possession of wealthy clubs. The bold leap of the salmon, when hooked, the exciting play of the fish on the rod, and the successful gaffing, are as so many stanzas of an epic poem. Trout fishing is a summer idyl. The angler wades the merry stream while the leaves whisper and rustle overhead, the birds chirp and sing, the insects drone and hum, the cool breeze fans his cheek, as he casts his feathery lures, hither and yon, in eager expectation of a rise.

From a color sketch by Sherman F. Denton.

Small Mouth Black Bass. (Micropterus dolomieu.)

Black-bass fishing combines, in a measure, the heroic potentialities of salmon fishing with the charms of trout fishing. The leap of the bass is no less exciting than that of the salmon, and is oftener repeated, while in stream fishing the pastoral features of trout fishing are experienced and enjoyed.

The leap of a hooked fish is always an exciting episode to the angler with red blood in his veins—exciting because as an offset to its probable capture there is the very possible contingency of its escape by throwing out the hook, or by breaking away. So with each leap of the bass the hopes and fears of the angler are constantly exercised, while his pulses quicken and his enthusiasm is aroused. Game fishes often leap a few inches above the surface in play, or to catch a low-flying insect; but when hooked they vault to a height commensurate with their agility and muscular ability. They do not leap so high, however, as is commonly supposed.

A tarpon will leap six feet high, but the cero, or Florida kingfish, will leap higher, for it is the greatest vaulter of them all. The ladyfish executes a series of short, whirling leaps that puzzle the eye to follow—it is the gamest fish for its size in salt water. The leap of the flying-fish is sustained for a long distance by its wing-like pectoral fins, on the principle of the aëroplane, though its sole motive power is probably derived from its tail before leaving the water. The salt-water mullet is an expert jumper, leaping often in play, but when pursued by an enemy its leaps are higher and longer than would be expected from its size. The brook trout, pike, and mascalonge seldom leap when hooked, though the steelhead trout and grayling both leap nearly as often as the black bass in their efforts to dislodge the hook. The leap of the salmon is a long, graceful curve, as it heads up stream. Once, while playing my first salmon, on the Restigouche, many years ago, my taut line was leading straight down the stream, when I caught sight of a salmon over my shoulder and above me, leaping from the surface, which, to my surprise, proved to be my hooked fish—the line making a long detour in the swift water.

I have heard many anglers declare that a black bass could leap five feet high, when as a matter of fact they leap but a few inches, usually, and occasionally one, or at most three feet, though I think two feet nearer the limit. By an examination of Mr. A. Radcliffe Dugmore's photograph, reproduced herewith, it will readily be seen that the leaps are not very high ones. A black bass is in the air but a second or two, and to catch him in the act as Mr. Dugmore has done must be considered a wonderful achievement. The picture shows the bass returning to the water, with either the head or the shoulders at, or beneath, the surface, while the displaced water at his point of emergence still shows plainly—standing up, as it were. This proves that the bass regains the surface as soon as the displaced water, or rather before the upheaved water finds its level, which could not be the case were the leaps three or four feet high.

Why does a hooked bass leap from the water? This question is sometimes raised, though the answer is plain. He leaps into the air to endeavor to dislodge the hook; this he tries to do by violently shaking his body, with widely extended jaws. He does not "shake his head," as is often said, for having no flexible neck, his head can only be thrown from side to side by the violent contortions of his body, often using the water as a fulcrum, when he appears to be standing on his tail. A dog or a cat will shake its head vigorously to eject some offending substance from the mouth, and a bass does the same thing; but as he cannot shake his body to the extent required beneath the surface, owing to the resistance of the water, he leaps above it. And if he succeeds in throwing out the hook he disappears beneath the surface and is seen no more; his object in leaping has been accomplished.

Usually, it is only surface-feeding fishes that leap when hooked. Bottom-feeding fishes bore toward the bottom or struggle in mid-water. Every fish has its characteristic way of resisting capture, but any fish is more easily subdued if kept on the surface by the skill of the angler and the use of good and trustworthy tackle.

The manner of taking a bait also varies considerably with different fishes; and the character of their teeth is a good guide to what they feed on. For instance, the cunner and sheepshead are expert bait stealers. With their incisor teeth their habit is to pinch off barnacles and other mollusks from their attachment to rocks and old timbers, and so they nip off the clam or crab bait from the hook with but little disturbance. A trout takes a fly or bait with a vigorous snap, without investigation as to its nature, and a black bass does much the same, giving immediate and unmistakable notice to the angler that there is "something doing."

The black bass is one of the few fishes that protects its eggs and young. It forms its nest on gravelly or rocky shoals or shallows, usually, but when such situations are not available, clay or mud bottom, or the roots of aquatic plants are utilized, especially by the large-mouth bass. During incubation the eggs are guarded and tended by the parent fish, and hatch in ten days or two weeks, the fry remaining on the nest, guarded by the male fish, for several days, when they disperse to find suitable hiding places, feeding on minute organisms that abound in all natural waters.

The spawning season of the black bass varies considerably, owing to its extensive range and consequent variation in the temperature of waters. In Florida and the extreme South it is as early as March or April, in the Middle West in May or June, and at the northern limit of its distribution as late as July. Owing to this variation, laws to protect the species during the breeding season must vary accordingly. As the brooding fish are easily taken from their nests with snare, jig or spear, the laws for their protection should be rigidly enforced, otherwise a pond or small lake might soon be depleted where the poacher is much in evidence.

The large-mouth bass grows to a maximum weight of six to eight pounds in Northern waters, where it hibernates, but in Florida and the Gulf States, where it is active all the year, it grows much larger, in Florida to twenty pounds in rare cases. The small-mouth bass has a maximum weight of five or six