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Show I FISHING ON UTAH LAKE m' Hy far tlic gamost flsh that Inhab-m Inhab-m Its Utah Luke Ih the blnck bass; In l l. fnct anglers of wide oxperlcnco lmvo j aW willed It the best game flsh In Am-l Am-l erica. It Is distinctively nn American 1 '' fish, coming original!' from tho wnt-H wnt-H . era of tho upper Mississippi nnd tho H Great Lakes Basin, being unknown, m , ns a native any whero In Europo; B f ' some years ago It was Introduced In i , Utah Lake where, with customary J nsserttveness, It has mado Itself at H l home, multiplying until Its numbers Ij nro sufllclent to furnish excellent fun B I ' for tho angler. Thero nro two vari-H vari-H ! ctlcs of tho family Ccntrarchldao; H I tho big mouthed black bass (micron-H (micron-H tcrus salmoldcs), with deeply cleft H' mouth nnd upper Jaw extending far Hj beyond tho eye, preferring tho slug-B slug-B i g"h waters of Inkes nnd bayous nnd HJ tlio proximity of reeds nnd mossy ' Hi logs; and the smnll mouthed black B' hnss (mlcropterus, dolomleu), whoso H i Jaw reaches n point below the cyo, H'; nnd whoso homo Is clear running H ' Mreams. Inasmuch as there Is prnc-H prnc-H i tlcnlly no difference In tho character-1 H Iftlc mill ImliltR of tho two, nlthosgli H! t the rango of the loigo mouthed bass H Is fnr greater, thoy may bo describes describ-es ' cd together. H They nro very prolific, spawning In M j Iho soring and dopnsltlng their eggs m ( I In bowl shaped depressions scooped In tho rand by llns nnd tall; tho .voting nro guarded with the utmost caro. In about thrco years tho bnss attains maturity, growing to n lino dull golden green fish, with nn oblong, ob-long, compressed body from ono to two nnd ono half feet long nnd acquiring ac-quiring a weight of from two to eight pounds. They nro ferocious feeders, eating crnw fish. Insects, frogs, small fish, oven nttncklng flsh of their cwn slzo; rats nnd snakes have been found In their stomachs nnd thoy are known to turn over smnll stones In search of crustaceans; they Boon : become masters of tho waters In which they aro placed nnd 6tnnll ponds nro quickly depopulated hy their greed. , Tho bass takes large, gaudy flics, trolling spoonB, nnd llvo bait, biting ravenously, struggling furiously, nnd fighting brnvoly till tho last whon hooked. Ho has tho arrowy rush and vigor of tho trout, tho untiring ! strength and bold leap of tho salmon together with n versatllo method of fighting peculiar to himself; sometimes some-times ho leaps live or six feet Trom the water. Anyono who hns seen tho fish feeding, must have been impressed impress-ed by their groat power of movement 'r Is ntd that If tho tnnmn had tlm energy of the bass in proportion to his superior size, no angler In a small boat would bo nblo to land him allvo with a twelve ounco rod. In winter, unless tho water be deep enough for them to sink beyond tho rench of Btirfacc cold, thoy descend to the bottom, their blood (lows sluggishly, slug-gishly, their vitality is diminished, and they enter Into n stnto of hibernation hiber-nation during which they feel no need of food. On tho Great Lakes, where tho water Is deep, they nro sometimes caught through tho Ice, with hook and lino. In Utah Lake tho bass frequent tho shallow waters near tho rushes, whero they may usually be enticed by minnow or Bpoon, I remember one Iinndsomo four pounder that I secured secur-ed with n flask of whiskey. I had been fishing nil day", with rather poor luck, although a nntlvo fisherman, v.hoso boat lay not fnr from my own had mado n number of flno catches. In hope of observing his method, I drew near Just as ho landed the nbove mentioned beauty, after an exciting tussle. He held tho bass tauntingly for my admiration; then a happy thought struck mo. I remembered that I was in n dry section nnd I held up mv whiskey flask. We went our several ways with n change of cargoes. Tho bass js an excellent food fish, having an Individual, appetizing flavor flav-or to Its Arm flnkcy meat; in tho markets, It Is not seen so often as tho trout, which enjoys greater popularity. pop-ularity. Intermediate between tho sclcntlflo angler, who knows exnetly what to do In every plscntorlal emergency, nnd tho city dweller who believes that tho Bcnley tribes build their nests In trees nnd hntch their eggs by concentrating tho sun's, rays thru n fin, is tho humblo Individual who enjoys un occasional angling expedition, expedi-tion, whero nnythlng that Inhabits the water Is wclcomo on his hook. There are many of this class, glad to find a pretext for spending n day In tho open. On any holiday In summer sum-mer thoy may be seen In forco, tramp Ing along tho banks of tho Jordan Itlvor from tho narrows to tho lake, or rowing from