Show THE ROYAL BLACK BASS Touted as the Gamest of the Finny Tribe From my earliest ear lest experience in bass bas fishing which was had on the stump filled waters of ot Licking lake back in ina Ohio a good gOld many years ago I have hay been a consistent cO admirer of both the edible and game qualities of ot this splendid splendid splendid did game fish As long as 3 twenty years ears ago I predicted that the black bass bas was destined to head the list of name fame fishes and I am not one bit sur surprised su to see that prediction has al at last been verified for the bass today Is the most popular of ot all the good goof angling fishes to be found in the great greater er area of the tine waters of our country L ng may the delicate te brook trout be spared to us and may ma his numbers be everywhere eve where Increased by hythe the en enforcement enforcement enforcement of good laws and anti the exer exertions exertions exertions of the true sportsmen but the black bass has been pushing the trout back it ir the regard of the anglers why who wh want real excitement and is destined dc tined through many causes to push it still further to the rear not by reason of or ofa ora a lack of ot game or gastronomic qualities qualities however but simply because be ause a greater area of our waters Is s more adaptable to than tItan it is to t Sal lInus In many places ever ever the thc country the sturdy black backed warrior of ot our lakes and streams has seriously in invaded Inval Invaded val ed the haunts of this patrician n beauty and he is being constantly pushed on Into new fields In all probability probability ability no fish In America today Is re receiving the attention from official fish til t the bl ck bass is He Heis H HIs His is the embodiment of independence and an wherever wh he finds ahome a home he locates loc tes testo to stay provided he gets ets the proper propel protection and nd the supply of fresh wa water water water ter holds hoWs out He Is I afraid of or no fish that swims and will even make the ferocious pickerel or wicket muskellunge muskellunge lunge turn tall tail and seek the tall grass gralis when once they get too familiar But I cannot quite agree with that usually reliable old student Sam Rich Richmond Richmond Richmond mond that the mother bass deserts her oun when they the are once able to swim and find their own provender but on the contrary I think the black bass is the only one of our game fishes that guards and cares care for tor its young until they are perfectly able to thor thoroughly thoroughly take care of f themselves But to return to the thread of ot my story stor In my m opinion the black bass bas bassis basIs is today preeminently the game fish of t the people The original trout streams even of ot this state are greatly in volume and made absolutely in inmany inmany inmany many sections untenable for trout as they purl plarl through the big grazing lanes lants of ot our ranchers where cattle roam at will and by their daily dally wad ings and in their cool depths have so contaminated the wa water water water ter as ns to render it unfit for the sur survival survival survival vival of ot this delicate fish The fact i Is the speckled beauty in many a lo 10 locality locality Is but a romance and a fable Trout and progress in a measure are Incompatible Like the buffalo and the the prairie chicken the trout is a wild creature and with the thickening of ot the stock men mea me ard and agriculturalists he can cannot cannot cannot not mingle long The black bass on the other hand hard has all the nt rene nerve ve necessary to combat with the advance of civilization all he fears fear is 11 the unlawful fisherman the fellow tellow with the seine the tha net and the stick of dynamite for tor he is progress progressive progressIve ive himself and will thrive anywhere an where wherewith with proper protection and surround Inn inz under almost any conditions He HeIs HeIs Heis Is proud and game wherever you en country countI him whether this be on the big wild lakes of Minnesota tinn sota or In the streams ponds and woody sloughs of our own state slate He Is equally at home In to the still dIll waters of the lake as he Is la laIn In the swift and dashing current of ot the thee river The latter however I am prone to believe heightens tp no nO little ex extent extent extent tent his hs game qualities So It Is in inthe Inthe inthe the rivers and streams you will have to use the most skill and fight tight the harder to land him And yet a species offish ot of fish that produces young you g in water as still as our lakes that will m when no more than three inches long impale themselves on the hooks of ot a I trolling spoon In their efforts to swallow low It requires very little sharpening of game qualities I have written much Mu h about the black bass and yet must not In l this article neglect to mention that there are arc two tWI species of ot this dusky fish and probably probably probably ably a description of or a few of the marked differences between en them ie reve here there will not come amiss antiss The species s commonest throughout our own local water is of ot course the big mouthed and yet tome some sm bass Mi dolomieu have been taken from the Cedar the Loup and the Rawhide This fish prefers the cold running streams It has smaller scales than the big mouthed there being eleven elev eleven ele eleen en rows between the lateral line and the fin tIn while the bigmouthed has but eight rows of ot scales between the same points The scales of the small mouth are arc much smaller on the theoper oper cle breast and back of neck nerk than on the side of ot the fish and on the cheek I they are minute The scales of ot tin the th largemouth are little if it any an smaller on the breast back baek of ot neck and gill gm covers than on the sides of the body bod The notch between the and soft rayed dorsal Is deeper in the large than the As to the game qualities of ot the two species there is a difference of ot opinion Many Ian anglers hold and I am one of them that hat pound for tor pound there Is Isso Isso isso so little difference in their activity when on the hook hool that it would take the most refitted refined connoisseur indeed to distinguish It Others contend again that the bigmouth is not In It with the as asa a fighter Some years ago a prominent Omaha in talking to me about the thc black bass bassIn bassIn In our lakes lakeR and streams said it was barely possible that they the were a cross cros between the large and but I have never been able to learn learnan anything an further on this theory theor and ad andam aJi adam am totally Ignorant whether the two fishes will cross or not but I do not believe they will but D B do not believe they are even een more distinct in species than the muskellunge and great north northern northern northern ern pike The Nebraska fishermen know that the bigmouth bass b ss thrives finely In waters with mull mud bottom wherein are tules cane cane rice and arid flags but we who are at all familiar with the small mouth know that it delights in clear cold with a bottom of rock grav gra gravel I Iel el and anI clear sand or resorts along in July and August to the tall grasses that spring up at the bottom of the thede deepest de pest streams The largemouth if Jf surrounded by b as favorable conditions as to habitat as aR the cool rushing streams is for the th it might be bc universally thought to be as aR great a fighter which I think it Is under tinder any conditions as is the small mouth But I am stretching this out a little beyond the space I have I Ifor for It ft and will wait until another Sun Sunday Sunday I Ida day da when I will tell you ou exclusively what I know about the |