THE COMMON SUNFISH

(_Eupomotis gibbosus_)

This is the pumpkin-seed or "sunny" of fragrant memory. It is enshrined in the heart of many an American angler as his first love, when with pin hook, thread line, and willow wand he essayed its capture in the nearest brook or mill-pond.

Looking backward over an angling career of half a century, the gamesome "sunny" with its coat of many colors shines out as a bright particular star among those of greater magnitude. It is here set down, then, mainly as a matter of sentiment and to keep its memory green.

The little "sunny" was christened by the greatest naturalist that ever lived, Linnaeus, who in 1758 named it "_gibbosus_" owing to the gibbous outline of its little body. His specimens were from South Carolina.

It inhabits the Great Lake region, and the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida, and the northern portion of the Mississippi Valley. In outline it is not unlike a pumpkin-seed, hence one of its popular names.

This is well expressed in its specific name _gibbosus_. It has quite a small mouth, but large eye. In coloration it rivals the gayly-tinted fishes of the coral reefs in tropical seas. The predominating colors are yellow and blue, being bluish on the back, paling on the sides to a lighter shade, with yellow blotches and coppery reflections, and belly bright orange-yellow; the cheeks are yellow with blue streaks; rays of dorsal fin blue, the connecting membrane yellow; ear-flap black, ending in a scarlet border; lips blue; iris of eye scarlet.

Its habits of sp.a.w.ning, nest-making, and care of eggs and fry are similar to those of the other sunfishes mentioned. It is partial to clear water, with sandy or gravelly bottom, in the vicinity of weed patches. It feeds on insects and their larvae and minute crustaceans, and is especially fond of the eggs and fry of other species. It grows to a size of eight inches, though usually from three to six inches.

Like all the sunfishes, it is an eager biter, and with very light tackle much real pleasure can be enjoyed by the angler who is not too particular as to his preferences. It rises readily to small dark flies, as the several hackles, black gnat, etc., on hooks Nos. 10 to 12. For bait-fishing nothing is quite so good as earthworms on hooks Nos. 8 to 10.

There are quite a number of other sunfishes belonging to this family, but those named are the most important. In the Southern states, where the sunfishes are known generically as "bream" or "brim" and "perch,"

they are more appreciated than in the Northern states, where the brook-trout is the favorite among the smaller species. If fished for with very light and suitable tackle, there is a great measure of enjoyment to be derived from bream-fishing, north or south. Certainly for beauty of coloration they are not excelled, and as pan-fish they are preferred by many to the dainty brook-trout.

There is a certain fascination in fishing with a float, or "cork," or "bob," as the boys have it. And among us "old boys" there is a certain undefined feeling, it may be a reminiscent affection, connected with the float, much the same as that with which we regard the powder-flask and shot-pouch of the days of yore. And I am not sure but that the old things and old ways were best, or at least more enjoyable. One can heartily agree with Alonzo of Aragon in his preferences for old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

What old angler does not remember the eagerness and expectancy with which he watched the "cork" in days gone by? How well he knew and understood every motion of it, responsive to the nibbling "sunny": first a gentle spinning, then a preliminary bobble, then a premonitory start away an inch or two, and then--O joy!--its swift and sudden disappearance beneath the surface. The lapse of time cannot wither nor modern custom stale the pleasures of youthful fishing. To be sure, it was not all piscatorial cakes and ale; there were a few thorns with the roses; there were the bruised fingers and toes, the wet and torn clothes, and the impending and dreaded "dressing down" when home was reached; but these disagreeable concomitants were soon forgotten, and are now scarcely remembered, while the pleasures are laid up in the lavender of sweet recollection.

The old-time zest of fishing with a float can still be gratified; we can renew our youth by fishing for "sunnies" in the old-fashioned way. In the wooded streams of the Southern states the float is a _sine qua non_ for bream-fishing, owing to the many tangled roots of trees on the banks, and the mosses, gra.s.ses, and other aquatic plants that grow so luxuriantly in the sluggish waters. Then here's to the float and the sunny and the bream!

THE CALICO-Ba.s.s

(_Pomoxis sparoides_)

The calico-ba.s.s was first described by Lacepede from specimens sent to France from South Carolina. He named it _sparoides_ from a fancied resemblance, either in its scales or compressed body, to those features in fishes belonging to the family _Sparidae_.

