the most successful, when other conditions are most favorable, and approach more nearly to the "typical" day for angling, as described in this chapter, the most prominent features of which are pleasant weather, translucent water, and a fresh breeze.

Thunder, and electrical conditions of the atmosphere, I leave out of the account altogether, as we have no means of judging of the influence of so subtile an agent as electricity on the finny tribe; nor have I ever observed any peculiar effect on fishes from these causes, though great stress is often laid by some anglers on the influence of an atmosphere surcharged with electricity, whatever that may mean; but it is no more reasonable to suppose that fishes would be disturbed by electrical conditions of the air, than terrestrial animals would be inconvenienced or otherwise by electric conditions of water.

But, notwithstanding all of our patient and careful observations of the habits of fish, their food and their surroundings, and our study of the various conditions of wind, weather, and water, there will be days and days in the experience of every angler, when the fish will utterly refuse to bite; and this on such days as the most finished, practiced, and observant angler would pronounce exceedingly favorable in every particular. At such times one is forcibly reminded of the analogy existing between the will of woman and the "biting" of fish, as related in the familiar lines :—

"For if she will, she will, you may depend on 't;

And if she won't, she won't; so there's an end on 't.”

Every Black Bass angler has seen-where the water was clear enough for observation-the Bass seize his minnow

through seemingly mere caprice, and, instead of attempting to gorge it, would take it gingerly by the tail, toy with it, and finally eject it, or spit it out, as it were; and this would be repeated several times in succession, or until the angler's patience became exhausted, when, while unjointing his rod, he would muse upon the waywardness of fish in general, and would be convinced that Solomon never went a-fishing, or he would have added another item to the four things too wonderful for his ken, or at least have substituted "the way of a fish with a bait," for the less puzzling proposition of "the way of a man with a maid."

CHAPTER XX.

THE BLACK BASS AS A GAME FISH.

"He is a fish that lurks close all winter; but is very pleasant and jolly after mid-April, and in May, and in the hot months."-IZAAK WALTON.

THOSE who have tasted the lotus of Salmon, or Trout fishing, in that Utopian clime of far away-while reveling in its æsthetic atmosphere, and surrounded by a misty halo of spray from the waterfall, or enveloped by the filmy gauze and iridescent haze of the cascade-have inscribed tomes, sang idyls, chanted pæans, and poured out libations in honor and praise of the silver-spangled Salmon, or the ruby-studded Trout, while it is left to the vulgar horde of Black Bass anglers to stand upon the mountain of their own doubt and presumption, and, with uplifted hands, in admiration and awe, gaze with dazed eyes from afar upon that forbidden land-that terra incognita-and then, having lived in vain, die and leave no sign.

It is, then, with a spirit of rank heresy in my heart; with smoked glass spectacles on my nose, to dim the glare and glamour of the transcendent shore; with the scales of justice across my shoulder-M. salmoides in one scoop and M. dolomieu in the other-I pass the barriers and confines of the enchanted land, and toss them into a stream that has been depopulated of even fingerlings, by the dilettanti (377)

32

of Salmon and Trout fishers; for I would not, even here, put Black Bass in a stream inhabited by Salmon or Brook Trout.

While watching the plebeian interlopers sporting in an eddy, their bristling spines and emerald sides gleaming in the sunshine, I hear an awful voice from the adjacent rocks exclaiming: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread!" Shade of Izaak Walton defend us! While appealing to Father Izaak for protection, I quote his words: "Of which, if thou be a severe, sour complexioned man, then I here disallow thee to be a competent judge."

Seriously, most of our notions of game fish and fishing are derived from British writers; and as the Salmon and the Trout are the only fishes in Great Britain worthy of being called game, they, of course, form the themes of British writers on game fish. Americans, following the lead of our British cousins in this, as we were wont to do in all sporting matters, have eulogized the Salmon and Brook Trout as the game fish par excellence of America, ignoring other fish equally worthy.

While some claim for the Striped Bass a high place in the list of game fish, I feel free to assert, that, were the Black Bass a native of Great Britain, he would rank fully as high, in the estimation of British anglers, as either the Trout or the Salmon. I am borne out in this by the opinions of British sportsmen, whose statements have been received without question.

W. H. Herbert (Frank Forester) writing of the Black Bass, says: "This is one of the 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 heresy 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 consider he is the superior of the two, for he is equally good as an article of food, and much stronger and untiring in his efforts to escape when

hooked."

In a recent issue of the London "Fishing Gazette" (England), Mr. Silk advertises: "Black Bass (Grystes nigricans), the gamest of American fish. 300 for sale (just arrived), length from 3 to 5 inches; 6 months old. Price, 10s. ($2.25) each."

Now, while Salmon fishing is, unquestionably, the highest branch of pisca ›rial sport; and while Trout fishing in Canada, Maine, and the Lake Superior region justifies all the extravagant praise bestowed upon it, I am inclined to doubt the judgment 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 characteristics. He has the faculty of asserting himself and making himself completely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave and unyielding to the last when hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of the Trout, the untiring strength and bold leap of the Salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own.