^ ^•i'< ^t • • * - ° *$ ° J V r oY '«*( fr *°<* <\ O ■>bK /V-s * o *Z£- iA^fei^L^oU^, MORE ABOUT THE BLACK BASS BEING A SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS JAMES A.* HEKSHALL, M.D ^KllVf %XX\xstxxtztl EGBERT CLAEKE & CO CINCINNATI 1889 a^ Copyright, 1889, BY JAMES A. HENSHALL. By transfer U. S. Soldiers Home Lib. JUL 14 1936 ANGLING GUILD OF AMERICA, FROM THE URCHIN WITH PIN- HOOK AND WILLOW WAND — THE STILL- FISHER WITH "PEELED SAPLING" AND "CORK" — TO THE ARTISTIC FLY-FISHER WITH ROD AND CREEL. THIS BOOK IS FRATERNALLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The very flattering reception accorded to the Book of the Black Bass, and the favorable notices and encomiums it has received from naturalists, and anglers, and the press, and its success as a literary enterprise (for all of which I am profoundly grateful), has induced and encouraged me to bring its subject-matter down to date. For obvious reasons, I have thought it best, beyond the correction of a few clerical and typographical errors, to let the original edition remain intact, and to issue the addi- tional matter in a separate volume in the form of a supple- ment or sequel — the supplemental chapters agreeing in number and caption with those in the original edition. The plan pursued in the original book, of illustrating the tools and tackle, by using cuts that have been especially pre- pared for manufacturers, to illustrate their specialities in that line, has been so much commended by anglers gener- ally, and has proved so desirable a feature, that it has been adhered to in the supplement. For the new portrait of myself, my publishers are alone responsible. It is an exact reproduction of an excellent photograph. JAMES A. HENSHALL. Cincinnati, December, 1888. (v) TABLE OF CONTENTS. PABT PIBST. Terminology, Morphology, and Physiology. fHAPTEB I -Scientific History or the Black BASS-Nomen- ofaUrseU.ed_Linn.ean specimens-Lacepede's, and Cuv.er and vZciennes. specimens-Identification hy the author of typo CHlpTEK n iT.-N0MEK0LA T i IK E a™ MoRPHOLOGY-Generic ehar- CHAP1EK i descriptions of additional authors, 15 CU^ul-Lr^ A,- D SPECIAL FEATURES 0E THE BLACK CH BaI-b"k Bass of Texas and Arhansas-ComparaUve Garne CH aS^ CH SEBVrrGR^"--T I o N -Ori g inamahitat-Bres CHAPTER VI. UAB Building-Food and Growth- Experiences m bass-cuiture x>« 4g Food of Young and Adult-HiternaUon " J,^ ht CHAPTEK VII.-INTELLIGEKCE A»n Special Senses Smel ^ -Optics of Angling-Heanng, . ^ ^ Blacr c^MB^vm^^^^'^^,,,,. in England _ BASS-Transportation of BlacK n ** ^ In Germany-In Scotland-In Holland, . PART SECOND. Tools, Tackle, and Implements. CHAPTEK IX.-PISHING .^^K^^SSS S£StES ^rXsipiy Bods-HenshaU Eiy Rod— Steel Rods, . • • . -r> eels _ciick Keels CHAPTER X.-Fishing REELS-Improvements in Keels o LiiArir.-v a. Various Makers, . »» -Multiplying Reels-^ew heels or v Bait-Fishing-Hen- PHAPTEK XI -Fishing Lisss-New Lines for Bait jmsd g C lhall Lint-Lines for Fly-Fishing-Metal Center Lines, 101 V1U TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII.-Silkwobm GuT-Experiments with American Silk- CHAPTEP Xm ati ; 6 Sil ^ 0rms - L -^rs-Snells, or Snoods, 105 CHAPTER ^HI-Fish Hooxs-Eyed Hooks-Numbering Hooks- Snelhng and Tying Hooks, . CHAPTER XIV^-Artieicial FLiEs-Killing Flies l Ta bIe' of Flies — Henshall's Flies— Fluttering Fly, . 119 CHAPTER XV.- Artificial Baits-Le volution of Trolling Spoons- Triple Hook Hammered Spoons-Artificial Minnows-Adjustable *ly Spoon— Artificial Mouse, . 19 CHAPTER XVI.-Natural BAiTS-Nomenclature-Minnows, Chubs and. fcnmers, . ""' CHAPTER XVII.- Miscellaneous Implements!^ ' Books- Buckl A eS T L " t g ^ ets - Dis ^^rs and Extractors-Minnow Boats ! S ~ R ° d H ° lder - Wadi »S Shoes-Fishing • • • . 131 PART THIRD. Angling and Fly-Fishlng CHAPTER XVIII.-The P HIlosOTHT 0F AN0LING _ An „, inf , as Art-Beauties and Love of Angling S S an CHAPTER XIX.-Co™ ITIONS Gov™ THE Bmm of ™ When F.shes Feed-Best Time for Anglinc ~ CHAPTER XX.-The B LACK B.ss J a g ame PrsH _ Why £ W Trent is Disappear! ng-The Survival ef the Eittest-T e Back Bass not P 1S e.voro U s- Comparison of Salmon, Trout and Black Bass Fishing, ' ,ina CHAPTER XXI._ FlY . FlsHIN0 l F|y . FisM - for Bla • 16o em Art-General Instruotiens-Adviee-On Streams-On lakes A Reminiscence, -u^kcs— CHAPTER XXII.-Castixo the Jtaow-CapabiliUes of 'the w" now-Casting Rod-Masoalonge-Red-Fish-Tarno P , CHAPTER XXIII.-S TILL -E I sH, K o-An g .ing „f' ou Bovhood ™ Happy Stdl Eisher-A Retrospection oynooo-lne CHAPTER XXIV._ T ROLLi KG _T,olling at Gogebielpot kv ^ Fishing for Count-Murderous Sportsmen, = ™™b™Z- CHAPTER OTS™„ AND Bo BEIKG -Bobbi„g , ' Flor £ Site -rr' . 8 -- J -*— - droning, Bobbing ^ CHAPTER XXVI.-Cokclubing RemIeks-A Labor of We Th" Reward of Labor-The Last Cast We-The PART I. TERMINOLOGY, MORPHOLOGY, AND PHYSIOLOGY. SUPPLEMENT BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. CHAPTER I. SCIENTIFIC HISTORY OF THE BLACK BASS. I may be pardoned for referring to the fact that the restoration of Lacepede's names for the Black Bass species, as proposed by me, viz.: Micropterus dolomieu for the small- mouthed Bass, and Micropterus salmoides for the large- mouthed Bass, has been fully concurred in and adopted by the ichthyologists connected with the Smithsonian Institu- tion at Washington, the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, the Indiana University at Bloomington, and of other institutions. These names are, as Professor Goode says, "grounded upon a firm foundation of priority," and can not now be changed, unless older names should be discovered, which does not seem probable. In this connection, it is interesting to note that Linnaeus had two specimens of the large-mouthed Black Bass sent to him by Dr. Garden, of Charleston, S. C, some thirty years before Bosc sent his drawing and description of the (11) 12 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. same species to Lacepede ; but Linne failed to describe them. "Alexander Garden,* one of the earliest American natural- ists, was a physician, resident in Charleston, South Carolina, in the middle of the last century. He was an enthusiastic collector, and in constant correspondence with the great Swedish natural- ist, many of his letters, with the accompanying notes upon his collections, being preserved in the two volumes of Smiths ' Cor- respondence of Linnaeus.' "He was more especially a botanist, and his contributions to science in that department are fitly commemorated by the name Gardenia, applied by Linnseus, in his honor, to the beauti- ful Cape Jessamine. He collected, also, reptiles and fishes, and was so careful and conscientious a preparator that almost all of the fishes sent by him to Sweden are still in existence, though the other fishes upon which Linne worked are in a much less sat- isfactory state of preservation, and most of them, indeed, have gone to destruction. "Garden's method was to skin half of the fish, leaving the vertical fins attached, to press it in a botanical press, varnish it, and glue it to a sheet of herbarium paper. "These specimens are preserved in the rooms of the Linna3an Society of London, in Burlington House, in connection with the Linnsean herbarium and library. "In the summer of 1883, by the courtesy of Dr. William Murie, librarian of the Linnsean Society, we were permitted to make a careful study of the Linna3an fishes, and especially of the American forms, which were, as has been remarked, almost all collected by Garden, and which were named and described by *On the American Fishes in the Linnsean Collection By G Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean. —(Hay, Pro. U. S. Nat Mus., iii, 497, 1880.) Micropterus floridanus Cope, 1880. — "It appears then, that the only important character which distinguishes the Texan form from the Floridian is the much smaller size of the cheek scales. I do -not know how constant this character will prove. NOMENCLATURE AND MORPHOLOGY. 25 Perhaps some of the names recently given to the Mexican forms may be applicable to a variety so defined. The Llano [Texas] fish is rather light colored ; and there is a dusky line along the middle of each row of scales, which are especially distinct below the lateral line."— (Cope, Bull U. S. Nat Mas., xvii, 32, 1881.) Micropterus pallidus Cope, 1881. — " Large mouthed. Scales of trunk moderate (e. g. , lat. line, 65-70 ; between lateral line and back, 1\ or 8 rows). Scales on nape and breast scarcely (on nape), or not much (on breast), smaller than those of sides. Scales of cheeks moderately small (e. g., between orbit and pre- operculum, about ten rows in an oblique line and about 5-6 in a horizontal one). Scales of interoperculum uniserial, covering the entire width of the bone. Scales of preopercular limb de- veloped in an imperfect row (e. g., 3-5 in number). Scales on dorsal developed as a low (obsolete) shallow sheath, and with series ascending comparatively little on membrane behind the rays (none behind last five or six). Scales on anal none (or very few). Mouth large. Supramaxillary extending consid- erably behind the posterior margin of orbit. Dorsal rays ar- ticulated, 12 (I, 11) ; anal, III, 10 ; pectoral, I, 14 (1, 14). Dorsal fin much compressed [depressed?], the ninth spine being only about a fourth as long as the longest, and half as long as the tenth." — (Cope, Fishes of Pa. <^Rept. Pa. Fish Com., 131, 1881.) Micropterus salmoides Jordan and Gilbert, 1882.—" Body ovate-fusiform, becoming deeper with age, moderately com- pressed. Head large. Mouth very wide, the maxillary in the adult reaching beyond the eye ; in the young shorter. Scales on the cheek in about 10 rows ; scales on the trunk comparatively large. Lingual teeth sometimes present. Dorsal fin very deeply notched. Coloration of the young dark-green above ; sides and below greenish-silvery; a blackish stripe along the sides from 3 26 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. opercle to the middle of the caudal fin ; three dark oblique stripes across the cheeks and opercles ; below and above the lateral band some dark spott ; caudal fin pale at base, then blackish, whitish at tip ; belly white. As the fish grows older the black lateral band breaks up and grows fainter, and the color becomes more and more of a uniform pale, dull green, the back being darker ; a dark opercular blotch usually present. Head 3J ; depth 3. D. X, 13 ; A. Ill, 11 ; scales 8-68-16. L. 1-2 feet. Kivers of the United States, from the Great Lakes and Red river of the North to Florida and Texas ; every-where abundant, preferring lakes, bayous, and sluggish w T aters. It grows to a larger size than the next species [M. dolomieii], and is readily distinguished by its coloration and the larger mouth and larger scales. Both species vary much with different waters." — (Jordan and Gilbert, Syn. Fishes N. A. 7 At a recent meeting of the Manchester Anglers' Associa- tion, in England, Dr. A. Hodgkinson gave an address on the "Optics of Angling," which is thus noticed by the " London Fishing Gazette :" "In considering the subject of angling optics, we are met, as Dr. Hodgkinson pointed out, by the difficulty that we do not know exactly what the sight of fishes is, but we must assume it to be not much unlike our own, and we are not without grounds for the assumption. By drawings on a blackboard, Dr. Hodg- kinson showed how the eyes of both men and fishes were alike in their main parts, the greatest divergence being that, whereas the optic nerve in man occupies only a small portion of the brain, in fishes it occupies pretty nearly the whole brain ; and we may pre- sume, therefore, that the sight of fishes is more sensitive. " Dr. Hodgkinson then dealt with the phenomena of the pass- age of rays of light from the rare medium air to the dense me- dium water, and the change in direction that the incident ray undergoes ; he pointed out the fact that under certain conditions an angler on the bank might be invisible to a fish in the stream, but the exultation of the geutlemen assembled was probably damped when they heard that, in order practically to discover the distance they must stand from the water in order to be invis- ible, they must take their height and multiply it by fourteen, which, as an unfortunate angler who was present pointed out, would require him, seeing that he is six feet high, to stand eighty- four feet from the water's edge before he could take advantage of the invisible mantle Dr. Hodgkinson had promised him. The case, however, is not quite so hopeless as this, for, as the doctor pointed out, the water in which the fly-fisher angles is not gener- ally so smooth as a mirror, and in ripple or broken water it is impossible for fish to see the object on two legs that may be on the bank. " In fishing for trout, wading in many streams is a necessity, and 58 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. by means of an ingeniously constructed tank Dr. Hodgkinson showed not only what the angler looked like to the fish when he waded, but how his aspect was affected by the color of the bot- tom of the river, and that of such cover as there might be on the bank. The rather startling announcement was made and demonstrated, that while the wader was duplicated so far as his legs were concerned, another pair appearing upside down on the actual legs, the man's body, if visible at all, was far away from the legs, and overhead, where, if we put ourselves in the position of the fishes, we should expect to see nothing but sky. No fish then ever saw a wader with his two halves united, and whether its feeble brain can ever connect together the two distinct objects — the body up in the air and the legs down in the water — is ex- tremely doubtful. "The tank by which Dr. Hodgkinson was enabled to demon- strate his theories was made so that from one end the observer could, by directing his vision from various depths of water, al- ways look through a slip of glass placed at right angles to the point toward which he looked. In this way, and by use of a lit- tle figure to represent a man, the point where invisibility begins (four degrees) could be clearly seen, as well as the effect which the water has of apparently lifting the object much above the position which it occupies." Sense of Hearing. It is the rule among physiologists to say, that while fishes can hear sounds produced in the water, they are incapable of hearing those produced in the air, and even to limit their capacity for hearing accurately those produced in the water. Take this, for example, from Mr. Hugh Owen, in " Land and Water:" " It is exceedingly doubtful if fish possess the faculty of hear- INTELLIGENCE AND SPECIAL SENSES. 59 ing, in the ordinary sense of the term. Mr. Buckland has ac- curately described the nature of the sensation they do posses?, as vibration. There can not be a doubt that fish have no possible conception of either vicinity, direction, or distance of the vibra- tory disturbances they receive. A distant vibration disturbs a shoal of fishes as much as a near one ; and fish feeding eagerly at the bait will be alarmed and dispersed by the beat of a steam vessel a mile off. All the stories of fish coming to be fed at the sound of a bell or of a whistle are, of course, fables. Such sounds made in the air will not communicate vibrations to the fish beneath the surface of the water. They assemble only be- cause they see a figure, and are accustomed to be fed upon such occasions." No angler or fisherman of experience and observation can be made to believe such specious and questionable state- ments as the above. He knows better. As fishes live in a denser medium than terrestrial ani- mals, and one that more readily transmits the waves of sound, we should naturally expect to find a corresponding difference in the construction of the organ of hearing. While the internal ear of fishes differs only in degree, not in kind, from that of the higher animals, they, of course, have no external ear, nor is one necessary in so dense a medium as water ; but for this reason it is the fashion to say that they can only hear vibrations communicated through the medium of the water or the shore, the " vibrations '' meaning considerable "jars" or " shocks." The ear of fishes "lies close under the roof of the skull, and is thus easily accessible to the waves of sound, which are con- ducted partly through the operculum (when present), and partly through the gill slits or spiracle. As we pass to the higher ani- mals, however, the auditory organ gradually sinks further and 60 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. further inward from the surface. Thus a new method for con- ducting the sound waves is necessitated, and the following struc- tures become developed, etc." — (Wiedersheim.) "Many Teleostei [true fishes] have fontanelles in the roof of the skull, closed by skin or very thin bone only at the place where the auditory organ approaches the surface, by which means sonorous undulations must be conducted with greater ease to the ear." — (Gunther.) ' ' In many Teleostei a most remarkable relation obtains be- tween the organ of hearing and the air-bladder. In the most simple form, this connection is established in Percoids and the allied families, in which the two anterior horns of the air-bladder are attached to fontanelles of the occipital region of the skull." — (Gunther.) The air-bladder, in such cases, may, in a manner, per- form the functions of a tympanum. I append a few sensible remarks from an article by W. N. Lockington, in " Pacific Life :" " It appears to be not unlikely that fish take no notice of sounds produced in the air, but it is not so easy, unless we can argue the matter from a fish's point of view, to prove they do not hear those sounds. Take the sense of sight as an illustration of that of hearing. I have often amused myself by making believe to strike a monkey that lived in a cage with a glass front. Accus- tomed to such demonstrations, the monkey simply took no notice. His bright eyes never even winked. Arguing, as was argued in the fish case, I might say monkeys can not see. "All fishes have an organ of hearing; not a rudimentary or- gan, but one complete in its kind, and differing from ours only in its degree of development; differing, in fact, much in the isame way that the brain, the heart, the intestines, the skeleton, INTELLIGENCE AND SPECIAL SENSES. 