Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others Part 1

Ba.s.s, Pike, Perch, and Others.

by James Alexander Henshall.

INTRODUCTION

In this volume are included all of the game-fishes of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, except the salmons and trouts, and the tarpon, jewfish, and other fishes of large size, which are described in other volumes of this series. As a matter of convenience I have grouped the fishes in families, whenever possible, but in their sequence I have been guided chiefly by their importance as game-fishes, and not in accordance with their natural order. The latter feature, however, has been provided for in a systematic list on a subsequent page.

In order not to burden the text with matter that might not be of general interest, the technical descriptions of the fishes of each group are given in small type at the head of each chapter; and that they may be readily understood by the lay reader the following explanations seem necessary.

The length of the head is from the point of the snout to the hindmost point or margin of the gill-cover. The length of the body is from the point of the snout to the base of the caudal fin, the fin itself not being included. The depth of the body is from the highest point of the dorsal line to the lowest point of the ventral line, usually from the base of the first dorsal fin to the base of the ventral fin. The expression "head 5" means that the length of the head is contained five times in the length of the body; the expression "depth 5" means that the depth of the body is contained five times in its length; "eye 5" means that the diameter of the eye is contained five times in the length of the head. In describing the fins the spiny rays are denoted by Roman numerals, and the soft rays by Arabic numerals, and the fins themselves by initials; thus "D. 9" means that the dorsal fin is single and composed of nine soft rays; "D. IX, 10" means that the single dorsal fin has nine spiny rays and ten soft rays; when separated by a hyphen, as "D. X-12," it means that there are two dorsal fins, the first composed of ten spiny rays and the second of twelve soft ones; "A. III, 11" means that the a.n.a.l fin has three spines and eleven soft rays. The expression "scales 7-65-18" indicates that there are seven rows of scales between the dorsal fin and the lateral line, sixty-five scales along the lateral line, and eighteen oblique or horizontal rows between the lateral line and the ventral line. The number of rays in the fins and the number of scales along the lateral line, as given, represent the average number, and are subject to slight variation; thus in some localities the number of rays in a fin may be found to vary one or two, and the number of scales along the lateral line may vary from one to five, more or less, from the number given in the descriptions.

I have adhered strictly to the nomenclature of the "Fishes of Middle and North America" (Bulletin, U.S. National Museum, No. 47), by Jordan and Evermann, and in the main I have followed the descriptions as recorded in that admirable work; but in many instances I have depended on my own notes.

The suggestions as to angling and the tools and tackle recommended may be confidently relied on, as they are in conformity with my own practice and are based on my personal experience, covering a period of forty years, on many waters, from Canada to the West Indies, and from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains.

JAMES A. HENSHALL.

BOZEMAN, MONTANA.

February 1, 1903.

CHAPTER I

THE SUNFISH FAMILY (_Centrarchidae_)

The sunfish family is composed entirely of fresh-water fishes. They are characterized by a symmetrically-shaped body, rather short and compressed; mouth terminal; teeth small, without canines; scales rather large; cheeks and gill-covers scaly; scales mostly smooth; border of preopercle smooth, or but slightly serrated; opercle ending in two flat points, or in a black flap; a single dorsal fin, composed of both spiny and soft rays; a.n.a.l fin also having both spines and soft rays; the dorsal spines varying from 6 to 13 in the different species, with from 3 to 9 in the a.n.a.l fin; s.e.xes similar; coloration mostly greenish.

GENUS MICROPTERUS

_Micropterus dolomieu._ Small-mouth Black-ba.s.s. Body ovate-oblong; head 3; depth 3; eye 6; D. X, 13; A. III, 10; scales 11-73-17; mouth large, the maxillary reaching front of eye; scales on cheek minute, in 17 rows; teeth villiform.

_Micropterus salmoides._ Large-mouth Black-ba.s.s. Body ovate-oblong; head 3; depth 3; eye 5; D. X, 13; A. III, 11; scales 8-68-16; scales on cheek large, in 10 rows; mouth very large, maxillary extending beyond the eye; teeth villiform.

GENUS AMBLOPLITES

_Ambloplites rupestris._ Rock-ba.s.s. Body oblong, moderately compressed; head 2-3/4; depth 2-1/2; eye 4; D. XI, 10; A. VI, 10; scales 5-40-12, with 6 to 8 rows on cheeks; mouth large, maxillary extending to posterior part of pupil; teeth small, single patch on tongue; gill-rakers 7 to 10, on lower part of arch; preopercle serrate near its angle; opercle ends in 2 flat points.