Owing to its wide distribution it has received many names, more or less descriptive. In the Northern states it is variously called c.r.a.ppie, croppie, strawberry-ba.s.s, gra.s.s-ba.s.s, bank lick ba.s.s, silver-ba.s.s, big-fin ba.s.s, Lake Erie ba.s.s, razor back, bitter-head, lamplighter, etc., while in the Southern states it is known as speckled perch, goggle-eyed perch, chincapin perch, bridge perch, etc.

As the calico-ba.s.s and the next fish to be described, the c.r.a.ppie, belong to the same genus of the sunfish family, and resemble each other very much, the vernacular nomenclature is much confused, and in some instances is interchangeable. Some years ago I proposed to call them northern and southern c.r.a.ppie; but as the name calico-ba.s.s has obtained considerable currency, it is best to adopt that name for the northern species, leaving the name c.r.a.ppie for the southern form.

The calico-ba.s.s is found in the Great Lake region and the upper Mississippi Valley, and along the Atlantic slope from New Jersey to Florida and Texas. Its range has been considerably extended by transplantation, even to France, where it thrives well as a pond fish.

It is a handsome fish, resembling in its general features and shape the sunfishes, but with a thinner body and larger fins. It has a long head and a large mouth, with thin lips and projecting lower jaw. The eye is large with a dark, bluish iris. Its fins are large and strong. It grows usually to eight or ten inches in length, weighing from half a pound to a pound, but occasionally reaches a foot in length and two or three pounds in weight. Its color is bright olive-green, with silvery reflections, darker on the back, and paling to the belly. In some localities it is of a much darker and purplish hue with bra.s.sy l.u.s.tre.

It is profusely covered with dark spots or blotches, as large as the finger-tips or "chincapins." The fins are mottled with pale spots on a darker or olive ground. It is gregarious, being usually found in schools, and prefers clear water. It is especially adapted to pond culture, and sp.a.w.ns in spring or early summer, according to locality; it prepares its nest in sand, gravel, or on a flat rock in the same way as the sunfishes. Its food is the same, also, though it is more partial to young fish. It is an excellent pan-fish but does not excel as a game-fish, for though a very free biter, it does not offer much resistance when hooked. However, with very light tackle it affords considerable sport, as it does not cease biting, usually, until most of the school are taken.

The usual method of angling for this fish is from an anch.o.r.ed boat on ponds or small lakes, or from the bank. At times it rises pretty well to the fly, and trolling with a very small spoon is also successful on lakes. The lightest rods and tackle should be employed, with hooks Nos.

3 to 5 on gut snells. A small quill float is useful in very weedy ponds with mossy bottom. The best bait is a small minnow, though gra.s.shoppers, crickets, crawfish, cut-bait, or worms are all greedily taken.

Fly-fishing is more successful during the late afternoon hours until dusk. The flies should be trout patterns of coachman, gray drake, black gnat, Henshall, or any of the hackles on hooks Nos. 4 to 5.

I first became acquainted with the calico-ba.s.s during my residence in Wisconsin, many years ago. In the vicinity of Oconomowoc it was known as the silver-ba.s.s, though summer visitors from St. Louis, confusing it with the kindred species, the c.r.a.ppie, called it "croppie," as the real c.r.a.ppie is known at Murdoch Lake near that city. Owing to its greedy, free-biting habits it was a prime favorite with youthful anglers and the fair s.e.x; for once a school was located, the contest was free, fast, and furious until, perhaps, the entire school was captured. It was frequently taken by black-ba.s.s fishers when casting the minnow or trolling, much to their disgust. Of course it is always the unexpected that happens, in fishing as in other affairs of life, and the angler who was casting a fine minnow for a black-ba.s.s, viewed with disdain if not anger the unlucky "pickerel," rock-ba.s.s, perch, or calico ba.s.s that appropriated--or, as the English angler has it, "hypothecated"--the said choice shiner.

I was once fishing with General Phil Sheridan and General Anson Stager for black-ba.s.s on a lake near Oconomowoc. When the great telegrapher, after a beautiful cast near a bed of rushes, hooked a calico-ba.s.s, and was anathematizing the "measly silver-ba.s.s" with all the dots and dashes of the Morse alphabet, Sheridan quietly remarked, "Oh, let up, Stager, it is one of the fortunes of war; better luck next time!" Stager smiled, gently unhooked the offending fish, and returned it to the water, saying, "Good-by, croppie, my regards to the rest of the family; but don't monkey with my minnow again."