61 the skin, the limbs, or any other part of a fish differs from that oi a quadruped or from our own. -The microphone has gone far toward proving what philoso- phers had previously become convinced of by deductive reason- ing that there is no motion without sound, and therefore that sound is present in numberless instances not evident to our seuses. For our perception of sound we are dependent upon our sense of hearing, which is adapted only to a certain range of sounds; and this range differs in human individuals, for we all know that some other persons hear sounds imperceptible to us. Still more is this true of other animals ; they may hear what we can not, yet be deaf to sounds audible to us. " Strict experiments upon the hearing of fishes have yet to be made. Most of the observations yet made are faulty, either be- cause first, the observer has supposed that the fish ought, if it can hear, to notice a sound he makes for the purpose ; or, sec- ond, he has argued, from the standpoint of his own senses, that if a fish hears, the range of its hearing must be nearly the same as his own. , " To conclude: that fish have ears, is indisputable ; that they hear some sounds produced in the water, scarcely admits of ques- tion; that they hear some sounds produced in the air, even though they may not take notice of them, is probable, but lacks (so far as I know) experimental proof; that they do not hear many sounds which we hear, or at least do not discriminate be- tween sounds which we, with our more highly organized organs, readily distinguish, is almost certain. Ml of which ends in this, that fishes hear, but their senses differ in range and delicacy from ours." CHAPTER VIII. ON STOCKING INLAND WATERS WITH BLACK BASS.^ A lake belonging to the South Fork Fishing and Hunt- ing Club, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was successfully stocked with adult Black Bass in June, 1881. The transportation of the six hundred and sixty Bass from Sandusky, Ohio, to the lake, ninety miles east of Pittsburgh, was carried out very successfully under the direction of Mr. W. A. Mcintosh, vice-president of the club. The fish were placed in fifteen oak casks, three feet high, and three feet in diameter, and five galvanized iron tanks, five feet high, and three feet in diameter. The water was kept at the proper temperature by adding ice occasionally, and aerated by means of a large air-pump and fifty feet of one-inch rubber hose, at one end of which was a series of perforated tin tubes. A large tin tube also ran along above the casks, with a small dependent tube ending in a sprink- ler leading to the top of each cask, into which water was poured and entered the casks in a fine spray. The Bass weighed from three-fourths of a pound to two and one-half pounds, averaging one and a half pounds each. The females were heavy with spawn, as the season was backward. They were on the road, from Sandusky to the lake, some thirty hours, with a loss of only sixty fish, or ten per cent. The Bass have done well in the lake, as (62^ ON STOCKING INLAND WATERS WITH BLACK BASS. 63 myriads of young Bass, six or eight inches long, were per- ceived the following year. Not only in our own country have new waters been suc- cessfully stocked with both species of Black Bass, but they have been transplanted to England, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands. -Of twelve hundred Black Bass brought from the United States by Mr. W. T. Silk, one hundred and forty were placed in the river Nene. They were from four to seven inches in length. The river has a number of small backwaters, with swift currents and gravelly bottoms, and also deep, quiet holes. Fishing will be prohibited for some years, until the fish are well established. I think the Nene and the Welland are the only rivers in Eng- land where the Bass have been put; but they are in several lakes."— {London Fishing Gazette, December 1, 1883.) - Of the seven large-mouthed, and forty-five small-mouthed Bass which Mr. Eckardt, Jr., brought from America in Feb- ruary 1883, the greater number died, probably in consequence of the long journey, so that this spring there remained only three of the former and ten of the latter, which I placed in two ponds, supplied with gravel beds for spawning. "-(Max Von dem Borne, Circular No. 4, 1884, German Fishery Association, Berlin, June, 1884.) The ponds of Count Von dem Borne, alluded to above, are located at Berneuchen, Germany. On June 15, 1884, he wrote : "ToHlay I bad the satisfaction of finding that the three We fi* had spaced, and the pond actually swarms with fry. 1 hfve caught w'ith a small net more than two thousand, and hav put lem Into another pond which is free from other fish, r -e 1 doubt *at next spring the small-mouthed Ba, w,ll 64 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. spawu, and that the experiment will be successful." — {Bull. U, 8. Fish Com., iv, 1884, 219.) In June, 1885, he says : "My thirteen Black Bass have spawned. I have caught 11,800 of the fry, and placed them in ponds that have no other fish." In August, 1885, he wrote : "I am pleased to say that the fish multiplied abundantly. I had 1 ,200 in the fall of 1884, and have caught more than 22,000 fry this season." Count Von dem Borne has now more Black Bass, of both species, than he can take care of, and is shipping them to other parts of Europe. In 1886, he published a small trea- tise, " Der Schwartzbarsch und der Forrellenbarsch " (The Black Bass and the Trout Bass), and a larger edition in 1888. He is very enthusiastic in regard to the Black Bass as a game fish and food fish. In March, 1885, Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York, sent five young Black Bass to the Zoological Garden at Amsterdam, where they arrived in excellent condition. In December, 1885, the " Journal of the Society for the Pro- motion of the Fresh-water Fisheries in the Netherlands," says : " The Amsterdam Aquarium at present possesses four fine specimens of Black Bass, which grow well, and will, in all prob- ability, reach sexual maturity." In April, 1882, Mr. Geo. Shepard Page took a small lot of Black Bass, comprising both species, on the steamer ON STOCKING INLAND WATERS WITH BLACK BASS. 65 Spain, from New York to Liverpool. Six of the fish were .applied by Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, of New lork and twelve young and five adult fish were .applied by Professor Spencer F. Baird, U. S. Fish Commissioner. Two of the adaltBa.. died before reaching Liverpool The balance were safely transported to Goldspie, Sutherland, m Scot- land, and placed in a loch belonging to the Duke of Suth- erland. PART II. TOOLS, TACKLE, AND IMPLEMENTS. CHAPTER IX. FISHING RODS. It is a source of great pleasure and satisfaction to the angler of the present day to note the march of improve- ment in the manufacture of fine fishing tackle, and to ob- serve the commendable enterprise manifested by the manu- facturers in producing light, elegant and suitable imple- ments of the craft. Indeed, the skill, study, ingenuity and good taste employed in this branch of the arts is scarcely excelled in any other; all of which is highly gratifying, for it would seem to imply that the love and practice of angling has taken deep root, and that fine fishing and scientific an- gling are in a healthy state of growth and development. I deem it my province, in order that the Black Bass fisher may be fully informed in regard to these various improve- ments, to mention those that, in my judgment, are especi- ally meritorious. In no direction has this improvement been more pro- nounced than in that of fishing rods. Rods of ail kinds, both bait and fly-rods, have been reduced in length from one to two feet, and with a proportional lessening of their calibers and weights. This reduction in the weight and length of rods necessa- rily implies an improvement in materials and workmanship in their construction. And this is really the case. For instance, if a fly-rod, twelve feet long and weighing ten ounces, be reduced to ten and a half feet and eight ounces, (69) 70 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. to be used for the same kind of fishing, it follows that it must be constructed of better materials and be more care- fully and skillfully made, to preserve the same (or better) qualities for casting the fly and killing the fish. Perhaps it would be too egotistic to say that this short- ening and lightening of rods in general was induced, alto- gether, by the introduction of the Henshall Black Bass r-od, but I am assured by some of the most candid rod manu- facturers, and by many anglers, that this result is in a great measure to be attributed directly to the superior excellence of this short, light, and elegant rod and to the fact that it subserves all the purposes, and promotes the pleasures of Black Bass angling in a much greater degree than the old- fashioned long and heavy rods. I am very much gratified to think that this may be the case. The Henshall Black Bass Bait Rod. On page 217 of " The Book of the Black Bass " are given the specifications of an ash and lancewood rod as made by Abbey & Imbrie, which, while entirely correct for a rod of maximum weight (ten ounces) for heavy fishing, are incor- rect for the standard eight-ounce Henshall rod for ordinary Black Bass fishing. The mistake was my own, but was dis- covered too late to rectify in that book. It occurred in this way : Mr. Imbrie applied to me for the dimensions and specifi- cations of the Henshall rod, when I was residing at Cyn- thiana, Kentucky, and at a time when I had sent all of my rods to a coach-maker, in Cincinnati, to be rubbed down and varnished for the season's work. I wrote to the coach- maker to select the best-balanced eight and a quarter feet and eight ounce rod in the lot, and to send me the exact FISHING RODS. 71 dimensions, inclosing a sketch of a rod with the points indicated at which to make the measurements. The artisan complied strictly with my directions, and I sent the diagram and specifications to Abbey & Imbrie, and also to Conroy & Bissett. Afterward, upon seeing the rods made from these specifications, I found that they were too heavy for ordinary Black Bass fishing, and subsequently learned that the coach-maker had selected an admirably- balanced rod of the required weight and length, but, as it was constructed mostly of red cedar, the caliber of the rod was, of course, too great for an ash and lancewood rod. The rods referred to above, however, are so nicely-bal- anced and well-proportioned that they feel as light as some eight-ounce rods, and, really, many anglers prefer them to those of less weight. In the first edition of " The Book of the Black Bass," there was an error in one of the diameters of this rod (sec- ond piece, large end), which should have been T 7 ^, instead of -^ of an inch, as printed. This was a typographical error, and was corrected in the subsequent issue. Also, the length of each piece as given — 34 J inches — includes the ferrules, which project somewhat beyond the wood. The correct diameters and measurements of an ash and lancewood Standard Henshall Rod, weighing just eight ounces, and eight and one-fourth feet in length, are as follows (these diameters are of the wood, or more properly of the inside diameter of the female ferrule, where the joints are concerned) : Length of each piece (without ferrule), 33 inches. Diameter (outside) of end of butt-cap, f of an inch. 72 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. Length of grip (from extreme butt to reel-seat), 7 inches. Greatest bulge of grip (4J inches from extreme butt), 1 inch in diameter. Length of reel-seat, 4 inches. Diameter of reel-seat, J of an inch. Diameter of small end of butt-piece (female ferrule, inside diameter), f of an inch. Diameter of small end of second piece (female ferrule, inside diameter), J of an inch. Diameter of extreme tip, -^ of an inch. The above are the specifications of the original " Com- ing Black Bass Rod," referred to on page 214,* and which were inadvertently omitted in that connection. These measurements are strictly adhered to in every par- ticular by Mr. Thos. H. Chubb, of Post Mills, Vermont, and Mr. Chas. F. Orvis, of Manchester, Vermont, in their ash and lancewood Henshall rods. Some rod manufacturers depart from these specifications by making the grip of the butt several inches longer, but this only adds to the weight and length of the rod without being of any real benefit ; on the contrary, it is a positive disadvantage to single-handed rods to have a grip, or hand- • piece, extending from nine to twelve inches below the reel- seat. The specifications and measurements' as given above are also correct for a split bamboo rod where reel-bands are used instead of a solid metal reel-seat, and a rod thus con- structed will weigh but eight ounces ; but if a metal reel- * Book of the Black Bass, 1881. FISHING RODS. 73 seat is preferred, with the butt-piece tapering rapidly from it (instead of a gradual taper), ferrules of -fa of an inch less diameter may be employed, making a rod of eight ounces, or with reel-bands, of seven and one-half ounces in weight. When the butt of the Henshall rod is constructed of any wood heavier than ash — that is, when the entire rod is made of split bamboo, lancewood, bethabara, or greenheart — the best plan, in order that the weight of the rod may not ex- ceed eight ounces, and that its balance and action be not impaired, is to use a short "handle " of lighter wood. I have always been partial to a butt-piece, including the " grip," being fashioned from a single piece of wood, and with reel-bands instead of a metal reel-seat; and where this is done, with an artistically-fashioned, swelling hand- piece, and with a graceful hollow taper from the reel seat to the rod proper, it presents, to my eye, a certain adap- tive beauty and fitness that I fail to see in the short, stubby handle affixed to many modern rods. However, this is best accomplished with some such light wood as ash, black wal- nut, or red cedar; and where heavier woods, or split-bam- boo, is used for butt-pieces, the short handle of lighter ma- terial, if artistically fashioned, is perhaps the better way in order to preserve the qualities of elasticity and balance. The handle comprises the grip, reel-seat, and from two to four inches above the reel-seat, making a handle of from thirteen to fifteen inches long, into which the butt-piece proper is inserted, the joint being closed by a tapered metal collar or winding check. The diameter of the lower end of the butt-piece (where it joins the handle) should not exceed the diameter of the 7 74 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. upper, or smaller end of the butt-piece, more than one- eighth of an inch; that is, the inside diameter of the wind- ing check must not be greater than one-half inch, where a three-eighths ferrule is used on the smaller end. There are various ways of finishing the " grip " of the handle, which may be formed of the same wood as the handle, and smoothed and polished, presenting a very beautiful appearance. Where it is desired to obtain a firmer hold of the hand, it may be grooved with fine trans- verse corrugations, or be fluted longitudinally. Another method is to wrap the grip with cord, or strips of rattan ; or the grip may be fashioned of hard rubber, and may be smooth, or corrugated, or fluted. I saw, last year, in England, some fly-rods