-fishing for 
bass was in vogue with a few Kentucky anglers 
half a century before. I have in my collection 
a click reel, dated 1848, made and used by Mr. 
J. L. Sage, of Frankfort, Ivy., one of the old 
Kentucky reel makers. 
There was no rod constructed solely for black 
bass fishing, except one used on Lake Erie and 
called the Maginnis rod, 12 feet long and weigh¬ 
ing 18 ounces. One of my articles in Forest and 
Stream, in 1875, gave the dimensions and specifi¬ 
cations for a minnow-casting rod, 8 feet and 3 
inches long, and from 7 to 8 ounces in weight. 
My own rod of this pattern was made by Leon¬ 
ard and was 8 feet in length and 6 ounces in 
weight. A demand was soon created for the 
“Henshall” rod, as it was called by the manufac¬ 
turers, and for twenty years it was a favorite 
with anglers generally. The main idea embodied 
in this rod was the function of playing and land¬ 
ing the fish in a sportsmanlike manner, in addi¬ 
tion to its fine casting quality and superb action 
and balance. 
About 1890 some anglers of the middle west 
began to use a 6-foot rod for casting a frog in 
weedy waters, but this shortening of the rod im¬ 
paired its usefulness in playing a fish, and the 
fine action of the 814 -foot rod was lost. When 
bait-casting tournaments became more popular, 
still shorter rods were employed, and with good 
effect in casting overhead for both distance and 
accuracy; but, unfortunately, the short tourna¬ 
ment rod of 4 to 6 feet began to be used for 
black bass fishing by those who knew of noth¬ 
ing better. This use engendered, naturally, a 
demand for artificial baits, which finally culmi¬ 
nated in the wooden minnow, or “plug,” as it is 
called, bristling with a dozen cheap hooks. 
It is to be hoped that with the progress of 
evolution this craze will eventually die a natural 
death, and that those who use the short rod and 
wooden minnow will become convinced of the 
error of their way, and of the questionable char¬ 
acter of the sport, and join the ranks of true 
anglers, and adopt the use of more suitable and 
elegant tackle. Extremes sometimes meet, as in 
this instance, where the long pole of the “bob” 
fisher has met the short stick of the “plug” 
fisher. 
And now, in this year of our Lord, 1916, after 
the lapse of a century, we find that the black 
bass has come into its heritage and is acknowl¬ 
edged, inch and pound for pound, the gamest 
fish that swims; has regained its birthright of 
baptismal names; has a local habitation and 
proper name in every state of the Union and in 
some foreign countries; and that more articles 
of tackle are made for its capture than for all 
other game fishes combined; and that it is being 
extensively propagated in many federal and state 
hatcheries. It is to be devoutly wished that this 
cheerful and hopeful state of affairs will con¬ 
tinue, world without end. 
