BLACK BASS.
_Gristes Nigricans_ (Agassiz)--_Centrarchus Fasciatus_ (De Kay).
This fish has innumerable scientific names, while it can scarcely be
said to have any distinctive popular one. Bass, either alone or with
some additional appellation, is applied by common usage to almost the
entire perch family, one of the largest among the American fishes, while
scientific men are at as great a loss for appropriate nomenclature or
accurate distinctions. There are probably several species classed under
the same name as this fish, and itself differs greatly in color and
appearance, according to its food, water or locality. There is no doubt
that all fish, and more especially trout, change their hues according to
the color of the water they inhabit, or even to the light or shade of
their favorite haunts. It is supposed that they assimilate to the bottom
where they are found, a provision of nature to protect them from their
enemies of the air. Unquestionably the same species present a very
different appearance in clear, limpid streams, and in muddy, sluggish
brooks. Black Bass are said to possess of themselves the power to change
their color at will, and have been known to do so repeatedly when
confined in a vessel of water. They are found to have black, green and
yellow sides, according to circumstances, and often within a short
distance of one another, though their backs are generally dusky black.
The gill-cover has two flat points, the teeth are minute, while the back
fin, though single, is partly divided into two. It contains ten hard and
fourteen soft rays; the pectoral has eighteen soft rays, the ventral
six, the first one almost spinous, the anal three spines, the first very
short, and twelve soft rays, and the tail sixteen soft rays. This fish
has been confounded with the Lake Huron Black Bass, _Huro nigricans_,
which is now supposed to be a different variety, characterized by two
longitudinal lines or stripes running the entire length of its body.
The gill-rays are six and the fin-rays, as given by Dr. De Kay, are as
follows, but I think liable to considerable variation.
D. 9.1.14; P. 18; V. 5; A. 3.12; C. 16-6/6.
Black Bass, belonging as they do to the perch family, have many of the
habits and can be captured in the same manner as their congeners. But,
as they are infinitely superior in flavor, they are equally so in game
and sporting qualities. They will take minnows, shiners, grasshoppers,
frogs, worms, or almost anything else that can be called a bait, and
like all fish, prefer the live to the dead. They may be fished for with
good stout tackle, gut leaders, a reel, and an ordinary bass rod, in the
same manner as fish are generally captured by boys and blockheads. In
June they affect the grassy bottom in water fifteen to twenty feet deep,
but as the season advances they resort to the rocky shoals and rapid
currents, where they are taken on and after the middle of July by
sportsmen with the fly. They may be captured by casting the fly as for
salmon or trout, and this is by far the most sportsmanlike way, but the
most destructive and usually resorted to is trolling. For casting, a
two-handed seventeen foot salmon, rod is preferable, while for trolling,
a short bass rod is the thing. By anchoring your boat to the windward of
a shoal, or by walking out on some point of rocks, you can command a
great extent of water with your fly-rod, and have royal sport alone,
whereas for trolling an oarsman is indispensable.
The flies to be used are the ordinary small-sized salmon flies, not too
gaudy, though the first dropper and tail fly may be larger and made of
white and ibis feathers mixed. In casting you will use your ordinary
cast, but in trolling you may attach five or six flies to a long salmon
leader at equal distances, and will frequently take several fish at a
time. My experience has convinced me that a number of flies attract
fish, whether trout or bass, and the more you can conveniently use the
greater will be your success.
Black bass abound in the northern waters, where they are invariably
trolled for with two rods, one on each side of the boat, in the same
manner as in taking pickerel, but two rods are a great additional
trouble, for when a fish strikes one the other has to be reeled up by
your boatman, lest the hooks sink to the bottom. If the boat is kept in
motion, it is almost impossible to reel in a large bass, and would make
a labor of a pleasure, even if he should be eventually captured.
A small trolling spoon is excellent bait, probably preferable to the fly
at all seasons except the middle of July, when the eel-fly, the
principal food of the bass, is just disappearing, and the artificial fly
is then a luxury. In case a spoon is used, the shank of the hook is
usually wound with ibis feathers, and a Buel’s patent is the favorite.
It has been recommended at times to fasten a forked piece of pickerel
tongue on the bend of your fly-hook, but like a similar direction as to
a worm on a trout fly-hook, I have no faith in it. Another successful
bait that has, in my opinion, more reputation than value, is the
_kill-devil_, a creature that is beyond my powers of description, and
must be seen to be appreciated.
The hours and days favorable for fishing are, in the main, similar for
all fish; if the water is deep or turbid there may be an exception, but
generally a southwesterly wind, a cloudy sky, and the morning and
evening hours, will yield the best sport. This is so for black bass, and
the more wind the better, until it becomes difficult to row and manage
the boat. In the western wilds, where deer are plentiful, an attractive
fly is made by tying a white and red tuft of deer’s hair along the shank
of the hook; the thread being passed round the middle of the tuft,
allows the upper part of the hairs to be bent back by the motion through
the water, giving an appearance of life to the bait.
An ingenious mode of proceeding is suggested in Brown’s Angler’s Guide,
that is worthy of young American genius, to which it is attributed. A
boy having caught a sun-fish, runs his hook through its nose and out at
its mouth, covering the point with a lively worm. Other sun-fish, seeing
their fellow have all to himself a fine, fat worm which he seems unable
to master, collect round him, and by their numbers attract the bass,
who dashes in among them, and while the rest make off, swallows the one
with the worm, and of course himself falls a prey to the ingenious young
fisherman. This like the use of cray-fish, mice, swallows, and many
other baits, may be excellent, but I have never tried it or them; so
long as the fish will take a fly, I fish with nothing else; it is
infinitely more exciting to kill one fish on the fly than ten with bait.
Black bass are taken among the Thousand Isles in immense numbers, but
not of any great size, rarely exceeding three pounds. In Lake Champlain,
near Rouse’s Point, and in the lakes of Canada, they grow larger. The
largest, probably, never exceeding eight pounds. They are taken in most
of the waters of the northern and northwestern States, especially in the
Niagara and Detroit rivers, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and Lake Huron.
They make their appearance from deep water in May and June, grow to
great excellence in July and August, but are in their best condition in
September and October. They are a fine, noble game fish, and where trout
are not to be had are well worthy of the sportsman’s attention; when
captured, which can only be done by skill and care, they prove an
excellent addition to the table.
The fish usually known as trout at the South, albeit that name is
applied to many varieties, is a species of black bass, and is taken by
trolling with a rod and short line before the boat as it is rowed
along.