with the grip covered with various materials, as pig-skin, cork, etc. ; which were very ornamental and desirable, insuring light- ness and a firm grip of the hand. Non-doweled Joint. One of the specifications_ of the Henshall rod is that the joints be made flush, with short, cylindrical ferrules, in- stead of the old-fashioned tapered ferrule with dowel and mortise ; and as so many of these rods have been sold dur- ing the past ten or twelve years, it has had a great tendency to introduce and popularize this form of joint, which is now also applied to most fly-rods to their great advantage. It is now thirty years since I made my first rod with flush joints, having, at that time never heard of or seen a rod joint without dowels; and ever since I have been a firm believer in this improved joint. If there were want- ing any proof of the practical superiority of the non-dowel joint over the dowel and mortise joint, it would be found FISHING RODS. 75 in the fact that so many old anglers, as Thaddeus Norris, Reuben Wood and Chas. F. Orvis, having the mechanical skill to construct their own rods, discarded the latter for the former style of joint many years ago. And, more- over, they all seem to have arrived at this determination and conclusion independently of each other. Many of the most valuable improvements and inventions have been made in like manner, each one supposing himself to be the sole inventor. I have often thrown apart the tapered and doweled joints of the old style rods in casting with both fly and bait rods,^ and have had them break near the lower end of the female ferrule, in consequence of too deep a mortise at that point ; but with the cylindrical, non- dowel joint I have never had either accident to occur. The cause of the separation and throwing apart of the dowel-mortise joint I conceive to be this : the ferrule, dowel, and mortise being made tapering, the male ferrule with its dowel acts as a w T edge, and the continual springing of the rod in casting tends to loosen this wedge, and to eventually separate the joint, in the same way that we ex- tract a nail by working it from side to side. This fact can be easily demonstrated by separating the tapered dowel joint by working it back and forth in this manner, with the hands close to the ferrules. But it can not be done with the flush cylindrical ferrule joint ; to separate the latter it is necessary to pull or twist it apart, for no amount of springing it back and forth will loosen it. This fact renders nugatory and superfluous all locking devices, screws, cleats, and strings, which have been proposed to secure the joint, and prevent its separation in casting. In July, 1886, I used a split- bamboo salmon fly-rod with 76 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OP THE BLACK BASS. non-dowel joints (made by Thos. II. Chubb), on the Resti- gouche river, and cast constantly with it for ten days, on an average of eight hours a day; but neither the constant casting of a long and heavy line, nor the play of a heavy fish affected the joints a particle ; they were in as perfect apposition upon being taken apart at night as they were when put together in the morning. During one of my visits to Florida I used for sea fishing a heavy Ilenshall ash and lancewood rod of eleven ounces, with flush joints, made by Abbey & Imbrie, and an ash and Jancewood striped Bass rod of fifteen ounces, witli doweled joints, by another maker. With the former I killed redfish, drum and tarpon up to forty pounds, crevalle up to thirty, bluefish as high as ten, and bonefish of five pounds — I can not say just how many, but certainly hundreds of various sizes — and that rod is just as good to-day as when I first received it. In casting heavy mullet bait, in this style of fishing, the rod never came apart, nor was there the slight- est loosening of either of the joints, in casting the bait or in playing a fish. But my experience with the heavier striped Bass rod, with doweled joints, was not so pleasant, for although the joints seemed to fit perfectly, no looseness or shaking being perceptible, they separated several times in casting, and once while playing a heavy fish, and it was at last rendered hors de combat by breaking square off just below the fer- rule of the butt-pieec while casting, in consequence of be- ing weakened by the mortise at that point. Now this was a handsome, well-finished rod, made of the best materials, and with as perfectly fitting doweled joints as I ever saw in any rod, and for which I paid a long price. I hold that the tapered dowel, in the correspondingly tapered mortise, rrsniNG rods. 77 will become loosened in its bed, like a wedge, from contin- ual casting, and the joint will eventually separate. My ex- perience proves it. Viewed in this light, a perfectly fitting dowel joint, that is, where the dowel is accurately fitted to a tapered mortise, is really worse than (as is often the case) where the mortise is bored perfectly straight ; in the latter case, the joint is formed by the ferrules only, for a tapered dowel in a straight hole is worse than useless. Ferrules should be short, and perfectly cylindrical. It is not necessary for the female butt ferrule to exceed two and a half inches in length, nor two inches for the second joint. The male ferrules should be of a corresponding length, say one inch, which will give all the "hold" required. The fer- rules should be perfectly fitted to each other throughout their entire extent. The lower end of the male ferrule, and the bottom of the female ferrule should be protected by metal caps or disks, soldered on, to exclude moisture. The fer- rules should be fitted without cutting the wood, and a wrapping of silk put on at the ends for a finish. A good plan is to wrap on a guide or ring immediately below the female ferrules, so that the upper wrapping of the guide extends to the ferrule, which thus serves a double purpose. Swell ferrules are unnecessary, and are neither so good nor strong as cylindrical and uniform ones. The ends of the ferrules may, however, be split, or serrated, or be swaged into a hexagonal form for split-bamboo rods, to give a more perfect fit, without any disadvantage in other ways. Fer- rules may be banded if the metal is very thin, which is apt to be the case with those drawn from German silver, which can not be drawn so thick as brass. Ferrules should be affixed with shellac or cement instead of using a metal pin, which has a tendency to weaken the rod, and renders the 78 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. removal of the ferrule more difficult to the angler for the purpose of repair. -■lyiii- - my ayiHI^^^IIF— =r^ m Ash and Lancewood Henshall Rod. (Thos. H. Chubb.) In order to show the different styles of Henshall rod, I will briefly describe several that are before me as I write. First are an ash and lancewood and a split-bamboo, made by Thos. II. Chubb. Both are made exactly according to the specifications given on page 72, with butt-piece taper- ing gradually from the reel-seat, and with three-eighths and one-quarter inch cylindrical ferrules. The grip in both is wound with cane strips and silk, and both have reel bands instead of metal reel-seats. They are serviceable, hand- some rods, weighing each just eight ounces, with an action that is just right. Mr. Chubb writes me: "We try to have the * Henshall rods ' as near to your specifications as possi- ble, and this we know is what makes them take so well. We sell a great many, and they all seem to give the best satisfaction." The next is an all-lancewood with short, fluted handle of black walnut, made by Chas. F. Orvis. It is likewise made strictly in accordance with the specifications already noted. The fluted black walnut handle is in pretty contrast to the yellow lancewood and the mountings, while the flutings pre- vent the rod from slipping or turning in the hand, and less grip is required to hold the rod. Mr. Orvis's work is so well known in connection with the Henshall rod, that fur- FISHING RODS. 79 ther notice here is not needed. This rod weighs just eight ounces, and has the correct style and sizes of ferrules, while its finish is in keeping with all of Mr. Orvis's careful work. Next is a split-bamboo, by A. G. Spalding & Bros., 241 Broadway, New York, with German silver ferrules of the the correct sizes and pattern, and metal reel-seat. It is a handsome, well-made rod, nicely balanced, and with a fine action. It has a very ornamental butt-piece and handle ; the latter, above the reel- seat and beloAv the grip, being formed of alternate strips of bamboo and red cedar ; the cedar being painted black and polished is in fine contrast to the light colored bamboo. The butt, however, below the reel-seat, is several inches too long, which adds unnecessa- rily to the weight and length of an otherwise perfect Hen- shall rod. An all-bethabara, by A. B. Shipley & Son, of Phila- delphia, with a hard rubber grip, fluted spirally, and with solid German silver ferrules and mountings, including a metal reel-seat, and with agate-lined tips, is an exquisite rod, both in construction and action. It has the prescribed ferrules in size and form, and is wrapped with silk in the manner of a split-bamboo. After an experience of several seasons, I find that bethabara is very tough and elastic, with a rebound or resiliency found in no other rod but a first- class split-bamboo, or in one of steel. This quality is of the utmost importance ; for a rod is thereby always rendered straight, not being so likely to become permanently set or curved from a continual strain. Bethabara makes a very quick, lively rod, and the only possible objection that can be raised against it is its weight — being heavier even than greenheart. However, I find that many anglers are willing 80 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS, o _ ■a* M.S- ■8*. W • o W ° ™ The above are all three-piece rods, but are shown with extra tips. FISHING RODS. 81 to put up with an ounce or two of extra weight on account of its other desirable qualities. A rod composed entirely of lancewood, made by Abbey & Imbrie, has a handle, including grip and reel-seat, con- structed of hard rubber, the grip being corrugated to in- sure a firm hold of the hand. This is an excellent rod, with German silver mountings, and the only fault, to my mind, is a grip of unnecessary length that adds somewhat to the weight and length of the rod. I am aware that many anglers prefer a long grip, extending a foot or more below the reel-seat, but this is essentially wrong in a single- handed rod, as the Henshall rod is intended to be. In a rod that is held in both hands a long grip is entirely proper. And last, and least (in weight, but in nothing else), comes a split-bamboo, made by Mr. H. L. Leonard, for Wm. Mills & Son, and which he styles " Dr. Henshall's Favorite." This rod is made according to the table of specifications before given, except that the ferrules are -fa of an inch less in diameter, and the grip is just six inches long. The handle is made of spruce, with a plain grooved reel-seat and reel-bands, and is wound above and below with rattan strips and silk thread. The mountings are all of German silver, and the metal tips are lined with agate. This rod weighs hardly seven ounces, and is the most powerful one for its inches and ounces that I ever handled. It is a work of art in its construction, and a marvel of ingenuity and skill in its action. The list of rods given above makes a handsome and, to an angler, a delightful exhibition of skill and good taste, and shows what remarkable progress has been made in this branch of industry, of late years by our rod makers, who, now 82 i SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. * f - m~ ft 8 +3 W F4 h MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 133 page by strong, flat nickel bars running through them and riveted to the page at the edges. These bars and the fly- frames are placed opposite to each other on the two sides of the leaf, and the ends are firmly riveted to each other through the leaf. The snells are very readily attached or detached, regardless of their length, and held straight. Between the fly-leaves are leather leaves faced with flannel, to absorb the moisture from wet flies. A large pocket is placed at one part of the book for leaders, and the whole is securelv closed by a neat spring catch. Thos" J. Conroy's "Improved" patent fly-book has double parchment leaves, with metal frame, firmly stitched together with silk. At each end are strong double nickel racks, riveted through to those on the reverse side of the leaf in a very secure manner. One bar of the double rack is fitted with flat metal hooks, and the other with neat spiral springs terminating also in hooks. The fly is affixed to the hooked end of the spiral spring at one end of the fly- leaf and the loop of the snell is attached to the flat hook of the rack at the opposite end of the leaf, stretching the snell to its full extent, and, of course, keeping it perfectly straight The racks, with their hooks and springs, are very substantially made, and hold a dozen flies to a page be- tween which are extra parchment leaves. The cover of he book is made entirely of leather, with a large leather pocket at each end of the book, and a parchment pocket for lead- ers The whole is secured by a very neat and strong clasp A B Shipley & Son's patent fly-book is neatly made o leather with pockets at either end for leaders and snelled hooks, or short-looped flies, and is closed by a strong spring clasp The fly-leaves are made of double parchment, or ot celluloid, neatly stitched and bound on the edges. They 134 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. The "Levison" Fly-Book. (Wm. Mills & Son, 7 Warren St., N. Y.) MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 135 Patent Celluloid Fly-Book. (A. B. Shipley & Son.) have metal clips at each end for attaching the fly-hook, with two rows of spring clasps between for secunng the sue 11 keeping it straight without regard to its length These clips and clasps do not increase the hulk of the book nor add much to its weight, while the flies are placed in position and removed very readily. Mr Thos H. Chubb has patented and manufactures two styles' of fly-book, both of which subserve the same pur- poses, though in a somewhat different manner One has Sloped nfckel frames at the two. ends of the fly-lea for affixing the flies, and two nickel bars at equal distances be- tween, on which are placed short spiral sprmgs for secunng Lsnells, irrespective of their length The other has cor- rupted nickel frames at the ends for the adjustment of the «i with two nickel bars between, which have, instead of piral springs, flat spring clasps for secunng snells 136 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. Patent Clip(Open) The "Southside" Fly-Book. (Abbey & Imbrie, 18 Vesey St., N. Y.) MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 137 of any length. The frames and bars are placed opposite to each other on the two sides of the leaf and riveted firmly together. The spiral spring page holds a dozen, and the fla°t spring page two dozen flies. Between the fly-leaves are leaves of leather and absorbent material. The books are strongly and neatly made of leather, and have pockets for leaders and snelled hooks, and are closed by durable spring catches. . „ . Wm. Mills & Son's patent fly-book, the "Levison, is made of fine leather in the usual style, with pockets and metal clasp, in a first-class and durable manner throughout The flies are adjusted by means of slotted hooks at one end and neat spiral springs at the other. By means of the slotted hook, snells with a knot, instead of a loop, can be as readily attached as the looped snell. The snells are kept perfectly straight and at full length by this method, and any fly can be removed without disturbing the others, ihe pa.es are arranged for both Black Bass and trout flies. Abbie & Imbrie's patent clip fly-book is substantially made in several different sizes and styles, with leader pockets and felt leaves for absorbing moisture from wet flies The flies and snells are attached at full length by the patent clips at the top and bottom of the pages, and very short snells are secnred by parchment bands. The leaves are formed of double parchment neatly stitched along the edges In addition to leader pockets, there are smaller ones for short-looped flies. The books are made entirely of leather and parchment, with an improved form of clasp Mr Imbrie also makes the "Endicott" book, on the spiral spring and patent clip principle, in addition to other styles of fly-books. 