
The rock bass furnishes good sport on a fly rod 
Angling for Common 
to our waters that is so little 
written of and probably less 
known about than the rock bass, scivn- 
tificially designated Ambloplites rupes- 
tris, but variously known as_ the 
“goggle-eye,” the “red-eye” and other 
names as they are applied in every new 
locality where the fish holds out. Even 
our authorities pass him by with hardly 
more than a brief glance, but will de- 
vote quite some space to others of the 
sunfish family. Jordan simply says 
that the rock bass of the northern lakes 
and rivers is valued as a food and 
game fish—and that is all he says. [It 
is as though the fish were inferior both 
as to food and position in the fish world; 
where, as a matter of fact, it is not 
only one of the most beautiful of the 
large family of Centrarchidae (not ex- 
cepting even the pumpkin-seed), but 
when taken from the cold, spring-fed 
waters of the north on light tackle 
(such as the split bamboo), one is given 
an exhibition that is not soon forgotten 
and one’s respect for the fish mounts 
very high inded. 
| BEN there is no fish known 
HE rock bass is not only esteemed 
a justly delicious panfish, therefore, 
but one may have the same fascinating 
enjoyment in its capture that one has 
in capturing the charr. If one will 
only woo himself away from the com- 
The Rock Bass 
By ROBERT PAGE LINCOLN 
mon method of still-fishing and will ase 
flies and spinners in preference to 
worms, it will be found that the rock 
bass is more than a credit to the name 
of bass. Indeed it is hard to associate 
the rock bass with the minor fishes— 
and hard to remove it from the game 
fish ranks! 
[7 will be gathered from the above that 
I have a great respect for rupestris; 
that I have a place for it that I will not 
so easily relinquish. Of course one’s 
respect for the rock bass dates back to 
the days of youth. To catch a rock 
bass was a matter for talk and specu- 
lation; it made no difference how, many 
perch or how many sunfish were on 
the string, if just one “red-eye” were 
captured it out-shone the rest of them 
as a gem among common glass. Net 
alone do we remember the first trout. 
we ever captured; not alone the first 
whopping bass or pickerel, but also do 
we cast our mind’s eye and thought 
back upon the day we caught our first 
“goggle-eye” as we called him. It was 
at the home lake of course, a clear 
water lake that was fed by numerous 
springs bubbling up from the bottom. 
We had waded into the lake level with 
our stomach and had cast afar out 
ahead of us a hook and line on which 
was a squirming worm brought forth 
back of the old barn, under that same 
**Red-eye,”’ 
“Gog gle- 
> 
eye 
or Rock 
Bass— 
by any 
Name 
Hels a 
Game 
Little 
-Chap 
Fishes 
old sunken plank, which when lifted, 
showed us the heads of the big fellows, 
Pleasant thoughts indeed! O thou 
backward turning memory} 
WE remember that when we jerked 
that fish out of the water he left 
the hook and shot inland about forty 
rods, and descending dramatically like 
a bolt out of the clear blue heavens, 
frightened some cows and a mindless 
calf —causing a stampede. Pleasant 
thoughts indeed! Whether it was the 
trip this fish made through the air that 
causes me to remember the one in ques- 
tion, or whether it was the first one of 
the species that I had ever caught I do 
not know, but it is an incident that I 
shall never forget. One’s first fish of 
any kind marks of course a red-letter 
day, be it trout, bass, pickerel or—in 
this case—the rock bass. ’ 
The rock bass is intermediate be- 
tween the black bass and the calico bass 
in width and size. It is said that there 
are some who cannot tell the difference 
between the rock bass and the calico 
bass. This seems strange, but if dif- 
fering between the two fish should be 
a matter of concern one need only look 
at the eyes of the two fishes; the rock 
bass has a touch of red to the iris (gen- 
erally present), while the calico bass 
never has this. Further, if it is pos- 
sible that the two fishes cannot be told 
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