Evening star., 1897-05-13
THE KING OF FISH
Interesting History Of the Small
Mouthed Black Bass.
PROPAGATION IN TEE POTOMAC
Data Concerning the Wide De.
struction of Bass in General.
GOOD WORDS FOR CRAPPIE

| ut is not all Of fishing to catch fish," has
| been often said, and probably grew out
of the biblical injunction to the fishing
| disciples to abandon their nets and become
! fishers of men.
So, when the tackle is in order and the
| season or lack of opportunity forbid the
| pleasures of the woods and waters, some
| of find consolation and delight in what
others have said and done in praise or en-
| couragement of angling.
| 1t is an easy stage from the valuable
| work already accomplished, and the great
er future results hoped for from the new
| organization and its friends to fill the Po-
tomac with bass. to the first attempts in
| this direction and their wonderful success.
! None Of the many accounts are more
| interesting than that of DR.. Henshall in
his Book of the Black Bass since to
| the minute details he adds the personal
| equation of his own early recollections
| and Impressions of the event.
| Subsequent accounts of the transaction
| melowed by time, like oft-repeated gos-
| sip-change with each telling, and only
| remind of the original because they are
so different. One tells of the fish being
| brought from the Youghiogheny, another
that they were brought over in baggage
| car. etc.
The Real Facts.
The only authentic story is that Mr.. Will
| liam Shriver of Wheeling, w. Va, brought
the bass in a basket suspended in the
water tank of his locomotive, from Wheel
| ing creek, and placed them in the Cum
berIand canal basin of the Chesapeake and
| Ohio canal.
| These fish were of the small-mouthed
! variety, and were quite small in size select
| ed as better calculated to bear such con-
| fined transportation; the first consignment
numbering fifteen or twenty were brought
", htS fuyfNa
| peated, about thirty or more being so
placed, and from this modest plant the Po-
| tomac has grown to be one OF the hneSt
bass rivers in the country.
! How this result was promptly realized
| Is partly accounted for in an interesting
comment by the Pennsylvania fish COM
| mission in its annual report for 1870 Up. -:
THE upper Potomac is full of these de-
lightful table fish, all produced from few
thrown into the stream by locomotive
| engine driver at Cumberland, who brought
them in his tank from the Monongahela.
1.-The fishing in the Potomac Incl
| dentaly protected by the war, that river
forming a line between the belligerents.
| For several years II was unsafe for in
dividuals to appear on either OF its banks.
Hence, there was little or no fishing on
anything like large scale, and as for fish
baskets they naturally fell into decay or
disuse.
teens with this excellent fish, fish that
can be taken with the hook and line. even
when they have reached the weight of ten
and twelve pounds"
Again in 1873 the Pennsylvania commiS-
sion (page ID said:
Fifteen of these fish carried from the
west in the tank of locomotive on the
| Baltimore and Ohio railroad sixteen years
ago and deposited in the Potomac river
near Harper's Ferry has made them SO
abundant in that stream that it today sup
plies the markets of our chief cities with
this excellent fish. The annual catch in
| this river beyOnd cOmDutatio
Some Glarfng Errors.
These reports show HE depl,rable ten
dency toward inaccuracy in any account of
matters pertaining TO fish, and !h!s mod
ern weakness, probably more than any
thing else, has led to the recent lamentable
controversy over the scientific and theo-
| logical possibilities in the adventures of
Jonah.
| These reports fix the date At 1857 instead
of 1853; say the fish were taken from the
Mononsahcla instead of Wheeling creek;
| were placed in the Potomac near Harper S
Ferry instead Of the canal basin at Cum
berland. and the 1873 report goes on to say
| that number Of public-spritel citizens Of
Pennsylvania had three or four years be-
| fore gone to Harper'S Ferry and purchIs-
| ed a number of these fish" (gcystes SAL
moides) or black bass Of the south; that
they could not get the grystes nigricans.
or black bass of the north. on account of
the cost. Both these names rightfully be-
| long to the large-mouth bass, but they
| have been so carelessly or indiscriminately
| applied SO lcng that one woul1 hardly no.
tice that slip If they had not specifically
described the fish taken at Harper's Ferry
as the black bass of the south. At that
| time the bass in the Potomac at Harper 5
| Ferry were the small-u.outh. 1t was not
until long afterward that our government
fish commission added to It's wonderful
work of distribution this fish. This delay
| grew principally out OF the difficulties sur
rounding the artificial propagation OF the
black bass. The glutinous nature of Its
ova, which adheres to whatever 1t touches,
precluded the possibility of profitable prop
| agauon by any known methods, and II was
| the state commission of Illinois which gava
this valuable fish to the countrv, and that
state still furnishes the principal supplies
| which have for ten years stocked the wa
tiers Of the United States.
Former Government Policy.
Indeed, the discouraging results of their
early efforts to artificially rear the black
bass led the United States fish commission
to discourage its distribution. Fifteen years
ago, in it's annual report, the commission
said %. MxxiD: '1n accordance with the
| policy of the fish commission no special
efforts have been made looking toward the
| introduction of the black bass into new
waters of the United States. All that has
been done in this respect has been per-
formed either by state commissioners or by
individuals. Without pretending 10 decide
as to the expediency Of such introduction.
| the United States fish commission las sur
rendered this department. stated
In the annual report for 1885 (part Kill p.
lxxvD, following list of the fishes culti-
| waited and distributed during the year, the
commission says: I'm addition to the
species mentioned in the foregoing list, the
red eye perch (ambloplites ruprestris) and
black bass (micropterus dolomien) have re-
ceived favorable consideration. and may
perhaps be added to the list of species culti-
waited at an early day." and then, xnile ad-
mitting the already urgent demand, pro-
ceeds to black the eye of the latter as fol-
lows: "The black bass. although frequently
called for, cannot be recommended to farm
ers generally or for use in limited waters.
on account OF the carniverous nature of the
species, the necessity of keeping them apart
from other fishes and the expense of keep
r ing them provided with suitable food. They
are. however. frequently used to advantage
! for stocking rivers and large bodies OF
water"
As late as ten years ago the commission
part XIV, p. xiii. on the Wytheville, Va.
a fish station said: mo arrangements having
3 been made with view to the production
| Of this species fer distribution, such mum
| bers as are required to NEE. occasionally
urgent demands are procured by collection