12 138 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. Hook and Tackle Book. |(Wm. Mills & Son.) Tackle-Books. There is nothing handier than a good tackle-book. I have been shown one by Mills & Son which is made of leather, in the bellows or accordeon style, so that, like an omnibus, it is never full. It has half a dozen large pockets for leaders or snelled hooks, extra lines, wrapping silk, etc.; and each large pocket has a supplementary small one, which can be utilized for short-looped flies, loose hooks, sinkers, swivels, etc. Where looped leaders, double-looped snells and short-looped flies, or eyed-hook flies are used, it is just the article for holding them. It is firmly closed by a long leather strap and flat loops. MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 139 Leader-Box. (Wm. Mills & Son.) Leader-Boxes. Before using leaders it is of course necessary to straighten them by soaking in water, or by the more tedious process of rubbing with gutta-percha. This often causes vexatious delay to the impatient angler, but it can be entirely obvi- ated by the use of a leader-box. Almost any kind of a flat, round metal box will answer the purpose. I bought one in England, and a very nice one, with a small box in the cen- ter°of the large one for eyed-hook flies, but it is too krge to go into any pocket, unless one especially made for it. Another one that I procured from Mills & Son is just the thing. It will go into an ordinary pocket; has rounded confers, and being nickel-plated will not rust or tarnish. It is fitted with two pieces of thick felt, which, being damp- ened, enclose the leaders, which are thus always ready for use. Its cost is only fifty cents. Its size 3i by 4| inches. 140 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. Patent Landing-Net Frames. No. 1. Chas. F. Orvis, Manchester, Yt. No. 2. Wm. Mills & Son, 7 Warren St., N. Y. No. 3. Thos. J. Conroy, 65 Fulton St., N. Y. MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 141 Landing-Nets. There is no reason why the angler can not now be suited in landing-nets, for they are made in every style, from the simple wooden-bowed net to the more elaborate and port- able net-frames of whalebone, steel and brass. Mr. C. F. Orvis makes a very useful and meritorious net- frame, combining two handles, a long one and a short one, of bamboo, which are joined by a strong ferrule. The short handle is used in wading the stream and has a ring at the end for attaching a loop by which it can be fastened to a button on the coat or creel-strap. The long handle is for fishing from a boat or the bank. The rim of the net is a piece of flat steel, nickel-plated, and is readily attached to or detached from the handle ; when not in use it is in- serted into the long handle, w T hich has a screw-cap at the end. Wm. Mills & Son have patented the " Dorsal Fin " net- ring and handle, which is a very compact and convenient tool. The net-ring is made of flexible metal, brass or nickel-plated, which, when released from its socket at the end of the handle, can be straightened and inserted into the hollow bamboo handle. The net can be carried in the creel or the pocket. The " Bailey " patent landing-net frame, sold by Thos. J. Conroy, is another example of the principle of carrying the net-ring in a hollow bamboo handle, and a glance at the illustration will show the method of attaching the ring to the handle. The ends of the spring-brass ring (A) have holes (a a) in them which are passed through slots in the ring holder and over the pins (b b), when the natural spring of the metal holds every thing firmly and securely. 142 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. ■ & ^ 02 C ■ 51 u W) J a ■ o ■— O MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 143 DlSGORGERS AND EXTRACTORS. Very often a Bass, or it may be a pike, pickerel, or wall- eye, is hooked in the throat or gullet, and it is difficult to dislodge the hook. In order to render this easy to do, and at the same time to prevent the fingers of the angler from being scratched or lacerated by the teeth of the fish, a dis- gorger becomes a very useful tool. There are a number of ingeniously devised implements for the purpose. One of the best is Foard's patent fish-hook extractor or disgorger, sold by Thos. J. Conroy. The directions for its employment are to use the end of the instrument corre- sponding to the size of the hook, draw the line taut, and run the instrument down into the bend of the hook ; then clasp the line against the side of the shaft, and push the whole down till the barb is disengaged, and the hook will come out with the instrument. Another tool for this purpose is sold by A. B. Shipley & Son. It has a V-shaped knife at one extremity for dis- lodging the hook, the other being a screw-driver, while the shank of the instrument is a file. It is a very useful, con- venient and portable combination. The file is useful for touching up the point of the hook, while the screw-driver may be required for taking apart a refractory reel. Wm. Mills & Son have a disgorger with a long and stiff wire handle, the knife being a slotted tube, for admitting the snell, with the end of the tube ground to a sharp, cut- ting edge. There are a number of other forms in the market, but these are among the best. 144 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. ". vvJ f ' : ;.:■:»•.■'.-.; (A. B. Shipley & Son.) (Wm. Mills & Son.) MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 145 Minnow-Buckets. The "Acme " minnow-bucket, of Wm. Mills & Son, is substantially made of heavy tin and handsomely japanned. The inside pail of perforated tin can be removed and placed in the water, thus keeping the bait alive for an indefinite time ; it can be raised or lowered to allow the selection of a bait without wetting the hand. The continuous flowing of the water through the perforations, during transportation, has a tendency to aerate the water and keep the bait alive. A. B. Shipley & Son's double minnow-bucket is strongly and durably made and handsomely japanned and orna- mented. The inner pail is made of perforated tin, with plenty of space between it and the outer pail for a free cir- culation of the water. It has all the well-known advan- tages of the double pail. Rudolph's Patent Floating Minnow- Bucket. (A. G Spalding & Bros.) Rudolph's floating minnow- pail, sold by A. G. Spalding 13 146 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. Bros is one of the best articles in this line. The inside pail is made of strong galvanized wire-cloth, and has an air chamber secured to the inside of the lid, hy means of which it will float at the surface of the water ; and when fishing from a boat it can be made fast by a string, and the use of the outside pail can be dispensed with. Rudolph's Patent Floating Minnow-Pooket. (A. G. Spalding & Bros.) The floating principle is also applied to a netted pocket, or minnow-bag, which is well adapted to the use of the angler when fishing a stream by wading. Or where there are two anglers in the same boat, each can have his minnow pocket at his own end of the boat, a convenience that will be appreciated by the social angler, who always wants a companion or two in his boat. The cuts show the minnow pocket ready for use, and folded. Angler's Pliers. A very useful little implement is shown below, combin- ing six different tools in one, namely : A, strong round- MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 147 Angler's Pliers. (Thos. J. Conroy.) nosed pliers ; B, knife for splitting shot ; C, fine wire cut- ter; J), strong wire cutter; U, screw-driver; F, reamer. They weigh only four ounces, and are made of the best steel and in the best manner, and will be found thoroughly reli- able. The cut is one half the size of the pliers. With this tool, a bit of string and a piece of wire, a broken rod or a disabled reel may be quickly remedied or repaired. It should be carried in every angler's pocket. Rod Holder. This device is intended for trolling or still fishing, and enables the angler to dispense with the services of a boat- man. It can be fastened to either the gunwale, as in Fig. 2; or to a seat, as in Fig. 1. By means of the thumb- screw it can be adjusted to any angle or direction, as it works on a ball-and-socket joint. While the rod is held perfectly secure, it can be taken out or replaced in a mo- ment, whether the reel is below or above the grip. The crotches for the rod are covered with soft rubber, so that there is no more liability of scratching or bruising it than 148 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. Universal Rod Holder. (A. G. Spalding & Bros.) if held in the hand. It is made of malleable iron, neatly tinned, and is well adapted for the purposes of its con- struction. Wading-Shoes. A good wading-shoe is a great desideratum for the stream fisher. While leather brogans are very comfortable, and answer the purpose admirably, it is necessary to take the best care of them in order that they may be kept soft and pliable ; a liberal application of castor oil, while wet, is the best plan for accomplishing this result. Very few anglers, however, attend to this matter as they should, and are very loth to give the needed attention to leather wading-shoes when through fishing ; consequently, when next needed they are as hard and stiff as a board. Conroy's Improved Wading-Shoes will be found to satisfy the average angler better than leather shoes. They are strongly made of heavy canvas, dry quickly, and do not MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 149 Improved Canvas Wading-Shoes. (Thos. J. Conroy.) harden with drying. They are supplied with soft hob-nails to prevent slipping on rocks, and may be worn with or without wading stockings. Fishing-Boats. In Black Bass fishing on lakes, ponds, and broad deep rivers, a boat is a sine qua non, and a part of the angler's outfit that should receive that attention which its impor- tance demands. A good boat in every particular is a blessing and a comfort that can hardly be overestimated. As a rule, anglers, while employing none but the best tools and tackle, do not give the same thought and care to the boats they use. They are inclined to accept any thing in the shape of a boat that will float, and seem to have an idea that all boats are cranky and leaky, from the calm indifference with which they will sit for a day with wet IrO SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BA8S ? pq « bSS =S .2 | ■83 M O MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 151 feet, or the philosophic unconcern with which they will spend half their time in bailing out the water. In the first place, a boat for fishing should be safe and light, dry, and capable of being easily rowed or paddled ; and, in order to meet these requirements, considerable at- tention should be given to its model and construction. It should not be too long, and should have beam enough to give stability, but not so much as to render it logy. Of late years great attention has been given by builders to the construction of suitable small boats, for the angler and sportsman, at a moderate price, so that there is now no excuse for the employment of such death-traps as leaky scows and cranky, unsafe skiffs. I am aware that most anglers, who use boats, depend on hiring them at the usual fishing resorts ; but that is no ex- cuse, for the amount usually paid for boat hire during a fishing vacation would be more than ample for the purchase and freight charges of a good, safe, dry and comfortable boat. "Eureka" Fishing-Boat. R. J. Douglas & Co., of Waukegan, Illinois, who build any thing from a steam-launch or a sloop-yacht to a ten- pound canoe, have given much thought and attention to the building of fishing-boats at a moderate price, and have suc- ceeded in producing a very low-priced, yet well-modeled and desirable boat, one that an angler can afford to own who can spend but a few clays in the year fishing. They are enabled to do this by building this style of boat in large numbers, and in employing on them the same work- men the year round. They have them on hand, always, so that they can be ordered by telegraph, and the angler can 152 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 153 be supplied with a good boat, almost anywhere, within a few days after ordering. This style of boat they call "Eureka," and is made with either square or sharp stern, the former being the stiffest and best for angling. They are made in two sizes : 13 ft. x 36 in., or 15 ft. x 38 in., and 10 or 12 inches deep, and weigh about 100 and 110 pounds. They are built of bass- wood, pine, or white cedar, at twenty, twenty-five or thirty dollars. I have used a number of boats and canoes built by R. J. Douglas & Co., and can safely recommend their work, and particularly the " Eureka," for anglers. It is built as follows : Instead of keel, it has a ten-inch bottom board, | inch thick, which makes it perfectly flat on bottom, and it has five strakes on a side. The frames, stems and wales are of selected white oak, in all grades, and in basswood boats the bottom and first two strakes are of pine or cedar, and only the three upper strakes of basswood. The planking is f inch thick in clinkers, and J inch in carvel boats. The row- locks are of their own design and the sockets are fastened on with bolts so that they can not pull off. Instead of wood knees, they use a malleable iron brace from wales to seat, which is also fastened on with stove-bolts. The boat is fitted with a good pair of ash oars and malleable iron rowlocks, is seated for three persons, and has three coats of paint on it. It makes a fine-looking, steady, strong and very serviceable boat for nearly all uses. Osgood's Portable Canvas Boat. If the angler wishes a portable boat, one that he can take in his buggy and drive to his favorite water near home, or pack in its box and ship by rail to any part of the country, 154 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. there is none that is so well known and so highly spoken of by sportsmen generally as Osgood's Portable Folding Can- vas Boat; and it deserves all the praise bestowed upon it. It is as light as a birch-bark canoe, but stronger ; it will live in a sea where an ordinary wooden skiff would be swamped. It has been in use for many years, and has with- stood the severest tests ; many improvements have been added since it was first introduced. Mr. Osgood says : "As now made, it is as near perfect as it is possible .to manu- facture it. The canvas is drawn smooth, and all the fittings work easily. It has a perfectly modeled flat bottom, which makes it very steady and staunch, and entirely free from the roll of other boats of the same size. No danger of its tipping over. Any lady can row it, for it does not require one-half the strength to handle that a wooden boat does. It can be made ready for the water in five minutes, and no tools or ingenuity are required to set it up." Fig- 3. The above is a view of the boat in its compact or port- able form, showing boat folded, bottom-board, camp-stools, gunwale, stretcher and packing-chest ; oars and paddles are jointed, and pack in chest with boat. The materials used in its construction are first class throughout. It is made in several sizes from 8 ft. x 33 MISCELLANEOUS IMPLEMENTS. 155 inches, to 15 ft. x 36 inches, and weighs from twenty to seventy-five pounds, according to size, and the way it is fitted up. The best size for angling, for two persons, is 12 ft. x 33 inches, weighing with every thing complete fifty pounds. The price varies from thirty to fifty dollars, ac- cording to size. PART III. ANGLING AND FLY-FISHING. CHAPTER XVIII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANGLING. The art of angling, with the improvements and appli- ances thereunto pertaining, will not suffer by a comparison with the progress of any other out-door recreation. The love of angling increases with the lapse of years, for its love grows by what it feeds on. Wiser and more healthful and more humane sentiments now prevail among the guild than formerly, so that its prac- tice more nearly approaches and deserves its appellation of the " gentle art." Fishing for count, and the slaughter of the innocents, and the torturing of the fish, when caught, by a lingering death, now meet with the opprobrium of all true disciples of the craft, and have become abhorrent and despicable practices. The genuine angler " loves " angling for its own sake ; the pot-fisher " likes " fishing for the spoils it brings, whether captured by the hook, spear or seine. The angler wending his way by the silvery stream, or resting upon its grassy banks, has an innate love for all his surroundings — the trees, the birds, the flowers — which be- come part and parcel of his pursuit ; become true and tried friends and allies without whom he could no more love his art, nor practice it, than the astronomer could view the heavens with pleasure on a cloudy, starless night. It is the love of the stream in its turnings and windings, its depths and its shallows, its overhanging branches and (159) 160 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. grassy slopes, that gives to the art of angling its chiefest charm, and presents the Bass or the trout to the angler in its true and proper setting of leaves and flowers and spark- ling water. If it were otherwise he would find as much pleasure in fishing in the flume of the fish-culturist, or in viewing the fish in the fish-monger's stall. Truly, the stream and its surroundings are all in all to the angler. I am not much given to preaching, though I come of a race of preachers ; but I can not refrain from presenting to the reader the following eloquent similitude and beautiful comparison between the angler's stream and the stream of Life; showing the easy and natural transi- tion from the love of angling to the love of nature and nat- ure's God. I feel more like presenting it because it is an extract from a sermon of one (Rev. Dr. H.) who has both the love of God and the love of angling deeply engrafted in his heart : "Act, therefore, while the day calls. Live its life as if life were complete in it. Not that it contains all varieties of expe- rience, but so joins the days before and after as to make them one stream, which your spirit should wade cheerily as the trout fisher wades his brook. " His brook is wild, because the trout love waters where boats can not follow them, nor even lumber logs roll free ; waters that twist and plunge, and shoot and eddy, with many a snag in the midst and fallen tree across. "And there the fisher seeks them by an instinct like their own — loving the bends that lock the pools, the shoals that embank the deep, the concealment of trackless woods, with their twilight noons and mystic noises, and every difficulty that teases him to more eager quest of his water-sprites. " When no upward flash meets his fly he reels his line in ex- THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANGLING. 