When cruising on the St. Johns, or camping on some of the fresh-water lakes of Florida, I have greatly enjoyed both the fishing with light tackle and the eating of this fine pan-fish. It is there known as the perch, silver perch, or speckled perch. It may not be out of place to say that the generic term "ba.s.s" is connected only with salt-water fishes in the Southern states. Fishes that are known in the Northern states as ba.s.s of some kind become, generically, "perch" in the South; and the black-ba.s.s becomes a "trout" or jumping-perch. If bait-fishing, one is never at a loss for bait on the lakes of Florida. The black-ba.s.s and calico-ba.s.s lie in open water, adjacent to the patches of lily-pads or bonnets. Among the latter frequent the minnows and small fry. To catch your minnow the bait is also handy. In the stems of the lilies and bonnets there lies concealed a small worm, which is readily seen by splitting the stems. With the worm first catch your minnow, which is transferred to your ba.s.s hook, which is next cast into clear, deeper water, to be taken by a black-ba.s.s or "speckled perch." What a simple and admirable arrangement for the lazy fisherman!

My old friend, Dr. Theodatus Garlick, who with Dr. H.A. Ackley were the fathers of fish-culture in America, having succeeded in hatching brook-trout as early as 1853, relates the following instance of the remarkable tenacity of life in the calico-ba.s.s: "A specimen from which a drawing was made, was wrapped in a piece of paper when taken from the water, and carried in my coat pocket for over four hours, and when placed in a bucket of water soon revived, and seems at the present time to enjoy excellent health. In warm weather, however, it would not, in all probability, survive so severe a test of its vital powers." I imagine that this circ.u.mstance happened in winter, and that the fish became frozen before or after being placed in his pocket; otherwise I doubt if the fish could have survived so long, unless the piece of paper was very large and very wet. I know of many instances occurring with myself and others where freshly caught fish have been revived after being frozen for several hours.

THE c.r.a.pPIE

(_Pomoxis annularis_)

The c.r.a.ppie was first described by Rafinesque in 1818 from specimens collected at the Falls of the Ohio, near Louisville, Kentucky. He named it _annularis_, "having rings," as it was said to have "a golden ring at the base of the tail," but I have never seen it; it does have a gold ring, however, around the iris of the eye, and this was probably the occasion of the name.

Like the calico-ba.s.s, the c.r.a.ppie has received a great many local names.

In the northern region of its range it is variously known as white croppie, c.r.a.ppie, barfish, bachelor, etc., and in Kentucky as newlight, Campbellite, and tin-mouth, while farther south it is called silver perch, speckled perch, goggle-eye, sac-a-lait, shad, etc. It inhabits the Ohio and Mississippi river basins from Kansas to Louisiana and Texas, and is more abundant in Kentucky and other Southern states than farther north. Its range, however, has been extended by transplantation to many states. In general features it resembles the calico-ba.s.s very much, though to the trained eye the differences are very apparent. It is not quite so deep nor so robust as the calico-ba.s.s. The mouth is somewhat larger, and the snout more prominent or projecting on account of a depression or indentation in front of the eye. The eye is a little larger, and the membrane of the jaws is quite thin and transparent, hence one of its names,--"tin-mouth." The c.r.a.ppie has but six spines in the dorsal fin, whereas the calico-ba.s.s has seven, whereby they may be readily distinguished.

It grows to about the same size and weight as the calico-ba.s.s, ten or twelve inches, though under favorable conditions it grows larger, reaching a weight of three pounds. I have frequently taken it as heavy, or a little heavier, in Kentucky, where many ponds and streams seem peculiarly fitted for it. In coloration it is much paler than the calico-ba.s.s, and the markings are not so dark or in such large spots or blotches. It is silvery olive-green, much mottled with a darker shade of same color, especially on the back, the lower sides and belly being more silvery and seemingly translucent. The dorsal and caudal fins are much mottled with shades of green, though the a.n.a.l fin is almost plain. The iris of the eye is dark, with a silvery or golden border.

It is found in clear streams and likewise in still, weedy ponds and bayous, or in all situations adapted to the large-mouth black-ba.s.s, with which fish it is nearly always a.s.sociated. It is admirably suited for pond culture. It is quite gregarious and loves to congregate about the submerged top of a fallen tree or sunken brush, and about mill-dams. It feeds on all small aquatic organisms and insects and their larvae, and the fry of other fishes, tadpoles, etc.

