950 FISHES—-CENTRARCHIDA. 
finest of the American fresh water fishes; it is surpassed by none in boldness of biting, 
in fierce and violent resistance when hooked, and by a very few only in excellence upon 
the board.” Parker Gilmore (‘‘ Ubique”) says: ‘‘I fear it will be almost deemed her- 
esy to place this fish (Black Bass) on a par with the trout; at least, some such idea I 
had when I first heard the two compared; but I am bold, and will go further. I con- 
sider he is the superior of the two, for he is equally good as an article of food, and much 
stronger and more untiring in his efforts to escape when hooked.” Mr. Gilmore again 
says: ‘ Americans have reason to be proud of the Black Bass, for its game qualities 
endear it to the fisherman, and its nutiy, sweet flavor to the gourmand.” 
Now, while salmon fishing may be the highest branch of piscatorial sport; and while 
trout fishing in Carada, Maine, and the Lake Superior region jastifies all the extrav- 
agant praise bestowed upon it, Iam inclined to doubt the jadgment and good taste of 
those anglers who snap their fingers in contempt of Black Bass fishing, while they will 
wade a stream strewn with brush and logs, catch a few trout weighing six or eight to 
_ the pound, and call it the only artistic angling in the world! While they are certainly 
welcome to their opinion, I think their zeal is worthy of a better cause. The Black . 
Bass is eminently an American fish, and has been said to be representative in his char- 
acteristics. He has the faculty of asserting himself and making himself completely at 
home wherever placed. Heis plucky, game, brave, and unyielding to the last when 
hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of a trout, the untiring strength and bold 
leap of a salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. He will 
rise to the artificial fly as readily as the salmon or the brook trout, under the same 
conditions; and will take the live minnow or other live bait, under any and al! cireum- 
stances favorable to the taking of any other fish. I consider him, inch for inch and 
pound fer pound, the gamest fish that swims. The royal salmon and the lordly trout 
must yield the palm to a Black Bass of equal weight. That he will eventually become 
the leading game fish of America is my oft expressed opinion and firm belief. This re- 
sult, I think, is inevitable, if for no other reasons, from a force of circumstances 
occasioned by climatic conditions and the operation of immutable natural laws, such as 
the gradual drying up and dwindling away of the small trout streams, and the conse- 
quent decrease of brook trout both in quality and quantity; and by the introduction of 
predatory fish in the same waters with trout. Another prominent cause of the decline 
and fall of the brook trout is the erection of dams, saw mills, and factories upon trout 
streams, which, though to be deplored, cannot be prevented; the march of empire and 
the progress of civilization cannot be stayed by the honest, thuugh powerless protests 
of anglers. But, while the ultimate fate of the brook trout is sealed beyond peradven- 
ture, we have the satisfaction of knowing that in the Black Bass we have a fish equally 
worthy, both as to game and edible qualities, and which, at the same time, is able to 
withstand and defy many of the causes that will in the end effect the annihilation and 
extinction of the brook trout. 
As I have stated long since in the Forest and Stream, the Black Bass will exhibit game 
qualities that will at once convince and surprise the most skeptical.salmon or trout 
fishers, if they will angle for him with as suitable and delicate tackle as they employ 
for his more favored congeners of the tribe Salmonide. It is high time, then, that 
anglers and sporting writers should accept the situation, accord to the Black Bass his 
just due, and acknowled ge him as the coming game fish of America.” 
As to the edible qualities of the Black Bass little need be said. Aside from its at- 
tractiveness to anglers as a game fish, its flesh is of the very best. ‘‘ Few better pan 
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