161 pectation to give a merrier hum to the next throw, and again to the next, until all expectations are fulfilled at once when his wrist tingles to the trout's jerk and swirl and jump. "And still that wrist tingles through casts that take no prize, until another capture renews its thrill. Broken leaders, snarled lines, torn garments, bruised limbs, do not spoil his hilarity, which feels the whole day's sport in every minute, the whole brook's beauty at every step. "And so with life. It is to be lived as a whole. Happiness comes from an energetic sense of its entire significance in every passing phase of it — in mystery, as giving value to knowledge — in failure, as the guage of success — in evil, as the condition of good, which indeed is but evil overcome, and without the evil could not be — and in all alike as strides and casts of the confi- dent soul, whose trout-stream from end to end is God. "And if by these the soul gains nought else, it gains immortal health ; fills its creel with secrets of infinite love and wisdom — wisdom too loving to wish less than man's perfection — love too wise to spare any pain necessary to attain Godlike end. Luck enough for time or eternity. Nay, eternal sport in time." 14 CHAPTER XIX. CONDITIONS WHICH GOVERN THE BITING OF FISH. After a careful reading of this chapter it would seem that there was nothing to add to this very uncertain sub- ject; for we really know very little about it. We only know that when fishing a favorable locality where there are "thousands" of Black Bass, or even in small, circumscribed waters where there are certainly "hundreds," we do well, by the most careful fishing, to secure a half-dozen or a score of fish, as the case may be, on the most propitious occa- sions. Why is it then that so few, out of so many, respond to the angler's fly or bait? It is best that it is so; but why is it so ? This is the query that naturally rises to the ang- ler's mind, especially after an unsuccessful day. I might answer this question by asking another : Why is it that the sportsman in a day's outing, with the best dogs, finds so few grouse or quail in comparison to the great numbers known to " use " in certain localities ? The inference is plain in either case, for self preservation is the first law of nature ; but while the sportsman is fully conscious of this, the angler is usually not so logical, be- cause he does not reflect upon the fact that the fish is as fully aware of his presence as the grouse or quail is of that of the sportsman and his dogs. Then again we should not expect to find all the fish on (162) CONDITIONS WHICH GOVERN THE BITING OF FISH. 163 the feed at the same time : if we did so we would have no cause to complain of their not rising or biting. In the struggle for existence among animals, including fishes, it is the majority that obtains enough to satisfy its wants, and the minority only that does not. Then it is from the minor- ity that we must look for the few that are likely to see and take our lure. Predacious fishes feed almost entirely at night, only the hungry ones, perhaps, that do so during the day ; and though we often take fish with their stomachs full, they are evi- dently still on the feed, for such food is usually in a fresh or undigested condition, showing that it has been recently swallowed. Predacious fishes are more active during the night, and, I believe, rest or sleep during the day, while the smaller fishes, as minnows, etc., are more active during daylight; for it is not unlikely that they seclude themselves, or keep in very shallow water, during the night, to prevent their be- ing swallowed by their larger and piscivorous congeners. As predacious fishes then feed mostly by night, we would naturally expect to find them at that time where their food was most plentiful ; and this is really the case, for I have ob- served that they were always near the shores or on the shal- lows at night, in water so shallow, in fact, that their dorsal fins were often out of the water. Any one who will take the trouble to proceed cautiously along the shores at night, with a lantern, can verify this statement. It is well known that the last few hours of daylight are the best for fly-fishing, which I account for by the fact that the fish are then approaching the shallows and shores in their nightly search for food ; and as they only rise to the 164 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. fly in comparatively shallow water, the conditions are thus more favorable for the fly-fisher. The hypothesis, then, that game fishes feed mostly at night and rest or sleep by day, and that it is only the few that failed to fully satisfy their appetites the night before that are apt to respond to the wiles of the angler, is quite a reasonable one, and one that will account for most of the " bad luck " of the angler. CHAPTER XX. THE BLACK BASS AS A GAME FISH. Owing to my admiration for the Black Bass as a game fish, and my championship of its cause for many years, and my efforts to place it in the front rank of game fishes, and my desire to have it placed in new waters, I am sometimes, thoughtlessly and unjustly, accused of being opposed to the brook-trout, and of advising the stocking of trout-streams with my " favorite " fish. Nothing can be further from the truth. I am utterly opposed to the introduction of Black Bass into waters in which there is the remotest chance for the brook-trout or rainbow-trout to thrive. I yield to no one in love and admiration for the brook-trout. I was perfectly familiar with it before I ever saw a Black Bass ; but I am not so blinded by prejudice but that I can share that love with the Black Bass, which for several reasons is des- tined to become the favorite game-fish of America. "My offending hath this extent, no more." Let us look this thing squarely in the face. I do not wish to disturb any one's preference, but I do want to dis- abuse the minds of anglers of all prejudice in the matter. The brook-trout must go. It has already gone from many streams, and is fast disappearing from others. It is sad to contemplate the extinction of the " angler's pride" in pub- lic waters, but the stern fact remains that in this utilitarian age its days are numbered and its fate irrevocably sealed. (165) 166 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. As the red man disappears before the tread of the white man, the " living arrow " of the mountain streams goes with him. The trout is essentially a creature of the pine forests. Its natural home is in waters shaded by pine, balsam, spruce and hemlock, where the cold mountain brooks retain their low temperature, and the air is redolent with balsamic fra- rance ; where the natural food of the trout is produced in the greatest abundance, and where its breeding grounds are undisturbed. But the iron has entered its soul. As the buffalo disap- pears before the iron horse, the brook-trout vanishes before the axe of the lumberman. As the giants of the forest are laid low, and the rank and file decimated, and the wooden walls of the streams battered down, the hot, fiery sun leaps through the breaches, disclosing the most secret recesses of forest and stream to the bright glare of mid-clay. The moisture of the earth is dissipated, the mosses and ferns become shriveled and dry, the wintergreen and partridge- berry, the ground pine and trailing arbutus struggle feebly for existence ; the waters decrease in size and increase in temperature, the conditions of the food supply and of the breeding grounds of the brook-trout are changed; it dete- riorates in size and numbers and vitality, until finally, in accordance with the immutable laws of nature and the great principle of the " survival of the fittest " (not the fittest from the angler's point of view, but the fittest to survive the changes and mutations consequent on the march of civilization), it disappears altogether. Much has been said about the " trout hog " in connec- tion with the decrease of the trout. But while he deserves all the odium and contempt heaped upon him by the honest THE BLACK BASS AS A GAME FISH. 167 angler, the result would be the same were the trout allowed undisturbed and peaceable possession of the streams, so far as the fish-hook is concerned, while the axe of the lumber- man continues to ring its death knell. Let us, then, cherish and foster and protect the crimson- spotted favorite of our youthful days as long as possible in public waters, and introduce the rainbow-trout, or the Dolly Varden, or some of the Pacific black-spotted trout, or the English brown trout, when he has disappeared ; and when all these succumb, then, and not till then, introduce the Black Bass. But let us give these cousins of the brook trout a fair trial first, and without prejudice. There are plenty of lakes, ponds and large streams in the Eastern States into which the Black Bass can be introduced without interfering with trout-waters. For many years to come brook-trout will be artificially cultivated, and the supply thus kept up in preserved waters by wealthy angling clubs ; but by the alteration of the na- tural conditions of their existence they will gradually de- crease in size and quality, until finally they will either cease to be or degenerate to such a degree as to forfeit even this praiseworthy protection. I must dissent from the statement sometimes made that the Black Bass is the bluefish of fresh waters. The Black Bass is voracious — so are all game fishes — but not more so than the brook-trout. The character of a fish's teeth de- termines the nature of its food and the manner of its feed- ing. The bluefish has the most formidable array of teeth of any fish of its size — compressed, lancet-shaped, covered with enamel, and exceedingly strong and sharp, in fact, miniature shark teeth — while the Black Bass has soft, small, brush-like teeth, incapable of wounding, and intended 168 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 5 only for holding its prey, which is swallowed whole. The brook-trout has longer, stronger and sharper teeth than the Bass, and a large, long mouth, capable of swallowing a big- ger fish than a Black Bass of equal weight. The mouth of the Bass is very wide, for the purpose of taking in crawfish with their long and aggressive claws, and not, as supposed by some, for the swallowing of large fishes. The Black Bass gets the best of other game fishes, not by devouring the fishes themselves, but by devouring their food. For this reason, more than any other, they should not be intro- duced into the same waters with brook- trout. The pike or pickerel is the bluefish of fresh waters, and in dental ca- pacity and destructive possibilities is not far behind it. The brook-trout, I think, is the most beautiful of all fishes, as a fresh- run salmon is the handsomest and most perfect in form. The salmon is a king, the brook trout a courtier, but the Black Bass, in his virescent cuirass and spiny crest, is a doughty warrior whose prowess none can gainsay. I have fished for brook-trout in the wilds of Canada, where a dozen would rise at every cast of the fly, and it would be a scramble as to which should get it — great lusty trout, from a half pound to two pounds in weight — but the black fly made life a burden by day, and the mosquito by night. The glory and beauty of the madly rushing stream breaking wildly over the great black rocks, and the quiet, glassy pools below reflecting the green spires of spruce and fir, availed nothing to the swollen eyelids and smarting brow. I have cast from early morn till dewy eve, on a good sal- mon stream in New Brunswick, for three days in succession without a single rise. I have cast standing in a birch-bark THE BLACK BASS AS A GAME FISH. 169 canoe until both arras and legs were weary with the strain, and then rested by casting while sitting — but all in vain. The swift-flowing, crystal stream reflected back the fierce glare of the northern sun, and flowed on in silence toward the sea. The fir-clad hills rose boldly on either side, and stood in silent, solemn grandeur — for neither note of bird nor hum of bee disturbed the painful silence of the Cana- dian woods. At such times would flash on memory's mirror many a fair scene of limpid* lake or rushing river, shadowed by cool, umbrageous trees, and vocal with myriads of voices — where the Black Bass rose responsive to the swish of the rod and dropping of the fly. Or, should the Bass be coy and shy, or loth to leave his lair beneath some root or shelv- ing rock — the melody of the birds, the tinkle of a cow-bell, the chirp of a cricket, the scudding of a squirrel, filled up the void and made full compensation. The true angler can find real pleasure in catching little sunfish, or silversides, if the stream and birds, and bees and butterflies do their part by him ; while the killing of large or many fish, even salmon or trout, in silence and solitude, may fail to fully satisfy him. I can find something beautiful or interesting in every fish that swims. I have an abiding affection for every one, from the lowly, naked bull-head, the humble scavenger of the waters, to the silver-spangled king who will not deign to soil his dainty lips with food during his sojourn in crystal streams, and I love the brook-trout best of all. But, as an angler, I can find more true enjoyment, more blessed peace, in wading some rushing, rocky stream, flecked by the shad- ows of overhanging elm and sycamore, while tossing the 15 170 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS„ silken gage to the knight in Lincoln-green, my ears con- scious of the rippling laughter of the merry stream, the joyous matin of the woodland thrush, the purring under- tone of the quivering leaves — my eyes catching glimpses of hill and meadow, wren and robin, bee and bittern, fern and flower, and my breath inhaling the sweet fragrance of upland clover and elder-blossom — I say I can find more true enjoyment in this — than paying court to the lordly salmon, or the lovely trout, in its stiff and silent demesne, with annointed face, gloved hands, and head swathed in gauze. If this be treason, my brother, make the most of it. I am content. It is my honest conviction. After killing every species of game-fish east of the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to Florida, and a few in foreign lands, I find the knightly Bass and his tourney-field all sufficient. CHAPTER XXI. FLY-FISHING. The literature of Black Bass fishing may truly be said to have been evolved during the past decade. Previous to this period very little mention was made of the two species of Black Bass by our angling authors, and that little was mis- leading, incorrect or glaringly false in most instances, and related, almost without exception, to bait fishing. Fly-fish- ing for Black Bass, although then practiced by a few ang- lers, was apparently unknown to writers on angling. In- deed, it was doubted by many, and denied by most anglers, that the Black Bass would rise to the artificial fly; but this, in my opinion, was due more to prejudice than to the result of actual experience, and viewed in the light of our present knowledge of the subject, this opinion is certainly strength- ened, if not confirmed. Up to that time the brook-trout was deservedly the pride and idol of the fly-fisher, and it was deemed heresy to cast the fly for any other fish, with the exception of the salmon. But while yielding to none in my love and admiration for the brook-trout, it is a pleasure for me to state that, in my opinion (based on a large experience), there are no waters inhabited by the Black Bass, large or small mouth, where it will not rise to the artificial fly at some season of the year, subject to certain states and conditions of the water, etc., and this is as much as can be said for the brook -trout, as all unprejudiced trout-fishers must admit. 