spot to spot on the wnters of tho latter; a favorite locality lo-cality Is whero tho Fairfield branch of the Salt Lnko Routo crosses tho Jordan. Perhaps tho sophisticated angler sees them ns tho train or his mnchlne, speeds through the fertile valley nnd ho wonders what sport can bo found In taking n catflBh, for that scaleleRB and facetious flsh Is usually usual-ly tho object of their nmbltlons. Dut tho catfish possesses these merits In the eyes of tho amateur angler; ho Is a greedy feeder; It requires no skill to hook him; and his meat, though lacking tho flavor of bass or trout, Is good food. Thero aro millions of catfish In Utah Lnko and tho Jordnn River, notwithstanding not-withstanding tho fnct that thoy wero Introduced Into these waters as lato as lSftfi, by Fish Commissioner Mus-scr. Mus-scr. They belong to thc, fnmlly Sll-urldac, Sll-urldac, and nro tho hardiest of our fiosh water fishes. They spawn In tho spring, lending their young In largo schools, and caring for them nppnrently ns a hen for her chickens. Tho "blue" cnt of Utah Lnko Is an Indiscriminate In-discriminate feeder, often eating tho eggs nnd fry of other flshos. Ills larger brother, tho yellow, or ehnnnel cat, which sometimes attains n weight of more than 150 pounds has been found with tooth brushes, old shoes, railroad timetables, and similar Indigestible In-digestible articles In his stomach. One thousand Jry of that variety wero placed in tho lako in 1912, and n specimen weighing seven pounds was taken near Geneva several years later. lat-er. Largo carp, bass, native trout, chubs, sunflsh, and sllvcrsldcs have frequently been discovered dead on the beach and investigation disclosed tho fact that they had swallowed small catfish whose spines became rigid and killed the dovourers. Although the catlllsh will swallow anything cdiblo and many things that nro not, ho has a marked fondness for worms. So,-equipped with a can of those dainties, stiff poles, m and the usual concomitants, wo rowed ono flno morning to a spot perhaps n mile from shore, dropped our anchors, two pieces of railroad Iron, baited our hooks, nnd settled down to wait. My companion had fished there onco before; be-fore; on tho strength of that meagre experience, he emitted sage, authoritative author-itative directions and "pointers" for fifteen minutes, whllo I listened submissively sub-missively to tho outburst of plscntorlal plscntor-lal wisdom. Then, pulling up my lino with the Intention of changing Its ' position In nccordanco with his directions, di-rections, I discovered n good-sized catfish wiggling on tho hook. My mnnner altered Immediately. "Let out moro lino," I said, In n tono of command, "put mojo bait on your hook, anil we will hnvo a mess In no time." Ho obeyed without n protest. Now, tho process of removing n hook from a cntfish Is theoretically simple; you Induce him, by tickling hlra on tho throat, or by profanity nnd forco. Tho lntter method Is much In vogue. Having cnllcd tho cntfish I "facetious," lot mo explain by saying that, when caught, ho seems to regard re-gard tho affair as a Joke, making tho semblnnco of n foolish grin with his pnlo oyos, wnggling his slippery body, and erecting his sharp spines Hut you must not bo deceived by his amiability; It is mero "watchful waiting." When you get your finger Into his throat, you feel that member suddenly rubbed briskly between two, rough files and beforo you can recover recov-er from your Indignation, tho hand with which you are holding him receives re-ceives a puncture that stings for nn hour. Thoro is no uso becoming angry, an-gry, becauso nothing short of deenp-Itntlqn deenp-Itntlqn appears to kill a catfish. Perhaps Per-haps his nine lives havo something to do with his name, but tho natural-lsts natural-lsts say that ho Is uo called from n sound liko the purring of a cnt, emitted emit-ted when ho is taken from the water, wa-ter, and from his barbels, or whiskers. whis-kers. Catfish may bo caught at any tlmo, so far as tho game laws aro concerned, con-cerned, and their greediness usually Insures a fair catch. Their movements move-ments aro sluggish, and thoy swim close to muddy bottoms. If thoy aro to bo prepared for eating, somo mo-chnnlcal mo-chnnlcal assistance had best bo employed; em-ployed; cutting the skin part way around tho head, then peeling It from A tho flsh with a pair of pinchers, is a good method. Utah Lako has gained an unsavory reputation for sudden squalls which, In ono or two Instances, havo resulted result-ed In tragedy; howovcr, If reasonable reason-able caution bo observed by tho occupants occu-pants of small boats, the danger Is no greater than on any other comparatively com-paratively largo body of water. It. B.. Gray, In Tho Arrowhead. |