530 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1918 
WHY ANGLERS PURSUE THE CHANNEL BASS 
THEY SEARCH FOR EARNEST BATTLE WITH SCALE AND FIN AND THIS BRONZE-BURNISHED 
WARRIOR MAY BE DEPENDED ON TO FIGHT WITH ALL THE CUNNING KNOWN TO FISHCRAFT 
By LEONARD HULIT, Associate Editor of FOREST AND STREAM 
O F paramount interest at the present 
time along the New Jersey coast is 
the channel bass. All anglers who 
have the love of earnest battle with scale 
and fin in their hearts are intent on the 
sport that attends his capture. 
Perhaps no fish has grown in popularity 
with the sporting fraternity with equal 
speed. Fifteen years ago the fish was 
hardly known to the angling enthusiasts of 
the north. While he has been fished for in 
southern waters for a long period of time, 
still the custom was to encompass his cap¬ 
ture with the crudest of implements and 
the least efficient of baits. 
Here indeed is another fish over which 
much dissension as to identity has arisen. 
Many who have had opportunity to study 
habits and other strong characteristics have 
been loud in their claims that this fish was 
the “red drum” of oyster destroying habits 
and other objectionable features. So pro¬ 
nounced has this claim been that a few 
years since specimens of both varieties 
were obtained and submitted to authorities 
of ability. It was, we hope, determined 
for all time that the claims set up by the 
observant as to the differences between the 
two fish would be maintained. As the con¬ 
tour of body as well as absence of the chin 
barbel in the channel bass give it a dis¬ 
tinction, these two points alone should have 
long since silenced all controversy on the 
identity of this splendid fish. 
In the South this fish is known gener¬ 
ally as the red fish and is sold in the mar¬ 
kets under that name. It is very plentiful 
in Gulf waters and all its tributaries. Per¬ 
sonally I have seen it in the waters of the 
Indian river, the Halifax and the Matan- 
zas, where it maintains the same general 
habits as the northern fish. There are few 
more handsome fish when first taken from 
the water, and this is markedly true of the 
small ones. When of from one to four 
pounds in weight they have none of the 
bronze color of the mature fish, being a 
pure silvery white and most beautifully iri¬ 
descent when fresh from the water. One 
feature is characteristic of them, the black 
spots at the caudal fin are never absent in 
any specimen, no matter what the size; 
these are always present. In the mature 
fish sometimes this marking is very pecu¬ 
liar, as some specimens have been taken 
having a dozen or more of these marks on 
their bodies, inky black and ordinarily 
about the size of a silver quarter. This has 
given the fish in some localities the name 
of “spot,” which is not, however, of much 
use or of wide distribution. 
One of the author’s happiest moments 
J UST how or why the name “channel 
bass” should have been given to this 
fish is not known, nevertheless it is a 
good distinguishing name and one which 
will doubtless remain in general use. While 
specimens of this fish have been observed as 
far north as the Massachusetts coast it does 
not ordinarily range much past the New 
Jersey coast, and in abundance, rarely past 
Barnegat inlet. Specimens are frequently 
taken north of that point but the main 
body of fish appear to hold to that point 
and southward from thence. Last year 
they put in appearance along the beach at 
Deal and some twenty or more were taken 
from that point. This is, however, looked 
upon as one of the rare movements of fish 
life and need not be anticipated as of 
assured recurrence. 
Barnegat City, Harvey’s Cedars, Corson’s 
Inlet and New Inlet are among the best 
spots along the entire coast for this class 
of fishing, and at this writing hundreds of 
rods from all the nearby cities are busy. 
While of course many of the smaller fish 
are taken when engaged in this sport, the 
object in view is the channel bass. A 
very interesting event and one which was 
never known before occurred last year; 
several small bass of from one to two 
pounds in weight were taken from the 
beach. Just what this argues is conjectu¬ 
ral; whether the fish are changing their 
habitat somewhat, or something occasioned 
the movement of the immature fish, neces¬ 
sarily is unknown. 
T HE tackle necessary to the successful 
taking of this fish is much the same 
as for the striped bass. A reel hold¬ 
ing not less than 600 feet of line is essen¬ 
tial and one holding 1,000 feet is often more 
to be desired, as will appear later on. A 
good braided gut leader of about two feet 
in length and a hand forged hook 7-0 in 
size makes about the right combination. 
Of baits several are used; they will at times 
take pieces of mossbunker or other cut bait. 
Clams are always a fairly good attraction, 
as well as the ink fish or squid, as it is usu¬ 
ally called; but a bait which can always be 
relied upon is the shedder crab. This is 
never refused when the fish are on the feed. 
A liberal bait should always be used, as 
the channel bass is something of a gross 
feeder and the bait serves a better purpose 
if large in size. Besides, this fish is of a 
most suspicious nature, or at least, that 
impression is gathered from the cautious 
manner in which he takes the bait. It is 
never done in a hurry as is generally the 
case with the striped bass. The novice in 
this work will probably lose many fish un¬ 
less previously coached by a person of ex¬ 
perience. When one is aware that a fish is 
at his bait the inclination is to strike at 
once. If this is done the chances are 
strong against hooking the fish as they ap¬ 
parently sample it, as it were. The sensa¬ 
tion to the angler is that of picking it up, 
then dropping it, doing this many times. 
Occasionally it may seem that they have 
forsaken the venture entirely, when if a 
little patience is exercised by the hand at 
the rod allowing the bait to lie perfectly 
quiet, the chances are very favorable for 
the bait being taken in earnest and the 
consequent joy of feeling the quarry well 
hooked and on his way. 
• While the first rush of this fish is per¬ 
haps not as swift as that of the striped 
bass, it ordinarily is much greater in ex¬ 
tent. From three hundred to five hundred 
feet is to be expected if the bar is at all 
distant from the beach, as it is quite their 
custom to do their battling at or beyond 
that point. Tides do not always affect their 
feeding as the largest of these fish are 