172 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. It is true that the Black Bass rises to the fly more freely and uniformly in some waters than in others, hut this fact holds good also as to the brook-trout. And likewise is it a truism, that the largest fish, trout or Bass, do not, as a rule, take the artificial fly. Those who wish to lure the finny giants must perforce use bait or the trolling-spoon. This is a damaging admission to our piscatorial pride, but can- dor compels us to acknowledge the correctness of it, though we may find some guilty consolation or quasi-satisfaction in exhibiting the huge piscine trophies to our admiring and credulous friends with the usual remark : " Caught on the fly!" Seriously, it is entirely unnecessary, at this late day, to argue that the Black Bass will or will not rise to the arti- ficial fly. The fact is now known to many anglers, and con- ceded by others, that the Black Bass is a game-fish of high degree, and when of equal weight is the peer of the brook trout or salmon in fighting qualities, when proper tackle is employed, and will rise to the fly under the same favorable conditions. Practical Hints. In order to be successful in fly-fishing for Black Bass, the angler must know the waters to be fished, or be pos- sessed of that knowledge of the haunts and habits of the Bass that is born only of much experience. He must know when and where the fish are to be found at the differ- ent seasons of the year ; when they frequent deep, and when shallow water, for it is love's labor lost to cast the fly on deep, still reaches of water. In stream-fishing, which is by far more preferable and enjoyable than lake or pond-fishing, it is only when the Bass are on the shallows or on the riffles that the fly-fisher FLY-FISHING. 173 will fill his creel, and on lakes when they frequent reefs, shoals, bars, and the neighborhood of rushes and weed patches. These times are usually in the spring or early summer, and in autumn, for in midsummer the Bass retire to deep water, except in large, deep and cool lakes, when this season is often the best, as the water has then become of the right temperature to induce the fish to seek shallow feeding grounds. The habits of the brook-trout have been carefully studied by many generations of fly-fishers and naturalists, conse- quently the trout-fisher knows that during the summer months he will certainly find his quarry in the shallow streams, slowly but surely ascending toward their spawning grounds. He also knows that the big trout has a local habitation under some root, or rock, or hollow bank, which he holds by right of possession, and defends as bravely as ever knight of old his feudal stronghold. He knows, fur- thermore, that he would be considered daft to whip the deepest pools of exposed water, or the mid-surface of deep lakes or ponds. So, when the Bass-fisher knows the habits of the Bass as well, there will be less speculation as to whether or not he will rise to the fly. The stream should always be waded, if practicable, and fished with the current, for it follows that wherever the angler can wade, the water is about right in depth for fly- fishing. He should cast about him in a semi-circle, he being; at the center and his casts being the radii, like the spokes of a wheel ; then, lengthening his cast, he can de- scribe the arc of a larger circle, and so cover all the water within reach (within forty or fifty feet), giving preference, of course, to the likeliest spots, as the eddies of bowlders or half-submerged rocks, near logs, driftwood, .shoals, bars, 174 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. and under overhanging bushes and hollow banks, and over the shallow pools above and below rapids and riffles. After casting, the flies should be roved, skittered or danced over the surface by jerky or tremulous movements, to imitate, as nearly as may be, a living fly, and then be allowed to sink several inches below the surface and float away like a drowned insect to the extreme length of the line. On lakes, where there is no current, the flies should also be permitted to sink over likely spots at almost every cast. Lakes or deep ponds should be fished from a boat, keeping in the deeper water and casting inshore on the bars, shoals, reefs or ledges, or along the edges of rushes or weed patches. Sometimes rushes or tall weeds grow in pretty deep water, but nevertheless the Bass will usually be found near or among them, and sometimes near or under floating logs or drift ; it is well to try all such places. It will be found that Bass rise to the fly more freely when the water is stirred or ruffled by a brisk breeze, and during the early morning hours and late in the evening ; about sun- set, or a little after, being the very best time on bright days. On cloudy days there is not much choice, as one hour is no more favorable than another, sunny days being always the best. The old rule of light-colored flies for dark days and to- ward evening, and dark flies for bright days, is a safe one to follow, the exceptions rather tending to prove the rule, which usually happen when the fish are well on the feed, and will take almost any fly offered ; thus it is frequently the case that dark flies will kill in the dusk of evening as well as the " Miller " or " Coachman.*' It only remains now to say to the reader, as I have often FLY-FISHING. 175 said before, cast as skillfully as you can, but always delib- erately and carefully. Always keep a taut line ; strike quickly upon sight or touch, and play and land your fish in your own way, but get him in the creel as quickly as you can with safety to your tackle ; kill your fish outright be- fore putting him in your basket ; do not fish for count ; keep your temper ; and, above all things, remember first, last and all the time the most important rule in fly-fishing — keep out of sight of the fish if you would have him notice your flies. A Reminiscence. Toward the close of a day in the mild September, I was leisurely riding my tired mare across the ford of a narrow rocky river that wound around the foot of a thickly-wooded cliff, with here and there a pool in the shadow or a ripple in the sun, while stretching away a mile or two across the fer- tile bottom lands were fields of waving corn, fragrant clover, blue-grass and broad-leaved tobacco. Up the stream a hundred yards away, stood, leaning over the water, an old stone mill, whose lichen-covered walls and moss-grown roof proclaimed its hoary age. Its old wheel went rumbling on its merry round, mingling its regular, rhythmic plashing with the monotone of the tumbling, rush- ing waters of the dam. Down the stream another hundred yards, an old-time, covered bridge, decrepid and gray, spanned the little river, casting cool and dark shadows beneath and below. The sun was sinking low beyond the fields, flinging bars of yellow flame through the slender strips of fleecy clouds that stretched across the western portal of the steel-blue sky, lighting up the crimson of the newly-dyed sumach on the cliff, flashing on the foaming waters of the falls, and fes- 176 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. tooning with golden streamers and silver ribbons the long, dank, green arms of the old water-wheel. Beneath the bridge a group of ruminating, sleek-coated cows stood whisking their tails in calm contentment, as the grateful stream laved their cloven feet and their breath ex- haled the odors of sweet cream, white clover and golden butter. As my mare drank deeply from the refreshing stream, I gazed upon the lovely scene, and thought that nowhere else in all the world but in this broad land of ours could such a a view be found. The sublime glories of the Alps ; the soft Italian skies ; the splendors of the Tropics ; the olive-crowned hills of Andalusia; the vine-clad slopes of the -Riviera — all alike paled before this calm and peaceful, soul-filling, heart-satis- fying, homelike scene. But what was fhat ? — a bar of silvery sheen flashed for a moment in the sun and dropped back into the eddy behind yon huge gray boulder under the cliff! I pretend to be surprised, but — pshaw ! how idle it is to attempt to deceive oneself. All the time that I was hollowly and falsely des- canting upon the matchless beauty of the stream and its surroundings, I, like an artful, double-tongued hypocrite, was watching for the very thing that occurred — the leap of a Bass ! Silently I rode my mare to the shade of the cliff, tied the reins to the convenient limb of a low-branching elm, unstrapped my umbrella from the saddle, and from its folds drew forth a fly-rod that had been artfully and surrepti tiously concealed there — another evidence of the insincer ity of man. From a corner of my pill-bags I brazenly took out a FLY-FISHING. 177 buckskin bag, in which was a small click-reel with its line of enameled silk. From a pocket of my professional coat I brought to the light of day what, ostensibly, purported to be a prescription book, but in reality was a book of flies ! How guilty I felt ! What an arrant humbug I was ! But there was no time for moralizing — I just heard the splash of another Bass ! I soon had rod and reel, line and leader together, and a "polka" and a "professor" were soon dancing over the water together ! I had stepped from bowlder to bowlder, in the shadow of the cliff, until I had reached a vantage point at the foot and edge of the riffle, with the sun in my face and broken water all around me. I knew of half a dozen deep holes and sheltered eddies within the length of my cast, from which I would be completely hidden by two jagged rocks that rose in front of me, half as high as my head. Then like a guilty thing I began casting in ever-widening circles — all the time pretending to watch the play of the sunshine on the water, or the blackbird that was drinking at the verge of the stream. Then I saw a swirl behind the gray bowlder — but pre- tended to be listening to a squirrel barking at me from the projecting limb of a hickory, whose glossy, green leaves were just touched with the faintest suspicion of old gold. Then I made another cast as straight as the maple boll behind me. The flies dropped just over and beyond the smooth, gray bowlder, and as they were drawn into its eddy the " polka" disappeared, and something seemed to lift the water just there for an instant, and then — what a lively staccato to that kingfisher's rattle ! But, bless my soul ! it is my reel that is giving so merry a hum ! I must stop that. Then, as I follow the erratic 178 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. flight of a dragon-fly across the stream, I can't help ob- serving my strained line cutting like mad through the water, and as I look up at a crow flying overhead I see that my rod is bent, and strained and twisted, and altogether there seems to be something unusual going on in the water, and as I look — out into the sunshine with bristling fins and red extended jaws there leaps a Bass ! Then I am kept busy leading my line away from jagged rocks in front, and can only do so by holding my rod at arm's length above my head. But now I have led the cap- tive into the deep pool below me, and near the cliff. Then I have leisure to look up at my squirrel, who, with a hick- ory nut in his paws is raining down the pieces of its hull in a green shower at the river's side, and— there leaps the Bass again !— and again ! Then again the singing of the reel as he dives to the depths of the pool. Ah ! listen to the allegro of the mocking-bird atop of yonder beech, as he begins his sunset sonata— the click of my reel a castinet accompaniment— and now, while slowly reeling in the line, the andante of the glorious songster is poured out on the quivering air— and then the trio— the bird and Bass and I— and last of all the finale, as I drop the butt of the rod and the reel into my coat pocket, and hug my vertical rod, while lifting out the spent warrior in green and silver sheen, and quickly dispatching him, toss him among the ferns at the foot of the hickory, to the great displeasure of my squirrel, who scolds and scampers away with the nut in his cheek. Then, filling my pipe, the blue smoke ascends in curling wreaths and is borne away up the face of the cliff on the soft evening air, while the tinkle of a cow-bell and the hoot of an owl comes from the direction of the old bridge. FLY-FISHING. 179 But the sun is on the edge of the horizon, the fall is bathed in flame, the mill-wheel is hung with rubies, the be- lated crows caw loudly, and the " professor " and the "polka" are dancing on saffron and crimson foam to the strident strains of the cicada's fiddle. What, another rise ? Another Bass, perhaps ! No, it must have been a swallow dipping its wing. The gentle swish of the supple rod is music sweet as the " professor" and the "polka" follow each other, now in aerial flight, now along the shining water. Egad ! there' s no mistaking that tug ! The reel and the cicada now have it ! The line hisses through the water ! Look out for the sharp rock ! See that blundering bat ! Ah, what a leap ! — how he dashed the golden, crimson rain ! Again the duet — the shrill cicada and the buzzing reel ! He breaks again, again falls back I The rod is bending, surging through the air — and now the frogs pipe up — the sun is down — and, bless me ! here 's another Bass ! I step ashore, and string them on a willow wand. The mill-wheel has stopped; the water tumbles over the fall with a lonesome sound. The whippoorwill is calling from the cliff. The squirrel is in his nest. The mocking-bird has found his mate. The cows are lowing at the farmer's gate. My patient nag is neighing for her master. "All right, Jenny ! " I do not feel so guilty in the gloaming ; and as the first silent star appears, I stop at the little tumbledown gate before the cabin of " Old Dave," who " cot de rheumatiz in de fresh' las' spring." " Hello ! Aunt Judy. How 's Uncle Dave ? " " Howdy, Doctah ! Lor' bress you, honey, de ole man 's mitey po'ley — jist kin hobble roun', an' dat's all. He 180 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 'lowed to 'gin cuttin' 'bacca fer Mars' Brack hex' week— but 'less he men's mitej fas' he won't cut more n a 'bacca wum kin chaw ! Don 't tink he 's long fer ole Kaintuck, no how ! " " Come here, Aunt Judy; here's two nice Bass for you— they '11 go nearly two pounds apiece. A gentleman fishing down at the river gave them to me as I came along. They '11 make a fine breakfast for you and Uncle Dave in the morning. Good night ! " And Jenny and I jogged along toward home, under the bright stars, at peace with all the world. CHAPTER XXII. CASTING THE MINNOW. The capabilities of the minnow-casting rod are equal to most of the possibilities of bait-fishing, as it has been my good fortune to prove on many occasions. To the unversed in the real art of angling it is simply wonderful to see what an amount of strain the little rod will successfully endure, and to witness the comparative ease with which exception- ably large fish are killed by one who knows the latent virtues of this little giant of a rod. Long ago, before every island boasted a summer cottage and a steam-launch, and when the Black Bass, or masca- longe, were to be found in almost every rock-bound, lily- fringed cove, the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence possessed attractions for the lover of* the beautiful and the angler that is hard to realize at the present day. Such a time I remember well; and one day of that hal- cyon period is marked on the calendar of memory by a pure white stone that sometimes, when the fit of retrospection is on, shines out vividly in the " hollow down by the flare " in the bright coal fire in the grate, or in the log fire in camp. It was below Grenadier Island, in the shallower portion of the river, along the edges of the rushes, deer- tongue and water-lilies, that a dear friend (poor Dick ! he is dead now) and I were casting the minnow for Black Bass. On that lovely July morning I killed, on an ash and lancewood, (181) 182 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. eight-ounce rod, a mascalonge weighing thirty-two pounds, in twenty minutes. But, it is under the palms and live-oaks of Southern Florida that the angler is more likely to encounter finny giants that will test the strength and endurance of his tackle, and exercise to the full his stock of piscatorial skill and finesse. A few days after Christmas, in the winter of 1881, my wife and I were fishing in San Sebastian river (opposite Kane's cabin), a half mile above its confluence with Indian river. We had been up one of the branches of the river fishing for Black Bass, and I was using an eight-ounce, ash and lancewood Henshall rod, and ordinary Black Bass tackle. On this occasion, and with this rod and tackle, I killed a redfish, or channel Bass, in twenty minutes, that weighed fully thirty-five pounds, though, as I did not weigh it, I called it thirty. It was a heavier and gamer fish than the mascalonge alluded to above ; and, as I have weighed a good many redfish running from twenty to forty pounds, I can certainly guess within five pounds of the weight of one within these limits. I was casting the minnow for Black Bass, on another oc- casion, up the St. Lucie river, in Southern Florida, and with the same rod and tackle just mentioned I hooked, killed and landed a tarpon of thirty-three pounds, in fifteen minutes I have, with the same, or similar rods and tackle, killed many pike, mascalonge, tarpon, groupers, salt-water trout, etc., between ten and twenty pounds, but merely mention the above instances to prove the power of the minnow- casting Black Bass rod of eight ounces in weight and eight CASTING THE MINNOW. 