GENUS ARCHOPLITES

_Archoplites interruptus._ Sacramento Perch. Body oblong-ovate, compressed; head 2-2/3; depth 2-1/2; eye 4; D. XII, 10; A. VI, 10; scales 7-45-14; 8 rows on cheeks; mouth very large, maxillary extending beyond pupil; teeth numerous and small, with 2 patches on tongue; gill-rakers 20; opercle emarginate; most of the membrane bones of head serrate.

GENUS CHaen.o.bRYTTUS

_Chaen.o.bryttus gulosus._ Warmouth Perch. Body heavy and deep; head 2-1/2; depth 2-1/4; eye 4; D. X, 9; A. III, 8; scales 6-42-11; 6 to 8 rows on cheeks; teeth small and numerous; gill-rakers 9; preopercle entire; mouth very large; opercle ends in a black convex flap.

GENUS LEPOMIS

_Lepomis pallidus._ Blue Sunfish. Body short and deep, compressed; head 3; depth 2; eye 3-1/2; D. X, 12; A. III, 12; scales 7-46-16; 5 rows on cheeks; mouth small, maxillary barely reaching eye; teeth small and sharp; opercular flap without pale edge; gill-rakers x + 11 to 13.

_Lepomis megalotis._ Long-eared Sunfish. Body short and deep, the back arched; head 3; depth 2; eye 4; D. X, 11; A. III, 9; scales 5-40-14; 5 rows on cheeks; mouth small and oblique; opercular flap long and broad, with red or blue margin; gill-rakers x + 8 or 9.

_Lepomis auritus._ Red-breast Sunfish. Body elongate; head 3; depth 3; eye 4; D. X, 11; A. III, 9; scales 6-45-15; mouth large, oblique; palatine teeth present; gill-rakers _x_ + 8 or 9, quite short; opercular flap very long and narrow; scales on breast very small; 7 rows scales on cheeks.

GENUS EUPOMOTIS

_Eupomotis gibbosus._ Common Sunfish. Body short and deep, compressed; head 3; depth 2; eye 4; D. X, 11; A. III, 10; scales 6-45-13; 4 rows on cheeks; mouth small, oblique, maxillary scarcely reaching front of eye; pharyngeal teeth paved and rounded; gill-rakers soft and small, _x_ + 10; opercular flap rather small, the lower part bright scarlet.

GENUS POMOXIS

_Pomoxis sparoides._ Calico-ba.s.s. Body oblong, elevated, much compressed; head 3; depth 2; D. VII, 15; A. VI, 17; scales 40 to 45; 6 rows on cheeks; mouth large, maxillary reaching to posterior edge of pupil; snout projecting; fins very high, a.n.a.l higher than dorsal.

_Pomoxis annularis._ c.r.a.ppie. Body rather elongate; head 3; depth 2-1/3; D. VI, 15; A. VI, 18; scales 36 to 48; 4 or 5 rows on cheek; mouth very wide; fins very high, but lower than _sparoides_.

THE SMALL-MOUTH BLACK-Ba.s.s

(_Micropterus dolomieu_)

The generic name _Micropterus_ was given to the small-mouth black-ba.s.s by the French ichthyologist Lacepede, in 1802, who was the first to describe it. The name _Micropterus_, which means "small fin," was bestowed on account of the mutilated condition of the dorsal fin of the specimen, a few of the posterior rays of the fin being detached and broken off, giving the appearance of a short and separate fin. The specimen was sent to Paris from an unknown locality in America, and is still preserved in the Museum of Natural History at Paris, where I personally examined it. It is a fine example, about a foot in length, and is remarkably well preserved. As there was no known genus to which the specimen with the curious dorsal fin could be referred, Lacepede created the new genus _Micropterus_. He gave it the specific name _dolomieu_ as a compliment to his friend M. Dolomieu, a French mineralogist, for whom the mineral dolomite was also named.

Originally, the small-mouth black-ba.s.s was restricted to the Great Lake region, parts of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and along the upper reaches of streams flowing from the Alleghany Mountains in the Southern states. It has, however, been introduced into all of the New England and Middle states, and into many Western states. It has a compressed, rather elliptical body, the dorsal and ventral outlines being nearly equal; it becomes deeper with age.

