FISHING FOR BLACK BASS 
Three Distinct Types of Anglers—on Kentucky Waters 
Flycasting—Bait-Fishing and Still-Fishing for Bus's 
A GLORIOUS morning for fish- 
ing!” said the Professor, as 
he stepped down from the 
broad veranda of a stately Kentucky 
mansion, and out upon the lawn, dash¬ 
ing the dew-drops from the newly- 
sprung blue-grass, as he leisurely 
strode along in his heavy wading-boots. 
The Professor was a man yet in the 
prime of life, with a full beard, dark 
gray eyes, and a tall, powerful frame. 
A well-informed naturalist, a capital 
shot, and an artistic an¬ 
gler, he had wooed nature __ 
in her various moods, in 
all seasons, and in many 
lands. Facing the east, 
he now stood, clad in a 
quiet fishing-suit of gray 
tweed, surmounted by a 
broad-brimmed hat of 
drab felt, the smoke from 
his briar-root pipe wreathing grace¬ 
fully above his head like a halo before 
it was borne away on the early morn¬ 
ing air. 
Meanwhile, Ignatius, his companion 
and disciple, was busily engaged in 
bringing out to the veranda the rods, 
creels, tackle-cases, landing-nets, lunch 
basket, and other necessaries for a 
day’s fishing. 
“Luke is coming with the wagon, 
Professor,” said he, as a well-groomed 
span of bays hitched to a light wagon¬ 
ette came dashing around the corner 
of the house. 
After depositing the various articles 
in the wagon Ignatius took the reins, 
the Professor climbed up beside him 
with the rod-cases, while the colored 
man Luke, with a sigh, gave up the 
ribbons and took the back seat. 
By DR. JAMES A. HENSHALL 
The sun was just topping the maples 
when the impatient team went dash¬ 
ing through the road-gate. 
“The bass should rise well to-day,” 
said the Professor. 
“They are well through spawning, 
and if the water is right, everything 
else is propitious,” replied Ignatius. 
“Mighty perfishus for chan’l cats, 
too,” put in Luke; “’sides yaller bass 
an’ green bass, an’ black bass, too; 
any kind o’ bass.” 
“Professor, how many kinds of black 
bass are there?” inquired Ignatius, as 
he lightly touched up the flank of the 
off horse. 
“There are but two species of black 
bass, and they are as much alike as 
that span of horses; but from the many 
different names used to designate them 
in different parts of the country one 
would be led to think there were many 
species.” 
“Local fishermen say there are three 
kinds here,—black, yellow, and green 
bass,” asserted Ignatius. 
There are but two well-defined spe¬ 
cies, the large-mouthed bass and the 
small-mouthed bass,” continued the 
Professor, settling himself for a lec¬ 
ture. “There has been more confusion 
and uncertainty attending the scien¬ 
tific classification and nomenclature of 
the black bass than usually falls to the 
lot of fishes, some dozen generic ap¬ 
pellations and nearly fifty specific titles 
having been bestowed upon the two 
species by naturalists since their first 
scientific descriptions by Count Lace- 
pede in 1802. Nor has this polyono- 
mous feature been confined to their sci¬ 
entific terminology, for their vernacu¬ 
lar names have been as numerous and 
varied; thus they are known in differ¬ 
ent sections of our country as bass, 
perch, trout, chub, or sal¬ 
mon, with or without vari¬ 
ous qualifying adjectives 
descriptive of color or 
habits.” 
“Yes,” asserted Igna¬ 
tius, “I have heard them 
called black perch, yellow 
perch, and jumping perch 
up the Rockcastle and 
Cumberland rivers, and white and black 
trout in Tennessee.” 
Exactly, returned the Professor, 
Much of the confusion attending the 
common names of the black bass arises 
from the coloration of the species, 
which varies greatly, even in the same 
waters; thus they are known as black, 
green, yellow, and spotted bass. Then 
they have received names somewhat 
descriptive of their habitat, as, lake, 
river, marsh, pond, slough, bayou, moss’ 
grass, and Oswego bass. Other names 
have been conferred on account of their 
pugnacity or voracity, as tiger, bull, 
sow and buck bass. In the Southern 
States they are variously known as 
trout, trout-perch, or Welshman; in¬ 
deed, the large-mouthed bass received 
its first scientific specific name from a 
drawing and description of a Carolina 
Tins article, by Dr. James A. Henshall, the father of the black 
bass and the best loved of American anglers, is regarded by the 
editors as the most instructive and scholarly article that has 
ever been written on this distinctively American fish. 
Contents Copyrii/htvd by Forest and Stream Fub. Co. f 
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