183 and a quarter feet in length, and this must be my excuse for alluding to them here. The introduction of this rod has no doubt done more than any thing else to popularize this style of fishing, and we may now consider minnow-casting as not only firmly es- tablished, but as an original and American method of ang- ling that is peculiarly adapted to bait-fishing in our varied and extensive waters. As an instance of its popularity I might add that, during the past five years, I have seen it employed in the waters tributary to the Red river of the North, in the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin, in nearly all the Provinces of Canada, and in Florida, and in many waters between. I have also seen it in numerous instances made to apply as well to estuary or coast fishing. While minnow-casting for Black Bass is the most popu- lar method in vogue in the West, it is very gratifying to me to see the favor with which it has been received in the Eastern States, and the remarkable progress that has been made in that best of all modes of bait-fishing; for it must be remembered that Black Bass fishing north of the Poto- mac and east of the Alleghany mountains is of compara- tively recent origin, as it has not been many years since the Black Bass was introduced into eastern waters. As a member of the Committee of Arrangements of the tournaments of the National Rod and Reel Association, I succeeded in having a special contest for " casting the minnow for Black Bass " admitted in the programme of events at the tournament of 1884, when the longest cast, with a half-ounce sinker, was made by Professor Alfred M. Mayer, the same being 97 feet. At the subsequent tournaments the casting continually 184 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. improved, until at the last one, held in May, 1888, there were three gentlemen who cast upward of fifty yards ; and out of five casts made by Mr. A. F. Dresel, the successful competitor, three of them went beyond fifty yards, and one reached the extraordinary distance of 168 feet, 4 inches. The weight of sinker cast was one-half ounce. The rods used were about eight and a quarter feet long, and about nine ounces in weight. CHAPTER XXII r. STILL-FISHING. What angler's heart does not leap when he thinks of his boyish experiences in angling ! We were all " still-fishers " then. The boy who began fishing on a small trout stream, though, would not tarry long in one spot; he soon learned that he must be a roving fisherman to fill his string. But the boy who began on " sunnies," or red-eyes, or "brim," or gudgeons, or even bull-heads or suckers, im- bibed bis first lessons in the virtue of patience during his pin-feather days of angling. What finished, artistic fly-fisher but would gladly hark back to those golden days ! What a monument of patience he was, and what a fatalist as to luck, and what a firm be- liever in the secret, unwritten mysteries of the art, as he sat motionless on a rock, or perched upon a gnarled root, or lay prone upon a grassy bank, watching his float with all the eagerness and expectancy of a kingfisher on his dead branch, or an osprey on his cliff! And how well he knew every " hole,*' and every sub- merged rock, and every snag; and just "how deep" to place his float, and just how long to let it run before " yanking " the fish or his hook into the limb overhead, or into the bush behind him ! And how well he knew every muskrat's run, and every kingfisher's perch, and every bank-swallow's hole ; and, though watching his " cork " never so intently, how he had 16 ( 185 ) 186 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. an eye for every water-snake, and turtle, and bull-frog that mi ! stirred within ten rods of h And when an unlucky muskrat, or kingfisher, or snake, or turtle, or frog showed itself, how lie would lay a rock on the butt of his "pole," and start in quest of it; and how these mammalian forays, and ornithic sallies, and reptilian assaults would rest him; and with what renewed zest he would repair to his fishing, and with what consummate and enduring faith he would spit on his hook, and resume his waiting and watching ! Oh ! bright, sunny, golden days of youth ! How far- how very far we have traveled down the stream since then ! We may look back, and through the gaps in the trees, and over the low hills catch a sparkle of the stream behind and above us ; but, alas ! we can never go back— never return ! Our course is ever on, on— and down, down— and the stream is ever widening and growing deeper, until it will soon be lost in the great gulf of the unknown ! I have much sympathy, and great respect, if not down- right envy for the still-fisher. There is a juvenility, and a childish faith in his methods that are totally unknown, or utterly lost to the blase old hand at fly-fishing, or minnow- casting. His tastes are as simple, his expectations as great, his anticipations as easily satisfied, and his enjoyment as ample as in the pin-hook days of the best of us. He is, indeed, but a child of larger growth. ^ His life may have been saddened with the experience of time— his hands hardened with years of toil— his heart seared with the inhumanity of man— but he still retains the innocence and freshness of his youth when seated at the waterside with the « peeled sapling » in his stiffened hands STILL FISHING. 187 — the voice of the stream whispering in his ears — its moist breath stealing through his grizzled locks — and its rippling smile flashing on his tired eyes ! A Retrospection. An old negro house-servant and a bright-eyed, flaxen- haired boy of eight summers sat side by side under a mill- dam, fishing. The old man was engaged in earnest conver- sation, to which the lad was an eager listener, save when interrupted by the pulling out of a fish or the re-baiting of a hook : " Yas, Percy Lee, it's jist wasteful 'stravagance fer yo' papa to buy sich lavish, shiny fish-poles an' silver reel con- trapshuns dat run riot wid his money. All de fish in de Elkhorn wouldn't 'gin to pay intrust on 'em. He's de beat- enes' man for 'stravagance I eber see. " De bestes' fish-pole is de strettes' an' slimmes' ellum saplin' you kin fine ; cut in de fall in de lite ob de moon, an' peeled in de shade, an' put up in de lof ' nex' to de cabin chimbly all wintah. An' de Bass an' chan'l-cat won't know wedder it cos' two cents or de price ob a year- lin' mule, case you yank 'em out so quick dey ain't got time to tink 'bout it." " Yes, but Uncle Enoch, papa don't like to yank 'em out so quickly." "No, honey, an' dats' wat beats me. He jis' goes a- wadin' in de water — an' he'll done cotch his deff o' rheuma- tiz one ob dese days — a-whippin' his little shiny switch, an' a-flippin' his fiddle-string line wid little teenty fedder-flies, an' de Bass cotch holt, an' ben' an' twis' de little pole, an' run off wid de line — an' Mars' Dick wind 'em up agin, an' de Bass pull out de line agin, an' jump out to see wat 188 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. gwine to happen nex', an' dey hav' mo' fun dan a bag full o' monkeys at de circus." "But papa says he used to fish with cane poles and min- nows, Uncle Enoch." " Yas, Percy Lee, wen Mars' Dick was a little lam', jis J like yo'self, he use' to sot in dis same place wid me, an' laws-o'marcy wat gorms o' Bass, an' new-lites', an' chan'l cats we use' to snek out ! But aft-a-wile he growed up an' den he marri'd Mis' Alice, an' dat quiled his fishin'. "An' den de wan cum on, an' yo' papa went away to fite wid de sogers, when yo' was a teenty little baby; an' Mis' Alice use' to cum heah a-fishin' wid me, an' Liza Jane wud brung de baby. But Mis' Alice nebber cud larn to fish ; she j is' kep' me a tellin' how yo' papa use' to fish when he was a little boy, an' wat he wud say, an' wat he wud do ; an' she'd des go an' sot on dat ole sycamo' root — whar you set- tin' now — whar he use' to fish ; an' de big tear-drops wud roll down her pink cheeks ebery time I cotch'd a fish, an' she wud run an' grab de baby — dat was you — an' hug you up, an' kiss you, and den want me to begin all ober agin. You see, honey, she was so chicken-hearted she cudn't bar to see de red-eyes an' new-lites a-floppin' on de hook. An' no matter how offen I. 'splained to her how Mars' Dick use' to ketch 'em, an' how I kech 'em, she des was too tender- minded to larn. " Den yo' papa cum home aftah de wah, an' brung a lot o' hinhfalutin noshuns wid him. An' de nex' summah a Yankee Kurnel from 'way up Norf cum a-visitin' an' he showed Mars' Dick how to fish wid switch poles an' fedder- flies. "An' now Mars' Dick drags Mis' Alice wid him, an' she goes trapesin 'long de sho' wid de baskit — an' she'll ketch STILL FISHING. 1°° her deff o' dampness sum day, you heah me— an' she watches him sling dem fedder-flies, an' claps her han's an' laffs, an sez : ' Good boy ; bravo, Dick !' "An' wen de Bass is tucker'd out Mars' Dick shuv a little roun' net under him, an' raps him on de hed, an' totes him ashore; an' den him an' Mis' Alice sot dar an' look at ,t, an' yo' papa smokes his pipe, an' he tell Mis' Alice bout de fish iis' like I use' to talk to him when he was a little lam' like yo' ownsclf ; an' dey spoon jis' as foolish as fo dey was marri'd. '"An' Mis' Alice she meks de fedder flies fer Mars Dick, now— she nebber did cotton to wums, an' craw-fish, an' orawl-debbils— an' she nebber cries now when de Bass snaps 'em But, honey, he can't fool de chan'1-cat wi.l 'em ; no, mv vouno- marstah, Mistah chan'1-cat is too wise in dis generation ob vipers fer dat. He wants a fat soft craw or a piece of fresh libber. Gib him vict'ry or gib him deff. " Cum, honey, we dun got a good mess o' pan-fish, less be gwine home; Mistah Crow dun lite out fo' his roost long time ago.'' CHAPTER XXI Y. TROLLING. ~1. - Three or four years ago I was attracted to Gogebic lake and Eagle waters in Northern Wisconsin to investigate the so-called "razor-back" Black Bass of Gogebic, and the mascalonge of Eagle waters. I found the former to be only small-mouthed Bass infected with tape worm, and the latter to be a true mascalonge. At that time Gogebic lake was somewhat famous on ac- count of its great numbers of Black Bass, and the ease with which they could be caught. While there I witnessed scenes and heard of acts (that may serve to point a moral) that should bring the blush of shame to the cheek of the most hardened ; and yet they were perpetrated by men calling themselves anglers, or at least fishermen, for there is a dif- ference in degree as well as in kind of those claiming alle- giance to the " gentle " art. On the first evening of my arrival I saw two large piles of Black Bass, enough to fill several barrels, burnt by the guides at the edge of the lake. Nine-tenths of them were caught with the hand-line and trolling-spoon by anglers- Heaven, save the mark !— who were fishing for count, or vying with each other as to who should bring in the greatest number. It is no excuse to say that the Bass were there to be caught, or that the parties knew no better. They would have resented warmly any imputation that they were other (190) TROLLING. 191 than humane, conscientious sportsmen. I will give a scrap of conversation that I overheard on the hotel veranda that evening; the reader can then judge for himself and draw his own conclusions. "Well, old man, what luck to-day?" " Bully ! I took in out of the wet a hundred and twenty- five Bass, and would have had more but I lost all of my spoons. Then I went ashore and shot three or four ' por- kies ' with my pistol ! " Now here was a bloody-minded butcher who was not con- tent, with the help of his boatmen, with slaughtering over a hundred Bass with the spoon, but who had the effrontery and insolence to brag of it before gentlemen ; and to cap the climax of his truculence he boasted of shooting several innocent porcupines, a harmless, clumsy animal that can not get out of one's way, and whose only means of defense is to hump up its back and erect its quills ; an animal that a sportsman never thinks of molesting. " Pshaw ! " chimed in a young man, who with several companions had been camping down the lake for a week, " we shot nearly fifty in a week near our camp ; they gnawed the axe-handle and chewed up a pair or two of boots, and we started in to clean 'em out!" And these young men had probably time and again re- sponded to the commandment, " Thou shalt not kill," with " Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." Now, I do not pose as a saint, or a Christian, or as an example, or as being any better than my fellows, for I am not — but I do hold that the wanton killing of the meanest creature is murder. At the same time, I can kill any ani- mal — mammal, bird or fish — with clean hands and with a 192 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. clear conscience, when done in a sportsmanlike manner, and when I can utilize the same. I assure the reader that the scrap of conversation given above is a mild sample of what I actually heard that even- ing. Some boasted of killing even more Bass than the in- dividual mentioned, but I believe they added lying to their other accomplishments. Then there were grouse and deer killed out of season — does still in milk, and grouse-hens with half-grown broods — but enough; these men were what they seemed, mere pre- tenders to the name of angler or sportsman, such as one is apt to meet at any summer hotel where there is fishing or shooting; men who under the guise of innocent sport in- dulge their thirst for blood and murder ; men who are set and confirmed in their ways, and for whom there is no hope of improvement or reform. But there are a few new hands who do these things thoughtlessly, and by the force of bad example ; and it is for their benefit that I have written what might otherwise be deemed out of place, here. CHAPTEK XXV. SKITTERING AND BOBBING. Once, when in Florida, two of us had gone several miles up a river one clay for deer and turkeys. When the sun was nearly down we had one deer, and had located several more, and also had found a turkey-roost near by. We con- cluded, instead of returning down the river to camp, to build a fire and sleep under a tree, so as to be on the ground at daylight in the morning, with the strong probability of another deer or several turkeys. We did not wish to cut into the venison, as we intended to give it to a -cracker" family near our camp, the head of said household being down with" the shakes." We had only the liver of the deer for supper, and wishing to vary it with some other viand, concluded to try for a Black Bass in the river. Happening to have a fish-hook in my pocket, I cut ott a piece of the deer's tail, and made a " bob." Then, cutting a long, slender pole, and tying the bob to the end with a piece of strong twine some three feet long, we got into the boat, my comrade paddling and I manipulating the bob The sun was at the edge of the horizon, a huge ball ot crimson fire, the atmosphere being somewhat smoky from fires kindled by the Indians to burn off the old grass in order to make a fresh - burn " for the deer to feed on The river expanded just above into quite a shallow lake well grown with lily-pads, bonnets and saw-grass, through 17 (198) 194 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. which meandered several channels of open water. As we approached the lake, toward