As its range, or distribution, is so great and extensive, and the waters it inhabits are so different in hue and character, the coloration of the small-mouth ba.s.s varies from almost black to the faintest tinge of green, in different sections of the country. The coloration is so variable that it differs even in fish in the same waters. It is influenced mostly by the hue of the water, character of the bottom, the presence or absence of weeds about the haunts of the ba.s.s, and, moreover, the changes in color may occur in a very short time when subject to these various conditions. The general color, however, is greenish of various shades, always darker on the back, and paling to white or whitish on the belly. When markings are present, they form vertical patches or bars, never horizontal. Three bronze streaks extend from the eye across the cheeks. All markings, however, may become obsolete with age.

The natural food of both species is crawfish, which might be inferred from the character of their teeth and wide-opening mouth. There is a popular belief that they are essentially and habitually piscivorous; but this is an error; they are not so black as they are painted. They feed on minute crustaceans and larval forms of insects when young, and afterward on crawfish, minnows, frogs, insects, etc., as do most fishes that have teeth in the jaws. But the teeth of the black-ba.s.s are villiform and closely packed, presenting an even surface as uniform as the surface of a tooth-brush. Such teeth are incapable of wounding, and merely form a rough surface for holding their prey securely. All truly piscivorous fishes have fewer, but sharp, conical teeth, of unequal length, like the yellow-perch, pike-perch, mascalonge, and trout, or lancet-shaped teeth like the bluefish.

The black-ba.s.s is far less destructive to fish life than any of the fishes mentioned; on the contrary, it suffers the most in a mixed community of fishes, and is the first to disappear. There are small lakes in Canada and Michigan where the brook-trout and black-ba.s.s have coexisted from time immemorial without jeopardy to the trout. There are small lakes in Wisconsin where black-ba.s.s and cisco, with other species, have coexisted for all time; and while the cisco is as numerous as ever, the black-ba.s.s has almost disappeared. It does not follow, however, that black-ba.s.s should be introduced in trout waters; far from it.

Brook-trout are being exterminated fast enough, owing to the changed natural conditions of the streams and their surroundings, without adding another contestant for the limited supply of food in such waters.

Both species of black-ba.s.s have been introduced into Germany, France, Russia, and the Netherlands. In Germany, especially, they have found a permanent home. It was my privilege materially to a.s.sist Herr Max von dem Borne, of Berneuchen, with such advice as enabled him to start on a sure footing in his enterprise, and with such subsequent success in its establishment that he published several brochures on the black-ba.s.s to meet the demand for information as to its habits and merits as a game and food-fish. An effort was made some years ago to introduce the black-ba.s.s into English waters, but without success, owing to a want of knowledge as to the proper species to experiment with. The small-mouth ba.s.s was placed in weedy ponds or small lakes in which only the large-mouth ba.s.s would live.

The small-mouth ba.s.s thrives only in comparatively clear, cool, and rocky or gravelly streams, and in lakes and ponds supplied by such streams or having cold bottom springs. In lakes of the latter character, in northern sections, it coexists with large-mouth ba.s.s in many instances. In such cases, however, the small-mouth will be found usually at the inlet, or about the springs, and the large-mouth at the outlet or in sheltered, gra.s.sy situations. In winter it undergoes a state of partial or complete torpidity. In ponds that have been drained in the winter season it has been found snugly ensconced in the crevices of rocks, beneath shelving banks, logs, roots, or among ma.s.ses of vegetation, undergoing its winter sleep. In the spring, when the temperature of the water rises above fifty degrees, the small-mouth ba.s.s emerges from its winter quarters, about which it lingers until the water becomes still warmer, when it departs in search of suitable locations for sp.a.w.ning. At this time, owing to a semi-migratory instinct, it ascends streams, and roams about in lakes or ponds, often ascending inlet streams, or in some instances descending outlet streams.

When favorable situations are found, the male and female pair off and proceed to fulfil the reproductive instinct. The sp.a.w.ning period extends from May to July, according to the section of the country it inhabits, and when the temperature of the water is suitable. The nests are formed on a bottom of gravel or coa.r.s.e sand, or on a flat rock in very rocky streams. The male fish does the work of preparation by scouring with fins and tail a s.p.a.ce about twice his length in diameter, forming a shallow, saucer-shaped depression, in which the female deposits her eggs, which are fertilized by the male, who hovers near by. The eggs are heavy and adhesive, being invested with a glutinous matter that enables them to adhere to the pebbles on the bottom. The number of eggs varies from two thousand to twenty-five thousand, according to the size and weight of the female. The nest is carefully guarded by the parents until the eggs hatch, the period of incubation being from one to two weeks, according to the temperature of the water. The resultant fry are then watched and brooded by the male fish for several days or a week, when they seek the shelter of weeds and gra.s.ses in shallow water.