While a very free-biting fish, its game qualities, when hooked, are not remarkable. It is pulled out with scarcely a struggle. It is rather a shy fish, withal, and must be fished for cautiously, and with little noise or confusion. When these precautions are observed, and with very small minnows for bait, nearly the entire school can be captured in a short time. It is an excellent pan-fish, and on this account is a prime favorite.

For still-fishing, a light rod of a few ounces in weight, and a line of the smallest caliber, size H, should be used. Hooks for bait-fishing should be about No. 3, as the c.r.a.ppie has a large mouth; they should be tied on gut snells. A quill float is useful in weedy places, or about brush and logs. The best bait is a very small minnow, hooked under the dorsal fin, care being taken not to injure the spinal cord. Soft crawfish, cut-bait, or earthworms may be subst.i.tuted where minnows are scarce. A reel is not necessary for bait-fishing, but a short leader should always be used, and where required a split-shot sinker is heavy enough.

For fly-fishing, the lightest trout fly-rod and the smallest click reel should be employed, with a braided, enamelled silk line of the smallest caliber, and dark or grayish flies of small size, on hooks No. 4, on gut snells, with a fine leader. The most useful flies are gray, red, and black hackles, black gnat, blue dun, gray and brown drake, and stone fly; but far the best fly that I have ever used is the Henshall of a small size. It has a body of green peac.o.c.k harl, hackle of white hairs from a deer's tail, gray wings, and tail of a fibre or two from the tail feather of a peac.o.c.k; they will rise to this fly when no other will tempt them to the surface. Toward sunset, with the tackle named, on a breezy summer day, the angler will be amply rewarded, for under these conditions fly-fishing for the c.r.a.ppie is a sport not to be despised.

It has been alleged that the name "Campbellite," by which the c.r.a.ppie is sometimes known in Kentucky, was bestowed because the fish first appeared in Kentucky streams about the same time that the religious sect founded by Alexander Campbell became established in that state. This may have been the origin of the name, but I am inclined to doubt it from the fact that the c.r.a.ppie has probably always inhabited Kentucky streams, inasmuch as it was first described by Rafinesque in 1820 from Kentucky waters. He gave gold ring and silver perch as the common names then in vogue for it at Louisville. I think it more likely the name originated in this wise: among the many names given to this fish is "newlight,"

probably owing to its bright and apparently translucent appearance; and as this name was also bestowed by some on the religious sect referred to, the names newlight and Campbellite became interchangeable for both fish and sect. It is, however, seldom called Campbellite, while newlight is the most universal name for it in central Kentucky.

The name c.r.a.ppie, or croppie, has an unknown derivation; perhaps it comes from the French _crepe_, a "pan-cake," from its shape or deliciousness when fried, for it was always a great favorite with the French of St. Louis and the creoles of Louisiana. In the latter state it is also known as _sac-a-lait_, "bag for milk" (?).

Great numbers of c.r.a.ppies are annually seined from the shallow bayous and sloughs bordering the Illinois and Mississippi rivers by the United States Fish Commission, and planted in suitable waters. If allowed to remain in the sloughs, which dry up in the summer and fall, they would eventually perish.

CHAPTER II

THE Ba.s.s FAMILY

(_Serranidae_)

The ba.s.s family is composed mostly of marine fishes, nearly all of which are good game and food-fishes. These will be described among the fishes of the East Coast and Florida in subsequent pages. It is the most typical group among the percoid (perchlike) fishes. Only two species of the family inhabit fresh water,--the white-ba.s.s and the yellow-ba.s.s.

The fishes of this family are characterized by an oblong body, large mouth, brushlike or bristlelike teeth, sometimes with canines; one or two dorsal fins, the first always composed of spiny rays; the a.n.a.l fin, always with three spines; scales adherent and rough (ctenoid); preopercle usually serrate; opercle with flat points or spines; cheeks and opercles always scaly; premaxillary protractile; dorsal and ventral outlines do not always correspond; caudal fin not deeply forked; its peduncle stout.

THE WHITE-Ba.s.s

(_Roccus chrysops_)

_Roccus chrysops._ The White-ba.s.s. Body oblong, deep, and compressed; head 3-1/2; depth 2-12; eye 5; D. IX-I, 14; A.

III, 12; scales 10-60-15; mouth moderate, maxillary reaching middle of pupil; a patch of teeth at base of tongue, and a patch on each side; preopercle serrate; subopercle with a deep notch; lower jaw somewhat projecting; dorsal fins separate; gill-rakers long and slender, _x_ + 14.