THE WHITE-BASS
(Roccus chrysops)
Roccus chrysops. The White-bass. Body oblong, deep, and compressed; head 3-1/2; depth 2-1\2; 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.
Morone interrupta. The Yellow-bass. Body oblong, ovate, the back arched; head 3; depth 2-2/3; eye 4-1/2; D. IX-I, 12; A. III, 9; scales 7-50-11; dorsal fins slightly joined; jaws subequal; no teeth on base of tongue; gill-rakers moderate, x + 13 to 16; preorbital and suprascapula serrate.
The white-bass was first described by Rafinesque in 1820 from the falls of the Ohio River, near Louisville, Kentucky. He named it chrysops, or "gold eye," owing to the golden hue of the iris. It is known also as white lake-bass and fresh-water striped-bass. It is abundant in Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and upper Mississippi River, especially in Lake Pepin, and in Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. It was formerly not uncommon in the Ohio River, but is now rare. Its body is compressed and rather deep, with the back arched; its head is rather small, but the mouth is large, with the lower jaw protruding; the eye is large; teeth brushlike, without canines. The color is silvery white, greenish above, golden below, with six or more narrow dusky lines along the body, most conspicuous above the lateral line; those below broken, or not continuous. The white-bass is found in water of moderate depth, preferring those that are clear and cool, as it does not resort to weedy situations. It is essentially a lake fish, except in spring, when it undergoes a semi-migration, entering the tributaries of lakes in large schools. It spawns usually in May. It feeds on small fishes, crawfish, insects, and their larvæ, etc. Its usual size is a pound or a little less, but occasionally it grows to three pounds. It is a food-fish of much excellence, its flesh firm, white, flaky, and of good flavor.
It is one of the best fresh-water game-fishes, being a bold biter, and on light and suitable tackle affords much sport to the appreciative angler. For fly-fishing, the best season is during the spring, when it enters the tributary streams of lakes. At this time the fly-fisher will be successful at any hour of the day. He may fish from the bank or from an anchored boat, the latter plan being the best. As the fish are swimming in schools, either headed up or down stream, no particular place need be selected, though off the points at the edge of the channel, or in the narrowest portions of the streams, are perhaps the best. In the summer and fall the fish are in the lakes or deeper water, when the fishing will be more successful during the late afternoon hours until sundown, and the angler may be guided by the conditions followed in black-bass fly-fishing, as mentioned in a previous chapter.
A trout fly-rod of six or seven ounces, with the usual trout click reel and corresponding tackle, will subserve a good purpose. When the fish are running in the streams the most useful flies are gray drake, green drake, stone fly, brown hackle, gray hackle, Henshall, and Montreal, of the usual trout patterns, on hooks Nos. 5 to 7.
For bait-fishing, a light black-bass or trout rod, with multiplying reel, braided silk line of the smallest caliber, a leader of small gut three feet long, and hooks Nos. 3 or 4 tied on gut snells, will answer well. The best and in fact the only bait that can be successfully used is a small minnow, hooked through the lips. The fishing is done from an anchored boat on lakes or the deep pools of streams, either by casting or still-fishing.
No fish will rise to the artificial fly except in comparatively shallow water, or when near the surface, and this is especially true of the white-bass when it resorts to the depths after the spring run is over. I remember a striking instance of this that once occurred in Wisconsin. I was fishing for black-bass in the Neenah channel of Lake Winnebago during the May-fly season, when the black-bass were taking the artificial fly right along, being near the surface feeding on the natural flies, though the water was quite deep, with a rocky bottom. A party of bait-fishers anchored near my boat, and began fishing with heavy sinkers, as the water was very swift, and with small minnows for bait. The white-bass were not slow in taking the proffered minnows, and they caught a goodly number, but not a single black-bass; nor did I take a single white-bass during several hours of fishing, for they were lying among the rocks at the bottom.
In the rocky coves about the Bass Islands of Put-in-Bay, on Lake Erie, I have had really good sport, in the summer months, bait-fishing for white-bass, with light tackle, the fish running about two pounds; but with the fly my success was generally nil, as they were in deep water, and nothing but minnows would attract them. But in the upper Mississippi, notably on Lake Pepin, the case was different. About the rocky points of that beautiful lake, and in the clear water of the river below, I have enjoyed royal sport fly-fishing for white-bass. This was years ago. Afterward I made a trip in a steam yacht from Cincinnati to St. Paul, traversing the Mississippi from Cairo to the head of navigation, and also going up the St. Croix River to Taylor's Falls. On this trip the white-bass fishing was not so good as in former years, though the black-bass seemed to have held their own pretty well. I might remark, in passing, that the upper Mississippi is one of the most beautiful and scenic rivers in the world, and is unsurpassed for black-bass fly-fishing. At one time the islands of that river furnished superb woodcock shooting in summer, which could be varied with fine fishing.