The young fry feed on minute crustaceans and the larval forms of insects. When a month old they are about an inch long, and continue to grow, if food is plentiful, so that they reach a length of from three to six inches in the fall. Thereafter they increase a pound a year under the most favorable conditions, until the maximum weight is attained, which is about five pounds. In some instances, however, they have reached a weight of seven or even ten pounds, where the environment has been unusually favorable; notably in Glen Lake, near Glens Falls, New York, where a half-dozen or more have been taken weighing from eight to ten pounds. One of ten pounds was twenty-five and one-half inches long and nineteen inches in girth.

As a game-fish the black-ba.s.s has come into his inheritance. As the French say, he has arrived. With the special tools and tackle now furnished for his capture, he has proved my aphorism. "Inch for inch, and pound for pound, he is the gamest fish that swims." When I ventured this opinion twenty-five years ago, there were no special articles made for his capture except the Kentucky reel and the McGinnis rod, twelve feet long and fifteen ounces in weight. In awarding the palm as a game-fish to the black-ba.s.s, I do so advisedly, in the light of ample experience with all other game-fishes, and without prejudice, for I have an innate love and admiration for all, from the lovely trout of the mountain brook to the giant tarpon of the sea.

In the application of so broad and sweeping an a.s.sertion each and every attribute of a game-fish must be well considered: his habitat; his apt.i.tude to rise to the fly; his struggle for freedom; his manner of resistance; his weight as compared with other game-fishes; and his excellence as a food-fish, must be separately and collectively considered and duly and impartially weighed. His haunts are amid most charming and varied scenes. Not in the silent and solemn solitudes of the primeval forests, where animated Nature is evidenced mainly in swarms of gnats, black-flies, and mosquitoes; nor under the shadows of grand and lofty mountains, guarded by serried ranks of pines and firs, but whose sombre depths are void of feathered songsters. However grand, sublime, and impressive such scenes truly are, they do not appeal profoundly to the angler. He must have life, motion, sound. He courts Nature in her more communicative moods, and in the haunts of the black-ba.s.s his desires are realized. Wading down the rippling stream, casting his flies. .h.i.ther and yon, alert for the responsive tug, the sunlight is filtered through overhanging trees, while the thrush, blackbird, and cardinal render the air vocal with sweet sounds, and his rival, the kingfisher, greets him with vibrant voice. The summer breeze, laden with the scent of woodland blossoms, whispers among the leaves, the wild bee flits by on droning wing, the squirrel barks defiantly, and the tinkle of the cow-bell is mellowed in the distance. I know of such streams in the mountain valleys of West Virginia, amid the green rolling hills of Kentucky and Tennessee, and in the hill country where Missouri and Arkansas meet.

The apt.i.tude of the black-ba.s.s to rise to the artificial fly is not questioned by the twentieth-century angler, though it was considered a matter of doubt by many anglers during the last quarter of the nineteenth. The doubt was mainly owing to a lack of experience, for fly-fishing for black-ba.s.s was successfully practised in Kentucky as early, certainly, as 1845. I have before me a click reel made in 1848 by the late Mr. J.L. Sage, of Lexington, Kentucky, especially for fly-fishing. I have also seen his fly-rod made by him about the same time, and used by him for many years on the famous ba.s.s streams of that state. And I might say, in pa.s.sing, that blackba.s.s bait-fishing, as an art, originated in Kentucky a century ago. George Snyder, of Paris, Kentucky, when president of the Bourbon County Angling Club, made the first multiplying reel for casting the minnow, in 1810, and as early as 1830 many such reels were used in that state. The rods employed by those pioneers of black-ba.s.s fishing were about ten feet long, weighing but several ounces, cut from the small end of a Mississippi cane, with the reel lashed to the b.u.t.t. They used the smallest Chinese "sea-gra.s.s"

lines, or home-made lines of three strands of black sewing-silk twisted together. Those old disciples of Walton would have been shocked, could they have seen the heavy rods and coa.r.s.e lines that are still used in some sections, for their own tackle was as light, if not so elegant, as any made at the present day.