the sun, it seemed that these channels were filled with liquid fire, and the occasional leaping of a mullet, or dropping in of a small alligator, served to heighten this effect, and to simulate sparks and flames. The pure white wings of the egret, as it flitted over the water, seemed like miniature sails on a rubescent sea. As my companion noiselessly paddled the boat along the fringe of rank grasses and luxuriant aquatic vegetation, I danced the bob along and over the water, now low, now high and now dipping in the water — skimming, leaping and fly- ing — till it seemed an uncanny thing, as indeed it was, a cervine igiiis-fatuus, a hirsute will-o'-the-wisp. Several Bass rose to it, and swirled at it, until one more active than the rest grabbed it by a vicious lunge, and the hook was firmly implanted in his jaw. It was the work of but a minute to land him in the boat, and he was soon joined by another, when we repaired to our camp-fire which was now throwing a cheerful, ruddy light on the pines and pal- mettoes. This was one of the occasions when the " bob," or the skittering-spoon, or the trolling spoon may be legitimately used ; for we not only took great pleasure in the novelty of the sport, but we enjoyed a rich repast that night after, roasting the Bass in their scales in the hot ashes, broiling the deer's liver on a split stick, grilling a few crackers cf hard-tack, and making a cup of hot, strong coffee — leaving enough for a cold breakfast at daylight in the morning. CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUDING KEMARKS. If this book should be the means of making a single day happier in the life of any angler, or of making some crooked things straight to the young hand, or of saving the life of one Bass that might have been otherwise killed by illegitimate means or sacrificed to unworthy motives, I shall be glad that it is written ; for these considerations alone, and not for any personal profit or aggrandizement has it been penned. And though there have been rods, and reels, and lines, and other articles of tackle named for me by enthusiastic friends and admirers, the honor itself has been my only recompense, for I assure the reader that I have never re- ceived, and would scorn to accept, any pecuniae fee or re- ward for any thing devised by myself, or made prominent by my efforts, for Black Bass fishing. My sole aim and intention has been to elevate the Black Bass as a game-fish, and to provide suitable tackle for its pursuit and capture, and to inculcate a more healthful and humane and gentlemanly spirit among anglers. If I have succeeded, in the slightest degree, my work has proved, as Walton said of angling, " like virtue, a reward to itself." It is with a saddened heart, and an unwilling pen, that I now finish the concluding chapter of this supplement, for I feel that it is the last that will ever be added to this book. (195) 196 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. There is not much likelihood of there being any occasion for adding any thing more to its pages during my life, and it is not at all likely that any one will ever add any thing to it after I am gone. I feel like one who is making his last cast on a favorite pool that he will see no more forever. A pool that is en- deared to him by the fondest associations. A pool whose every ripple is a smile — whose every changing mood is a look of gladness and delight — and whose steadily flowing current seems to beckon him to follow to " The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns." THE END. I^DEX -to- SCIENTIFIC HISTORY OF THE BLACK BASS. American Fishes in Linnsean Col- lection, 12. Arkansas, Black Bass of, 29. Bean, T. H., 12. Black Bass, Linne's specimens, 13. Black Bass of Arkansas, 29. Black Bass of Florida, 24, 29. Black Bass of Illinois, 24, 27. Black Bass of Mexico, 25. Black Bass of Mississippi, 24, 26. Black Bass of Texas, 24, 27, 29. Black Bass, Scientific History, 11. Black Bass, Type specimens. 13 Bosc, M., 11. - Calliurus, 16. Cope, Edw. D., 29. Florida, Black Bass of, 24, 29. Garden, Alexander, 11, 12. Garden's specimens, 11. General and special features, 29. Generic characterizations, 15. Grystes Guntber, 15. Iluro Gunther, 15. Micropterus Cope, 16. Micropterus Gill, 17. Micropterus Jordan, 16. Genus Micropterus, 15. Geographical variation, 29. Grystes, 15. Grystes salmoides, 22. Grystes salmonides, 15. Huro, 15. Huro nigricans, 16. Illinois, Black Bass of, 24, 27. Jordan, D. S., 14, 20. Labraces, 16. Labrus, 13. Lacepede, 11, 12. Lacepede's type specimens, 13. Le Sueur's specimens, 14. Linnaeus, 11, 12. Linne's specimens, 13. Longworth, N., 14. Mexico, Black Bass of, 25. Micropterus, 15, 16, 17. Micropterus dolomiei, 18, 20, 21. Micropterus dolomieu, 11, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19,20,21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. Micropterus dolomieu, Lac, syn. onomy of, 17. Micropterus floridanus, 24. Micropterus nigricans, 19, 24. (197) 198 INDEX TO SCIENTIFIC HISTORY. Micropterus pallidus, 24, 25. Micropterus salmoides (Lac.) Gill, 17, 19, 24. Micropterus salmoides (Lac.) Henshall, 11, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27. Micropterus salmoides (Lac.) Henshall, synonomy of, 22. Micropterus salmonides, 24. Micropterus, synonomy of, 15. Milbert's specimens, 13. Mioplosus, 16. Mississippi, Black Bass of, 24, 26. Morphology, 15. Murie, Wm, 12. Nomenclature, 15. Oswego Bass, 21. Scientific History of Black Bass, 11. Special features, 29. Specific descriptions of M. dolo- mieu, Lac. Micropterus dolomiei Bean, 20. Micropterus dolomiei Forbes, 20. Micropterus dolomiei Goode, 20,21. Micropterus dolomieu Gill, 21. Micropterus dolomieu Jordan, 20, 22. Micropterus dolomieu Jordan & Ever- mann, 21. Micropterus dolomieu Jordan & Gil- bert, 19. Micropterus dolomieu Mather, 21. Micropterus salmoides Cope, 19. Micropterus salmoides Nelson, 19. Specific descriptions of M. salmoi- des (Lac.) Henshall, 24. 3Iicropterus floridanus Cope, 24. Micropterus nigricans Nelson, 24. Micropterus pallidus Cope, 25. Micropterus pallidus Hay, 24. Micropterus salmoides Bean, 26. Micropterus salmoides Forbes, 27. Micropterus salmoides Gill, 27. Micropterus salmoides Goode, 26. Micropterus salmoides Hay, 26. Micropterus salmoides Jordan, 26, 27. Micropterus salmoides Jordan & Ever- mami, 27. Micropterus salmoides Jordan & Gil- bert, 25, 27. Specimens, Lacepede's, 13. Specimens, Le Sueur's, 14. Specimens, Linne's, 13. Specimens, Milbert's, 13. Specimens, Type, 13. Synonomy of M. dolomieu, Lac, 17. Synonomy of M. salmoides (Lac ) Henshall, 22. Synonomy of Micropterus, 15. Texas, Black Bass of, 24, 27, 29. Type specimens, 13. INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY AND ANGLING. Adjustable fly-spoon, 127. Advice to tyro, 1 75. Air-bladder of fishes, 60. American silk-worm, 105, 108. Angler, genuine. 159 Angler's pliers, 146. Angler, the true, 169. Angling of boyhood, 185. Angling, optics of, 57. Angling, philosophy of, 159. Angling, sermon on, 160. Arnold's experience in Bass-cult- ure, 48. A reminiscence, 175. A retrospection, 187. Artificial flies, 119. Artificial flies, rules for, 174. Artificial minnows, 127. Artificial mouse, 128. Bait-fishing, lines for, 103. Baits, artificial, 125. Baits, natural, 129. Bethabara Henshall rod, 79. Biting of fish, 162. Black Bass as a food-fish, 47. Black Bass as a game-fish, 47. Black Bass butchers, 191. Black Bass, coloration, 39. Black Bass, distribution, 41. Black Bass, eggs of, 48. Black Bass fishing, literature of, 171. Black Bass fishing, pleasures of, 169. Black Bass, food of, 45. Black Bass for stocking waters, 47. Black Bass, habitat of, 41. Black Bass, habits of, 48. Black Bass in brackish water, 44. Black Bass in confined waters, 46. Black Bass not piscivorous, 45. Black Bass, objections against, 45. Black Bass of Arkansas, 29. Black Bass of Florida, 53. Black Bass of Texas, 29. Black Bass ponds, 48. Black Bass, teeth of, 167. Black Bass, voracity of, 167. Boat, canvas, 153. Boats, fishing, 149. Bobbing in Florida, 193. Books, fly, 131. Books, tackle, 138. Box, leader, 139. Braided lines, 101. Brook trout, extinction of, 165. Brook trout, stocking waters with, 167. Brush heaps, nests on, 50. Buckets, minnow, 145. (199) 200 INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY. Burning Black Bass, 190. Cable-laid line, 102. Canvas boat, 153. Capabilities of Hen shall rod, 181. "Capelin" phantom, 127. Casting the fly, 173. Casting the minnow, 181. Cause of decrease of trout, 166. Cecropia silk-worm, 107. Cells, pigment, 40. Change of coloration, 40. Character of waters, 43. Chinese silk-worm, 105. Chubs, 129. Clarke, 8. C, on comparative gameness, 34. Click in reels, 88. Click reels, 91. Climatic influences, 43. Coloration of Black Bass, 39. Coloration of sea trout, 39. Color of leaders, 110. Comparison of game qualities, 29. Concluding remarks, 195. Conditions governing biting, 162. Construction of fly-rods, 83. Construction of Henshall rod, 71. Construction of leaders, 111. Cross-bars, 90. Cylindrical ferrules, 77. "Cyrtonyx" on comparative game- ness, 35. Decrease of brook trout, 166. Dimensions of Henshall rod, 71. Discomforts of^ trout fishing, 168. Disgorgers, 143. Disgorger, Foard's, 143. Disgorger, Mills', 143. Disgorger, Shipley's, 143. Distribution, geographical, 41. Dowel-mortise joint, 75. Drag in reels, 88. Drawing silk-worm gut, 106. " Dubuque " on comparative game- ness, 33. Eagle Waters, 190. Ear of fishes, 59. " E. F." on comparative game- ness, 37. Eggs of American silk-worm, 108. Eggs of Black Bass, 48. Eggs of cecropia silk-worm, 107. Enameled line, 101. England, Black Bass in, 63. England, angling novelties in, 115. "Eureka" fishing-boat, 151. Experience with rod-joints, 76. Experiments with leaders, 108. Extinction of brook trout, 165. Extraordinary minnow - casting, 184. Eyed hooks, 114. Feeding of fish, 163. Ferrules, 77. Fish, biting of, 162. Fishes, air-bladder of, 60. Fishes, ear of, 59. Fishes, feeding of, 163. Fish-hooks, 114. Fishing boats, 149. Fishing boat, " Eureka," 151. Fishing boat, Osgood's, 153. Fishing for count 159. Fishing, fly, 171. Fishing lines, 101. Fishing reels, 88. INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY. 201 Fishing rods, 69. Fishing rods, steel, 86. Flies, artificial, 119. Flies, general, 121. Flies, Henshall's, 121. Flies, killing, 119. Flies, table of, 120. Floating minnow-bucket, 145. Florida Black Bass, 53. Florida, bobbing in, 193. Florida, large Bass of, 53. Floridian waters, 44. Fluttering fly, 122. Fly-books, 131. Fly-book, "Bray," 131. Fly-book, Chubb's, 1 35. Fly-book, Conroy's, 133. Fly-book, " Endicott," 137. Fly-book, " Levison," 137. Fly-book, Shipley's, 133. Fly-casting on lakes, 174. Fly-fishing, 171. Fly-fishing, lines for, 103. Fly-fishing, practical hints, 172. Fly-fishing, time for, 174. Fly, fluttering, 122. Fly, Golden Dustman, 122. Fly, Mayer's, 122. Fly-rods, 83. Fly-rod, Chubb's, 82. Fly-rod, construction of, 83. Fly-rod, Henshall, 85. Fly-rod, Or vis', 82. Fly-rod, Shipley's, 82. Fly-rod, specifications for, 85. Fly-spoon, adjustable, 127. Food and growth, 51. Food fish, Black Bass as, 47. Food of Black Bass, 45. Food of large-mouthed Bass, 51. Food of small-mouthed Bass, 52. Forbes on food, 45, 51. Game fish, Black Bass as a, 47, 165. Game qualities, 30. Gangs, should not be used, 126. General and special features, 29. Geographical distribution, 41. Geographical variation, 29. Germany, Black Bass in, 63. Gogebic lake, 190. Golden Dustman fly, 1 22. Grip of Henshall rod, 72. Growth of Black Bass, 51. Gut, drawing of, 106. Gut, silk-worm, 105. Habitat of Black Bass, 41. Habits of Black Bass, 48. Habits of brook trout, 173. Hammered spoons, 126. Handle of Henshall rod, 73. Hatching of Black Bass, 48. Hearing, 58. Heavy large-mouthed Bass, 53. Heavy small-mouthed Bass, 52. Henshall fly-rod, 85. Henshall rod, grip of, 72. Henshall rod, standard, 71. Henshall's flies, 121. Henshall- Van Antwerp reel, 95. Hibernation, 54. Holder for rod, 147. Hooks, 114. Hook and tackle book, 138. Hook extractors, 143. Hooks, eyed, 114. Hooks, numbering of, 115. 202 INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY. Hooks, snelling of, 116. Hooks, tying, 1 16. Implements, miscellaneous, 131. Intelligence, 56. Invisible knot, 117. Ira Wood on comparative game- ness, 33. Joint, dowel-mortise, 75. Joint, non-dowel, 74. Kentucky reel, 89. Killing flies, 119. " Kingfisher " on comparative gameness, 3'2. Knot, invisible, 1 17. " Lambert" on comparative game- ness, 36. Lancewood Henshall rod, 78, 81. Landing-nets, 14 1. Landing-net, Bailey's, 141. Landing-net, "Dorsal Fin" 141. Landing-net, Orvis', 141. Leaders, 108. Leader-boxes, 139. Leaders, color of, 108. Leaders, construction of, 111. Leaders, experiments with, 108. Leaders, testing, 112. Length of snells, 112. Lines, bait, 101. Lines, fishing, 101. Lines, fly, 103. Lines, Hall Company's, 101. Lines, metal-center, 103. Lines, waterproof, 102. Literature of Black Bass fishing, 171. Loops of leaders, 111. Manner of spawning, 49. Mascalonge on Henshall rod, 182. Mather on comparative gameness, 31. Metal-center line, 103. Metal reel-seats, 90. Minnow-buckets, 145. Minnow-bucket, "Acme," 145. Minnow-bucket, Rudolph's, 145 Minnow-bucket, Shipley's, 145. Minnow-casting, 183. Minnow-casting lines, 101. Minnow, casting the, J81. Minnow-pocket, 146. Minnow-rod, capabilities of, 181. Minnows, 129. Minnows, artificial, 127. Miscellaneous implements, 131. Mouse, artificial, 128. Mouse, trout rising to, 128. Multiplying reels, 95. Murderous sportsmen, 192. Natural baits, 129. Negro philosophy, 187. Nests on brush-heaps, 50. Netherlands, Black Bass in, 64. New England a zoological island, 42. Non-dowel joint, 74. Numbering fish-hooks, 115. Objections against Black Bass, 45. "Opinicon ' on comparative game. ness, 32. Optics of angling, 57. Organ of hearing, 60. Original habitat, 43. Pearl spoon, 127. Philosophy of Angling, 159. Pigment cells, 40. INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY. 203 Platysamia ceeropia, 107. Pleasures of Bass-fishing, 1G9. Pliers, angler's, 146. Ponds for Black Bass, 48. Portable boats, 153. Pot-fishers, 159. Practical hints on fly-fishing, 172. Predominating colors of flies, 120, Preservation of trout streams, 107, Propagation of Black Bass, 48. Qualities, game, 30. Razor-back Black Bass, 190. Redfish on Henshall rod, 182. Reels, 88. Reels, click, 91. Reels, multiplying, 95. Reel, Chubb's click, 91. Reel-groove, 90. Reel, Henshall-Van Antwerp, 95. Reel, " Imbrie," 98. Reel, " Imperial," 99. Reel, Kentucky, 89. Reel-line, bait, 101. Reel-line, fly, 103. Reel, Mills' automatic click, 93. Reel-plates, 90. Reel-seats, 90. Reel, "Silver King," 98. Reel, Snyder's, 97. Remarks, concluding, 195. Reminiscence, a, 175. Retrospection, a, 187. Rising to the fly, 172. Rivers in Florida, 44. * Rob Roy" on comparative game- ness, 36. Rod. Henshall, Abbey & Imbrie's, 70, 81 Rod, Henshall, Chubb's, 78. Rod, Henshall, Leonard's, 81. Rod, Henshall, Orvis', 78. Rod, Henshall, Shipley's, 79. Rod, Henshall, Spalding's, 79. Rod, Henshall, standard, 71. Rod holder, 147. Rods, fishing, 69. Rods, fly, 83. Rods, improvements in, 69. Rods of steel, 86. Rules for flies, 174. Salmon fishing, vicissitudes of,168. "Salmon Roe" on comparative gameness, 34. •Salt water. Black Bass in, 44. Scotland, Black Bass in, 65. Sense of hearing, 58. Sense of sight, 56. Sermon on angling, 160. Shiners, 129. Shoes, wading, 148. Sight of fishes, 56. Silk-worm, American, 105, 107. Silk-worm, Chinese, 105. Silk-worm gut, 105. Skittering and bobbing, 193. Small-mouthed Bass, food of, 52. SnelJing hooks, 116. Snells, 112. Snells, length of, 112. Snoods, 112. Spawning, manner of, 49. Special senses, 56. Specifications for fly-rod, -85. Specifications for Henshall rod, 71. Split-bamboo Henshall rod, 78, 79, 81. 204 INDEX TO LIFE HISTORY. Spoon, pearl, 127. Spoons, hammered, 126. Spoons, trolling, 126. Standard Henshall rod, 71. Steel fishing rods, 86. Still-fishing, 185. Stocking inland waters, 62. Stocking waters with Black Bass, 47. Stocking waters with brook trout, 167. Table of flies, 120. Tackle-book, 138. Tarpon on Henshall rod, 182. Teeth of Black Bass, 167. Telea polyphemus, 108. Testing leaders, 1 12. Time for fly-fishing, 174. Tools and tackle, 67. Transportation of Black Bass, 62. Triple hooks an abomination, 126. Trolling, 190. Trolling spoons, legitimate use of, 125. Trolling spoons, many forms of, 125. Trolling spoons, single hook for, 126. Trout fishing, discomforts of, 168. Trout rising to mouse, 128. Trout streams, decrease of, 166. True angler, 169. Tying hooks, 116. Universal use of Henshall rod, 183. Von dem Borne on game quali- ties, 30. Wading-shoes, 148. Wading the stream, 173. Waterproof lines, 102. Waters, on stocking, 62. Zoological island, New England a, 42. H*28^ 84 l ^ VPC,' w *s J> \ #W . ** "V V * ^ c«*..^fc.* o ,-l ^ V. %, A* . v ^. v./- %^ .c5»^. r,o . V^A • • *